There is no more important truth for our daily issues and hardships, whatever they are, than this – to see God’s hand in every trial or hardship you face. God brought you into the trial, God has a purpose in this trial, God is for you in the trial, and God wants you to hang in there and grow through the trial. Every trial is a test of your faith. God tested Abraham in Genesis 22 – “sacrifice your beloved son Isaac, whom you love.” Abraham passed the test.
Not only should we expect God to test our faith, but James says we are to rejoice when we face all kinds of trials because we know God is developing endurance in us. James isn’t alone in calling us to rejoice in these struggles. Paul says in Romans 5:3-4 that we are to glory in the pressures of life because pressure brings about endurance and endurance leads to proven character and unashamed hope. And in1 Peter 1:6-8 Peter says we rejoice in our wonderful salvation, even though now for a little while we are distressed with various trials which God brings to test and purify our faith! And how do you handle them? You keep your eyes on Jesus Christ. You love Him and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! (1 Peter 1:8)
I want to add something else here. You don’t have what it takes to handle the challenges and struggles in your life God’s way. You need God’s wisdom and you need Christ’s power. You can’t run a carpenter shop with a couple of AAA batteries. You need at least 110 volts of power for your electric tools. And you can’t please God in your own “AAA” power. You need Christ in you! That’s why Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things – I can handle the trials God sends me, whether in want or abundance – through Christ who infuses me with His power.”
Now, let’s conclude this section in James 1:9-11 with two practical applications and then God’s promise to you for enduring your trials. James is going to talk to the poor and the rich. Let’s be clear. James was not a social justice warrior or a socialist. Neither was Jesus nor is the Bible. James doesn’t call for overthrowing the economic system, redistributing wealth, or grouping everyone into categories of oppressed and oppressors. In James 5 he condemns the rich who withhold their workers’ wages. But as long as this world exists, there will be poor people and rich people. Proverbs 22:2 says God made them both. So how do you handle your economic status as a believer in Christ?
THE TRIAL OF POVERTY – IF YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH IN THIS WORLD, REJOICE IN YOUR SPIRITUAL RICHES – vs. 9
But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
YOUR HUMBLE POSITION
You struggle just to make ends meet. The bills are piling up and you aren’t sure how you are going to pay them. You are in humble circumstances. Some call it “dirt-poor.” What should you do? Envy the rich? Play the victim? Gripe and grumble over how hard your life is? Blame everyone and everything else for your hard times? Look to the government to take care of you? Send your few shekels to the prosperity preacher who promises a hundred-fold return, or to name it and claim it, blab it and grab it, as the Word Faith preachers tell us?
YOUR HIGH POSITION
No! You GLORY or BOAST or GET EXCITED about how rich you really are in the things that count – all that you have in Jesus Christ! You’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop. Christ promised He was going to prepare a place for you. You are going to die any minute now, and you are going to glory! I’d rather live in a hut and know my sins are forgiven, than a house of gold living the high life and die under the wrath of God!
You who are in Christ are incredibly blessed! God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. Then Christ came and died on the cross for your sins. God the Spirit came into your life, gave you spiritual understanding, and a new heart. You came to Christ by faith alone. You’ve been forgiven of all your sins forever. You are declared perfectly righteous dressed in the righteousness of Christ. You have been reconciled and adopted by your heavenly Father. You are a joint-heir with Jesus Christ.
So let’s not whine and complain about what we don’t have. GLORY in your high position in the grace of God – and it didn’t cost you a cent. But what about if you are rich?
THE TRIAL OF WEALTH – IF YOU HAVE PLENTY IN THIS WORLD, REJOICE IN YOUR FADING RICHES AND COMING TRUE WEALTH – vss. 10-11
And the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
YOUR HIGH POSITION
You’ve got far more than you need. Wealth has been a curse to many people. The wealthy person has everything he could possibly want. He doesn’t really have to ask God for stuff – he just buys it and has plenty more in the bank. And yet money and material possessions are often what he thinks about. Wealth deceives many. In 1989 a woman in Aurora, Indiana, asked to be buried in her red 1976 Cadillac convertible. Her husband bought 14 plots for her. They lifted the car with a crane and lowered it into a vault 27 feet by 12 feet and six feet deep. I read of a millionaire who asked that a million dollars be buried with him. Before they closed his casket his wife slipped an envelope into the casket. People asked, “Did you really put a million dollars in there?” She assured them, “Yes, I wrote a check.”
YOUR LOW POSITION
“Glory in your humiliation.” All your wealth, even your life, is temporary. You won’t be here long and your wealth will mean nothing in heaven. If you are a Christian, God has torn down the idol of wealth and your heart’s trust in wealth and brought you to see your spiritual poverty. Jesus said in Luke 18:24 it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom. This is one of the hardest things God does – convince a rich man of his spiritual poverty. But that’s his humiliation in which he should glory. He realizes there is no escape from death. He is a sinner who will die and he needs a Savior.
Beware of the power of riches over your heart. Proverbs 10:15 says a rich man’s wealth is a strong fortress in his eyes. Mark 4:19 says riches have the power to deceive and choke out the Word of God.
Remember the rich fool in Luke 12. That very night God said to him, “You fool! This night your soul is required of you.”
Remember the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16? The rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torment.
Remember the rich man in Luke 18. He wanted eternal life, but he loved his money more than God. He was extremely rich.
Paul tells rich believers who have been humbled by God’s grace what to do with their wealth. He doesn’t say take a vow of poverty. He doesn’t condemn them for their wealth.
1 Timothy 6:17-19, Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
God isn’t opposed to wealth. Wealth is a trust from God. Most of us probably qualify as wealthy compared to the rest of the world. We are blessed to be living in America. We have cars and air conditioners and microwaves and dish washers and much more. Thank God for America and the blessings we have for this life. And Paul tells Timothy to instruct rich people with these principles. Don’t be conceited. Don’t trust in your riches. Use your wealth for good things. Be generous. Be ready to share and store up treasures in heaven. As someone has said, you can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.
So God warns us about the trial of wealth. We have no idea how long we’ll be here on earth. Many men have died right in the middle of their pursuits of the almighty dollar. How much did that rich man leave behind? All of it. Like flowers, we only blossom for a short while. The beauty of this world is passing. The claws of time etch their lines and furrows on our faces. We come up with that old furniture disease where our chests drop into our drawers. Bifocals and trifocals hang on many of our noses. Tommy Nelson says the day you marry is the best you’ll look, so enjoy it.
We have no control over our futures. God can take us out at any time. Your heart may stop, a drunkard may slam into you, cancer may destroy your body in just a few short months, or some crazy person may open fire on you. What are you doing with your wealth? Are you humble and know all you have is because of God’s grace so you BOAST, GET EXCITED, and GLORY in Him. No one will grumble about their poverty and no one will boast about his wealth at the foot of the cross. The cross levels everyone to sinners saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
GLORY and BOAST and GET EXCITED about how rich you are in the things that really count – all that you have in Jesus Christ!
THE BLESSED, HAPPY PERSON? vs. 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.
James comes full circle from verse two. From “count it all joy when you encounter all kinds of trials” to “blessed or exquisitely joyful is the person who endures trials.” Don’t be the person who runs from trials or collapses and quits and turns away under trial. Instead, be a blessed and truly happy man or woman as you hang in there and persevere as you go through severe trials. As you know God’s trials are for your good and you see God in your trials, humble your heart, ask God for wisdom to handle the trial, be a learner through the trial, and grow and change and become more like Christ as you encounter various trials. God pronounces you a blessed believer.
God uses your trial to prove your faith is genuine. Notice “once approved.” Peter says these trials are for a little while. God makes sure every believer is tested and approved, just like Abraham. A faith that doesn’t bear the strain and bails out may not be a genuine faith. The person who hangs in there, who doesn’t bail under the trial, who learns to endure and persevere is blessed and happy!
God promises the crown of life or the “crowning blessing of eternal life” to His people who endure. He will bless you with an eternity in His presence because the trial proved your faith was the real thing. These are the words we all want to hear from our Savior, “Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have endured through the trials of this world. Enter into the joy of your Master.”
And James adds why you endure. You endure because you love the Lord. You may stumble and fumble like Peter did. You may temporarily slip in your walk and grow cool to your Lord, but He will reach down and keep you from falling. God sees that His people will endure. You hang in there. You live for Him because you love Him because He first loved you. You are now returning to Him that love He has already put into your heart. Every true believer loves Christ.
Do you love Him? Are you enduring and giving Him the praise through the trials you’re facing? May God help all of us to keep a joyful spirit knowing how blessed we are in Christ, Even if the temporary trials He brings into our lives are hard, we know they are for our good and His glory.