The Road to Spiritual Maturity
“What Doesn’t kill us makes us Stronger”
James 1:1-12
Let’s begin this morning with a few brief facts we need to know about the book of James.
1. It was written sometime prior to AD 62.
2. It was written by James, the brother of Jesus.
3. During the public ministry of Jesus, James was not a believer. John 7:2-10.
4. James became a believer following the resurrection. 1st Cor. 15:7
5. His nickname was old camel knees. He spent so much time in prayer his knees were like that of a camel.
James is basically a guide to spiritual maturity. With that in mind let’s pray.
PRAYER.
I heard of a young man who had just taken a test in one of his college classes and he got his grade and he made a zero on the test. He went in to see the professor and he argued with him. He said, professor I don’t think I deserve this zero. The professor said neither do I…. but it’s the lowest grade I had.
When trials come to us there are many times that we simply fail. We don’t pass the test. Likewise there are times when we overcome and we pass the test. And we rejoice when that happens. But there is another step we need to take when we pass the test. Look at it this way. If you’re in school and you have a class…say in chemistry and you make 90% on a test, most of us are pretty happy with that. In most schools that’s an A. It shows that we knew 90% of the material. But when we face trials and tests in life and we score 90% there is something we need to realize and here it is…. God is more concerned with the things we don’t know than with the things we already know. And that is one of the purposes of trials we face. God wants us to grow up! He wants us to mature in our spiritual lives. So he tests our faith. Testing makes us stronger.
1. One of the ways God tests us is through the difficulties of life. One of the tools He uses is like a hammer. The hammer is an essential tool for a builder; you cannot build a home without one. But remember for the hammer to work there has to be a nail. And if you are the nail you’re not really as happy about the hammer doing its job as everyone else is. To the nail the hammer is often like an enemy without mercy the enemy/hammer seems to live to pound the nail into submission, to hit it right on the head and to beat it down. Everyone on the outside looks at the beautiful work the hammer is doing. But the nail is hurting, the nail’s like why do you always want to beat me up, you always seem to hit me right on the head…and you never miss.
To the nail; that’s us, here is what God says, “Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Write this down. When God is working on us it is always His decision to craft us into something stronger. He never desires to hurt us. At the same time He knows we will experience pain but pain is not His purpose. His purpose is in the result/outcome. You see the nail has to understand that the hammer has a plan for our future. We are a part of something much bigger than ourselves. Never forget that the hammer AND the nail are both tools that God uses and they must work together.
2. Another way God tests our faith is through the demands of life. Let’s face it, the demands of life can wear us down. People we deal with daily can be abrasive, they can make cutting remarks and at the end of the day we feel completely worn down. If we were to list some of the demands of life we face we might list our…
Work
Physical demands
Home
Caring for our children
Being a caregiver to someone
Staying current in our job/training
Deadlines we are required to meet
And you could add to the list I’m sure. God tests us through the demands of life. God reaches into His toolbox to select just the right tool to fashion us into the person He wants us to be. One of the tools He uses is like a file. A file can be painful. Some of you file your fingernails. Doesn’t hurt unless you go too far.
• Ink pen incident. I used a file to clean my hands.
The job of the file is to cut into the wood and shape it into something that is smoother and more attractive; easier to handle. In this scenario WE are the piece of wood. Again, the wood doesn’t really appreciate the work of the file until the product is finished. Until it’s finished the wood is saying things like, man you really rub me the wrong way… why are you so abrasive?
Here’s the reason. Look at verse 4. James immediately directs us to a quality that most of us really need. Wisdom. He says in v. 5. And he says when you ask, ask in confidence and you will receive it! He reminds us not to be “double-minded.” James is the only writer of scripture to use this word…he uses it twice…some believe James actually coined this word.
A double minded person is a doubter. This individual is always torn by inner conflict. This person has trouble accepting God’s promises often because of their past. They’ve been hurt, taken advantage of and they therefore cannot believe that God has something better for them because all they can see are the trials. James is saying , keep your focus where it belongs; keep your focus on the end result of what God is doing.
3. God tests us through the dollars of life. Yes I am talking about money. It is one of the biggest tests we face in life. Dollars. Look at what James says in vv. 9-11. One of the warnings that James gives and he will give it at least one more time is a warning to his people about dollars/money.
Here God reaches into His toolbox and one of the tools He pulls out is the level or balance. Certainly we would say that the playing field isn’t always level/fair when it comes to money. But to make it level James reminds us of two truths.
(1) If you are poor, stop talking/complaining about your poverty. Why? Because it doesn’t help anyone. It does no good whatsoever. You don’t feel better. The person listening doesn’t feel better and the fact is you’re still broke at the end of the conversation.
(2) If you are rich, stop talking/bragging about it because it does not good whatsoever. You may feel better but no one else does and at the end of the conversation you need to realize that it takes away from your character/attractiveness/inner beauty. The wealthy man who brags is like a flower that withers. The beauty is gone.
4. God test us through the delays of life. Look at verse 12. “Persevere” in our language means to hang on. When the fire gets got, we have to stay the course. One last tool that God pulls out of His toolbox is similar to a soldering iron. Every one of us is familiar with this tool. There are times when we feel like we’re in a pressure cooker, like the heat has just been turned up and we gotta get out. But we don’t know where to go or how to get there. Life can be that way. I don’t like delays. They cause us to miss a flight, they cause us to become impatient. For some of us they cause us to lose our temper. Most of us want things to happen overnight, immediately and if they get delayed then we can get a bit angry. But it is when we are struggling with the difficulties of life, the demands of life, the dollars of life and the delays of life that God says to us….I have not forgotten you. I know everything that is happening right now. I have
not left you, I am with you and… I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
A popular story in the OT is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar issued an order that everyone must bow down to him and that he was the only one they could serve. Listen to their response… Their response: "Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
So the king then said, “turn the furnace up and make it 7 times hotter than usual.” The king’s men were ordered to bind the three men and throw them into the blazing furnace. The fire was so hot that when they threw the three men in, the king’s men died from the heat. The king looked into the furnace and noticed there were 4 men. And he said the 4th one was look like a son of the gods. A lot of speculation about who that is but one thing’s for sure…. the presence of God was there and that is what got them through this terrible trial. The king then ordered them out of the furnace and listen to what the scripture says about them…”they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their head singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.” The king then said, praise God!, praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Anyone who ever tried to harm them will be killed. Quite a change. You know why? Because he saw that God was with His people when they face a trial. We moan, we get down, we weep but don’t miss the opportunity for God to shine through the trials you are facing.
The Bible says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
A woman had read this verse and was puzzled by it so she decided to go and visit a silversmith to find out how he did his work. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest. That way it would burn out all the impurities. She began to think about God often placing us in a really hot spot… then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.
She then asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. Because if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He said , "Oh that’s easy, when I see my image in it."
