Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Several years ago, I bought four new tires for my truck. These tires were recommended by the salesman. I looked at the tires in the showroom and I liked the tread of the tires. Plus it was a big name brand tire, so everything just added up. These were the tires for me. So I bought them and drove away, quite happy with my purchase.

About 8,000 miles later, I was no longer happy. These tires, which were supposed to last 60,000 miles, were completely shot. The tread that had impressed me so much was gone. These babies were bald. They looked great in the showroom, but they fell apart when they were used in the real world.

A lot of us see our faith in the same way. It’s a showroom kind of deal. It looks great here on Sundays. It works in the showroom. But in the reality of life, it doesn’t really happen. It’s not workable in the real world. So we’re left with a faith that’s really nothing more than a nice window dressing on our lives. We get a little God buzz on Sundays, but it pretty much stops right there.

God sees things differently. We’re starting a new series today called Everyday Faith. In this four-week series, we’re going to work through the New Testament book of James. If you’ve read this book, you know that it bounces all over the place. I think James must have had ADD, because he just bounces from theme to theme, from idea to idea with almost no warning. But, even though his writing style is not extremely structured, let me tell you what it is. It is real world. James is gut-level reality. This book is all about how to live for God, not at church, but in the day-to-day grind of life. The book of James isn’t a stained glass book. It’s a broken screen door book. James isn’t a dress and high heels book. It’s a faded blue jeans book. In other words, it’s an Everyday Faith book.

This is obvious in the very first words of the book. How do you live for God when life stinks? That’s where James begins, and that’s where we begin this series.

After James greets all his readers, the very next words he writes are, “Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds…” (James 1:2, NIV)

Kind of a downer way to start a letter. There’s no, “Hi, how are you? How’s mom and ‘em?” Nothing like that. James immediately gets real world on us. And life in the real world sometimes stinks. But James first encouragement to us is to accept the reality of our trials.

Did you notice the word that James used to talk about our trials? He used the word “whenever.” “Whenever you face trials of many kinds.” He didn’t say “if” you face trials. He didn’t say “you may have some trouble.” He didn’t say, “just in case life gets a little rough.”

James said, “Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds…” (James 1:2, NIV) In other words, it’s going to happen.

This can be a problem for us because we thought that becoming a Christian was our get-out-of-jail-free card. It’s our ticket out of suffering and into the good life. After all, God is always good, so that means that if you accept him, life will always be good. That health-and-wealth theology sounds good, but it isn’t reality. We may wish that idea was real, but it just isn’t. If you’re a Christian long enough, you’ll realize this in a very real way in your life.

Some of you have experienced the pain of divorce. Some have experienced bitter disappointment when God didn’t do what you asked him to do. Some have received devastating news from the doctor. Some have been rejected by friends or even family. Some have gone through the hell of losing a child. You may have lost a child spiritually when you watched them reject God in their lives. You may have lost a child physically when death came far too soon.

James speaks right to this when he reminds us to be ready “whenever [we] face trials of many kinds.” The original word translated “many kinds” literally means “multicolored.” Throughout our faith journey, we will face problems and hurts of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Some aren’t much more than annoyances. Some have the power to knock you down so hard you’re not sure if you can get up again.

We can try to run from life’s tough realities. We can try to hide behind our faith, putting on some spiritual mask that looks good to everyone else, but in actuality is just escapism. It’s just us trying to hide behind a false faith instead of facing our problems head on. James is calling us to a real world faith. A faith in God that is workable in daily life. And that kind of faith accepts the reality of trials, temptations, disappointments, heartache, and struggles.

A lot of us feel compelled to answer for God when bad things happen. We heard this a lot after September 11, 2001. I heard a lot of Christian leaders try to explain it. I heard some say, “9/11 is a beginning of a revival in our country.” Do they honestly think that helps somebody who lost a loved one in the twin towers or the Pentagon or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania?

James is calling us to accept the reality of pain in our lives, but he doesn’t tell us to try to explain that pain. Leslie Weatherhead was a minister in London during the Second World War. One day he was approached by a woman in his church who tearfully asked him, “Where was God when my son was killed in a bombing raid?” Leslie’s answer was, “I guess he was in the same place that he was when his own son was killed.” And where was that? I don’t know.

Mike Yaconelli wrote, “Isn’t ‘I don’t know’ too ambiguous? Isn’t ‘I don’t know’ an unconvincing way to convince…people that Christianity is true?

Actually, ‘I don’t know’ confirms one critical truth about Christianity…it’s a mystery!”

In this one word, “whenever,” James is calling us into a mysterious faith. A faith that trusts God even when it doesn’t make sense. A faith that leans on God even when he is silent. A faith that may be angry with God for a time, but eventually looks through the cloud and fog of our pain and sees that God can work through our pain.

And that’s exactly where James goes next. “Consider it pure joy…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.” (James 1:2-4, NIV)

James first pushes us to accept the reality of our trials. Then, he encourages us to see the result of our trials. The result is our development of perseverance.

“The testing of your faith develops perseverance.” Gary Holloway says that this word for perseverance can be translated steadfastness, fortitude, constancy, persistent determination, strong consistency, staying power, and heroic endurance. Are we beginning to get the picture here? In other words, there is a result that we can look for in times of trouble, pain, and heartache. Perseverance.

We need to be careful here, because it’s easy for us to misunderstand what James is and isn’t saying. He’s isn’t suggesting that suffering will help us develop a self-sufficient stick-to-itiveness. This isn’t a pull yourself up by your own bootstraps idea. There’s a fundamental flaw in that thinking. In that thinking, it’s all about me taking care of me. This perseverance that James is talking about is all about trusting God to take care me. Do you see how that conflicts with our corporate America mentality? Corporate America says work harder. Spiritual perseverance says pray harder. Instead of look deep inside, spiritual perseverance says look to God. Instead of intestinal fortitude, it points us to seek help that is outside of ourselves. This perseverance that James shows us is a work of God in our lives.

This spiritual perseverance is a big deal in our walk with God. It’s a big deal because the depth of our love is revealed only when it is tested. It’s no coincidence that our marriage vows state “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.” The point is that, if this love is real enough to lead to marriage, it is real enough to endure, to persevere, even in some pretty bad times. Why should our love for God be any different?

A friend of mine found an ad that someone had placed under his windshield wipers. The ad was for a book entitled Neotech. This book cost $69.95, but listen to what was guaranteed to happen in your life if you bought this book. This is what the ad said, word-for-word.

Guaranteed: You will be making thousands of dollars each week at first, each day eventually.

Guaranteed: You will get rid of your recurring illnesses, physical incompetence, pains, allergies, and addictions.

Guaranteed: You will lose all your fat.

Guaranteed: You will become very smart, very quickly. When you talk, everyone will listen.

Guaranteed: Everyone will become interested in you.

Guaranteed: Beautiful women and powerful men will almost beg to be your friends.

Guaranteed: You will get an instant promotion.

And then the ad said, “If each and every experience described above does not happen to you in 90 days, return everything for a full, no-questions-asked refund!

If these claims were true, why isn’t this book outselling The Da Vinci Code? Because most people are smart enough to know that buying this book isn’t going to transform their lives into a Walt Disney fairytale. This book isn’t a fairy godmother to change every pumpkin in our lives into a beautiful carriage.

And yet this is exactly what we’d like God to do for us. If he really loves us, why do we still suffer? Why are our lives so far from fairytale perfection?

Why hasn’t he changed your husband into some good-looking, Mr. Fix-It like Ty Pennington?

Why hasn’t he transformed your wife into a beautiful chef like Rachel Ray?

Why do you have kids that behave more like the Simpsons than the Brady Bunch? Why are there problems, heartache, and pain in your life?

The depth of our love for God is revealed only when it is tested. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 13. Jesus drew a huge crowd, so he got into a boat out on the lake. This crowd was gathered all around the shore as he taught. Jesus told them a story of a farmer who went out to sow his seeds. This wasn’t really prime farmland, though, because it had all different kinds of soil. Some of it was really good, fertile soil. But some of it was rocky and some of it was overgrown with thorn bushes. Then Jesus explains what he means.

The seeds represent the good news of Jesus.

He says, “The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life…So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.” (Matthew 13:20-22, CEV)

These seeds lacked fertile, deep soil. They grew initially, but they didn’t last long when they encountered problems. Our love for God will be tested. It’s the only way he can gauge how deep our love for him actually goes. Is it surface-level? Is it Sunday morning only? It is a stained glass faith? Or is it real? Is it a love that extends beyond church attendance into the reality of life?

Rick Warren wrote that, “God never wastes a hurt.” Through every hurt, every struggle, every heartache and pain, he wants to work in our lives. He wants to chip away at our character. He wants to cultivate a spiritual perseverance in us. But it’s up to us to decide if our love for him will run deep enough to let him do this painful work.

The great news is that we don’t stop right here. If we ended it right here and went home, we’d probably be pretty depressed. Life stinks, accept it, God will work through it, but you’re still stuck right where you are. Some of you probably wouldn’t come back next week. If you wanted to get depressed, you can watch the news. Most of us are here looking for hope. And James delivers.

He has called us to accept the reality of our trials. He’s encouraged us to see the result of our trials. And he inspires us to look forward to the reward after our trials. James doesn’t leave us stuck in the middle of our struggles. He gives hope.

In James 1:12, he writes, “God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, NLT)

A crown of life from God. Our reward for accepting the reality of our trials and seeing the result of those trials. But did you notice who this crown is reserved for? God has promised this crown “to those who love him.” Remember what we just discovered? The depth of our love for God is only revealed when it is tested. Since that’s true, it makes since that God’s reward is reserved only for those who have a love for him that has lasted through good and bad times.

It is for those who love him. It’s not for those who never questioned God. God, why is this happening to me? It’s not for those who not got angry with God. God, I can’t believe you allowed this to happen! It’s not for those who endured every trial and test with angelic perfection. Remember, James is a book about faith in the real world, and the reality is that the only person who met all these requirements is Jesus himself. This crown of life reward isn’t reserved for the piously perfect. It isn’t for the faultless and flawless. It is reserved simply for those who have a love for God that lasts. That ought to give us hope. Perfection is not the standard for our reward. The standard is simply our enduring love for God. In this race, God doesn’t ask us to finish first. He simply asks us to finish.

We were talking in the office this week about the number of people in our church family who are hurting right now. It’s pretty incredible how many and how varied the hurts are. I hope that this message resonates in your mind, and heart, and spirit. I can’t give you an answer to every hurt. It’s part of the mystery of God. All I can do is direct you to what he has revealed to us in his Word. And we can be confident that he has revealed enough.

His Word calls us to accept the reality of our trials. Running from them doesn’t work. Hiding behind a façade of an artificial faith might make us look good to other people, but the dishonesty is spiritually devastating. God simply asks us to accept reality. Live in the real world, where trials, suffering, and pain inexplicably exists.

But God doesn’t stop there. He encourages us to see the result of our trials. Even he seems far away, God is doing something when we hurt. He is testing the depth of our love for him. He is developing a spiritual perseverance in us. We may not see it at the time, but all he asks is that we love him through the painful times.

But God doesn’t stop there. He has promised a reward to those who have a love for him that endures. Whatever problem or hurt is hitting in your life right now, it is temporary. It will not last forever. If we can love God, even if we love him imperfectly, through these trials, he has promised a reward that will make our temporary trials pale in comparison.

Mike Edmisten