Study 1 from “The Work of Faith” Study on James: James 1:1-18
“Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!”
– Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1855)
from the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”
Questions for initial thought: As believers, what should our expectations be about trials and suffering? What do trials and suffering mean about our faith? How are we supposed to act and live out our faith in the middle of challenging times? Is God at fault? Are we allowed to “take it easy”? What kind of messages does our world tell us about suffering and trials and how to handle them? Or about trials and the goodness of God?
The Purpose & Background of James
So who is James and what is his purpose for writing? James 1:1 tells us James is “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Most scholars will agree that this James was the brother of Jesus. But James doesn’t try and use this for his advantage: instead, he recognizes that he – like the rest of us – is but a servant of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This idea will be important in the book.
Moreover, James is writing probably in the mid first-century (very soon after Jesus’ life and ministry) “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” At this point, Jewish Christians were scattered throughout the Roman empire and beyond, but so was God’s church in general. James is speaking generally to Christians (both Jew and Gentile) who are learning to live out this new faith in a world that is primarily non-Christian. As we read James, we can realize just how applicable these words are for us, two thousand years later, but in a similar time.
The Joy of Trial and Temptation (James 1:2-11)
Ask yourself: How do we view trials? What trials are you currently facing? What does James tell us about these trials?
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” James begins his letter (Js 1:2). This seems like a strange beginning of a letter. James is addressing Christians (and probably relatively new Christians at that), and he wants them to look at the suffering and trials in their life and find joy! For us in our culture (not unlike James’ audience), this can feel even counterintuitive. Our culture helps us seek self-pity, to seek solutions, to look for an out, and to just make it through whatever problem. But the entire preface of James’ letter is to find joy in trial. Why? How?
The reality is, in a world that is broken by sin, trials should be a normal and expected part of life – including the Chrisitian life! What James does not say is that trials are a punishment from God. Instead, God uses trials in life to help us grow and mature in our faith, to help us know Him and His grace more: “…for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness…” (1:3). James wants us to have a new, God-focused paradigm for trials: instead of “just making it through” trials, or seeing them as a punishment, James helps us to see that life and growth happens through and in the middle of trials. But this growth doesn’t happen by itself. It takes intentionality and wisdom; and it takes the grace of God.
So James tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him as God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (Js 1:5). How often do we find ourselves in trials or suffering, and we do not know what to do, what to say, or how to handle it? James tells us: God gives wisdom generously when we ask! When we find ourselves facing trials and unsure how to act or think, James tells us: God uses this for our growth (cf. 1:3-4), as we use these times to run to Him, and seek His wisdom. “How long, O Lord?”, we might ask, and “How are you with me, even here?” or “How can I serve you in the middle of my weakness?”
We have two options: we can seek the LORD in trial, or we will seek something else. James warns us against “doubting” and “being double-minded” and “unstable” (Js 1:6-8). There is a kind of doubt that can be normal in the middle of trial, as we wonder “where is God? What is He doing through all of this?” But James is not talking about that doubt: he is asking us to seek God’s wisdom there. The doubt James is talking about is the doubt that comes from listening to wisdom other than God’s wisdom. He is talking about the “double-mindedness” that comes from hearing God’s Word, but then also listening to our world, and wavering between the two voices. God’s Word tells us He is working; trust Him! Our world tells us to seek our own solutions and our own comfort.
As we learn to come to God in our trials for His wisdom and our growth, James encourages us that we learn to see God and His grace better. “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” (Js. 1:9-10). God is the One who “raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap” (cf. Psalm 113:7). He is also the One who helps us to see our neediness in light of His grace. Our life is fleeting, but His Word and His grace remains. So as we seek God and His wisdom in our trials, we learn to find joy in knowing that, while this life passes away, our life in Him remains! So what does it look like to grow in joy and serve Him in the midst of trial? James helps us to see that grace!
The Blessing of Trial & Temptation (vv.12-18)
Yes, in fact, James tells us “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” (Js. 1:12). In short, learning to seek God and serve Him through the midst of trials is a God-given blessing because it reminds us that these earthly trials are not the end of the story: God’s crown of eternal life is! But we need to be careful not to interpret this in the wrong light: it is not to say that God makes us suffer in order to merit grace. Nor is it to say that living well in trials earns us God’s favor. James will address both of these issues.
First, we cannot blame trials and temptations on God (vv.13-15). The words “trial” and “temptation” in Greek are actually the same word. James wants to make it clear that our trials are not God tempting us to fall into sin. He is good, and He does not tempt us; our own sinful nature is what tempts us to take a different approach. How easy it is to look at our lives, and to blame God for what we are experiencing. There is a difference between saying, “since God has given me ____, He must not care. I will sit back and wait for Him to take it away;” and “Lord! Why have you allowed me to experience ____? Help me to live faithfully in the middle of this, to seek Your face, and to find Your strength in my weakness! Use this for my growth and for Your glory!” In the first way, we allow our sinful minds to interpret our trials, and give birth to apathy, excuses, and spiritual stagnation. In the second way, we get to cry out to God, and ask Him to use even this to make good on His promises to care for us, even when we don’t understand it.
But let us not think that learning to seek Him and find joy in trial earns us our salvation. James also tells us “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Js 1:16). It is God’s good gift. GOD is the One who can help us to find joy in trials. GOD is the One who will help us to serve Him as we go through the trials and temptations of living in a broken world. HE is the One who gives His good gift of grace daily, so that we can weather whatever it is we are facing day-by-day, not in our strength (which withers and fades like the grace), but in HIS eternal, unchanging strength. “Do not be deceived,” because it is God Himself who has given us all the ability to cry to Him, to grow in Him, to find His wisdom and joy in trial “that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (Js 1:18).
When we face trials and temptations as Christians, James wants to show us that we can experience God’s blessing, because we face them not in our own strength, but through HIS strength. The result (as we will see) is not just for our own joy and growth, but for the growth of His Gospel in the lives of people around us. And God’s strength promises to have its “full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (cf. Js 1:4). HIS strength promises to carry us through all of it till we receive “the crown of life” (cf. Js 1:12).
So as we study the book of James, we need to keep a question in mind: How will we respond to trial and temptation in the Christian life? Will we sit back and groan and blame God? Will we use them as excuses to be lazy or stagnant in our faith and growth? Or will we cry out to God and seek His wisdom? HE will help us to move forward in His grace, teaching us to trust His good purposes and outcome, as He gives us the strength to exercise our faith. As we will see, James is a book that helps us, practically, to grow more into the image of God, as we bring each aspect of our lives before Him.
Questions for Reflection & Prayer:
What are some ways you feel challenged by this introduction to the book of James? Where have you maybe allowed your own trials to be an excuse for laziness in the Christian life? Or where have you felt like, if you can just make yourself look good in trials, God will bless you? How does James speak against each of these ideas? What does it look like to learn to grow in living out our faith, even and especially in the midst of trials and temptations? Where does today’s passage encourage you to come to the LORD in prayer, and ask for His strength to live for Him?
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