Why trials? | James 1:2-4

Why trials?

James 1

Open your bible to James 1. This is a section of scripture that is filled with so much hope for those of us who go through trouble.

James 1:2-4 ²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:12 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.

Now, I imagine for yourself, the worst trial you could possibly face. Maybe for some it might seem to be financial crisis; loss of investments, loans, credit card dues, pending EMI pending. For others it might be the loss of employment. You have no income to support your family. For some it maybe that you have just received word that you are diagnosed with a fatal medical condition or someone in your family has one. And we could go on and on and on.

Job said: Job 5:7 Yet a man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. Anybody who tries to create a fantasy world where everything is perfect is only setting themselves up for even a more profound sorrow. Troubles will come and that is the fact in this world. All of us to some degree or another will face trouble at some time or the other.

So we need to understand why trouble come and how to face that. So I am going to speak to you why trials come today and on March 6 I am going to speak – Wisdom in the time of trial.

I was trying to think what would be the severest of all trials in my life, the most painful experience to go through. And I thought about the Job who lost his family, crops, animals and everything. And worse, he was left with a wife who didn’t understand anything and betrayed him. He was personally struck with disease and that is a big trial. Then I thought of another person, who probably was faced with potentially the severest trial any human being could ever endure. And the man’s name was Abraham.

Turn with me for a moment back to Genesis 22. I think what God put Abraham through is unquestionably the most unimaginable test that anyone was ever given. Genesis 22:1 Sometime later God tested Abraham. This is a trial for Abraham. This is a test for Abraham.

Genesis 22:2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, (Notice the emphasis: Not just your son, but your only son you love.) and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Incredible! I want a human sacrifice. I want your son. I want you to go there. I want you to kill him as an offering to me.

This did not fit Abraham’s theology. There was no history in the covenant of God of human sacrifice. That was a pagan thing. No child of God would ever offer his own in human sacrifice.

Furthermore, this was the son of promise. God had touched the dead loins of Abraham and Sara and allowed them to consummate a relationship at their old age and produce a son, a son of the covenant, a son of promise, a son of hope, a son off Sara who was barren all her life.

Why would God call for human sacrifice when he never had called for human sacrifice before? Why would God go to great lengths to enable a man and a woman nearing 100 years of age who had been barren all their life to produce a son and then ask the son be killed? Why would God make a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of nations and that his seed that would number as the sands of the sea and the stars of heaven and then kill the only child he had? The whole idea was absolutely bizarre.

What makes it the severest trial ever is not that Isaac was to die, but that Abraham was to kill him with his own hand. Incredible! It’s one thing to have the one you love die. It’s something else to be told to kill that person. An unthinkable trial! A trial that made sense, not theologically, not in terms of the nature of God. If there ever was anything that God commanded a man to do that deserved a rather lengthy argument, this was it.

And we would have understood if Abraham had said, look God, can you explain this please? This makes no sense. I can’t do it. Notice his response: Genesis 22:3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. An absolutely amazing man! No questioning, no delay, no argument, no dispute, no reaction. Just obedience!

Genesis 22:4-5 ⁴One the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and (Watch this sentence) then we will come back to you.” He said, we’ll both come back.

Genesis 22:6 ⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them were going together, ⁷Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes my son” Abraham replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

This is agonizing. A trusting son who doesn’t know what’s going on says in such a loving way to his father about this act of worship, where is the lamb? Genesis 22:8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

You see, I believe down deep in Abraham’s heart he knew that God had something in mind that was consistent with God’s character and consistent with God’s covenant. I don’t know that he knew what it was, specifically, but I think he had a good idea.

Genesis 22:9-10 ⁹When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an alter there and arranged the wood on it. He bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

The man is at the point of plunging the knife into the breast of his own son. He is the greatest single model of trust in God the Bible knows anything about apart from Christ. An unthinkable thing! What a trial, indescribably painful, murderous. Inconsistent with everything he knew about God, and yet, he is submissive. He is obedient. He will worship at any cost. God judged Abraham on his willingness and didn’t make him carry out the act.

Genesis 22:11-12 ¹¹But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Guess what, this was a test and Abraham passed the test. He would obey the word of God no matter what.

The commentary on this trial of Abraham is given Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, (here it says again, it was a test) offered Isaac as a sacrifice. How could he do that? Hebrews 11:19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. You know why he was willing to do that? Because he believed that God could raise the dead. Had he ever seen the dead raised? No, but he believed that God could raise the dead. Now I don’t want to read too much into this story, but it just maybe that Abraham was a little disappointed when he wasn’t allowed to take his sons life because he would like to have seen a resurrection.

Do you understand why the NT shows Abraham as a man of faith?

Romans 4:3 Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Romans 4:16 For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

Now we all have a lot of trials in life, but I can’t ever imagine a trial like that. But I think that we can conclude from this that we too might be tested. We might be tested with regard to our loved ones, possession, career, wealth, health etc. It also tells us that man can go through the severest and overcome it if he really trusts God.

The purpose of Trials.

1. Trials test our faith.

1 Peter 1:6-7 ⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

When Habakkuk was going through the mystery of his own situation and the Chaldeans were going to come and wipe out his people, in spite of everything, he said: Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls. In other words, if I go through failure and a severe trial: Habakkuk 3:18-19 ¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my savior. ¹⁹The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. (And then at the end he says) For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

In the midst of an absolutely unsolvable mystery his trust never wavered. Job was tested. As a result of his testing in Job 42:5-6 ⁵My eyes have heard about you. But now eyes have seen you. ⁶Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. I realize that some of the things I thought about you and said about you and felt about you were sinful. Lord, my faith and it’s weakness has been revealed, so trials come as a test of the strength of our faith.

2. Trials humble us.

Trials come to humble us, lest we think we are more strong spiritually than we are. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 KJV There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, least I should be exalted above measure.

If we see the writing of Apostle Paul, he has abundance of spiritual revelations; he was also caught up into the third heaven. And through all of these things he could well have been exalted in his own mind. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, least I should be exalted above measure. God allows trials in our lives, especially when we are blessed in places of spiritual service to keep us humble.

3. Trials wean us off worldly things.

Have you found that the older you’ve gotten, the lesser your desire for the things you once wanted. There was a time when a child wants a cycle, then a bike, then a car, then gadgets, house etc. Have you noticed that as you grow and have things and visit places those things tend to have less and less significant? There was a time when you thought that they were the most desirable things in life and now you no longer feel that because they have not been able to deal with the real issues of life. Great riches of the world and position in the world make no difference when new are faced with anxieties, hurts, and trials. Trials wean us off worldly things.

I think about Moses in Hebrews 11:24-26? He had been raised in pharaoh’s house. He has been brought up as a prince in Egypt. For 40 years he was educated. He was literally in line in the pharaoh’s family for prominence. He had all education, money, prestige, honor, success, all the comfort was there in his hands. But he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. See, he had gotten his eyes off of all of that and he began to be concerned about the trial of his people. And the Lord used that trial to wean him off of worldly things.

Trials wean us off earthly things and fixe our hope in heaven. For someone who has gone through a trial of losing a loved one, all of a sudden heaven is sweeter than it’s ever been. And they have a new kind of disinterest in the passing world. Romans 8:18 I consider that our present suffering are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

That is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternally glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. So you see, trials have a very, very helpful purpose. They help us long for the eternal city. They set our affections on things above.

4. Trials reveal what we really love.

You see trials will reveal if anything is dearer to you than God, then he has to have it. He’s got to remove it. Deuteronomy 13:3 The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. The Lord is testing you to see who you really love, whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Talking of Hezekiah: 2 Chronicles 32:31 God left him to test him and to know what was in his heart. God tests us so that we can find out what is in our heart. God knows our heart by omniscience? In other words, he assists us in doing a spiritual inventory or self-examination of our love to God. So God brings trials into our lives to demonstrate to us our love for him.

If you are right now, going through a severe trial, it is revealing to you your love for god. If you are shaking your fist at God, if you are wondering why it’s happening, if you are fretting all the time, anxious, and worrying, it is a good indication that you don’t trust and love God.

Luke 14:26-27 ²⁶If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 

Is Jesus saying it’s a Christian thing to hate everybody including yourself? No, what he means by that is, if you do not love God, to the degree that you willingly, if necessary, cut yourself off from father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister, and your own life, then you don’t love God supremely. You are not worthy to be his disciple. What do you mean cut off? You will do the will of God no matter what appeals are being made because therein lies your supreme love.

Abraham passed the test. Whom did Abraham love most? God. And that’s the value of the trial. When you go through a trial, find out what it reveals about your love to God.

5. Trials lead to God’s blessings.

Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Philippians 2:8-9 ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.

James 1:12 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. If you learn to obey God in your trial, you will experience the exhilaration of his blessing.

6. Trial enables us to help others in their suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Luke 22:31-32 ³¹Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. ³²But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fall. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

There is given a wonderful purpose for the trial – Strengthen your brothers. So we go through trials for the purpose of being able to help others. How wonderful. God allows us to learn by experience to instruct others.

7. Trials develop strength for greater usefulness.

Thomas Menton said, “The worth of a soldier is never known in times of peace.” God has his purpose in trial and what it is to do is to give us greater strength.

As you go through one trial, your spiritual muscles are exercised. You are stronger for the next one. That means you are more useful. With every passing trial, the more used you are the more you accomplish for the glory of God.

Conclusion: So let me sum it up. What is God’s purpose as he tests us? Point points here. God is Preparing you, with you in your trouble. He cares for you and he will lead you out of all your troubles. 2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.

Let’s go back to James 1 for just a closing thought.  It says they are going to come.  The testing of your faith, it’s going to come, verse 3.  Verse 12, “Blessed is the man that endures the testing, after he is tried, he’s going to be rewarded.”  They are going to come, there is no way to avoid them.  And we might say, I know they are going to come and I know all of these things are God’s purposes in them and he wants to accomplish all of this, I can buy into that, but it still doesn’t answer the question, how do I get through it in the middle of it.  How do I make it through?

It’s fine to have all this in place on a list in my sermon notes, but how do I get through that trial.  And that’s where James 1, 2, to 12 really speak to the heart.

1. First of all, it takes a joyous attitude.  The first means to persevering in a trial is a joyous attitude.  “My brethren count it all joy.”
2. The second is an understanding mind, “knowing this,” that this test is producing something.
3. The third is a submissive will.  Let patience have its perfect work.  In other words, let it happen because God is at work.
4. The fourth, in verse 5 to 8, is a believing heart.  Ask God for what you need and ask, verse 6 says in what?  In faith.  You have to have a believing heart to believe that God has a purpose and that he will supply everything that you will need for that trial.  A believing heart.
5. And finally, in verses 9 to 11, a humble spirit, a humble spirit.  You persevere through trials with a joyous attitude, an understanding mind, a submissive will, a believing heart, and a humble spirit.  Now, next time, we’re going to look at those final two, a believing heart, and a humble spirit.  I just wanted to set it up and I wanted you to notice, we are going to look at some very, very exciting truth.

Where it talks about asking of God for wisdom, where it talks about asking in faith never wavering.  It talks about a double-minded man and how that man forfeits anything from God.  And then we are going to look at that whole area of a humble spirit and what that part plays in endurance.

https://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/59-5/the-purpose-of-trials

While you are doing that, I want to share a letter with you.  A couple of week ago someone called me on the phone in our church and said, I wonder if you could make a phone call for us to a brother-in-law who just had a terrible tragedy in his life.  And I said, I would be happy to do that.  So I called.

When he picked up the phone, and responded, I said, hi, this is John McArthur in California, he was Colorado.  And he was stunned for a moment, because he had been listening to the radio and the tapes but had not met me personally, to my knowledge anyway, and said, I can’t believe this.  I can’t believe you called me.  I’m sitting here at the table writing you a letter.  And the letter came and in the middle of the letter, right in the middle of it, it says, wow, praise God, this is where you called me.

This is on page four of the letter.  I feel like God is telling me something, 6:15 p.m. on the 16^th of March, 1986.  The letter says this, “I would like to tell you a story that begins over a year ago.  The story is far too complex for me to write in a letter, at least in all its detail.  I would like to share, perhaps a paragraph of it with you.  My name is Dan.  I met you at Grace Church briefly and I sat four rows back dead center on December 22, 1985, do you remember?  My wife was not able to come as she was ill.  We have a son, Luke, age 4 and a daughter age 22 months.  In March of 1985, my wife was diagnosed as having a brain tumor in her right cerebellum.  On April 3^rd, 1985, Carolyn went in for surgery and they removed the tumor along with 80 percent of her right cerebellum.  On Good Friday, April 3^rd, 1985, things were looking good and they moved Carolyn out of the ICU into a regular room.

April 5^th, 1985, I went home to her parents’ house around 10:30 p.m.  I went into kiss the kid’s goodnight and Sarah then 8 months old was glassy eyed and staring off into space.  I thought she was gone.  The doctors at children’s hospital took a spinal tap and said she had spinal meningitis.  They told me could die.  Or have any number of deficiencies, it would take 24 hours to tell if she would survive.  It was then that I really lost control.  I could do nothing.

As my daughter lay there on an inclined crib, she had splints on her arms and one leg, she had an IV in her left foot, right hand, left hand, and scalp.  She was tied down with her arms spread and had three monitors on her chest.  I wept, Lord, why her? She’s so innocent.  I was totally at a loss for answers.  There I was trying to keep this from my wife, Carolyn, who was in another hospital.  I couldn’t, Lord, what would I do?  On Easter morning April 6^th, 7:00 a.m. I was at children’s holding Sarah with all the wires and IVs sitting in a chair and a nurse came in and told me that Sarah had made it.

The monitors indicated that she had responded well to the antibiotics and they could take off all of the apparatus.  As you can imagine during that time I did a lot of footwork between the two hospitals.  In doing that, I was using Carolyn’s car and she listened to radio station KWBI AM 91 somewhere in Longmont, Colorado.  That’s where I first heard you.  I don’t remember the date.  But you were in the series, how to handle persecution from the book of Acts.  First time I heard, I had to stop the car.  I was crying too hard to drive.

My wife, Carolyn, fought back from her surgery and even though her motor skills would never be normal, she never gave up.  She was dedicated to her children and me and her Savior and Lord.  I have included some of her notes from the bible study on kingdom life and they are in the back of the letter, her own notes.  Written with obviously a scrawling hand that would reflect some of the brain damage.  She was not a  bible scholar, but she loved the Lord.  She died May 8^th, 1986 in my arms.  The third tumor was inoperable.  Praise God, we have a Savior who has conquered death.  As I write this letter, I have wet eyes and the smell of funeral flowers fills my nostrils.

I am not writing this for sympathy.  I just could not let it go any longer because I wanted you to know how much Grace to You has blessed me and my family.  And I speak for those outside my family as well.  Please give my thanks to your staff at Grace, Grace to You and also to Grace Community Church.”  And then I love this at the end.  “Many of your church have prayed for Carolyn and I and the family and P.S. we’re praying for you and your new building, your friend, Dan Hummel.”  Now there is a man who went through a very, very wrenching emotional experience.

In one sentence he said, “she died in my arms” and the very next sentence he said, “praise God for a Savior who has conquered death.”  In the most profound of human agony, for the Christian there is great hope.  There is triumph, no matter how deep the trouble.  It’s all a question of perspective.  The family that I mentioned to you this morning, the Romanoski family, who’s two daughters were killed yesterday have been staying with Russ and Heidi Moore.  I asked Russ what their attitude is and he said to me, “To be honest with you, they are rejoicing today.”  Rejoicing?  Over the death of two daughters in an auto accident?  Well, they are rejoicing because both of their daughters knew Jesus Christ and the other two students with them, who were spared do not know Christ.  Cause for rejoicing.  It’s perspective.  Going through any trial of life for a Christian can be a joyous experience if perspective is right.