Running to Win- Difficult Times

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Running to Win- Difficult Times (James 1:2-4)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, November 3, 2024

I have a quote: guess the date:

We spend our strength in arguing, bickering, contending, quarrelling, and opposing one another rather than magnifying, blessing, and praising the name of God. We are a divided people… Peace and unity have flown from us, and a spirit of contention and division has come upon us. The church is divided. The state is divided. The city is divided. The country is divided. Families are divided. Godly people are divided. Ministers almost everywhere are divided. Yes, and what heart is there at this time that is not divided within itself?

(Jeremiah Burroughs, Puritan Preacher 1646)

During the time of Jeremiah Burroughs there were Christian issues at stake.

I want to remind you of two things:

  • God is sovereign:
    1. Piper writes:
    2. On the one hand, hearing the voice of God is like a frightened child who hears the voice downstairs, and realizes that daddy’s home. Whatever those other sounds were, it’s okay. Daddy’s home.
    3. On the other hand, it feels like the seasoned troops, dug in at the front line of battle, and about to be overrun by the enemy. But then they get word that a thousand impenetrable tanks are rushing to their aid. They are only one mile away. You will be saved, and the enemy will not stand.
    4. Vague generalizations about the power of God do not have the same effect as the very voice of God telling us specifically how strong he is, how pervasive his power, how universal his authority is, how unlimited his sovereignty is. And that our times are in his hands.[1]
    5. John 19:11 (ESV)
    6. 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
    7. Isaiah 46:9–10 (ESV) 9 remember the former things of old;

                        for I am God, and there is no other;  I am God, and there is none like me,

            10          declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

                        saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose’

  1. Proverbs 21:1 (ESV)

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;

he turns it wherever he will.

[1] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/plunge-your-mind-into-the-ocean-of-gods-sovereignty

When I was a child, my younger brother received a video of the Velveteen Rabbit. Regarding the book, Timothy Keller shares:

Tim Keller shares the following:

Remember The Velveteen Rabbit? “ ‘Real isn’t how you’re made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you.’ ” (These are the toys talking.) “ ‘When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’ ‘Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. ‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you’re Real, you don’t mind being hurt.’ ‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’ ”[1]

That is a good introduction to today’s subject.

We are in a sermon series on the idea of running to win. This is the idea of recognizing, running through, and, if possible, defeating the things we deal with. This could be depression, anxiety, anger, or something else. They can be actual sins, or they could be organic issues that may or may not lead to sin.

Today, we are going to talk about difficult times.

In a minute, I want you to turn to James 1. We will talk today about James 1:2-4. These verses are explicitly written about trials and persecutions.

Theme: James challenges his audience that perseverance in trials will build them up in maturity and holiness and give them a reward in Heaven.

Now let’s read James 1:2-4:

James 1:2–4 (ESV)

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 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.

We will return to those verses in a moment.

  1. First, let’s talk about realistic expectations:
    1. We will face difficult times because we live in a fallen world.
    2. Ever since sin entered the world, the world has been fallen (see Genesis 3). We must understand this.
    3. Numerous passages in the Bible talk about having troubles. See also John 16:33.
    4. Reason alone tells us we will have difficult times.
    5. Studies show that we do not grow and develop without difficult times.
    6. This passage in James tells us that.
    7. We must constantly remind ourselves that we will have trials and tribulations.
    8. We must remind ourselves that they make us stronger.
    9. We must remind ourselves that our heavenly Father is in control.
    10. He knows what to permit and what to withhold.

Swindoll:

You’ve heard them. Those all-too-familiar cries of exasperation. Maybe a couple have crossed your mind today sometime between the too-early clang of the alarm and the too-late racket of the neighbors next door.

Going from bad to worse.
Jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Between a rock and a hard place.
He said, “Cheer up, things could get worse.” So I cheered up—and sure enough, things got worse!
My mother told me there would be days like these, but she never said they would run in packs.

Tough days. We all have them. Some are worse than others. Like the one the hard-hat employee reported when he tried to be helpful. Maybe you heard about it too; the account actually appeared on a company accident form. Bruised and bandaged, the workman related this experience:

When I got to the building I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks around the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the damaged area, there were a lot of bricks left over. Then I went to the bottom and began releasing the line. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was much heavier than I was—and before I knew what was happening the barrel started coming down, jerking me up.

I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground by then to jump, and halfway up I met the barrel of bricks coming down fast. I received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers pinched and jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground hard, it burst its bottom, allowing the bricks to spill out.

I was now heavier than the barrel. So I started down again at high speed. Halfway down I met the barrel coming up fast and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the pile of spilled bricks, getting several painful cuts and deep bruises. At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of my grip on the line. The barrel came down fast—giving me another blow on my head and putting me in the hospital.

I respectfully request sick leave.

Yeah! I would imagine! Some days you honestly wonder why you ever crawled out from under the covers that morning . . . and later, if you will ever make it back to bed that night. Most of us have little difficulty fielding a couple or three problems during the day, but when they start coming down like hail, with no relief, rhyme, or reason, we get jumpy. More often than not we also get grumpy. Invariably there are those who love us and really want to help. But try all they like, tough days are usually solo flights.[2]

  • In verses 2-4, James writes about persistence through trials.
    1. James says that you should consider it pure joy when you encounter various trials and temptations. This doesn’t make sense.
    2. Have you ever considered it joy at the time when you were going through a trial or temptation? Really, have you?
    3. Okay, think of it another way: have you ever considered it a good thing after you have gone through a trial or temptation?
    4. I bet that we all have. I bet we have all been thankful for what we learned through a trial or temptation. I know I have.
    5. Now, what type of joy is he writing about? This is not meaning mere worldly, temporal happiness, but rather spiritual, enduring, “complete joy” in the Lord who is sovereign over all things, including trials.
    6. Notice this says, “pure joy.” This is not partial joy; this is a complete joy.
    7. Now, what type of trials is he writing about?
    8. Well the text says trials of many kinds. One of my sources says that he is talking about the trials of the rich oppressing the poor. That is possibly quite likely as the rest of James has several passages dealing with the rich oppressing the poor.
    9. However, I don’t want to limit this passage to the trials of rich oppressing poor. The rich certainly did oppress the poor in this area. However, this area certainly did face persecution.
    10. The text says “many kinds of trials.”
    11. So, we also must consider it joy when we face persecution.
    12. Why?
    13. Why would we consider physical persecution pure joy?
    14. Why would we consider verbal persecution or other types of persecution as joy?
    15. Why would we consider the persecution of the rich oppressing the poor as joy?
    16. Why would we consider life’s struggles as joy?
    17. The next two verses clue us in.
    18. When our faith is tested, it develops perseverance. This perseverance carries the idea of patience or steadfast hope, expectantly waiting on Christ. But this is not all. The text continues.
    19. Verse 4 says this perseverance finishes its’ work by making you mature and complete.
    20. This completeness has the idea of holiness.
    21. Through our trials; whether verbal persecution or physical persecution, whether oppression, or other trials of health or finances; God is building us up in holiness.
    22. Don’t let them get you down.
  • What do you do?
    1. Remain humble. Be humble—last week, I was trying to write something and thinking out loud. Mercedes and Abigail were in the room. I said, “How do you spell, and I said the word.” Abigail said, “I can’t believe you can’t spell that.” Mercedes said, “Abigail, remember when dad was in school, he did not get good grades like we do.”
    2. Remain approachable.
    3. Remain teachable.
    4. Be committed to your church family.
    5. Be committed to spiritual activities—journaling, prayer, fasting, worship, Bible study.
    6. Observe regular times of quiet and meditation on God’s Word.
    7. Notice the simple things in life.
    8. Notice God moments.
    9. Talk with a Christian counselor. Or, I would love to talk with and pray with you.
    10. Talk with close Christian friends and go beyond the surface.

Look, we all will continue to face trials and troubles in life. Some have trials that relate to health. Some have trials that relate to finances. Some have trials that relate to children. Some have trials that relate to verbal, physical or other forms of persecution for their faith. God never promised that these will go away but that He will support and guide us and make us stronger for going through them. Someone once said: “Are you praying for lighter burdens or a stronger back?”

We are all in process. God is crafting us.

This is awfully exotic, but one of my favorite places in all of literature is a book that’s very hard to read. It’s Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. It’s not The Lord of the Rings. In The Silmarillion, he tells you about a man named Hurin. Hurin has a good friend, Turgon. If Turgon is going to escape with his people to the hidden city, Hurin has to stand in the gap against this incredible onslaught of the enemy, and he says to Turgon, “You go. I will hyperstand. I will stay put.”

So he stands there, and everybody else gets away, and of course he just keeps fighting against the enemy. They keep coming and coming. He keeps hewing with his axe, saying, “Day will come again.” Finally they just overwhelm him. Why was he hyperstanding? He was saying, “My love for the people I’m seeking to save will endure anything. It will take anything. They can come. They can destroy my body, but I will never let go of them.”

The reason Jesus Christ stood and took hell itself, the wrath of God, was that he loved us. God poured out all of his wrath on Jesus, and Jesus didn’t let go. He stood; he hyperstood. Steadfast love. Now Jesus comes to you and says, “Look what I endured for you. Now my perseverance is the jewel of your life. You look at how I loved you no matter what, and that’s the reason you know today there’s no condemnation for you.”

Do you know how you know that Jesus loves you and will always love you? Because you know that he hyperstood against all of hell. God dropped an atom bomb on Jesus, and now you know there’s nothing you can do to get rid of him. If Jesus’ love was so great that it endured that for you, do you think that your little sins are going to scare him away or wear him out?

Jesus says, “Through my suffering, I persevered. Through my suffering, I stayed with you. Now my perseverance is the joy of your life. Now I want you to suffer for me. You’re not married, and you want to be. You’re not promoted, and you want to be. You don’t have friends, and you want to have them. You’re sick. You’re facing death. Hyperstand. Stand your ground for me.”

Don’t just say, “I can persevere because it’ll make me a better person.” Say, “I can persevere because Jesus Christ persevered for me. Jesus stood there for me. He took it all for me.” And if you consider that, you will stay put, and you’ll become a very, very, very great heart. Teresa of Avila put it this way: “From heaven the most miserable earthly life will look like one bad night in an inconvenient hotel!”

Ivan Karamazov says it this way: “I believe … that suffering will be healed and made up for … that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened …”

What he’s saying is, “Hold on, and eventually we’ll see the enormity of what he did and the bliss that comes into our lives because we have held on for him just as he held on for us. It will make amends for all.”[3]

Pray

[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[2] Excerpt taken from Come before Winter and Share My Hope by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1985, 1988, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional/individual/tough-days-part-one1

[3] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

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