Word of Salvation – Vol.10 No.31 – August 1964
Why Does God Try Us
Sermon by Rev. R. O. Zorn on James 1:12
Scripture Reading: James 1:1-12
Psalter Hymnal: 172:1,3,4,6; 112:1 (after Law)
112:4 (after Confession); 148 (before sermon)
423 (after sermon)
Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ:
The experience of trial is common to everyone. No one is able to say that he alone has an exclusive “corner” on them. Neither is anyone completely free of them.
Trial comes to all, and this is true of the Christian as well as the unbeliever. In fact, sometimes it would seem that the Christian suffers more, if anything, while the wicked seem to prosper without any real adversity of any sort.
This enigma was already present in the case of Job, and many of the Psalms also deal with it. As Christians, we may be sure that we have no right to feel that we are in some way going to be free from the experience of trial. To think thus is simply to delude oneself.
Now, of course, some trials and afflictions are the result of our own making. If we flout the law of God, for instance, and choose to go our own foolish way instead, we should quite natural- ly expect to suffer the harvest of the appropriate consequences. For, as God’s Word makes clear, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap, and if he sows to the wind, he should not be surprised when he reaps the whirlwind.
But true as this may be, there may yet be times when we feel that we are walking as closely with the Lord as ever and then, suddenly, we are cast into a trial, the understanding of which is completely beyond us. Why should this be? Why does the Lord let trials interfere with what we often regard as our rightful.comfort and happiness?
Let us, first of all, purge ourselves of the notion that comfort and happiness is our right. Though it is true, for example, that such is stated by the American Declaration of Independence, and pretty much taken for granted by all who live in a democratic land, we must nevertheless remember that such a concept presupposes God’s grace. And His grace is still defined as unmerited favour. God does not owe a sinful humanity anything, and that includes us, too. What we have, has been given us as the bounty of His grace to us who, as Jacob acknowledged, are unworthy of the least of His favours.
But to return to trial.
What is its purpose?
An answer is given to us by James in the first twelve verses of the first chapter of his epistle, the passage of Scripture from which our text is taken.
In this chapter, James deals not only with trials, but with inward temptations as well. The latter, however, are specifically dealt with in verses thirteen and forward. But in the first twelve verses James makes clear the purpose of outward trial.
He tells us in verse two to consider it all joy when we fall into various testings, or trials. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.”
Why? Because, first of all,
TRIAL TESTS THE GENUINENESS OF OUR FAITH.
The thought of verses 2 and 3 might very well be paraphrased thus, “Consider it all joy when you fall into various trials because it is this that tests your faith. Is your Christian faith the genuine article, or is it just a gloss or veneer? Trial’s design is to reveal this.”
James does not minimize the gravity of trial. He was well aware that its onslaught can very well be severe, to say the least. A person is involved in an automobile accident which seemingly has been no fault of his own. Why? Especially when in addition to the car damage, there may also be bodily injury, and perhaps even a lawsuit.
Or, a farmer plants a crop, but then it fails to rain, or the weather is unseasonable in some way with the result that there is a loss in harvest. Or, again, a family’s house may burn down with the loss of property, perhaps even life.
Are these things supposed to be joyful when they hurt us, and we cannot even fathom their mystery? Well, notice that James does not say that trials ARE all joy, but that we are to COUNT them all joy. Though these trials certainly are not joyful in themselves, we may consider them all joy because they are to be looked at from the bright side as capable of turning out to our highest good.
Oh, someone may however ask, how can trials be looked at in this way? Is this not just an easy way to dispose of the problem instead of a fair attempt to face it? The answer to this of course is NO. For James presents to us a sovereign God from whom all things come, and who is in control of every situation of life. And it is He who, as our loving heavenly Father, is primarily interested in our faith and the perfecting of it. And trial is a means to that end.
Sometimes, the biggest test of faith is to see trial in this light. A tragic experience occurs. We cannot understand it, so we are tempted to reason that it is something that must have happened outside of the control of God. But if this were true, it would both make a mockery of our Christian faith, and chaos of this world.
Oftentimes, the very thing that we need is the wisdom of which James here speaks in verse 5. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” We need to see things from the Divine perspective, and this insight is promised to us if we will ask it of God with an unwavering faith. Then, as the adversity tests us, it brings to the fore the genuineness of our faith in a sovereign God who loves us, has redeemed us in Christ, and made us His people, and who works all things together for good to those that love Him and are the called according to His purpose.
What better way than trial is there to reveal whether this faith is indeed our possession? As Christians, it must be ours, for faith is the foundation of our salvation. Do we therefore possess this faith? We ought to know it. We must know that we have it. And God is interested in the perfecting of this faith, the gift of His redeeming love in Christ.
It is significant that in this pre-eminently practical epistle, faith comes first as the keystone of it. Faith is foundational to the whole of the Christian’s practical life, for salvation is, first of all, the Divine gift of God’s grace through faith in Christ who, in giving His life as a ransom for their sins, purchased His people for His own possession. And, so, the Lord Himself sends trials into the lives of His people to test the genuineness of their faith.
In the second place, James makes clear that,
THE TEST OF FAITH BY TRIAL PRODUCES ENDURANCE.
In verse 3 James says, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. Or ENDURANCE, as the word for patience might also be translated. Why is it so important that our faith be perfected in endurance?
To ask the question is almost to answer it; for, only those enduring to the end will be saved.
But is not genuine faith persevering faith, one may ask? Yes, of course, but apart from trial, how can one be sure that he has persevering faith, and consequently, genuine faith? It is the very endurance of the saints in the faith that reveals them to be the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. And the Lord, it is true, gives His own faith to endure to the end. But should we therefore complain if trial is one of the ingredients to this persevering faith? Our celestial garment must have every stitch, and trial plays its part in making that robe a proper fit. Hence, as James says in verse 4, “But let endurance have its completed work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”, which is to translate it literally.
You see, we need to have some of our independence and self- will trimmed off and gotten rid of, while, on the other hand, we need to have dependence upon the Lord built up into a whole-hearted reliance upon Him in everything. And the testing of our faith plays its part in producing this in us.
Is, however, this testing of our faith that it may produce endurance opposed to what we are taught in the Lord’s Prayer where, in the sixth petition we pray, “Lead us not into temptation”? For if trial plays so important a part in the endurance of our faith, why are we told to pray that we may avoid it?
The petition our Lord taught and the truth James emphasizes here are not incompatible. On the one hand, the Lord may see fit to send trials our way to test and perfect our faith in endurance, but that must be left with His infinite wisdom alone. Our attitude, on the other hand, can never be to invite temptation or trial, for we are weak so much so, that even when we think that we are standing quite surely, we must take heed lest we fall. No, we could never invite temptation; rather, we should always ask to be preserved from it. But if and when the Lord brings us to a trial, then it ought to deepen our trust in the Lord, and we ought to rejoice in the opportunity to prove his faithfulness. His grace, indeed, is sufficient for every occasion, as the Apostle Paul so truly testified. The trials of Paul’s tempestuous life had wrought as endurance to his faith so that he could say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2Timothy 4:7). Would that our testimony could be such to the endurance of our faith when we, too, have finished our course! Well, the Lord is as interested in the endurance of our faith as He was in the Apostle Paul’s. And if the Apostle’s was not perfected apart from trial, should we expect anything less?
In the third place, as trial produced endurance,
IT BUILDS UP A MATURE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
Indeed, a Christian character that is thoroughly furnished unto all good works. James, in verses 9 and forward, as he brings out this quality of fruit-bearing, emphasizes the outward aspects of it rather than the inward graces as is elsewhere expressed in Scripture. This, of course, is in keeping with the practical nature of his epistle.
And as we see, our goal should be to use faithfully that bounty the Lord has seen fit to give us. Some may have more, others less, but we all have whether we’re rich or poor. If we are poor, we can rejoice in our exaltation in Christ and the opportunity we have to serve Him, as James points out in verse 9. “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted.”
This was written at a time when the poor were of a low caste in the social scale. Slaves were a common part of this group. And yet, in Christ, they were all a part of His Church and fellow-heirs of God’s inheritance. In Christ there could be no social barriers, for they all were of one common brotherhood in Him. As members of His body, therefore, even the least had talents and gifts to contribute in the service of Christ’s Kingdom. To that end, the sick had been healed, the prisoner freed, the slave emancipated, and the brother of low degree exalted.
This is so obviously at the centre of the Christian faith that the force of its application, as it was to come into ever more consistent practice in the years and centuries following, has been responsible for the abolition of slavery. There are no social barriers in the Church of God. All have gifts and talents given them by their Lord to promote His cause and to be of service one to another that mature Christian character may be the result.
Are we sufficiently mature in this respect to see that our endowments are being actively used to build up the body of Christ? Or do we need further trial to test our faith, promote our endurance, and bring our Christian character to the proper maturity of fruit-bearing?
If we have been blessed with wealth, then there is all the more need that we have a mature Christian character, recognizing that earthly possessions have value only as a means to advance the cause of the Kingdom of God.
In itself, wealth is no more lasting than the flower of the field, wilting and drying up under a summer sun. Or, as James puts it in verse 11, “For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower thereof falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes.” And if our goal is no more than its accumulation for our own selfish ends and purposes, then our end, too, will be to fade away as the flower of the grass perishes, for James adds, “So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”
But the man of wealth that possesses a mature Christian character will be of a different spirit. He will not think of himself as exalted or better than others on account of his earthly riches. No, the Christian faith raises the poor, but as James also points out in verse 10, it lowers the rich to the common but blessed level of brotherhood, so that all, rich and poor alike, may be of benefit to the cause of Christ.
Perhaps this will be a trial to some, an experience most of us may not have. But for those to whom it applies, it may nevertheless be very real. “But let the rich rejoice in that he is made low”, for this brotherhood in the faith will facilitate the effective employ of his means for the Lord.
A tested faith that has been built up in endurance to be manifested in a mature Christian character will also be one to anticipate with joy the crown of life. Hence, our text. “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.”
This is a beatitude that may very well have come from the lips of our Lord Himself, to be preserved for us by James only, who was the brother of the Lord (compare Galatians 1:19). Be that as it may, it quite strikingly sums up the whole teaching of James in this passage of Scripture, and is therefore properly its text. Trial in this life is a blessing, for it approves our Christian character, and fits us for the life to come.
A world of adversity, after all, is not our permanent home. We look for a city with foundations whose builder and maker is God. Adversity is of this world, but it will have no part in that which is to come. Adversity should, therefore, remind us that we are to sit loose here with regard to the things of this world. It should teach us also to look forward to that goal of consummate glory where we will have left behind suffering, trial, hardship, as having no longer a part to play in the perfection of character that will be ours when we awaken in His presence and with His likeness.
The crown of life, then, is our goal. What a contrast it is to the fading best of this earth! There is just no comparison at all.
May we, therefore, count it all joy when we fall into various trials, for our heavenly Father who loves us in Christ has sent them our way – to establish and perfect our faith, to produce constancy and endurance, and to complete our Christian character unto full maturity.
The crown of everlasting life, with all the blessedness that the Lord will give with it, is our joyful anticipation. Let the few trials we experience speed us to that goal!
Amen.