Sermon Series: Joseph: Trusting through Trials Sermon Title: Attitude is Everything Big Idea: Contentment during trials rests in the Character of God. 1 Introduction: Some of you may know my family s story. Others of you may not. I was born into a family that consists of 2 older sisters and 2 older brothers. Unfortunately, tragedy struck my family when their oldest, (my oldest brother) turned 9. It was at that age when my parents discovered that their oldest boy was diagnosed with leukemia cancer. You know You often hear people discuss the level of anxiety, pain and stress of being diagnosed with cancer. But I firmly believe that that anxiety, pain and stress is doubled if not tripled when it is not you who is diagnosed but one of your children. For the next 5 years my parents had to witness their son fight for his life. Trips to the doctor outnumbered their trips to school, to swim practice, to basketball. And everyday, they as parents, had to remain strong while their boy was so weak. Further, they had to shepherd their three other kids through this trial, you can t hide a sickness like this from your kids. My brothers and sisters noticed the toll that this sickness had on their brother and they too at a young age where confronted with witnessing their older brother deteriorate. Trevor s sickness got so bad that they as a family had to give it one last ditch effort by picking up and moving to Seattle to seek some more intensive treatment. Unfortunately, the treatment was not improving Trevor s condition as a result began to deteriorate more. Trevor at one point was in so much pain that a hot bath felt so good to him. My parents till this day remember carrying their dying boy in to the bath tub and out. Trevor later died at the age of 14. How do you handle that as a parent? How do you handle that as a sibling? How do deal with that type of intense emotional trial? The fact of the matter is we will all experience trials of some sort or another. It may not be as intense of a trial as walking your child through an extreme illness that will take his life. It may not be having to deal with cancer. But it could be dealing with the hard trial of a broken marriage, or broken relationships with others in your family. Maybe with addictions, or depression or anxiety. Maybe with work. Maybe its with persecution for your beliefs. I bet if I went to every single one of you and asked if you have
dealt with a trial recently you would all say yes. I think it is common knowledge that, just because you are a Christian that does not exempt you from being exposed to trials. 2 TRANSTION: The question becomes when Trials come what do we do? Over the past couple of weeks we have been trying to answer that question by looking at and examining the life of Joseph. Through this series we have seen Joseph navigate through a series of trials all throughout his life. We learned how Joseph has navigated through those trials in his life which where rooted in the dysfunction of his family. We learned that in the midst of trials and temptation that Joseph continues to remain faithful to God, even though that faith will often take him to the top or to the bottom by placing him in prison by Potiphar s husband. We have learned that even when he goes through a trial caused by disappointment and mistreatment he continues to trust God. Further, we have learned later that Joseph s time of trust through those refining moments in his life lead him to those defining moments where God uses Pharaoh to place him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Finally, over the last couple of weeks we have seen Joseph navigate through those trials, which revolve around relationships, and we have learned what reconciliation actually looks like. Next week we get to witness Joseph reveal himself to his family and become reunited with them. Today Brian has asked me to take a break from the Old Testament and to see what it is that the New Testament has to say about how we are to approach and trust God through the trials of our life. Therefore, I would like you all to turn to James and we will be looking at James 1:1-12 this morning. Now unlike Paul, James is not writing to a specific city or town, nor does he address specific issues. James is writing to Christians (whom he calls Brothers ) around the known world. As a result in this letter he is addressing typical conditions and challenges that any Jewish/Christian during that time would have encountered. What s fascinating is that James right from the get go
does not start his letter with a topic or clarification of theology about who God is. Nor does he address a specific issue dealing with syncretism or a mixing of Christian theology with other religious practices. Nor is he addressing an issue of sex, or money within the church. The first thing James deals with is the topic of trials and he addresses the question as to how Christians are to handle trials in their life. 3 So back to my original question which I posed? How am I to navigate through the pain of watching my child die? How am I to navigate through the broken relationship with my spouse? How am I to navigate through the intense persecution I receive at work for my Christian faith? How am I to navigate through physical ailments I am currently in? How am I to navigate through the loss of a loved one? How am I to navigate through the trials that will come through our life? Well, lets see how James answers this question. (READ James 1:2) We need to approach trials with an attitude of Joy. Now this isn t some type of a suggestion by James Hey you may want to consider it pure joy, when you encounter trials. No, that phrase from James is a command imperative in the Greek. There shouldn t be a comma at the end of the second verse there should be an exclamation point. James is telling the Christian reader here hey consider it all or. pure Joy when you encounter trials. The word pasan is being used as an adjective describing the type of joy one should have when encountering trials. It should be a PURE joy. Now is James stating hey you need to be happy whenever you encounter a trial? Or is he stating hey you need to ignore the pain your going through right now? What does James mean by pure joy? Blomberg one of my professors at Denver seminary describes Joy as this, Joy may be defined as a settled contentment in every situation or an unnatural reaction of deep, steady and unadulterated thankful trust in God (James; Blomberg, pg48) And joy is more than just an emotion in this context. The word consider in the Greek is call hegeomai which means to
think. As a result James is not commanding one on how they should feel but rather how they should think when it comes to trials in their life. You see when it comes to Trials, attitude is everything. 4 JOSEPH ILLUSTRATION: I think Joseph understood this when he was navigating through those trials in his life. Joseph I am certain didn t feel happy when he was being sold as a slave. However, he chose to have an attitude of contentment and trust in God an attitude of Joy. I am sure he didn t feel happy or joyous when he was deceived and let down by the cupbearer. He chose to have an attitude of contentment and trust in God even when things where looking down. TRANSTION: So Why? Why should we count it all joy? Why does James make this command to fellow believers? Well verses three and four tell us why. Lets read that. (Read v. 3-4.) WHY: Trials aid you in maturity (v.3-4) You need to have a settled contentment, a thankful trust in God because it is those trials that you are going through which give you an opportunity to endure and from that endurance you can become Holokleros complete whole, not lacking anything. You can become more mature. You see this is one of the reasons as to why you need to approach trials with joy because these trials aid you in becoming a mature believer. TRANSITION: Ok Sam I get and I understand the command by James to consider or to have a mindset of Joy when encountering trials. And I actually understand why. But to be honest you don t understand the trial I am going through. It seems impossible to consider it joy through this trial. How do I do it? How: By understanding and relying on the Character of God.
5 For quite some time this past week I was reading through these verses and I had a hard time following James line of thinking in two areas. First, in this transition to verse 5 and second in the transition to verse 9. So why does James jump into this great explanation as to why we need to consider trials with a joyous attitude and then tell us how to seek wisdom, how are they related? I want to submit to you this morning that I think James is getting into the psychy of the individual who is currently in the midst of a trial. When you are in the middle of a trial and you are trying to trust God what are you constantly looking for? Wisdom on what to do next, wisdom on how do I get out of this spot I am in. Well James, makes the connection here. You see it is wisdom that enables the believer at times to stand in times of trials. It is wisdom that leads us to maturity or perfection as a believer. So when we face trials we need to seek wisdom by relying fully on the character of God. Wisdom is not something we can learn that is knowledge and intelligence. Rather wisdom is the practical element of living out what one believes and we get this only from God (Blomberg, pg 88). So how does James say we get wisdom? He says wisdom is something that we must ask for in faith without doubting. This faith James is referring to is not the common faith you are used to understanding. This is not a mere belief, but a continuing confidence in the identity and the nature of our God. The doubting here James does not mean that a believer may never have a measure of uncertainty regarding whether something is God s will, nor is it a question of what God may give you in the midst of trials; rather given the context, he maintains that we should not doubt or question the character of God. Dr. McCartney put it this way: The doubting of which James speaks is not uncertainty about whether or not something is God s will, and it is not doubt about one s worthiness. It is a wavering of commitment to God and the doubting of God s character (McCartney, pg 90).
When you doubt the character of God, you will lack in your commitment to God during trying time. 6 Therefore, I submit to you that the way in which you find joy. The way in which you find contentment during those trials in your life is by constantly recognizing, understanding and relying on the Character of God. As a result, if you understand the Character of God you will be given wisdom to endure whatever trial may come your way. Joseph ILLUSTRATION: Joseph never lost sight of the Character of God while he was in the midst of some extreme trials. Even though Joseph was thrown in jail for running out on Potiphars wife due to his trust in God his faith in the character of God did not waver. Even when he was sold into slavery by his family his faith in the character of God did not waver. Even when he was let down by the cupbearer his faith in the character of God did not waver. Do you ever find yourself questioning the character of God when going through a trial? When doing that, doesn t it cause you to seek wisdom from someone or something else? Friends, when you take your eyes off the Character of God in the midst of Trial you will not endure. Instead, you will be like a wave of the sea tossed and blown by the wind. And as a result you will receive nothing because you are double minded. Meaning you serve two masters God and Something else maybe money, maybe medical technology, maybe drugs and alcohol something other than God. Might I suggest when going through a trial you should read more than just a self help book maybe you should read a theological book. Friends our Christian culture is growing apathetic to learning about the God they serve and unfortunately this will hurt them in the long run. Because as a result when they worship they are not worshiping a God of the Bible they are worshipping a God they created in their mind. This is why we should constantly have a desire to study and understand who are God is. Because the way in which you should approach trials is with an attitude of joy and that is done by focusing on the character of God.
7 Transition: Verses 9-11 is another spot where I was having trouble following James stream of logic. Thankfully I went to someone who is much smarter than me, that person being Pastor Dillon Barber. Thankfully Dillon was able to help me wrap my mind around this section of scripture. Iwanted to make sure I give him Credit where credit is due. Lets read verse 9-11. (Read v.9-11) So James just finished talking about the danger of being a double minded person then he moves into talking about this poor individual and this rich individual. Why? I submit to you that in these verses James is illustrating to us what the double minded person looks like. In doing so he is describing to the reader (SLIDE)the beauty of being a poor individual and the hardship of being a rich person. Lets break it down. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. So wait a second how can a humble person take pride in a High position? He is in a low position isn t he if he has a low socio economic status This person is low in society This person is low in all circumstances. How can he take pride in his high position. I question what is the high position. The beauty of being poor is that at times you are forced to rely solely on God because you don t have any resources distracting you from God and that is a high place to be. On the other hand, the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wildflower. Unlike, the poor person the rich person has a choice to either rely on his own resources or to rely solely on God and that is a very low place to be. It s one or the other and the majority of the time the Rich person is going to rely on his own resources rather than God. As a result the Rich man will pass away like a wild flower because when trials come, When 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 the rich person will not endure trials.
8 The beauty about being poor is that you will at times have no choice but to rely and trust on the character of God. The hardship about being Rich is that you have more resources and are then presented with a harder decision to make which is a conscious choice to rely on God or to rely on their own resources. When we go through trials what is your gut reaction. Are you like the poor person or the rich person, I would submit to you we are all lean towards the rich person. We all currently have access to doctors, lawyers, the government, drugs, addictions, and technology, resources that can be tempting to rely upon. When we encounter trials we have a choice to make: when we lose our job do you immediately turn to your bank account or do you rely upon the character of God? When you get diagnosed with Cancer do you turn to the doctor or do you rely upon the Character of God? When you head to court for divorce proceeding do you turn to your lawyer or do you rely upon the character of God? When you are feeling depressed do you turn to alcohol or do you rely upon the character of God? I am not saying that a doctor or a lawyer is a bad thing. In fact God may direct you to go to a doctor. I firmly believe God can use medical technology and other individuals to heal you. But I am asking who do you turn to first? God or your own resources? Do you serve two masters when going through a trial? Family Illustration: Back to my Family Now I know my family clung to God as they navigated through my brother s illness. But there came a point where my parents used all the medical technology they could in trying to treat Trevor and their only resource they could rely on was God. And you know what God didn t heal him. I am sure they questioned and wondered why He didn t heal him. I know I do. In fact they were probably angry at God, confused, may have even cursed at God. But I can guarantee you one thing they never questioned the character of God. Because if they did I wouldn t be preaching in front of your today. Nor would they be sitting in church right now. My family knew in the midst of that
9 pain that God was still good and still righteous and still just and still Lord. And as a result they experienced peace and contentment they experienced JOY... because they know that while God may have taken him from this life He has given Trevor NEW eternal life because that is the CHARACTER OF GOD. And that leads me to the last point Enduring through trials leads to the crown that is life (v.12) Whenever I was going through a hard time or a trial of some sort and I would inform Pastor Brian about it, Brian always had one common response. That too will pass. Friends our Trials are temporary. Just like Joseph even though he had many extreme trials. We need to remember that our trials are temporary they will all pass and when they do. When we stick to our guns and stay focused on the character of God and endure many trials, including the trial of death, we will receive Life. Everlasting life. So when you rely upon the character of God you will have the ability to experience joy in the midst of trial. How do I practically apply this message? - Learn about who God is. Get involved in a Sunday seminar. Read some theological books. Study who God is. - Memorize scripture. - Develop habits in your life that turn your attention to God everyday. That way when trial come you can stay focused on him. Friends we are all going to experience trials at some point. And when you do Run to God trust in his Character. Because contentment in all circumstances is found in God s Character which leads to the crown. The Crown that is life.