Living While Suffering

Text:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing… But each one is tempted when he is 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 (Jas 1:2–4; 14–15).

Introduction:

Life happens. Hurricanes hit. Houses burn down. People get cancer and die or don’t die. Babies get sick. People lie, slander, accuse. Sin grabs us by the throat and threatens to destroy our faith. Life happens. But does life just happen? The Bible tells us that God is doing something in the world; doing something with the world and everything in it; especially us. One of the things I’ve found helpful in my life and in the lives of those I minister to is to translate everything into Biblical terms. For example, I call things that are sin, sin. I call the solutions to sin, confession, repentance, redemption, freedom, etc. What I want to do this morning is to help you take the list I gave a few seconds ago and translate them into biblical concepts and terms so that we can learn to live with, handle, anticipate, rejoice in, and above all, please God (2 Cor 5:9) and give glory to God through it all (Isa 43:7).

Trials:

The place to begin is to view the list of things I mentioned at the beginning as trials. They are hard; sometimes really hard. But isn’t this what James is talking about? His list might be different from ours, but essentially, James knows trouble. The whole Bible knows trouble. On one hand, God is “in it” with us: Hearing our cry for help (Ps 40:1-2), feeling our pain (Heb 4:15), giving us comfort (2 Cor 1:3-4), even rescuing us from the trial (Psa 40:16-17). So, the things we are going through are trials. Or another way to say it is that trials are the things we go through, the life we live through.

Temptation:

Let’s talk about temptation for a minute. James talks about temptation down in verse 14. He says we are tempted when our desires are drawn away and enticed. Drawn away from what? Enticed to what? The English dictionary says that we are tempted when our desires want us to do something we aren’t currently doing. It isn’t necessarily something evil. The context here, however, is pretty clear that what we are being tempted to do is sinful. “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (Jas 1:15). James was saying that when we are tempted, we are being asked to abandon fellowship with God in order to fulfill some desire or other. Then, if we give in to the temptation, we sin. And sin that is left untended leads to death.

I know you’re wondering how I jumped from verse 3 to verse 14. The interesting thing is that the word he uses for trial up in verse 2 is the same as the word he uses for temptation in verse 14. You could translate verse 2, therefore, as something like, “Consider it all joy when you encounter various temptations….” So, the trials that come into our lives are temptations to sin. Some of our translations say, “evil desires.” Some even say, “evil lusts.” The Greek does not contain the word evil and does have the range of lusts or desires. But desires are not always evil. And we can be tempted by desires that are not sinful being enticed. Jesus was tempted but didn’t have evil desires to start with. We have both, evil and non-evil desires. Both can be enticed to drawn us away from God’s presence.

For those of you who are furiously looking up the Greek to see if I’m right, you should take a look at Hebrews 11:17 and the LXX for Genesis 22:1 where the same Greek word is used for the English word ‘test.’ Here’s how I think it works: James uses a different Greek word in Jas 1:3 for the word translated test. And in 1:13 where James says God does not tempt anyone, he uses the same word he used for trial and tempt in vss. 1 & 14. A test is an event that seeks to know if we will stay with God. A temptation is an event that seeks to know if we will abandon God.

To get back on track, trials in verse 2 are the same events as the temptations in verse 14. What are supposed to do with them?

Biblical Responses:

In verses 2-4, James tells us to count it all joy when we encounter our various trials (temptations). What does count it all joy mean? A better translation would say something like, “anticipate the trials of your life joyfully because you know that the trial is a test that will result in patience, which results in will make you perfect (mature) and lacking nothing.” Our response to trouble is supposed to be rejoicing.

But this is James, what does the rest of the Bible say about it? Here are a few passages that tell us how to think about various kinds of suffering. The italics are my emphasis:

And not only that but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom 5:3–5)

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:7–10)

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (Jas 1:12)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Rom 8:28-30).

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart” (Ps 40:6–8).

Conclusion:

Does any of this mean that suffering is painless? Does it mean that we should not cry out to God and pour out our hearts to him? Does it mean that he does not care that we are suffering? Does it mean that he will not deliver us from suffering and trouble? Not at all. As I said in the beginning, we need to view things the way the Bible views them. Suffering is painful. Jesus suffered (1 Pet 2:21-25) but he did it in a different way. The text says he entrusted himself to him who judges justly (2:23) and Hebrews 12 tells us did it with a different attitude because he was thinking about the joy on the other side. Jesus told us that was doing it because he was loving us (Jn 15:13). This means that Jesus’ sufferings were real sufferings, but he suffered it as an aggressive act of love (for those who killed him). So, when you encounter your various trials consider it with joy because you know that the testing of your faith is making you more like Jesus.