READ: James 1:2-12
CHALLENGE: Stand Confident
My ultimate confidence is in Jesus. For Jesus is faithful, He is not a politician He keeps his promises. He is righteous and just with power and authority. Through His Love and Sacrifice He freely gives us forgiveness and redemption. If we believe in Him and what He has done, we will be given eternal life. For this life is only a fleeting moment that we are passing through until we get to our eternal home.
The Challenge today is: Put your confidence in Jesus.
Now we are going to look at the book of James 1:2-12 and see why we can stand CONFIDENT in Jesus and Jesus alone. Go ahead and grab your Bibles open them up or turn on your phones to James 1:2-3
Vv2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
One thing I love about the book of James is the difference from other letters in the bible. Other letters usually have gradual introductions but not James. He comes out boldly with a challenging command that we should find joy in the dreadful things happening to us.
- Consider It Pure Joy!
To follow Jesus or not is thee most important decision you will ever make in this life. If you decided to follow Jesus, you will have trials. James is not saying IF trials come your way but WHEN trials come your way. The Bible says a trial is a walk through a valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes the valley just hits suddenly but if you see the valley coming up, you may ask, can I book a flight over it? No… can I pay a toll and go around it? Nope you must go through it. When you go into a trial Satan will capitalize on it he will tempt you for temptations and trials go hand and hand. Being a Christian you WILL have trials of MANY kinds.
Vv3 testing of your faith produces perseverance. A trial is testing your faith and is designed to reveal the quality of your faith and to produce stamina. You may say you have faith. For you may say
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” Says in James 2:19
At the time my wife and I have been living in this house for two years there was a torrential down pour and the basement sump pump quit and I get a call the basement is flooded. I came home and took care of first things first change out the sump pump so it can start removing the water. Then the work began and thanks to my dad, as he was there helping us through the soggy mess… Did I want to be squeegeeing the floor moving wet boxes ripping up a 2 year old carpet and trim we just finished. NO but that is where we count it all joy and muscle together and it take care of it because this is where we are at. Same with a trial it is a struggle but that is God shaping your character. Just as I learned a lot on how to dry out our basement correctly and efficiently, but also put an alarm on our sump pump so we don’t end up here again, but it made me better and strengthened our marriage. Just like my Dad, is an example why you need the church because as you are going through that trial you have a brother or sister in Christ that is helping you right through it.
What are you doing to work that faith muscle on your own? It’s just like working out in a gym, you show up and you can get to work and exercise those muscles. Just because you show up does not mean you are going to get healthier, lose weight and get bigger muscles, you have to put in the work. Same for your faith muscle, you being in Church, I am grateful that you are here but if this is all that you are doing for your faith muscle but out in the world the other 6 days not touching a bible, not praying, not witnessing to anybody. You are going to be a weak Christian! You will become prey in a trial for
1 Peter 5:8 warns us “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Whenever you face trials consider it pure joy. Now how can someone have pure joy going through a trial? This is so backwards from our human response to hardship. For James is not saying that this is easy, but he is saying to count your trials as joy. You will experience a trial that is going to shake your faith for we live in a broken, crooked, flawed world ever since the fall of man.
For the context of this letter is to a multitude of believers suffering for their faith. Whenever you are being tempted or tried and you want to give up on your faith remember the faith and trust you have in Christ, and this is not our home we are just passing through. We must have an Eternal perspective. But as we are here, we must remember Jesus tells us in
Matthew 5:11 in His sermon on the mount “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me…”
We must remember and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Live righteous lives like Daniel when they could not find fault in him or Elijah who was taking God’s side and going against the culture majority. To live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21) What do we have to lose, for we are made with a purpose and a meaning. You might not understand why you are being tempted, insulted, mistreated, and persecuted for your faith. But we can have confidence for Philippians 4:7 reminds us we have a peace that passes all understanding of this world. As Pastor Bill has said before it is as if we are laying on the floor looking up at the bottom of a glass table as God is putting the puzzle together and all we see is the cardboard pieces going together. But we can have confidence in our God because he knows how this puzzle goes together.
Vv4-5 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
- Ask.
We need perseverance to finish its work if we are going to be mature and complete Christians. If you are a claiming to be a Christian, I want to encourage you to be praying daily, for it would be extremely wise. For whatever you are doing and going through, prayer is our connection on how we communicate all that we are going through the good bad ugly happy sad excited mad. Listen to me. The God who created the universe will give wisdom to all who ask Him for it. He does not give it based on our worthiness but based only on our request. God wants his children to have CONFIDENCE in Him. God wants to have a relationship with each and every one of you. Fight against any temptation of why you can excuse why you don’t have to pray. For I am a prime example. I at a point in my Christian Walk would think of something minimal but I did not want to bother God because, He is a busy guy. And that’s the problem. I am putting Him in human perspective as I would not bother my earthly dad because I did not want to burden him with little things. That is Nonsense I was minimizing the almighty God. For He is omnipotent the all-powerful, He can listen to millions of people pray in a multitude of different languages at the same time He is capable and willing to always hear from you… Have confidence in him. Ask Him for what you are lacking. For
James 4:2-3 tells us “You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
So, ask with the correct motives for God the Father who cares for you will hear you and give it to you. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
For I am human just like you a sinner in need of a savior just like you. For before I was walking the narrow way I was indulging in sexual immorality. The girlfriend I was with at the time, we tried to become pregnant, I even had the audacity to pray and ask that we would get pregnant. I was not living a life after Jesus’s righteousness. I am also thankful for God not answering my prayer for He knew He had a much bigger and better plan for this sinner, for later He opened my eyes, and I repented and turned from these wicked ways, but I had to ask for forgiveness. If you ask you will be forgiven but you must ask.
Vv6-8 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
- Don’t Doubt.
Many have fought thoughts whether or not they truly are a Christian. For some take the gospel as if it were something to buy after a sales pitch. “Yeah, that gospel you speak sounds better than hell I’ll take it.” Or They believe their eternal security is locked down because one time they prayed a prayer but kept living the same old life, or there are Some people who feel condemned because they have been burdened with legalistic rules and self-righteous attitudes trying to obey the law fully. Even though they believe in Christ, they struggle with constant doubt.
A little story, we have about 60 to 70 Chickens. We recently got some new chickens, you know because tractor supply had a sale on them, but they are to eventually replace the older ones. The young ones have their own chicken coop and run inside the main pasture where the older one’s roam. We do this to slowly introduce them to the older chickens because if not the older chickens may pick on them and possibly kill the younger ones. So last week was the time to open the young one’s coop to the main pasture area. When I opened that door and left it open, they were so excited they began running around flapping, squawking, and flying as much as a chicken can fly. This lasted about a whole two minutes, and they all ran back into the coop with the door still open.
Sometimes that is us. Where that chicken coop is like a jail cell to our sin and we accept Jesus and then we go running around full of excitement for we just found Jesus, but we look at our circumstances, we get a little uneasy and we start to doubt. So, we end up running right back into our sin because that is what we know and are familiar with. Stay strong my brothers and sisters.
Now if we have doubts, how do we deal with them, how do we get rid of them? For starters start reading your bible, pray and ask for wisdom, get into a small group and learn what God wants to tell you. You should not be waiting for God to speak to you when He has already written it for you. James makes it clear God wants his children to trust him and He is ready to reward evidence of our trust in Him. Now what is evidence of our trust? That is your faith. God wants to see your faith for it is Faith plus nothing equals your salvation. Simple as that. Our eternal salvation is solely faith in Christ and Christ alone… Talk is cheap though for James says in chapter 2:17 “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” That’s where Faith that does not work… Will not work. We ought to have a faith of doing, serving, if you genuinely believe in Jesus you will want to serve just to give back and show appreciation for all that He has done in and through you.
Just like Matthew 14. Peter and the disciples are in a boat on the water during a storm. First off, they are in this storm because they were obeying Jesus because he told them to go to the other side. While in the storm Peter, upon seeing Jesus walking on water, ASKS to come to him. Jesus invites Peter, who steps out in faith. This is Peter, putting His faith into action. Initially, Peter walks on the water towards Jesus, Peter is showing his faith then he starts to doubt when he is looking around and notices the strong wind, the huge waves crashing around him, and he becomes afraid and begins to sink. But He cries out to Jesus for help, and Jesus immediately reaches out his hand to save him… This is when we encounter storms that are going to shake our faith and possibly cause us to doubt, we must turn and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus for if Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he would not have begun to sink. For we can trust Him and have CONFIDENCE in Him.
Vv9-11 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wildflower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
- Find Contentment in God
Now this is where Joy is dependent on how believers “consider” (from v.2 “consider it pure joy) their circumstances. Are you content with where you are in life? Or are you always in the race chasing after the nicer car, nicer home, nicer clothes, the higher job title, or seeking recognition? Humble yourself and have confidence in what God has given and blessed you with. For Believers who are poor should be glad because God does not judge them based on wealth. If they were rich, they might feel they are more worthy, but that’s not how God sees people. Those who are rich should be glad too… because money does not impress God. It’s easy to lose money, so true wealth comes from growing spiritually, not from having lots of money. God cares about you, for who you are, not how much stuff you have. Focus on your spiritual life—it is more valuable to God than any amount of money or possessions.
For listen to how Jesus shows confidence in Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
Christianity brings a new dignity to the poor and the not so influential people of this world. That dignity becomes most evident in the church where there are not (or should not be) any class distinctions or divisions based on social status. All believers, regardless of their background, share the honor of being transformed by the gospel and are entrusted with the mission of spreading its message to the entire world. What you have in your heart, not your bank account, is what matters to God. This should give you a hope and a Confidence to rest in God’s assurance.
Vv12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
- Run The Race That Is Set Before You.
Being blessed means being greatly rewarded by God, both in this life (especially through growing stronger through tough times,
Back to James 1:4 “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”)
and in the next life as Matthew 5:11-12 says:
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
When believers stay strong through trials and are approved by God at the final judgment, they receive the crown of life. This crown is a future reward for faithful Christians (Revelation 2:10), those who love God (Revelation 2:5). It is an enhanced and enriched eternal life given to those who persevere, whether they pass away or are taken up when Christ returns. While entering heaven is completely because of God’s grace, there are various levels of Felicity, which means various levels of intense happiness or great joy. It refers to a state of being extremely happy or joyful. All depending on how faithfully we have built our character and served others based on Jesus’ teachings.
We are called to live for God, I am going to close us in prayer, but What is your confidence built on? Is it things of this fallen world, is it your money, is it your children, is it a certain political party, is it your job, or even your spouse? What are you putting your trust, your hope, your confidence in? If you feel like the waves of the sea and you are being tossed around by the wind, commit yourself to Christ. fixate your eyes on Him, He is waiting to hear from you just ask. If you are going through a trial right now remember as hard as it is James 1:2 “consider it pure joy” For we never know the true strength of our character until we see how we react under pressure. often times after a trial that we hated – we wouldn’t change it for the world because it made us who we are. It is not what your confidence is in. But WHO is your CONFIDENCE is in? As we come into communion reflect on the life you are living or displaying that you are living for God.