Trial by Fire (James 1:9-18)

Growth Through Trial
James 1:9-18

INTRODUCTION:
A preacher-friend of mine stated one time, “Faithfulness is what you do while you’re being patient for Christ to come again.”

Listen to the words of James in 5:7 - “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.”

James is generally believed to be the half-brother of Jesus Christ. He was an unbeliever during the life of His brother (John 7:5), but after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to him and he became a believer. Eventually, he would become a leader of the church of Christ in Jerusalem and was widely respected among the apostles of His brother.

The letter James wrote is also widely accepted to have been written rather early in church history, perhaps before Gentiles were welcomed into the body of Christ. Scholars think James wrote his letter around 44-49 A. D., which is less than a decade after Jesus returned to heaven.

If you notice in 1:1, James writes to: “the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad.” That phrase would refer to the physical nation of Israel after the Babylonian exile. However, in this context, it would refer to the “spiritual” Israel of God, the church. I point your attention to 2:2, where James writes: “if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes…” The word “assembly” in the Greek is the word “synagogue,” which suggests that James is writing to Christians who perhaps were meeting in the synagogue. There is not much in the letter that deals with the “Gentile-Jew” issue.

The Christians who received the letter were enduring trials and at least part of those trials had to do with financial issues. There is a lot written in the letter which deals with money, riches, and wealth. In 1:2-3, James writes: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” So he was trying to encourage Christians to stay faithful to Christ despite the trials they were experiencing. He uses the word “faith / trust” 16 times in the five chapters.

Trials test our faith - they either break our faith, weaken our faith, or strengthen our faith. God, of course, wants trials to strengthen our faith. In this context (1:2-3), trials are intended to produce endurance or steadfastness or stability. In verse 12, James will mention that trials can help us receive the “crown of life.”

Let me make a point about the word “produces” (NASV) - the Greek verb means to “work out.” It is a verb related to the word for “work” in verse 4: “let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Keep on being patient or persevering or enduring until Christian character has been perfected. Which basically means “until you die!” There is never a time to despair and give up on being patient or enduring.

BE PATIENT - 5:7:
There is no time to quit waiting for the return of Jesus. There is never a time when it is appropriate to quit Christianity. In the broader context of James, there is also no time to take vengeance in our own hands and think we have to set right the wrongs of the world.

“Endurance” means perseverance, steadfastness, constancy, fortitude. “Patience” is long-suffering, enduring long under provocation, bearing with each other, being slow to anger, for example. In 5:7, James writes further: “The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.”

Endurance means I do not give up in the face of suffering.
Patience means I do not retaliate in the face of wrong.

Endurance means I am not a coward and I do not get discouraged so as to quit.
Patience means I don’t get angry or seek revenge.

We are not exactly sure what “coming of the Lord” James is referring to here. It could refer to the literal, physical second coming of Christ. Or it could refer to Jesus coming in judgment at some point in time, like when He came against the city of Jerusalem in its temple in judgment. A third possibility could be the “coming” of Jesus to take His Christians home when they die. The first option is probably the likelier choice and James writes that it is “near” (5:8) from the perspective that it can happen at any point in time, once the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost.

Now I want us to examine more closely James 1:9-18…

TRIAL THROUGH POVERTY AND RICHES - 1:9-11:
One can have a sudden reversal of fortunes; he can go from rags to riches almost overnight or he can go from riches to rags almost overnight. Either way, one’s faith can be tested. Affluence has a way of making one takes his or her eyes off Jesus and lead them away from faithfulness as a Christian. Sudden poverty can have a similar affect, but different in the sense that one can see sudden poverty as punishment from God which discourages, might shame someone, and they get disheartened.

But, in whatever way your testing comes, if you get through the test, then you can rejoice with God that you have succeeded in the test.

Another way to look at the text is that our wealth has no bearing on our status with God and it should have no bearing on our status within the church. A Christian is “rich in faith” and is therefore “heir of the kingdom” (2:5). Jesus had said that the “least” in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the baptizer who was greater than anyone ever born among humanity (Matt. 11:11).

Every Christian sits in an exalted place in the kingdom of Christ (Eph. 2:6). So any Christian, regardless of earthly success, can rejoice in Christ.

However, the wealthy individual has to “humble himself” in the sight of God (James 4:10) and realize that his wealth does not entitle him to special status or privilege in the church of Christ. Paul wrote that the kingdom was composed of those who were “not wise, not mighty, not noble” (1 Cor. 1:26).

As John wrote to the Laodicean Christians, each of us has to realize that outside of Christ, we are “miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” That we have to “buy” from Christ “gold refined in fire,” white garments so that we will not be naked, and eye salve for our eyes (Rev. 3:17-18). Those “riches” in Christ should be sufficient for those who are rich in material goods.

Solomon emphasized in the book of Ecclesiastes that the wealthy die just like the poor and in death, we are all equal. But, those in Christ die wealthy, those outside Christ die in spiritual poverty and destitution.

So, both poverty and wealth can be a test of our faith. That’s why Solomon wrote: “Keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Prov. 30:8-9).

THE REWARD FOR ENDURING - 1:12:
“Blessed” means you receive God’s favor.

To “endure” trials or testing is to do so without yielding, which God makes possible: 1 Cor. 10:13.

“Crown of life” is the reward for being approved. “Crown” here is stephanos, the victor’s crown. It is a symbol of achievement in a contest, indicating victory over temptation in this context. Jesus came to give us life, and to give us life abundantly (John 10:10).

LUST - THE SOURCE OF SIN - 1:13-16:
What we should not be deceived about in this context is that God causes one to be tempted to sin. God is not responsible for our sins. Adam and Eve set the stage for humans to shift responsibility for their sins: Genesis 3:12.

God has honored us with the ability to choose for ourselves. We have the freedom to make good choices and we have the freedom to make bad choices. But the choice is ours. God has given us guidelines, as He did Adam and Eve, to help us make right choices and He urges us to make right choices. But He does not force us to do that.

God does not tempt man to sin; but He does test man’s faithfulness to His commands. Freedom is not sinful, but it can be distorted or corrupted so that it is used sinfully. As long as we use our desires within the guidelines God has set, we do not sin. Those desires can be nourished or stifled, gratified or restrained, and man is responsible for what he does with each.

Man may not be able to prevent the invasion of some long-nourished desire or a sudden impulse, but he can restrain and overcome both and - perhaps most importantly - he is held responsible for how he uses that freedom.

GOD - THE SOURCE OF ONLY AND ALL GOOD - 1:17-18:
God is not the source of temptations; He is the source of good.

God is the “Father of lights” - physical light, intellectual light, spiritual light

God is constant and unchanging as the source of what is good and what is right.

So, it is through God’s will that we experience the new birth from darkness / ignorance into light / knowledge of salvation. In this way, we can be “firstfruits” of His. That is, we can belong to God. This is God’s purpose for mankind, not destruction.

Take home message: Embrace trials as means by which God is recreating us in Christ’s image; the reward is the “crown of life.” God does not change; He blessed others, He’ll bless us.