“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.”
Did you expect that life would be easy? Many people do. Many Christians do. I do. Maybe you do. Maybe you really do expect that your family members will always be agreeable. I tend to. Maybe you genuinely expect that your work will consistently be pleasurable and meaningful. I seem to expect that. Maybe you sincerely imagine that your body will be healthy until you die. Maybe you are flabbergasted when trials come.
Don’t be. “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you,” wrote Peter. God’s word tells you that life is hard. Jesus told you that it would be hard; “in this world you will have trouble.” Paul told you that it would be hard; “through many hardships we enter the kingdom of God.” The hymns we sing tell you that life is hard; “through many dangers, toils, and snares, we have already come.”
Life is certainly filled with beauty. Life has pleasures that satisfy, both shallow and deep. Life is good in so many ways, but life is hard.
Unless you accept that life is hard, trials will flabbergast you. Unless you accept that, “through many hardships we enter the kingdom of God,” you will be regularly perplexed on your pilgrimage towards the kingdom of God.
You live life after the fall into sin. You live before the new creation. You live in a world of thorns and thistles. If you fail to recognize that, you will think that life should be easy. You will be regularly baffled by the trials you endure.
If you know that there is a new creation coming, you can endure these trials. If you don’t believe in the new creation, if you think this life is all you have, then I can see why you expect ease and comfort now. You have no hope for the future so you might as well have illusions for today.
The man who knows that something better is coming can live realistically today. The man who knows the new creation is coming can make his way through trials.
In your trials, you need to keep your eyes on the finish line. That is the claim of this sermon: in trials, keep your eyes on the finish line.
We will see this in two points. First: the trials of this life. Second: the crown of the next life. First: the trials of this life. Second: the crown of the next life.
First: the trials of this life. James has told us to consider our reasons for joy in trials. You will certainly consider the sorrows of your trials. You will, at times, weep like the Psalmists. You will, at times, ask, ‘why?’ like Job. You have many reasons for many emotions in trials, but you have reasons for joy. Trials bring perseverance and perseverance brings maturity. That’s a reason for joy. God will give wisdom in our trials, if we ask. That’s a reason for joy. The difficulties will still be there, but you can consider the joy.
James now gives us, and his first readers, another reason for joy in trials. He told these scattered Christians to keep their eyes on the finish line. “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.”
When you face a trial—internal bleeding, bankruptcy, hostility for putting your faith into action—you should remember that you are running a race and this race has a finish line. James tells us that there is a crown of life at the finish line.
Unless you remember that there is a finish line, you will expect heaven on earth. You will pretend you live somewhere you don’t. You live in a world in which people die. You live in a world of prejudice and bias and selfishness. You live ‘East of Eden’ as John Steinbeck put it. Don’t expect Eden. Don’t pretend that you are living after the finish line.
You live in a world of trials. These trials are, in the words of Doug Moo, “any difficulty in life that may threaten our faithfulness to Christ.”
Cancer is difficult for both the Christian and the unbeliever, but it isn’t, strictly speaking, a trial for both. The unbeliever won’t ask, ‘why?’ with any real meaning because he has no one to ask. The unbeliever won’t find his faithfulness to Christ threatened because he has no faithfulness to Christ to threaten. He will suffer the effects of chemo. He will look back on this time as trying, but James isn’t thinking about him when he writes about trials. He is thinking about Christians who find their faithfulness to Christ threatened. It might be threatened by sorrow over a wayward child. It might be threatened by persecution. It might be threatened by turmoil in marriage. It might be threatened by insufficient funds.
James told those Christians in trials to keep their eyes on the finish line. The only finish line the unbeliever looks for is the end of his trouble. James knows that there will be no end of trouble until the finish line of glory.
What threatens your faithfulness to Christ? What are your trials? Do you wonder why God allowed something to happen to someone you love? Are you in a situation in which sin seems like an easy way out? Are you ready to give up? You have trials. James tells you to keep your eyes on the finish line.
If you keep your eyes on the finish line, you will stop worshipping comfort. Comfort may be the idol of choice in our culture, and since trials disrupt comfort, trials are repugnant to our culture. We are awash in this culture. We will be tempted to expect comfort. Don’t expect total comfort from this life. The satisfaction that you think this comfort would bring will only be found in the next life. Stop expecting this life to be the next life.
Keep your eyes on the finish line. This will help you persevere. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.”
James came alongside those early Christians like a coach coming alongside athletes. Boxing coaches motivate boxers to keep going round after round by envisioning victory after the final bell. Cross-country coaches motivate their runners by focusing them on the end of the race. James motivated those suffering Christians by focusing them on the crown of life at the finish line.
The crown James had in mind was most likely an athlete’s crown similar to what is still handed out at the Olympics. If you were or are an athlete, you know how motivating such a prize can be. You will do four more push-ups than you thought you could because you want that prize. You will run raster for longer than you imagined you could because you are racing for a prize. As an athlete, you expect suffering on the way to your prize. You will endure the suffering for the sake of your goal. You will endure trials. Will you envision the victory when you need perseverance in trial? Will you keep your eyes on the finish line of glory when you endure trials?
Joni Eareckson Tada does. She has been in a wheelchair ever since a diving accident in 1967. Such an event could threaten faithfulness to Christ. That hasn’t been the case for Joni. Last year, after fifty years in that wheelchair she said, “I’d rather be in this wheelchair knowing Jesus than walking without Jesus.” Joni keeps her eyes on the prize. She thinks a lot about the next life. On her radio show she said, “I always say that in a way, I hope I can take my wheelchair to heaven with me—I know that‘s not biblically correct, but if I were able, I would have my wheelchair up in heaven right next to me when God gives me my brand new, glorified body. And I will then turn to Jesus and say, ‘Lord, do you see that wheelchair right there? Well, you were right when you said that in this world we would have trouble, because that wheelchair was a lot of trouble! But Jesus the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you. And the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be. So thank you for what you did in my life through that wheelchair.” Joni can persevere today in that wheelchair because she keeps her eyes on the finish line of the next life.
How often do you think of the next life? I wonder if we think about it less often than Christians of previous generations. We Americans have it pretty good. We have it so good that we are surprised by trials. I dare say we are far more surprised by many trials than our brothers and sisters in sub-Saharan Africa. We are surprised by suffering because we live in a society of comfort. We assume it will just get better and better. We Americans think that every generation will enjoy a better standard of living than the one before. We think that technology will continually make our lives easier and better. We think we can recreate paradise here.
God thinks that is foolish. There is no paradise here. God made that clear in the Garden of Eden. After the fall into sin, God barred Adam and Eve from the tree of life lest they eat it and live in sin and sorrow forever. We aren’t going to progress out of burying our loved ones. People won’t develop out of the meaninglessness that comes from living only for this life. God knew that and so He prevented this life from lasting forever.
James called this man in verse 12 ‘blessed’ for a reason. There is a blessing in passing from this life into the next, provided you meet God as His child. There is blessing in leaving the thorns of this life behind.
Are you looking for that blessing in this life or the next? If you are looking for it in this life, I have a question for you—how has that gone so far? How has that gone for you this past week? If you can’t find paradise in a holiday week, you aren’t going to find it in this life, and you didn’t find it this week. You found, at best, enjoyable days punctuated by trials. Stop looking for ultimate satisfaction in this life. Start looking beyond the grave.
Jesus did so. Can we agree that Jesus’s life consisted of trial upon trial? He grew up in an underprivileged family. His birth was the cause of death for all sorts of other babies in the area. He grew up under a cloud of suspicious about how he was conceived. He was certainly misunderstood at times by his parents and by friends. How could God in the flesh not be? He was opposed by all the people that should have lived lives worthy of respect—the religious leaders and the government officials. He was slandered. He was certainly a focus for gossip. “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” All this came before the cross.
Jesus kept his eyes on the finish line. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” says Hebrews. Jesus was thinking about that crown of life, that glory, as he endured the cross. The Son of God kept his eyes on the finish line in his trials. If Jesus did that, how much more do you need to do that?
We’ve seen that this crown of life should motivate us to endure trials. Let’s study this crown. That’s our second point: the crown of the next life.
A crown was one of the apostles’ favorite metaphors for the glory that awaits us followers of Christ. Peter told the elders about it, “when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” As he neared his own death, Paul thought about this crown, “there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” John’s Revelation is full of crowns.
These crowns have different backgrounds—some are athletic, some are royal—but the metaphor stands as a sign for the glory that awaits us. Peter, Paul, James, and John all used this image of a crown to describe the glories of the next life. James tells you to keep that glory in mind as you suffer now.
If you don’t know the glory that awaits you, then you will find it very hard to persevere today. If you don’t treasure this crown that awaits you, your treasure will be in this life and so will your heart. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” taught Jesus.
Where is your heart? Where is your treasure? Is it in this life or the next? If your treasure is in this life, trials will bewilder you. You will think your world has come to an end because your heart is set on this world.
Set your heart on this crown of life. Set your heart beyond the finish line. Some Christians worry that if they focus on the next life, they will be of no earthly good. I have ministered in a number of churches now and I have yet to meet one Christian who is so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly good. I have met many Christians who I fear are far too earthly minded. I have met many Christians who seem far too at home in this life. I have been too at home in this life.
We need to remember the glory of this crown of life. We need to remember because there will be trials on the way there. Here are four reasons to set your heart on this crown of life. First: desire the absence.
Eternal life is often described in terms of absence. “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” In the new creation, you will never bury a spouse. In the new creation, you will never bury a child. In the new creation, your friends will never say, ‘goodbye,’ for good. In the new creation, your mom will never have cancer. In the new creation, you will never suffer a panic attack. In the new creation, you will never wonder whether life matters. In the new creation, you will never wonder if you matter. In the new creation, you will not see any travesties of justice on the news. In the new creation, you won’t need to constantly supervise your children for fear of what might happen. In the new creation, you won’t – end of sentence for anything bad. There is a proper absence in the new creation.
John describes this absence in terms of open gates. “On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.” The city gates are always open in the new creation and yet John tells us, “Nothing impure will ever enter it.” Can you imagine a place that is completely open and vulnerable and yet completely safe? No, you can’t. You haven’t experienced anything like that in this fallen world.
Would you want to live in a place like that? What would you sacrifice to live in a place like that? The sacrifice has been made for you. Before he died on their behalf, Jesus told his disciples that he would prepare a place for them. This new creation is the place he is preparing. If you long to be there, remember it in your trials. “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.”
Eternal life is described in terms of absence. Eternal life is also described in terms of presence. That is your second desire for the next life; desire the presence.
There are wholesome pleasures in the new creation. Isaiah described some this way, “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.” Do you enjoy the good thing of life? They were all God’s idea. They are still God’s idea. There will be pleasures aplenty in the new creation. The Father is far more generous with pleasures than even the most open-handed father in this sanctuary.
There is true fellowship in the new creation. Relationships are what they should be in the new creation. You will always be loved with 1 Corinthians 13 love in the new creation. Everyone you meet will be patient. Everyone you deal with will be kind. No one will envy. No one will boast. No one will be looking to keep any record of wrongs. You will be dealing with people in which three virtues overflow—faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love. For good reason, Jonathan Edwards called heaven, “a world of love.”
There is renewed creation in the new creation. Are you an outdoorsman after God’s own heart? Does your heart resonate with Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world”? The new creation is a world of nature. You will live on a new earth.
Get your view of the next life from the Bible not from the culture with its heaven of clouds. I cannot imagine that the new creation will be any less spectacular this one. I find it hard to imagine that it won’t be more spectacular. Don’t worry about missing the Great Barrier Reef in this life. I’m sure it is beautiful, but nothing on your bucket list can compare with what God has in store for those who love Him. That’s what He said, “hat no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived,”—the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”
That is what is present in the new creation—pleasures, fellowship, the flower of renewed nature. Would you sell your home, your farm, and everything you own to move there? Jesus said the wise man does. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
When you feel like you are missing out on the joys of this life because of trials, keep that in mind. Keep the next life in mind.
The next life is also described in terms of glory. That is the third object to desire in the new creation: glory.
The walls of the heavenly city made of jasper, the gates cut out of a single pearl, the streets of pure gold—these images describe the glory of the new creation. This vision isn’t as much about architecture and city planning as it is about glory. This isn’t as much about appearance as it is about glory. The heavenly city is glorious. That is as it should be. It is the city of the King.
Earthly kings fill their city with glory. Nebuchadnezzar stood on his palace roof, looked out, and said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” Earthly kings want their cities to impress. God’s city impresses.
If you are a child of God, you are only a few decades away from moving to a city that impresses. You will live in glory as a child of the king. Keep that in mind in your trials. Your trials are usually very humbling and sometimes they are very humiliating. Having your spouse help you with your colostomy bag can be a bit humiliating. Having to ask for financial help from your parents can be humbling. The trials of this life show how us how very little glory we have on our own. Think of the last trial you endured. Did it make you feel glorious? When you are in trials, remember that you will soon live in glory that is so unimaginable that John used the most precious metals and jewels he knew to describe it. Remember that glory when you are inglorious trials.
Fourth and finally, the new creation is the place of God’s presence. That is the fourth desire for the new creation: desire the presence of God.
‘I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’” The restoration of Eden is about walking naked with God. You will be completely open with God and you will have no cause for shame. You will see God’s face. “They will see His face,” Revelation 22:4. God will reveal Himself to you in ways He couldn’t reveal Himself to Moses without killing Him. There are things so wondrous and glorious about God that if you experienced them now, you would die. You will experience them in the next life.
Keep that in mind in your trials. If you will receive that kingdom, if you will stand unashamed before God, if you will be clothed with glory, if you will enjoy the presence of all good things and the absence of anything that isn’t good, if this is what lies on the other side of the finish line, then persevere through this trial.
This is wisdom for a foolish age. The men and women of this world have no finish line. The only finish line they consider is death and they do everything they can to keep from crossing it. The Christian longs to cross his finish line. The man of the world does whatever he can to avoid crossing it. Which one are you?
Are you motivated as any athlete to cross the finish line? Does that finish line motivate you in your trials? Or are you living for this life?
If you are keeping your eyes on the finish line, persevere. It will be worth it. If you are living for this life, you are making a foolish choice. You can make another one. You can tell God, “I’m sorry I’ve put the fleeting pleasures of this life above the enduring pleasures You offer. I’m sorry I’ve been so foolish as to make my entire existence about this vapor of a life. I see now that there is something worth living for and that even when I suffer trials anything, I lose will be more than repaid. You’ve sent Your Son to make a fool like me fit for this kingdom. I will follow him. Help me.” Then your life will still at times be hard, because this life is hard, but only until the finish line. Then you will be free sorrow. Then you will enjoy all things good. Then you will have glory. Then you will have God. Then you will live the way God intended from the beginning. Amen.