How To Endure Tests and Trials

Introduction

Would you join me in opening your Bibles to the New Testament, to the book of James? James chapter one will be our text this morning. We will rarely venture out of this little section in James chapter one, and so you’ll benefit by turning along and studying with us from the first chapter of the book of James. Some people have difficulty sympathizing with others. You ever know anybody like that that just cannot or will not sympathize with the difficult plight that someone else has. I had a friend like that. I want to tell you about my friend. I won’t mention his name to protect the guilty. When we lived in Alabama, we had a big storm came through, and it knocked out electricity for much of the city that we lived in.

We were fortunate. We kind of lived on the north edge of the city, and we were spared, and so we had electricity. But my friend’s electricity was knocked out. He had a lot of trees down, he was cutting trees all day. The temperature had got up above a hundred. And he didn’t have electricity, which means he didn’t have air conditioning. So they were sweating.

And he was not sympathetic at all. To my suffering, to my difficulty. Now, just to let you know, I really called to invite them over to come to our house to enjoy that air conditioning that we had that they didn’t have. We all have suffering, don’t we? We all have different levels of trials, of tribulations, of temptations. And we need to be sympathetic toward one another in those plights. And one lesson I think we need to learn from both Scripture and life is that we’re not to look down upon the plight of others. You may think that your trials are worse than someone else’s trials. And they may very well be.

One another and working as diligently as we individually can to overcome those tests and trials. And so let’s look at this text in James chapter 1. And he’s going to give us, I believe, a formula in how to overcome tests and trials, whether they be small or whether they be great. He begins in James chapter 1, after his introduction of himself in verse 1, he begins in verse 2 by saying, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Let’s pause there and recognize that the Holy Spirit through James has said, various trials. The word various, you know, means different types of different varieties. And so there may be trials that involve physical pain and anguish. There may be the trials of the first century that involved imprisonments or beatings or stonings or even being put to death because of one’s faith.

They may involve trials that would span from the first to the 21st century of just physical aches and pains and disease. There may be economic trials. Economic trials, again, like those in the first century that were brought about largely because they were Christians, are economic trials of the 21st century that are brought about just simply by being alive. There may be the trials that take the form of the temptations or the inducements to sin that James would talk about. That comes about, he says, not as a result of God’s doings, but the result of our own lustful doings. And so James says there are various trials to which every one of us could give a hearty amen. There are trials. They are tests. And again, do not minimize the trials of others or even your own trials that may be trying your faith.

1. Be Optimistic: Count It All Joy

But the Holy Spirit through James is going to give us a formula, I believe, in this text, in how we might be able to endure. And so we can plug in any trial, any test, any temptation, any affliction into this formula, and I believe God is saying, here’s how to endure them. The first thing we’ve already noticed there in verse 2, he says, count it all joy. And so the first step in this trial is to be optimistic. Now that may be the most difficult of all the points we’re going to look at this morning. Because our natural tendency, our human tendency might be to do just the opposite. Is to be pessimistic, to be blue and down because here is yet another trial that we’re experiencing.

But James says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Any individual is going to pause at that verse and say, What? Count it joy? Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. We would understand if the Holy Spirit had said, take some time and be depressed and be discouraged and be upset and be sad and mourn when you face these trials. We would all applaud that and say, Yes, that’s the way I feel when I face trials. But to the contrary, James says, count it all joy. And again we pause and say, What? How? Well, look at verse 3. Knowing, here’s where the joy can result from. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Trials are the testing of your faith. Now the word test or testing can be used in two different senses, and it’s used in two different senses, I believe, in the scriptures. Number one is the test simply means let’s see how this works. We’re experienced and knowledgeable about tests when it comes to school. You take a subject, and now the teacher’s going to test you to see how you’re doing in that subject. To see if you’ve really learned that subject adequately enough. That’s one way in which testing is used in the scriptures. Let’s see how this is. I believe in 1 Peter chapter 1, he talks about trials, testing our faith, to see the genuineness of our faith. And trials can do that. But here he’s using testing in a different way, or a slightly different way at least, because he says that the testing of your faith, he doesn’t say the testing of your faith reveals whether you have patience or not.

He says the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance. And so there’s a way in which testing can not just reveal how we are, but that testing can make us who we are. And what James is saying here is that the hard reality of our Christian lives is that we need to be tested. We need to go through the crucible in order to make us better and to make us stronger. We need the hardships of life to make us more grounded, to make us more dependent upon God and maybe our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. But also to make us more steadfast and full of endurance. And if we’re honest with ourselves in the most optimistic outlook of life, if we’re honest with ourselves, we can look back through past trials and say, I’m a better person.

That made me stronger.

It produces endurance, he says, or steadfastness. But I think we could take the time this morning and make a list of other things that it produces. When you go through various trials, what are some good things that can be experienced from that? Not just the endurance. Now I’ve been made stronger. But what’s something else that I’ve learned or gained by going through trials? Well, I have learned, as Peter again would say in chapter one about verses six and seven, I have learned that my faith is genuine, that I can endure trials. Another positive, optimistic outlook of my trials is that now I am equipped, uniquely equipped, to help you when you go through those trials. No one, no one is better equipped to help a fellow brother or sister in Christ than someone who has gone through the same trial themselves.

We need to be careful with that. One time at a funeral, when well wishers were passing by the morning family, and most of us probably experience this. We struggle for what to say in moments like that. What do we say to make it better? Well, here was the family mourning the loss of a beloved and dear family member. We’re all thinking as we’re moving up through the line to give our greetings, what are we going to say? What are we going to say? The person in front of me reached out and shook the hand of one who had lost his mother. And said these words.

I lost my cat last week. Now I’m not minimizing the emotions and the ties that we have to our pets. But I think we can say that that maybe wasn’t the best thing to say at that moment. And what I’m sure of is that person hadn’t lost a parent yet, or they’d have known what to say. No one can help you through those moments better than someone who’s really experienced those moments. Whether it’s the loss of a loved one, a family member, a parent, a child, or a spouse, or whether it’s going through a particular trial or temptation. And here’s where maybe we need to step up as Christians and be more open and honest about our own trials so that others can see in us both an example of endurance and see someone to go to to say, can you help me?

2. Ask God for Help

You’ve been through this before. And so the first step in overcoming tests and trials is to be optimistic. As difficult as that may be, is try to find some silver lining in this difficulty. This is making me a better servant of God. This is making me a better brother and sister to someone else. Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials. The second step in overcoming these trials, James is going to tell us, should be the first step, and that is ask God for help. Look in verse 5. He has said that trials, the optimistic view of trials is they produce patience. And patience will give, make you perfect and lacking nothing. But if you lack something, verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach.

And it will be given to him. Count it all joy. And if you lack wisdom, ask of God. Don’t ever minimize the power and the benefit of prayer.

But almost every list that we see in a Bible class or on a sermon is going to include things, two things Bible study and prayer. They’ve become so inclusive on so many lists that we just pass right over them. We have the tendency to think, well, of course, the preacher had to say Bible study, of course, he had to say prayer. He had to put those on there. Understand that the prevalence and the repetition of those two points on so many lists of what a Christian should and could be doing in their service to God is because of their basic fundamental importance to our Christian life. Don’t pass over them and say, oh, yes, of course. Let him ask of God, who gives liberally. Our Bible reading this morning later in this chapter says that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift rather than the inducer to temptation.

He is the giver of good gifts. We should be praying to that God. And in your trials, pray. And here’s some advice about that prayer. Be honest with your God about the trials you’re going through. God already knows the doubts you have. He already knows the struggles you’re going through. You’re not going to surprise him. You’re not going to shock him. One of the best things I think we can do to help our prayer life in general, in particular, when it comes to the idea of talking to God about our tests and trials, is to go back through the scriptures and look at the prayers that are recorded of godly men and women. And we see a couple characteristics that are common in those prayers. Number one is they call upon some particular character of God.

Because you are a righteous God, then do this. Because you are a sympathetic, loving God, I am asking you to do this. We see that over and over again. It bears our attention. The second thing that we see, so often repeated in the prayers of godly men and women recorded in Scripture, is their rank honesty. Sometimes we read those prayers and we may be shocked by them, think, I would never say that to God. But they did. And rather than being chastised by God, they were rewarded by God. And so be honest. Talk to God about your fears. Talk to God about your struggles, your trials, even your weaknesses and your sins. Let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally, and it will be given to him.

3. Remember the Outcome of Sin

The third step in overcoming these tests and trials, we see some benefit in these trials. We have asked God to help us through them. And then we must remember what will happen if we don’t endure. Remember the outcome of sin. Skip down a little bit later in chapter one. Where he says in verse 13, let no one say, when he is tempted, I’m tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he’s drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Why would James go through that sequence at this particular time? Temptation, sin, death.

Well, it’s in the context of talking about enduring temptation and enduring trials. I think what James is telling us, what the Holy Spirit is telling us, is that one of the keys to overcoming and enduring temptations and trials is to remember the cost of giving in.

He wants us to see that trial. He wants us to see that hardship. Or he wants us to see the pleasure of that temporary sin that we might engage in. And if he can get us to focus and put that so close before our eyes that we cannot see or we will not see beyond it to see where this leads. That it leads to death. And so what the Holy Spirit through James, I believe, is trying to do is He’s saying, don’t focus on the trial. Don’t focus on the temptation. Look where it leads. Look at the end of this road. This wide and easy pathway leads to destruction. And remember that. In the midst of the trials and the temptations of life that may try to beat you down and to overcome you, remind yourself of what’s at stake.

I can’t give up.

That life is largely doing what you have to do. Isn’t that true? You look at some widow who has had to live for years without a spouse. You look at someone who’s had to care for a spouse, who has been handicapped or paralyzed for years. You look at a parent who has to deal with a child who is severely sick. And those of us on the outside many times ask, how did you do that? How were you able to do that? And the answer may take various forms, but it really comes down to this. They did it because they had to. That’s what was required of them. Our Christian life is much the same. The tests and the trials that beat upon us and try to get us to minimize and lose our faith.

4. Look at the Rewards If We Do Endure

And we wonder, how can I get through this? How can I survive this? I’ll do it because I have to. Because the other alternative is death. And a separation from our Father. But we don’t just look at the end result of the path that leads to destruction, but we endure the tests and trials by looking at the rewards if we do endure. Look at those rewards again. Back up in verse 4 is a more temporal reward. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. You want to be a mature, strong, grounded Christian. Go through the hard times. There’s no shortcut. You know, we live in a society, don’t we, that loves shortcuts. Whether it’s shortcuts that we find on Google Maps to get her to our destination, or whether it’s a shortcut in cooking, we are instant gratification people, aren’t we?

If you ever doubt that, have you ever gotten impatient waiting on microwave popcorn? Your great grandmother’s rolling over in her grave. And she had to build a fire to cook. We like shortcuts. There’s a whole industry. Billions of dollars have been spent on the desire for shortcuts. How to get rich quick, how to learn the piano overnight, how to do the how to do these things without putting in the effort and the time. And James says it doesn’t work. If you want to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing, go through trials. Go through the hard times of life. But think about the reward at the end. I’ll be stronger. I’ll be better. I’ll be closer to God. I’ll be closer to my brethren. And then lastly, look at this reward of life.

Look in chapter 1, verse 12. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those that love him. Keep your eye on the prize. Remember the reward. If I endure this, there’s the crown of life. The ancients knew two types of crown. We only know one. We don’t two. One’s a dental crown, but they knew two crowns. One was the crown of royalty. It signified someone was the king, the monarch, to be bowed down to. That’s not the crown that’s being talked about here. We will bow down before the crown wearer. But we will be wearing a crown. But this crown was the crown that would be like a trophy today, or like a gold medal.

It was the crown awarded the marathon runner. Who had endured and made it to the end and won the prize? He would receive his crown, his medal, his trophy. And so James says, blessed is the man who endures temptation. And we might add to that what James has already talked about overcoming and enduring the tests and the trials of life. For when he’s been proved, he’ll receive the crown of life. What will I get for all the trials and tribulations and temptations that I faithfully endured that haven’t cost me to lose my faith, but have drawn me closer to God. What will I get in exchange? I’ll get a trophy. I’ll get a medal that consists of eternal life. About which the Apostle Paul said, I reckon that the sufferings of our present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed to us.

Conclusion

You can overcome whatever test, whatever various trial, whatever temptation life puts before you. If you’ll turn to God. Will you pray with me, please? Our dear God and Father in heaven. Humble us this day as we come before you to worship you. Remind us, Father, that this life is not to be our focus and to be our goal. Remind us to keep our eyes heavenward. To remember you, to remember your Son and the Holy Spirit and all that has been done for us so that we might have the crown of life. Help us to endure our trials, Father. You know us, you know our form, our frame, and our weaknesses. You know the trials we’re going through, Father. You know our doubts and our struggles. You know the temptations that the tempter and our own lust is putting before us.

We ask you, Father, for wisdom. We ask you for the insight to be able to see the blessings in even these trials in overcoming them. We ask for the wisdom and the insight to see the result of giving in and losing this battle. We ask you for the wisdom to be able to always remember heaven. Remember that crown of life that’s awaiting us. Help us to endure. Help us to be stronger. And help us to sympathize and to help one another through this struggle that we call life. Continue to love us and be patient with us, Father, as we love and are patient with one another. This is our prayer in Christ’s name. Amen.