God generously gives wisdom to all who seek it from him. It is important to seek wisdom. When we are not facing trials, it is vital that we do when we are. If we do not allow our trials to be a source of driving us to the Lord, then we in very real effect, are wasting our trials.

In this sermon, Tony Arsenal delves into James 1:1-18, offering an encouraging and theologically rich exploration of how Christians can find joy amidst trials. Addressing an audience of Jewish Christians scattered due to persecution, the book of James reveals the purpose of trials: to test and validate faith, producing steadfastness, sanctification, and ultimate conformity to Christ. This teaching emphasizes God’s unchanging goodness, His provision of wisdom in trials, and the eternal crown of life promised to those who persevere in faith. With references to Romans 8:28, Philippians 1:6, and Matthew 24:13, the sermon provides practical insights into how believers can face suffering with confidence, trusting in God’s providence and immutability.

Key Takeaways

• Trials serve a divine purpose: to test and validate faith, producing steadfastness and sanctification.
• God’s unchanging nature ensures His promises and purposes remain secure, offering believers assurance amidst suffering.
• Wisdom in trials is a gift from God, granted generously to those who ask in faith.
• Temptation arises not from God but from the sinful desires within us, and sin ultimately leads to spiritual death.
• The steadfastness produced through trials is a mark of genuine faith and leads to the crown of life promised by God.
• Trials are not inherently joyful but can be viewed as opportunities for growth and sanctification in Christ.
• Christ’s example of enduring trials with joy serves as the ultimate model for believers.

The Purpose of Trials: Testing Faith and Producing Steadfastness

James 1:2-4 calls believers to “count it all joy” when facing trials, not because the trials themselves are joyful but because they fulfill a higher purpose. Trials test and validate faith, much like a temple shekel is weighed to confirm its authenticity. This testing produces steadfastness—a spiritual endurance that equips believers to persist in faith throughout their lives. Far from being a random occurrence, trials are divinely ordained to sanctify us, conforming us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28). They provide a tangible demonstration of God’s faithfulness, working in and through difficult circumstances for our ultimate good and His glory.

God’s Immutability: A Source of Comfort and Assurance

James describes God as the “Father of lights” with whom there is “no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). This imagery highlights God’s immutable nature—He is unchanging and perfectly reliable. Unlike the instability of human circumstances or the shifting shadows of the natural world, God’s character and promises remain constant. This truth provides profound assurance to believers, especially in the midst of trials. The same God who brought us forth by the word of truth (James 1:18) is faithful to complete the work He began in us (Philippians 1:6), ensuring that no trial will ultimately consume or defeat us.

Wisdom in Trials: A Supernatural Gift

James 1:5-8 emphasizes the necessity of wisdom to navigate trials, wisdom that comes not from human reasoning but as a generous gift from God. This wisdom enables believers to see trials from an eternal perspective, trusting in God’s providence and purposes even when circumstances seem overwhelming. However, James warns that this wisdom must be sought in faith, without doubting God’s ability or willingness to provide it. Doubting God’s goodness leads to spiritual instability, like a wave tossed by the wind. Thus, asking for wisdom is both an act of faith and a demonstration of trust in God’s fatherly care.

Memorable Quotes

1. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
2. “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.”
3. “The steadfastness produced through trials is not just the means to reach the end; it is the very testimony of God to your faith.”

Full Transcript

The Joy of Trials

[00:00:00] Tony Arsenal: We’re gonna be reading today from the first chapter of James, so if you’ll make your way there,

[00:00:13] Tony Arsenal: and I will be reading verses one through 18. This is God’s word. James is servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings counted 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.

[00:00:43] Tony Arsenal: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to 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.

[00:01:03] Tony Arsenal: 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. Its flower falls and its beauty parishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

[00:01:27] Tony Arsenal: 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. Let no one say when he is tempted. I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.

[00:01:49] Tony Arsenal: Then desire when it has conceived, gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death. 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 of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

[00:02:17] Tony Arsenal: Pray with me. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your servant James, who has given us this wisdom from above. Let us receive it with meekness and humility. Let it implant itself into our hearts so that we may run the race and persist to receive the crown we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

[00:02:42] Tony Arsenal: I got the call from Isaac on Saturday afternoon or Friday afternoon. Excuse me. Asking me if I could preach. And I think most of us, if we got a call asking to preach in a few days, would probably think about it for a few minutes. Uh, I was able to say yes right away because God’s providence is such that I was actually studying the book of James.

[00:03:03] Tony Arsenal: Uh, some of you may know I have an opportunity to fill pulpit, uh, in local churches occasionally. And I was asked a few weeks ago to preach the second half of James one, and so I was already studying the book. I was already reading through the commentaries.

[00:03:15] Context and Background of the Book of James

[00:03:15] Tony Arsenal: So in God’s providence, he was already preparing us for, uh, for today, I wanted to just share a very brief bit of information about the book of James.

[00:03:26] Tony Arsenal: It’s always important when we come to a passage to understand the context. James, uh, as an epistle was written by the brother of Jesus and he, James was the leader of the Jerusalem church. So early in Christianity, the primary center of of Christianity for the first several years was really Jerusalem. So there were of course, Christians that were at Pentecost that had begun to work their way out back to their homes.

[00:03:50] Tony Arsenal: But primarily, at least as, uh, the Book of Acts is concern, we really zoom in on the, um, church in Jerusalem. And James was the leader of this church. James was writing to an audience of Jewish Christians who had since then been scattered into the Judean countryside as far north as Fania. So the very northern reaches of, of what was the land of Israel at the time.

[00:04:16] Tony Arsenal: And they had been scattered out of the church due to persecution that arose following Stephen’s death. So you don’t have to turn there, but just to sort of show that I’m not making this up, uh, acts eight, one says, Saul approved of his execution, speaking of Steven. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.

[00:04:34] Tony Arsenal: They were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And then compare that to James one. One. It says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion Greetings. Now, that word scattered that you hear in both. I’m, I’m not a big fan of using a lot of Greek terms in, in this kind of context, but the word for scattered used in acts as DePiero, it’s a farming metaphor.

[00:05:01] Tony Arsenal: It’s you scatter seed. It’s a very interesting, um, turn of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration that the persecution of the church was described as the scattering of seed, which of course we hear later in church history is a common theme picked up. And in James, the word for dispersion, it’s a little bit obscured, by the way.

[00:05:20] Tony Arsenal: It’s transliterated instead of translated, the word is diaspora. So you can see that the word for scattered and the word for scattering or the dis the scattering, the dispersion is basically the same word. One is a verb and one is sort of the noun form of it. There’s also some, some verbal affinities between James here and the letter, uh, that the Jerusalem council sends out.

[00:05:42] Tony Arsenal: They both end with the word greetings, which is an, a very uncommon way to end a greeting for a letter in the New Testament. So we see that James, the brother of Jesus, as opposed to some of the other James candidates, um, is the author here and he’s writing to this persecuted church. And it’s important for us to frame this as a letter to the persecuted church.

[00:06:01] Tony Arsenal: ’cause I think we think of trials and we think of something very different usually than the trials that were going on in the audience of this letter. That’s not to say, and we’ll talk about why we can say it. That’s not to say that this doesn’t speak to other kinds of trials, but if we lose sight of the fact that this is a persecuted minority scattered into the Judean countryside being oppressed by wealthy Jewish landowners, most likely we lose sight of the flavor of this and the force of what he’s saying.

[00:06:32] Purpose and Outcome of Trials

[00:06:32] Tony Arsenal: Today’s sermon will have three main points to cover. The first is the purpose of the trials we face. The second is the outcome of those trials, and the third is the source of our success in those trials. So the purpose of trials, the outcome of trials, and the source of our success. James two, uh, one, two starts with the familiar phrase, but I, I wanna read it again here because I think we often gloss over it quickly as we’re reading.

[00:07:00] Tony Arsenal: We’re kind of eager to get into the meat of it, or maybe we’re rushing to get to chapter two where it gets a little spicy with the justification controversy. But it says here, 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.

[00:07:25] Tony Arsenal: Count it all joy when you meet. Trials of various kinds, right? Don’t count it some joy. Don’t count it a little bit of joy. Don’t think about counting it as joy. Count it all joy. In the Greek, this word is positioned in front of the word it’s describing, which gives it the robust character. The word all is not like, count it every joy.

[00:07:50] Tony Arsenal: Think about everything as though it’s joyful. That’s not what it’s saying. It’s intensifying the word. Count it as extreme joy. Revel in the joy of this. It doesn’t mean that the trials themselves are joyful. That’s not what the text is saying here. This is not a bootstrap theology where we just try hard enough to not feel bad about the terrible things that are going in our life.

[00:08:14] Tony Arsenal: Um, James was not telling the Christians in persecution here that they should smile when someone is coming to kill them. What he’s saying is that they should count it all joy when they meet these various trials. Because you know the purpose of them. You know that they are for the testing of your faith.

[00:08:36] Tony Arsenal: And we can know that this applies to our trials and not just the particular persecutions that were happening because he tells even the people who are in the midst of this persecution that they will face trials of various kinds. So whether it is the loss of a loved one sudden or expected, whether it’s the loss of a job or a messy divorce, that you have no say in the matter, a wayward child or a loss of property, a cancer diagnosis, or the bills that you can’t pay, or something as mundane as the sleepless nights with a new infant.

[00:09:14] Tony Arsenal: Those are all trials that we should look at and count as joy, counted as all joy. And the reason, again, is that these trials have a purpose. These trials survey function. We, we read in Romans, we won’t turn there, but we read in Romans, I’m sure we’re all familiar, right? God works all things for the love or for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose, that they might be the firstborn among many brothers that they might be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

[00:09:45] Tony Arsenal: This is not saying that God is coming behind an uncontrolled history and is figuring out a way to make something good outta something bad, and he’s certainly not commanding us to try to do the same thing. What he’s saying is that the purpose of these trials, and it is known to us that the purpose of these trials, because God’s word tells us that it is known to us, is that they produce in us endurance and steadfastness.

[00:10:10] Tony Arsenal: One commentary I read translated this as sticktoitiveness. This is not about. Gritting your teeth and bearing it. It’s not about living through an individual trial and just making it through. This is about the life of endurance that is ours in Christ by the pul power of the Holy Spirit. This is also not a test of our faith as in a test that we pass.

[00:10:36] Tony Arsenal: This isn’t some sort of, um, entrance exam into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Greek word here has to do with validating things. The image that was used is the idea of the temple shekel. You’ll read about that in the Old Testament and the temple shekel. In ancient times, they would, everything would be weighed out on scales, and it was very easy for people to shave off the edges of their coins to shave just a little bit off so they could keep that small amount of silver or gold or whatever it might be.

[00:11:04] Tony Arsenal: And so the Temple Sheckle, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference by holding it in your hands. But if you put the Temple Sheckle on one side of a balance scale, and you put the other shekel on the other side, if they don’t balance something is off. That’s the picture that we have here. Our faith is not being, um, tested in that we have to prove that we have faith.

[00:11:25] Tony Arsenal: We’re not trying to clear a hurdle or to try to pass an exam. Our testing here is that our faith is being validated. It is being shown to be genuine and shown to be real. In many ways, the person that it’s being shown to the most is ourselves. God doesn’t need to learn that our faith is real. Our colleagues and our brothers and sisters in the faith.

[00:11:51] Tony Arsenal: It’s helpful for them to be able to look at our lives and to be able to assess whether we are in the faith. But first and foremost, these trials serve to validate our own faith to us, to encourage us and to build us up in the faith. They are not a hurdle for us to jump over. They are a rubric or a grading scale.

[00:12:15] Tony Arsenal: That is shown what the reality is. And finally in this section it says, let Steadfastness have its full effect. If I want it to be just a little bit cheeky, I might translate this as, let, let Steadfastness show its chief end. The word here when it says full effect is the tell us, the end, the aim of steadfastness.

[00:12:40] Tony Arsenal: It’s not saying give steadfastness permission to do what it does. It’s saying let steadfastness complete the work that it is intended to do. So the trials and the testing of our faith build in us this steadfastness. They come to us and they show us. And the Holy Spirit uses the difficult providences in our lives to show us that we have faith and to show us that it is being perfected in us.

[00:13:07] Tony Arsenal: It is being grown, it is being sanctified in us. And through this process, our steadfastness has increased. We will face more trials. We’ll come back to that at the end of the passage here. But there’s this cycle testing faith steadfastness, testing, faith steadfastness. It doesn’t stop, but it’s for our good and for God’s glory.

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