Having a Biblical Attitude in the Face of Trials: James Lesson 3

Turn with me to the first chapter of James again this morning. We are early in our study through this book. We spent the first two weeks of this study in verse 1. We learned about James the author of this letter, and we learned about the twelve tribes to whom it was written. James was a man radically transformed by the work of salvation. He wrote to a bunch of first century Christians who were literally running for their lives because of persecution at the hand of, first, the religious leaders of Israel, and then, at the hands of the Romans.

What I hope you took from those first two weeks of study was an understanding of the paradigm in which the first century Christians came to faith in Christ. Lest I create confusion, let me make sure you understand what I mean by a paradigm. A paradigm is a framework containing the basic assumptions, or ways of thinking commonly accepted by a group. A paradigm is a shared framework, or a general mental model of how things are or how things work.

I told you last week that the paradigm, or the basic assumptions and ways of thinking were drastically different for first century Christians than they are for Christians in our modern western culture. The result is that being a Christian in first century Jerusalem meant something almost entirely different than being a Christian today. Becoming a Christian in first century Jerusalem, coming to faith in Christ out of the established religious system of Judaism, meant that you were cut off completely from your old way of life. Your family cut you off, unless your whole family came to faith in Christ. Then your whole family was cut off from the rest of the culture. You were cast out of the synagogue. You were disowned. You were considered to have disgraced the family. You became a pariah, socially and religiously.

Look at Acts 8 for just a moment. I want you to get a sense for the hatred and animosity these people faced. Read 8:1-4. Imagine living in a culture as a follower of Christ (they were not even called Christians at this point. They were Christ-followers.) where you had to worry about a knock on your door and a raging Pharisee had the authority to drag you out of your house and put you in prison. This was the reality for them and the ones scattered by this kind of persecution are those to whom James wrote. He tells them to have joy, and to consider this all joy.

The only way to consider something like that as an occasion for rejoicing is to have a perspective on the Christian life that is different from the perspective of the culture. I said last week that we must have the attitude that not only accepts the reality, but also treasures the reality that God saves us for His own glory. All God does for us is not just to make life better for us. All God does for us is to bring glory to Himself. If He is glorified to a greater degree by allowing His people to be dragged from their houses and put in prison, then our attitude should be one that says, I will rejoice in the fact that He is glorified, even if I must suffer. That is probably a far cry from where most people today, at least in America, are in their attitude regarding suffering.

This is the context for the instruction of James in verses 2-12. This section deals with how the Christian is to respond to trials in life. Let’s read James 1:2-12. The first thing we find in this section is a challenging command to consider these trials as all joy. This is describing the attitude we must adopt if we are going to honor God in our response to trials. It begins with our attitude. Our attitude is key. We know what we mean by attitude. Attitude describes our disposition or our feelings regarding something. It is the frame of mind. It is the way we think and feel about what happens to us.

This is at the heart of this imperative command of James. The word “consider” is used to describe how we are to think, how we should view, regard, esteem, count, or reckon. We are to think, or esteem, or to consider trials as the occasion for all joy. The word “all” means the greatest, the utmost, the supreme joy. The same word is used in Matthew 28:18 when Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…” How much authority has been given to Jesus? It is the greatest authority, the supreme authority. We are to consider it as the supreme joy to encounter various trials.

What is our typical response to trials? We do many things, but rare is the response James commands. We complain, or worry, or are fearful, or we let anxiety fill our minds. We question by asking, “Why is this happening to me?” We begin to let the “what if” scenarios begin to fill our minds. Our attitude is not typically one that would fall into the category of rejoicing. We rejoice when our team wins the big game, or we get that nice raise, or we find out we are having another grandbaby. 

James says our attitude is to be one of rejoicing, when we encounter various trials. It isn’t a matter of “if” but “when.” The word “encounter” is a compound word using “peri” meaning “around” and “pipto” which means to fall. It describes falling into something so as to be totally surrounded by it. It was used by Jesus to describe the fate of the man who was helped by the Good Samaritan. That man “fell among” thieves. He was totally surrounded. They stripped him and beat him and left him for dead. His was quite an encounter. James uses the same word to describe the way we come face to face with trials in our own lives. We fall into them and are surrounded.

He calls them “various” trials. This simply means that they come in many forms and with tremendous variety. They are varied. They are diversified. The word is translated “multi-colored” and is used in the Septuagint to describes Joseph’s coat he received from his father. It is as if the trials are customized to accomplish what God wants to accomplish in us.

This is important. We don’t fall into these trials as if they are some accident. God ordains them specifically for the purpose of testing our faith. This is the meaning of the word “trials.” It is “peirasmos” and it means “a putting to the test.” When God is the agent, peirasmos is for the purpose of proving someone, never for the purpose of causing him to fall. If we fall away from the faith because of some trial that we encounter, we prove that we were never truly converted. This is exactly what Jesus described in the parable of the soils. Persecution and affliction arises because of the word and the person falls away, proving that he had no firm root.

Sometimes this same Greek word is translated “temptation.” This is the case in Matthew 6:13 where Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray and He prays to the Father, “Lead us not into temptation.” This cannot mean temptation to sin because James 1:13 is clear. God does not tempt us to sin. The request of Jesus expresses the desire we are to have to avoid the pitfall of failing to trust God completely, no matter what trial we face. When we pray that God lead us not into temptation we are asking Him to bring us through every affliction and adversity and to encourage us and prove our faith and build in us greater confidence in His goodness, grace and power.

The attitude we are to have is to rejoice when we encounter every trial in life. By the way, the word for joy is “chara.” It is the noun form of the verb we saw last week at the end of verse 1 that is translated “greetings.” I told you last week that word meant “joy to you.”

After last week someone made the comment that James was among those things in the Bible that says easy and does hard. I will not argue with that. I would ask you to consider how many people you know who truly respond to life’s trials with a genuine attitude of joy. When we fall into the middle of trials that literally surround us on every side, is it really reasonable that we should respond with joy? Some of us may be even asking if it is possible. We are wondering if it is really possible because that hasn’t yet been our response, nor have we ever even seen someone respond that way.

I want to use the time we have left this morning to show you the attitude presented in Scripture toward trials. It is important that we see that James isn’t on an island in the first chapter of his letter. James is simply commanding us to have the same attitude that others had when they fell among trials. The Bible shows us what is required if we are going to have a attitude of joy when we encounter trials.

I want to say that if we are going to have an attitude of joy when we encounter various trials, we must begin with the expectation that trials will come. If we expect them to come we can be prepared. We got ready for the arrival of bitterly cold weather. We expected it because it was forecasted to arrive. If you had frozen pipes this morning you can’t blame anyone but yourself. You knew this was coming. You knew what to expect.

The Bible tells us to expect trials. This was a big part of the teaching of Jesus. If the world hates us it is because the world hates Him. He tells us that in this world we will face tribulation. We should never be surprised when they show up. We should be like the Apostle Paul in Acts 20:23. He was on his way to Jerusalem not knowing what would happen, “except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” Was Paul ever surprised when he faced trials? No, because he expected them. He told the Philippians in Phil. 1:29, “For to you it has been granted not only to believe, but also to suffer for His sake.” He said, “expect it.” Look at 1 Thess. 3:1-4.

The benefits of expecting trials is that they don’t take us by surprise when they show up. James said to consider it all joy “when” we encounter various trails. They are going to happen. Our attitudes will be greatly improved and prepared to respond with joy if we are expecting trials. If I expect a trouble free life, my attitude when trials come will be one of disappointment and despair. If I expect trials, then when they show up I am prepared with a frame of mind that rejoices in the faithfulness and sufficiency of God’s grace.

Turn to Romans 5 for the next important component of a proper attitude in response to trails. Read verses 1-5. The word “exult” means “to boast or brag.” It can be used in a good sense or a bad sense. It is always in a bad sense if we are bragging or boasting about ourselves. But Paul is boasting and bragging, not on himself, but on what God was doing. Another way to say this is that Paul gloried in the tribulation.

Turn to 2 Cor. 4:7-12. Here is an example of how and why Paul exulted in trials. It was the afflictions which provided the opportunity to show that the surpassing greatness of power was from God.

If we expect the trials, then our attitude has the potential to be one in which we glory in the trials because this is how the surpassing greatness of God’s power is able to be seen in us. We can exult, or glory in the trials because we know that trials and tribulations bring about perseverance, and perseverance proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out with our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Expect trials, exult in trials, and third, know that we are victorious in the trials through Jesus Christ. Look at Romans 8:35-39. We can consider trials as all joy because we know that we overwhelmingly conquer through Jesus Christ. We can rejoice in trials. We don’t just conquer. We overwhelmingly conquer. What is a trial going to do to me that is going to undo what Christ has done for me? What is a trial going to bring into my life that God’s grace is not sufficient to help me conquer it?

Let me wrap this up by giving you some of the benefits of trails. We can have the right attitude and rejoice in trials if we expect them, if we exult in them, if we have confidence as conquerors through them, and if we understand the benefits of them. There are several benefits but I will only share a few of the most important ones.

The afflictions which come to us through trials provide for us the occasion to be comforted by God. He is a Comforter like no other. And then, we are able to comfort others with the comfort with which we have been comforted by Him. Look at 2 Cor. 1:3-7. We cannot know the comfort of the Comforter without enduring the affliction which produces some degree of suffering. The suffering we experience through our trials is used of God to draw us to Him as the One who comforts. Then we are able to comfort others.

Not only are we able to comfort others, but our joyful attitude in trials will serve to encourage others in their own walk of faith. Look at 2 Thess. 1:3-5. The reputation of the Thessalonian Christians was that their faith had been greatly enlarged and their love for one another had grown greater and greater. This had happened in a setting where they were enduring persecutions and afflictions. Paul was speaking proudly about them among the churches and others were being encouraged and spurred on in their faith because of the example of the Thessalonians. 

How would others be encouraged if they were to see us responding with an attitude of joy when we encounter various trials? 

We find the next benefit in 2 Cor. 4:16-18. Affliction that results from our trials helps us keep the temporal and the eternal in the right perspective.

When we come back to James 1 next week we will see that James outlines some other benefits which result from trials.