Coping with Troubles (James 1:9-12)
It is generally assumed that James
wrote his letter to Jewish Christians outside Palestine who were facing
troubles of different kinds for their faith. Since James was martyred about AD
62, the periods of trouble that brought about his letter obviously occurred
before then. Also, since James was a leader of the church in Jerusalem, it is likely
that he wrote this letter as a pastoral help for believers whose lives had been
disturbed, which would be a reminder that there was contact between different
groups (it is hard to imagine, for example, that the persons converted on the
Day of Pentecost did not have some kind of system for staying in touch).
A reasonable suggestion that some
give for the background is that James wrote his letter to help deal with the
consequences for the Christians who were forced to leave Jerusalem during the
period of persecution that followed the martyrdom of Stephen and now found
themselves needing help from other Jewish believers wherever they went. Whether
that suggestion is right or not does not really matter because it is obvious
from the letter that his readers were facing troubles because of their faith. I wonder what we would say to believers going
through such circumstances. It is good that we have James’ divinely-inspired
comments to guide us. We can divide his comments into the four Rs.
Rejoice
The first R is rejoice – we can see this call to
rejoice in his exhortation to his readers to boast in their circumstances.
James realises that the same set of circumstances have different effects on his
readers. Obviously, when Christians suffer in times of persecution, some will
lose more than others – maybe some will not have very much to lose whereas
others may be forced to lose a large amount.
As far as the poorer Christians
were concerned, James says that their experience was one of exaltation, which
we may think initially is a very strange way of describing a time of trouble.
It is helpful to regard exaltation in the sense of privilege, of being called
to play a crucial role by an important person. We cannot say that those
politicians or rulers who organised the periods of trouble were intent on
elevating the believers. Yet we can say that the One controlling all events
did. These Christians were called by God to suffer for the sake of Jesus.
When he describes the lot of the
wealthier believers in that difficult time, James says that they have been
humiliated. I suppose he means that they no longer had their privileged place
in society; perhaps they even discovered that their former wealthy contacts did
nothing to help them in the crises. No doubt, the usual response to such a calamity
would be regret. Yet James tells them to rejoice, perhaps because other people
could now see who they really were – Christians.
I wonder where James may have
heard this teaching or words like it. Whether he heard them personally or not,
he would have been informed of what his brother Jesus taught about troubles in
his Sermon on the Mount (I am not suggesting that James may have been there,
but it is possible he would have heard Jesus say similar words elsewhere). This
is what Jesus said: ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
'sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile
you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my
account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who were before you’ (Matt. 5:10-12).
This response of rejoicing in
times of trouble is found elsewhere in the New Testament. In Hebrews 10:34, the
readers are described as follows: ‘For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of
your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession
and an abiding one.’ Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:6-7: ‘In this you rejoice,
though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various
trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold
that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise
and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’
How do we obtain or develop such
an attitude which James commends, which is to glory in times of trouble for the
sake of Jesus? One way to answer the question is to say that God will provide
it, which is true, but which also could be an excuse to avoid developing it.
Another way is to reflect on the three other Rs that James mentions in the
context.
Realisation
The realisation is found in the
last clause of verse 5 and verse 6: ‘because like a flower of the grass he will
pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its
flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in
the midst of his pursuits.’ The realisation is that we are all going to die,
and when that time comes, we will leave everything behind. We don’t need a
great mind to appreciate that is true, but I think we need a renewed mind to
take it seriously because it runs contrary to what the world thinks.
James here reminds his readers of
a common Old Testament illustration, which is that every person is like grass
that fades away. One does not have to be persecuted to realise this is true.
James reminds his readers who used to be wealthy that the loss occurs to a
wealthier person even when he can participate in the pursuits of the wealthy
until his last breath. Some of his readers had seen their assets fade away, but
James insists it is worse for the owners when they fade away themselves without
hope.
The fact is, we are going to lose
everything, whether we are rich, poor or in-between, when we die. And James
says we need to realise this certainty and keep it in mind while we travel
through life. God often does give good things for people to enjoy all the way
through life, but he may decide to take them away. When that happens we should
be like Job when he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall
I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name
of the Lord.’ If we have not
developed this attitude, we may not be able to do the next one, the third R,
which is resolution. And to have this outlook is to possess the wisdom that we
should be praying for, as mentioned by James in the previous verses.
Resolution
James writes, ‘Blessed is the man
who remains steadfast under trial.’ The
word translated ‘steadfast’ is also translated as ‘endures’. It requires
determination and it also points to an awareness of priorities, because one
thing that is certain is that we will always stick to our priorities. If my
priority is to do everything to avoid trouble, then I will do everything to
avoid trouble. But if my priority is to please God, then I will judge
everything by that priority.
God frequently send trials as tests.
He does not send them so that he will find out our spiritual state but so that
we will find out what each of us is like personally. One of the easiest way to
discover a hypocrite is to put him or her into a situation in which there will
be a bit of trouble for following Jesus – the hypocrite will soon give up.
Jesus mentions this reality in the parable of the sower.
The tests will vary. Here, in
James, some wealthy believers were facing a test connected to their
possessions. It was not easy for them, and they therefore needed to be
steadfast. But why should they be steadfast? James gives the answer to this
question in his fourth R, reward.
Reward
James indicates that the period of
testing can be lifelong, which would have been the case literally for some of
those facing the reality of persecution. Yet he tells his readers to look
beyond the period of trial to what God will give at the Day of Judgement. The
writer directs his readers to look away from the uncertainties of this life to
the certainties connected to the next life.
There are important details in
this description and we can consider each of them briefly. First, the steadfast
person will receive his reward from someone. We know from other places in the
New Testament that the giver of this reward will be Jesus. It will be wonderful
to receive such a provision from the Saviour whom we serve throughout rough as
well as in pleasant periods. We can imagine those believers who had lost so
much, and who had no prospect of recovering it, thinking about this statement
and realising that heavenly prospects are always better than earthly ones. And
we can pause in the stages of our lives and think about the future ceremony
when Jesus rewards his faithful followers.
Second, James says that the reward
is ‘the crown of life’. There has been some discussion about whether James has
in mind the situation in which a monarch is crowned or whether he describes the
victory ceremony after an athlete has won a race. While the latter illustration
does include perseverance within it, it also suggests that the reward is not as
fulsome as the other possibility, which is that James is indicating that
faithful followers of Jesus will reign with him. Perhaps James has both in
mind, and each would be true. The reality is that this reward is worth waiting
for!
Moreover, James describes the
content of the reward as well as the status. The content is ‘life’, and there
probably is a deliberate contrast here with the inevitability of death that
pervades the possessions we have in this world. No matter what happens in this
world, there is the fact that death will end it all, which is the point of view
expressed so bluntly by the author of Ecclesiastes. In total contrast, the
heavenly world is marked by nothing but life.
But what is the life that they
will have? It is the life of God conveyed to them by the Holy Spirit. We have
an illustration of this in Revelation where the river of life continually flows
from the throne of God and of the Lamb down to the city. Life, of course, is
existence, and the heavenly existence is full of love, peace and joy within and
without.
Third, this reward has been promised. Given that the epistle of James
was probably the first book of the New Testament to be written, we may wish to
ask where James thought God had promised this. Some would say that he is
referring to promises made by God throughout the Old Testament because he
expects God’s people to know them and they would have known what the Old
Testament said. That would be true, yet there are not many promises connected
to a crown of life in the Old Testament. This has led some writers to suggest
that James is referring to an unrecorded saying of Jesus. Personally, I would
say that a better suggestion is that James is referring to all promises
connected to the theme of gracious rewards given to believers.
It is worth noting that James does
not say that the promises about the crown of life are made about people.
Instead he says that they were made to
them, which means that God regards his promises as forms of personal commitment
to specific individuals that they can appropriate for themselves. This means
that faithful, suffering believers can take the promises of a crown as theirs,
and that they are justified in applying all such promises to themselves. It is
not surprising that James exhorted his readers to boast or rejoice.
Fourth, the recipients are
described as those who love God. No doubt James was aware that in times of
trouble love for God can be reduced as unbelief feeds on unpleasant
circumstances and all kinds of questions arise in the hearts of the sufferers. Having
said that, it is also the case that often love for God increases in the most
difficult of situations, and that growing love is observed in the steadfastness
that develops in the lives of suffering believers.
What lessons can we learn from
this set of verses? First, losing possessions is no evidence that God is
against a person. Second, all Christians should be looking ahead to what they
will receive in heaven, and they should look ahead whatever their current
circumstances. Third, they are to make sure that their current situations do
not cause them to waver in love for God.