No Pain, No Gain Scott Scruggs

Transcription

1 Menlo Church 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA Series: Jim Class June 11, 2017 James 1:1-4 No Pain, No Gain Scott Scruggs [Video] Female: Life can be pretty messy and complicated, full of problems big and small we're not quite sure how to solve or even where to go for answers. There's no shortage of people handing out advice. Where do you go for the wisdom to solve life's problems? Your mom? Oprah? Siri? Google? We have another name for you. Meet our friend, James. Let's call him Jim. He had a famous brother, Jesus. He wrote a little book selftitled, and he offered up some wisdom on everyday problems: how to deal with your anger, managing your mouth, cleaning up relational messes. We guarantee it's better advice than Siri. ("Please repeat the question.") So let's take a closer look. Let's work it out in Jim Class, a journey through the book of James. [End of video] Good morning! Welcome to Menlo Church. Yes, we are matching this morning, Michael, so thanks for pointing that out. It's been good having you on our staff. Welcome to Menlo Church. We're so glad you're joining us, especially those of you who are joining on one of our campuses or online. It's a great weekend to be here because we're launching into this new series called Jim Class where we're diving into this little book in the New Testament, all the way back at the end of your Bible, the book of James. It's one of my favorite books of the Bible because it's uniquely practical and direct in how it teaches us how to live life. James was the brother of Jesus. He didn't just hear Jesus teach sermons. He watched him live. From the earliest days, he saw how he lived. You can feel in this book as you read it just someone who takes how to live life that seriously. We'll be kind of diving through it. There are a lot of questions we'll cover, questions like, "How do you deal with your anger?" or, "How do you deal with a relational mess?" or, "How do you find healing or hope in a difficult situation?" I just want to encourage every one of you as we go through this book just to take some time each week and just read through it. You might want to take a chapter a day or download a Bible app and listen to it on your commute to work. We also have a way you can subscribe to receive verses and encouragement through text. If you text "JIMCLASS" to 68398, you'll receive one text a day with just a verse or word of encouragement, - 1 -

2 something from the book of James, to kind of help keep your mind and heart in this book as we study it together. We think this could be a significant part of your spiritual journey as we go through this study. Here we go. We want to start this weekend with this question How do you get through what feels un-get-throughable? How do you get through a situation, a circumstance, a problem that for you feels un-get-throughable? It feels like you just want to give up or give in, or you just can't keep going. I have a group of friends I went to college with, and we get together at least one weekend a year just to kind of catch up and hang out. About five years ago, we decided on the weekend we were spending together that we would run a 5K race together. Now I have to confess I am not much of a runner. Psychologists will say there are two kinds of people: people who love to run and people who hate people who love to run. I'm not really a runner by heart, but I was with this group of friends, and I was kind of athletically outmatched. I mean, one of them was a college track star, one was a Stanford football player, one was a rugby player, one played basketball, and I was an English major, so I was really not I'd have to run the race of my life to actually win this. Before the race started, I made my way all the way to the front. Now if you've ever been in a race, you know the people at the front are rather intense about racing. In fact, there was this one guy next to me who was standing there just kind of amping himself up, talking to himself. He was saying literally over and over, "What do we do? We run. When we do give up? Never!" I'm like, "I'm not sure if this is a race or some kind of a cult ritual or what's really going on up here." I kind of got caught up in the moment, and when the gun sounded, I just took off. I sprinted out. I was literally at the front of the pack for several hundred yards. Then I started to slow down. I started to feel a little bit tired. I got kind of a cramp in my side. I felt a little bit dizzy. I got slower and slower and slower, and more and more people began to pass me. I mean, all kinds of people: children, the elderly. I mean, folks who were just walking down the sidewalk seemed to be cruising on past. At one point, I felt so exhausted. I just had to stop. I had to stop! I mean, this was not an Ironman race. This was just a 5K, and I was just so discouraged. I thought, "Gosh! You started too fast. You're not in good shape, and your friends are already way in front of you. You know, you should just give up. You should just quit. I mean, there's no way you're going to finish, and there's no way you're going to make it." It was just this discouraging moment about not thinking I could make it through. Then I remembered that runner next to me. "What do we do? We run. When do we give up? Never!" I got this little kind of burst of adrenaline, and I started kind of jogging. Then I started running, and then I started running faster. For some reason, my body felt better and better as I ran. I had that kind of sense of runner's high where you stop feeling the pain and you just feel the adrenaline. There I was, going faster and faster. I started passing runner after runner after runner until I saw the finish line and my friends already there rested and showered. I saw them at the finish line, and I finished the race. I wasn't even last! I was really close, but I wasn't even last. I finished the race. Thank you. How do you get through in your life a situation that feels un-get-through-able? How do you keep going when it feels like you just want to give up? - 2 -

3 I'm not just talking about more of the lighthearted, fun kind of race or sports moments. I'm talking about the real moments. That time you lost your job. It was like the worst timing or in a situation that felt so unfair. Maybe the financial debt you're in, you just feel like you're never going to get out of it. Or that family member who has hurt you, abandoned you, or turned their back on you. Or the relationship that ended. It's just left you feeling kind of brokenhearted. Or that diagnosis that's left you feeling like life is going to be difficult, harder, or even shorter. Or maybe the loss of a loved one or some tragedy or crisis. You're thinking to yourself, "I don't know how to get through this. I don't know how to keep going." How do you get through a situation that feels un-get-through-able? This question is the one I want to wrestle with this weekend, and it's not just relevant for you and for me. This was relevant very much in the first century in the world to which James was writing this letter. Listen to how he begins his writing. He says, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings." Now that phrase "scattered among the nations" tells us a little bit of the story, the situation James is encountering. You see, in the first century, first-century Jews would've believed that the sign that God's kingdom was coming was a gathered, united, restored nation of Israel, all the Twelve Tribes gathered back together as one nation, one people together. But James is not writing to a gathered-together, you know, "Doing really great" kind of church. James is writing to a scattered, dispersed, "Where is God?" kind of community. Into that community, James pens these amazing words. Listen to what he says to them. He says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds " "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials." Consider it something to be encouraged about when you struggle. Does anyone else feel a little bothered by this or not comfortable with this? I mean, just imagine saying this to a loved one who was going through a difficult situation. You know, just saying, "Oh my gosh! You should be so happy you're going through that divorce," or, "How exiting that you got that difficult health diagnosis!" James doesn't just say if you face trials; he says when you face trials. In other words, pain is coming your way whether you like it or not. There is no self-help secret recipe or silver bullet that's going to help you bypass it. It's coming your way whether you like it or not, and James knew this firsthand. I mean, James grew up in poverty. He was one of probably seven children. Many scholars believe his father, Joseph, died early in his life, leaving Mary with seven kids and a family in great distress or financial crisis. He was the brother of Jesus. How many times do you think he heard the question, "Why can't you be more like your brother?" I mean, how irritating is that? "James, your book is really getting off to a great start. 'Trials are coming. Get excited.' I mean, you obviously didn't consult with Mrs. James on how to write your book because she probably would have said, 'You should start a different way. This is not the way to begin.'" What is James doing here? There's a really important word we often miss right at the beginning. It's this word consider. He says, "Just consider this. I have a thought for you. I have an idea." In other words, "I have a new frame of reference, a new kind of framework I want you to think about when you enter trials. Don't just go to how you feel about it, but what do you think about that? How do you interpret it?" - 3 -

4 Why? Because of this. Because what you believe about the adversity you face will determine how you respond to it. What you believe, what you think, your framework for how you see adversity in the world or see adversity in your life, will determine how you actually respond to it. I just want to kind of stay in this just so we can kind of understand exactly what James is doing here. There's a cognitive psychologist named Albert Ellis who came up with a model to what he called the "ABC model" for how we respond to challenges or adversity, how we go through it. He said there's always an activating event (A). There's always a situation or a struggle that comes your way. Then there's B, the belief. What do you believe about that? How do you interpret it? What do you make of it? Then C, there are consequences. Based on that belief, you make a choice. You make a decision, or there's action. A, B, and C. Now just sort of to illustrate that, did anyone notice there's a basketball series going on right now? Did anyone notice that? Let's just say our activating event (A) is the Warriors go on to win the NBA Finals. What do I believe about that? Well, I believe God is good. I believe God is a redeemer. I believe God is faithful. I have all this hope and joy. The consequences are I celebrate, feel positive, and move forward in life with great encouragement. Someone could have a very different belief to the same event. In fact (you may not know this), our campus pastor in San Jose, Adam Potelicki, is a diehard Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Can you believe that? I'm not even sure how he got on staff. He might have a very different belief to that same event. He might think, "There is no God. What happened in the world? I must be living in sin." Who knows what the belief may be! The consequences are he might be discouraged, depressed, or want to give up on ministry. We'd have to decide, "Do we want to be a community of grace for something like that?" Do we? Of course we don't! Never! Not even close! You see, the same situation with very different beliefs can lead to very different choices, very different consequences. James is saying, "Whenever you face a difficulty, whenever you face a trial, I want you to consider not just the negative, where your mind goes, the frustration, or the doubt. Consider there may be a different way to understand it. There may be something else you can believe about it that can give you hope, that can lead to very different consequences, very different choices." I know this raises a question. It often raises one for me. Does this mean we're supposed to just enjoy our struggles? Does this mean we should seek out pain and suffering? Does this mean God wants us to go through these difficulties? Well, actually I don't think so. I don't think that's what James is saying at all. The Bible doesn't teach in any case that God wants people to suffer. More importantly, the way James describes joy is not that you should experience only joy or the exclusivity of joy. It's about the intensity of joy. In other words, you could be experiencing pain or frustration and still experience this joy he is talking about. At the heart of it, he is inviting us to see our trials, our struggles, differently. He is inviting us to see our trials and struggles differently. I want to walk through four different ways he kind of invites us to frame up and understand the struggles we face. The first one is trials can 1. Reveal your true character. Consider it joy when you go through a struggle because that struggle can reveal your true character. In fact, the word James uses for trial is this Greek word peirasmos. It literally - 4 -

5 means a situation, a struggle, an adversity that will reveal one's true character. It's almost like how a stress test can reveal the state of your heart. This happens to us all the time when we face adversity and we discover something about ourselves we may not be super comfortable with. You get stuck in traffic and you begin to say things to other drivers you would never admit to saying to someone to their face. Or someone gossips about you behind your back and then you go and gossip about them behind their back. You find out, "Gosh! I'm a little more vengeful than I thought I was." Or you don't get the promotion you wanted or the grade you wanted. You go and blame that teacher, that boss, as if to say, "The world actually spins all around me and my needs." Maybe you didn't get the raise you thought you deserved, and then you thought (your response), "I'm just going to be a little less generous. I'm going to give a little less away, keep what I need." In that, you discover, "Gosh! There's some greed. There's envy. There are other things going on in my heart." You see, the challenges we face in life don't just test us; they reveal us. This is so often true for me. I find things going on in my own heart I am not very comfortable with, that I wish weren't there. Sometimes our trials reveal we have an anger problem. Sometimes our struggles can reveal we had this sense of resentment at other people. Sometimes our struggles can reveal we're motivated by greed or envy. Sometimes our trials reveal we just believe the world revolves kind of around us, that my world just revolves around me. See, all too often we discover the truths about ourselves that we'd rather not accept. I love how the philosopher Paul Tillich describes this. He says suffering takes people beneath the busyness of life and reminds them they are not who they thought they were. Isn't that true? Just think about this. James is saying, "I want you to consider it an occasion for joy, if for nothing else you discover a truth about you that you may not want to admit, that you stop pretending to believe or be something you're actually not." Maybe part of the challenge you're facing is not just about the problem out there. Maybe it's about the problem in here. That relationship you're really struggling with? Maybe there's something you need to learn, you need to confess, you need to forgive. A struggle in your career, with money, or with where your life is going? Maybe there's something you need to grow in through that. See, the trials we face don't just test us. They reveal us. In many ways, they're almost a form of God's mercy. God is saying, "I'm not going to leave you just as you are, whether that's coldhearted, arrogant, impatient, greedy, or selfish. I am not going to leave you. I will let you go through this trial if for no other reason to discover something about yourself so you can change." Our trials reveal our true character. They do something else. They also 2. Make you stronger. James is saying, "Consider it a good thing. Consider it something to be positive about, even if it's difficult when you go through a trial because it can make you stronger." Listen to how he writes this verse out. He says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because " This is the why. " you know that the testing of your faith " That word testing means the purifying, the redeeming, of your faith producing something. It " produces perseverance." In other words, you gain something you wouldn't otherwise have when you go through a struggle. You grow in a way you wouldn't otherwise grow when you grow in a struggle. You gain the ability to get - 5 -

6 through what feels un-get-through-able. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Now this is important for a number of reasons. First and foremost (and I am almost the worst at this), we have often a very low adversity threshold, don't we? We kind of have a low pain meter. I mean, I will doubt the existence of God when Trader Joe's doesn't have the salsa I want to buy. I mean, it's just the little, petty stuff, right? I don't know if it's because of the resources we have or this culture of entitlement we live in, but so often we believe, "We should be in control. Life should go our way. Our wants and needs should always be met just when we want them met." We cry out, "Unfair!" if life looks different, don't we? We cry, "Unfair!" We need to grow in perseverance, because perseverance is not about staying on top of all your problems, as much as we live in a culture where we feel like that's what life should look like. "I should feel on top of all my problems." Perseverance actually comes from two words in the Greek. It comes from the words remain and under. Remain and under. So much of life is just that. We remain under the stress, the burden, the weight, the challenge that we feel like we just have to keep carrying and carrying and carrying. Sometimes the best picture of faith is just hanging in there. It's just hanging in there! I have a good friend who has gone through a very difficult kind of end to a relationship. It's been so difficult to watch, and the pain has been so great not just because of the loss or the end of that relationship. It's because the outcome didn't match all the effort he invested in it, all the prayer, all the ways he tried to honor this relationship, all the ways he tried to do things differently, and yet the relationship did not work out. He said to me words I will never forget. He said, "I did everything right. What do I have to show for it?" Have you ever asked that? "I did everything right. What do I have to show for it? I was faithful. I went to church. I prayed. I was in my Life Group. I gave. I was doing all the right things. Now what do I have to show for it?" What was so interesting was he couldn't see. I could see it, but he couldn't see all the ways he was already a stronger person. He just couldn't see it yet. He had grown in humility. He had taken his commitment in thought life more seriously. He was more truthful, patient, and humble in his life. The problem was that hurt was so deep, he couldn't see the way the trial had already made him stronger. It made him better. See, these are the moments where so many of us want to give up. We want to give up because we believe, "God, if you don't get in here and change my circumstances, it's a sign you don't care." Here's the thing. God is more concerned with your character than with your circumstances. God is more concerned with your character than with your circumstances, which is why God may allow us to struggle, may allow us to have difficulty, may allow us even to fail. It's not a sign that he doesn't care. In a mysterious way, it's a sign that he does so we can persevere, so we can grow, so we can get stronger. You know, it's interesting. We learn this when we look back at our situations and our struggles in life. It's interesting. If you talk to someone about a situation or what in their life helped them grow the most If you ask a person, "You know, what in your life helped you grow the most?" people don't talk about their successes and their achievements. What do they talk about? Their setbacks, their struggles, the failures. That's when we grow. That's when we grow! - 6 -

7 We know it looking back. It's so hard to see it in the middle, but we know it looking back. I love how a writer named David Brooks kind of frames this. He says, "When most people think about the future, they dream up ways they might live happier lives. But notice this phenomenon. When people remember the crucial events that formed them, they don't usually talk about happiness. It is usually the ordeals that seem most significant. Most people shoot for happiness but feel formed through suffering." We aim for happiness, but we grow when we face challenges and trials. James is saying consider it a joyful thing, a good thing, in your life that God isn't finished with you. He has work still to do that you can still get stronger. The trials reveal you. They grow you. They do something else really important. They can 3. Help you draw closer to Jesus. If for no other reason, consider it a good thing that when you go through a struggle, it can draw you closer to Jesus himself. There's an amazing kind of picture of this in one of the Gospels. The disciples encounter a man struggling, a man who had been born blind. They had difficult questions about that. They said, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" In other words, "Who can we blame? Who is at fault? How do we get the why? How do we know why this happened?" Then Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." In other words, sometimes there isn't a good why. Sometimes there isn't a good answer, but there is something that's always true in every trial and every difficulty: the work of God is always present. Jesus himself is always right there. You see, it's in your pain, it's in your struggle, it's in those trials that God finally shows up. In that heartbreak, in that sense of abandonment, in that sense of loss, in that pain, in that doubt, that's where God is. Some years ago, I spent a summer working as a hospital chaplain. I have to confess it wasn't my favorite job I've had. I actually was not very good at it. I would walk in a room, and I would often just freeze up and not know what to say. In fact, on one of the floors, there was this therapy dog named Puzzle, and Puzzle would go visit people in their rooms. People were so excited to see Puzzle, this cute little dog. He would come in, and people would smile. Then Puzzle would look over at me as if to say, "You are so bad at this." I remember in my first week on the job, I walked into a room. There was a 25-year-old man sitting next to his wife who was diagnosed with brain cancer. Of course, I didn't know what to say. What can you say? I stood there for a few moments. Then I walked over, and I sat down next to him. I kind of reached out and took his hand. He gripped my hand and just clung to it for dear life for a moment. Then tears began to stream down his face, and tears began to stream down mine. Just when I was about to muster the courage to say something (I don't know what), he looked at me and said words I will never forget. He said, "God is good all the time." I just began to weep. He had faith like I had never seen. He was there pastoring the pastor, for goodness' sake! "God is good all the time." "Really? Where did you learn that?" "Well, in the trial, in the pain, in the questions, in the doubt." See, our trials in this mysterious way have this power to draw us closer to Jesus, the person who we need the most, whose presence we need the most. You see, no one can tell you why a 25-year-old gets - 7 -

8 diagnosed with brain cancer, why there are tragic deaths or miscarriages, or why people struggle with pain, loss, or heartbreak. But I can tell you this. Your pain is not where God is absent; your pain is where he is most present. He is there. I know in this moment you doubt it. I know you don't believe it. I know you think, "Gosh! It's just a pastor in church telling me stuff I'm supposed to believe. Then I'll get out there, and it will be hard, and it will be real." God is there. He is there. Our trials reveal us, and they grow us. They draw us closer to Jesus. Then, fourth, and most importantly, our trials 4. Don't have to have the last word. Because of Jesus, your trial, your challenge, your struggle, your pain doesn't have to have the last word. Whatever it is, no matter how long you've carried it, there's a finish line. Look at how James frames this. He says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces [something; it produces] perseverance. Let [that] perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Wow. Something deeper is going on, isn't it? Notice James doesn't describe the finish line in terms of your circumstances. James doesn't say, "One day your marriage will be perfect," or, "One day your job will be perfect," or, "One day your kids will be perfect." He says, "One day you will be perfect, whole, complete, mature, not lacking a thing." Something more important is going on in that struggle. Something more important is going on in that challenge. You are at stake. Your heart is at stake. Your eternity is at stake. I love how the writer Dallas Willard frames it. He says, "The main thing God gets out of your life is not the achievements you accomplish. It's the person you become." See, at the end of the day, that's what this challenge you're facing is really about. It's about you. It's about you, who you are, your heart, your life, your will, your character, the stuff you'll take from this life into the next, the stuff that really matters. That's what this is about. That's what God cares about. That's what he is so invested in. That's what he is at work in right now, which means sometimes we go through struggles. Sometimes we experience pain we don't understand. Sometimes we experience challenges that might reveal us, grow us, or draw us closer to Jesus, but it also means in every one of those trials there is a promise embedded deep within it, and it's this: God still has you. Your life matters that much, which means he still has you. Even if you can't see it, even if you can't feel it, he still has you. The other night I was rocking our little baby, Nora, to sleep. I was rocking her and singing to her. I tried to kind of turn her and switch arms. When I did that, I almost dropped her. I almost dropped her! She slipped for just a moment, and then she got really startled, as she would. She started to cry and started to scream. I brought her up into my arms, and I said to her, "I've got you! I've still got you. I've still got you, and I'm so glad you can't tell your mommy about this." Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you experience trials of whatever kind, because God still has you. Do you see it? Do you see the belief work, the framework? It can change your life. Consider it joy when you experience whatever you face because God has you! Your life is in his hands, and you can trust him. You can ask for help. Maybe you've never done that before. Maybe right now as you think about the burden you carry, you can ask him right now, "God, help me in that. Be with me in that." I can't promise you how or when he'll answer that prayer, but I can tell you this. The pain you're facing in that marriage won't have the last word. The struggle in your career won't have the last word. That hurt in - 8 -

9 your heart that you cannot shake won't have the last word. How do I know? Well, because of Jesus, of course, who endured the greatest trial ever, the greatest suffering of all. He went to a cross, he was nailed to that cross, he was placed in a tomb, and three days later, he rose. He defeated sin, and he conquered death. He finished the race. I love how the writer of Hebrews frames it. "For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." For the joy, he faced every trial. For the joy, he went through suffering. For the joy of being with you and you and you and you For the joy, he did it, which is why we must persevere. It's why we keep believing. It's why we keep trusting. It's why we keep hanging in there. It's why we keep surrendering. It's why we keep having faith. It's why, as the writer of Hebrews says, we must run the race. Let us run the race with perseverance that is marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He had you in the beginning. He will carry you to the end. He is like that runner next to you in the front of the line cheering you on every day, saying, "What do we do? We run. When do we give up? Never! Never!" Let's pray. Jesus, we are before you now carrying the weight of many burdens. I know I am too. They challenge us, they stretch us, they reveal us, and they hurt us. Sometimes we don't know how to keep going. We don't know how to get through it, which is why today we come before you now broken and needy with our hands and hearts open to you, not trying to be any better than we are but just who we are, asking for grace, asking for help, asking for guidance, asking for mercy. Jesus, I pray that for everyone listening right now, you would enter into that pain, that problem, that frustration, that trial with your presence. Remind them that you're there. Remind them of the ways they get to grow. Remind them you're making them stronger. Help them feel confronted with those places they need to confess of and change, where their character is being revealed. God, we pray. We ask you to remind us, to help us remember this trial, this challenge, doesn't have to have the last word in our lives. You can. You do. Your cross does. Jesus, we ask for the strength to keep going, the strength to persevere, the strength to keep running. Help us run with perseverance the race marked out for each of us, fixing our eyes just on you, just on you right now, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith, meaning you'll carry us through. You'll carry us through! You still have us. Jesus, thank you that for joy you live, for joy you died. For joy, you finished the race. We'll get to see you at that finish line and hear those amazing words we're all waiting to hear: "Well done. Well done! Well done!" We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen