Choose
Joy ?
Summer Surprise
Some of you may know that we had a family wedding this past
summer in Winnipeg. It had been planned for a year. All of us had worked our
vacation plans around July 26. Meredith and I have made a decision that if at
all possible we will attend the weddings of our nieces and nephews. In this
case there was an added responsibility since I was asked to perform the
service, and on a golf course, at that. And, as an added bonus we would all get
to spend time with my mom, a special treat for all.
So we all met the last week of July in my home town. Lydia decided to come as well with my grandson of course; unfortunately Kevin had to stay behind and
protect the city as one of Ottawa’s finest. My grandson was perfect on the
plane. I attribute that to the extraordinary care of the “papa” who accompanied
him. The real down part of the whole thing was the fact that the only niece or
nephew absent would be daughter Laura who was in Africa and not scheduled to be
home until early August.
On the Thursday night before the wedding, Lydia (daughter one), insisted on picking up Meghan (daughter three) at the airport coming in from Calgary. About 10:30 she phoned to say that the plane was late, and about 11:30 called to
say that there was a problem with the bags. I went to bed. Meredith stayed up,
excited. The car pulled up to the house about 1am and Meredith looked out the
front window and thought, “My, Meghan is looking more and more like Laura”. All
three daughters walked in the front door.
Pandemonium. They had cooked up the whole thing. All three
girls had decided it would be wonderful if everyone was together. Laura had
sent false flight information to me off the internet. The only ones who did not
know that this was a surprise were Doug and Meredith. About 5 minutes after all
three walked in the front door, they arrived in our room and piled on the bed –
woke me out of a dead sleep – and bounced around me like they did when they
were little. There is nothing that pleases a parent more than having your kids
back in the nest once again.
Reality was so different than what we had thought. A
complete and total surprise.
So that is why I chose to
speak about suffering and hardship and change today!
We are all about to make a shift in thinking as we turn the
corner to fall. There are so many things that we are coping with and so
many changes in each of our lives. I want to give you some good news
today. Prepare to be surprised.
Are we imprisoned in a world of fate and chance?
Can we trust that a loving God has us in his arms even in
hardship?
James
1:1-8
1
James, a servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face
trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of
your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all
without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But
when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a
wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man
should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he
is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
…
12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because
when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has
promised to those who love him.
Credibility of the text
James - the brother of Jesus – high credibility in the early
church – looked up to for a word from God.
James the “servant” – written to Jewish believers everywhere
First thing he writes is that in the face of trials we have
joy -Yeah right!
- Present day India – Orissa province
- Christians in China – over the Olympics – persecution
- Just a snapshot of the
crackdown happened in Beijing, where all major house churches were forced
to stop meeting during the Games and most of their leaders were arrested
or put in seclusion. That excludes the names on nearly a dozen pages of
documented Chinese church arrests and assaults publicized by [The
Evangelical Fellowship of] Canada's Religious Liberty Commission just
before the Olympics.
- Tragedy in your personal family
- Facing the prospect of death
- It has all gone wrong
Christians are seemingly deluded
- Why does James begin with this?
- This is where many of us must begin.
- We have to be satisfied in this area.
Biggest help
Ravi Zacharias – Jesus Among Other Gods
- Presence of Evil = NO God
- If evil exists, then one must assume that good exists in
order to know the difference.
- If good exists one must assume that a moral law exists by
which to measure good and evil.
- If a moral law exists one must point to an ultimate source
or at least an objective base for the moral law.
- If there in no moral law then evil cannot exist by
definition, it is all cruel fate.
There are answers to this dilemma.
We can be a credible Christian in the real world
Overall principles
Principle One – Trials are Inevitable
In this world you will have trouble – persecution – health –
loneliness
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers,
whenever you face trials of many kinds,
- Vs. 2 trials of many kinds – face them – manhole
experience – good Samaritan – they overtake you – mugged – stuff comes –
whenever you face trials
Our culture is outraged by suffering – health, good
life, sports, travel, good life, good food, our right, what we deserve, selfish
nature, get what I want.
Stress – people have become less tolerant of
adversity – we do not have a framework to handle things that go wrong.
Things are not fair – the independent spirit - I do
not deserve this – we demand sunshine all the way – suffering and carrying the
worlds pain is part of our calling as believers.
The Christian believes that suffering is an integral part of
our life.
- Not just physical
- Also agonizing with others – feeling the pain and anguish
of others - examples of work overseas.
Principle Two - Trials are Valuable
- We do not want to say this – really – we do not want to
hear this.
- Usually our compassion rules and we want to soothe a
relationship not attempt to bring intellectual satisfaction – that is for
later.
3 because you know that the
testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Vs. 3 – the testing develops perseverance
a. Trials test faith for genuineness
– scriptures full – refining process – Isaiah – process that removes impurity –
gold and other things are refined by suffering
·
What do we put our faith in – banks, heath, secure job, suffering
moves away the props – what will we turn to – Job 23:10 – I will come forth as
gold
b. Trials test faith for strength
– our faith makes us stronger – we are stretched to a breaking point – we
cannot be broken
c. Trials test faith for maturity
– mature, complete, not lacking
·
vs. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be
mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Do we want all this?
Do we long for Christ likeness?
Do we want what God wants?
Do we desire to grow? Are we open to the future?
God opens the future and frees it from the past.
God changes the future and opens it to things other than
determinism.
CS Lewis
- God whispers to us in our pleasures
- God speaks to us in our conscience
- God shouts to us in our pains – it is God’s megaphone to
rouse us in a deaf world
We can actually come to God in these times
Benefits of Pain
Pain can release things that are harmful to us.
- We have our fingers so tightly wrapped around the things
of this world that we have to experience something to release that.
- Pain comes when I try to release something that has a grip
on me to God – we may not necessarily trust him.
Pain serves to warn us.
- It acts as a device to keep us from harm – both physically
and spiritually.
- We may be in relational danger or physical or spiritual
danger and need to steer clear.
Pain can help us in refining the soul.
- Alters our perception.
- Rom 5:3 leads to perseverance and patience.
- We develop a mature character.
I
spoke with a gentleman not too long ago who told me that losing his job
a year ago was the best thing that ever happened to him. He had been going
along at a steady clip and had grown immune to the life that was going on
around him. His comments to me were the following.
“Since college I have more or less climbed up the ladder
of success. There has never been a time I was out of work. It always found
me. People actually pursued me to work for them. I have not spent a lot of time
outside work. It has been my life. I know my family has suffered. But I have
provided a good home and a steady income. We have worked these things out.”
“One thing I know though, it really has bothered me. I have
let my spiritual condition lapse and I don’t even know where to start. I
do not know what to say to God. I feel guilty even going to God and asking him
for help. I have no right to do so.”
“So
where do you think you should start?” I said.
“Well,
I prayed. I prayed and asked that God would give me some help and tell me that
he was still there.”
“What
happened?”
“Nothing
at first.”
“Then
what did you do.”
“I
prayed again.”
“Then
what happened?”
“All
I could think about were the things I needed to get right in my family and
my priorities and my spiritual life. I started to write them down.”
“How
big is the list?”
“It’s
not short.”
“Does
it seem to have some themes running through it?”
“Yes,
it does.”
“I
think God has spoken to you.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes,
I think so.”
“How
did you feel after you wrote down what came into your mind?”
“Better.”
“Have there been other people’s
names and faces that have come to you that you have perhaps ignored. Yes,
there have.”
“Have
you written those names down as well?”
“No.”
“Do
you think there would be a theme?”
“Yes,
I have pretty much ignored them as well.”
“I
think God has spoken to you. You have experienced his presence. Now let’s pray
for peace in your presence circumstance. God has your attention.”
Pain helps increase our sense of purpose and mission.
- Coming alongside others and giving ourselves by time and
sacrifice are a gift of God and we participate in his work in the world.
- Seeing stuff that stretches our image of culture and the
real presence of God in deprivation and poverty.
Pain as a result of specific sin.
- God has laid down his commandments and violating these
things will not only break the heart of God and the heart of those around
us.
- Breaking relationships and hurting others is damaging and
results in great pain that is not easily forgotten.
- God allows us to experience the joy and suffering of our
actions.
Pain as a result of nature.
- Nature exacts its forces whether we are prepared or not.
- Whether hiking in the mountains or in the path of a hurricane
we must see that nature is to be respected and not revered.
Pain allows God to show his glory
- Lazarus and the man born blind John 9. People going
through difficult experiences and diagnoses. People showing real resolve
and long-suffering,
- Sayers - God does not always prevent the display of evil –
he will transform it, however.
Pain can be the result of an evil being exacted
against us
- 1 Peter 5:8 Satan roars and causes us to be hurt,
suffering results and we need to be highly aware.
God wants you to learn and
grow
through what He is allowing
you to endure.
This letter
starts:
"Meet the very
worst that life presents you with joy."
How
can a person consider trials a reason for joy?
- We are to choose to be joyful in situations where joy
would naturally be our last response.
- When certain circumstances make us angry and we want to
blame the Lord, or anyone, we are to choose -- joy.
- (Phillips) When trials come, "don't resent them as
intruders, but welcome them as friends"
What it is not.
- This is not joyful anticipation for trials.
- Instead, it is joy during trials.
·
The joy
is based on confidence in the outcome of the trial.
- It is the startling realization that trials represent the
possibility of growth.
- Joy is God-oriented rather than event-oriented because it
centers on God and his presence in our experience.
What
is JOY
- Joy is a deep sense of well-being that may also embrace
sorrow, tears, laughter, anger, pain.
- Joy is more a decision than a feeling. It is choosing to
live above feelings but not deny them.
- It is not intense happiness, although choosing joy
sometimes produces happiness.
- Joy is a particularly Christian response to life since it
depends on faith in God's sovereignty.
- It is quiet and grateful, and it inwardly delights in the
goodness of God.
·
Joy
is a contentment that comes from realizing that nothing can "separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:39).
Look at it another way:
1. Drifting. Some float through life's
experiences, hoping one moment and despairing the next. This response leaves
the person entirely at the mercy of the events of life.
2. Pretending. Some pretend to be happy,
determined to put up a good front, no matter what the circumstances.
Scripture:
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face
trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of
your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all
without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But
when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a
wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man
should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he
is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
2 Consider it pure joy
“Consider”
- "Chalk it up" – write it on the blackboard.
- Your experience of trial is evidence that you will grow.
- Don't let pain or struggle take away the joy of new
growth, new insight, new depth, or new dependency.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers
“My brothers”
- We rarely have to face trials alone.
- Believers always have Christ with them; they also have one
another.
- We are here to help each other. We are not to go it alone!
2 Whenever you face trials.
- Not if we face trials, but “whenever”.
- Word means “fall into" trials.
Unavoidable difficulties of life.
- Falling into trials is like falling among robbers, as did
the traveler in Luke 10:30. Trials, problems, situations can be
joy-robbers if we lack the proper attitude.
- Later in the chapter (1:13-15), James deals more directly
with temptations that are self-inflicted. But there will be times when, no
matter where we turn, we encounter trials.
2 Trials of many kinds.
- Hardships from without or temptations from within.
- They come when we are least prepared and most certain they
could never come.
- A trial may be a hard situation that tests a person's
faith such as persecution, a difficult moral choice, or a tragedy.
We are to see life
with God's perspective in mind.
God is present in
the situation.
What may look
hopeless or impossible to us never looks that way to God!
3 The testing of your faith
- “Dokimion” - testing;
- No one has you on the rack.
- Focus is not on the test – like testing a product.
- It means that every time you are tested it has already
been determined that you will pass.
- You will be stronger and you will grow in the knowledge
that God is with you.
- The trials strengthen believers by adding perseverance to
the faith that is already present.
3 Develops perseverence
- Agricultural - harvest or yield. There is a harvest -
perseverance.
- The results are gradual. There is an end in sight, but
arriving there takes time.
·
Other
words - "endurance," "steadfastness,"
"fortitude," and "staying power."
·
We
cannot really know our own depth until we see how we react under pressure.
·
Diamonds are coal, subjected to
intense pressure over a period of time. Without pressure, coal remains coal.
The testing of your faith is the combined pressure that life brings to bear on
you.
Our reaction to all of
this.
1. Escape
- Our first line of defense is to avoid, deny, or escape.
- Any shortcut offered is tempting.
- Blame the other person, blame God.
- Fight back with envy, strife, malicious talk, evil
suspicions.
Warning – listen to what is
happening
- We may willfully walk right into old habits or wrong
choices.
- We may revert to an old pattern, or indulge a habit.
4 Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may be mature
- If we are serious about training for long-distance
races, but only succeed in running around the block once. Trials
should not be allowed to outlast us; we are to outlast trials.
At this point, our best example is Jesus,
- "who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God" (Heb 12:2 NIV).
2. Explain
- "Why is this happening to me?"
- If only we could understand God's reasons, it would
be much easier to endure whatever we are suffering. If we can explain, we
can endure.
- James urges us to get on with our service with
joyful endurance, rather than attempt to explain every event that God
allows into our life.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Trials are manageable
Pray
We usually ask hard questions – react with anger – react
with feelings
- 5-8 where do we find answers – we ask God for it
- We are pointed to God’s grace
- We are subjected to God’s loving kindness
- We are at the feet of Jesus asking questions
- We are not double minded – we focus on him
Think (Wisdom)
- We need to see things from a Christian perspective
- We need to think Christianly – that is what we are doing
this morning
- Consider – the power of community – let others help you
get there
- We all talk to ourselves – process this – God is good – I
know he is here – I am a child of God.
How do we know that God has answered our request for wisdom?
- When trials come we will find ourselves responding with an
attitude of joy. We will realize that joy is not our own doing, but is a
gift.
- Until a person establishes an authentic relationship with
Jesus Christ they should not expect to experience the joy of Christ in
their lives—trials or no trials.
o
This lifestyle is absolutely attainable.
o
It’s in Christ.
Life is sacred.
- What a world this would be if everyone made perfect
choices and everyone was good – we would be robots at best.
- Love and the ability to choose to love even in suffering
is what makes us cry out for more. We give and give and do it despite
suffering. We see eternity through pain.
Story of university president – taking care of his wife. Ravi Zacharias 129
The mystery. The surprise. I told you there would be one.
