James: Endurance Training James 1:2-4 (New Living Translation) Feb. 6, 2011 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. I am sure most, if not all of you, are familiar with this sentence. Just a couple weeks ago I preached on this very text. It is by far the most quoted verse from the book of James. But what about the rest of the Book of James? Do you know anything about this New Testament Book? Can you recite any other verses besides chapter 2 verse 17? This morning I am going to begin a very short sermon series on the Book of James. I encourage you to read through this short book. Even though there are only 5 chapters there is a lot in James. I will lift up several verses that caught my attention. We will see that even though the book was written a long time ago, its teachings are just as relevant today. Let s begin the question of authorship. Who wrote this letter and when was it written? In the Gospels we find three men whose name is James. There is James, brother of John and son of Zebedee. There is another disciple, James the son of Alphaeus. Finally there is James the brother of Jesus. Many folks might think Jesus was an only child. We don t hear much about them but the siblings of Jesus are mentioned in the bible. In the Gospel of Mark, the 6 th chapter we find Jesus teaching in the synagogue. It says those that heard him were astonished. Let me read beginning at verse 2. Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? (Mark 6: 2 & 3) Of the three I mentioned, it is James the brother of Jesus that some believe wrote the letter. Though he seemed distant from Jesus during Jesus ministry, he did get involved in the early Christian movement. He actually became one of the leaders within the council of Jerusalem. In the Book of Acts, the 15 th chapter, you can read how the council met to hear of the work
Paul and Barnabas with the Gentiles. It was James that affirmed the work they were doing. Though James had a leadership position, biblical scholars do not believe it was he that wrote the book of James. Because of content and writing style it is believed a Hellenistic Christian wrote the Book of James toward the end of the first century. If you have more interest in the theories concerning the Book of James, you can go to our church Library and find commentaries that will give you all that information. (Berkley: Speaking of the Library, I do want to say of all the churches I have served our Library is the best. The books are current and well organized. I don t know how often you utilize the Library, but it is a great resource) This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written to Jewish Christians scattered among the nations. Greetings! This is how the Book of James begins. Here we have a very generic greeting. The New Living Translation uses the term Jewish Christians scattered among the nations. If you have a Revised Standard Version of the bible, it says To the 12 tribes in the Dispersion. The King James Version just says to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. The term 12 tribes is basically a reference to Israel. Let me read to you from one commentary. In this Jewish phraseology The Twelve Tribes meant Israel as a whole, without regard to whether all 12 tribes still existed or not. Though some commentators feel this letter is being address to Jewish Christians, it is far preferable to explain the twelve tribes as meaning the whole spiritual Israel, i.e., all Christians. In any case, the epistle is addressed not to some particular community, but to any believer who may read it. (The Interpreter s Bible, Volume 12 pg. 20) So here we are almost 2000 years later reading this letter. After the greeting we find the words that were read earlier in the service. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a
chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. Who ever wrote this letter, knew the human condition. He didn t write if trouble comes, he wrote when trouble comes. All of us face trouble in our life. Clearly some trouble is more severe, more serious than others. The point here though is not what the trouble is but when it happens. When trouble comes your way let it be an opportunity for joy. In life there are many things that are out of our control. Even though we can try our best to be safe, healthy, and secure, stuff happens. We may not like it, we may think it is unfair, but that is the way things are. Though we can t always control our circumstances, we can always control our response. People and events can do a lot to us, but our dignity, our sense of worth, our out look on life, even our will to live is something we control. The author of James is encouraging us to use trouble as an opportunity for joy. Why? Because when we make it through our crises, or illness, our accident, we can build up endurance. This endurance, this strength can then help us through our next trouble. When I hear the word endurance I think about physical endurance. Athletes train their bodies so that they can endure the stress of competition. Tonight is the Super Bowl. Million around the world will watch the Steelers play the Packers. Football is a fast, violent sport. The players tonight will be hitting and tackling one another all game long. How can they do that? By building up endurance! Hours spent training and conditioning pay off on the field. Sports, especially professional sports, are an example of physical endurance at its highest level. You don t need to be an athlete however to benefit from building up strength and endurance. Physical therapists work with those weakened by accident or illness to regain their endurance. Hours spent on a tread mill or with weights do wonders to get the body active again. Doctors tell everyone to be active. Exercise and a good diet are the keys to a healthy life. Those that work out with weights know the phrase no pain, no gain. Sometimes our muscles need to be tested in order to become stronger.
In The Message, Eugene Peterson s paraphrase of the bible 1 Timothy 4 says Exercise daily in God- no spiritual flabbiness, please! I have those words pinned to the bulletin board that is next to my desk. It reminds me that not only do I need to keep myself physically fit, I also need to keep myself spiritually fit. The endurance that is mentioned in James addresses this spiritual and emotional fitness. One analogy might be to think of our faith as a muscle. If we exercise our faith, it will remain strong. If we ignore our faith, it will weaken. And just like a muscle will atrophy if not used, so our faith will cease if we no longer exercise it. Prayer, fasting, bible study are just a few of the spiritual disciplines that we can do in order to strengthen our faith. These are activities that we can do as frequently as we want. Like going to the gym, or even taking a walk, we have to make time in our day to pray of meditate. Doing these spiritual disciples will help us deepen our faith. Our connection to God is increased as we participate in these disciplines. This is helpful for our day to day living, but it is crucial for our times of trouble. With our faith strong we are better equipped to handle the trouble. And when that trouble comes, we can then use the situation to further build up our endurance. It is the gain that we get from our pain. I know there are some preachers that believe God sometimes places those painful moments in our life in order to help us grow in our faith. I absolutely disagree with that theology. I do not believe God deliberately causes pain or hardship on anybody in order to teach a lesson. The troubles in our life are not put there by God in order to test us or to make us stronger. In life trouble happens. There are multiple reasons why thing happen. Though God does not cause those things, God is there in the midst of the trouble to comfort and strengthen. Being able to sense God in the trouble and being able to rely on God to see us through is the starting point to building our endurance. Our goal is to be where James suggests, where we are strong in character and ready for anything.
Friends, trouble happens! Some of you are in troublesome situations right now. May you stay positive in your attitude. May your trouble make you stronger not weaker. Together with God may we strive to be like those players tonight. We will be strong and courageous. If we get knocked down, we will get back up and stay in the game. In the end our victory will not be a football game, but a victory over death. Let me share one last verse of scripture. This is taken from Hebrews, the Book right before James. Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off ever weight that slows us down, especially sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.