James' upside-down world of suffering

(By Erik)

A couple of weeks ago Jeanie and I went to Altus, Okla., where I preached Sunday morning and night. The congregation is looking for a new minister, and I’m honored that they’re letting me help fill in the gap.

(In between sermons, my in-laws loaded me down with birthday presents. Whoo-hoo!)

I’m including some of my sermon notes from the Sunday a.m. service, “James’ upside-down world of suffering.” I borrowed heavily from a Sunday school series we did at Memorial Road a few months ago.

I began by mentioning that Jeanie and I were about to celebrate our third wedding anniversary, but that the auditorium where we were married (just a few feet away from where I was preaching this sermon) was no more. It was destroyed in a fire, but the fellowship hall was spared. That’s where the church meets now.

The church in Altus — just like all churches — has suffered other losses and pain. Death and sickness always are with us, yet we continue to meet together to praise God. As it says in Habakkuk 3:17-18:

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

To the outside world this has to look a bit ridiculous, because they might be tempted to say, “Whatever you’re doing doesn’t seem to be working.”

But our faith also gives us mechanisms for coping with suffering and loss. The most memorable verses on the subject are from the book of James:

James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

If you’re like me, you’ve heard those verses over and over since you were a kid.

If you read the rest of the book of James, his instructions are very simple and direct. Be patient. Don’t oppress people. Don’t slander one another. Submit yourselves to God. Don’t boast.

This seems to imply that the people who are undergoing the suffering mentioned in the first verses are handling it quite badly. Maybe they’re taking out their frustrations on each other, through bad-mouthing each other and looking down on the poor. Do we do that today?

That’s not the proper way to deal with suffering, which, as James said in the first verses, is necessary to build perseverance.

Go back to James 1 and look at the verses just after what we just read:

James 1:5-8, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

You’re probably familiar with these verses, too. But what do they have to do with verses 2-4? I’ve read these separately for years (as parts of different Bible lessons) and have never seen how they connect.

But there is a connection here. What is wisdom, and what does it have to do with suffering?

One of my favorite definitions of wisdom is “applied knowledge.” It goes beyond facts, doesn’t it? Someone who possesses wisdom isn’t going to just tell you the situation. He or she also will tell you how best to respond to it.

If I tell you there’s a hole in the ground, I’m giving you knowledge of a situation. If I tell you there’s a hole in the ground, so go around it, but go around it on the left side because the right side is slippery and the ground is soft and you might fall in — that seems more like dispensing wisdom to me.

And how did I gain that wisdom? More than likely, I tried the right side of the hole and fell in. So suffering is a path to wisdom, and maybe James puts these verses about wisdom here so that we would know to ask for wisdom to deal with suffering.

Or is it possible that James is telling his readers to ask for suffering in order to gain wisdom?

2 Corinthians 1:5, “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

1 Peter 4:12-13, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

The message in these verses seems to go beyond “Just hang on and God will get you through it.” Look at some more verses in the first chapter of James:

James 1:9-12, “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

James turns the world of suffering upside down. I know that when I’m going through trials, the last thing I’m thinking about is rejoicing. But if you look up at verse 1 of James 1, you’ll see the word “Greetings.” Perhaps a better translation is “Rejoice!”

Suffering is something more than just something to be endured. If it’s necessary to build perseverance, then people who suffer should rejoice. That’s a hard pill to swallow. I’d much rather avoid trials than go through them.

What James seems to be saying here is, “Hey, if you’re poor, congrats! You have to suffer so perseverance can finish its work, and if you’re poor, you’ll probably suffer quite a bit. You’re very lucky to hold this high position.”

“And if you’re rich, well, condolences. You guys have it a lot better and don’t suffer nearly as much as the poor. But take heart, chances are you’ll lose all of your riches sooner or later and then you’re right down there suffering alongside the poor. God will work it out!”

After the list of instructions we talked about earlier, James revisits the central them of suffering and tells us, most of all, to be patient.

James 5:7-8, “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.”

Suffering is both necessary and mercifully temporary.

The reason that we’re going through what we’re going through is that we live in a fallen world. We mistakenly ask “Why is God doing this to me?” when he’s really not. There are other forces at work in this world — we don’t give the devil enough credit these days — that mean to do us harm, but God protects us.

He doesn’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, and he gives us life that will make our present sufferings look miniscule.

Romans 8:18-21, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.