“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds...”
Imagine that each of us took a pen and our sermon notes for this evening and wrote down all our trials—anxiety, a wayward child, cancer, bereavement, insufficient finances, loneliness, chronic pain. Imagine that after we listed them all, we placed them unsigned here on the steps of the sanctuary. I imagine it would be a rather daunting collection of lists. You wouldn’t know who wrote each list, but you would know what your brothers and sisters are facing. They would know what you are facing.
Now imagine a visitor came up to these steps, saw the lists, smiled, and said, ‘what an opportunity for joy.’ I imagine that you would have two responses. First, you would be angry; ‘what in the world is this man talking about?’ Second, you would be curious; ‘what in the world is this man talking about?’ This visitor is either an insensitive oaf or he has wisdom that could help you in your trials.
This evening we do have such a visitor. His name is James. He looks at your list and says, ‘what an opportunity for joy.’ Are you primarily angry about that or are you primarily curious about what he means?
When you read God’s word, you quickly find that He says some rather unexpected things, like, “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds.” How do you respond when you find something unexpected in God’s Word? How do you respond when James stands next to you, looks at your list of trials and says, ‘what an opportunity for joy’?
Rather than being quick to judge the word, ask the word to judge you. “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
James looks your list of trials and says, ‘what an opportunity for joy.’ God gives you reasons for joy in trials. You are going to have trials whether or not you consider these reasons for joy. You would be wise to consider these reasons. You would be foolish to ignore them.
Trials contain opportunities for joy. That is the claim of this sermon: trials contain opportunities for joy.
We will study this in three points. First: pure joy. Second: trials of many kinds. Third: reasons why. First, we consider the pure joy in trials. Second: we consider trials themselves. Third: we consider why we can have joy in trials.
First: pure joy. James was writing to people who, like himself, had come to recognize that Jesus of Nazareth was God. James grew up in the same home with Jesus. James’ was Jesus’ half-brother. James didn’t see who his brother was until the Holy Spirit made it clear. No one sees Jesus for who he is until the Holy Spirit makes it clear. “We once regarded Christ [from a worldly point of view],” wrote Paul; “we do so no longer.”
James had changed. His readers had changed. That change brought any number of joys, but it also came with trials. James’ first readers were, “scattered among the nations,” as we saw last week.
James told these individuals and families to consider this scattering, “pure joy.” To paraphrase verse 2, ‘consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are scattered from your homes, when you are forced to leave your fields and businesses behind and start over at the age of fifty, when you go from having a whole house for just your family to sharing one house with four families. Consider it pure joy.’
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” How do you respond to that?
If you reject the inspiration of Scripture, you might dismiss James’ words as thoughtless. You might dismiss them as words from a man who is unwilling or unable to sympathize. If so, you will probably put the book of James aside and choose another. You want help in trials and this doesn’t sound helpful. If that is you, keep listening.
If you believe the Bible is the word of God, you won’t reject James’ words outright, but you might consider them beyond your ability. ‘Perhaps Job could obey a verse like this, but I’m not Job.’ You might begin to think that the Bible is spiritual but not practical.
If you believe the Bible is the word of God, you might take James’ words with such seriousness that you begin to deny your other emotions. ‘God’s word says to consider it pure joy when I encounter trials, so I would be wrong to cry about my friend’s death. I certainly was wrong to scream about it when I went on that walk in the woods. I should confess that to God.’
Now, there is grave danger in refusing to take the Bible seriously. The man who reads and then rejects James’ words because they seem insensitive has harmed himself because God has spoken to him and he has shut his ears.
The is also danger in misunderstanding the Bible even as you take it seriously. That will hurt you as well. The woman who refuses to acknowledge her anger at the sudden death of her husband, because that wouldn’t be pure joy as James 1:2 commands, harms herself. The man who reads James 1:2 and assumes that only the most mature believers can obey these words is harming himself. You can harm yourself and others as a result of misunderstanding the Bible.
If you take the Bible seriously, be curious about it. Be curious about why James would tell you to consider the joy in your trials. If James were here and he looked at your list of trials and said, ‘what an opportunity for joy,’ then you could be curious in person. You could ask him what he meant. The disciples often asked Jesus what he meant. They were confused by what he said and so they asked for clarification.
Be curious about these words ‘pure joy.’ The word ‘pure’ here is an intensifier. This is strong joy. This is high-octane joy. James wasn’t telling those Christians to feel only joy in trials. He was telling them there was strong joy available in trials. You might like your coffee strong. James likes his joy strong. More importantly God likes His joy strong and He wants you to have this joy in trials.
James’ scholar Doug Moo explains, “James does not… suggest that Christians facing trials will have no response other than joy, as if we were commanded never to be saddened by difficulties. His point, rather, is that trials should be an occasion for genuine rejoicing.”
Don’t feel ashamed if you feel something other than joy in trials. The Bible records any number of godly men and women who felt something other than joy in trials. Psalm 56:8, “Record my misery; list my tears on Your scroll—are they not in Your record?” Read through the book of Lamentations. Listen to Jesus. When he was facing a trial, he told his friends, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. James wasn’t putting something on those early Christians that wouldn’t fit Jesus.
If you think you can feel only joy in a trial, you aren’t listening to James. If you think that you have no reason for joy in trials, you aren’t listening to James. Jesus didn’t feel only joy as he faced the cross, but he did have real joy as he faced the cross; “for the joy set before him he endured the cross.”
Next week we will give our full attention the specific strong joy that James had in mind. He will explain how our trials make us more like Jesus and what could be better than being more like Jesus?
But now, I must ask you, do you believe you have a reason for joy in your trials? Don’t imagine a hypothetical trial. Remember your most recent trial or consider the trial you are enduring right now. Do you believe you have reasons for strong joy in this trial? God does. If you don’t, can you consider that God sees opportunities that you don’t see? He sees the reasons for sorrow. He sees the reasons for concern. He also sees genuine reasons for joy.
Those early Christians were perfectly able to consider their reasons for sorrow in being scattered. My guess is that you are perfectly able to consider your reasons for sorrow in trials. You are skilled at running them through in your head. You might need help to consider your reasons for joy in trials. James can help you.
Are you open to considering joy in trials? If you don’t think that such joy is possible, then you won’t be able to hear what James has to say. You won’t be able to hear what God has to say.
Before we consider reasons for joy in trials, we must first examine the trials themselves. That’s our second point: trials of many kinds. James told those early Christians to consider the pure joy in many kinds of trials—“whenever you face trials of many kinds.”
There are important differences among trials. Growing up in an abusive home is different from losing your hearing at the age of fifty. Suffering a miscarriage at ten weeks is different from delivering a full-term, stillborn baby. Burying a husband is different from burying a wife. Each of those trials has unique sorrows.
They are not, however, totally different. If they were, James wouldn’t tell each of his readers to consider the joy common to their trials.
James knew joy in trials. He stayed in the persecution that others fled. He was the leader of the persecuted church that remained. He wasn’t telling others to consider joy that he hadn’t found. He wasn’t writing truths in a letter that he wasn’t willing to say in person.
I have no idea what trials you are facing. I wouldn’t be telling you that you have a reason for joy in that trial unless God said that was the case.
Trials don’t drive you further from God. You are the one who responds to the trials. Trials have no will of their own. You have a will. Doug Moo again, “God brings difficulties into believers’ lives for a purpose, and this purpose can be accomplished only if they respond in the right way to their problems.”
You can respond with joy to any trial, “trials of many kinds,” as James put it. Paul agreed. That’s why he said, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
You determine your response to the trials. Hudson Taylor was wright, “It does not matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies –whether it comes between you and God, or whether it presses you nearer His heart.”
God intends to use trials for your joy. James urges you to see life that way; “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Unless you see life that way, you will see no purpose in trials. Your life will be filled with nervous bouts of calm punctuated by sudden trials. That is not a joy-filled way to live. That is not God’s will for your life.
James gives us one reason for joy in trials. We will give it our full attention next week. God’s word gives us many other reasons for joy in trials. The Bible is a book written by people who had suffered trials to people who suffered trials. It gives us many reasons for joy in what we are facing. We see that in our third point: reasons why.
Here are four reasons why you can, “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”
First, trials remind you of the providence of God, which is another way of saying that trials are a reminder that God is in charge. Peter knew that. He told believers, ”do not to be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” Peter didn’t think trials should surprise us. He thought that trials should remind us that we are not in charge and that God is in charge.
During his trials, Job affirmed the providence of God again and again. He affirmed it when he asked his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” He affirmed it at the end of the book when he told God, “I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” Job wrestled with that truth even as he believed it. He wrestled aloud for at least twenty chapters. Read his wrestlings. They might sound like yours.
Even though we wrestle with God’s providence, we believers find great comfort in the fact that God is in charge. If you doubt that, consider the alternative. What if God had no control over the condition of your fields? What if He had no control over your mental health? What if He had no control over your future? Believing in the providence of God is not only wise because it is Scriptural; it is wise because the alternative is troubling.
“This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort,” the Belgic Confession tells us, “[because] it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly Father, who watches over us with fatherly care… so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father.”
The Catechism agrees. [Because of God’s providence], “we can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from His love.” The confident Christian doesn’t deny God’s providence in her suffering. She is confident because she remembers it that God is in charge.
You can have joy in trials because God is in charge. Second, you can have joy in trials because trials remind you of who you are and who God is.
You and I are very prone to forget that we are dust into which God has chosen to breathe life. I have incredible limitations and I regularly forget them. I am unable to change anyone else, and yet I put that responsibility on myself. I am unable to control how anyone responds to me, and yet I put that responsibility on myself. I am unable to secure any certain future for my family, and yet I put that responsibility on myself. I cannot be the Holy Spirit for this church, and yet I put that responsibility on myself. Trials remind me that I am not God.
Trials remind me that I am very limited. I have needs. I need to sleep. I need Sabbath. I need to eat. I need friends. I need Christian brothers and sisters to be with me and for me. God is the only one who exists in and of Himself. I don’t. I am needy. I forget that. Trials remind me.
Trials remind you that God is God and that you are not. God said as much to Job in his trials, asking him, “Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like His? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.”
We find trials difficult because they teach you that you are not God. Your own right hand cannot save you in trials. That is part of God’s design in trials.
You can have joy in trials because they remind you of who you are and who God is. Third, you can have joy in trials because God can use your trial to help others. God used Joseph’s trials to help others. As Joseph explained to his brothers, “God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” God used Paul’s trials to help others. As he told the Ephesians, “I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” I hope you know how God used Jesus’ trials to help you, “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul reminded the Corinthians, “that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
God inspired the Scriptures, in part, to bring more good out of the trials of His people. Where would we be without David’s song in trials, “the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want”? Who hasn’t been strengthened by the men and women of Hebrews 11? That chapter is story of trial after trial. It is hard to think of any man or woman of the Bible whose life wasn’t filled with trials. Daniel’s life was filled with trials. Ruth’s life was filled with trials. Samuel’s life was filled with trials. Paul’s life was filled with trials.
If God has strengthened you through their trials, don’t you think He can strengthen others through your trials? Your children see you respond to trials and they are far more strengthened than you might think. They know you aren’t perfect, but they see you depend on God. The people trapped in the world see that you suffer trials differently than they do. They see you grieve but with hope.
God can use your trials to help others. That doesn’t erase the pain, but it does give it some purpose and there is joy in that.
Fourth, and finally, God uses the depths of your trials to underline the glory of what is to come. Paul put it this way in his letter to the Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
I want you to consider the worst trial that you’ve endured. Remember how low it brought you. That low point is not worth comparing to the high points to come.
The trials of this life can bring us pretty low. Consider the effects of brain cancer. Consider the effects of watching your adult child slowly die of an opioid addiction. Consider how fiery our trials can be. Now consider the promise that these horrible lows aren’t worth comparing with the glory that is to come. The worse your trial, the greater heaven must be.
As he faced the cross, Jesus found joy in that promise. The night he was betrayed, Jesus prayed, “glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.” As the darkness closed in around Jesus, he remembered the glory that was coming. Do the same.
You have reasons for joy in your trials, but you need to consider them. That first word of verse 2 is an imperative, meaning it is a command—something that you must choose to do. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”
God gives reasons for joy in trials, but you must choose to consider them. Is that what you are doing in trials? You know how to consider your suffering in trials. Consider your reasons for joy in your trials. That’s God’s will for you. Amen.