Perseverence

I want to tell you a story about a man. When he was 18, before he graduated high school, he joined the military. When he graduated, actually the day after that, he left for basic training. Everything he knew, changed. The military became his way of life. It was peacetime when he enlisted; only to have the world turned upside down a year and a few months after joining the military. September 11, 2001 turned the world we lived into a living “Hell on Earth” People were scared, angry, vengeful…name an emotion and people probably felt it.

For the military men, and for our guy, his world turned to one he’d never seen before…only talked about. For a month, he disappeared. No phone calls, no letters, no emails, no communication whatsoever. It was the first of 13 trips overseas in 10 years in the military.

One trip, as he was working the flight line, he discovered a faint flame in the engine of an aircraft prepping for take-off. Reacting and not thinking, he called for the tower to stop the plane, and called for a fire truck to put out the flames. By the time the engine got there, the plane had been engulfed in flames and the all of the crew barely made it out in one piece. He received an commendation for his actions in that instance.

On another particular trip however, didn’t come without injury. Only to be discovered 8 years later, he suffered a broken back while carrying a pack on his back overseas. The lower 3 disks to be exact, had been crushed…not broken…crushed, pulverized. Fast forward to present day, this soldier, having made it through tours of duty, enduring tough relationships until recently, and 3 different major injuries, he is being medically discharged from this way of life he’s known for 10 years of his life. The whole point is that this young man has persevered through some very tough times in his life. Life is a continual set of unanswered questions, and tough times, along with very good times. You see, he has come a long way in these past 10 years. Through it all, I’m proud to call him my brother. His story is one of utter amazement of perseverance and sheer willpower.

You see, perseverance does not necessarily mean that you’re happy go lucky all the time. My brother certainly hasn’t been. It is very hard in the down times…in our text today, in the first few words, James brings up a great point. Let’s read.

Our text for today is going to be James 1:2-12…

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For 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.
12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

How many times during a trial do you consider it pure joy? Well, that’s exactly what James is telling us to do. No…happy go lucky is not required. Trials are intended to be hard on us…tough on us. Trials can be just about anything…sickness, job loss, interfamily issues, issues with friends. These are just a few of what is possible. These trials test our faith. By testing our faith, God is seeing how much we can depend on him during these times. He is seeing if we trust in him enough to continue on the path he has us on.

A perfect example of this is Abraham and Isaac. Abraham was promised by God that we would have enough descendants to outnumber the stars. However, he did not have children until he was very old. Then, of all things, God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering!!! So, what did Abraham do? Followed God’s orders. He gathered wood, some people to help him and started off to the place God told him to go. When they got to the mountain, Abraham told the servants to stay there and they would be back…meaning him and Isaac. Abraham had the faith to know that even though God told him to sacrifice Isaac, he knew that God would provide the answer needed. Abraham had the faith. God tested him…Abraham passed. God provided a Ram for the burnt offering and went home.

Unfortunately, none of us are Abraham. We probably won’t be asked to take our child up to a mountain for a burnt offering. But God will test our faith to see if we trust him.

In verse 3, James states that the test of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance is one of those Christian values that we have to develop. This is why tests ensue. Just when we think we’re at the brink of breaking down is the place we’re the closest to God…or supposed to be. Perseverance completes us so we are complete and mature. This is why people who have been Christians longer seem to be so solid in their faith. They’ve been through the tests and trials. Perseverance has come and completed them.

During these trials that we face, that is when we find out what we’re lacking by way of the Holy Spirit prompting us to what we need. James says that if we lack wisdom, pray for it. This really goes for anything we lack. Patience, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, anything. However, be prepared, when you pray for something like patience, be prepared for lots of things to try your patience! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed for patience then faced lots of things that really try my patience.

When we ask for something that we lack, God does not find fault in us for doing so. He recognizes that we are asking for something we realize we don’t have much of. God is generous and will give us what we ask as long as we don’t doubt. Doubt is the greatest enemy of our prayers. Our Scripture says that if a man doubts, we should think that we won’t receive it. In other words, if we doubt, we won’t get what we ask for. We should have every confidence that we will receive what we pray for. Doubters are double-minded, James says, and we surely will not get what we need to complete us.

One things in this next paragraph really stood out at me. James tells us that our brothers in humble circumstances should take pride in their high position, however, the rich should take pride in his low position. I was confused at first, but I then realized what James was referring to. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with being rich or poor. It has everything to do with being wrapped up in your wealth so much to the point that the Pharisees were. The Pharisees flaunted their money and status around and this is not what Christ wants. Christ wants us to be humble in our circumstances whether privileged or poor. Those who are in their humble circumstances have a high value in the kingdom of God. It’s just like the old song says: “Money can’t buy me love”…and boy it’s true.

When Sherri and I were first together, we had virtually nothing. We slept on the floor of our apartment in Chicago, we had no furniture except a table I’d bought from Wal-Mart for about $40 while roomed with some friends, but we had food, clothes, shelter, and each other. The fondest memories we have are staying up till midnight when the lights on the top of the building next door would go out. We’d sit and talk laying on the floor, watching for those lights to go out. Had we had a bed, we would never have been able to see this. Eventually we got a futon bed that sat low enough to the ground where we could still see those lights. The point is, those were the happiest moments we’d spent together. As I graduated from Culinary School and started making more money, spending more time away from the family, more problems came. The point is, just because we didn’t have much money, it didn’t mean we weren’t happy.

Individually, we should look at our circumstances and realize how extremely lucky we are to live in the US. Even in bad economic times we are still among the world’s wealthiest. Here are some statistics from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) News in a story published in 2006.

40% of the world’s wealth is owned by 1% of the world’s population while the bottom half makes do on barely 1%. It takes only $500,000 in American Dollars to be within the top 1%. Now, that includes probably no one here. Listen to this next one though…It only takes $61,000 in US to be among the top 10% richest people in the world. Now keep in mind that debt is included in this so it throws numbers off to where nobody really knows where another stands.

We may not hit these numbers however, we must realize that we are among the most blessed people in the world. It is even more important to do as James says and remain humble in our circumstances. Again, it’s not about money…it’s about attitude towards the circumstances in our lives.

Finally, James states the closing idea in our scripture for today. Verse 12 is what sums it all up. “12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

We are blessed, remember when we’re blessed by God we’re equipped to do something, we’re blessed when we persevere under trial because we have withstood the test before us. We are then properly equipped by the blessing to face life. Life is a race and it does take a lifetime in order to run it.

Persevere, for we will be equipped when we finish the test…just like Abraham was. Looking in our tests and our trials, we should consider it pure joy. God only tests to grow us. We should consider it joy to think that God trusts us and thinks highly enough of us to test us. Now, don’t get this confused with temptations, because only the devil tempts people. Temptations come from either the evil one’s traps or by our own sinful nature. God is not tempted, nor does he tempt anyone. God tests us to see if we are strong enough to depend on him, it will never end up in sin because God hates sin.

My dear friends, please consider it pure joy. Tests and trials will come. We should be glad that they come because they only come when we are growing spiritually. Think of it that way the next time a trial comes around. Think to yourself, hey, I’m under trial and test because I’m growing closer to God…all these things are good…persevere, and consider it pure joy.

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