The Goal of Trials
READ JAMES 1:1-12
This is a study of the book of James, the half-brother to Jesus. What a life he must have had! Can’t you hear it “James, why can’t you be more like your brother Jesus?” In fact, it was quite the other way around. In the book of Mark, we find that it was Jesus who was identified in relation with his younger half brother (Mk 6:3). James was not among the first converts but became a Christian after Jesus’ resurrection. He came to be the head figure of the called-out people of God in the city of Jerusalem in the earliest days of the Church.
In his New Testament Commentary, Matthew Henry notes James’ letter as meaning “to reprove Christians for their great degeneracy in faith and manners” (744). He wrote to a primarily Jewish audience. The readers were Jews who believed in Jesus as the Chosen One of Israel. Henry goes on to acknowledge James’ intention to rally the Church “to support all true Christians in the way of their duty, under calamities and persecutions”. This letter from James’ hand was a tangible grace of God for those early Christians. As Henry draws out, “God remembers and sends comfort to His scattered people”.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths. Don’t consider yourself to be wise; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
Proverbs 3:5-7
Holy Bible Holman Christian Standard Bible, Black/Burgundy, Leathertouch, Personal Size Bible. Holman Bible Pub, 2014.
All hard things are for our good and for God’s glory. The tough situations in life are not orchestrated for our defeat but for God’s magnification in our lives. Trials are platforms for the worship of God. To conquer the trials of life we must train our hearts, minds and bodies in patience and long-suffering. God wants our whole bodies to be bearers of His glory to the world. In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers wrote “God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny” (July 1st). We will face what trials God deems necessary for the purpose of conquering our fleshly wills as vanquished territory for His kingdom.
Chambers goes on to reassure readers that we need not worry that God will grow tired of our being set apart, for “He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson”. We must fortify ourselves with a spirit of worship and joy. It takes no talent to have a good attitude. Chambers concludes with certainty in the hand of God to “produce the finished product”. As the wise teacher in Proverbs encourages, we must trust God in every way. We must welcome Him into every trial. A regimented respect for God will give us the energy and will to turn from evil and embrace the day’s tasks.
Simply put, trials are set before us for our growth. We are to learn to endure and persevere by holding fervently to God. In trials we learn to have active and reliant faith on God. This is the kind of faith that moves mountains and brings their crests tumbling into the deep (Mt. 21:21-22). The conduit through which faith comes to us from God is prayer. If we believe that God has the power to accomplish what He has purposed in our lives through conversational prayer, we can be sure that His word will come to fruition.
Therefore, we cannot afford to rely on our own strength. Our ability and wisdom to endure comes to us from God through prayer. In the Layman’s Bible Book Commentary on James’ letter, the late Texan Baptist, Dr. Foy Valentine noted that the wisdom of God that we must pray for “has deep roots in the soil of faith” (71). Wisdom draws strength from active faith. You cannot become wise without faith. A living, vibrant and nutritious faith fuels the growth of Godly wisdom. Our faith is ultimately the active investment of our life on God. Faithful Jesus-followers wager their livelihood on God as he was revealed to us in the person of Jesus. Wisdom comes by an emptying of the self and an indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.
“The poor, the plain, and the weak are to rejoice that the Lord has lifted them up to make his strength perfect in their weakness. The rich, the beautiful, and the strong are to rejoice that the Lord has helped them down from their dizzying, dangerous, and rickety ladders of self-love. The ground at the foot of the cross is wonderfully level.”
(Valentine, pp. 71-72)
Valentine, Foy. Layman’s Bible Book Commentary-Hebrews, James 1 & 2 Peter. Broadman Press, 1981.
James goes on to cut through the complex of self-centeredness. In the kingdom of God, the poor are to rejoice in the riches they have in the Lord, and the rich are to rejoice in their humility. The goal is to get past the self and fully into the embodiment of God’s outworking will in the Holy Spirit. This touches all of the spiritual life and all of our material blessings as well. In a recent book entitled Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper goes after this idea. The goal of a Christian, writes Piper, is “to make people glad in God” (105). To do so he claims that our individual “lives must look as if we use our possessions to make people glad in God – especially the most needy”.
Writing in his own day and time, James wants to inspire immediate self-giving action. The rich must humble themselves. In doing so, the rich bless the poor. The poor take delight in the graces of the rich. Therefore, the rich humble themselves to the poor and the poor look eye to eye with the rich. They both hold the hand of God. Dr. Valentine is correct when he states “the foot of the cross is wonderfully level” (72). That is entirely true. At the foot of the cross, we are known by the name of the crucified. The person trusting in Jesus will find their will slowly crucified and the will of God made manifest in their hearts (Rm. 8:28). In Jesus alone will we rise above the nature of this world and conquer the trials it offers us, because He has taken them all on Himself (Mt. 5:11-12).
How Temptation Works
READ JAMES 1:13-15
“God is not the author of any man’s sin. Some who profess might fall in the hour of temptation. The blame of their misconduct must lie entirely on themselves. There is nothing in the nature of God that they can lay the blame on. There is nothing in the providential dispensations of God that the blame of any man’s sin can be laid on.”
(Henry, p. 745)
Henry, Matthew, et al. The NIV Matthew Henry Commentary in One Volume: Based on the Broad Oak Edition. Zondervan Pub. House, 1992.
God does not own our sin. He can take no part in it. Matthew Henry would never pull punches when it came to sin. He helped draw out James’ specificity with great color saying that it is “very bad to sin; but it is much worse, when we have gone amiss, to charge God with it, and say it was owing him” (745). James wanted his audience to see the true intention of trial and temptation. “Afflictions are intended to draw out our graces” wrote Henry. Afflictions are not put in our path for failure and sin but for the glory of God.
“The origin of evil and temptation is in our own hearts. The combustible matter is in us, though the flame may be blown up by some outward causes.”
(Henry, p. 745)
Henry, Matthew, et al. The NIV Matthew Henry Commentary in One Volume: Based on the Broad Oak Edition. Zondervan Pub. House, 1992.
We must watch carefully for the sparks of evil in our heart. When the sparks of human nature ignite the kindling of life, a fire is sure to develop. In Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook, Dr. Kent Spann follows James’ illustration of conception and pregnancy when compares desire acted on to fertilization. Spann notes that it is not the sinful action that is the end but the “goal is to give birth to disobedience” (122). James puts it all out in the open. When we act on sinful desire, we intend on disobeying. It is a sobering reality that sin has conceived and given birth to death in each heart (Jm. 1:15). How utterly and desperately we need the grace of Jesus at every hour of every day.
Spann zooms in on the problem with humanity. He points straight a “connection to Satan” to explain the sinfulness in our hearts. Since the fall of mankind in Genesis we have been drawn with gravity to sin. No one of us is without sin (1 Jn. 1:8). James assumes we understand this. We possess evil desires. They are ours. We may not even be conscious of the evil inside us. It is there just the same. “There is no use” says Spann “blaming circumstances, environment, other people, etc., because the problem is ours” (122). Own your sin and give it all up to Jesus. Turn from your sin and run into His arms.
“Remember, God is as Great as He is Good!”
Noah R. Hunt
POIEMA: Created for Truth 