When Joy Meets Trial | James 1:1-18 | Faith That Works
In the 1980s, the Biosphere 2 project discovered that trees grown in a perfect environment—with no wind—eventually collapsed under their own weight. They lacked the "stress wood" that only comes through resistance.
In this sermon on James 1:1–18, we explore how God uses the "winds" of life to build that same structural integrity in our souls. Whether you are facing the "scorching heat" of financial loss, the pressure of persecution, or the internal struggle of temptation, James directs our eyes to the unchanging Father of Lights.
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Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week, we dig into God's word, trusting that the Holy spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us.
Back in the 1980s, so I guess that would be ancient history by now, right? There was a experiment conducted in the Arizona desert. It was an air-tight greenhouse that was more than three acres in size, and it was built to be a self-sustaining replica of the ecosystems of Earth. Now, it was known as Biosphere 2. Not because they had built one of these greenhouses prior and this one was bigger and better, but because they referred to the Earth itself as Biosphere 1. Now, those of us who live out here in the area of wide open spaces, we know that three acres doesn't amount to very much. But still, in this greenhouse, they were able to include a rainforest, a desert, a Savannah, and even a miniature ocean, complete with a coral reef.
Well, in 1981, eight people were sealed inside this, and they were on a two-year mission to see if humans could survive in a closed system such as this. It was supposed to serve as a means of a test run for something like colonization of, say, the moon or Mars.
Now, as you can imagine, over the course of two years of time, there were a lot of challenges. At times, oxygen levels dropped to dangerous levels, and they had to combat a very a large group of invasive ants. But one of the biggest issues they came across was with the trees. Under the glass dome of this greenhouse, the trees had everything that they needed. Perfect soil, more than enough water, and perfectly controlled temperatures. Because of these ideal conditions, the trees actually grew much faster than they did in the real world.
However, However, once the trees reach a certain height, they would collapse under their own weight. What was discovered was that because the environment was entirely enclosed, there was no wind. In a natural environment, wind creates constant stress on the trunk and on the branches of the trees. To survive this continual pressure that trees in the real world have, trees produce what is technically known as reaction wood, but it's also referred to as stress wood. When trees experience the stress of wind, what happens is, is they produce extra cellulous and lingen in certain areas to reinforce the tree and to help it produce a more complex root system to help anchor that tree. And the wood created from this process is significantly more dense and strong. So what happens is the tree essentially incorporates the struggle into its very fibers.
Well, without the trial of the wind in the greenhouse of biosphere 2, the trees were weak. They looked great. They were tall, the branches were full, but they lacked real structural integrity, and they would collapse under their own weight. These trees fell not because their environment was too harsh, but because they had it too easy. They lacked the stress wood that only came through resistance.
As we arrive in the first chapter of James this morning, we are told to count it all joy when we meet trials. Now, this isn't just a call by James here for endurance for the purpose of survival. Our endurance in the wind of trials is used by God to build up the stress wood in our souls. It produces in us steadfastness that a life of ease and comfort couldn't produce.
Now, as we start out in the Book of James, it's important that we quickly set the context of the Book. There are several people in the New Testament named James. The author of this book is not the apostle James. It's not the brother of John, who together they were known as the sons of thunder. It's not that James. The internal evidence and church tradition points to the James that it writes this book as James the Just, who is the half brother of Jesus. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, he was actually a skeptic, which is totally understandable. I mean, if your brother was walking around and making the claims that Jesus made, you probably wouldn't believe him, and you would most likely tell him to be quiet and stop embarrassing the family. But unlike anything that any of your siblings did or would do, Jesus rose from the dead. After the resurrection, James became an important pillar of the church in Jerusalem. So James, we see, writes this letter as a servant of Christ. He doesn't even mention that he's his brother. He understands that he is a servant of Jesus just like everyone else.
We also see here that the book was written to the 12 tribes of the dispersion. The original audience of this book is Jewish Christians who would have been forced out of Jerusalem due to persecution for their faith in Jesus. This happened after the martyrdom of Stephen, and is mentioned in the first verses of Acts 8. So these are the circumstances that the original audience of this letter are facing. They are displaced, and that likely means that they are severely impoverished, and they are feeling the daily pressure to give in to the pressure of persecution so that they can just get their normal lives back. That's really what persecution is about. We are going to pressure you and take away your normal life, and we're going to persecute you so that you give up your faith because you're just tired of not being able to do the normal things.
Well, as we read this, we understand that this temptation would have pressured them, and they would have understand that their faith is more than just a belief in an idea. As James writes this book, he's helping them understand that your faith is more than an idea. It is practical. It is going to be lived out in the real world, and they are doing it in the face of these strong persecutions. As I pointed to. This letter is about a faith that works. Some New Testament books have a heavy emphasis on doctrine to help us understand how we are saved. But James is about the fruit of that salvation. It makes sure we understand how salvation directs our lives.
The original readers of this letter are not secluded from the pressures of the world like those trees I was talking about in a greenhouse. Instead, they are feeling the pressures of the world in an extreme way. James wants them to know and understand that God is doing something in them through what they are experiencing. The winds that are blowing through their lives in the form of displacement and persecution, this letter comes to them, and the tone isn't a sympathetic tone. It's not, I'm so sorry that your life is so hard. Instead, he helps them to know why the winds are blowing in the first place. They aren't going through these things because God is absent. Instead, Instead, James is letting them know that God is near to them, and he is strengthening them in their hardship.
As we dig into the text of verses 2 and 3, we see that James tells these people who are experiencing hardship that they should count it as joy. Now, seriously, I've always wondered how this went over with those who first received the letter. You know how most Most people receive words that tell them that they should put on a happy face, right? I'm guessing some of the biggest scowels that your children have ever given you are when you tell them to smile. But James isn't telling them to turn their frowns upside down and put on a happy face. That's not what he's saying. He's telling them that they can have joy in their persecution and hardship because their suffering isn't meaningless. This is a test of their faith, and God is using it to produce something in them, steadfastness.
If you know anything about the early church is that they experienced trials of many kinds, all kinds of persecution. It's really one story of hardship after another in the New Testament. It starts with Jesus. He doesn't live a glamorous life. He goes about the countryside teaching, preaching, and miracles while heeping up all kinds of disfavor from the religious leaders. Then he is crucified, but then he has a glorious resurrection and ascension. You'd think that things would get better from there But the Apostles get basically the same treatment that Jesus got. Even when the persecution drives them out from Jerusalem and Judea, and they go to the ends of the Earth, persecution follows the early church. It turns out it isn't just the religious establishment that doesn't like what they are doing and what they believe. The Roman state isn't too fond of their proclamation of Jesus as Lord either. Paul writes a significant portion of his letters from prison being persecuted for his faith. The Book of Hebrews is encouraging Jewish Christians to endure persecution and not go back to their old Jewish traditions. In the Book of Revelation is written to seven churches in Asia, quite a distance from Jerusalem. They are experiencing the pinch of persecution as well. Our first century, sisters and brothers, experienced this hardship.
And what happened? The church grew because God produced steadfastness in his people. The growth didn't happen because the wind stopped blowing, but because the wind made the church unbreakable. The persecution just didn't scatter the seeds of the gospel. It thickened the stresswood of the believer's souls of the early church. And their steadfastness grew and it had its full effect. And the result was more than just continued faithfulness. They also grew in wholeness through these challenges. When James says here, It is so that they might be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. He isn't implying here that they would be absolutely perfect, what we would call perfectionism, something where they would become completely virtuous and that they would refrain from sin in thought, word, and deed, and everything that they did all the time. Instead, what James is conveying here is maturity. In the original language, The word we translate perfect here, we don't get the idea of something that's flawless. Our modern use of the word perfect usually centers on lacking any a defect, right? But the idea here is better understood as reaching the purpose for which something was made for. Or maybe the best way to understand it is it's like a fruit that has come to the fullness of its ripeness.
When we have too much ease, we end up like those trees I talked about from the Biosphere 2 project. Let's imagine that those trees were able to grow but not get to the point where they collapsed. Then we were able to lift off the greenhouse somehow. What would happen, even if they hadn't collapsed on their own weight yet, as soon as if the slightest breeze came, they would have crumbled. Without trials, we remain spiritual toddlers who are undeveloped and are fragile and not ready to face the difficulties of the world. In our trials, we're brought to a maturity where our faith is the means by which we navigate the whole of life as seasoned and weathered children of God who are ready for the journey ahead, the journey that God calls us to.
This all sounds really good. As we sit here in our climate-controlled worship space without any threat of persecution while we are surrounded by family and friends. Sounds easy for us, but it's important that we remember that what James What he's talking about here is more than just a theoretical exercise. We are to be prepared to count it all joy when the difficulties of life happen. It's easy to read these words when things are going well, but they are difficult to take in when a doctor calls with bad news or when you lose your job. The last thing on your mind is being matured in the faith when you are struggling with a child who has wandered heard from the faith. When you are in the storm, you don't think about how the wind pushing you and the rain beating on your face is making you a better person. What do you do? You want to get out. You want to get away from it. You want the storm to be over. This is why James tells us how to endure.
He says it's by seeking wisdom. Now, I think one of the things that we struggle with in our time is understanding the difference between collected knowledge and wisdom. If someone can rattle off a lot of facts, we associate that with intelligence or wisdom. But that's not actually the case. Wisdom is knowing what the information means. Wisdom is knowing how to use that knowledge. James isn't telling us here that if we lack wisdom, we should just get some more facts, and God can be the one to give you those facts. When he talks about wisdom here in verse 5, it's about an understanding of what God does in us and what he develops in us through our trials. James believes that God does this for us when we ask, because he's a good father. Imagine that a child comes to you as they're trying to work through something that they've never experienced, but you have learned. Would you roll your eyes at them and tell them that they should just know this? Would you laugh at them? I certainly hope you wouldn't. Instead, you would sit down with them. You would share with them what you know. You would lovingly guide them. Why would you think that your good Father doesn't do the same for you? Don't doubt that when we ask in faith that God will provide you with wisdom on how to endure.
And in verse 6, James warns of what doubting does in us. It causes us to be tossed about by the wind. We end up being blown off course. Instead of being double-minded, we are to trust that God provides us with wisdom in his word and that the Holy spirit guides us. Trust in the sufficiency of what God provides for us as his people. We're to keep our eyes on him. He is faithful to bless his people with wisdom as we endure our trials.
What we see in verse 7 and 8 only makes sense. If we're double-minded, it isn't only that we We can't settle on one thing. It's that we doubt the other thing that we can't settle on, right? In the case of trusting God, being double-minded means that we're doubting the power and sufficiency of the wisdom that God gives us through his word. The call then in receiving this wisdom is to trust God, trust that his ways are better than our ways, trust that his word and spirit are sufficient to make us wise.
So what does this look like in the real world? How do we shut down that double-mindedness that we are so naturally prone to when the storms in our life blow in? Well, James reminds us of the frailty of our lives and the frailty of our possessions. He starts out by mentioning a lowly fellow believer. If we are in Christ, Even if we have a little in terms of earthly possessions, he says that we're exaltet. We have what truly matters because it can't be taken from us. In the first century, the believers facing hardship may have been receiving pressure from religious leaders. They may have been receiving pressure from the Roman Empire or both. But because they've been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they may be poor by an earthly standard, but they are heirs of the King, the one at the right-hand of the Father.
But it isn't just the financially challenge that James mentions here. The rich should exalt in humiliation because all our possessions are as fragile as a wildflower in a scorching wind. All the things of this Earth will wither and fade. This is a truth that we can't escape. In the end, the curse puts every last one of us at the the same level. One day, every last one of us will be put in a box and taken out to the edge of town, and we will be left there. Sure, our family will mourn for a while. But ultimately, we're forgotten. Wisdom is knowing that Christ is not fragile. When we are united to him by faith, we have a hope because he never forgets us.
And in verse 12, James tells us that those who remain steadfast under trial are blessed, and they will receive the promised Crown of Life. Now, this isn't a formulaic prescription for how to earn your way to heaven. It's not a quid pro quo arrangement with God. It's about God giving his people faith, strengthening them under their trials, and blessing them with the crown of life after they have endured their trials.
As we continue through the text, we see James shifting his focus a little bit. It's been the wind blowing against the trees, as it were, the trials of poverty, persecution, and being displaced. These are all things happening to us now. But James then turns us inward to our thoughts of why the winds are blowing. We know how the human heart works. We all have one. When things get difficult, we want someone to blame. Usually, the last person we want to point the finger at is that ridiculously good-looking person in the mirror. We are the last person we want to blame. Often, we want to blame God because he allowed the storms to come upon us in the first place. We can so easily justify our sin because God puts us in such an overwhelming position. James shuts this down. He quiets this way of thinking. He wants us to know that, well, God may send the trials our way and uses them to strengthen us. God isn't enticing us to sin. We are tested and trained by our Father. Temptation comes from the evil desire in our fallen hearts. And James is really clear and to the point here. God can't be tempted. God is no tempter. Our rebellious, sinful hearts do that well enough on our own. They don't need any help. Because since our first parents desired the fruit in the garden, we have continued in our rebellion against the Holy God. We were lured into sin, and we still take the bait because we want it. It looks enticing, it looks satisfying, and it's only one little sin. I'm in control. I deserve it. My life has been really hard lately. But when you look at verse 15 here, I don't have to convince you of its truth. You know it, you've lived it. The goal of the trials that are put in your path are not to get you to give into your sin. When we endure the trials, we grow that stress wood I talked about. When we do what we see in verse 15, what happens is it exposes the points of rot within us. It shows us what needs to be cut out of the trunk because it works its way out into our branches if we don't get rid of it.
This section closes opens up with an important warning. It says, Don't be deceived. God is not the source of the rot that brings death. God exposes the rot in our lives. When it's exposed, it's the means by which it is cut out. He is the source of our life. In the winds of our trials, James points to the heavens. God is the anchor, and he is our fortress. He doesn't change. He is the source of light. He isn't the shadows that move around and fade. Whatever trial you face, God remains immoveable. Whatever hardship there is, Christ is on his throne. His light isn't on a dimmer, and his light doesn't flicker. He is the same on the beautiful sunny days of your life as he is when the thunder storms are raging.
James gives us the ultimate proof of God's goodness in verse 18. It says that he brought us forth by his word. He brought us to himself as a first fruit of his creatures. We are a people for his own possession. We are set apart for his glory. We are his children that he loves. Like a loving parent, he teaches us in our trials. He guides us through our hardships. He doesn't keep us from the storms. He is our shelter in the storms.
Sisters and brothers, God has come to you in the gospel. His word and the work of the Holy spirit showed you the rot within you, and you knew that your only hope was for God to remove it. You knew that this wasn't something you could do on your own. If it was left up to us, we would rot in our sin. This is why, by grace through faith, the rot is cut out and you are grafted into Christ. As the forgiven people of God in Christ Jesus, we are a new tree. We are grafted into Christ. We are the prize of his creation. So when the trials of life blow on you this week and you feel the pressure from the tip of your branches down to the base of your trunk, don't focus on the wind. Don't obsess over the trial itself. Instead, look to your loving Father. He isn't trying to break you. He is building you up to mature, steadfast faith. Be mindful that he has given you the gift of his salvation, and he is not going to abandon you in the storms. And as you look to him, know that because of the assurance that we have in Christ, we can do what James says here. We can actually count all of our trials as joy because God is building us up through our circumstances using his word and spirit to give us a steadfast faith that will bring glory to him. The winds of life aren't meant to uproot you, but to anchor you more deeply in the finished work of Christ. Know that every trial you face is a tool in the hands of your loving Father to build you up, that you might have strength deep down within your soul. Amen.
Let us pray. Great God, we thank you that you tell us the purpose of trials. They are not meaningless but that you use them in us to build us up and strengthen us to give us steadfastness. We pray, oh God, that when the winds blow, we would be able to count them as joy, that we would understand that you are working in us through your word and spirit. Remind us of the gospel and remind us that you are doing your sanctifying work in us. And may our endurance through the trials not only build us up in steadfastness, but may it be a witness to the world around us, that you help us to endure, that we have hope in Christ, and we can share that message with others because it is freely offered, and we believe that he can do that good work in others as well. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our or website, edgertonfrc. Org.
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