James 1:3-4 : The Value of a Tested Faith

James 1:3-4: The Value of a Tested Faith

Our Scripture reading this morning comes from James 1:3-4. For context, we will read verses 1 through 4. It says,

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. ² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Father, we come before you in humility and submission. We pray as David did in Psalm 16… “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you. The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.” We ask for open eyes to see you in power and majesty. Give us hearts that value you above everything else in your creation, because you are worthy. In your holy name we pray, AMEN.

One of the most valuable and precious jewels is a diamond. A material that closely resembles a diamond is called cubic zirconia, but it’s an imposter. A jeweler tests the authenticity of a diamond through a simple test. A black line is drawn with a permanent marker on a white piece of paper. The jewel is then placed over the line. If the line can be observed through the jewel, the piece is most likely a cubic zirconia. If the line can’t be seen, it’s most likely a real diamond. Genuine faith proves more precious than any diamond. But it can be extremely difficult to assess the authenticity of our faith without testing it. So what trial, what test, might God bring into our lives to test our faith?

 We don’t like to be tested. But the test is worth it because we can see the difference whether we have a diamond faith or a cubic zirconia faith. We must embrace these tests, along with the benefits they bring.

 James writes to Christians suffering in various ways. Persecution, isolation, and even life-threatening situations tested their faith. We may not yet feel threatened as early Christians did, but we also have times of doubt regarding our faith. That brings us to the main idea of our text today: God uses trials to test the genuineness of our faith to grow us in godliness. As we may use tests to determine the value of a precious jewel, God uses trials to test the genuineness of our faith.

Look with me to the New Testament Epistle of James, chapter 1, beginning with verse 3…

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

 James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. James addressed his letter to the ethnic Jewish believers who were residing in various lands outside of Palestine. Those believers were faced with various types of trials and no doubt needed some encouragement and direction. James reminded them that in order to overcome the inevitability of trials, they needed to know some things. He first tells them they needed a proper attitude in counting their trials as JOY. A Christian can also choose joy because our deepest desire is to know God. And there is no faster way to be face down at His feet than when we are helpless in circumstances beyond our control. And if you see Him…He will be enough. In our natural humanness, we tend to view pain as something that must be avoided at all costs. But God often uses trials as the very means to aid in our growth. Knowing that pain can be beneficial, better enables us to face our trials with an attitude of joy. Looking beyond our trial to the hope that set before us helps us to embrace the testing of our faith. In fact, we will see that in verse 3, as we recognize the…

 I. Purpose of the Test

“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

God educates His people through experience. Surely, we can have theoretical head knowledge on a variety of topics. But James speaks of knowledge that not only effects the head but the heart. It goes beyond theory to practice. It manifests itself in our behavior, not just in our minds. These believers experienced a testing of faith. And that testing produced something--------steadfastness. -------Steadfastness thinks beyond the trials and the suffering, to the ultimate benefit it will obtain through that testing. For instance, many of us would willingly endure surgery to obtain the benefit the surgery brings. Likewise, tested faith produces tangible benefit.

“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Trials test faith. That’s its purpose. We see this in the book of Deuteronomy where God tested the people of Israel during the wilderness wandering in Deuteronomy 8:2… “The LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.” We see this repeatedly…in Genesis 22:1, God tested Abraham’s faith, telling him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Trials put our faith to the test with the purpose of discovering the genuineness of faith. God also brings tests…

 A. To Validate of Our Faith 

In his book, The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis says “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Knowing God is our greatest privilege. A life of ease often leads to indifference towards God. And God loves His people too much to leave them in their indifference. He gets our attention. And that can often be painful. True fulfillment can only be found in Christ. God uses tears of pain and cries of helplessness to direct our gaze upward to Him instead of inward to ourselves.

James 4:8 says “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” And Heb 4:16  says “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Trials push us to the throne of God in a way that prosperity seldom does. In those times, God proves sufficient. God manifests His power. God manifests His grace. -------A life of ease provides little satisfaction. Untested faith proves weak and ineffectual. Trials move us from the often superficial realm of profession to the confident reality of possession.

The book of Job in the OT describes a man of God who endured unimaginable suffering under the permissive hand of God. Job’s story began with Satan approaching God with the belief that he could destroy true saving faith. In chapter 1, Satan says the only reason Job feared God and served Him was because God had blessed him, protected him, and increased all he had. God then grants permission for Satan to test him. Job lost his children, his possessions, and finally his health. He called on God for answers through these various tests and struggles without ever finding the reason for his suffering.

At the end of the book, in humility and repentance Job cries “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you…”  Through all of that, his faith remained. You could say that the testing of his faith produced steadfastness. Satan was unable to destroy true saving faith. -----Because faith is a gift from God, it will not and cannot fail--------because God will not fail. Scripture teaches that God grants repentance (Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25) and God’s grace is the source of our salvation (Ephesians 2:5). The testing of true, saving faith will not destroy it, it only reveals it’s reality. And the more testing we endure and overcome, the more assurance and confirmation we have in our hearts and minds. This testing brings with it hope, confidence, and as James says back in verse 2, even JOY!

The fact that God tests us suggests not everyone will pass the test.

How a person handles trouble reveals whether his faith is living or dead, genuine or imitation, saving or non-saving.  Many of us have witnessed or heard of professing Christians whose faith built on the sands of disobedience collapsed when the stormy trials came. Those storms revealed a faith that never was. But, a faith built on the rock solid foundation of obedience to God’s Word will stand when the judgment of God falls. James will go on to exhort his readers in James 1:22…  “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James is saying that true faith manifests itself in obedience. Not perfect obedience, but a pattern of life that exhibits a battle with sin, and a desire to live righteously in submission to God. A life lived in persistent, unrepentant rebellion towards God clearly signals self-deception, as the verse clearly states. Paul encourages us to examine ourselves to see if we truly are saved (2 Corinthians 13:5). These tests we encounter must be viewed as opportunities for self-examination. Instead of seeing ourselves with our face against the wall of affliction in hopelessness regarding direction and progression, seize the opportunity to break through that wall and move forward confidently with a faith that God is busy confirming and refining. Seek Him in prayer, ask for His guidance, ask for wisdom, and yes…even thank Him for the very trial that reveals the genuineness of your faith. God brings tests not only to test and validate our faith…but also…

 B. To Strengthen our Faith 

Charles Spurgeon said “To trust God in the light is nothing, but trust Him in the dark---that is faith.”  God proves Himself faithful, sufficient, wise, and loving more so in the darkness. I’m reminded of the quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky…”The darker the night, the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer is God!”  It doesn’t take a very strong faith to trust in God when we’re living in the light. Or in other words, when we have a life marked by financial security, good health, great relationships, and children who always obey. Strength requires courage, durability, fortitude, tenacity, security, and stability. Do you notice a pattern there? Each of those develop over time. We don’t become strong, durable, or tenacious overnight. It requires hard work, focus, and patience.

Think of a massive bodybuilder. I believe we have one particular guy in our church who fits that description. That did not happen overnight. It took time. It took effort. Muscle size and strength increases when a person continually challenges the muscles to deal with higher levels of resistance or weight. A person actually tears the fibers of the muscles which causes the body to react by sending nutrition and blood flow to the area to repair it. Strong faith requires testing and pushing faith to the limit. God then provides the strength and patience needed to endure the test. This is often accomplished through prayer and submission to truth revealed in the Scriptures. A strong faith is a challenged faith. As muscle grows under strain, so too does faith. Take the Old Testament Judge, Gideon, for example in Judges 6-8.

 God chose to deliver Israel from the Midianites through Gideon. Gideon responds, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.”  Gideon was the weakest man from the weakest tribe in Israel. God tested Gideon’s faith by decreasing Israel’s army to a mere 300 men. This was a significant test as Judges 7:12 says that the enemy’s army was “as numerous as locust; and their camels were without number as the sand by the seashore in multitude.” God then gave Israel a great victory. In so many words, God reveals to him in these few chapters, it’s not about the size and strength of the man------but about the size and strength of the great God whom he served.

 Through Gideon, God revealed His grace was sufficient. Likewise, the Apostle Paul pleaded with God three times for Him to remove a thorn in his flesh, to which God replied “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) Thomas Watson said, “Christianity is not the removal of suffering, but the addition of grace to endure suffering triumphantly.” We may often feel weak, overwhelmed, and faithless in the face of our testing. We may also feel confused and question “why this Lord?” I know there are those here now who are battling through those kinds of thoughts and feel they have no strength left to fight. Let me encourage you…this may be the very time God will manifest His power in your life. Paul saw his own weakness as the very platform which God would use to display His power. It is through these life trials that God sovereignly transforms our trust and reliance on our ourselves-------to an ultimate faith in His plan and His purpose to conform us into the image of Christ. We see the purpose of the test in the first part of verse 3, leading to the…

II. Result of the Test 

A. To Produce Steadfastness

“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Note what the testing of our faith produces-------Steadfastness. We don’t use that word too often in conversation these days. So, what is Steadfastness? It means endurance, patience, or constancy. I did a quick search of Scripture on this word and found that it frequently appears in passages with words like, affliction, suffering, character, hardship, calamity, and persecution. It is character quality that doesn’t come naturally. It must be developed. It must be learned. It’s the ability to maintain proper perspective. To hold onto our convictions as we navigate the storms of life.

A steadfast faith is an active faith. Steadfast faith swims against the current of a culture celebrating sin. Steadfast faith obeys God rather than man. Steadfast faith recognizes being a faithful Christian may get you fired, ridiculed, laughed at, or even imprisoned. Steadfast faith develops in the daily struggles of life.

1 Cor 15:58  says “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” It’s not wasted. At the very least, it garners eternal reward in heaven. So, remain faithful as the storm rages and the arrows fly. And if we find ourselves hated by this world, recall Jesus’s words in Matthew 10:22… “and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” The word “endures” here means to remain under, to bear, persevere, suffer patiently, and tarry behind. This does not mean God saves us because we endure, but rather we endure because God saves us. God tests our faith to develop a persistent trust in Him that rarely manifests outside of hardship. We will never become spiritually mature, unless we develop endurance. And we can only develop endurance as we persevere in faith through painful experiences. Growth will not happen if we shelter ourselves from difficulty and testing. We do not produce steadfastness on the couch, but in the field. God brings tests not only to test and validate our faith, to strengthen our faith…but finally..

B. To Produce Sanctification 

As we move on to verse 4…James encourages his readers to seek the sanctifying effect of patient endurance in their suffering. He says “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James does not refer here to moral perfection or sinlessness, but spiritual maturity. Trials make Christians pliable, like heat makes metal pliable. A purifying effect occurs as the metal becomes stronger, harder, less brittle, and in the case of precious metals, more valuable. In her book “Secure in the Everlasting Arms”, Elizabeth Elliot says “He makes us wait. He keeps us on purpose in the dark. He makes us walk when we want to run, sit when we want to walk, for He has things to do in our souls that we are not interested in.”

Christians grow through conformity. It matures us. Perfect. Complete. It’s the idea of being------aged to perfection. And this process takes time. With each trial, God moves us towards a greater and greater state of maturity and completion. The steadfastness developed through trials that test our faith drives us to deeper communion with and greater trust in Christ. This produces within us a stable, godly, righteous character. It enables us to withstand waves of affliction that bombard us.

Let the heat accomplish its purification process. “Let steadfastness have its full effect”. Notice the submissive will involved here. God, in His sovereign, infinite power, wisdom, and knowledge calls us to give up control. Why fight Him? Couldn’t he be using this trial to aid in our growth?

Parents use all kinds of circumstance to prepare their children for the challenges of life. We give them advice and direction and what do they say? Dad, Mom… “I KNOW, I KNOW”. It’s amazing how much we know. It’s equally amazing how much we don’t know. I’m reminded of the quote attributed to Mark Twain… “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But, when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years.” Who do you think did more of the growing in those years? Probably the teenager. In like fashion, who needs to grow more, God or US?

A spiritually mature believer can say, Lord, I don’t understand this trial and it doesn’t make sense to me, but you know better than I do, so I’m not going to fight you on this.” Time and experience prove necessary in the development of steadfastness. Fruit takes time to reach maturity. We don’t pluck a peach until it’s ripe.

A mature faith withstands intense pressure with tenacity. A mature faith sees the storms coming and refuses to be swept away by the wind and waves of doubt, frustration, anger, and hopelessness.

A mature faith sees the value in trials, pulling us closer to the Lord we love in prayer. We will not be perfect in this life. James 3:2 says that we all stumble in many ways. But the unmistakable direction of our lives will be increasing holiness and decreasing sinfulness--------not an obligation, but a privilege.

In the Civil War, soldiers with nerves shattered by the violence of war, struggled to discharge their weapons. If you’re familiar with the process, a soldier would load the powder, ram it down the barrel, and fire. Again, and again other soldiers, after the battle, retrieved weapons with so much powder filling the barrel to overflow because they had never fired a shot. They continued to load, but never unloaded, if you catch my meaning.  In essence, they had no effect.

How often do we, like that rifle, load ourselves to overflow without ever unleashing God’s call to faith in action.  We, like them, have no effect.  Steadfastness means we not only fill ourselves, but fire. We not only sit here in the comfort of this room, ingesting the word of God, but put our faith into action, so we might be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing….

Conclusion:

We look forward to Christlikeness. We must also recognize that true perfection before God only comes through Christ. It is only through a right relationship in Him we can stand before a holy God. It is only then when verse 12 becomes a reality, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  God uses trials to test the genuineness of our faith and to grow us in godliness.