It's always a great joy for us together to open God's Word, and I invite you to open your copy of Scripture to James chapter 1. James chapter 1, and I have a note sheet in your bulletin today if you'd like to follow along. And as you're turning there, I just want to say again what a joy it was for Lori and for me to just be able to sit in this parenting and this discipling children conference this past Friday night and yesterday morning. It was great fellowship with so many of you. It was great food and coffee. But even more so, it was great instruction from a skilled, seasoned biblical counselor, Paul Tripp. I say it was fun, but there were moments of pain. Not the least of which was just a memory or two that came through my own mind. This is the first time I've been to a parenting conference since I became an empty nester, as far as I can recall. I mean, we've led conferences, we've attended conferences on this topic, but now I'm doing it and looking at it in the rearview mirror as a parent. And man, I just had a few regrets that the Lord's merciful, but I wish I would've done differently as a parent. And one of them that came to my mind, I don't know why, was when Jared, my son Jared, who's now 20, six foot four, he used to be a lot smaller than that and younger, right? And I remember once when he was probably four, maybe five years old, little kid, living in North Carolina, And he was wearing shorts one day, and he was into a cowboy phase. And so he'd have his pistol on his hip, a cowboy hat on, and he'd wear, with his shorts, cowboy boots. And he was just a cowboy. And it was fun. He was out playing with his sisters one day, riding his wagon down our sidewalk, an inclined sidewalk, and he fell out. We never did find out exactly what happened, what caused the accident. Were sisters getting revenge or what happened? But he, and this happened right before I got home from work that day, he really hurt his leg. And so I was coming home just a little bit after that, and it was time for dinner. And of course, Jared's in tears, and his legs really hurt. We're wondering, how serious is this? Well, for some reason, I don't know why, but I was doubting my son. I said, well, let's talk about it after dinner. I just wanted to see if it would wear off, or if he was into the drama of being injured. And this sounds like a loving father, doesn't it? So we went all the way through dinner. We ate our dinner. And then I nudged Lori. I said, watch this. And I announced that we were going to go out for ice cream after dinner. And well, my plan was my kids would jump out of their seats, jump up and down, and run towards the van. Well, my daughters got excited, got out of their seats, were excited to go get ice cream. And it worked for Jared, too. He jumped out of his seat. and collapsed to the floor in pain. I was like, OK, that's not a good sign. This might be legit. So since I was the one buying time or trying to see if this was genuine, I was the one that got nominated to take him to the emergency room. Still not convinced. I don't know why. I don't know what my problem was that day. So we got to the emergency room. I'm carrying him in and trying to be compassionate. And we're waiting our time. And when they called his name, I was like, let's go, Jared. And I was seeing if he would stand up and at least limp back. He stood up and collapsed to the ground in pain. I'm like, yeah, this is legit. And they took him in for an x-ray. And to my shame, my son had a spiral fracture of his leg. It wasn't a break where you could see the bend. And there was no discoloration. But it was a fracture that wrapped around like a baseball stitch on a baseball. And I just felt horrible. So I'm telling you, I think I bought him donuts and ice cream a lot immediately after that episode. You say, well, that sounds like a real loving dad. Your son is in pain. And you came for him only to what? Inflict more pain. What a dad. And I look at that and I say, I regret that scene, but my son has moved past that and seems to love me anyway today. You know, sometimes, normally, when a father sees his child in pain, he goes to him to comfort him. In spite of my bad example that time, I would hope that that could be the description of how I went to my children when they were hurting. They're in pain, and we're coming for them, to comfort them. You know, that illustration Reminds me of what's going on here in this epistle, the opening verses of the epistle of James. We saw last week that James is writing to Jewish believers. He's writing to the scattered congregation who scattered out from Jerusalem because of the persecution that we see kicking up in Acts chapter 8 through Acts chapter 12. And the persecution of Jews against these Jewish Christians now was so intense that the book of Acts tells us that the church itself, which would be thousands, several thousands were in the church by this point in the book of Acts, the church itself scattered to surrounding regions. Some of these believers landed in other Jewish towns, but more of them were landing in Jewish and Gentile held regions, and some were going as far as Gentile regions. All because of persecution. All because of the reaction against the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So persecution, getting hurt, sent them out. But it wasn't long, probably just four or five years after this, that word continued to come back to James, who had stayed in Jerusalem. He was the leader of the church there, and he had stayed in Jerusalem. He was getting news back that his congregation that was scattered because of persecution were landing in worse persecution. And now it's not just the Jews persecuting, the unsaved Jews persecuting the Christian Jews out there. But now the Gentiles are joining in as well. And it's not that they're just having their feelings heard and people are rejecting their message. They are assailing not just the message, but the Christian Jews themselves. You know, you have to think, if you were one of those Christians that was scattered, it was like, well, wow, I'm getting hit out here too. I mean, I could have stayed home at Jerusalem and gotten this. But they'd uprooted everything familiar to them, and they went out to these regions, and they were being hurt. They were being assailed. And if that weren't bad enough, these Christians were so disoriented, they didn't understand why, they didn't understand the details of what was working in them, they were so disoriented by their persecution that these Christians now were now turning their guns on each other, so to speak. There was disunity between Christians as they were getting clobbered. Now they're turning on each other. And their tongues are starting to wag, and gossip is starting to get a stronghold, and anger is a key player in the lives of these Christians now. You know, pain does that, and persecution and rejection does that. It brings out what's in your heart, doesn't it? And this external persecution was really turning this church in against itself. And they're hurting. They're in pain. And James is a faithful pastor who, when he knows his children are in pain, he goes for them. He reaches out to them to help and to comfort. And though he doesn't travel to them because they are spread out across a wide region, he does the next best thing. He puts his pen to paper and he preaches to them a pastoral message through these five chapters of what we call James. They'd only been out there for five, four or five years at the most, but James is coming to them. He's coming to them with a pastoral pen. And what do you think will first roll off of this caring pastor's pen to his scattered, hurting congregation? Well, I'll tell you what's going to come off his pen. What comes off the pen of every faithful pastor. He's going to take man's problems to God's solutions. That's what he's going to do. But here's how he's going to do it. He's not going to tell them that they're not getting persecuted. They are. He's not going to tell them that it's not painful. It is. And he's not going to gloss over the fact that they are now turning on each other because they are. But what James is going to do as a faithful pastor is he is going to say this, where he's going to address the hardships they're in, but he's going to move past those hardships and say, look what's coming out of your heart. These things you're reeling from are actually putting you into a position for you to live out a genuine Christianity that's believable. You know, anyone can live out a believable expression of Christianity when everything's going great. When everyone's serving your favorite coffee, when everyone's being kind to you and using your name and praise, everyone can live out, quote unquote, a good Christian life then. But when you are getting hammered in that marriage, when you are getting hammered in that workplace, when you are getting hammered because of your faith and because of your distinctness as a disciple of Christ, now we're going to see what's genuine. James is going to say to them in a very loving pastoral manner, you say it, but now that we're in trials, let's see it. Let's see it. I put this in your notes at the top of your sheet. James is clear that in order for you to experience change in your life during trials, or if I can use the word matters, In order for you to experience change in your life during trials, you must have a radical transformation in your thinking, in your mind, right in the midst of your trials. One commentator by the name of Ron Blue at Dallas Theological Seminary simply says this, James' direct commands are going to be coupled with deep compassion. He's going to love through his pen his scattered flock. But part of loving your flock is speaking the truth to them. He's going to take man's problems to God's solutions. You say, well what does Pastor James prescribe in verses 2 through 4? What he's going to prescribe are three changes that must take place in your thinking, especially during the valleys, especially during the trials. Three changes that must take place in your thinking. First of all, number one, when you're getting hammered, When you are getting crushed by tests and trials, you must start here. You must adjust your values. You must adjust your values. Now look at verses 1 and 2 of James chapter 1. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings." We saw that last week. Verse 2. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, various tests, Look at that first phrase, consider it all joy. What is he saying here? What do you mean adjust your values? I think you could word it this way. You could say that James is saying to those in his congregation who are scattered and just getting squeezed by trials, he says radically change the currency of what is valuable to your joy. Change the currency. You know, I want to stop right there and just bring this to 2017 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. What is the currency of what you consider valuable for you to have joy? How do you fill in that blank? People like us tend to fill in that blank with, well, peace in my relationships around me. That's the currency of what is valuable to my joy. If I can have a peaceful relationship with those around me, especially those the closest to me, that's my currency for joy. If I can't have that, I can't have joy. Others would fill in the blank with a financial cushion. Others would fill in the blank of currency as to what is valuable to your joy with perfect kids. Or they might fill in that blank with an effective, fruitful ministry. Or they might fill it in with being in a setting, being in a marriage where communication is just awesome. When I can't have that, no joy. When I have that, I'm very sweet. I have joy. Some of you might fill that blank in. What do you value? What is your currency for your joy? You might value it with a good hair day. This is some of you, just hair in general, right? Some of you might fill in the blank with a low handicap in a golf game. I think you get my point. We all have a currency that we trade in. And if we have this currency We have our joy. If we don't, there's no joy. But what James is saying here out of the gate is adjust your values. Radically change the currency of what is valuable to your joy. Look at verse 2 again. Consider it all joy. This word consider, this is a fascinating term if you were to go out to a coffee back in that day. Not that they had coffee shops. The businessmen at the coffee shop would be using this word. This is an accounting term, a financial term. You are counting, you are considering. You are saying, the facts are this. when it comes to numbers, if you're a businessman, or spiritually, when we come to what James is communicating here. Consider it all joy, or count it all joy. He's saying there's an attitude that you need to adopt. Understand this, whatever he's saying here in the opening verses of chapter two, he is not commanding you to feel anything. When he says count, he's commanding you to value something. Or you could look at it this way, this word count is not a command to emote, it's a command to evaluate and to fix a value on. And I'll finish this sentence, this first phrase, consider it all joy. That's the translation of the New American Standard and a similar translation to the English Standard Version. All joy. Now a lot of times, those of us who kind of fall as a default mode to bulldozer Christianity, you know what bulldozer Christianity is, right? We're like, okay, I'm supposed to be happy all the time, so I'm going to smile, and I'm going to grit my teeth in the worst of days, and I'm just going to push ahead because someone might be watching me, and praise the Lord, I'm just pushing through, and that's a bulldozer Christianity. And some of the bulldozer Christians look at this verse and say, I'm supposed to consider everything that happens to me joy. It says, all joy. Consider it all joy. Well, understand this. That's not what this verse is calling you to. It's saying when you are getting hammered, as we're going to see in the rest of this verse, down through chapter 1, verse 4 in this sermon, this isn't a call for you to rejoice in the bad things that you sustain. This is calling you to value as a joy what these bad persecutions, these bad squeezing of your heart and your soul, everything that's happening to you that's unpleasant, the fact that it's all happening to you is working something really big and you're going to consider that joy. You're going to consider that joy. Some translate it this way, count it pure joy. Or someone else put it this way, this is joy that is full or unmixed, not just some joy coupled with much grief. He's saying this, you need to adjust your values because you're getting crushed right now and I want you to look around and through the pain there's something big going on here. It's big enough that it should usher into your value system the reason for the greatest amount of joy possible. Count it all joy. Homer Kent, in his excellent work on James, puts it this way, the trial itself is not called a joy, but the encounter is. I mean, look at it this way. I've shared this illustration before. Is this verse calling me to be thankful for Christmas morning 1989 when my dad died, and I was 22 years old, married for only four or five months? Is this verse calling me to be happy and filled with all joy because dad died? No. It's calling me to see that even in the darkness of an event like that, God is doing something big. You can be joyful over that. I would say to some of you who are experiencing pain, and the doctors say, yeah, you might not experience much relief from this pain for, well, the rest of your life. Is this verse calling you to be joyful in the fact that you're going to hurt? In the fact that you're going to be limited in some movement? No. It's calling you to be joyful, to be filled with pure joy, all joy, because God is using something that painful to do something much bigger than you can imagine. To those of you who are in a difficult marriage, to those of you who've watched adult children leave the faith, to those of you who might be persecuted and ridiculed because of your association with Jesus Christ, are you supposed to rejoice that these difficult times descend on you? And the answer is, not for the pain's sake, but we rejoice with a pure joy. because God's doing something, something big. I want to make two observations about this assignment to adjust your values. Just two observations. Number one, do you understand that this perspective is the privilege of believers only? I mean, if you think about it, only believers can look at the darkest of days and be able to rejoice. Not over the pain, not over the discord, not over the rejection, but they can still rejoice because they believe that their God is up to something much bigger through this pain. This is a privilege of believers only. I want to remind you that 15 times in this epistle you're going to hear James address brothers. This is the privilege of believers only. Let me give you the other side of that coin, the side that deals with unbelievers. Do you understand that for unbelievers, life is only as good as the momentary breaks in their trials, and then they die? They have no perspective like this, that their Heavenly Father is up to something amazing. They go from trial through trial, trying to get through each trial as quickly as they can, so that they can get to recess of a break of trials and pain in their life, knowing that, sure enough, more trials will be coming. That's their life. But not for the believers. The believers carry this amazing confidence in their Lord His amazing hand of sovereignty is orchestrating all the events, even the difficult ones, because He's doing something bigger than just us, than something we can do. Jesus said in John 10.10, I've come that they, My disciples, may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I like what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4.13, that passage that we often go to to talk of our Lord's return for His church. And he says this, we sorrow, but not like those who have no what? Hope. The unsaved have no hope. Ephesians 4 talks about the unbelievers having no understanding. You know, I just want to say just for a moment to you who may be here this morning, again, you know church. You know the Bible, maybe you've even been busy with a religious life, but in your mind, you get up every morning hoping that nothing happens to you bad, because you just need to get through to it before the next bad thing happens. And maybe you're here and you know a lot about Jesus, but you don't know Jesus. You have never cried out to Him for salvation from your sin. You don't understand what it means to dwell and live every day under His Lordship and trusting in His goodness and presence in your life. Well, I just want to say to you, if you come to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance today, that will change. And suddenly your life is not a string of trials, broken only with moments of relief. No. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, He saved you and rescued you from your sins. You're still going to hurt. Life will still be hard. But you lift your face to the one who is over it all, saying, He's up to something amazing, without exception. This is the hope of a believer in Jesus Christ. This is the privilege of believers, and we invite you in if you've never accepted Christ. But I want to make a second observation about adjusting your values. Not only is this the privilege of believers only, but this is a mandate. This is a command. This is a mandate with no exceptions for believers. It means this, whatever a believer in Jesus Christ is facing, this must be lived out. Whatever trial, as a believer in Christ, you'll never get an excuse slip from the office that you don't have to consider it joy, pure joy, because you're in the ultimate trial this time. And your trial trumps any trial you've ever had before, or any that anyone else has ever had. You want to be the exception. No, he says, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. There are no exceptions to this. This word, trials, at the end of verse 2, is a word that we've become familiar with in some of our studies here at Calvary. We saw this word in our study of 1 Corinthians 10.13. It says, there has no temptation, there's no trial, same Greek word, that's overtaking you, but such as is common to man. It's the Greek word parēsmas, and it means to test. It merely means to put to a test, listen, to see what comes out. You know, my son sent my wife and me panicked text messages last week. Why? He had an exam in corporate finance. He's an upperclassman in college studying business. He had an exam in corporate finance, an exam in his communications class, an exam in Bible doctrines class, an exam in accounting. There was another one too. Anyway. I mean, he was panicked. And we're like, you know what? You just pray, prepare your best. And he has been being diligent this year. And he made it through the week and did fairly well. He struggled on one, but there's a lot of semester left in it. But these are what exams do. Exams pull out of you what you claim is inside of you. And that's this word. It's a test, a trial. inward test that that James is going to refer to several times. Outward test. You say well that that's kind of a simple concept. I want you to think about this concept for a minute. The Holy Spirit is telling you right now through the text of scripture that whatever trials you're facing or have faced or will face, the Holy Spirit is telling you right now four things about those tests. Number one, they are certain. They are certain. It says here in verse two, consider it all joy my brethren, and look at the next word, when you encounter various trials, this when, this is just assuming that it's going to happen, it's not if. It's going to happen. Warren Wearsby used to say this to his congregation when he was pastoring, we are God's scattered people, not God's sheltered people. Even though we've been rescued from our sin, we must pass through these tests, through trials. They are certain. Life is hard. I read in Job 14, verse 1, that man is born to trouble as sparks fly upward. Or here, Job, in Job 14, verse 1, man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. That's Job 14, verse 1. And that previous one was Job 5, verse 7. So think about it. The Holy Spirit is telling you right now, just a few lines into James, that the trials in your life are certain. But he's also telling you something else right now. He's telling you that you're surrounded by them. They're not only certain, but they're all around you. It's not that you're going to get a trial or a test every once in a while. You are surrounded. It says here, again in verse 2, when you encounter, when you encounter, this is when you, as the ESV says in its translation, you're going to meet them. This is an interesting word, too. It's a word that means to fall or to fall into. I mean, everywhere you go, you're going to be bumping in or falling into these trials. The Holy Spirit's telling you right now that your test and tests in your life, trials in your life, are certain. They're all around you. It's like you're at the mall at Christmas, just bumping into people everywhere. That's life for the Christian with trials. There's nothing wrong with your Christian life if you think, why am I always going through trials? Understand, this is normal. You're very much alive in your trials, as many as you bump into. And the fact that you're alive makes you sensitive to them, yes, but gives you hope. The Holy Spirit is telling you right now in this moment that your tests are certain, that they're surrounding you, but thirdly, that they come in all shapes and sizes. Isn't this just an encouraging sermon so far? It says here in verse two, as you encounter what kind of trials? Various. various trials. Some even would choose to translate this word very colored and I find it interesting that in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament called the Septuagint, it uses this same word that James is using to describe a certain multicolored coat. Remember that? I mean, what James is saying, I know you're getting crushed by persecution. And you're kind of focused on just that one stripe of trial. Open your eyes. You're having trials in more than just the area of persecution. You're being tried and tested. It's all around you, and it comes in all different shapes and sizes. I mean, just think about the areas you can be tested in. in the category of circumstances. This is what happens to you. Things you didn't ask for, you'd never sign up for, they're happening to you. Those are your circumstances. But you're also tested and tried in the area of relationships. You enter into a relationship with great promise only to see someone turn and it's like, wow, ouch, yuck, bad. And that's just another area of tests. You have circumstances, relationships, and then of course, you have what James is going to discuss in verses 14 and 15 of this chapter, and it's your struggle with sin. These tests will come from all different directions, they're all different, and they are certain. But the Holy Spirit is also telling you in this moment right now, through this text, that your tests, your trials, listen, are never wasted. God wastes no trial in your life. Ever. A lot of people like to divide your life up into segments. You ever notice that? Like if I were to say, Casey, divide your life up for me, Casey would list out things like home, Okay, well, even break that down. Marriage, parenting, work, church, and recreation. Those are kind of the big categories. And it's interesting. If we divided your life up in the same categories, the home, work, church, recreation, other relationships. You understand, if we are looking at verse 2 correctly, that you should be able to look in every segment of those categories of your life, your home, your friendships, your recreation and health, your church, your work, and you will be able to identify, if you look, tests and pain in every single category. not just in the one that you seem to be fixated on right now. It's coming at you. Puritan John Trapp put it this way, God only had one son without sin, but he's never had a son without sorrow. Interesting. What does James say you need to do? What needs to happen If you're going to go through these trials of life, when you're in pain, number one, adjust your values. Consider it pure joy. You say, well, is this a call to being a stoic, bulldozer face, counterfeit joy, because someone may be watching Christianity? And the answer is no. Because on the heels of verse two, he prescribes, secondly, embrace the process. Embrace the process. And I see this in verse 3, but I want to read verse 2 again to get the momentum into verse 3. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, here we go, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. The testing of your faith. This word testing is a different word than trials up in verse 2. This is a word that means judged or a verdict handed down. There is a decision here. It means to be approved. Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 1, verse 7, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, there it is, same word, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You see, it's one thing for someone to say, I have a strong faith in Christ. You know what Christ does? He loves you so much that he's going to submit that faith that you claim you have to trials. And we'll see what comes out. You know, everyone's excited. Well, most everyone. Maybe a lot of people. are excited about the Michigan Wolverines football team. And we hear the coach interviewed, we're the best, we're the toughest. And we hear the players, we see them being honored, and we're the best, we're the toughest. And that happens to be my team, so I tend to believe them. But you keep saying that every year, but if you don't beat Ohio State, if you fail that test, guess what? You're not the best. We judge you not authentic. That's a shallow illustration, but I'm reaching for it. I understand. You know what? When we say embrace the process, it's simply this. Understand what these tests are doing and why they are necessary. They are proving your faith. They are proving your faith. One writer puts it this way, affliction lets down a blazing torch into the depths of someone's nature, and so that that person can see many things which he little expected to see. He finds his faith weak where he thought it was strong, and his views dim where he thought they were clear. There's a testing that's going on. And this testing is producing something. Knowing that, the testing of your faith produces endurance. This is a very, very important word. It's hupomene. It means to remain in the scene, if you will. To remain under the pressure. As one man said, it's the staying power of life that allows you to not only stay on your feet, but fully face the storm. What is this testing doing? It's testing of faith, and it's producing in the faith you claim, endurance. Listen, that would never come if you were not being tested. Embrace this process. I'll put it to you this way in a sermonic way. If there's no furnace, there will be no fruit. If there is no heat, there will be no ultimate happiness. If there is no win, there will be no winning. If there is no pain, what does the company say? No what? No gain. If there's no grief, there will be no growth. Paul agrees. Paul agrees with James. In Romans chapter 5 verses 3 through 5, listen, and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that, look at this, tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Paul's saying, if there are no trials, there can be no maturity. He'll say it again in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 where he talks about the fruit of the Spirit. Every one of those manifestations of the Spirit's fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Every one of those a response to a trial in the form of a person. So Paul agrees with James and you know who else does? Peter does. Hold your finger here in James and go to 2nd Peter, just a few pages to the right. 2nd Peter chapter 1, he's going to say the same thing. 2 Peter 1, verse 5, Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence. And in your moral excellence, knowledge, verse 6. And in your knowledge, self-control. And in your self-control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." See perseverance right in the middle of that? Embrace the process. This is a necessary process. Let me see if I can boil down this embracing the process to two observations. Observation one, experience will be your teacher. Experience will be your teacher. See, what do you mean by that? Well, it's always fun to do premarital counseling. I've been doing premarital counseling since the mid-90s. I don't even know how many couples I've had the joy of working through premarital material with. It's so fun. One of my favorite types of counseling to do. Why? Because they're excited to get married. They want to be in the counseling room. A lot of your counseling is with people who don't want to be there, right? But they want to be in there. They're excited. You give them a homework assignment, they do it. And I always give them my favorite book on marriage, which is called Love That Lasts, and say, hey, let's talk through this. And so we're talking through it. But I tell them, too, after we get through the premarital counseling, to read that book in a year. They love the book, and they've done all their homework, and they've written important statements down from the book, but I tell them, it'll read differently after you've been married for a while. Go back and read it again. Why? Because experience will be your teacher. You can get excited about marriage, but once you're inside, you don't realize how selfish you are. It's the same with parenting. It's great to read parenting books and go to seminars, but once the kids start showing up for any couple, I say, go back to the seminars now, and read the books now. You'll feel like you never read them. Experience is the teacher. And you say, where is the experience coming from? It's that first word in verse 3, knowing. Knowing. Gnosko. This is a present participle knowing this. Know through experience. You're gonna know by what you get into. And we're talking trials here. I mean, you can study, you can go to a Financial Peace University, and you should, and I hope we offer it again, as we have in the past, and do it before you get into trouble, but the material will read all differently and even more urgent if you're already in financial trouble. I've spent 17 years now training on the undergraduate and the graduate level at a couple different Bible colleges and seminaries, and it's great, but it's one thing to talk to guys in the classroom about what ministry will be like and what ministry trials really feel like, but I'm telling you, they're calling me five, ten years into the ministry saying, I'm in it now. I know you covered this in class, but this really hurts. And sometimes they're not ready to learn until after they're feeling the pain. Experience will be your teacher. Let me give you a second observation about embracing the process. Experience as a teacher, and number two, perseverance will be the fruit. Perseverance will be the fruit. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. No testing, no endurance. It's as if you're a little kid that ran outside, and you played in the mud all day long, and you go back home, and just before you walk in the back door, mom says, don't even think about walking in here. Go stand by the back porch. And she comes out and turns that hose on you, and it's cold, and it's somewhat violent. But she has full force on that and she wants to get all that yuck off of you and just get down to who you really are. That's what tests are doing in your life as a Christian every day. It's taking the yuck off you to show you who you really are and how you need to truly grow still. It reveals the genuine faith, you claim. It also removes any facade you've put on Trials are humbling and they produce perseverance. So his congregation's getting hurt and he's writing a prescription. First of all, he says, adjust your values. And then he says, embrace the process. You say, well, are these trials and tests that believers then and now going through, are they all disconnected events? And the answer is no, they are strung together by your good sovereign Lord. And not only do you need to adjust your values and embrace the process, but thirdly, enjoy the maturity. Enjoy the maturity. Look at verse 4. And let endurance, that's how verse 3 ended and verse 4 starts. Let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. I need you to make a very important distinction in your understanding of these two verses. The goal of enduring your test is not merely to build endurance. You don't want to get to the end of your life and say, well, I endured a lot. You don't want that to be the end of your story. You must go through tests from all different directions all the time Why? Because they produce endurance. But endurance is not the destination. Listen, endurance is the vehicle that will carry you to the destination. If you and I are not growing in endurance, which we can't grow in if we're not being tested, then we'll never get to the destination. What is the destination here? It says that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. It's perfect and complete. It's fascinating. You know what verse four is telling you this morning? It's saying, this only comes to you, maturity as a Christian only comes to you as you stay put in your tests. as you stay put. It says, and let endurance. This is an imperative. This is a command. You stay in on the scene. You don't quit. You don't pull out of that relationship. You don't quit that ministry. You don't declare, this test is over. I think I know what I needed to learn. It's not your call. You want to know what it looks like? It sounds a lot like Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10 where he says, it's only in my weakness that now I understand strength. The more I taste that, the more I want to grow. So here's how it works out. I'm going to take pleasure in my infirmities. Not because you're enjoying the pain, but because of what the pain is producing. The Nelson study Bible puts it this way. This is talking about purging and refining, not destroying and afflicting. The fact is that storms must pummel the soil of your life to produce this fruit, and it is true that harder ground demands more storms. This only comes as you stay putting your tests, but I'll also say this. This maturity we're seeing that's described as perfect and complete, this total maturity, will saturate your entire life, not just be segmented into your relationship with your family, or church, or work, or recreation, or health. The maturity you're learning will saturate the entirety of your life. Perfect. This is a word telios. It just means to reach the goal. He's going to use this word again in verse 17 and 25 of the same chapter. We'll see that when we get to it. What's this complete? This means just being whole. Having all the parts undamaged and present. Perfect and complete. Wow. You know Paul's going to put these two words together as well in Colossians 4.12? Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in his prayers. Listen, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Homer Kent in his commentary says, this is growing up with all your limbs intact. You don't want to just be mature as a Christian in one area, your church life, or just your marriage, or just your health and recreation. You want it to saturate every area of your life. This is the destination. And by the way, will we reach this destination ultimately in this life? No. We're moving towards it. But it's not until we're in the presence of the Lord someday and glorified that will reach it all the way. As a matter of fact, Paul said at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4, verse 7, I've fought the good fight. Are you done fighting, Paul? Well, no, I'm fighting right now, still. I've finished the course. Paul, are you done running? No, actually, I'm still running. And I've kept the faith. Are you done keeping the faith? No, I'm still guarding it. But I'm almost home. I'm almost home. And in the future, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness," he writes. If you are in the race and facing forward, you will not be left behind in maturity. It says at the end of verse four, lacking nothing. I'm putting your notes there, a quote from Spurgeon. Many men and women owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. The opening words of James are like an unexpected bugle call on a heroic note. He's clear. If you're going to experience change in your life during trials, You must have a radical transformation in your thinking. And he prescribes this. Adjust your values. This is only something the believer can do. Embrace the process and enjoy the maturity. You say, well, is this a moralistic outline? Absolutely not. Because this should sound familiar to you already. What do you mean? Adjust your values, embrace the process, and enjoy the maturity. It does sound a little familiar. I'm not sure where I've seen that before. I want you to go back just a few pages to Hebrews chapter 12. And you're going to see all three of these present in the life of someone you love. Hebrews 12 verse 1. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us." And verse 2 is where you're going to see this familiar face living out these three mindsets. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You want to know someone who perfectly adjusted his values, if I can use human terms to describe the infinite? You want to know someone who embraced the process? Someone who enjoyed the maturity? Again, if I can speak in human words about the infinite, Jesus Christ as a man perfectly lives this out. And in all of your failures and frustrations in your trials and in your tests, be they circumstances or pain or relationships or sin, all your failures, He has fully suffered for on the cross. And you get credit for Him living out what James is prescribing. So you can. You can think differently and grow through these trials of yours. Your father's coming for you. I know you're hurting. And through the pen of James, he's telling you, you hang in there. And you can rejoice. Not at the pain. what he's doing through it. No pain, no endurance, no endurance, no maturity.