Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: James 1:5-12 | Date: June 6, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The elders were talking this week. We have had an interruption in our Sunday evening series like I have never seen before. You won’t believe it when I say it. I’m almost embarrassed to say it. I began a series of Sunday evening messages from the Epistle of James back in November. And then December, I had the morning services, so I didn’t have the series then, but then January through March, you remember, I preached in just the morning services addressing a biblical perspective on the current cultural upheaval that we are witnessing in our society. January to March, April, I was down with COVID, May, I was back to the morning services again, and now it’s June, six or seven months later, and we’re finally getting back to James.

Now, I gave you two messages from James, and I’m sure you remember them very well, so I don’t need to do a lot of repeating. In our first message, I gave an overview of the book of James and some background, a little biographical sketch of James—who he is and how he relates to Paul, some of that. We came away with the general observation that James writes a very, what we call, practical letter exhorting Christians as to how to live. The Bible is a redemptive book in two senses. One, it tells us of our Redeemer, but also in another sense, it is given to us to teach us how to live in a way that glorifies God. So it redeems us in that broad sense of transforming us. And we saw that then in the first message.

And then we started the exposition with James chapter 1, and we got through verses 1 to 4 to see God’s purposes in trials. We will pick that up again. Amazing how long it has been, but I don’t want to go back and repeat those messages, so we will pick it up and I will assume that you’re familiar with verses 1 to 4. I will recount a little bit of that this evening as we move along. Let’s bow together for prayer.

Our Father, we’re grateful for this very needed letter from one of your servants so long ago, teaching us how to live in a way to glorify you. And as we take up this particular subject of trials and how we respond to them, how we respond to suffering, we ask that you would give us a faith that is resolved to see your purposes accomplished in our lives, that we may honor you. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

James chapter one, I’ll begin with verse one:

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let the steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of 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, 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. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass as the flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 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.”

Trials As A Means Of Grace

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the expression “means of grace.” Means of grace is a term that theologians have coined to describe those instruments that God uses to enrich our spiritual lives, to advance our Christian experience, and to make us more and more like Christ. They’re called means of grace. Primarily in view, of course, is the Word of God, whether read or hearing it taught and preached; prayer is a means of grace, fellowship is a means of grace, the ordinances are means of grace, and so on. And that’s what is usually in view when we hear the term means of grace.

What is a bit odd is that the Bible describes trials, sufferings, and affliction in just these kinds of terms; it describes them as a means of grace. We saw that in verses 2 to 4, where it is described as just a means of grace, an instrument in the hands of God to accomplish in us what he has purposed for us. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 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 in nothing.” And that’s true to life. And I think most Christians can attest to that as we’ve confronted trials or difficulties, suffering of whatever degree; we can all testify that the perseverance that we have learned in those sufferings and in those trials is a lesson that we could not have learned really anywhere else. You don’t learn perseverance in a rocking chair when everything is good. So I think we can all testify, at least to some degree, that in God’s hands, trials can become a means of grace to improve us and to transform us.

But if that’s been proven true in our experience, I think we also have to acknowledge that very often, that is not the case. In fact, many Christians have faltered during trials and suffering. And many professing Christians have made complete shipwreck of the faith during trials and afflictions of various kinds. So we have to conclude that the spiritual advance that is intended by our sufferings and our trials does not come automatically. It’s not something that is inevitable. Paul can speak, for example, of how tribulation works endurance; endurance, character. James does that here in verse 3. The testing of your faith works patience. Let that patience have its perfect work, and so on. But in many instances, that’s just not the case in the experience of some believers. And in all of us, I think, at some time or another.

And I think then that’s the significance of the command in verse 4. It’s an imperative here: “Let steadfastness have its full effect.” That is, it’s a command. So there’s a responsibility on our part to make sure that this is indeed the outcome of our trials—that it will produce steadfastness. Count it all joy. You fall into various trials because they produce steadfastness. Now make sure that’s the outcome. That’s the sense of verses 2 through 4 with the command: determine to respond to the trials and to the suffering faithfully so that you do learn and grow from it.

So we have to make certain—that’s the command of verse 4—make certain that for our own part, the trials do, in fact, become a means of grace. Now in verses 2 and 3, I think that informs that for us somewhat. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know…” For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. That is, our response to trials must be grounded not in what we feel, not in the emotions of the moment, but our response to trials must be grounded in what we know.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. So whatever we feel at the moment, he’s calling us here to exercise our faith and understand that in these trials, God is not absent, but that he has a purpose. And our faith at that moment then takes the form of a resolve to see that God’s purpose in those trials is realized in our experience. So verse four: determine that God’s purpose in this trial will actually be realized in your life. Respond in faith, ensuring that this will be, in fact, a learning experience and a growing experience. I’ve always thought there’s something immensely practical about that counsel. Learn from the trial, learn from the test. Can we use that word? Learn from the test so that you don’t have to retake the test to learn it again. Learn it the first time. So in other words, the faithfulness in complying with the command will depend in large part on a clear apprehension on our part of God’s purpose in trials, and then also a resolve on our part to see that those purposes are accomplished.

Ask Of God

Now, there’s a problem that comes up with that, a question, an obvious one, and that is that when trials come, when we suffer, we don’t always see them so clearly. “Oh joy, here’s a means of grace for me to grow.” And so the resolve to learn from the trial does not always come so quickly or so automatically. Feelings get in the way, feelings overrule what we know too often, and there’s a strong tendency in all of us to think in more mundane and temporal terms of what would make us happy for the moment and so on. Put another way, we lack what it takes to respond to trials as God calls us to here.

And I think then that is the connection to verse five: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Now, wisdom, as you remember in Scripture, is not simply intellectual acuity, becoming a smart guy, but wisdom, if you remember, for example, when we studied Proverbs, wisdom is the skill of living before God successfully, faithfully under God, which then in turn is profitable for us as well. That’s the kind of wisdom he’s talking about here. It’s not theoretical wisdom, but ethical and practical wisdom. So he’s telling us here, if we lack the wisdom to live so as to please God in trials—here specifically with respect to trials—if we lack that wisdom to respond faithfully in trials, “let him ask of God.” So spiritual success is never achieved without wisdom, and for that wisdom, he says in verse 5, we must pray.

I think that’s the connection then in verse 5. So when trials come, in the sense of verse 2, you’ve suddenly fallen into one of these various kinds of trials that can come along and you find yourself in it, our response must be, “God give me the wisdom to perceive this affliction rightly and teach me from it and make me grow. Give me wisdom to see the big picture, to see your purpose in it, and then give me the faith to resolve to see it accomplished in me.” Puritan John Owen said that if we don’t learn from the afflictions, all we have afterward is a memory of the pain. That’s an interesting observation. James here is counseling us that that will not happen. Don’t come through this in a way that it has been of no profit at all. Pray for wisdom to view it correctly and so that you may come through it faithfully.

Now the next question that comes up is, if I pray, if you pray for wisdom in trials, do you think that’s the kind of prayer request God will answer? Well, James goes to some pointed detail here to say yes. He reminds us of some of the things about the character of God. Notice verse 5 again: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” So a few observations here about the character of God.

Number one, and these are encouragements, incentives to pray for wisdom in trials. Number one, it is God’s nature to give. That’s what he says here. “Let him ask from the God who gives,” or if I could just translate it this way, “let him ask from the giving God, the God who gives to all men.” It’s just the nature of God to give. And he’s describing him here in verse 5, not so much in the act of giving, as he’s describing God’s character, God’s nature. It’s just like God to give. That’s the kind of God that he is. By his very nature, he’s a giving God. Now that’s something that every Christian ought to know already. We came to God with nothing, nothing in our hands and nothing to plead, and we asked for mercy and God gave mercy abundantly. He gave it freely in Jesus Christ. And the day we were saved and every day of our life since, we have learned that God is a giving God. And so he says, pray and ask God for wisdom and keep in mind as you pray, he is the giving God.

Number two, God is not only a giving God, God gives bountifully. Do you see that? “Who gives generously to all.” The idea here is he gives sincerely or wholeheartedly, without reserve. He doesn’t have some ulterior motive in giving. He doesn’t give so as to get something out of you that he’s got some hidden agenda. He just loves to give, and he gives, and he gives, and he gives bountifully, he gives generously. And there’s a hint here of what we call the doctrine of common grace. He gives to all, generously. That’s God. That’s the kind of God he is. So he gives; he’s the giving God. It’s his character to give. He gives bountifully.

And number three, he tells us here, God does not scold us when he does give. Do you see that? He gives “without reproach” or finding fault. He’s not insulting us when we give. He doesn’t reprimand us when we give. He doesn’t give to us in a way that humiliates us. Like the way we sometimes give. Or so you go to God and the way you feel sometimes and you ask for forgiveness for that sin again, and you feel like, “I don’t have any right to be here.” God doesn’t scold. He doesn’t say, “Yeah, what are you back here again for that now, huh?” He doesn’t reproach, he doesn’t find fault. When we go to pray and we recall all of the reasons God should not give to us, that’s not the way God gives. Or we go to pray and we remember all of the blessings that he has given that we have squandered and not been thankful for.

Now if that were us and someone comes back to ask again, it might not come to our lips, but it might, and it certainly would come to our minds: “You want me to give to you again? After all I’ve given you and what you’ve done with it?” And James is saying, that’s not how God gives. He gives without reproach, without insulting us. God is not like us. He just loves to give. He does not humiliate us when we ask. He is the giving God. He has purposed good things for us and it is just like him to lavish us with good things when we ask. And in fact, he takes delight in giving and he gives and he keeps on giving. It’s like when the prodigal returned to his father. The father just lavished him with gifts. He didn’t come to him and say, “Well, you’ve already taken the inheritance, you’ve taken so much and you’ve squandered.” No, he lavished him with gifts, put a robe and put on a ring and all of that and threw a party. That’s the way God gives. And he never says we’ve asked too much or that we’ve asked too often. And James puts all of this here because we don’t think of God that way often enough. He’s a giving God. He loves to give. He gives bountifully. It’s the kind of God he is to give like that and not to scold or humiliate us when we do ask.

So returning to the question that I raised, is our prayer for wisdom in trials likely to be the kind of prayer that God is going to answer? Of course, all of the detail of verse 5 is given to answer that question exactly, and he affirms it at the end of the verse: “and it will be given him.” Faithfulness in trials is within our reach. Does it require supernatural aid? Yes. That is within our reach as well. Ask God and he will give.

But we should note here as well that God gives us the wisdom that we need in trials in response to our prayers for it. Let me say it again. God gives us the wisdom that we need in trials in response to our prayers for it. Now here we open up the question of the relation of divine sovereignty and our prayers. Why pray for it if God’s going to give it? If God’s going to give it, why do I have to pray for it? And those are discussions that can take us for a long time, but the simple answer is, and we see it here, God will not give us apart from prayer what he has purposed to give us through prayer. There it is. Now we can’t—we could talk about all the details of divine sovereignty and prayer and how it relates, we should do that, we could do it very profitably sometime—but that still is the bottom line, isn’t it? God is not going to give us, apart from prayer, what he has purposed to give us through prayer. And so James says, pray, ask God for wisdom and he will give it.

Let Him Ask In Faith

But then we get to verses 6 to 8, and he gives a qualification. God is not a vending machine. Put in your quarter, out comes the gift. No, verses six to eight: “Let him ask in faith, but let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He’s a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

So, let him ask in faith. What’s that? Well, at the very least, it’s asking in recognition of what we know about God in verse 5—that God is willing to give, that he’s this kind of a giver, this kind of God. It also entails verse 4, asking with a kind of faith that resolves to see God’s purposes accomplished in us, with the expectation of help, a help grounded in God’s goodness, but with the expectation that with God’s help, I will see to it that God’s purpose for me in these trials is accomplished. So note then that faith is not just cranking up a positive attitude, “God will give it.” That’s not just what faith is here. Faith entails a resolve to live according to God’s provision and enablement so as to learn from these trials and be successful through them. Not just believing that God will give, but resolving to be faithful in those trials with his enablement.

Now when we get to verse eight, he gives us this contrast of this double-minded man. Ask in faith, not like the double-minded man, this man with two souls, literally, the double-minded man. Here’s a man who’s not committed to the way of faith. He’s not set against it, but he’s not committed to it. He’s a double-minded man. He’s like the mythological horseman that mounted his horse backwards and rode off in both directions at the same time. It’s like John Bunyan’s—this probably is where John Bunyan got it in the Pilgrim’s Progress—Mr. Facing-Both-Ways. He wants to follow, not sure he will. “I want to, well, I don’t know.” Looking both ways all the time, this man is unstable in all his ways, and James says, don’t let that man think he’ll receive anything from the Lord. Again, faith entails a resolve that with God’s enablement, I will be faithful.

Now, it’s hard to see, I think, the connection to verses 9 to 11 with what we’ve just seen. But I think what we have here is an illustration of two life situations and how faith shows itself in each. Verses 9 to 11: “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation. And the rich, in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat, and withers the grass, and its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”

Verse 9 is easy enough. Here’s a poor man. He’s a Christian. He’s poor. He’s unable to make ends meet. He’s struggling because of his poverty. And James says, rejoice in your exaltation in Christ before God. This is not far at all from Jeremiah chapter 9: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me.” And that is something that is a treasure far beyond any kind of money riches that we could ever have. So James here says, think like a Christian. If you’re poor, you’re having difficulty making ends meet, you’re suffering in that way, that’s the trial you’re facing. Encourage yourself in thoughts of the gospel of what Christ has done for you. That’s part of what it is to be a faithful man in trials.

But then, verse 10, he gives us a contrast. Verses 10 and 11. And here we have the rich Christian. Verse 9 is the poor Christian. Verse 10 is the rich Christian. 10 and 11 is the rich Christian. “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away, for the sun rises with its 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.” That is, don’t take pride in your riches. So you’ve made it big. You’ve made lots of money. Don’t take pride in that. That’s all fleeting. And one day you’ll leave it behind and you can’t take it with you. It’s all temporary and fleeting. Get a right perspective. Don’t estimate your worth by material possessions. Recognize that you, like all the rest of us, are miserable sinners saved by the grace of God. Now it’s interesting here that the gospel cuts both ways, doesn’t it? For the rich or the poor, it speaks to every believer in every situation, and these are some illustrations that James gives us now of being faithful.

The Crown Of Life

And then finally in verse 12, James tells us of reward that God has promised those who faithfully persevere in trials. Verse 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.” The allusion here is this crown of life. The allusion is to the Greek games that they would have and the winner would have a wreath thrown around his neck. That’s the idea here. A crown of life. Crown of life—what’s that mean? Crown which is life, probably. In other words, God rewards our perseverance with eternal life. But the idea here more broadly is that of reward.

And this is just one of many passages in the New Testament that speaks of God rewarding his servants for their faithfulness in life, in their lifetime. Many people have puzzled over this rewards business. I’ve heard some very prominent Reformed theologians grapple with this and actually, I think, take the wrong side of it. How can we have rewards? Is there going to be slums in heaven and rich places in heaven? And how does someone reward some or not? And I don’t know how to work out all the details in it. We certainly don’t mean that we’re earning our salvation. We don’t mean anything like that. It’s all of grace. But then if it’s all of grace, why the rewards?

And I think it’s just a fascinating theme that we find. We will see next time, in verses 13 and following, that any failure on my part—now hear me on this—any failure on my part is my fault. Period. Any successes, any faithfulness on my part, only God gets the credit for that. So I get the blame for the faults, only God gets the credit for the successes, right? That’s just reality. Any accomplishments I have had have been by divine enablement and only God is to be praised for it. We’ll see that as we go along. So as we get to the subject of rewards here, we’ve got to go into it saying already, there’s nothing that I’ll ever deserve rewards from God for. That God would be indebted to me to reward me for something that I’ve done for him because whatever it is I’ve done for him, it has been by his enabling grace.

But there are many passages in the New Testament like this that believers will receive reward from God. He’ll reward me—what it comes down to is just that—he’ll reward me for what in grace he has given me. He’ll reward me for what he has given me. I’d love to expound on that at length. It’s just the way God is. He takes poor, miserable sinners. He redeems them through the blood of Christ. He enables them by joining them to Christ by his Spirit, being risen with Christ, enabling us all the way to do whatever degree of faithfulness that we accomplish. And it’s his works all the way through. He is working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And after a whole lifetime of that, God giving us varying measures of success, after it’s all over, he’ll reward us for it. Isn’t that amazing?

And this is given to us here as an added incentive to faithfulness in trials. You realize that your faithfulness in trials—I’m going to come through this faithfully, I’m going to honor God in the way that I respond to this affliction. And one incentive, it’s not the only, but one incentive that I have in that is when it’s all over, God’s going to reward me for it, for the enablement he’s given. So when suffering and we face trials of whatever kind, we should think not just that this is God’s purpose to transform us. We should not think just in terms of his enablement. But James is telling us here to look ahead as well, to say, cheer up, take heart. When you come through this, a crown of life awaits you. There’s coming a day when we will hear the Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of my kingdom.”

So he’s telling us here in the midst of our trials, look further ahead, not only at the immediate effects that God will grow us through it here and now, but after it’s all over, he’ll reward us for the faithfulness that he has given us. Well, James is famous for being the practical kind of book that it is, that it’s part of God’s Word that is given explicitly to transform us into the image of Christ. And first off then, he writes to tell us of God’s purpose, that God has a purpose in our trials. And he exhorts us to have that kind of faith, a robust faith that recognizes that with resolve we will see God’s purposes accomplished in us. He exhorts us to pray that God will give us the wisdom so that we can do that successfully. And then he also encourages us to recall that when it’s all over and we’ve reached the perfection that he talks about back in verse 4, when it’s all over and we reach the perfection that we’ve been called to, through his enablement, he’ll reward us for that too. Rewards us for the success that he gives us.

Now there is in the biblical writers a forward look that I’m just certain we all need to adopt more faithfully. A forward look, a sense of expectation of glory, a sense of expectation of reward that even in trials ought to instill in us a sense of joyful anticipation of what God has yet in store for us. And until that goal is reached, God calls us to a robust faith. A faith that resolves to see God’s transforming purposes accomplished in us. A faith that recognizes and treasures the goodness of God in all of his providential dealings. And also a faith that lives in joyful expectation of what he has for us. It will issue in a day that we will not only see Christ, but we’ll be like Christ. In the words of verse 4, we will be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our Father, I could scarcely find a more practical and needed exhortation for life in a fallen world. Lord, give us the wisdom, give us the faith that you call us to. May we honor you in the way that we live. And Lord, give us this forward look to that great day when our Lord will come again, receive us to himself, make us like him, and reward us for the gifts that he’s given. What a great God you are. We thank you in Jesus’ name, amen.