"Faith Under Pressure"

 

"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 (endurance). Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

 

            The letter from James begins abruptly. It would be good to have a little more information, some introduction to the author, some background information about the audience and their issues and experiences. The first issue is that there are a number of people named "James" mentioned in the New Testament, and this James would not even have to be one of them. Who wrote this letter? Many who study it in a detailed way feel that it is best to think that James the brother of Jesus wrote it. He was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. The letter shows strong ties to the Gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount; it reflects the Old Testament notion of justice found in the prophets; and it gives us some insight into the very earliest church and the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. The letter is not written about Jesus, but certainly affirms the life and teachings of Jesus. James Adamson writes, "The letter of James takes us better than any other New Testament book back to the infancy of the Christian church, to the purple dawn of Christian enthusiasm and the first glow of Christian love."

            If you read it quickly, it seems to be a lot of disconnected advice on random topics. But a closer reading makes clear that it is organized around the themes of faith under trial and the need for perseverance and endurance. It is written in the style of a particular type of letter that states the major themes first, and then develops them as the letter goes along. That means as we move through the series we will have time to dig more deeply into a few issues and to discover more and more helpful applications as we go along.

            There are a few background thoughts we need to look at before we begin our study. The first is the attitude of James towards rich people. In the ancient world over 90 percent of the people were poor. Only 10 per cent were wealthy, and they tended to treat the poor badly. It will become apparent that the experience James has had with rich people has not been good. His words about the rich remind us of the Old Testament prophets. He calls them to repentance and humility. There are places in the Old Testament that clearly see wealth as a sign of favor from God. But after the exile, in Judaism the poor were more often seen as the righteous ones. They had no other choice but to rely on God, and many developed strong faith in God and waited for his deliverance. Mary and Joseph would be good examples of this. So when you read the words of James about the rich who cause others to suffer, keep in mind that he grew up in the home of Mary, his mother. It might be good to re-read Mary's song in Luke chapter 11, "He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty."

            The issue with the rich is not one of money, but of pride. They refused to see other people from God's perspective, and they quite often took on Roman values, and even imposed them on the church. Last week we talked about the situation in Corinth where the rich ate until they were over-full or drunk, and the poor had nothing to eat, and yet the rich tried to call it "The Lord's Supper." They were trying to impose a cultural value on the church.

            The other background issue is the way that James uses the word translated as "trials" and "temptations." We think of a trial in life being quite different than a temptation to sin, but in Greek, it is the same word. Adamson writes, "Certainly blindness or disease tests a man; but so, for example, does sexual or other lust, or greed, or temper or pride of wealth, strength or beauty. It is characteristic of James that here he powerfully uses the same word for both the pleasant allurements of Satan and the painful afflictions of the body: both are apt to lead people to sin."

            The trials and temptations that James talks about can come from Satan as a direct attack, or they can come from God as a test, or they can just be part of normal daily life. It is always difficult to discern one from the other. Sometimes when we go through a very difficult time, we wonder if Satan is attacking us and we need spiritual protection; or if God is testing us and we need to confess sin and live in a new way; or if life is just like that and mostly we need endurance and hope. James refers to all three types of trials, but focuses mostly on perseverance as our response in facing them. He also sees temptations to sin as coming from Satan, but mostly he sees them coming from our desires within. He wants to make sure that we take responsibility for our sins, and not blame God or others or our circumstances. David Nystrom writes that "evil desires are conceived through our active encouragement and brought to completion. We should not allow desire to grow into sin."

            James begins his letter by saying, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." He jumps right into the middle of the big issue they are facing. The adversities and the temptations of life are threatening to separate them from God. He says they should use them to develop perseverance and become mature and complete.

            What is perseverance? The word is defined as active steadfastness, staying power, constancy, determination under adversity. It is always "colored by hope." James says that perseverance requires wisdom and humility. You acquire wisdom by praying, by asking for it. One of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to remind us of what Jesus taught. When you ask God for wisdom, the Spirit gives you the words of Jesus, the direction you should take. The wisdom that comes from God does not produce a quick fix to your problems. Rather, it produces the virtues of the Christian life, patience and hope and humility. Wisdom grants what you need to stand the test, it grows you into maturity. Wisdom leads you to life, as opposed to evil desires, which lead to sin and death.

            Do you ask God for wisdom that goes beyond an immediate answer to a problem you have? Do you really want God to grow long lasting virtues in you? Sometimes people pray for wisdom for a doctor when they are going into surgery or going to have a test. They are asking that God will show the doctor just what the problem is, or just how to affect a cure. They are asking for a quickness of mind, a special insight or an answer to a puzzling problem. But when we pray for wisdom for ourselves we are not just handing off our trial or temptation, "Take this away God."Rather we are asking for God to guide us through the issue so that we learn from it and become stronger in faith. We don't want God to just solve problems, we want God to develop in us lives of faith and hope and love.

            The other commitment we are making in praying for wisdom is that we are willing to make changes in our lives, in our strategies, in order to do God's will. Wisdom is letting go of that which is not working, that which is self-serving, that which is mere stubbornness, in order to grow in God. The men who brought the paralytic to Jesus changed their strategy when they encountered the obstacle of the crowd. Instead of continuing to try to force their way through the crowd, they took a different route to Jesus. That showed wisdom.

            When we face difficult situations in life or a temptation to sin, we may begin to blame God or to blame others. We may frantically look for someone to fix this for us. But James says we should pray, owning our problem with honesty and humility. Then we can be willing to change direction. Pride says "I must continue to do this my way." Wisdom says "I can change and do this Gods way. I can persevere." When our faith is put under pressure, we can ask God and believe.

            Amen.