Consider it joy?

James 1:1-4

Sometimes, in the first couple sentences of a book, you can tell if reading it would be a waste of time. If you are reading about taking walks in the forest and the first sentence is: “If you see a snake, pick it up by its tail and see if it is poisonous,” you know this book is no good and you will put it down. If you read a book about dieting and it begins by saying a healthy diet includes lots of candy and soda, that too is a book to put down.

So when you pick up the Bible and read in the second verse of James,
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
put it down. What is James, a masochist? Enjoy pain? Enjoy difficult times? Nonsense!

I know I don’t. When I am sick, as I was in Thailand, and I lie in bed day and night with a head that hurts and constant coughing and blowing my nose, being tired but not being able to sleep, joy is not remotely near to me. I complain and wonder why God is allowing me to suffer and think about how it would be to suffer like this until the day I die.

The presence of suffering in a world created by God has been a problem for a long time. Two thousand, five hundred years ago, the book of Job was written to consider the problem of suffering in this God-created world. If God is good, then why do bad things happen? If God loves me, why do I suffer? Does God not care? Is he perhaps preoccupied with other more important things?

Rabbi Kushner wrote a book that was very popular in the US, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. As a young theology student Kushner tried to understand the Book of Job. He counseled people in his synagogue who went through experiences of pain and grief, but it was not until he learned that his three-year-old son, Aaron, would die in his early teens of a rare disease, that he had to really face the issue of suffering. Where was a loving God in the presence of suffering?

Millions of people have resonated with his perspective. A man whose wife died at the age of 28, a man whose brother was murdered, those who faced unbearable loss wrote letters to Rabbi Kushner thanking him for his book.

There is a lot of wisdom and good counsel and insight in Kushner’s book, but his solution to the problem of suffering is that while God is good and loving, he does not have the power to intercede. God is a silent spectator to the suffering in the world. God would intercede if he could, but he cannot.

This is not at all helpful to me. God is the pre-existing, creator God who has all power. To deny his power in order to understand the presence of suffering is not an acceptable solution to the problem. But why then, do we suffer?

The suffering we face in the world is a huge issue for us. One of the students who attended our church some years ago came to Morocco and became a follower of Jesus, after having been raised in a Muslim family. While she was here, her fiancee broke up with her and two of her brothers died and she wondered if this was punishment for her conversion. Why had God allowed this to happen to her?

Phil Yancy received many letters after writing his book, Where Is God When It Hurts? In his next book, Disappointment with God, he wrote about some of these.

A young mother wrote that her joy had turned to bitterness and grief when she delivered a daughter with spina bifida, a birth defect that leaves the spinal cord exposed. In page after page of tiny, spidery script she recounted how medical bills had soaked up the family savings and how her marriage had cracked apart as her husband came to resent all the time she devoted to their sick child. As her life crumbled around her, she was beginning to doubt what she had once believed about a loving God.

A young woman wrote, with some embarrassment, about her ongoing depression. She has no reason to be depressed, she said. She is healthy, earns a good salary, and has a stable family background. Yet most days when she wakes up she cannot think of a single reason to go on living. She no longer cares about life or God, and when she prays, she wonders if anyone is really listening.

In the years I worked with my father in business, I sometime went to activities at their Unitarian Church, a church that accepts almost every belief except the deity of Jesus. About half the people I met in my parents’ church were there because they had experienced the death of someone in the family or a divorce or some tragic event. They had been raised in a Christian church but their suffering did not match what they expected from the teaching of their church. So they rejected Jesus and joined the Unitarian Church which keeps the form of church but discards the Christian theology of a church.

Many people suffer in one way or another and face a huge loss and then come to the conclusion that God must not after all be a loving God and so they leave the church, leave the faith in which they were raised.

But amazingly, there are other stories of suffering in which other choices are made. I talked in the last couple weeks with someone who told me of a friend who had cancer. This friend went through the pain and suffering of operations and chemotherepy and yet she said she was glad she had cancer. In fact, she said, if she could go back in time, she would chose to have the cancer. This woman’s daughter was horrified by what her mother said, but the woman had experienced an intimacy with God through her ordeal that far eclipsed the pain and suffering she endured and she valued that more than her life itself.

I have read about a man who developed leprosy and through this came to faith in Jesus. He said he was grateful for the leprosy because it helped him to know Jesus. I would guess that you have heard stories like this yourself.

There are many responses to suffering and the ones when people say they are glad they got cancer or leprosy because through that they found Jesus make the least sense. We can understand when someone is bitter because they or someone they loved suffered. But when someone embraces the suffering and says they would choose it because of where it led them, we have to sit up and pay attention because this is something unusual.

And in fact it is miraculous because it is an intrusion of God into our world. When someone responds to suffering by choosing to draw closer to God, the Kingdom of God has pushed back the kingdom of this world. This is a miracle on par with the blind seeing or the lame walking.

The world demands that we resent suffering and when we choose otherwise, it is clear God is at work.

What is most disturbing about suffering is that this is how God has designed us to grow in faith. It would be one thing if God worked to push suffering away from us and made it a very occasional experience, but it is almost as if God embraces the suffering and uses it for a good purpose, to grow our faith. This does not mean that God delights when we suffer. This does not mean that God creates suffering or inflicts suffering on us or causes us to suffer. But God knows that living in this fallen world will bring suffering and he uses this for his purposes.

What did Paul say in Romans 8:28?
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God does not cause suffering but he is able to take the evil of suffering and use it for good purposes. The good that comes out of suffering is far better than the evil of suffering itself. How does he use suffering to make something good come out of it?

When we die, we take nothing from this world with us except the faith that developed in us during our years on earth. This makes faith the most precious commodity we have and we grow in faith through suffering. We don’t grow by eating a delicious meal (well, we do grow, but not the kind of growth we are talking about). We don’t grow by enjoying wonderful evenings with friends, relaxing walks in the park or even by having wonderful church services with good worship and preaching. We grow through suffering.

Jesus said in John 16:33
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

He did not say we might have tribulation, he said we will have tribulation.

Paul taught in Lystra that (Acts 14:22)
through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

It is not through many pleasures or comforts but through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God.

The writer of Hebrews wrote to Jewish followers of Jesus who were being persecuted and said: (Hebrews 12:5–11)
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

If we sit back and reflect, we can tell from our own experience that this is true. I mentioned last week that while 2010 was probably the worst year of my life with the deportations of the parents of the children at the Village of Hope, from an eternal perspective this was a good year because my faith went deep and held on to Jesus despite not seeing how good will come from the cruel separation of parents and children.

I wish it were otherwise. I really wish it were otherwise, but it is not. We cannot live an easy life and grow in faith, it just does not happen that way.

James wrote:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We do not count it all joy because we like pain. We count it all joy because of what it does for us. The testing of our faith produces steadfastness.

Here is where choice comes into it. Two people can face the same trial and react differently. Perhaps the trial is parents who have to deal with the murder of their child. In the midst of grief and questioning a choice has to be made: will I hold on to Jesus? One person will reject Jesus because God has failed them in allowing this tragic murder. A second person will hold on to Jesus despite not understanding how something like this could happen.

The day after the parents of the children at the Village of Hope were taken away, I drove with Elliot up to Tangiers to talk with a student. When we stopped to get something to eat, I said I would pray and then could not. When I pray before a meal, it is a prayer of trust in God to provide for all I need. My faith was so crushed by the events at the Village of Hope that I could not pray. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to continue to preach at RIC. My faith was devastated. But what made a difference in that day and in that year is that despite my not understanding and despite my pain and anger at what had happened I refused to let go. I clung to Jesus and that made all the difference.

When I sent out my newsletter to friends and supporters of my ministry in Morocco, three people wrote to say that it seemed my faith had grown. I wrote back saying that if it had, it was not intentional. I was drowning and all I did was hold on to Jesus. But when we hold on to Jesus in painful times, we grow in faith.

When our faith is tested and we hold on, refusing to let go despite the pain, our faith produces steadfastness. And this determination to hold on, not to be moved or shaken from our faith has a positive effect.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I mentioned last week that we are made for eternity, not for this world. This world prepares us for our eternal home and the trials we encounter in our lives produce in us, if we allow them to, the complete wholeness God wants us to have. The trials we face prepare us for our heavenly existence.

This is a great truth, a difficult truth, but a great truth. But it is one each person has to discover for themself. If you are suffering a great loss and I come up to you and tell you, “Consider it all joy because God is building your faith,” I should expect you to hit me in the mouth.

In a review of Rabbi Kushner’s book, one person wrote:
When I faced incredible loss a few years ago, I was amazed at the insensitive words my so-called friends offered in their “compassion”, words that cut me right to the bone of my soul. It seemed that my grief was a burden for many. I painfully watched many of my closest friends distance themselves from me and even resent me for the tragedy and emotion that I had no control over. I questioned my feelings, my thoughts, and even my faith.

This book is a comfort for all people who have been forced to swallow such stupid sentiments in their times of grief and loss. It is an exploration of how we comfort each other in such terrifying times, and the dumb mistakes we make. Most of these sentiments wax on about God, why He created a world in which such pain exists: Is this all part of a greater good, a higher order? Is God testing you, expanding your soul for your own good? Has He taken your loved ones to a better place? This book gets right to the heart of the matter, that people in fact say such things as disguised justification for their own lack of understanding. They say things in defense of God to keep their world in order and the senseless tragedy in your life out of theirs. For example, someone might tell you, “God gave this grief to you as a test, because He loved you so very much, and knew you would become a better person for it,” (to which the author replies, “If only I had been a weaker person, my daughter would still be alive.”)

The person who wrote this review is right to criticize the way people responded to his or her suffering, but that does not mean what they said is untrue.

James 1:2-4 should never be quoted to someone who is suffering. The best thing to say to someone who is suffering is nothing except maybe, “I am so sorry.” Being present is the best gift when someone suffers. It is up to each person to choose to apply James 1:2-4 to themselves.

I’m not sure at the point of suffering that anyone can choose to be thankful and consider it all joy. But we can choose to hold on to Jesus and after the fact, we can realize that the trial was a blessing in disguise.

Let me add a point of clarification. What suffering is James writing about? Does what he wrote apply to all suffering in life?

What if I rob a bank and go to jail? Is my sitting in prison part of the suffering that God will use to build my faith and make me complete in all things? Should I consider it joy that I am in prison because God is growing my faith? What if I come to Morocco illegally and can’t find work or money for food and rent? Is that part of the suffering James talks about? What about the son in the parable Jesus told who demanded his share of the inheritance and then wasted it in wild and reckless living and ended up sitting with the pigs, eating their food? Was his suffering what James talks about?

There is a difference between suffering that is a consequence of my own bad choices and suffering that comes to me on its own. When I suffer because of bad choices I have made, the redemptive part of this suffering is that I can come to my senses and return home to my father in heaven, as the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable came home to his father. Suffering because of my bad choices can lead me to repent and give my life to Jesus or return to a life lived in obedience to Jesus. This is what Paul calls justification, the first stage of salvation.

Suffering that builds my faith, the kind of suffering James is talking about, is suffering that happens to me, not the consequence of my bad choices in life. This suffering is used by the Holy Spirit to transform me, make me more holy, to grow my faith. This is what Paul calls sanctification, the second stage of salvation.

It is important to recognize the difference. We need to be in a relationship with Jesus before the redemptive work of building our faith can begin. We need to cling to Jesus. Then we can grow in faith.

The writer of this letter is James, identified as the younger half-brother of Jesus. James knew Jesus better than almost anyone in the New Testament. He slept in the same bed as Jesus. He played with Jesus, did chores with Jesus, learned carpentry from his father, just like Jesus did. Like most younger brothers, he watched and wanted to be like his older brother who seemed to be able to do everything better than he could.

All this familiarity created problems and when Jesus set out on his public ministry, James was now a grown man and most likely had a family of his own. His older brother, Jesus, had not gotten married. He had defied the cultural expectations for himself and then he set out on his public ministry. James and the rest of his family thought he had gone mad. They tried to bring him home and let him come to his senses. James mocked his brother, daring him to go to Jerusalem even though the religious leaders were trying to kill him.

James was not at all one of the admirers of Jesus’ teaching and ministry.
Then Jesus died. We don’t know how James reacted but after his resurrection,  Jesus appeared to him and his life turned around. We don’t know what happened to him in the next five to ten years but by the time we read about him in Acts, he is the leader of the church in Jerusalem. The disciples spent three years with Jesus while James mocked him from a distance, but now he was recognized by the disciples as the leader of the church in Jerusalem. Something very powerful must have happened to him to put him in this position.

We know from church tradition that he was given the nickname, camel knees, because he prayed so much on his knees. Paul’s life turned around in dramatic fashion after Jesus appeared to him in the noonday sun on the road to Damascus but the appearance of Jesus to James after his resurrection must have been an equally powerful experience.

We don’t know what suffering James experienced over the years after Jesus appeared to him, but these were years when the early followers of Jesus were persecuted and to escape the persecution, the followers of Jesus scattered into Judea and Samaria. This is the audience James addresses in the opening of his letter.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.

We don’t know the suffering James endured, but the wisdom he displays with his opening words indicates he did suffer and that he persevered through the suffering and grew in his faith. James wrote out of his own experience.

We will be working our way through his letter over the Sundays between now and the beginning of Lent and then pick up this letter again next January.

This is a letter for you. You have suffered in the past, you may be suffering now and you will suffer in the future. That sounds terribly discouraging, but from the perspective of James, this is good news because it means you will have a choice to make. You can choose to persevere and take the path to life or you can choose to focus on the injustice of your pain and take the path to death.

The reward for choosing well has a long-term payoff.  (James 1:12)
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.

But it also has a short-term payoff.

I have known people who chose to remain bitter and angry because of suffering and life closed in around them. Sometimes marriages break up because the couple cannot take the strain of the pain they experience. One woman I knew never recovered from her son’s death and kept his room as a temple, exactly the way it was when he died. Her whole life was stalled and she was unable to move into the future.

When we hold on to the injustice and pain of suffering, our whole life is affected. Holding on cripples us to some extent. It really is a path to death.

But when we hold on to Jesus, there comes healing and hope and we are able to move forward with an openess to what will come.

Watchman Nee, who died in prison in 1972,  was a leader in the church in China who suffered greatly in his work to build the church in that country. He wrote this:
The breaking of the alabaster box and the anointing of the Lord filled the house with the odor, with the sweetest odor. Everyone could smell it. Whenever you meet someone who has really suffered; been limited, gone through things for the Lord, willing to be imprisoned by the Lord, just being satisfied with Him and nothing else, immediately you sense the fragrance. There is a savor of the Lord. Something has been crushed, something has been broken, and there is a resulting odor of sweetness.

There is a beauty and a sweetness to those who have held on to Jesus throughout their lives.

You are loved by God. Because he loves you he wants you to grow in faith so you will come into his eternal kingdom with the sweet aroma of faith, the riches of heaven. So when you face trials of any kind, look to Jesus. If you need to come home, come home to Jesus and cling to him. If you are living in an obedient relationship with Jesus and you suffer in any way, cling to Jesus. Refuse to let go. Hold on and your steadfastness will grow your faith, making you lacking in nothing.