Today we begin our study of the book of James. We’ve studied James before as a church, but we’ve reached the point where we have gone through the entire New Testament, and so we are now on our second round. But I think that’s a good place to be. As we learned in Jude last week, we need to be reminded. We need to remember. And so I look forward to gleaning more from this harvest than we did on the first.
However, perhaps due to the fact that we have studied James before, I don’t want to spend a lot of time introducing the epistle, nor on it’s human author, who is James. James doesn’t spend a lot of time introducing himself, for that matter. He doesn’t mention much about himself. But we know from our previous study of Jude that James and Jude were brothers. We should also know by now that James and Jude were half brothers of Jesus. They had the same birth mother, but Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, whereas James and Jude were born of Joseph.
It would have made sense from a human standpoint for James to have mentioned that he was related to Jesus. That would be a pretty strong argument for his letter being taken seriously by the first century church. But, just as in the case of Jude, James doesn’t emphasize his physical relationship with Jesus, but instead emphasizes his spiritual relationship. And that is very striking, and it speaks volumes in doctrinal terms about his view of Christology.
James says that he is a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a tremendous statement, given the fact that they grew up together in the same household. He knew Jesus as his older brother since his birth. He saw Him in every kind of circumstance. However, it’s noteworthy that John chapter 7 tells us that Jesus’s brothers did not believe in Him, initially. It was only after the resurrection that they came to believe in Jesus as Christ the Lord.
But notice James puts Jesus Christ and God on the same plane, and he a servant to both. He says in vs 1, “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s a tremendous statement of the deity of Jesus Christ, from someone who had every reason not to believe.
The author then is James, the brother of Jude and the half brother of Jesus Christ. He is not an apostle in the strict sense of the word, as he was not one of the 12. Scholars tell us that James wrote this book about 44 AD. That would make it the first book written in the New Testament. James was martyred about AD 62. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that he was thrown off the rooftop of the temple, and then stoned and beaten until dead. Other historic traditions say that James was called Old Camel Knees, because he spent so much time on his knees praying that he developed very obvious callouses on his knees.
James addresses this letter not to one specific church, but to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad. That would have encompassed the entire church, and it could be argued that it included Gentile believers as well. But in any case, the Jews had been dispersed from Jerusalem into many different regions and cities across the Roman Empire, and they had been dispersed because of persecution against the church. It’s believed that after the stoning of Stephen that persecution became more prominent and the church in Jerusalem were scattered.
So as James writes to these scattered, persecuted Christians living in predominately Gentile, pagan cities, in a culture hostile to Christianity, his first concern is about dealing with the persecution, bearing with the trials and tribulations that they were experiencing. That was perhaps the most pressing issue for the church scattered abroad. Their faith was under attack, as they are being persecuted for their faith. Their faith is being tried, as they are forced to reconcile what they believed to be true, with the reality of what they are experiencing in living the Christian life.
But James’s concern is that they become spiritually mature. His concern is that they live sanctified lives as they grow in the faith. His concern is that their belief brings about behavior that is fitting of a child of God. And so rather than the Christian life being a sort of all expenses paid pleasure cruise where everything just works out great, he wants to show that God uses the crucible of trials to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.
To deal with this seeming contradiction in the life of faith, James says in vs 2, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” That statement is itself is an oxymoron, if you think about it. We just finished studying Job in our Wednesday night services. And we know that Job encountered tremendous trials as a devout believer in God. He was the most righteous man that was living in his day. And yet he was beset with one calamity after another.
It would have seemed totally heartless and calloused if his friends would have said to him, “hey Job, you should consider these trials as all joy.” We sometimes hear well meaning Christians give that kind of response when they hear of some tragic thing going on in your life. As if since we are Christians, we should not feel pain or grief and instead be happy over our circumstances, however terrible they may appear.
I don’t think that is what James is advocating here though. For one, I don’t think happiness and joy are the same thing. I think happiness is usually a fleeting emotion, whereas joy is a sense of settled contentment. But maybe we should not be looking at joy as an immediate response to trial. I think a good way to understand this principle is to consider what Hebrews says about the suffering of Jesus on the cross. We all realize that the cross is a terrible method of killing someone. It’s cruel and unusual punishment that is almost unfathomable. And we know that as Jesus suffered and died on the cross He was not singing “O Happy Day.” I don’t mean to be sacrilegious about His death. But we know that it was no laughing matter. At one point, the suffering was so intense, that he cried out, “My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” There should be no doubt that Jesus suffered during His trial on the cross. Jesus did not exhibit a happy, carefree attitude about the ordeal He was to undergo. In fact, in anticipation of it, He sweated drops of blood.
And yet consider what Hebrews says in chapter 12 vs 2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Here is the supreme example of how we are to endure trials. It says, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. The joy was not immediate. As He was suffering in the present, the joy was in the future. He was willing to suffer in the immediate, looking forward to joy in the eternal.
I think the KJV rendering of the word translated “consider” might be helpful. In the KJV it is “count”. Count it all joy. As in you are counting as actual something that has not yet been realized. But you count it now. The Spirit is not telling us that we are to go through tragedy or hardship or trails with a smile glued on our face and yelling out “praise the Lord!” as if the situation does not hurt us or make us sad. But to endure the pain, looking forward to the joy set before us as we come through the situation. Whether we come through the trial and realize joy in this life, or we transpire in the trial are translated to the next life, death does not prevent that future joy, but only hastens it.
I think this verse in Hebrews helps so much in our understanding of this text in James. Notice the parallel in words, In Hebrews -perfecter, faith, joy, endured. In James - joy, vs 2, faith, vs 3, endurance, vs 3, perfect, vs 4. That’s a good example of interpreting scripture with scripture. We can better understand the principle of enduring trials that James is talking about, by examining the illustration of Christ’s suffering as described in Hebrews.
So count it as all joy when you encounter various trials. That phrase various trials opens up the possibilities to include just about anything. All kinds of trials. Every kind of trial. Think of what Job endured, death of loved ones, loss of wealth, loss of health, loss of friendships, criticism. So all kinds of trials are included in this statement.
But wait a minute - I left out an important word in that first part of the sentence. James says “my brethren.” That’s a reference to fellow Christians. We are brothers and sisters in the Lord. James is addressing fellow Christians. That’s another false premise of a lot of health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine folks out there who want to claim that as a Christian you should never have any problems. God will eliminate all your problems. That was more or less the claim of Job’s friends, wasn’t it? They said Job had problems because he was not much of a man of God. If he had enough faith, or the right kind of faith, then he wouldn’t have problems like he was having. Yet that is not what we learned in Job, is it? Job was righteous, and yet he suffered. He was a faithful servant of God, and yet he suffered tremendous trials. He had problems counting his trials as all joy. But in the end he experienced joy because he endured the trials without turning his back on God.
This principle that James proposes also has the support of the apostle Paul and Peter. Paul says in Romans 5:3, “And not only this, but we also rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
And Peter says in 1 Peter 1:6, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Both of those apostles tell us that trials produces perseverance, and perseverance proven character, or what Peter calls the proof of your faith. It’s the same idea that James conveys in vs 3, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” It’s important to know the truth. Job wanted to know the truth about God in the midst of his trials. And it’s important for us to have the right knowledge as we go through trials. As I have said before many times, our faith is founded on the truth of God’s word, on His promises.
And so we need to know the purpose of God in the trials of our life. They are not by chance. There are no accidents with God. Ultimately everything that happens to us comes by the purpose of God. So James says that we need to know that God sends these trials to us to test our faith, which produces endurance, or another word, maybe better, is perseverance.
But what does he mean to test our faith? Is God trying to get us to fail? I used to think that about some of the teachers I had in high school. They would give us a test over stuff I didn’t think we had ever covered. And so I thought they were trying to make us fail the test. But that’s not what James has in mind here when he says “test.” What that means is “prove”.
Let’s look again at 1 Peter 1:6 which we saw a few minutes ago, and hopefully get some more insight into what James is talking about. Peter says, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
In precious metal refining, you take a lot of gold which may be 14k or 18k, which means that it is 517 parts gold per 1000, or 750 parts gold per 1000. The other parts are non precious metals like brass or copper or something else. So when you send it to the refinery, the gold is melted down in a fire which burns away the dross, and separates that which is base metals from the precious metal. So what comes out of the refiner’s fire is pure gold without any impurities. That’s what Peter meant by the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire.
The hymn we sing, How Firm a Foundation, has the line in it which speaks of this. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”
And that is what James is speaking of when he says the testing of our faith. We go through a fiery trial which God uses to prove our faith, or better, to improve our faith. It takes out the impurities. The test reveals the evidence of our faith, and purifies our faith.
And James says that evidence is endurance, or perseverance. The Greek word for endurance or perseverance is hypomone. It means to bear up under. Christians very often have the mindset that when trials come, that they want to get out of it as soon as possible. All their prayer requests are for the Lord to get rid of this trial immediately. But the fact is that the Lord’s purposes are not always to take us quickly out of the trial but to use it to produce something in us. So we are to endure the trial.
That quality of perseverance was illustrated by Job. However, James isn’t suggesting an attitude of resignation. He’s not advocating an attitude of whatever will be will be. Of fatalism. But he is suggesting perseverance. Resignation is passive, perseverance is active. Resignation results in defeat, perseverance results in triumph. Perseverance says as Job said, “though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.” It’s not turning away from God in trial, but turning to God, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Endurance is a character trait that God wants to build in us. And He uses trials to do it. James says in chapter 5:11, “ We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful.”
And James says we endure not just for endurance’s sake, but because it brings spiritual maturity. Look at vs 4, “And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We need to clarify our terms to truly understand what James is talking about here. The word perfect can almost always be better interpreted as complete. He’s not talking about somehow reaching spiritual perfection, but spiritual completion. What does that mean? Simply speaking, spiritual maturity.
James says let endurance or perseverance have it’s complete result. “Don’t take the cake out of the oven before the toothpick comes out clean.” That’s what Susie always tells me when she has to leave the house and I’m home studying, and she has a cake in the oven. My job when the timer goes off is to stick a toothpick in it and see if it comes out clean. Simple job. But if I take the cake out just because the timer goes off and it hasn’t been in long enough then the cake is ruined.
That’s a bad analogy of what James says is needed in perseverance. You need to stay in the fire until God’s work is complete in you. Spiritual maturity takes time, and it takes enduring in tribulation until God has completed His purpose in you. Three times Paul pleaded with God to take away a thorn in his flesh, which he said was a messenger of Satan to torment him. Whatever the trial was, it wasn’t fun. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect, ( or complete) in weakness. (2Cor. 12:8) There it is again, the idea that enduring trials completes your faith.
James says, let patience have it’s complete result or work. Don’t immediately run around in circles crying to God to get this monkey off your back. Realize that God is working in the trial to complete your faith.
The word translated “perfect,” in the Greek is “teleion.” It’s a word that was used in secular sources of animals that are full grown. Here it is used to refer to Christians that are full grown. Endurance makes a full-grown Christian. So the Lord is giving you endurance, to put you through a greater test, to make you a stronger Christian, a more mature Christian.
James says in chapter 3 vs 2, “For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.” He uses the concept of perfect there to indicate the concept of wholeness. That is, not lagging behind in any point of their spiritual growth.
That phrase “not lacking in anything is synonymous with the term complete, which expresses the idea that all parts are functioning as they should. If we endure the trials and the training which God uses to make us complete, then we lack nothing in our faith, so that we might be able to persevere in faith until the end.
Jesus promised that in this world we would have tribulations. That is going to be part of the Christian experience here on earth. But if we endure, if we persevere in our faith as we go through the tribulations without doubting God, then we will have a refined faith that will come forth like gold, and that results in bringing glory to Christ, and our glorification.
Paul speaks of that process in Romans 8:16-18 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Let’s conclude this study about God’s purpose in trials this morning with the statement given by Peter in 1 Peter 1:6 which we referenced earlier. I think it is a good summary of this doctrine. “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
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