My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (James 1:2, NKJV).
Down a Well
When are Christians trouble-free? This is not a trick question, but it is one that trips some Christians up when they are not properly steeped in the Word of God. There was teaching prevalent a few years back that the life of a Christ-follower with sufficient faith should be trouble-free, and if it weren't, well the fault was your faulty faith. It sounds like a good deal on the surface. Come to Christ and everything that follows is swell. The problem is that it is not true and never has been. Not ever. And if the reason you became a Christian is because it would make life easier, you will be sorely disappointed. You might even turn away because you may conclude that your investment isn't worth the return. That disillusionment, by the way, is a very real danger of what MacArthur calls "easy-believism", or quid pro quo Christianity. Now that I have come to Jesus, Lord, you owe me.
When are Christians trouble-free? When they depart from this world. Otherwise, walking with the Lord is a guarantee of tribulation in this life. Not that you would necessarily escape such things as a non-believer, because the odds are you wouldn't. And even if you did, the best you had on earth is the closest you will ever get to Heaven, and at the end of your life you will be in torment for all eternity. On the other hand, the worst you may experience in this life as a Christian, no matter what it is, is the closest you will get to Hell, and at the end of your life you will be forever in Heaven “[and] God will wipe away every tear from [your] eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4, NKJV). That is one gigantic promise!
In the text above, James, the half-brother of Jesus, and the leader of the Jerusalem church is writing to God's people to encourage them in times of trouble. His perspective is very interesting. James doesn't emphasize, for instance, that in times of trouble God will sustain you. That is certainly true, but that is not the main point he makes. Nor does he say that there is any nice neat formula about trials in life; something like "if you do x then y won't happen, but be assured that if you don't avoid z then all Hell will break loose." While there are spiritual principles outlined in Scripture about why bad things happen to believers, sometimes for the purpose of correction, sometimes for the purpose of strengthening faith or character, or sometimes so that you will be better able to comfort others, that too is not where James' emphasis lies. Instead, he focuses on the benefits trials produce, summarized by his next sentence: "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience [or endurance]."(James 1:3, NKJV).
Here's the thing: if your life as a Christian is trouble free, you are either dead, or not a Christian. If, in fact, you are a true child of God by faith, then you are guaranteed, guaranteed, NOT to have a trouble-free life. Before I prove that conclusion, I want to point out a few things about the focus verse itself.
count it all joy - means to view with great satisfaction. A paraphrase would be "consider it PURE JOY". That can be a tall order, but it is an order, nonetheless. And the reason we our exhorted to do so is because "the testing" or "tempering" (like steel in fire) "of your faith produces" endurance. And those who endure to the end will be saved. Saved means not going to Hell. That is certainly a cause for the purest of unmitigated joy. I am not saying that endurance earns salvation, but that by enduring you prove your faith to be real.
when you fall into - this means to be completely encompassed by, like tumbling down a well. James is not talking mild inconvenience here, but heart-wrenching, life-disruptive circumstances, events and emotions that, without the assurance that such serves a godly purpose in our lives, might make us stumble very badly.
Down a Well
When are Christians trouble-free? This is not a trick question, but it is one that trips some Christians up when they are not properly steeped in the Word of God. There was teaching prevalent a few years back that the life of a Christ-follower with sufficient faith should be trouble-free, and if it weren't, well the fault was your faulty faith. It sounds like a good deal on the surface. Come to Christ and everything that follows is swell. The problem is that it is not true and never has been. Not ever. And if the reason you became a Christian is because it would make life easier, you will be sorely disappointed. You might even turn away because you may conclude that your investment isn't worth the return. That disillusionment, by the way, is a very real danger of what MacArthur calls "easy-believism", or quid pro quo Christianity. Now that I have come to Jesus, Lord, you owe me.
When are Christians trouble-free? When they depart from this world. Otherwise, walking with the Lord is a guarantee of tribulation in this life. Not that you would necessarily escape such things as a non-believer, because the odds are you wouldn't. And even if you did, the best you had on earth is the closest you will ever get to Heaven, and at the end of your life you will be in torment for all eternity. On the other hand, the worst you may experience in this life as a Christian, no matter what it is, is the closest you will get to Hell, and at the end of your life you will be forever in Heaven “[and] God will wipe away every tear from [your] eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4, NKJV). That is one gigantic promise!
In the text above, James, the half-brother of Jesus, and the leader of the Jerusalem church is writing to God's people to encourage them in times of trouble. His perspective is very interesting. James doesn't emphasize, for instance, that in times of trouble God will sustain you. That is certainly true, but that is not the main point he makes. Nor does he say that there is any nice neat formula about trials in life; something like "if you do x then y won't happen, but be assured that if you don't avoid z then all Hell will break loose." While there are spiritual principles outlined in Scripture about why bad things happen to believers, sometimes for the purpose of correction, sometimes for the purpose of strengthening faith or character, or sometimes so that you will be better able to comfort others, that too is not where James' emphasis lies. Instead, he focuses on the benefits trials produce, summarized by his next sentence: "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience [or endurance]."(James 1:3, NKJV).
Here's the thing: if your life as a Christian is trouble free, you are either dead, or not a Christian. If, in fact, you are a true child of God by faith, then you are guaranteed, guaranteed, NOT to have a trouble-free life. Before I prove that conclusion, I want to point out a few things about the focus verse itself.
count it all joy - means to view with great satisfaction. A paraphrase would be "consider it PURE JOY". That can be a tall order, but it is an order, nonetheless. And the reason we our exhorted to do so is because "the testing" or "tempering" (like steel in fire) "of your faith produces" endurance. And those who endure to the end will be saved. Saved means not going to Hell. That is certainly a cause for the purest of unmitigated joy. I am not saying that endurance earns salvation, but that by enduring you prove your faith to be real.
when you fall into - this means to be completely encompassed by, like tumbling down a well. James is not talking mild inconvenience here, but heart-wrenching, life-disruptive circumstances, events and emotions that, without the assurance that such serves a godly purpose in our lives, might make us stumble very badly.
various trials - speaks to the variety and uniqueness of each trial, and each person's unique response to that trial. A very wise man once said to me that "pain is pain". From the perspective of the suffering of a given moment, it matters little that some pain is much worse than other pain. Or more long-lived or devastating. Pain is pain.
James is reminding each one of us that our trouble-filled life is to be expected, accepted, and acquiesced to with grateful joy because it is from God. Job captures this thought beautifully. “…The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21, NKJV). That is a monumental statement of enduring faith founded upon the knowledge that God is good and desires good for His children. Unbelievers have no such assurance in the midst of trials. From their perspective, things just happen. No rhyme, no reason, no purpose.
How do I know that trouble in a believer's life is guaranteed? Jesus said so.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NKJV).
Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! (Luke 17:1, NKJV).
For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:6, NKJV).
In addition, we are told in Romans that "all things work together for good to those who love God; to those who are the called according to His purpose." That's really the foundation for the joy that we are to have in times of stress. And note please, it is JOY, not HAPPINESS. There is really no correspondence between the two. One is a deep ocean of immeasurable, unchanging satisfaction. The other is a spray of water over a hot stove, soon evaporated. And the capstone of those 3 "proof texts" is this; each one balances (overbalances really) tribulation, offenses and troubles with peace, or justice, or love.
Yes, tribulation will come, but in Jesus there is PEACE because He has overcome the world.
Yes, offenses will come, but vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord, and WOE to those through whom the offenses come.
Yes, the Lord corrects and scourges (a very severe word, indeed) His beloved children, but it is out of His perfect LOVE.
Finally, allow me to conclude with the rest of the passage from Hebrews 12:
For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:6-11, NKJV).
