"Perfected Through the Flame"

Trials have a purpose. Mamma said, "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger." Israel was tried by God in the desert right after they left Egypt. Jesus faced temptations by Satan in the wilderness. What good can come from trials?

Perfected Through The Flames

(James 1:1-4)

Introduction:

A.  Let me ask you, “How is your faith?”  As you think about the question, let me ask you to think more specifically.  How do you know how your faith is?  To simply state that your faith is good and you are doing well with the Lord is good, but how do you come to that conclusion?  For many people their spiritually life is based upon their feelings.  If you feel good, then your faith is strong.  If you feel discouraged, then your faith is at a low point.  I suggest that type of evaluation is faulty.  You need something greater than your emotions to determine your spiritual connection to God and the family of God.

B.  When our spiritual life is confronted by this life we live in the flesh we have to determine which life leads.  A spiritual life behaves differently than our sinful nature.  Internally we battle between God’s way and my way, but only one will win.

C.  Listen as Paul speaks to the Romans (Rom. 8:5-8, 12-14).  The battle is on and Satan and his demons are at work seeking to destroy the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Take consolation in the attack of evil, Satan sees you as his prey.  He seeks to devour and destroy.  You are valuable and therefore worth the effort to keep away from God.  He looks for weaknesses in your faith and exploits them.  His goal is to tear you away from God.  But, he does not have to win.  The Holy Spirit who resides in all of God’s children is greater than the evil spirits of this age.  When we live lives worthy of our calling, when we keep in step with the Spirit, when we submit to God in obedience Satan loses.

D.  Brethren, you don’t have to fear the battle, you simply have to work the plan.  God has outlined for his children the life we need to live.  He gives us parameters in which we walk so that our feet are always on the rock and not on the sand.  We come to a study of the epistle of James with great joy as we can see aspects of our Christian journey being encouraged by his teachings.

E.  As we evaluate our walk with the Lord, James tells us to evaluate it not by feelings, but by examining the walk.  If your walk with God is sitting doing nothing, then it is not much of a faith.  But if that faith is active and obedient, it is growing and beneficial.

I.  The Author of James

A.  Tradition states that the Epistle of James was written by the brother of Jesus, a son of Joseph and Mary.  There is good evidence for that belief.  In Nazareth, the people were amazed at the teachings of Jesus and Mark 6:3 begins to list the boys of Joseph and Mary as, “James, Joseph, Judas and Simon.”  Then if you read Acts, we read about James three times as leader in Jerusalem and in Gal 1, Paul talks about seeing James, the Lord’s brother.

B.  So whoever this James is that writes this epistle, he is well known in the church.  That supports the view of the author being James the Lord’s brother.  But I want you to see James, not with the influence of Jesus as his brother, but how he describes himself – a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This James uses a word that denotes he belongs to a master, not a hired servant who free to change employers.  James is a slave.  He is bound to Jesus and he is bound to the people of Jesus, “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”  That is not so much Jews as it is in this case the children of God, or Christians who have been scattered among the nations.

C.  Let’s examine the writings of James and see what it is that this slave of God and Jesus has to say to all Christians.

II.  Perfected Through the Flames

A.  James 1:2-4.  Trails have a purpose.  Mamma said, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.”  Israel was tried by God in the desert right after they left Egypt.  Jesus faced temptations by Satan in the wilderness.  What good can come from trials?  It makes us who we are.  You will never know your strength until it is tested.  You will never know your devotion to God until you have to be devoted.  We often quote Rev. 2:10, but look at the short statement to the church in Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11).  Did you catch the promise given?  Be faithful and you receive the crown of life.  He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.  The trials that you face will make you stronger.

B.  Job 23:10 says, “When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”  Listen to Ps. 66:8-12.  Brethren, I want to be there.  I want to be at the place of abundance, but the only way there is through the fire and water – the testing, the refining.  Let me be honest and tell you I don’t like the process, but I desire the outcome.

C.  James says to “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.”  Some translations say “count it.”  Whatever your translation, the wording is “to reckon, to deem, to regard.”  James is not pushing the “joy” but the “considering.”  James wants Christians to see past the pain of the trials to the outcome of spiritual maturity.  No one likes trials, but James wants us to focus on the outcome.  It is the same type of thinking that is used by the Hebrew writer when he says of Jesus “who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame.”  Jesus did not welcome the cross, but he welcomed the outcome – salvation to all mankind.

D.  I would never ask a person in pain to thank God.  But I would encourage the person in pain to see beyond to the glory of God and the joy of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

E.  We also need to examine the trials that James tells us to face with pure joy.  There are many types of trials.  There are physical trials and emotional trials.  There are trials because of our sinful actions and there are trials because of spiritual actions.  When you examine the text, I believe you will see that James is dealing with any type of trial that is connected to being a Christian.  If I suffer physically, mentally, emotionally, or any other way, because of my faith in Jesus, then I need to know that this test produces perseverance, and the perseverance produces maturity.

F.  Paul and Peter both teach that we should take joy in suffering because of Christ so that we can also share in the glory of Christ.  You have become perfected through the flames and that will make all the difference to the rest of your life.

Conclusion:

A.  Some of you are training as a Christian under a great burden.  You face the trials of your faith, but you must decide on how to react.  Will you persevere and mature, or will you quit?

B.  There is a bumper sticker that says, “If God puts you on hold – don’t hang up.”  I think I understand the meaning.  You might feel as though God is not there with you in the trial, but the truth is, he is.  He is there all the time.  In fact Jesus faced the same trials so that you could see this teaching in action.  Stay strong, don’t quit, keep the faith.  If you are need of our encouragement, then come as we stand and sing.