When Troubles Pile Up
Note: Most of this series was preached in Wichita; this sermon, however, was delivered in St. Louis.
Introduction: For the next several months, Lord willing, we will be mining one of the mother lodes of practical Christianity, the Epistle of James. Some in the early church questioned whether this book was up to par with the rest of Scripture, and Martin Luther was quite sure it wasn’t, but the dominant view of the church has always been that while the Epistle of James has a decidedly different flavor than much of the rest of the NT, it is a flavor that is quite orthodox and extremely practical. While I do not wish to spend a great deal of time on introductory matters, I think we do need to comment briefly on some of the unique characteristics of this book.
The author is an apostolic agitator, a meddler more than a preacher. But that’s what we need once in a while to cause us to sit up and take stock of whether we are practicing our profession. Though there are at least four James in the NT, I believe it is fairly certain that the author was the half‑brother of our Lord. We are told in Mark 6:3 that Mary and Joseph had at least four sons after Jesus was born. Even though these boys were reared in a godly Jewish family, none of them believed that Jesus was the Messiah until immediately following His death and resurrection, when they were converted, according to Acts 1:14. James, ended up becoming the head of the Jerusalem church, as witnessed in Acts 12, 15, and 21.
If we are correct that James was Jesus’ half‑brother, it is remarkable that he introduces himself in the first verse of his book as “a servant (lit. a slave) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Those of us who have a famous relative, or even a prominent friend, are tempted to trade on that acquaintance. We mention the person anytime we think it will do us good or even get us a little extra attention. But James refuses to capitalize on his familial relationship with Jesus, choosing instead to emphasize his spiritual relationship. He sees himself as God’s slave and Christ’s slave, a position of absolute obedience, absolute humility, absolute loyalty, and, because of who Jesus is, absolute honor.
To whom did he write this epistle? He says, “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.” There were three great forced dispersions of the Jewish people, the first under the Assyrians, the second under the Babylonians, and the third under the Romans. But even greater numbers left Palestine through the centuries of their own free will for more comfortable and more profitable places. The land of Palestine was harsh, famine was frequent, and commerce was slow. So Jews had a tendency to move to where their considerable skills in trade and finance were more conducive to success.
This dispersion of Jewish people around the world was extremely important to the spread of Christianity, for almost all the early Christians were Jews, and they were able to spread their faith in Messiah Jesus through the synagogues found in every major city of the world. It is to these Jewish Christians among the nations that James wrote this book just fifteen years or so after the death and resurrection of the Lord. We need to understand that the Jews of the Dispersion did not often have an easy life. Antisemitism is as old as the nation of Israel, and Jewish Christians had it even worse, because they were not only persecuted by Gentiles but also by their fellow Jews. It is not surprising, then, that James opens his book with a discourse on what to do when troubles pile up.
You know, most Christians can handle an occasional disappointment or trial without serious difficulty—many with a smile on their face. It’s when one trial comes hard on the heels of another that our faith often begins to shake, and we inevitably begin to ask, “Why me, Lord.” 1990 was a tough year for some in our church. I’d like to use as an illustration the Richard Schumacher family, without suggesting that there aren’t others who have faced difficulties just as bad or possibly even worse. For many months now our church family has prayed regularly for Elliot, the nearly year‑old son of Richard and Pam. Elliot has a severe immune deficiency and circulatory problem that has sent him to the hospital dozens of times this year. He rarely sleeps more than two hours at a time, so his parents almost never get sufficient rest.
On top of that Pam’s cousin Collette, to whom she is very close, is suffering from incurable cancer. These burdens alone at times have seemed overwhelming. But for the past six weeks Richard has been sick with a variety of symptoms. The week before Christmas the doctor ordered him to get a cat scan, fearing possible recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the blood from which Richard has been in remission for three years. Before the cat scan could be done, however, a blood clot developed in his arm, and Richard spent the weekend before Christmas, including most of Christmas day in the hospital. Released for a few days, he returned a week ago yesterday with a blood clot in the lung, pleurisy, and anemia. He’s been in the hospital now for the past eight days.
When troubles like this pile up, many of us begin asking, “Where is God? What does he want from me? How am I supposed to cope?” For some of us it doesn’t even take the kind of life‑threatening trials facing the Schumachers. I just about lost it last week when a linoleum I was laying on the kitchen floor got out of kilter as I was trying to glue it down. You talk about a serious problem—where is God when you really need Him? Actually I’m making fun of myself and confessing that I have a strange capacity to turn molehills into mountains and lose my sanctification in the process. Well, let’s see what James has to say when troubles pile up.
The trouble with troubles (2)
They are inevitable. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials,” not “if you face trials.” You will; you can count on it.
They come in a bewildering variety. James calls them “trials of many kinds.” The term in Greek means “variegated” or “many‑colored.” William Barclay says, “There will be the test of the sorrows and the disappointments which seek to take our faith away. There will be the test of the seductions which seek to lure us from the right way. There will be the tests of the dangers, the sacrifices, the unpopularity which the Christian way must so often involve.”[i] Then there are illnesses, habits that we can’t seem to break, irregular people who drive us nuts, financial reversals, and we could go on and on.
They are sometimes undeserved and inequitable. The term “to face” here in verse 2, “whenever you facetrials of many kinds,” is a term which in the original means literally, “to fall into the midst of.” The same term is used of the man who fell among thieves in Luke 10:30. Trials do not occur of our own choosing; they certainly are not all the result of sin in our lives. They sometimes just “happen”, humanly speaking. And they certainly are not equally spread out. There is no question that some people suffer far greater and more intense trials than others. Some are brought near the breaking point and some actually break.
They are often handled wrongly. If that weren’t the case there would be no need for this passage in the Bible, or Romans 5 or 1 Peter 1, or a half dozen other similar chapters. A lot of Christians handle adversity well but a lot of us don’t. If I am one of those who doesn’t, how can I learn to cope better?
How can I cope? (2‑4)
James offers three keys: consider, comprehend, and cooperate.
Consider. “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials.” To many Christians this statement is an oxymoron, that is, an inherent contradiction, like student athlete or military intelligence or financial security. But the Scripture doesn’t traffic in oxymorons; joy and trials are not mutually contradictory. It all depends upon one’s perspective. Please note that James does not say that trouble makes you feel joy—that would be foolishness. Rather he says, “consider it joy” or “reckon it joy.” He’s calling for an act of the will, not an emotion. The verb “to consider” is an accounting term, indicating that when we enter trials into our ledger, we should enter them as assets rather than liabilities. How is that possible? Only if we comprehend a critical truth.
Comprehend. He continues in verse 3, “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” There is a benefit to trials, and it’s the same benefit that an athlete enjoys when he gets in shape, or a soldier receives by going through bootcamp—he develops perseverance or staying power. The athlete or soldier never knows when he might be asked to draw upon his reserves, but the pain of training makes sure there is something in reserve when needed. Only God knows what lies ahead for us and the trials he allows now prepare us for what is to come.
My wife and I, as is true of many of you, had very little when we got married. We had $125 in the bank and probably a net worth of less than $500. We were both full‑time students in college and we each had a part‑time job. There were some lean times those first two years and during the five years of seminary and graduate school that followed. But I’ll tell you something—it was not nearly as hard for us as it was for some of our fellow‑students, for both of us grew up poor, and the trials of our childhood had helped us establish a certain toughness and perseverance. God prepared us for what He knew we would face.
Cooperate. The NIV reads, “Perseverance must finish its work,” but the NASB is more accurate when it translates, “Let endurance have its perfect result.” The grammar indicates that we must cooperate in allowing perseverance or endurance to finish its task “so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” The concept is that God is working to fit us for the task He sent us to do, and the way in which we meet every experience in life either contributes to or retards that process. Too often we short‑circuit the process. We get angry with God for allowing the trial rather than accepting His sovereignty. We fight back against the trial, marshalling our human resources to escape the pressure instead of standing up under it. Sometimes we just grit our teeth in a stoical way, our heads bloody but unbowed, rather than humbly submitting to God’s will.
If we are ever to become mature and complete, not lacking anything spiritually, we must learn to consider, comprehend, and cooperate. Just as a kite rises not with the wind but against it, so the Christian will not rise to maturity unless he is faced with the winds of adversity.
But let’s be honest. Even the most spiritual among us sometimes fail to cope as we should with trouble. Why don’t we do better? Our text goes on to give three reasons: lack of wisdom, lack of faith, and lack of perspective.
Why don’t I cope better? (5‑11)
Lack of wisdom. Verse 5 reads, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” When the troubles pile up and we are unprepared to handle them, we need to ask God for wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to view life from God’s point of view. If you don’t have it, ask for it. And, as a matter of fact, you don’t have it. The grammar of verse 5 is not hypothetical; it should be translated, “Since you lack wisdom”, not “if.”
Now let me ask you, “How often do we ask God for wisdom in facing trials?” We ask Him for everything else—journey mercies, health for the sick, jobs for the unemployed, money for the church budget. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever put wisdom for trials on our weekly prayer list, but I will. We are commanded to ask God for it! Why? Not only because of our need but also because of God’s nature. It says, “God gives generously to all without finding fault.” He is not parsimonious. He won’t cheat you. Nor do you have to fear to come to Him too often to ask for wisdom, because He will not find fault with such a request.
But behind the lack of wisdom is another reason why we sometimes fail to cope well with trials and troubles.
Lack of faith. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double‑minded man, unstable in all he does.” Faith is simply the confidence that God will do what He says He will do. We need to believe Him when He says He will grant us wisdom if we ask for it.
As if to emphasize the point James goes on to say that such a prayer must be without doubt. All doubt is not wrong but doubt in prayer is. Doubting in prayer is like coming up to someone you know and saying, “I don’t really think you are generous enough to give me what I need, but if you are, please do.” Such an approach isn’t going to get you very far with the average person, and it won’t even get you very far with God. In fact, such a person “should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double‑minded man.” A double‑minded person is in a walking civil war, wanting his own will and at the same time wanting God’s will, but not being able to decide between the two. And his vacillation makes him unstable in all he does. God’s will should never be sought with the purpose of voting on it.
I would suggest to you that it is a sin to doubt God’s goodness in the middle of testing. In fact, succumbing to trial is as much sin as yielding to temptation. The reason it is sin is that we not only have a clear commandment to persevere, but we also have countless examples in the Bible of great men and women of faith who persevered and experienced great benefit in their lives. For example, Abraham’s trial on Mount Moriah, Israel’s troubles during the Pharaoh’s oppression, Moses’ testing through forty years in the wilderness, Elijah’s trial by the brook, Daniel’s testing in the Lion’s Den, Shadrach, Meshach and Obednego in the fiery furnace, Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Why should we doubt that God still uses trials and troubles to perfect us and teach us perseverance for our benefit? Some of us need to repent of our lack of faith, our murmuring, and our negative attitudes.
But there is one more factor that contributes to our failure to cope besides lack of wisdom and lack of faith.
Lack of perspective. Sometimes we get the notion that trials and troubles are essentially financial in origin. The way to avoid trouble is to get rich. Baloney. Verses 9‑11 are offered specifically to convince us that all will have trials—rich and poor alike: “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wildflower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossoms fall and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.”
Your financial status actually has very little, if anything, to do with your trouble quotient. If you’re poor, you can hold your head up anyway because you’re just as important to God as the richest man in the world. On the other hand, if you are rich, you’d better not put your confidence in your riches to buy off trouble, because it can’t happen. Instead, you should recognize that in the family of God you are just like every other brother or sister.
Friends, trouble is not confined to the poor and getting rich will not alleviate it. Having seen this morning how we can cope and why we often don’t, let me finally point out in verse 12 what we can expect when we do cope biblically with trouble.
What can I expect when I do cope well? (12)
Verse 12 offers the following proposition: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” Obviously, there’s a lot at stake here in how we react when troubles pile up. Our present and our future are both affected.
Genuine happiness in the present. The term “blessed” has a kind of holy ring to it and we generally only use it in church. It’s found in hymns like “Blessed Assurance”, but you’re not likely to find it in secular music. It’s actually a very practical, down‑to‑earth term meaning “deep and abiding happiness.” That’s what every human being desires. We aren’t really after temporary highs, illicit ecstasy, or shallow relationships, though we often settle for those. What we really desire is peace, satisfaction, and the kind of lasting pleasure that isn’t accompanied by guilt. And God says that we can get all that by persevering under trial.
By the way, isn’t that the opposite of how we normally think? If I were to ask the average person, “How does a person become happy?” he is more likely than not going to say, “by avoiding trouble.” But God says we become happy by persevering under trouble. Maybe Richard and Pam are to be envied more than pitied, and I say that reverently, not intending at all to make light of their trial.
But enduring trials not only affects our life positively now; it also affects our future.
Genuine reward in the future. James goes on to say, “When he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” There are a number of biblical crowns which are granted for different reasons, but I’m not certain what their exact nature is. What is clear is that God will reward those who persevere rather than throw in the towel. And He will make it up to you. I can’t help but think of Job here. He went through more pain and sorrow than any other human being has ever experienced. Yet somehow his faith persevered. And God made it up to him in the end. Some people criticize God for using Job the way He did, but I am confident that if you were able to interview Job right now in heaven, he would tell you, “I wouldn’t give up one of my trials if I had it to do all over again.”
We’re not blessed with his perspective, of course, because we’re still on earth and in the dark concerning God’s purpose in our trials. But we do have the same God Job had, and He has never yet failed one of His children and He’s never yet allowed a trial in our lives that brought ultimate harm to us. Temporary harm, yes; ultimate, no.
Conclusion: Every believer is going to undergo testing. If we haven’t yet, we will. If we’ve had some, we’ll have more. The real issue is how we handle it. We can grow from it or, sadly, we can be destroyed by it. The attitude with which we approach it makes all the difference in the world. James chapter 1 urges us to have a positive, constructive attitude toward trouble.
Chuck Swindoll, in one of his church newsletter devotionals, writes that in the northeastern U.S. codfish are a big commercial business. There’s a market for eastern cod all over, especially in sections of the country farthest removed from the coast. But the public demand posed a problem to the shippers. At first they froze the cod and then shipped them, but the freeze took away much of the flavor. So they experimented with shipping them alive, in tanks of sea water, but not only was it more expensive, but the texture was adversely affected‑‑the meat became soft and mushy.
Finally some creative soul solved the problem in a most innovative manner. The codfish were placed in the tank of water along with their natural enemy—the catfish. From the time the cod left the East Coast until it arrived at its westernmost destination, those ornery catfish chased the cod all over the tank! And you guessed it, when the cod arrived at the market, they were as fresh as when they were first caught, and there was no loss of flavor or texture. If anything, it was better than before.
Each of us is in a “tank” of peculiar, inescapable circumstances. It’s painful enough just to remain in the tank … but in addition to our situation, there are God‑appointed “catfish” to bring sufficient tension to keep us alive, alert, and fresh. A couple of questions seem worth asking. First, can you name some catfish swimming in your tank? Maybe you live with one of them. Or perhaps it’s somebody at work. Maybe it’s not even a person but an illness or bad habit or a painful memory or a financial reversal. Those catfish are there to keep you from getting soft, mushy, and tasteless. Secondly, have you given thanks for them lately? To do so you’ll need to put an end to pity parties and whine clubs and gripe gatherings in the tank.
In closing let me ask you three questions:
Do you believe that God is Sovereign: that He is free to do anything He wants?
Do you believe that God is omnipotent: that He has the power to do anything He wants?
Do you believe that God is good: that He has your best interest at heart?
If you answered all three questions yes (and the Bible certainly does), then you must rationally, though not necessarily emotionally, accept the fact that your trials are serving a good purpose and should be counted as assets in your spiritual books.
No doubt two of the most optimistic people alive today are Pat Boone and Dr. Robert Schuller. Both are always smiling and always have something positive to say. A few years ago Schuller invited Pat Boone to sing for his congregation. He introduced him by saying that Pat sometimes gets tired of his all‑American‑boy image. Once a year, said Schuller, Pat Boone checks into a motel under an assumed name, closes the drapes, goes into the closet, and puts on black shoes. Well, Pat Boone came back to the Crystal Cathedral a second time. Not forgetting what Schuller had said, he told the congregation that Dr. Schuller also got tired of his image at times. “So once a year,” Pat claimed, Schuller checks into a motel under an assumed name, goes to his room, pulls the drapes closed, goes into the closet, shuts the door—and shouts: ‘It’s impossible! I can’t do it!'”
I think God understands if once in a while when troubles pile up, we are tempted to say, “It’s impossible! I can’t handle it!” But then we need to come to our senses, look again at God’s character, pray for His wisdom, and quietly reaffirm our trust in His goodness. Then we can chalk up the experience as an asset and count it pure joy.
Christianity is more than a creed, more than a theology, more than a profession. It is a way of life that shows its value first and foremost in how we handle trouble.
[i] William Barclay, James, 42-43.
Note: I apologize that not all references in these early sermons are well annotated. In recent years I was much more careful about footnoting.