437: How to Suffer Well | Dave Sloop

Introduction

She's almost there. So let's give it up for Laura. Very exciting. Well, I wanted to just say a couple of things. First of all, if you have any questions about theology, Tim is your guy. But if you wanna know what the winter camp for our youth is called, don't ask Tim. It is not booyah in the barn. He said it both services, and I just giggled to myself. It's booyah burr, like cold burr, the winter. It's okay. Alright. And he also didn't know that this was called a bulletin, which I love. Okay. But anything about the Bible, you ask Tim.

Tim mentioned this. This is the prayer conference that is happening in March. I know that he just plugged it, but I'm going to plug it again because the person that wrote this book that honestly has changed my life and I believe will change yours if you read it, he is coming to lead this conference. I think it's gonna be life-changing, and I hope that you will come. It is our hope that this entire sanctuary is full. We had about 300 people last year, and it was good. But this year, it's going to be even better, and I hope that you will consider signing up for this. It is worth every penny and worth your time.

The Series and Introduction to James

This week, alright. You can start that timer. This week, we are in our second week in our James series. Last week, Tim gave us kind of an overview of the book, who the author was. He is the half brother of Jesus. He talked to us about his style and some of the main themes that carry throughout the book. And this week, we're gonna jump into chapter one. In fact, we're gonna be in chapter one for the next three weeks, but today, we're just gonna look at the first 12 verses.

One of the things that Tim mentioned to us about James is that he does not pull any punches. He gets straight to the point, and he's not too concerned with how he makes you feel when he tells you something that is true. He's okay with your discomfort, and that is exactly how this passage starts today. He's going to introduce himself. And by the way, he refers to himself not as the half brother of Jesus, which he could have. But he says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He identifies himself. He tells you who he's writing to. It's to the dispersion. It is to the Jewish church that had been persecuted, and therefore, they were scattered. They left Jerusalem. They were suffering immensely. They had lost home. They had lost a sense of community. They many of them had lost loved ones. In fact, James himself would be murdered shortly after writing this book, this letter. It was a time of immense persecution.

He identifies himself. He says who God is. He says who he is, who he's writing to, and then he says, count it all joy when you suffer. This is how he kicks off the letter. He said, you are going to experience pain, and I'm inviting you to count it all joy. Now as you were listening to those 12 verses read, it might have seemed to you like a series of disconnected, wise sayings. It read a bit like, the book of Proverbs, which is a huge influence for James. But upon further and closer inspection, you will see that James is actually making a cohesive case, a strategy. He has a singular focus for how you and I can deal with trials.

And so let's look at verse two and learn a little bit about how James views trials. He says, again, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. That word trial, it means by implication, a hardship, a difficult circumstance. The literal meaning of that word is a putting to the test. It is a putting to proof, actually. It is a proving experience in your life. In fact, when you hear the word trial I see some of you lawyers in here. I know that we have some judges among us. When you hear the word trial, you likely imagine the courtroom where judges and lawyers and juries gather to prove someone's guilt or innocence. And the experience of a trial doesn't so much determine someone's guilt or innocence as it reveals something that was already true about that person.

And for James, that is precisely what a trial is. It is something that proves the genuineness of your faith. It proves something that is true, that was already true about you. That's how James sees a trial. And he says that trials can come in various kinds. It can be a traffic jam or back pain or terminal illness, and everything in between. The other things that James is gonna say is that they are inevitable. Notice he does not say if you face trials of many kinds, he says when. He says whenever you face them. Because here's the reality for every single person that sits in this room, trials are coming for you.

It is part of what it means to be a human. To be human is to hurt and to experience pain and suffering. That's what it means to live in God's world that happens to be fallen and broken. In fact, the word that James uses to describe how these trials come up in our life, he says, whenever you meet trials, or the NIV says face, I think, that word actually means to fall into something that is all around you. It's the same word that is used for the good Samaritan who fell among thieves. And they robbed him, and they left him for dead. And in that sense, a trial is a difficult and painful circumstance that you neither chose nor deserved, but they happen. And James is going to tell us in verse two, whenever they happen, in other words, as often as they occur, he gives you an invitation. And here's what the invitation is. Count it all joy.

I don't know how many of you here are suffering. I know, actually, many of you are. Some of you, I'm acquainted personally with your suffering. And I wonder if that statement seems insensitive. Count it joy. But he doesn't just say count it joy. He says count it all joy. Meaning this, it's not mostly a difficult thing with a silver lining. It's all joy, or the NIV says, pure joy. How can James say that, and what on earth does he mean? Is he advocating for some kind of plastic Christianity where we plaster a smile over our face and pretend that suffering doesn't hurt? You stub your toe and go, oh, thank you. Thank you, Gordon. You get in a car accident and you praise God for it. You turn around to the people and say, ain't this great? See, that's not what James is advocating for. When you get the diagnosis from the doctor and you just grit your teeth and go, it's okay. It's good. See, that's not what he's saying. That's denial. And that's not what he's advocating for.

But if I'm being honest, that is a strategy that many of us employ, whether it is a conscious strategy or a subconscious self-defense mechanism to deal with the hard things in life. We just pretend that they don't hurt. We pretend that they're not there. That's not what James is offering here. You know what else he's not offering? He's not telling you to toughen up. He's not inviting you to a deeper level of determination. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You're strong enough for this. You look that trial in the face. You can do this. You can manage it. You can figure it out. You can do the research. You can overcome because you're strong. That's not what James is saying either.

See, the reality is denial and determination, those are both strategies that we employ, and both of them end in despair. Do you know why? Because you can only ignore your pain for so long until it becomes so loud it's the only thing you can hear, see, or experience. And determination works until it doesn't. Because inevitably what happens is you will be faced with a trial over which you have zero control. Many of you. The older that you get, the more you know what I'm talking about. A relationship that you just can't fix. A disease for which there is no cure, and you find yourself in despair.

That is not what James is advocating for here. Instead, he says, count it all joy. You know that word count? It's one of Paul's favorite words. It's the same word that he uses in Philippians three. When he says, whatever was to my prophet in fact, you know, my my pedigree, my reputation, my wealth, whatever was to my profit, I now count it all loss for Christ's sake. What is more, I count everything lost compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my lord, for whose sake I lost all things. And then a third time, he says, I count them rubbish that I may gain Christ.

What is Paul doing here? He's doing the same thing that James is doing. There's something transactional that happens when you reach for something that is true and you remind yourself of it. This is not some trick he does with his mind, like smiling until the pain feels good. He is drawing on a truth, and therefore, what James is saying here is not trite. It is the truth. Paul does the same thing in Romans six. In verse two, he says, you died to sin. Therefore, how can you live it any longer? And in verse 11, he says, count yourself dead to sin but alive to god in Christ Jesus. If you already died, why do you need to count yourself dead? Because sometimes we forget, and we have to remind ourselves of what is true about us. And here is what Paul says. He says, count it all joy whenever you face trials of many kinds. And then he says, because you know.

There is something that you know that can cause you to experience joy in the midst of suffering. In fact, he's going to give us three things. But here's the first in verses three through five. Listen to what it three through four. Here's what it says. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James is telling us here that there is a truth we can lay hold of, and it's this. If you will cling to Christ in the midst of your suffering, he will make something of you. He will redeem your pain. He will use your suffering to turn you into a better version of you. In fact, I would put it this way. I would say that trials are not just a proving experience, but they are a purifying experience. They make you more of what you already are. Have you ever seen gold ore? It is gold. It's genuine. But it looks more like a rock. You know how to make it into pure gold? Turn up the heat. And the dross, and everything that's impure, and everything that's not gold, it just melts away until all that remains is pure gold. You see, gold becomes more of what it already was. It doesn't necessarily become something new. It just becomes more what it, deep down, actually is.

And this is what James says a trial does for the believer. It is a purifying experience. It is a refining experience. He says it produces something called steadfastness. And he says, if you will let steadfastness finish its work, and he notes it's passive—you just have to sit there under it—and it will do its work on you. And here's what you will become, perfect. Now he does not mean that in the sense of sinless perfection. He says, you will become perfect, and then he describes what he means by it by communicating it in the positive and then in the negative. He says, you will be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing.

James' idea of perfection is it's mature, it's wholeness. Can I tell you something? I don't know every single person in this room, but I do know about every single person in this room that this is what you long for more than anything else. You want to be a person who is whole, who is complete, who is completely satisfied, lacking nothing. That is what we all want. You might be sitting here thinking, what I actually want is a million dollars. What I actually want is to not be lonely anymore. I want a spouse. But see, that's not actually what you want. You want the million dollars. You want the spouse because of what you think it will purchase for you, which is a sense of completeness, wholeness, a sense of lacking nothing. And what James here’s the radical thing that James is suggesting here, that the furnace of suffering will purchase for you something that a million dollars can't, a sense of completeness and wholeness.

In fact, you know what it what it actually does to us? It makes us more like Jesus, who actually was perfect and complete. Romans eight twenty-eight is probably one of the most often used verses in the midst of someone's suffering, and it's probably one of the most misused. Romans eight twenty-eight says, for we know it's another time that Paul says, we know something. We know that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. That is an encouraging verse. But so often, what we use it for is to say, God's working in all things. You lost your job. He's gonna give you a better one. She broke up with you? Prettier girl around the corner. Trust me. That's what Romans eight twenty-eight teaches, but it's not. Because you can't read Romans eight twenty-eight without reading eight twenty-nine, which says this, for those that he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. What is the promise? The promise is when we suffer, he is working. And here's what he's working to do, to make you look more like Jesus.

The first reason James says that we can count it joy is because your suffering won't be wasted. He will use it to make you into a better version of who you already are, his child, Christ in you. But then he says something else. Starting in verse five, he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind, for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

At first glance, again, this looks like a new thought. We were talking about suffering, and now we're talking about prayer. Prayer for wisdom specifically, but it's not. See, verse four says, lacking nothing. Verse five says, but if any of you lacks wisdom in context, what he's saying is, wisdom for how to navigate suffering. This is not primarily a lesson on how we are supposed to pray, that if you believe him hard enough, he'll give you what you want. That's not what he's teaching. What he's teaching here is when you suffer, you cling to Christ. He is available to you. He will help you.

In fact, you know the word for generous that James uses here? It is single-mindedness. He will move heaven and earth to help those of his children that are in need, provided that they need him most. When James says, don't be a double-minded person, that word is actually two-sold. It means you're not quite sure if you need him. James is suggesting here that when you cling to Christ as if he is your only hope, he will, 100% of the time, be there to meet you. I think it's second Chronicles sixteen nine, maybe, that says, the Lord's eyes roam the earth looking to strongly support those whose heart is fully his. If that's not the right reference, it's what it says, and it's true.

What is the promise here? The promise is you can seek him in your suffering. He is available to you. He's accessible. And if you can seek him in your suffering, here's the other thing that's true. He sees you in your suffering. And if that's true, then it means something else. And this is the point that I want to spend some time on. If he sees you in your suffering, it means that he is sovereign over your suffering. And if that isn't a little uncomfortable, then you probably haven't fully thought through the implications of what that means.

If God saw me before I was suffering and he let it happen anyway, it means, at best, God allowed it, if not purposed it or ordained it. See, one of the discomforting things about scripture is that God sometimes allows, permits, and even purposes my pain. He stood outside Lazarus' tomb. He could've stopped it. See, this is the mystery of Jesus Christ—that he stood outside Lazarus' tomb and he wept with Mary even though he was the sovereign king who could've stopped it. It's not my goal this morning to explain all the nuances and intricacies of his sovereignty, but suffice to say this, if you are suffering, it is because he has allowed it. It has passed through his sovereign hands.

And I don't say that flippantly. In fact, as I mentioned, I know some of your personal suffering. And James knew some of the suffering that the people he was writing to were going through. But the reality of this is this: either God sees and is sovereign over my suffering, or he is an absentee landlord. And both of those realities are uncomfortable, but only one of them is biblical. And if we will sit under the truth of God's sovereignty, here's what it means. When I'm hurting, it means he's allowed it, and therefore, he will use it. It won't be wasted. Either he will deliver me in this life from it, or I will graduate through it into the next life, but it will not be wasted. He will use it to make me more like himself.

And then finally, in verse nine, and again that sounds like a change in direction, but it’s not. James just summarizes what he's about to say here. He's going to give an example from wealth and poverty. And the people he would have been writing to, they would have been financially destitute. They would have been struggling. They had been stripped from their land, from their property, from their possessions, and they were struggling. And James says to them, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation. You essentially, let me summarize, be grateful that you're poor.

How does that connect to what we're talking about here? What did he say in verse two? Count it all joy when you suffer. And then he says, and here's a real life example for you. Be grateful in your high position when you're struggling financially. Why? Then he goes on to compare it. He compares it to a person who is wealthy. And in this example, I think James is talking about someone who doesn't know the Lord. And the wealthy person, listen to what it says about that person. It says, like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and it withers, its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. What's the point here? Be grateful for your poverty because your suffering is reminding you of something that the rich man doesn't know about, and it's this: you weren't made for this world. You might look at someone who is seemingly a lot more comfortable than you, but he says they are going to fade away. Their riches are gonna fade away and so are they.

Count it all joy, brothers and sisters. Why? Because your pain won't last, but you will. And that is the next promise that he makes in verse 12. It says, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised