James 1:9-11

"9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits."

James knows that his readers are struggling in the midst of various trials. He is reaching out to them in this letter to help them turn to God and count on Him in their difficulties. James begins his letter by encouraging his readers to "Count it all joy ... when you meet various trials..." James is not telling his readers to pretend that what they are going through is actually a joyful experience. I do not even believe he is saying that we cannot or should not be sad over our trials. To count it all joy is not an automatic, flippant response we are to have to our own or the trials of others. To come to a place where we can count it joy is a wrestling itself. We see this in the Apostle Paul as well as in Jesus’ life. Certainly, we will wrestle in prayer, maybe often, to choose to trust God's character and presence in the midst of all that we face.

James knows it is a wrestling. He calls it "the testing of our faith." We are choosing to trust God in a situation that does not automatically lead us to that response. The way James feeds his readers faith is that he first reminds them of the end point, the goal, as seen from God's point of view. James tells them, and us, that our circumstances are not the final word. We do not see specifically what God will do, but we are reminded that when we let God work, when we count on Him and hand over all that we have, He will use these difficult or even dreadful circumstances to bring us to be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." So we are counting on this God to be the final word in the middle of the process. We look forward to it all “adding up” to this goal, aim, end.

James further feeds his readers’ faith by reminding them of the character of God. This is the God we are counting on. He is ready to enable us to be wise in our circumstances. Again, we will no doubt wrestle at times, and repeatedly to find rest in God. Gary was once asked if God didn’t intend us to enjoy life. Gary thought this over and replied that it is not so much that God will have us always enjoy life, but more that we will enjoy Him in the midst of life. This, however, never becomes automatic.

Every day we need to turn it over to Him again and find that "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning..."(Lam. 3:22 &23)

In our struggles with God, we need to turn over everything, even our struggles and doubts over to Him. If we are "in two minds" about God--if we are all the time still actually counting on ourselves, we make it impossible for ourselves, at that moment to receive anything from Him. It is very hard to receive His gift when our hands are still closed tightly around whatever else we are counting on to give us life. This is going to be a struggle

We would often much rather count on ourselves and our own abilities in the end to make it all right. So James has to remind them of the character of their Heavenly Father to help them (and us) see how trustworthy and good He is and how what we are holding onto will not take us through this trial in a way that we can count as joy.

In telling them of God's character, James is telling them that God is not double-minded about us. We can give up our double-mindedness in the face of seeing that God is all one-way with us. He gives generously to all, not sometimes to some. James will go back to this idea later in his letter

Now James speaks of those who are poor and those who are rich. When we are in trials, it is tempting to look around at others and to compare our trials with theirs. We are tempted to believe that some people don't have any trials, that their lives are so easy. This is especially true when dealing with rich and poor; which is why James talks about them. The poor look at those who are rich and believe that they are getting off easy. But James tells the lowly brother to "boast in his exaltation." That is interesting. I wonder if the poor man thought he had nothing to boast in. What exaltation is James talking about? In the context, it would seem that he is referring back to being "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Some day the one who lacks so much now will be brought up, exalted, to a place of completion and fullness. The lowly brother then looks forward to the future, he does not boast in the present, but in what God is going to do.

James spends the rest of this paragraph on the rich person. He says the rich brother should boast in his humiliation, because "like the flower of the grass he will pass away." The rich appear to have no difficulties in this life. James is saying that actually they certainly do have trials as well.

The trials James is speaking of here are those related to riches. These are the trials of being tempted to trust in one's wealth and believe that they are some kind of sign of one's eternal place or status. James assures the readers that riches will fade away, they will be temporary. Riches actually do not help one to receive what God has to offer, in fact, they may very well be a barrier to it. And, this is what becomes more and more painfully clear in a rich person's life.

So notice, James says it is actually the rich man himself that fades away. He himself is changed from pride in his possessions to humility in recognizing his own spiritual poverty before God. So, for the rich believer, his boasting is in the triumph of God over his delusion about his own true condition. He was fooled into believing that his material riches gave him a reason to think that he was spiritually self sufficient, spiritually rich. However, in the end, through his trials, it will become clear that God is the real and only life-giver, not riches.

We all have trials that God allows us to go through. We live in a very broken world and trials are inevitable. It will not help us to compare ourselves to others. It is tempting to believe that our trials are so much worse or really not that bad. Either way, we end up not focusing on our Father's faithful and gracious presence and work in the midst of our real and current situations and therefore do not receive His peace and joy for our help today. James wants to help his readers not get distracted into comparing themselves with those around them.

I appreciate this word because I know that I struggle with comparisons. I can dwell on being envious of others that I think do not suffer as I do. I am tempted to grumble that God is focusing unwelcome attention on me. Or, I can see someone who is going through a horrible time and I fear that I may end up there or am mainly relieved that "at least I am not dealing with..." The good news that James wants us to grasp is that God can be God to all of us in the middle of whatever. There is no pit lower than God's presence can reach. He does not allow us to go through anything that He cannot redeem and heal and use to bring us to a fullness in Him that is currently beyond our imagining. I don't need to compare because in each trial, big or small, we all need to grow, by God's grace, to trust Him 100%.

The dynamics are all the same for everyone. Is God good even here? Does He hear me? Does He care? Can He redeem this? Does He give to all generously and without reproach? And the answer to all these is the same in all our trials--YES!

Work And Love

My daughter was having trouble recently deciding on what to major in at college, so she asked my advice. I told her the one thing I wish that I had been told at her age: "Find a career that you love and you will never work a day." She caught me off guard, though, when she next asked what she should do if she couldn’t get that career right away. What should she do if she had to take a job that she hated?

That question brought back a lot of memories of jobs that I had worked at over the years. I remembered one in particular. My young family was struggling. We had no money and there were no good jobs to be had in the area. My brother, however, was able to get me a job at a local lumber mill. The work was hard and meant constant pain for my back. Hours were spent loading and stacking lumber. The pay was just above minimum wage. In the winter the skin on my fingers split and bled from the cold, dry air. The job turnover was high. In the several years I worked there only the four of us supporting families didn’t leave to look for something better.

Still, I also remembered singing hymns to myself while I stacked and loaded that lumber. I remembered the jokes and laughter we all shared during lunch and on breaks. I remembered as I pushed the lumber carts, glancing out the window and joyously watching the leaves changing in the Fall. I remembered how a simple sandwich tasted like the greatest gourmet meal in the world after 4 hours of hard work. I remembered thanking God for this job so I could feed my family. Remembering all this gave me the answer I needed for my daughter. "Just bring your love to your job then sweetheart," I said. "If you can’t do what you love then love what you do."

In this life we work to live, but we live to love. Without love work is drudgery. Yet, with love work is joy. May all of your working days then be full of love, joy, goodness, and God.

~ Joseph J. Mazzella ~

Fruit

I want to take a few minutes to talk about fruit. I'm sure that many of you are already ahead of me in Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law"--that's the New American Standard Bible--and we could spend a year of Sunday sermons just talking about those nine things and barely scratch the surface. But I'm not going to say much about them at all. What I want to talk about is "fruit"--because I notice that Paul has just pulled the word from nowhere, and dropped it just as quickly. He just spoke of "thedeeds of the flesh", nothing to do with fruit, and has made no mention of vines, trees, or anything else which would make us expect the idea of fruit; nor does he pick up the idea in what follows to draw out some meaning from the word. Therefore, there must be something about the idea of "fruit" itself that Paul expected us to grasp.

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However, by and large Christians don't grasp the most important words in their biblical language. Instead, we change them into clichés. Who thinks about phrases like "born again", "filled with the spirit", "walking by faith"? We throw these around without ever considering what those words mean. They have become labels, not ideas. And "the fruit of the Spirit" has become one of these, something we talk about by that name, but never discuss the idea behind the name. Why does Paul use the word "fruit" here? What does he expect us to understand? Well, I have some ideas--three things I've noticed about fruit which I think Paul may have wanted us to discover.

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The first thing I've noticed is that fruit grows. Some of you have developed only the tiniest first buds, barely noticeable in your life. For others, those buds have opened into the beautiful, fragrant--and fragile blossoms. Those blossoms give way to the hard unripened fruit, and, over time, grow and develop to full maturity. The process takes time. That's important. These things aren't gifts; you don't wake up one morning with the gift of gentleness or the gift of self-control. They grow slowly over a lifetime.

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Many years ago I heard a Bible teacher tell a story he said was a true account of his own boyhood. He and his brother would from time to time be sent to their room if they had been bad. But the punishment was not very effective, because there was a big old fruit tree right outside their window. They would go out the window, onto the roof, into the branches, down the tree, across the back yard, over the fence, and into the fields, where they would play ball for a while, then come back over the fence, across the back yard, up the tree, into the branches, onto the roof, and in the window, and no one ever knew that they were gone.

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Then one day they overheard Dad saying to Mom, "Mary, this tree hasn't borne fruit for years. Tomorrow morning I'm going to cut it down." They were horrified. They needed a plan; they came up with a plan. That night, they went to bed early, gathered together all of their money, went out the window, down the tree, and into town, where they bought all of the apples they could find, and some black cotton. Returning home, they proceeded to tie apples onto every branch of that tree that they could reach. Then they went to bed, and waited for their father to get up in the morning.

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Father got up and went outside. Then he came back in, calling out, "Mary! Mary! It's the most incredible thing I've ever seen! This tree which hasn't borne fruit for years this morning is covered with apples! You have to see this: it is absolutely covered with big, red, juicy apples! I don't believe it! It's a pear tree!"

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And that brings me very nicely to my second point. Not only does fruit grow, but the kind of fruit which grows on the outside is a reflection of the nature of the tree. Apples grow on apple trees; pear trees produce pears. And the fruit of the Spirit which grows in your life is an outgrowth of the nature within. You love because you are a lover. You have patience because you are patient. It is the new man, the new life, the new nature growing within you which expresses itself in the kind of fruit that grows on the outside.

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And the third point would be the fertilizer factor: if you want to see the fruit grow in your own life, you have to expect the fertilizer.

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Expect the fertilizer? What is this guy talking about? Well, let me see if I can explain the fertilizer factor. Have you ever heard anyone say, "Don't pray for patience unless you want trials?" Well, that's the fertilizer factor; and I'm convinced that the same could be said for every part of the fruit of the Spirit: if you pray for it, you're asking for trouble, and trouble will come.

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Let me explain why this is. Do you know that it's easy to love those who are lovely? As long as everyone with whom we are in contact is nice, pleasant, easy-going, and kind, we learn nothing about love. These people are easy to love. But as soon as you pray for love--say the words, "God, teach me how to love"--someone will come into your life who is nasty, bitter, cranky, difficult, harsh, mean-spirited; because when you can learn to love that person, then you will have learned something about love.

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Or look at joy. Someone has said that joy is distinct from happiness, in that happiness depends on happenings, and if my happenings don't happen to happen the way I happen to want my happenings to happen, I'm unhappy. Joy is me being happy when my happenings don't happen to happen the way I happen to want my happenings to happen. So if everything in your life is running smoothly and falling right into place, you not only aren't learning anything about joy--you don't even know if you've got any. And I could say the same about each of the nine. What is peace without a storm? Patience without trials? You can work out the rest. And that's the fertilizer factor: if you pray for the fruit to grow, you will be hit with the fertilizer.

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Am I saying not to pray for these things? Well, I have three thoughts on that, too--but they're a shorter three thoughts. The first is that God will tell you what to pray, and I certainly won't tell you not to pray for something you know God has required. But beyond that, I believe that we should pursue growth, we should embrace maturity. We were all younger once, and thank God that we've grown up. There are few of us who truly would give up all we've learned and go back to be teenagers and go through it all again; but there are none of us who would prefer never to have learned it, never to have gone through it to get here. The difficulties through which we pass are the lessons which mature us for the future, and however harsh they may seem at the moment, the life they bring us is worth the trouble to get there.

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And the third thing is that God doesn't need you to pray for these things. He doesn't need your permission to work in your life to build the new creation. He already has it. You already asked Him to make you a new person, gave Him full authority to do what He saw fit. You might need to pray for these things, as part of your own lessons--to embrace that which He is doing; but He will do it, whether you pray for it or not. I'm not telling you that if you don't pray for these things your life will be easy. I'm telling you that the fertilizer is coming, the fruit needs to grow, and the Gardener will see that you get what it needs. I'm telling you to expect the fertilizer, to understand what it is when it hits you, and to focus on the fact that the fruit is growing.

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This, I think, is some of what Paul wanted us to understand when he used the phrase, "the fruit of the Spirit". I hope it has been enlightening for you.

James 1:6-8

" 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7,8 For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord."

This section really needs to be understood with the preceding verse, the one we studied last week. In that verse James says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him." As we have seen, James is talking to his scattered flock and helping them to know how, as believing people, they are to go through trials. James reminds them of what God is doing in us in the midst of the various difficulties with which we find ourselves dealing.

He knows that they may feel that they lack wisdom about God and about how to proceed through their trials with God, so he encourages them to ask God and reminds them of His character. He builds their faith and hope in God by helping them to see again that God is a giving God, One who gives generously to all and does not reproach. He knows how difficult it is for them to count on God when they are unsure about His character. By seeing Him clearly, our trust toward Him is drawn out of us.

Now James includes a warning to reinforce from the other side what he has just said. "But," he says, "let him ask in faith, with no doubting..."

What does James mean here? Is he saying that we must somehow make ourselves have no shadow of doubt in our minds when we petition God? That God will only listen and respond to us if we have "perfect" faith?

No. This is definitely not what James is saying. He has already told them to ask God if they lack wisdom. He assumes they are struggling with how to go through trials, not that they "have it all together." He says that these trials test their faith. It is in the midst of difficulty that we can become unsure, we lose sight of who God is and are tempted not to count on Him and live as if He is present and active. Telling them just to “have perfect faith” would not be helpful.

Let's look more closely at this passage and see how James defines what he means by doubting. In v. 6, he describes the one who doubts as being "like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." So one who is doubting is like someone without any anchor, rather than one who has an anchor but is struggling to trust it still works. This person has no discernment and is influenced by everything around her/him. As James goes on to say at the end of the passage he is "unstable in all his ways..."

In vv. 7 & 8, James describes this kind of person as someone who is "double-minded". Another way to say this is literally being "in two minds." Such a person who asks God could be double minded about their request—they may say they really want God’s best, but have their hearts set on something far less. Perhaps they go back and forth in their requests. Or the double-minded person may also be double minded about whether or not they trust God in the midst of their trial. They may be equally counting on something else besides God to get them through this trial. So, he says, one should not suppose that "a double-minded man ... will receive anything from the Lord."

This is not so much because God won't give. As James has just been telling his readers, God is a generous giver. The problem is with the one petitioning God. James is saying that when we ask God for wisdom and help but really are looking for help to come from elsewhere, then we cannot receive from God. We do not end up seeing what God is doing and do not receive wisdom from Him for the trial we are living through because we cannot. We are not really counting on Him when we are also counting on ourselves, therefore we have put ourselves in a position where we are unable to receive the generous gifts He desires to give. The problem is our receptivity at that point, not God’s generosity.

James is saying that when we are in a time of trial, whether large or small, to ask in faith is to hand everything over to God, even our doubts or misgivings. We turn wholly to Him, and even ask Him to help us turn wholly to Him because we know we need His Spirit to work in us. We say with the man in Mark 9:24 "I believe; help my unbelief!" I know a woman right now who is in a very deep trial and is struggling to trust God. Although she wants to trust Him, up to this point she really has wanted God to do what feels the most comfortable for her right now as she is. She has really mainly wanted her circumstances and others to change so that externally she’d have fewer problems in her life. But she now realizes that to move ahead with her own plan isn't really to trust God at all and that if she refuses God’s work in her she will shut herself off at this point from seeing what God really could do in her life whether others cooperate or not!

James is speaking to people in trial. They may be looking around and saying that they do not see God working anywhere. They may be wondering if He is really caring and active at all. James reminds them that God can work through their trials for an ultimate good that is way beyond the present trials they face. He reminds them that God is the One they can turn to for wisdom and he goes over with them concerning the heart of this God they need to ask. Now he tells them that to ask God is to ask Him wholly, to turn over to Him all of their hopes, fears, and anxieties, and then to be able to better receive the wisdom this great God of theirs is ready to give them in the middle of their trials.

To do this we need to turn again to God and see who He is. That is why James first reminds them of who God truly is. He doesn't just insist that they "not doubt". He helps them gaze on the trustworthiness of God so that they are better able to see the uselessness of counting on anything else to take them through their trials.

I am glad to see again myself that God is the One I turn my questions over to--He can handle what I am struggling with so I do not need to begin hoping in myself to find a better solution!

James 1:5

" 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him."

James is writing a pastoral letter to encourage those who are facing trials. He is really speaking to all of us because we are all facing various trials in this broken, sinful world. James wants them to see that all their trials, large and small, are testing their trust in the Triune God.

As we go through trials we are faced with the choice to live as if God is good, active, and present or to act as if He isn't hearing us, caring about us, and able to bring good out of this struggle. James reminds his readers in the first paragraph of his letter that we can trust that our trials will add up to joy because as we count on God through them our confidence in Him is strengthened and God will bring us to completion through them. He will make us truly perfect, able perfectly to receive His life and love for us. We will be filled with His fullness, lacking in nothing.

When we are in the midst of some difficulty, it can be hard to see beyond the immediate circumstances. James encourages his readers to go through their trials looking at the endpoint, where all of one's life is going. God is taking us to the point of being "perfect and complete". Nothing less. This is what these present struggles will add up to as we count on Him to be at work in our lives.

In the end we will lack nothing. But now, in the midst of struggles we may be lacking something, namely, wisdom. Wisdom for what? Well, if we look at what precedes this verse, it would seem that James is talking about wisdom to get through the trials. I am sure you have at times, like I have, struggled to know how to pray or what to do in the midst of trying circumstances. It is not usually immediately apparent to me what decisions to make when I am "under fire". Behind the struggle to know what to do is a lack of wisdom about God. In trials, as I talked about last time, we can easily forget who God is. We wonder if He is good, or interested in us.

James assumes that we are likely to lack wisdom to get through our trials. So he encourages his readers to ask God and assures them that wisdom will be given them. God desires that we are wise, for wisdom enables us to walk through life in confidence that we are participating in His good work in our lives and in the lives of others. But where do we begin to find wisdom? James does not say to seek wisdom first about our particular trials. He wants us to start somewhere else.

James includes in this verse a short description of the God he is telling them to ask. He tells them about this God of whom he is a servant. God "gives to all men generously and without reproaching." Now why does James include this here? Why doesn't he just tell them to ask God and He will give it to them? He is reminding them of the character of God because this is the very thing about which they are lacking wisdom and they might be tempted not to bother asking God. If I am unsure that God cares for me in my circumstances, then I am less likely to ask help of the only one who can really provide it. James knows they are struggling with their faith and so he lovingly builds it up by reminding them of the truth of who God is.

First of all, God is a God who gives. God is a giving God. That is who He is, not something He occasionally does. Who is He? He is the One who gives. In the midst of trials, we are tempted to forget this. Maybe we worry that He is a God who mostly takes. We wonder, will God give anything to us now? Can He?

Secondly, God gives generously. We may believe He will give, but wonder how much. Is God a stingy God? Is it His nature to give begrudgingly? No, James says. He not only gives, but is generous. God delights in abundance. This section reminds me of the story of the shepherds in Luke. Really one angel would have been sufficient for the shepherds to get the good news of Jesus' birth. But God sends a whole company to sing and praise, for a group of forgotten shepherds on a hillside. I am so glad James reminds me of this generous God, because it isn't easy to see this about Him when I look at some of my trials. I need to be reminded again and again of His true character, seen most clearly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Thirdly, God gives generously to all. When we are struggling, are we often tempted to believe, yes, sure God gives and is even generous--just not to me. I often notice what I think is evidence that God is giving more to someone around me than He is to me. Does He really see me, here, in this time of trial? Does He play favorites?

Lastly, God gives without reproach. This is wonderful to remember. I need not fear God's reproach. Will me make He "pay" for His generosity? Will He upbraid me first for my lack of faith, or my puny obedience before He is gracious? Will he make me feel like I wished I had never asked or that this will be the last time I ask? I have to admit, I find this amazing because I see in my own heart that I often desire to reproach first before I will be giving. I want to make sure that my children really are sorry, that my husband knows how much he has hurt or disappointed me. God gives without reproach? Unbelievable! You have to be kidding!

This section reminds me of the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. When the Father sees his wayward son, still a long way off, he runs to him and embraces him. He cuts his son off as he is in the middle of his little speech and orders the servants to honor his son. What amazes me is not just what the Father says, but what he doesn't say. If I were the Father, I would have wanted to hear just how sorry my son was before I welcomed him back. I would be tempted to make him earn, so to speak, my mercy, by his groveling. James knows his readers might be tempted not to turn to God for wisdom in the midst of their trials because they fear His reproach. So he takes the time to remind them of the true heart of their heavenly Father.

God desires to help us to grow in our ability to count on Him as we walk through the difficulties that are inevitable in such a broken and lost world. We need His help even to have the faith to count it all joy. We do not have wisdom on our own. I am thankful for this letter that we are reminded that God is a giving, loving Father, ready to provide us with the wisdom we need to grow in our ability to receive from Him the life He has for us. I admit that asking for wisdom is not always the first thing I do in a trial. I may focus so much on the trial and wanting it removed from my life that I do not ask God to help me see how He is present and working. I am thankful though, that He is drawing me to ask for His help and ready without reproaching me to give it.

I hope this reminder of God's character gives you hope again and a desire to ask for His wisdom as you go through the daily trials you face.

James 1:1-4

"1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

James describes himself to his readers as a servant of God and of Jesus Christ. James understands his life in reference to another. He knows he is not his own and that he cannot know himself, and others cannot know him without knowing the One he gives his life to in worship, service. He is known only in relationship to this God and Lord Jesus. This is the One with whom He wants to be identified.

He writes "to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion." It seems likely that this letter was written before a.d. 50 to the Jewish Christians who were dispersed due to persecution. James writes this letter as a pastor to a scattered flock whom are enduring hardship. James desires to help them to know the purposes to which God in Christ has called them and how to deal with the various trials they encounter as they live as Christians in a broken, sinful world.

James addresses first the fact that they are in the midst of difficulties. "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials..." James assumes he is writing to people who are struggling in their lives. The word "various" in the Greek means whatever trials; it is meant to convey the sense of including all manner of trials, large and small. Because these are probably Jewish Christians whom have fled from their homes, they are likely dealing with all the trials that one has in a new land, amongst strangers. But James does not want to restrict his words to any particular situation. He is saying that they are to count all of their trials as joy. We are to account for all our struggles in the same manner. They may seem very different from one another. We may see someone else in a very difficult time and think that we have nothing in common with them. Or we may be facing the biggest trial of our lives and feel no one can understand what we are going through.

But James says that all trials can be understood to be the "testing of our faith". The word "testing" here does not mean that God has us go through trials to examine our faith and see if it is of passing grade. Testing here is the word used for testing metals, where you test in order to remove impurities so that the metal is stronger, has more integrity. When we go through trials, we can exercise our trust in God, and in that way can find Him trustworthy. In turn, we are able to trust Him with more of our lives. It seems to me very apt that James calls trials a test of our faith. I see in my own life and in the lives of others that, in every struggle we face, we wonder: is God here? Does He care? Is He able and willing to work in this situation? Has He abandoned me? Can I trust Him to be my Father even with this?

And if we hand the trial, whatever it is, over to God (and we may hand it over again and again!) we find that yes, He is real and present and active in our lives. We can see more clearly who He is and what He is up to so that we trust Him to do that very thing that He desires to do in and through us. When we go through a trial but do not choose to trust, to count on God, He can become more distant and abstract to us. We have a more difficult time seeing what difference He really makes.

We know this to be true, not only in our relationship with God but in our relationships with others. Our relationships either grow stronger as we trust one another and find the object of our trust to be trustworthy or we grow apart through neglect or the relationship is damaged by active deceit. So James says to his sisters and brothers "for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness..." When we test our faith, we decide to step out on God, to count on Him, to live as if He truly is our loving Heavenly Father who is for us and is ready to make us totally His own. The more we see Him work, the more we know we can count on Him. Our faith, our trust in Him, grows stronger and as we persevere, we become steadfast. We become less likely to swing into great doubt or despair. This is a wonderful truth. God can grow us up in our faith so that we are more steady, more ready to hand over a trial when it faces us, more able to live in His peace for we know He is working, and so we are less anxious.

Now James said that they are to count it joy when they face the trials that come because they can become steadfast as they have their faith tested. What does it mean to count it joy and why is having a steadfast faith a good thing? First, to count it joy is not to pretend you are having fun in the middle of a difficult time. The circumstance of the trial may be due to evil, wrong. The suffering caused in and of itself is not a source of joy. Joy has to do not with the trial itself, but in the use to which God intends to put it. He's saying set your sights on what going through the trial will add up to (count) because God is in the business of making sure it adds up to our benefit and God's glory. So joy is based on the God-given promise of what he intends to do with the trial.

And what is that greater end and purpose? He puts it in two ways. First, it brings about our perseverance. Now, I do not think in the context here that he means mere patience or endurance. We are not just given the ability to gut it through in a Stoic-like way, gritting our teeth and just taking it. No, that would be Stoicism not Christianity. Besides, there's not much joy in gutting it out. But the ultimate end James indicates for our trials, shows even more strongly that he does not just have in mind a single moral virtue such as patience. The end result God has in mind is nothing less than our "completion" and "perfection," "lacking nothing." Now obviously, just one moral virtue does not add up to that. But what might?

Let's go back. What is being tested, in the sense of being purified? It's our faith. So if our faith is purified, what is the result? The purification or perfection of our faith. Now that makes more sense. If it is our faith in God which becomes a faith that endures, remains in tough times, has great staying power (and in that sense perseveres) would that lead to our completion and perfection and lacking nothing? Yes. Because in everything we would be turning to God for everything he has to give us. And if we receive from God, especially in the midst of trials, everything God has for us, we would share in all His perfections. We would find our completion in Him! The endurance of faith leads to our completion as persons in Christ. We grow to the place where we are able perfectly, moment by moment, to receive God's love, joy, as peace.

To depart for a moment from this passage: remember from Hebrews, that even Jesus did not just gut it through His most desperate trial. "But for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross" Jesus is the author and "perfecter" of our faith. Jesus was no mere Stoic. His trust in the Father enabled Him to face the cross and count it all adding up to joy, in the salvation of His people. Jesus own faith led Him in perfect trust and obedience. That same pathway is the way for us too, with Him. For our Christ-likeness comes through following Jesus in the way He faced His own trials. In our perfection, we enter fully into the giving and receiving of the Triune life. And that is what God intends for us as we face whatever trials: great or small.

If this is God's intention, then it is easier to see how we are to "count it all joy." I hope this is a word of encouragement for you in the midst of whatever present trials you are facing!

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF GRACE

The exact and discriminate meaning of the word grace should be crystal clear to every child of God. With such insight only can he feed his own soul on the inexhaustible riches which it unfolds, and with such understanding only can he be enabled clearly to pass on to others its marvelous, transforming theme. Here is a striking illustration of the fact that very much may be represented by one word. When used in the Bible to set forth the grace of God in the salvation of sinners, the word grace discloses not only the boundless goodness and kindness of God toward man, but reaches far beyond and indicates the supreme motive which actuated God in the creation, preservation, and consummation of the universe. What greater fact could be expressed by one word?

The meaning of the word grace, as used in the NT, is not unlike its meaning as employed in common speech—but for one important exception, namely, in the Bible the word often represents that which is limitless, since it represents realities which are infinite and eternal. It is nothing less than the unlimited love of God expressing itself in measureless grace.

The word favor is the nearest biblical synonym for the word grace. In this connection it may be observed that the one thought which is almost exclusively expressed in the NT by the word grace, is, in the OT, almost exclusively expressed by the word favor. Grace is favor, and favor is grace. Thus, in considering the Bible teaching on this great theme, equal attention should be given to all passages wherein either the word grace is used or favor is found. Grace means pure unrecompensed kindness and favor. What is done in grace is done graciously. From this exact meaning there can be no departure; otherwise grace ceases to be grace. To arrive at the scope and force of the Bible doctrine of salvation by grace alone we need to follow consistently the path indicated by the exact meaning of the word.