Considering It Joy2

03/30/2008

CONSIDERING IT JOY

James 1:2-4

**As twice born men and women living in a once born world, there are some doctrines that we embrace that help us to live our lives with HOPE.

**One of the things that we believe is that this book that I hold in my hand is the Inspired, Inerrant, Infallible Word of God.

**That means that as disciples or followers of Jesus Christ we live our lives by the promises, precepts, principles and instructions written in this book.

**Some of God’s instructions are easier for us to follow than others. Today I am going to share one of the more difficult commands that you will find in God’s Word.

**The command that I am talking about is the one found in our text today (James 1:2) and it says Consider it all JOY, my brethren, when you encounter various trials . . .

**As you can see from your outline or from the power point slide the message today is titled “CONSIDERING IT ALL JOY”!

**In our text today, we read that somebody by the name of JAMES said that when we encounter trials, we should count it as joy.

**Pastor and author Kent Hughes writes in his commentary on James that he imagines the original readers may have responded something like this when this letter was read in their congregation the first time: (James: Faith that Works [Crossway], pp. 17-18, ellipsis marks his) “How nice…a letter of encouragement from Pastor Whacko! Don’t worry, …be happy!”

            **I got to thinking about these words that James wrote and wondered how they would apply to some of the trials that some of our members have encountered in their Christian lives.

            **For example I wonder how this would apply to someone whose husband or wife has been unfaithful to them (Consider it all joy brother, sister).

            **Or how would Kathlene have responded when she called me Friday saying that her princess, Danielle was in the hospital with seizures (Consider it all joy sister Kathlene).

            **Or how would have George have received it when he found his son dead on New Year’s Day (Consider it all joy brother George).

            **Or how would Lionel or Gary or ____________ say when they let me know that their mother or father had passed away (Consider it all joy).

            **Or how would the Church have responded if the Sunday we had Church discipline on one of our elders if I had preached Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials!

            **We may hesitate to call James “Pastor Whacko,” but we might question whether his advice is practical and realistic when we’re going through terrible trials.

**Sure it might work for the little irritations that we encounter every day, but is it realistic advice for facing the huge trials that hit us?

**Before we write off James as a masochistic weirdo, we should recall that two other New Testament writers said similar things.

**Peter wrote to believers who were suffering and whose faith was being tested by fire and he told them that “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing” (1 Pet. 4:13; see also, 1:8).

**The apostle Paul wrote (Rom. 5:3), “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance….”

**This is the same guy who wrote Philippians from prison, and the theme of that letter is joy in Christ. He gave that impractical command, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4; see also, 1 Thess. 5:16).

**Paul not only instructed his readers to rejoice in the Lord always but he also practiced what he preached. As he sat in a Philippian jail cell, unjustly arrested and beaten, unable to sleep, he and Silas sang praises at midnight (Acts 16:25).

**And so if we write off James as being a bit out of touch with reality, we also have to write off Peter and Paul!

The alternative is to consider that perhaps these godly men had discovered a powerful secret to the victorious and abundant life in Christ Jesus!

            **So if the instructions to CONSIDER IT ALL JOY WHEN WE ENCOUNTER VARIOUS TRIALS IS indeed godly and worth obeying then we probably need to find out a little bit more about what it means to CONSIDER IT ALL JOY!

            **There are four things that I want to call to your attention in this message I have titled CONSIDERING IT JOY. Firs of all I believe that:

I.                   THE AUTHOR SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED

A.                 BY his NAME

1:1 James . . .

**Who was James? There are several men in the New Testament by that name. We know that this James was not the apostle James, brother of John, because he was martyred in A.D. 44, too early for this epistle.

** The vast majority of scholars agree that the author of James was the half-brother of Jesus (Matt. 13:55). Apparently he did not believe in Jesus as Lord until after the resurrection, when the risen Savior appeared to him (see John 7:5; 1 Cor. 15:7). He became the leader of the church in Jerusalem in the years following the Day of Pentecost (Gal. 2:9; Acts 15:13-29; 21:17-25). He became known as “James the Just” (or, “Righteous”) because of his well-known holiness.

B.                 FOR his TESTIMONY

1:1 . . . a bond-servant of God

**James could have pulled rank by opening the letter, “James, the son of the virgin Mary, brother of none other than Jesus Christ. I grew up with Him! I knew Him long before He became famous!” But James (1:1) and his brother, Jude (Jude 1), both opened their letters by calling themselves bond-servants.

**The word means, “slaves,” and refers to those who are the property of their masters. 2) They had no rights. They lived to do their masters’ will. James adds, “a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” By mentioning God and Jesus Christ on equal terms, and adding “Lord,” the Old Testament word for God, to Jesus, James affirms the deity of Jesus Christ.

**James wrote this letter to “the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” (1:1). This identifies his main readers as Jews who lived outside of Israel. The contents of the letter, further identifies them as followers of Christ, although they were perhaps still worshiping in synagogues (“assembly” in 2:2 is literally, “synagogue”).

**It is likely that James was the first New Testament book written, perhaps around A.D. 47 (before the Jerusalem Council in 49). According to Josephus, James was martyred in 62.

**Some of the readers had probably been members of the church in Jerusalem, but they had scattered into many locations because of the persecution that arose after the death of Stephen (Acts 8:1; 11:19-20). Because of anti-Semitism in the Roman Empire, these believers in Christ were often the brunt of hostility both from the pagan world, as well as from their own people.

**Word got back to James of some of the difficulties that these brethren were encountering: affliction from without (5:1-6) and, as often happens at such times, conflicts within (2:1-13; 4:1-12).

**Some were lapsing into a superficial, formal religion that professed orthodox beliefs, but practiced selfish, ungodly lifestyles (1:22-27; 2:14-26; 3:9-12). As a pastor, James writes to these scattered Jewish believers to make the point: True faith shows itself in practical, godly living.

**He develops several themes: endurance through trials; the dangers of riches and encouragement to the poor; the law and love; faith and works; the coming of the Lord; and, humility.

**But his main point is that true biblical faith works.

**The AUTHOR has been RECOGNIZED but I also believe that:

II.                THE ATTITUDE SHOULD BE PERSONALIZED

A.                 REJOICING in the LORD

1:1 Greetings!

**The word for GREETINGS is the word for REJOICING:

B.                 JOY in the TRIALS

1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren when you encounter various trials

**The word “Consider” means to think, count, or regard something based on weighing and comparing the facts. It carries the idea of deliberate and careful judgment that stems from external proof, not subjective judgment based on feelings (Thayer?s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament [Harper & Brothers, 1887], p. 276;

**There is a great question that will be worth our time and effort to ask and answer. The question is:

What is the difference between JOY and HAPPINESS or PLEASURE? Secular dictionaries define joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or the emotion evoked by the prospect of possessing what one desires.

**The world's definition of joy is therefore virtually synonymous with the definition of happiness, for both of these "emotions" are dependent on what "happens".

**Certainly there is joy in human life, such as joy when one experiences a victory. The psalmist said: (" We will sing for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions." Psalm 20:5 Spurgeon's comment)

**But the Bible speaks more frequently of joy in a spiritual sense. For example, Nehemiah declared to the down in the mouth (not very filled with joy) Jews that:

"The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

Similarly, David pleaded with God to “restore to me the joy of Thy salvation” (Psalm 51:12 Spurgeon's Comment).

**Joy then is the deep-down sense of well-being that abides in the heart of the person who knows all is well between himself and the Lord.

**It is not an experience that comes from favorable circumstances because JOY even occurs when those circumstances are the most painful and severe as Jesus taught His disciples when He declared:

Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. 21 "Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 "Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you. (John 16:20-22)

As Believers or Children of God, we have the Resident Source of joy within us. Notice what Paul said about it in Galatians 5:22: 

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5:22)

Emotional fluctuations cannot disturb this Source of joy.. 

Donald Campbell former President of Dallas Theological Seminary says

Joy (chara) is a deep and abiding inner rejoicing which was promised to those who abide in Christ (Jn 15:11). It does not depend on circumstances because it rests in God’s sovereign control of all things (cf. note Romans 8:28)

Haydn, the great musician, was once asked why his church music was so cheerful, and he replied:

When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen, and since God has given me a cheerful heart it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit.

Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found:

• Not in Unbelief — Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born..(and at his death cried out desperately) I am abandoned by God and man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six month's life. Then I shall go to hell; and you will go with me. O Christ! O Jesus Christ!”

• Not in Pleasure — Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone.”

• Not in Money — Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”

•  Not in Position and Fame — Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.”

• Not in Military Glory — Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, before he said, “There are no more worlds to conquer.”

•  Where then is real joy found? — the answer is simple, in Christ alone. (The Bible Friend, Turning Point, May, 1993)

            **James says that every Christian should Personalize the Attitude of choosing to believe that God is at work in all situations to bring the most possible good out of it; and because God is in control, I choose to CONSIDER IT ALL JOY when I encounter various trials!

**Not only is there an AUTHOR that should be RECOGNIZED and an ATTITUDE that should be PERSONALIZED but I also want you to notice:

III.             THE ADVANTAGE SHOULD BE MEMORIZED

**James not only tells us what we should do “Consider it all Joy when we encounter various trials”  but he also tells us WHY we should do it!

**According to James we should Consider it all Joy because of two great truths. First of all because:

A.                 TRIALS can produce ENDURANCE

1:3 . . . knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance

**Notice that I said that trials CAN produce endurance with an emphasis on the word CAN. Trials by themselves will not produce godly things in us.

**James says that we must KNOW something:  Knowing that the TESTING of your faith produces endurance.

**ENDURANCE:

B.                 ENDURANCE can produce MATURITY

1:4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing

**What is God’s goal for your life? Happiness or Holiness?

**I think we all know some people who have been happy but not holy. But I have never met anyone who was HOLY without being HAPPY.

**God is much more concerned with your CHARACTER than He is in your COMFORT. So as soon as you recognize that then you can begin recognizing the ADVANTAGE that should be MEMORIZED:

**TRIALS can produce ENDURANCE and ENDURANCE can produce MATURITY!

**Now hang in here with me for just a while longer. Not only have we seen the AUTHOUR that should be RECOGNIZED, the ATTITUDE that should be PERSONALIZED and the ADVANTAGE that should be MEMORIZED but now I want you to notice:

IV.              THE ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE UTILIZED

**God is willing to offer us some assistance in this life long process of being made MATURE in CHRIST. Notice three final things. First of all:

A.                 A RESOURCE is AVAILABLE to you        

1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom . . .

**Wisdom is the ability to look at life through God’s eye’s and perspective and make obedient decisions in our circumstances.

B.                 A REQUIREMENT is ASKED of you

1:5 . . . let him ask of God 6 But he must ask in faith without doubting 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord

C.                 A REWARD is AWAITING you

1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him

**What kind of trial are you encountering in your life?

**What ATTITUDE have you PERSONALIZED?

**What ADVANTAGE have you MEMORIZED?

**What ASSISTANCE have you UTILIZED?

**Each one of us is in a trial, coming out of a trial or heading into a trial.

**What RESOURCE are you going to use in this trial?

**Are you lacking in WISDOM? There is a REQUIREMENT being asked of you, will you come today and confess your unbelief and then ask God for His Wisdom to CONSIDER THIS TRIAL PURE JOY?

**There is a tremendous REWARD that will be AWAITING for you when this life is over . . .