What Every Christian Needs to Know about Handling Trouble Series: Christianity 101 Text: James 1:1-8 10/31/12
Have you ever asked yourself the question, why God allows so much trouble in the world, especially for Christians.
Why doesn t God shield us from attacks from the world, the flesh and the devil? Why doesn t God protect us from our own fits of emotional recklessness?
Why? I believe God wants to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy so that we are driven to cling more closely to Him.
We also need to ask and answer the question, what is the appropriate response by believers to trouble when it comes?
Kipling s If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
Kipling s If If you can dream--and not make dreams your master, If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
Kipling s If If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
Kipling s If If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Book of James provides some timely answers about practical Christianity not lofty theological admonitions but it gets down to where the rubber meets the road.
Purpose of James Correct some Jewish misconceptions about trouble God rewards piety God punishes wickedness
Current Misconception God s goodness and our circumstances are somehow related
Another Current Misconception People with money are happier than people who have no money
Big Idea Every trial, with its sorrows and disappointments, is a God-given opportunity
for us to conform more and more to the image of God s Son
Four verbs we need to understand when it comes to handling our troubles: 1) Consider 2) Know 3) Let 4) Ask
When trouble comes, consider starting out with the right attitude.
but how do we develop the right attitude? Step 1: Determine what s important to you
Do we value comfort more than character the material more than the spiritual the here and now more than the hereafter
Step 2 Learn to expect trouble. The Christian life is not easy. (John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Peter 4:12)
Sobering Reality In the life of every believer, trouble is not an if but a when (2 Tim. 3:12)
Step 3 Listen carefully to what God is telling you through the trials and difficulties in your life.
God may be saying I cannot use you the way you are come back to your first love get your life together now
God may be saying too much clutter wrong priorities grow stronger
Step 4 Acknowledge God s absolute right to rule in your life. Trouble operates on God s calendar not yours.
Step 5 Resolve to trust God s character and cooperate with Him in what He is doing.
Response able God s word tells us to rejoice in every circumstance. 1 Thes. 5:16-18 Phil. 4:4
Once you have the right attitude, know that your trouble has a definite advantage.
Faith is always tested because only after it is tested can it be trusted.
A tested faith is a faith that is patient Patience: the willingness to suffer so others can grow
Once you have developed patience, let patience produce its perfecting result spiritual maturity.
God cannot build our character without our cooperation. God did something for us (salvation) Eph. 2:8-10
God is now doing something in us (sanctification), Rom. 8:29
God wants to do something through us (service) Eph. 2:10 Created in Christ Jesus for good works
If you have difficulty seeing the advantages of growing toward maturity through your troubles, ask God for assistance.
It s True it is okay to question God, but only if you really want the answer
God s Ways are inscrutable and they cannot be discerned by intelligence alone (1 Cor. 2:12-14)