We have before us a challenging portion of Scripture with its commands and
expectations. But it is also an encouraging portion as it helps us gain a
clearer perspective on Christian discipleship. We’ve just asked for God’s
blessing on the sermon. So, let’s see what He has to say.
Let’s start with that opening phrase, ‘Count it all joy…’ James is telling
us how to respond to those times when we encounter trials. He’s telling us
to rejoice. Let me remind you what Christian joy is. Keep in mind that it is
different from happiness. Joy is an optimistic spirit in response to the
events of life. But let me be clear. It isn’t just a grim optimism. True
Christian joy overflows to affect the emotions. To be sure, there will be
times when we rejoice through tears. And yet, even then, joy will overcome
the tears of sorrow so that the optimism is felt in the emotions. It may
take a little while to get there, depending on the situation, but real
Christian joy will eventually show in the emotions as well as in the
attitude of the mind. This is the kind of joy that James is pointing us to.
Now, please notice that this is a command. James isn’t offering a suggestion
that might be helpful. He isn’t giving pious advice to be accepted or
rejected as we see fit. He is commanding us, with all the authority that he
has from Christ, to rejoice when trials hit. Christian joy is not optional.
It is required. You are to rejoice in the midst of trial. I hope that you
see that very clearly. Joy is an obedience issue. A lack of true Christian
joy in the midst of testing is not a matter of having a certain kind of
personality that just doesn’t do that sort of thing. It has nothing to do
with personality. A lack of joy is sin. But also notice that James doesn’t
just lay down the law and then leave you on your own to figure out how to
obey it. James goes further. He explains how you can obey. He does it in the
next phrase. It’s the phrase that starts, ‘knowing’. ‘Count it all joy, my
brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, knowing…’ We do not rejoice
despite the facts. We rejoice because of the facts. We rejoice because of
what we know.
Here, we bump up against an important aspect of faithful Christian living.
You won’t be able to live faithfully unless you know certain things. A
person can most certainly receive forgiveness of sins and be reconciled to
God if he knows and believes a verse like, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved.’ [Acts 16.31] But that verse won’t be much help when
you encounter a great trial. If that’s the only verse that you know, it will
be hard to rejoice in the midst of trial and very easy to become confused
and discouraged. That’s why one of the emphases coming out of the
Reformation is that the people of God need to know the Bible. One of the
‘radical’ things that Martin Luther did was to translate the Bible from
Greek and Hebrew into the language of the people so that it could be read to
them. This is why sermons are to be filled with the content of the Bible,
explaining and applying it to life. This is why we have small group Bible
studies. This is why it is important to have family Bible reading time as
well as personal Bible reading time. You will not be able to live faithfully
if you do not know your Bible. You will not be able to rejoice in the midst
of trial if you do not know your Bible. True Christian joy is a fruit of
knowledge. And the more that you know, the easier it will be to rejoice
during the tough times.
But even here, there is danger of misunderstanding. So, let me be clear.
There are many know the content of the Bibles well. They can quote long
passages from memory and discuss the fine points of doctrine made by those
texts. But so many of these still do not rejoice. They are, in fact, unable
to rejoice. And why? The knowledge that James points to is more than
information stored in the brain. Your soul needs to be involved as well.
Your soul needs to be convinced that the things that you know are also true.
You not only know your Bible. You believe it. You believe those great and
precious promises of your God. You believe the warnings as well. You believe
what you know. And because of this, because you really believe what you
know, you are ready to entrust yourself to your Savior whenever He sends a
trial your way. Knowledge, belief, trust. It is these things that produce
real Christian joy.
Let’s move on. We know from Scripture that when we encounter a trial God is
up to something. He is at work. And who can fail to rejoice once he is
convinced that God is at work in the situation? James knows this but he
wants to be even more specific. So, he focuses our attention on one
particular thing that God is doing by sending trials our way. He writes,
‘knowing that the testing of your faith produces _____.’ Here, I need to
interrupt myself to deal with a translation issue. If you have the ESV the
next word is ‘steadfastness’. If you use the KJV or the NKJV the next word
is ‘patience’. If you use the NASV the next word is ‘endurance’. Which is
it? There are times when one English word isn’t quite enough to translate
one Greek word. This is one of those situations. So, we’ll use two words,
‘patient endurance’. James writes, ‘knowing that the testing of your faith
produces patient endurance.’ When trials hit, God is at work. He is
producing patient endurance. Now, I am not a runner. I’ve never run even a
simple race, let alone something like the Boston Marathon. But someone who
would run a marathon would need patient endurance. When you run those 26
plus miles you need to keep at it for a long time even though it is
difficult. That is a very apt description of Christian living. Keeping at it
for a long time even though it is difficult. Now, it is patient endurance
because you keep at it without a grumbling spirit, without being agitated at
each step. Yes, it’s hard, but you are not overwhelmed by that. You are
pursuing the goal patiently and persistently, assured that you will achieve
the goal, which is to finish the race. That is patient endurance. So, James
is telling us that we can rejoice because we know what God is up to. He is
producing patient endurance by those trials.
There are many things that James could have pointed to as a basis for joy.
But he chose this. Why? The reason is clear. This is what James’ listeners
needed to hear. As we’ll see in working through this letter, life for these
saints was hard. There were many trials, some big, others small. And the
temptation to give up was very real. They could hear the evil one whispering
in their ears, ‘This is too hard. Why keep at it? Life would be so much
easier if you just quit.’ James’ listeners needed to be reminded that those
trials were doing good. They were worth enduring. In fact, they were
producing the very endurance that they needed to finish the race. James
pointed to this aspect of God’s work because of something that both he and
his listeners knew. Being a faithful Christian is hard. It isn’t just some
walk in the park. It’s a marathon. And getting to the end of the race is
difficult. We know that it is difficult because many who start the race don’
t finish it. The message that is sometimes preached these days is, ‘Come to
Jesus and life will be wonderful.’ Now, that’s true. But it’s incomplete.
And because it’s incomplete, it can be misleading. We need to tell people
that life will be wonderful for them if they come to Jesus. But we also need
to tell them that it will be hard. That’s what Jesus said.
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. Mark 8:34-35
Jesus, here, promises life in its fullness. But He also promises a cross.
You need to lose your life for His sake first. James understood that. His
listeners understood that. We need to understand that. Being a faithful
disciple is both wonderful and difficult, glorious and painful. We pursue it
in the hope that one day being a faithful disciple will be even more
glorious and not painful at all. And what is needed for us to arrive at that
day? Patient endurance, continuing to put one foot in front of the other as
we run the marathon, eagerly looking for the end of the race. And while we
are slogging away, the world, the flesh and the devil are doing their best
to trip us up. They will try to discourage us. ‘It’s too far and too hard.
Just give up.’ They will try to foster unbelief. ‘You’ve been abandoned. No
one cares. You’ve been left alone. Not even God thinks about you. Whatever
is at the end of the race certainly isn’t worth this.’ They will try to
confuse you. ‘Are you sure that you’re doing this right? Is it really
supposed to hurt like this?’ And then they will tempt you with the pleasures
of this life.
Faithful Christian discipleship is hard. But here is James, our fellow
runner. And he is shouting encouragement to us. He is telling us that the
trials that we find so difficult are actually for our benefit. They are
producing the endurance that we need if we are going to run the race to the
very end. He is telling us that these trials are part of God’s way of
getting us to the finish line. And so, when they hit, when you encounter a
trial, rejoice! Rejoice because of what you know. God is at work. He is
blessing you with what you need. He is using the trial to bless you with
more endurance. Thank Him for what He is doing. Be optimistic. Good will
come out of these trials. And so, as you submit to God in your trials,
rejoicing because of what you know, you’ll find yourself getting stronger
and stronger. You'll be better equipped to plod on until you come to the
finish line that you have so eagerly desired.
Let me close with these two thoughts. I’ve told you some hard things this
morning. I’ve reminded you of the difficulty of being a faithful Christian
in this fallen world. I’ve told you about the command of God to rejoice. But
I’ve also pointed you to James’ encouragement. There are good reasons to
rejoice and to continue the hard work of faithful Christian living. But none
of this will do you any good unless you believe it. If you don’t believe
that faithful Christian living is a difficult race then there is no need for
patient endurance. If there is no need for patient endurance then trials are
only an annoyance instead of a blessing. And if you view trials in this way
there will be no joy. All that I’ve said is of no value unless you believe
it. And that takes the grace of God. And so, I would urge you to pray. Pray
that God would enable you to believe what you’ve heard, to believe it
deeply. As you do that you will see your joy grow.
Secondly, I would encourage you to think about the finish line. Often. We
are in the midst of a long race. But in this race everyone who finishes
wins. There is no coming in second. Everyone who finishes the race comes in
first. Everybody wins. So, think about what it will mean to win. Think about
being with Jesus in a perfected place with perfected people as a perfected
person. Think about never again dealing with sin and death. Think about a
place where there is no race to run, no painful plodding along, no tests of
faith. Nothing in this life is worth the pain of the race. But after you
cross the finish line it will all be worth it. Pray that the Spirit will
make heaven so very real to you and to your brothers and sisters so that we
all will run with endurance all the way to the end.
