Count it All Joy- A Donelson Fellowship Pocket Paper

Count it all Joy

A Pocket Paper
from
The Donelson Fellowship

January 13, 2008

______________________

Message by Robert J. Morgan, Senior Pastor

The Donelson Fellowship

3210 McGavock Pike

Nashville, TN 37214

615/871-4769

www.donelson.org

For the last year or two, I’ve preached quite a bit about dealing with the pressures and problems of life, about faith, about trusting the Lord. As a matter of fact, we recently finished a series of sermons from the book of Job on that very subject. I know that in my own life and in the life of those with whom I counsel, there’s a great need for encouragement and for a message of faith. Someone wrote a book entitled, “In Every Pew There Sits a Broken Heart.” That phrase is based, I believe, on an old quote from the great British pastor of yesteryear, Dr. Joseph Parker; and I try to keep that in mind when I’m preparing my sermons.

But not long ago I thought to myself, “I’ve been preaching about this too much; I need to preach on the commandments, on moral behavior, on sin, on how we should live, on practical matters of everyday obedience.” So I decided to begin 2008 with a series of sermons from the book of James on practical obedience 365 days a year, because James is arguably the most practical book in the New Testament on ethics and moral behavior.

But I had forgotten how the book begins. So even though I’ve known this passage for years, somehow it came as a shock to me when I started reading this book of James, which deals with all kinds of ethical and behavioral issues, and the first thing out of his mouth was: “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you fall into various trials, because these have come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance.” The starting point is always faith, the life of faith, the victory of faith.

So let’s begin our study of the text of the book of James by reading this passage, the first paragraph of James, and then I want to show you today the five methodologies he gives for dealing with the hard times that come into our lives:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him. 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. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does (James 1:1-8).

I’ve loved this passage since I was in college, but as I studied it afresh in preparation for this message, I saw it in simpler terms than I’ve ever noticed before. It seems to me that James is clearly giving us five methodologies for dealing with stress and strain and pressures and problems.

Turn Yourself Over to the Lord Jesus Christ

My brothers and sisters

Verse 2

One of the most important words here is brothers. It’s a word that James uses over and over in his epistle – about 19 times – far more than the apostle Paul did in his letters. For example, here in chapter 1 he says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers…. The brother in humble circumstances… Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers… My dear brothers, take note of this…

And as James begins chapter 2, he defines what he means by brothers: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism….

The Greek word adelphoi means brothers and sisters, and it refers to his fellow believers, to those who have come to the saving knowledge of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. The advice James is giving here is applicable only to Christians. It doesn’t work for non-Christians. It’s isn’t applicable to them. They have no access to this grace, which is found only in Christ. You can’t give your problems to Christ until you’ve given yourself to Him. One of our greatest desires this year is to lead more people to Christ and to see more people come to the saving knowledge of Christ and to become a part of his family. Maybe you. Maybe today.

Reason Your Way Into a Different Mindset

Consider it Pure Joy…

Verse 2

Second, if you are a Christian, you have the prerogative and the privilege of reasoning your way into a different mindset about the burdens of life. Verse 2 says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds….

The old translations said, “Count it all joy.” The word count or consider is a Greek word that means to think something through, to consider something mentally, to look at something from a different mindset. The actual Greek term, ἡγέομαι hēgéomai, means to make a decision about something after weighing all the facts and circumstances. That’s why the NIV uses the word “consider” instead of the old King James word “count.”

This doesn’t mean that Christians jump for joy in the face of tragedy. It means that when we have a series of reversals or difficulties, our first emotions and reactions will be hard, but we have divine resources and divine help and divine promises and a divine presence, and therefore we can think it through and work it out in our minds. And in so doing we’ll come to a different conclusion about our problems than a non-Christian would.

I remember hearing my wife talk about this once in regard to her mother, Hilja. My mother-in-law was a wonderful Christian woman who dearly loved the Lord and was ever so faithful to her little village church in West Paris, Maine. She raised seven children, and on one occasion she was confronted with terrible news about one of them. It was like a blow in the stomach. But as Katrina remembers it, her mother took off her apron, walked out the door, and walked and walked and walked, thinking it through, praying about it, giving it to the Lord, and when she returned she was composed and able to deal with things.

Some years ago, something similar happened to me. I was confronted with a very difficult situation and I didn’t know what to do. Lives were at stake, and I needed to make a wise decision, and my heart was very heavy. I went out to a state park and stayed for two days, just pouring over my Bible and taking long walks, and praying about it and trying to get the mind of Christ; and when I came back I knew what I should do about the situation.

The writer of Psalm 73 did this. He was very cast down in his mind and in his heart, very disturbed, and he goes on in verse after verse about his pain and perplexity; then he comes to verse 17 and there’s a break-through. He said, in effect, “I went into the sanctuary, I altered my thinking, I begin to see things from God’s perspective, and I understood.”

Let me put it this way. Last year I checked into a motel in Tulsa, and my room was an icebox. The air conditioner is one of those under-the-window units, and no matter how I adjusted the setting, it still blew out cold air. I didn’t want maintenance staff tromping through my room, so I just endured it, but I just about froze to death. I fiddled with the controls on the air conditioner a dozen times every day, but it was still cold as an icebox in my room. Finally the time came for me to leave, and I packed up the room. As I was walking out the door, I noticed another thermostat, this one on the wall, set in the low 60’s. Out of curiosity (and feeling like an idiot) I adjusted it, and the air-conditioner responded immediately. Evidently when the room was updated, the controls were switched.

Our emotions are like that. They blow hot and cold, unresponsive to our efforts to adjust them. Sometimes when I’m angry, depressed, or anxious I try to adjust my mood, but it doesn’t cooperate. The real thermostat is my brain, and the best way to adjust my emotions is by adjusting my thoughts. If I can start thinking differently, my feelings respond. That’s why the Bible puts so much emphasis on our minds, and the first thing James says to us is Consider, Count, Reckon, Think it through in the light of God’s Word, begin to see it from God’s perspective, count it all joy when you fall into various trials and problems.

3. See Your Trials in Terms of God’s Chain Reaction

…the testing of your faith develops perseverance

Verses 3-4

You say, “Well, how do I do that? What do I think about? In what direction should my mind go?” That leads to the third step in this process: See your trials in terms of God’s chain reaction. Look at the passage again:

In 1954, President Eisenhower, responding to a reporter’s question about Indochina, said, “You have… what you would call the ‘falling domino’ principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.” This became known as the famous “Domino Theory” that led to the Vietnam War. Historians still debate the merits of the Domino Theory, but the Bible has a Domino Theory of its own—except that it’s no theory. The trial becomes a test that produces perseverance which leads to maturity.

First of all, we have the trial, which is the testing of our faith. I’m just as sure that this happens to us as I’m sure that I’m standing here right now. In the Gospels, do you remember how Jesus would spend the day teaching the disciples something; and then he would have them get into the boat and they would sail into a storm and go into sheer panic. And Jesus would quiet the storm and then ask the disciples why had they not learned anything from His teaching. The storm was His way of testing their faith.

I have had times in my life in which I faced a crisis—or what I perceived to be a crisis—and I know the Lord was using it to test my faith and to see if I would really trust Him or not, and so many times I failed the test.

The trial is a test.

What trial are you facing right now? What problem are you having? Don’t think of it as a problem, but as a test. God is watching to see if you’re going to trust Him.

And what comes out it? Perseverance: You know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Perseverance is the ability to keep right on going with joy in our hearts despite apparent setbacks and disappointments, and this seems to be a quality that the Lord values almost beyond all else. There is another passage in the Bible that teaches exactly this same thing. Look at what the apostle Paul said in Romans 5: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance….

Notice the same sequence… Sufferings… joy… perseverance….

Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

From our perspective, stress and strain and problems and pain are those things that mar our lives; but from God’s perspective, those are the things that develop our faith and our perseverance and make us people of maturity. James said: Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

There was a famous Salvation Army evangelist of yesteryear named Samuel Logan Brengle. When he became old, he faced many physical problems including encroaching blindness. But his attitude never faltered. Writing to a friend, he said, “My old eyes get dimmer. The specialist says the light will fade altogether. So I gird myself for darkness, quote James 1:2 to 4, shout Hallelujah and go on!” (Quoted in Samuel Logan Brengle: Portrait of a Prophet by Clarence W. Hall (Atlanta: The Salvation Army Supplies and Purchasing Dept., 1933), p. 247.)

That’s perseverance. That’s maturity. Trials become tests that develop perseverance and maturity. That is God’s pattern for every one of His children, including you and me. So here are James’ steps: (1) Give your heart to Jesus Christ; (2) think through your problems in the light of His grace; (3) recognize that every problem creates a chain reaction designed to deepen and mature you. And (4) ask God for wisdom.

4. Ask God for Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God

Verse 5

Now, we all need wisdom in many ways. We were just talking about that Thursday night in the deacon’s meeting. The deacons of this church are an underappreciated lot. We gather month by month by month, year after year, and we bear the burden of the church. What should we do about this and about that? And when we gathered this past week, we talked though a problem, and we didn’t know what to do; so we said that we would ask God for wisdom. We would take the whole month and just ask God for wisdom. Do you know that I have learned that when I take my time and pray through a matter and ask God for wisdom and think it through in His presence, I almost never make a bad decision? But if I skip one of those steps, I usually live to regret it. We need to ask God for wisdom, but the context here is specific. We need to ask God for the wisdom to see our trials and tribulations and problems and pressures from His perspective. Lord, help me to see this situation as You do. Help me to understand this trouble as You see it. Give me the wisdom to react to it as You would.

5.Trust Him to Grant Your Request and to Meet Your Need

But let Him ask in Faith

Verses 6-7

The fifth and final step, then, is to expect and fully trust the Lord to answer your prayer and to give you the necessary wisdom. Look at verses 6-7: 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. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Now, faith is always a very important commodity, but this is talking about something specific. When you are facing a trial and a trouble, count it all joy because you know that God is testing your faith and setting up a chain reaction whereby you are going to grow increasingly into His image. So ask God to show you how to respond and how to react, and don’t doubt that He will do it. He will certainly give you the wisdom to find His will, respond to His promises, and react to that problem in a way that pleases Him.

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