20 Aug Aug. 30, 2026 James 1:2-16 “4 Times Heavier than Normal”
Aug. 30, 2026 James 1:2-16 “4 Times Heavier than Normal”
I think that there is an old spiritual song recorded by many that says, “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” I feel that is a pretty accurate statement. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen and nobody knows the trouble that you have seen. If you are waiting for me to start singing; not today. We have all had our troubles and none of them are the same. We all react differently to situations. In the same circumstance, I may be over the top being upset and you may be cool as a cucumber. Or it might be the opposite or it might be somewhere in between. This is something that we all know or do we? Have you seen the commercial for Toyota where one guy wants this huge SUV to pull his camper? The next guy one ups him a little as he wants to pull his camper and his boat. Then the first guy wants to pull his camper, his boat and his horse trailer and he doesn’t even have horses! Examine yourself and see if you ever been in this conversation. I think that it happens all the time. It seems to me that my troubles are always worse than yours. We are going to look at troubles a little in the book of James. Let’s see if we can find a way to harness our troubles or trials a little through Jesus Christ.
John Hamby ran across these statistics from the “Discipleship Journal.” First of all, we need to realize that most of the trials in life are due to temptation or temptation is involved in solving the problem. This magazine listed the top five greatest spiritual challenges. They were 1. Materialism 2. Pride 3. Self-centeredness 4. Laziness and three were tied at #5 Anger, bitterness and Sexual lust. This is quite a list. We could spend a Sunday on each one of these but we won’t at this time. If we went around those listening today, I would guess that we would find that most of you have a problem with at least one of these and some may have trouble with several of these. Please remember that all these sins will cause you trials or if you use them to get out of a trial, they will cause you even more trials. All our problems we have can be summed up in one phrase. We have a sin problem.
Before we begin, I would like to point out something that we just talked about a couple of weeks ago when we looked at Solomon. James tells us that if you lack wisdom, you should ask for it. People, God doesn’t just give out many of his wondrous fruits and gifts. You have to ask for them. Wisdom is talked about in many places in the Bible. Once again, we find that you, each one of you, can have this gift if you just ask for it. Of course, you have to ask for it sincerely. If you don’t know Jesus then chances are you won’t get it. Put your prayer life back on track and ask for these things. Then when you ask for something like wisdom, expect results. When you pray, expect what you pray for. This is part of the deal. If you don’t expect results, then maybe you don’t believe. I hope that this makes sense!
So James starts right out by telling us that it should be a joy whenever you face a trial of any kind. This might be one of the hardest lessons to learn in life. These ancient people had hard, hard lives. Every day was a trial just to see if they could get food on the table. There were no corner groceries like we have today. If we went back to those times, it would be totally alien to us. Even if we knew ahead of time, it would still be a shock. James tells these hard pressed Christians that they should be joyous in their trials.
Now this may seem rather strange but here is my take on this. This is one of the earliest letters of the Bible that is written. They think that James is the half-brother of Jesus. There are some scholars who think he wasn’t but let’s not go there. Let’s just say that he was. He is now a leader in the church. The date on this letter is about 15 years after the death of Jesus. Therefore the movement is pretty new.
James knows what he is talking about. If the early Christians lived their lives joyously, they would be a testimony to what it is like to live in Jesus. Remember that they were hated and ostracized by the Jews and the Romans don’t particularly like them either. Life wasn’t easy for them as everything they did revolved around the local community. If they weren’t allowed in this community of Jews, then things got really tough. They were by themselves and alone. So even though things were tough, James tells them to set the example and be joyous.
You are to be the same way. Have you ever heard of anyone who wants to be like the old grump or the young grump that lives down the road? Of course you have not! If you are going to set the example to your young people or just the people around you, you need to be positive and happy. Then use some of the fruits of the Spirit. This is because we all naturally recognize good when we see it. We know that good is better than bad. Therefore we want what good people have. This is especially true when they see you go through a hard patch. If you can keep your head up during these times, then others will see that you have something special. Of course, that something special is none other than Jesus Christ himself.
What James is saying here is that we are to live in joy at all times. Let’s face it. There will be troubles and trials. Life is not a bed of roses. Life is more like a bed of thorns. So you know that these bad things are coming. The choice is yours as to how you will face them. You can either hang your head and give up, or you can hold your head up as best you can and go forward, holding onto the hand of Jesus Christ.
We already talked a little about what to do when trouble comes and the first thing is that we should ask for wisdom. James reminds us that Jesus will never condemn us when we come asking for wisdom. He won’t say things like, “Well now is a fine time to come and ask, after you are in trouble” or “What were you thinking about when you did this?” Jesus will be totally unbiased and gentle. He isn’t concerned why you did it. He is more concerned that you can get passed it. Therefore, He will give wisdom generously to those who truly ask.
Notice that James says that you need to truly believe. Once again we have a different writer telling us the same thing. It does not do much good to ask for wisdom or anything else if you do not believe or if you kind of believe. It does not work if you think you can pick and choose what you want to believe. The last time I checked, no one made you God. We are to truly believe, 100%, that God is right in everything and if you are in the middle of a trial, then you probably realize that He is in charge.
James does not pull any punches here. Listen to this again. “That man (the one who doubts) should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” There are many people who want to change what the Bible says or ignore certain parts. James tells us that they are all unstable. In other words we can’t trust these people in anything. This is in black and white. This should give us all the more reason to be coming to church every Sunday so that we can be with some people we can at least trust. We do not have to necessarily like these people but we need to know that we can trust them.
There is so much packed into the writings of James that it’s hard to cover it. James then tells us to be humble. We should not be proud that we are Christians. The rich man must lose his pride as he takes up the yoke of Jesus. People, there is nothing to be proud about being a Christian when I know that about 60% of your neighborhoods don’t know Jesus. There is much to be sad about. As I have said, our churches have become totally inwardly focused. We are only taking care of ourselves and not reaching to others.
Anyway, moving on, James tells us that blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. When you persevere under any trial, you should be doing it in the name of Jesus and for the glory of the kingdom. Whatever you do should be in the name of Jesus. Your whole life should be for the glory of God.
I have always said that life is not easy. It is hard because we have the dark one in charge of this world. James is saying to stay faithful to the only true one, Jesus Christ. No matter what happens, do not waver or let go of your faith. Jesus Christ is with you in thick and thin. There is no place where He is not. There is no situation that He cannot help you. Jesus Christ is totally faithful even when our neighbors are not. And if you stay faithful, you will be greatly rewarded with the crown of life. In other words you will be able to spend eternity with Jesus in the place we call heaven.
Then James jumps again. He is a little hard to follow at times but here is an important, shall we say, warning. James is saying not to blame God for your troubles. Do not blame God for tempting you because He will never do it. God is only capable of doing good. It is Satan who does all the tempting. Satan is the one who tries to disguise himself as God. He is called the evil one for a very good reason. He is pure evil, pure evil and even that might be an understatement!
One of the things that we like to do is blame God because He did not interfere with something that went horribly wrong. Why did not he interfere in some of the riots in our cities the last few years where people were killed? I do not know. As far as I can see, everyone was wrong. Maybe God had withdrawn from these areas due to their lack of obedience. Maybe these people were not in church on Sundays. Maybe they only believed what they wanted to believe. Do you begin to see what I mean? When God does not interfere, there is probably good reason. It is not up to us to know the reason! It is up to us to trust God that all He says and does.
Now there are many of us who have had thoughts like this especially during a time of high stress like a death or disaster. We ask this question. Why? But most of us know the answer. Most of us know that we can trust God in all things. As I begin to get older I think of death and other things in a very different light than when I was 20 or 30. I trust God more and more as I get older as I see more and more just how good He is. He is totally not capable of doing bad things. He has my full trust.
We should even be careful when we try to blame the devil. You need to remember the devil doesn’t work unless you provide an opportunity for him to get into your life. Therefore even though the evil one is working, you have left the door open somehow. Either you don’t believe, you only believe in this or this, or you do not read your Bible. I want you to just think for a moment. How have you let the devil into your life this past week? Now turn to God with your answer in confession. James goes on to show us the progression to death. We are tempted which creates the desire to do wrong. This gives way to the act or the sin which in turn leads to our death. Do not be deceived!
All these things together will help us with perseverance. As we mentioned earlier, life in this world isn’t easy. There is trial after trial. Many times, there are several trials together. Many of our churches get it or are starting to get it. Many churches are in much need building projects. If you are following God, then these projects will happen with minimum fighting. God is working and you are letting Him work. But let me warn you a little bit. When we let our guard down a little, then we will find ourselves in a trial whether it be the church or as an individual. This is the time when you go to God and ask for the wisdom to get you out of the situation. You will learn not to be tempted by every little thing that comes along. You will have better perseverance than the last time. However, remember what James left with us today. Do not be deceived!
There was a man in Scotland, John Eldredge, who wanted to be a discus thrower in the 1800’s. The trouble was that he was from rural Scotland, something like some of the rural communities in the area. There was no place to officially train. As a matter of fact, he had to make his own discus from a description in a book. What he did not know was that the discus used in competition was made of wood with an outer rim of iron. He made his discus from pure metal which was 4 times heavier than what anyone else used. He trained very hard with his homemade discus as he marked the record distance and kept at it until he could throw it that far. When the competition came, he was handed an official wooden discus. Of course, he threw it like a tea saucer and no one even came close to beating him for many years. John persevered in that he was in rural Scotland and had no help. Can you imagine the trials of throwing that disc that is 4 times heavier than normal? But he never gave up!
That is where you should be also. There are times when life is 4 times heavier than it should be. Do not give up! Do not be deceived! Keep going. Get on your knees to God. God did not have people write the Bible so you would ignore it. All life’s lessons are in here. God keeps all His promises. He will never, never let you down. Go to Him every time you have a crisis whether big or small and He will help. That is His promise. Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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