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Hey, church family, it is Devo Time.
If you've got your Bible, we're going to be in the book of James.
A couple weeks ago, I talked about doubt and what do you do with doubts?
We were rooted in John chapter 6, and I said, when you've got your doubts,
you just pick them up and follow after Jesus.
Well, James has a different word for us on doubts,
and I want to be able to distinguish what James is talking about
and what I was talking about in John chapter 6.
I think we're on the same page.
And speaking of doubts, I've decided I'm going to wear football shirts all this week
because some people have doubts that there's going to be football season
and I want my optimism and hope to cast a shadow on the doubts.
So I'm believing if the tomb is empty, anything is possible.
So James, first of all, before we dive into what James has to say,
just consider this that James is the brother of Jesus.
And part of the reason I think James speaks in such a matter-of-fact way is, can you imagine going
up with Jesus?
I mean, he knew everything, right?
And he was always perfect.
And then as he got older, maybe 30 years old, and he began his earthly ministry and claimed
to be the son of God.
At first, James did not believe in him.
We have evidence in the scriptures that James could have been part of the crowd with Mary that
went to try to get Jesus when he was teaching in the synagogue because they thought he
was crazy.
And so the thing that convinced James that his brother was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the entire world is the resurrection of his brother.
He saw his brother, crucified, dead, buried, and then three days later resurrected from the grave, and that would convince you.
Later, James becomes like one of the greatest leaders in the early church, and he writes this epistle.
and in James chapter 1, verse 2, James is very matter of fact.
Like not a lot of word play and stuff like that.
No parables.
It's just this is what it is.
So he says this, count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kind.
Now, do you know anybody that does that?
I mean, that truly enjoys or counts it as joy
when you meet a trial of various kinds.
Now, you may say, what kind of trial?
Like a divorce?
Well, that's a variety of a trial.
Like a bankruptcy, that's a variety of a trial.
Like cancer?
Well, that's a different variety of trial.
I think the reason he says trials of various cons
is because this is just a blanket statement
saying, regardless of the trials that you're going through.
Sometimes they're little trials.
I mean, you know, like something doesn't go your way or it's total first world problems,
like your AC isn't quite working right, and sometimes it's major, major over your head more than you can handle trials.
And James is saying, no matter what kind it is, count it all joy.
Now, there's a big difference between joy and what we as Americans would call happiness.
The word in the beatitude,
Maricos, means like blessing or something that happens on the inside that bubbles up in fullness to the outside.
That's what he's talking about.
And so happiness, the pursuit of happiness is dangerous because happiness is rooted in your happenings.
So if you go to the beach, everybody is happy until it rains.
Now you're not happy.
but joy is deeper than that.
There is happiness associated with joy,
but joy is rooted in the person's work of Jesus.
So you can count it all joy
when you face trials of many kinds
because your joy is rooted in Jesus
and you know that Jesus is up to something,
even in your trials.
And there's one other thing here that I just want to point out.
Count it all joy, my brothers.
The James is talking to Christians.
do not believe the false gospel that says that if you put your faith in Jesus,
then he owes you health, wealth, and happiness.
Because nobody in the Bible received those things necessarily by following Jesus.
You see, in fact, he says, Jesus says, in this world, you will face trials of many kind.
And so James says, count it all joy Christians, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
How, James, how in the world can we consider, can we count?
it or credit this as joy when it is not going our way. And he says here's how, verse three,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its
full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. And the perfection process and the
completing process most often is through the teacher of pain.
and problems and toil.
I mean, when have you depended on God the most?
When have you leaned on him the most?
I said it a few weeks ago.
I think we're talking about it tomorrow.
Man, it's easy to trust Jesus
when you got a belly full of miracle bread
because you feel so blessed and all as well.
But real faith comes when things are not going your way.
Man, I was texting with a guy this week.
It's a man in our church, stage four cancer.
He's in like his tenth round.
chemo. He says every night from two to five, right now, he's in the bathroom on the floor. Sick.
And he texted me and said, I've never felt more close to Jesus than from two to five.
And by the way, when he got diagnosed, he just started coming to our church, beautiful family.
It doesn't make sense. And this man has come to know Christ through this pain. And,
praise God, all the reports are going really, really well when they did not expect him to.
But it was in this pain and in this toil that he has drawn closer.
and closer to Jesus, not in the sunshine and the rainbows.
You see, oftentimes God uses the pain in our life like a hammer and a chisel to chisel away
everything in us that does not look like Jesus.
And this is what God is doing through our pain.
Verse 5.
He says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.
In other words, if you lack the understanding that God is at work, even and especially in our tough times,
then ask God to reveal to you the wisdom to understand the truth of Romans 828,
that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose.
And though on this side of heaven, we may not see, we will not see all that he is doing in us.
We trust the heart of God because of what he has done for us on the cross.
And if you have a hard time believing that, which I do too when I go through pain,
then James says, well, then ask God.
who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed by the wind.
This is why I wanted to talk about it, because I said, I've said this 100 million times,
hey, if you've got doubts, if you've got problems, if you've got an answer question, it's no problem.
You can make a great disciple.
Why?
Because the disciples doubted too.
You see, here's what he's saying.
If you remember Mark chapter 9, Jesus comes off the mountain of transfiguration,
and he bumps into a dad who has a son who brought his son to the disciples to be healed,
and they couldn't heal him.
And Jesus kind of comes in and says, what's the problem?
And the dad says, if you can, would you heal my son?
And Jesus says, if I can, all things are possible for those who believe.
And the father blurts out, I believe, help me overcome my unbelief.
and Jesus heals his boy.
He's got faith and he's got doubt.
And Jesus is not intimidated by his doubt.
In Matthew 18 version of that same event,
Jesus is going to go on to say later
when the disciple says,
why couldn't we cast it out?
He says, well, this kind can only be cast out by prayer.
And if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you can say to that mountain move and that mountain will move.
Well, see, what Jesus is saying is it's not the amount of faith that you have.
It is the object of your faith that matters.
And a tiny little bit of faith in an infinitely powerful God is infinitely more powerful
than having a whole bunch of faith in you or me or your circumstances.
Now, what James is saying here is when you ask God, ask in faith.
because what a lot of us do is a lot of us decide to doubt our beliefs and believe our doubts
instead of believing our beliefs and doubting our doubts.
And he's saying when you do that, okay, that there's one of two things that you can do
when you have doubts, unanswered questions.
God, why would you do this?
God, I don't understand, okay?
There's one of two things you could do.
John chapter 6, what we learned a couple of weeks ago teaches us to do is to look at Jesus,
when he says, you don't want to leave two, do you? And you say, where else am I going to go? You're the only
one that offers eternal life. I can't explain all this, but I know you demonstrated your love for me
on the cross. So I'm going to pick up my doubts, and I'm going to follow after you. And in that moment,
you, by faith, are in control of your doubts. Now, there is a doubt that will kill you. And it's the
kind of doubt where you allow your doubts to control you, where you, without faith,
sort of throw yourself into the ocean of doubts
and you allow your circumstances
to just toss you around like the wind and the sea
and if you stay there long enough, you will drown.
He says, for that person must not suppose
that he will receive anything from the Lord.
He is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways.
In other words, don't ask God with your mouth
if you're not going to choose to believe,
even with just like a double-minded man,
a tiny little mustard seed amount of faith that if the tomb is empty, then anything is possible.
He goes on to say in verse 9, he says, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich
and his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away.
What James now is doing is saying, no matter whether you're rich and you're getting everything
that you want or whether you're poor and you're not getting anything that you want,
our time on earth is very, very short in light of eternity.
For the sun rises and it scorches, it's scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beauty perishes.
So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
And then he says, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.
For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.
which God has promised to those who love him.
In other words, no matter how painful the circumstances and situations that we are in,
loss of a job, loss of a loved one, loss of a marriage, death of a dream, cancer,
no matter what it is, James is saying,
blessed is a one that does not put their faith in their circumstances,
but chooses to put their faith, their trust,
in the sovereign king of the universe, who, when at the cross he says, it is finished,
he means that your sin forever and ever has been fully and finally paid for,
and also your adoption papers are signs sealed and delivered,
and the inheritance that he has for you is awaiting you in paradise.
And so, when James says to remain steadfast, essentially what he is saying,
is don't look at the scene, but look at the unseen.
Don't base God's love for us on the circumstances of our lives.
If so, you'll be tossed all over the place like a wave tossed around by the wind.
But instead, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith,
who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross.
even when Jesus looked at the cross, knowing that scorn and shame was coming his way, he did not
fix his eyes there, but he understood that the cross for him was a means by which God would be glorified,
and Jesus would be glorified at his right hand in doing so. And in the same way, when you face trials
of various kinds, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and in Jesus, you can always have joy.
pray. Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you. First of all, that faith is a gift from you. It's not a thing
that we have to manufacture from the inside out. And God, I thank you that once and for all you have
demonstrated your love for us at the cross. You didn't wait on us to get our act together. You didn't
wait on us to believe. But while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. And because of that,
God, we know that we can love you. And like a good
dad you discipline your kids that that you use the the pain and the toil and the
trials of various kinds that we face for our good and for your glory and we love
you for it we prayed in Jesus name amen