Day: April 4, 2016

Struggles! Who doesn’t have them? I have them. I have them a lot. Doesn’t it just seem like no matter what you do, it just isn’t good enough? Sometimes I feel like I am never going to please my own wife, let alone the rest of the world. Sometimes it feels like nothing I do is right, everyone wants to take a swipe at me, and sometimes I feel like God is not helping. I pray, but where is He? Every day is a new set of challenges that brings a new set of frustrations. Bills, kids, the wife, the job, the friends, and dare I say, that church folk even try to take a few licks at me too. When will the attacks stop? When will I be able to tell the truth without retaliation? The answer is never. But can I tell you that God gives us great joy in His divine lessons in His Holy word on this very subject.

I was listening to the podcast, “Thru the Bible” with Dr. J. Vernon McGee, and was motivated to do this piece on this subject. The message he was delivering is called “The Entrance Exams to God’s University”. You can click on that title to be taken to the whole message. I encourage you to listen to it.

Dr. McGee preached out of the book of James Chapter 1. Now let me say the book of James is my favorite NT book. It is the oldest NT book. It was written just a short time, 60-70 years, after the crucifixion of Christ. It talks a lot about how a true conversion, a true decision for Christ will change the behavior of man because there is an expected behavior for us. God does not want us acting like the world. He wants us to follow Him in His ways, not lead Him in our ways. But the book starts off by telling us all that the trials of our time, the frustrations we have with the world, are a joy if we grow in our faith, and endure with great patience. Dr. McGee highlights verse two of chapter one.

Key verses

James 1: ² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

First, let’s not make any error here. When he says “My Brethren”, James is talking to Christians. They were being persecuted. They were facing the same troubling times as followers of Christ than we are today, believe that or not. People were falling away out of fear. People were making up their own rules. Much like the times we read about in the book of Judges. This is a time period where there were no rules and man did what he wanted to do. This is so similar to today in America.

Second, do not be confused. James is not talking about works here. He is talking about faith. The book of James and all the books written by Paul are NOT at odds with each other. When James talks about works, he is talking about works that are brought about by the exercise of your faith.

Third, notice that James says “When”! He does not say “if”, but “when”. Going through troubles is not a matter of “if”, but the surety of “when”. It is going to happen!

Fourth, let’s get it out there that God does indeed put us through the tests of fire. He absolutely allows the trials of our life. People ask, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people.” God allows things to happen to all of us, the good and the bad. In fact, the bible tells us that there are none that are good, no not one. So what does “good people” really mean? If you mean the redeemed, well then there is an actual answer to why bad things happen to the redeemed, and I hope to clarify that answer here. It is only an assumption that the “Bad” person has had a great life. I am willing to bet that bad things happen to them too. The difference in the outcome. God puts us through things to show us the level of our faith. We can blame God for bad things, but do we credit Him for the good? We need to understand our success or failure is not for His learning. He already knows how we will fair, he knows what we will do. He allows us to go through things so that WE will know where WE stand. We go through adversity so that we can see where our faith is. If you don’t believe that, ask yourself, will you get into a plane that has not been tested? If you listen to the sermon you will hear the analogy given by Dr. McGee. He speaks of an engineer testing a plane to make sure it does what they say it does. Once the plane does what it is supposed to, then they put passengers on it. Then it gets used. We want things tested to prove its workability. Why then would God not want us to see our own workability of our faith?

Fifth, perfect does not mean perfect, without blemish. We will never be perfect! Perfect here means fullness, maturity, completeness. How can we be mature in our faith if we have never been tested? How will you know how you will work under pressure if you never felt pressure? I find it so refreshing when I see a child do something for the first time. First, they are scared, and unsure of themselves. But then they do it. They gain a measure of confidence. And they continue to gain measure after measure of that confidence as they try new things consistently. That is how they mature. Being a Christian is no different. And I just cannot see how God feels any different when he watches His children gain confidence in the face of troubles by leaning on Him. Time and time again, failures and successes. As Long as we are learning and growing and not consistently ignoring God, consistently leaning on Him, and praying to Him, we grow ourselves in our faith. We must go through fires to gain that confidence. Failing doesn’t mean loss of salvation; it means you need to gain more confidence.

Dr. McGee “The joy is the result of the Trial, not the trial in and of itself.”

When James tells us to count it joy, he does not mean only the situations you enjoy being in. As Dr. McGee points out, he also does not mean that the trial itself is joyous.

Hebrews 12: ¹¹ Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

The death, untimely or even the expected, of loved ones are not joyful occasions. Even when we know our loved one will be with the King, we mourn. We would never bring them back to this evil world, but we long for them, and miss them. It hurts! Losing a job, arguing with a spouse, having disobedient children, none of these are enjoyable experiences, yet they are all struggles that will bring joy by our obedience and faithfulness. The trial is going to hurt. God corrects us, and teaches us. Going through life, and the trials of it, will produce the wisest student.

“Man learns through experience, and the spiritual path is full of different kinds of experiences. He will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and they are the very experiences he needs to encourage and complete the cleansing process.” Sai Baba

The joy comes when you refuse to allow each of these, and any other, situations to cause you to lose focus on your worship of God. That is the result that Dr. McGee speaks of. So many Christians give up, they say it’s too hard and walk away. That is the example of the LACK of patience. They were tested an they ran. Is that you? Or are you one who has been tested and you continue to be faithful? This is important because continuing to have the patience is what makes us complete. Dr. McGee talks about a little shepherd boy by the name of David. God tested him many times. He wrote the 23^rd psalm as he sat in a field and reflected over His past. Dr. McGee reports that King David wrote that as a man who was tried, and forged through the “fires of adversity”. King David went through many trials in his life. So did Pau and Job. John, the gentle apostle that Jesus loved, went through the trial of exile and imprisonment. Yet he remained faithful to the point that even while exiled Jesus used him to write the book of Revelation.

When I heard this sermon by Dr. J. Vernon McGee, I was inspired. I was grateful. Then I went to church. If there was any question as to what was being laid upon my mind for this edition, that question was erased when Pastor John McCaw preached on Faith! Pastor John preached out of Matthew 14.

Matthew 14: ²² Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. ²³ And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. ²⁴ But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. ²⁵ Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” ²⁸ And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

First he covered that God puts us through trials. Jesus sent the disciples out in the boat knowing that there would be a store and that they would need Him. In fact, my KJV bible says Jesus MADE the disciples depart in the boat. Jesus knew there would be a storm. But while mourning the death of John the Baptist, troubles still come. We have heard it said, “When it rains it pours.” We need to remain focused.

Second, Jesus was right there, walking out on the water to them. They were scared thinking that stories of Ghosts and spirits were true. But Jesus had to say to them, “be of good cheer”. Really? Experienced fisherman on a stormy sea, scared, and Jesus says be of good cheer. Would you, could you be of good cheer? Are we joyful when the car breaks down, when the doctor gives us bad news, when we have no money to pay bills? Jesus tells the disciples, and tells us, to be of good cheer not because they are in the midst of a storm, but because He is there with them!!! We are to be of good cheer, we are to count it all joy when we are in the midst of the storm because Christ is there. In that storm, you will see the strength of your faith. Do you truly understand what it means that God is there? Do you truly know how to use Him?

Pastor McCaw went on to reveal the scripture’s account of what happens when we have distractions in our life. Again, a lack of faith does not mean loss of salvation. Peter saw God walking on the water and in his boldness asked if he could come out to him. Jesus told him to come. Peter did. His faith in Jesus permitted him to walk on the water. What an incredible success right? Then the wind came. Peter got distracted, he took his eyes off God, off Jesus and He started to sink. You need to know that the wind was created by God to test Peter’s faith. When that wind blew, Peter doubted, lost focus. As he started to sink he refocused and cried out for Jesus to save him. As Pastor McCaw pointed out, God is not out to hurt us. God is trying to teach us. Pastor McCaw made the observation (joke) that God did not allow Peter to go under, God did not shove Peter under and say, “Take that for not believing!” No, Peter cried out and the bible says, “IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched forth His hand and saved him”. And the lesson was taught directly thereafter. After sinking and needing to be saved, Jesus says, “thou of little faith.” This is a great example of what Dr. McGee was saying in the maturity of our faith. Peter would go on to be a force in his service to God. But he needed to go through these times to get to that point. Pastor McCaw told us that “Little” really means puny or underdeveloped. I believe you could also say immature. He closed out his sermon by making sure we all know that God is ready and willing to rescue the helpless. But we have to be active in the exercising of our faith to cry out for that rescue.

Once back in the boat and Jesus calmed the seas, they acknowledged that Jesus truly is the son of God. It is funny that when we get what we want we say that He is God. But when we do not get what we want we blame Him. He is God when we get what we want, and when we don’t. A lot of the time the trials come because we asked them to. I hear a lot of people complain about their relationships. I know I complained, a lot. I can honestly say that it was all my fault because I was having sex before I was married, I was having multiple partners, and I really did not care what God thought about marriage. I set myself up for bad relationship after bad relationship. I see people doing the same thing. We cannot live in sin, and expect to be blessed, that is not how that works. We may think we are, but God will have His perfect way. Remember that!

Friends, having faith provides us with salvation. There is no work that you can do that will earn that for you. It is a free gift that you can accept by accepting Christ. Once you have that faith, God will send trials your way as a process of growth. You start off on the milk, and your goal is to grow up to endure on the meat. Each trial is to draw you closer to God, to mature your faith, to strengthen your divine relationship, and to correct you when you are outside His will for you. We are tried every day. I watch people every day, get all wrapped up in the pining and wallowing in the struggles of life. Christians who talk for hours about a problem and never once mention God’s name. Struggles exercise our faith which exercise our patience and that makes us complete in our faith. Struggles start with faith, has some work on our part, and then ends with an even stronger faith.

If you stand in the mirror, what will the reflection tell you about your relationship with God, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your home, straight from the cross to the Christian!