The Good & the Bad of Trials

Introduction

It’s been my observation that life moves slow until it doesn’t. And this is certainly one of those occasions. I stood before you on January the 26th to announce that we were leaving. We had accepted the Macedonian call, so to speak, to move to Joplin, Missouri. And we began then the slow and what felt like slow and arduous process of making all of the steps necessary to do that. The work in Joplin is a much smaller work and requires us to get outside support. And so I have been soliciting and let’s just call it what it is, begging from congregations and others for that support.

Those things that you tripped over and looked at are now all fixed up for the next people. And we finally got the house listed this past Monday night. It went on the MLS Monday night, and we got an offer Friday night. And so much of the timing has been waiting on that. When would our house move? And I know many of you have been thinking, I thought he said he was leaving. He’s still here.

And that is they wanted to close on April the 3rd. And so again, life moves slow until it doesn’t. And so we now in April the 3rd, our full-time job is going to be packing. And so this has been since January the 26th. Kind of felt like a slow and trudging process, but now it has accelerated and it’s become real for us. We are in discussions with the realtors and the buyer, maybe to try to push that back a little bit to give a little bit of grace and a little bit of time for some old folks in a two-story house to pack up boxes and move them and to get everything associated. Just to give you a full update since you didn’t ask, we have found a house in Joplin.

But that’s all right. We’ve collected a lot of cardboard boxes. We thought we were collecting them to store stuff. It turns out we’re collecting some of them to live in for a while.

We’re figuring everything out with this. And so I just wanted to keep you abreast of the situation and just let you know that our time with you, as you already kind of knew, that our time with you as is short. Right now, unless you change the locks on the doors, our plan is to possibly, and all of this is subject to change with us and certainly the shepherds here, is to possibly make April the 13th, our last Sunday with you. Like I said, we’re we’re negotiating, maybe pushing that closing back a little bit, and so we might be homeless in Orlando for a week and then homeless in Missouri for two weeks. And so we’re figuring all of that out as we go. But just wanted to keep you again abreast of the situation.

And we solicit, as we already have your prayers. I appreciate Tom’s prayers on our behalf. Many prayers have been answered. We did uh sell our house, or we have we don’t have the check yet, but we’ve uh we have a contract on our house. We have been able to secure the support that’s necessary to continue the work uh in Joplin. And so uh we are looking forward to that part of the next phase of our life. We’re not looking forward to, and we’ll have more to say about that. We’re not looking forward to leaving you, but uh I haven’t figured out how to be in two places at one time. So again, we solicit your prayers uh and your continued love and support as we go through this uh transition.

And just know that you’re in our support and prayers and love as as you’re going through a transition uh as well. Now, would you join me in the book of James? James chapter one. Blake took us there in in our last Bible reading, and uh we’re for the most part just going to be camping out in the book of James in our lesson this morning. We’ll look at a couple other passages of scripture, but but again, for the most part, we’re gonna be studying in the book of James. I’ve got good news and bad news. How many stories have started that way? How many jokes have started that way? How many maybe unfortunate visits to the doctor’s office have started that way? I’ve got good news and bad news.

That’s kind of the way life is. Life is complex. It’s rarely one way or the other, it’s always complicated. There’s always good news and bad news. And sometimes the good news and the bad news is the same news. And that’s true about our spiritual lives as well. They’re complex and they’re complicated. And things that we might at first glance look at as being just absolutely nothing but bad news have some component of good news to them. So I think it’s important for us to be honest with ourselves, and just as equally important to be honest with Scripture about these type of topics and to recognize the good and the bad of certain things. And so this morning, we want to talk about trials and temptations. And again, at first glance, when we talk about trials and temptations, your mind immediately, at least mine does, and I think yours probably as well, thinks, well, those are bad.

1. Various Trials

And yes, they are bad. We’ll talk about that. But James is going to tell us that maybe a little bit counterintuitively that there are some good. There’s some good to be found in those. And so let’s look at this complex subject of trials. The good and the bad of trials. Are you there with me in James chapter 1, where he says in the very beginning, verse 2, count it all joy, my brethren. When you fall into various trials, let’s just start with the trials themselves. Various trials. We’re going to reference, here’s a heads up. We’re going to reference 1 Peter chapter 1 in just a little while. And Peter will use the same language. Various trials. James and Peter, or the Holy Spirit, through James and Peter, tell us what life has taught us, and that is trials aren’t always the same.

They are varied. They’re varied in a couple senses. They’re varied in the sense that they’re many. They’re not just one and done. You know, sometimes we make the mistake. We talk about sometimes one event in the life of Christ, and we call it the temptation of Jesus, as if that was the only time Jesus was ever tempted. No, Jesus was tempted in all points, like as we. He was tempted throughout his life, and we are tempted throughout our life. And so various trials in the sense that they’re many. And can we even just say that they’re constant? But they’re also various in the sense that they’re varied, that they take different forms. They’re not always the same. They’re not always the same. The trials that I face on a daily basis aren’t always the same.

The trials that I faced yesterday may be very different from the trials that I’ll face today. But they’re also varied in this regard, that the trials that you face may be different than the trials that I face. Because your weakness or your vulnerabilities may be different than mine. And so the things that might tempt you might not tempt me at all. And those times and places where Satan and sin and temptation is trying to pull me away might not ever be a temptation to you. And so they are various trials. But then James, and as we’re going to notice a little bit later, Peter will make that very odd statement to say, but count it all joy. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

And so that’s the first hint that trials and even temptations that James is going to go on to talk about. And I would argue that temptations are one of the various trials. In fact, I would argue that any trial is in a sense a temptation. Satan doesn’t care. He doesn’t care what it takes to lure you away from God. Whether it’s an inducement to sin, whether it’s a hardship, whether it’s a financial hardship, a disease, a family problem, a church strife.

2. The Good: Trials Will Make Us Stronger

If he can pull you away from God, he’s one. He doesn’t care whether it’s something big or something small. But let’s look at the positive in this otherwise negative world. James would have us to know that the good of trials is that trials will make us stronger. In fact, I will argue what I think James and Peter are going to argue, that’s really the only way you get stronger is through trial. And so he says, Count it all joy, my brethren. When you fall into various trials, keep reading, verse 3 of James 1. Knowing, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And then patience is going to grow into this, and then that’s going to grow into that. And so the testing of your faith produces endurance, some translations say.

Long suffering, another translation would say. How do I get that endurance? How do I get to be able to suffer long through the stuff of this life? It’s got to be through trials. And so that’s the good of trials. The testing. Let’s talk a little bit about testing. There’s really two ways to understand that word or that concept testing. One is that it’s an examination, that I’m seeing whether my faith is real, that a trial lets me see how my faith is real. And that’s certainly the case. That’s how, and maybe the only way we know that our faith is real. What’s the old saying? What’s the best way to know if a boat’s going to float? Put it in the water. What’s the best way to know that my faith is strong?

Put it to the test. We think about Job. We won’t turn over there. You may remember the story of Job and the tremendous, various trials that he had to endure. You remember what Satan said to God about Job? And stay with me here. But in one sense, what Satan said about Job was exactly right. Because when God said, If you considered my servant Job, he’s a faithful man, he’s upright. And Satan basically said, Well, let’s test him, and then we’ll see who Job really is. In that regard, Satan was exactly right. Now, where Satan was dead wrong was in the character who Job really was. But Satan was right when he said, Well, let’s just test him, let’s put him in trials, and then we’ll see, really see the character of Job.

But he was dead wrong because he anticipated the character of Job to be that which he would curse God to his faith. And so there’s that sense in which our faith is tested through trials. I’m not sure that that’s what James is meaning, though. Because there’s another sense in which testing or proving takes place. And again, go are you still there in James 1? He says, knowing that the testing of your faith, or your translation may say proving of your faith, produces patience. He doesn’t say that it reveals or exposes it, it produces it. You know, a good teacher and a good professor gives a test, and the test doesn’t only show whether I’ve learned the material, but maybe that test actually teaches me something in the taking of that test.

I actually learned something when I took that test. I think that’s what he’s saying that God does with these trials. Hold your finger there and go a couple pages forward to 1 Peter chapter 1. And notice how Peter puts it there. 1 Peter 1, let’s start in verse 6. Notice the similarity in the language. In this, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you’ve been grieved by various trials. That, verse 7 says, are so that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to the praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I don’t know a whole lot about metals and purifying of gold, but my understanding is that here you’ve got this hunk of gold and it’s got some other junk in it.

And the best way to get that out is just to put it in the fire. And all that other stuff, the dross, is going to be burned up, and when it comes out, it’s going to be a purer form of gold. That’s what Peter seems to be saying. That’s what a trial does. Does it reveal, does it examine the strength of my faith? Sure. But it does something else. It makes me stronger. I’ve gone through that. Every test, no matter how big or how small, does two things. It shows me and my God where my faith is, but it’s also equipping me for the next test. Let’s think about the example of Daniel. We’ve talked about Daniel a lot. Daniel chapter 6. Again, you don’t have to turn over there.

You surely remember the story in Daniel chapter 6 in the lion’s den. We sometimes have a mistaken notion about two, at least two mistaken notions about Daniel in that lion’s den. Mistaken notion number one is that those lions were somehow cartoons and they weren’t that dangerous. No. Let’s not forget what happened to the next guys that got thrown into that lion’s den. The second mistake in notion is that we picture Daniel as this young man thrown into the lion’s den. Our estimation is by the time we get to Daniel 6, the Lion’s Den, he’s probably about 80 years old by that time. And Daniel passes that test in Daniel chapter 6 because of the first five chapters of Daniel. He starts out in chapter 1 as a young man, being shipped off as a captive.

In fact, Daniel is a two-time loser. He’s a captive of Israel, brought over in the Babylonian captivity, and then the Babylonians are taken over, and he’s now a second time captive in the book of Daniel. And so Daniel goes through all of the hardship of chapter 1 of enduring those temptations and trials. He has the temptations and trials of all of the dreams and the interpretations and the threats associated with that. My point is when we get to Daniel chapter 6, and Daniel’s faced with the dilemma of the lion’s den, if you’ve been paying attention for the first five chapters, you’re not worried. You know what Daniel’s going to do. Not just because you’ve heard this story a hundred times, but because Daniel’s whole life has been preparing him for this moment.

That big cataclysmic faith testing moment. Daniel’s beginning. In fact, think about it. If in Daniel chapter 1, Daniel had given in and compromised and eaten some of the king’s meat and wine when it wasn’t allowed for a Jewish young man to do that. If Daniel had not chosen three good friends like Shadrach, Meshach, and Joe, but had chosen some losers that would lead him off and made bad decisions in their faith. If Daniel had not given God the glory of being able to interpret those dreams and to put him in the positions that he was.

When we get to chapter 6, we’re just like, you got this man. You’re ready. And so that’s why even the small test in our life matter. You might say, well, this is just a little thing. It doesn’t matter that I compromise and give in for this. It’s just a little white lie. It’s just a little small sin. Nobody from churches here. I’m not even in the state of Florida. Nobody will know. Two big problems with that is still sin, but also that little small, what you might consider a small test, is getting you ready for the big test. Whether you’re going to succeed or fail. And so the good thing about trial, count it all joy, because it’s making you stronger. And it’s preparing you for those greater tasks that may lie ahead.

3. You Can Endure Them: The Crown of Life

Here’s another good thing about trials is that you can endure them. And when you endure them, there’s a tremendous reward. Go back to James chapter one. We love this verse. Maybe it’s one of our favorite verses of the first chapter, verse 12. Blessed. Blessed is the man. James 1, again, verse 12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been proved, he’ll receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let’s insert just a little parenthetical explanation here. I’m not saying that all trials are temptations or all temptations are, but temptations are a trial. And I would argue that maybe all trials can be a form of temptation. But he says, in at least this narrow area of trials that are actually inducements to sin, when you endure that, you’re blessed, because you’ll receive the crown of life.

And so there’s a blessing in trials, even a blessing in temptation. That number one, here and Paul in 1 Corinthians would tell us they can be endured. They can be overcome. And on the other side is a blessing. And that blessing is the crown of life. Now I want you to plant that crown of life concept and put that away. We’re going to be talking about that again in just a minute. Blessed is the man who endures temptation. For when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life. We’ve talked about this before. Locals, would you endure indulge me? We’ve got some visitors this morning. Y’all have heard my illustrations over and over again, but but some of the visitors haven’t. But James chapter 1, verse 12.

You ever notice this? He talks about the crown of life as the reward. But he says the crown of life is promised to two different camps of people. Blessed is a man who endures temptation, for when he is proved, he’ll receive the crown of life. So the crown of life is promised to those who endure temptation, right? But then he goes on to say about that crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those that love him. So now the crown of life has also been promised to another group of people, those that love the Lord. But if we do a little bit more thinking about that, I don’t think James is saying that’s two different groups of people at all. I think James is trying to get us to make a connection there.

That the one who endures temptation is the same person who loves the Lord. This is a simplification, and some might argue an oversimplification, but temptation, enduring or overcoming it versus giving in to it, is really all about a choice.

That sin or God. Again, that’s a simplified way of looking at it. And I’m going to be honest with you, that’s an uncomfortable way of looking at it.

Because I’ve failed at times. And it’s hard for me to admit that when I failed and I gave in to that temptation, that what I was saying, if I understand the Holy Spirit right here, what I was saying is, at that moment at least, I love that thing more than I love the Lord. It was a choice. But what James is reminding me is that I can endure. I can grow in my love for the Lord. By passing these tests and enduring these temptations and overcoming these trials, I can grow and grow and grow in my love and appreciation for the Lord and in my love and my desire for that crown of life so that I can make those right choices. That I’ll say, yes, those are the passing pleasures of sin.

4. The Bad: They Lead to Death

And there is some inducement there. And I would, there’s a part of there’s a carnal part of me tugging, saying, that would be fun, Ken. Why don’t you do that? But the spiritual side is now winning the battle because I love the Lord, and I’m saying, but I love God more. And I’m going to choose Him. Well, I’d like to just stop by just talking about the good. But we got to be honest. There’s obvious some bad to trials. And James is going to tell us about those as well. They lead to death.

What’s that old corny saying? You may have it on a poster in your office. I think the saying is what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Let me reword that. What doesn’t make you stronger kills you? And what we don’t overcome and endure will lead to death. I told you to file away that crown of life. If you endure, overcome the temptation, you’ll have the crown of life. That’s on one side. What’s the other alternative? Keep reading. James chapter 1. Let no one say, verse 13, 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 lust and enticed. Then when desire, verse 15, and desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin when it is full grown brings forth death.

Giving in leads to death. Again, it’s a choice.

Even in temptations? Sure. They can be overcome. With God’s help and God’s grace, we can overcome those. And when we overcome them, we are fitted and ready, in fact, better equipped for the next one. Almost like we come through that trial, a little scarred, a little bruised and beaten, but almost with the attitude of bring it on. I did that with God’s help, and with God’s help, I can do the next one. Because there’s going to be a next one. But don’t ever gloss over the fact that temptation and trials are real. And whether it’s Satan or whether it’s my own desires and lusts, there’s an enticement trying to pull me away from life and lead me to death. And so I better be ever vigilant.

Recognizing that this isn’t from God, and so this isn’t good. And it’s going to lead to death.

Compared to the death that he’s talking about here.

Conclusion

Who is so good, that God that He’s going to go on to say that not only does He not tempt us with evil things, but He’s the giver of every good and perfect gift. To be separated from Him for an eternity is the death that He’s warning about. Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. You’re going to face trials. You’re going to face some small trials. And you’re going to face some humdingers that you don’t know whether you can get through them or not. You want the good news first? They can make you stronger. And by the grace and the mercy and the help of God, you can endure them. And life is waiting on the other side. But the bad news is you give in.

You love that thing more than you love God in that moment. It leads to death. Eternal separation from the giver of every good and perfect gift. And if you just want to look at that in the most selfish way, if you’re separated from the giver of every good and perfect gift, you’re separated from every good and perfect gift. So be equipped. Another New Testament writer, the Apostle Paul, would tell you to put on the whole armor of God and to be ready to stand against the wiles of Satan. Because temptation is real. And there’s some good and bad to be involved in those trials. Can we help you? Or more properly, can God help you? In this life full of trials and troubles, sin and temptation, you can’t do it alone.

You need one another. That’s why God ordered this whole thing right here. But more importantly, you need the armor of God. That means the armor that God possesses. Why not come to Him this morning? Devoting your life to Him, saying, God, I love you more than life itself, more than the world, more than sin and temptation can offer. Maybe you’ve done that and you’ve stumbled along the way. Another good news that we haven’t really talked about is that when you give in to that temptation, God is there. The blood of Christ is there to forgive you and let you stand up and try again. If we can help you as you respond to the gospel call this morning, let it be known. Together we stand and as we sing.