James: Handling Hardships
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James: Living Out an Inside Faith
James 1:2-8
May 26th, 2024
The maturing of our faith doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Not only is it not necessary to close ourselves off from the “outside” world and outside pressures in order to grow and mature our faith – Jesus calls us to remain in this world. God leverages ordinary and extraordinary pressure situations to mature our faith and frame His power.
Our Christian Faith isn’t an invisible virtue that we secretly feed under the table. An inside faith matures and grows in effectiveness under visible pressures and especially in the middle of an anti-Jesus culture. A maturing faith is characterized by distinct perspectives and practices that define us and turn other’s heads.
James 1:2-8 (NIV) 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 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. 6 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. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Consider = to think forward. “Consider it joy” means to look past the hard of the moment to product of the moment. If we keep our eyes on the prize we can walk with joy through the heart of the hard.
Consider = Count it as complete. Decide now, settle the issue once and for all. If you settle that hard produces strong you won’t have to revisit your assessment or approach to the trial one trial/hardship at a time.
Trial = Hardship. A trial is anything that causes you to question your position with God, question your future with God, question your faith in God or even question God Himself.
Testing = Process. Steel is tempered with heat and pressure – there is a process everything has to go through to be useful – even us!
Perseverance = Endurance, Steadfastness. Satan wants anxiety to rule you and keep your faith weak and your relationship with God tenuis. But God has another plan –if we don’t give up on God in the middle – our end will be a steadfast faith! God will not waste any opportunity to build stability into your life. Your anchor in Christ will hold!
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Perseverance also has an end goal – and it’s not just to toughen you up. James isn’t saying “rub some dirt on it” and keep playing. He is teaching that perseverance isn’t the end game, the end game is a perfect, complete, mature, whole faith.
Jesus isn’t after converts, He is after disciples.
The Perfecting Faith Process…
We will always be perfecting our faith.
We will never have a perfect faith.
With every new challenge traversed our faith is more perfect than it was before.
5 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.
James isn’t saying if any of you aren’t smart enough you can ask God to make you smarter and He will. He is saying that when you are in the middle of a hardship and you lack the understanding of how to manage/overcome it, you can ask God for that wisdom (Spirit) in full confidence that He will give it.
What keeps us from asking God for wisdom?
1. We don’t comprehend exactly how open that invitation is.
2. We feel the need to manage the issue ourselves (prove ourselves).
3. We feel defeated with each new hard.
6 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. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
If the ease of your life is how you will define the power, love and goodness of God your relationship with God will always be wind and wave tossed. If you anchor down you will come out of every hardship battle tested and stronger!
We will always be perfecting our faith.
We will never have a perfect faith.
With every new challenge traversed our faith is more perfect than it was before.
James 1:2-8 (Message) 2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So, don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. 5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.