Highlands Fellowship The Book of James: Handling Life’s Problems Transcript
Well, hey everybody and welcome to Highlands Fellowship. It's so good to have each and every one of you here. If you're new with us, I want you to know that you are our special guest today and it is our honor and privilege to have you. It's my desire and it's the desire of every person that is part of our church for you to truly feel like this place is home. And really, that's the way we feel and we want you to feel like Highlands is home. So, make yourself at home and make yourself comfortable because we believe that God has you here for a purpose. We are one church in multiple locations and venues. So, to those of you in Bristol, Marion, Highlands Country, in the Chapel, and each and every one of our cafe venues, online, on TV, and here at our Abingdon campus, you are part of Highlands Fellowship. And we are a local expression of the larger body of Jesus Christ, which is called the church. And it's so amazing that we get to be part of something that is so much bigger than just us. And we really get to play a key role in the kingdom of God by fulfilling the mission and vision that God has given us.
And so, we believe our mission is to help people experience life with Jesus. That's why our church exists. And our vision, or the way that we're going to fulfill the mission that God has given us, is to make disciples, love our communities, and change the world. It's my hope and my prayer that each and every one of you would jump in and that you would use the gifts and the abilities that God has given you for a purpose that goes far beyond yourself. That's what I'm doing and that's what I would love for you to do in joining me as we seek God in everything that we do.
Today, we are in week number two of our series called The Book of James, and we're going to dig deep to develop an authentic faith that is lived out daily. And speaking of daily, we have some daily content for you on our Highlands Fellowship app that we would love for you to jump on there and get each and every day. They're short devotionals that go along with our message series, and we would love for you to be part of that and to really get in there and to study along with us, and I believe it'll change your life. I know it has mine. It'll change yours as well. So, let's do this together.
Today, what we're going to be doing is we're going to be looking at how to deal with our problems and how we can gain something from the problems that we have in life. So, if you have your Bible or a Bible app, go ahead and get those out and open them up to the book of James chapter 1, and as you do, let me just say this: I think that James is actually the most practical book in the New Testament. It's really like a how-to manual for the way that we live our lives following after Jesus. So, let's look at what the Bible says. In James chapter 1 verses 2 through 6, it says this: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 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. 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."
Now, normally, when you write a letter, you kind of ease into the substance of the letter, right? You have maybe a few opening remarks and introduction and then you gradually move into the message. James does just a little bit of that in verse 1, but then he goes right into the message. James drops a bomb on us in verse number two. He announces who he is, and then, James chapter 1 verse 2, he says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." I mean, how would you like to get a letter like that? You know, this is a letter from Tim, you've got problems, be happy about it, right? You're just sitting there like, how? There's no way I can be happy. You don't even know my situation. But I think the key phrase is actually found in verse 3, when James says, "Because you know." "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." Your attitude is really determined by your understanding. To consider facing trials as pure joy is not just positive thinking, but based on understanding something deeper.
And so, there are really four realities of life that you need to understand from James that will help you with the problems that you go through in life. Maybe it's the problems that you've gone through, that you're still working on. Maybe it's the problems that you're going through right now, or the problems that you're going to go through in the future, but these will all help you. Number one is simply this: understanding that you will face problems. You will face problems. Scripture doesn't say, "If you face trials of many kinds." No, it says, "Whenever you face trials of many kinds." So, you can count on this, you're going to have problems. And if you don't have any problems, you better check your pulse, because the reality of life is you are going to have them. Jesus said in John chapter 16 verse 33, "In this world, you will have trouble." Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." Listen, you can count on it. Problems are going to happen in your life. You don't get out of them just because you don't want to go through them and just saying that I don't want to go through them, I don't want to have any problems. You don't get out of them. Nobody's immune to it.
You know, I remember when I was a younger man and a bit foolish, I used to pray for trials, believe it or not. I've since learned that you don't need to pray for trials, because they're going to come anyway. But for some reason, I thought that I needed to pray for trials and I think it was the next day my car blew up, you know? Life is difficult. It really is something that we have to deal with. Problems are going to come up in life.
Number two is, problems show up unexpectedly. So, going back to James chapter 1, the second part of verse 2, he says, "Whenever you face problems of many kinds." And the word that's used for face literally means unexpectedly falling into trouble. So, it's the same word that's used in the story of the good Samaritan where the man fell among thieves. It was unexpected. And trials are not planned. We can hardly ever anticipate the problems that we're going to experience in life. And that's probably a good thing, because if we could anticipate them, we'd probably run the other way and we wouldn't get the benefit from them that God desires. We don't plan to have a flat tire. We don't plan to have a crisis. They are unplanned and they are unpredictable. They happen when we least expect them. That's what makes a problem a problem. And often, it's inconvenient when you fall into a problem suddenly, right? I remember a time when I was at a restaurant and I was just eating and there was a waiter that was going by my table and he wasn't even waiting on my table, but as he went by, he bumped into someone and he spilled a drink on me. And I'm just sitting there thinking, "Why me? Why me?" I mean, it was a problem. It was unexpected, very unexpected.
Number three, problems come in all shapes and sizes. It's one thing about problems that you don't get bored with them, right? There's a wide variety of them, and again, in James chapter 1, in the second part of verse 2, it says, "Whenever you face problems of many kinds." Problems come in all shapes and sizes. They vary in intensity, they vary in variety, they vary in duration. Some are minor inconveniences, while others are major disasters. We have all different kinds of problems. Some problems are even custom-made just for you, aren't they?
So, you will face problems, problems show up unexpectedly, problems come in all shapes and sizes, and lastly, number four, God uses problems for a purpose. So important. They have a purpose. Pain can be productive. Pressure can produce something valuable. Suffering can actually accomplish something in us that comfort cannot. It has value in our lives. What value, you may ask? Well, James chapter 1 verses 3 through 4 says this: "Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature, complete, not lacking anything." So, what I want us to do is I want us to spend a little bit more time on this one and really break it down. So, here are three purposes of problems.
The first one is this: problems grow my faith. In James chapter 1 verse 3, he says, "Because you know that the testing of your faith." So, he uses the word testing as in testing gold or silver or the refinement of precious metals. You would heat them up very hot until the impurities would burn off. It's similar to what Job said in Job chapter 23, in the second part of verse 10, where he says, "And when he tests me, like when I've gone through the refining process, I will come out as pure as gold." The first thing trials do is they test our faith. They purify us and cause us to grow. Your faith develops when things don't go as planned. Your faith develops when you don't feel like doing what's right. Problems will help to grow your faith.
Problems will also build my endurance. James chapter 1 verse 3, "the testing of your faith produces perseverance." And he's talking about staying power here, talking about endurance, the ability to keep on keeping on, the ability to hang in there. The word literally means the ability to stay under pressure. And we don't like pressure. And we do everything that we possibly can to avoid it. We run from it. We spend money to get away from it. We take drugs. We drink alcohol. We go on vacations. Anything that we can do to get away from the pressures of life, right? But God uses problems in our lives to teach us how to handle pressure and how to never give up. You know, there was a time in my life when I prayed for patience, too. And I don't know what I was thinking, okay? But I prayed for patience, and it seemed like my problems got worse. And finally, after a while, I realized that I was a lot more patient than I was when I first started praying for that. How does God teach us how to be patient? By everything going our way? No. God teaches us patience in the grocery lines, in the traffic jams, in the waiting periods of life. We live in a very comfortable and convenient culture. We really do. And everybody wants things immediately. And if I can't have it now, I just forget about it. I don't even want it. Endurance today is a very rare quality. Vince Lombardi, the great coach, said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Something we need. Problems help us to build endurance.
And third, problems shape my character. They make me like Jesus. They help me mature. They help me to grow. James chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 says, "The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." That's God's goal for your life. His ultimate goal, his ultimate purpose, is maturity. God wants you to grow up and to mature. In the Christian life, character is so very important. And so many Christians that I talk to have no idea, absolutely no idea what God's plan is for their life. They don't know what's happening, and as a result, they are overwhelmed by their problems. So, here's something that I want you to get today: God is working to develop the character of Jesus in you. That's what he's doing. He wants to make me like Christ. He wants to make you like Christ. And God is much more interested in building my character than he is in making me comfortable. And if God is going to make me like Jesus, he's going to take me through some tough things, very similar to what Jesus went through. And there were times when Jesus was lonely, and he was tired. He was tempted to be depressed. He was tempted to be discouraged. The Bible says there are really two ways that God makes us like Jesus. The first is through the word of God. John chapter 17 verse 17 says, "Sanctify them by the truth." And then he says, "Your word is truth." So, it builds our character and it matures us. The second thing is through the circumstances of life.
So, here's where James hits the nail right on the head. So many Christians that I meet say, "You know, everything was going great when I first became a believer, and then all of a sudden, all of these problems came into my life. Maybe God doesn't love me. Maybe I'm not a Christian. Maybe I'm not really saved. Maybe God's just not that good." But let me tell you this: if you're going through problems in your life, you are exactly where God wants you. You're in the process of building character and maturity. He's making you like Jesus. Romans chapter 8 verses 28 and 29 says, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God, not that all things are good, but they work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." And really, the secret to verse 28 is found in verse 29, where it says, "For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son." That's what he wants for us. Why do all things work together for good? In order to make me and to make you more like Jesus Christ, so that you and I can become more conformed to the image of God and his son, Jesus. So, God is working to develop the character of Jesus in us. And he wants us to be mature. He wants us to be complete. He wants us to not be lacking anything, and that is the picture of Jesus Christ. That's what he wants for us to be like.
Which brings up a question that I think all of us have asked or all of us are going to ask at some point. And that is, "How do I handle my problems?" Like, how do I do this? How do I handle my problems? If God is working to develop the character of Jesus in us, how does that relate to the way that we handle our problems? Well, first of all, we choose joy. We've got to choose joy. James chapter 1 verse 2 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." So, don't misunderstand what he's saying. He's not saying fake it. You know, put on a fake smile and pretend. God never asked you to deny reality. He doesn't mean some kind of psychological pump-up based on nothing, or it's like, "Awesome, you know, I get to suffer, I just love suffering so much, I feel so spiritual when life is terrible, okay?" We don't rejoice for the problems. We rejoice in the problem. We don't thank God for the situation. You know, why would I thank God for evil? But I do thank him in the situation. I think one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18, where it says this: "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." If you want to know God's will for your life, it's simple, all right? Be thankful in all circumstances. It doesn't say be thankful for all circumstances. It means that we can thank God because we know that he can even take bad things that happen in our lives, and he can turn them around and bring good out of them.
I don't care where your problems come from. You may have even created some of your own problems. The devil may have created them or caused them. You may have problems that culture has brought on you. But the source of your problems doesn't really matter. God can use them all for your growth and for his glory. We've got to remember that. What makes the difference, though? Your attitude. Your attitude makes the difference. It says to consider it pure joy. And that word consider means to look carefully, to think deeply, to weigh it in your mind and in your heart. It's about reflection, attention, and really intentional thought. While I'm living in the present, I look for the future benefit of the problem that's going on. Consideration is a choice. Although I cannot control the circumstances that happened to me in my life, I can control how I respond to them. Psalm chapter 34 verse 1 says this: "I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises." You know, even when I don't feel like it, even when things aren't going the way that I want them to go, problems don't automatically produce blessings. For some people, problems destroy them. And you'll either be bitter or you'll get better. And the difference is my attitude. Problems break some people. They make them brittle. And it breaks them. And how you choose to respond is the difference. And James teaches us to choose joy.
Now, here's a story that I think fits what we're talking about. It's about a guy who said he was having one of those days where nothing was going right. He woke up late, and he rushed out the door, spilled coffee all over his shirt. He got in the car only to realize that his battery was dead. Finally, he got a ride to work with a co-worker only to realize that he'd left his laptop at home. Around lunchtime, he tried to heat up some of his food and put it in the microwave, but the microwave sparked and shut off, and he wasn't able to eat warm food. And by the end of the day, he was just absolutely done. And he said on the ride home, sitting in traffic with his co-worker, he finally just looked up and said, "All right, God, I don't know what you're trying to teach me, but could you maybe just slow the lesson down just a little bit?" And that's real life. And that's the way we feel, isn't it? Problems tend to stack up. Things don't go our way and our attitude gets tested right in the middle of all of it. And that's exactly the point that James is making. You don't control your problems, but you do control how you respond to them. And we have to make a conscious decision to choose joy. That's what he's saying.
The second thing is you've got to ask God for wisdom. When we think about how we handle our problems, how we deal with our problems, we've got to ask God for wisdom. We've got to pray to him. And if there's ever a time when we need to pray for the wisdom of God in our lives, it's when we've got problems in our lives. And what do you pray about? Well, James chapter 1 verse 5 says, "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." You ought to pray for wisdom when you're in the middle of problems. Why should I pray for wisdom? So that you don't waste the opportunity to grow through the problem that you're in. If you don't learn at this time, there'll be another lap around the desert, right? Just like the children of God. God will give you another opportunity to grow. Learn from the problem the first time. We become overwhelmed when we don't understand what God's doing. So pray for wisdom. And wisdom is seeing life from God's point of view, from his perspective. Pray for wisdom to understand the problem and what you need to learn from the problem that you find yourself in. There's really no situation in life that you can't learn from if you have the right attitude. Learn to not ask why, but to ask what, or what now. The why part is to grow your faith, to build your endurance, to shape your character, but we have to learn to ask the what questions. God, what do you want to teach me in this problem? What is it that you want me to learn? What characteristic do I need to develop?
So, I choose joy, I ask God for wisdom, and then the third thing is I trust God completely. I've got to trust God to know what's best for my life. I want my life to work in complete cooperation with God's purpose so that I don't short-circuit the process. That's what it means to have faith. And James chapter 1 verse 6 says this: "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." Trust God and let him work.
You know, as a pastor, you tend to get some emails from time to time, you tend to get some letters and all that, and some are good and some are not so good. But there was this one letter that I want to share with you that I got a few years back. I just want to read it from this lady that I got this from. It said, "Dear Pastor Tim, it has amazed me how the Lord has moved in my life in these past two years. I've always known about the Lord and went to church, but when I lost my mother two years ago, things changed. Watching somebody I loved and respected so much be eaten away by cancer so quickly, I kept asking that one question, why? But strange things happened. God took over my life. So many things happened to change my life even through such adversity and sadness. Then four months later, the man I'd loved for six years ended our relationship. But God was there again, giving me wisdom and strength and protection. Then I had to overcome a drinking problem, and I did. It's been one year and two weeks that the Lord has kept me from drinking. He moved in again at that point and saved me from myself. Since then, I'm trusting him more and more each and every day, and it's so exciting. Yes, there are still problems and sometimes deep depression, but he is there. I know now that if I choose, I can trust him. Do you know what he's done for me? Each day is a growing experience for me with him. I know God sent me to this church to hear your preaching and teaching. I wish and I hope the Lord will make me grow so that I can help others in their hard times and help them to know him as well."
You know, as I read letters like this, my heart just breaks when I think about the heartache and the pain that many of the people in our church feel. There are some people in this church that are going to be in God's Hall of Fame. I believe that. Like you have maintained such a sweet spirit in the odds of incredible pressure. Things that people did to you, that people said about you, situations that you've been living with. It's not always easy to have a joyful heart in the middle of the problems that we have in life. Even when you want to try to have a joyful attitude, it's still extremely difficult. That's why you need to pray for these two things: wisdom to understand the trial and faith to endure the trial. You need them both. James says you need wisdom to know what's going on and faith to hang in there and never ever ever give up. You're never a failure until you quit. And God says that the devil wants to use problems to defeat you, but that God wants to use those problems to help develop you and grow you. Which will it be?
You know, some of you are going through some really tough times right now. And it's pretty hard. But please know that God cares. He cares about you so very much. God sees everything you're going through. He's got your number, all right? Every hair on your head is numbered. He knows exactly where you are and he cares for you. God has the power to do something about the problems that you're in. He could change them in an instant. He could. He's a miracle-working God. But why doesn't he? I'll tell you why. It's because there's a greater purpose. The greater purpose is what he wants to do in you. And God is more interested in building your character than he is in making your life comfortable. Once you've learned those qualities, he may be free to remove that situation. But there are some things in life that we're never going to be free from. At least on this side of heaven, right? That's the battle with sin. We're going to deal with sin. We're going to carry these sins with us. We need to work to become more Christ-like.
Nothing comes into your life without the heavenly Father's permission. And there's a fantastic promise in James chapter 1. We're going to talk a little bit more about this later on in the series. James chapter 1 verse 12 says, "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." God says that there's going to be a reward. I don't think when we get to heaven, all of the rewards are going to go to the pastors and to the evangelists and to the church staff. I don't think that. I think there's a lot of rewards that are going to go to people who quietly put up with the difficult situations that they go through and those who continue to develop the character of Jesus Christ in their lives. Guys, we have something to shoot for. And one day, we're going to stand with our savior in heaven and we will receive the rewards that he's going to give to us when we remain faithful and follow after him with full and complete trust.
Would you pray with me today? God, we pray that you would give us understanding as we walk through these problems that we have in our lives. Help us to know that we're not alone. Help us to understand that there's a purpose to these things. That they're going to help us to grow and they're going to help us to mature. And help us to have faith in you that you are a good God and you are working in all of these things to bring about good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. I know when we think about having joy in trials, it's a hard pill to swallow. But we get to choose. We get to choose. And our attitude will determine so much of where we end up in life. So my prayer today is that you would help us grow even as we go through these problems. Even as we go through the trials, that you would use them to grow us and mature us to become more Christ-like, to develop the character of your son Jesus. God, I pray that this would speak to our hearts today. That you would use it in a very powerful way. Because we're all going to go through problems, but help us to consider it to be joyful and give you praise in every situation. God, we love you. We praise you. And today, we give you all the glory for what takes place in our lives. So, in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, "Amen."