Suffering Joyfully?

James 1:2-4

INTRODUCTION

I remember one day when our son John was a little boy. He had had a bad day—things hadn’t gone very well for him—and toward the end of the day he said plaintively, “I wish I’d never been born. There’s so many disappointments!”

Here is one of the strangest and hardest to explain sayings in the Bible. It’s right at the beginning of the book of James:

“My brothers and sisters

whenever you face trials of any kind,

consider it nothing but joy,

because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;

and let endurance have its full effect,

so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4)

The word translated “trials” in my translation is the Greek word peirasmois. It is the same word that is also translated: “tests” and “temptations”—they’re just different words for the troubles every one of us experience—not because we’re evil, but because we’re human.

We pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”

So why does James tell us to consider it “joy” when we face trials, or temptations, or troubles? We’ll come back to that.

I. Troubles are part of life. No one is exempt. A wise man said, “Be kind—for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle you know nothing about.”

A. Sometimes suffering makes even Christians bitter.

I’ve known people, and you have too, who became disagreeable and sour in their old age. They dwelt constantly on disappointments, injustices, and the faults of others.

They are not only miserable, but they make everyone else miserable too.

One of the best witnesses to our love for Jesus is constant cheerfulness. And I have known people who have experienced many troubles who are able to rejoice in the good they see in the world.

B. I have known people whose faith was destroyed by their troubles.

I had a friend in my younger days. His name is Wayne.

I admired Wayne. He was an outstanding young Christian.

I envied him. He could give exciting Bible messages.

He directed a Bible camp. He had a lot of influence for good in other people’s lives.

But when his wife left him, he decided God had let him down, and he walked away from his faith.

That was years ago, and I’ve not heard that he has ever gone to church again, or had anything to do with the Bible or faith.

C. I will tell you something even sadder. It is so sad that it hurts me to talk about it.

I had a dear friend named Eddie who loved Jesus as much as anyone I’ve ever known. But Eddie became mentally ill—schizophrenia. He fought his delusions for years. He saw psychiatrists. He took powerful medications every day. Some of his medications had serious side effects.

But Eddie became so deluded and desperate that one day he took his life.

I know Eddie loved Jesus, but his troubles overwhelmed him.

Looking back, I wonder whether I couldn’t have done more to help him.

I know I didn’t try as hard as I should have.

D. Always remember that whenever you see a fellow believer suffering a great sorrow or a great trouble, the worst trouble is the feeling that their faith is ebbing away.

It’s hard to keep believing when things are going to pieces.

That’s when you need to be there to help support the sufferer with your faith. I have been in great trouble when I felt I was not hanging onto God but hanging on to the faith of fellow believers.

I began to doubt God. But my Christian brothers and sisters gathered around and poured their love upon me. Having hardly any faith of my own, I clung to theirs.

And finally I came back to faith. That is the most precious time in my life. My friends proved to me that God is real.

II. Here are some Biblical answers about finding meaning in our troubles and trials. I don’t have all the answers, but here are some ideas that have helped me make sense of suffering.

A. James says that suffering teaches us endurance. That word in Greek is sometimes translated “perseverance” or “patience.”

We could never learn endurance if life was always smooth. It is only by struggle that we become strong.

A famous psychiatrist wrote, “We learn nothing from our pleasures. We learn only from our suffering.”

B. Trouble helps us to understand the suffering of others. And having suffered gives us the understanding we need to comfort them in their need. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3: “[God] comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

I have a friend who worked in an office. A woman who worked in that office had suffered tragedy in her life. My friend said that people in the office who were in trouble of various kinds often went to her and shared their struggles with her. They were sure that she would understand.

A woman named Peggy lost her 28-year-old daughter to cancer. As she mourned and suffered she poured her broken heart out to God. She offered herself and her suffering to God Just as Jesus did on the cross.

That hasn’t made her suffering any easier, but now everywhere she goes she meets people who have lost adult children to death. Peggy sits next to them on airplanes, meets them in the supermarket, and bumps into them on vacation. She shares their suffering and offers them Christ and his comfort. Her suffering, united with Christ’s suffering has meant salvation for many.

How could you feel compassion for those who suffer if you had never experienced tragedy yourself? How could you weep with those who weep if you yourself had never experienced the depths of sorrow?

Of course, you should never say, "I know just how you feel," because you don't. Everyone's sorrow is unique. Still, you have experienced something like it, so you can sympathize.

C. Suffering can make us despair and forsake God, but it can also make us cling closer to God—because God is all we have left.

A pastor lost his wife suddenly, and after her death he preached an unusually personal sermon. He admitted in the message that he did not understand this life of ours. But still less could he understand how people facing loss could abandon faith. “Abandon it for what?!” He said. “You people in the sunshine may believe the faith, but we in the shadow must believe it. We have nothing else.”

Some of people look back on the most terrible time in our life with thanksgiving because their troubles opened their hearts to God. If their lives had been smooth they would never have found salvation.

D. Trouble gives us an opportunity to prove something—or to give up. I have known people who were powerful witnesses to the reality of God in their lives simply because they could keep their faith in their struggles.

Peter writes about this. He warns believers that they will have suffering in this life. But, he says—as gold is tested and refined by fire—so the genuineness of our faith is tested and proved by suffering.

The greatest testimony to the reality of the gospel is the believer who can keep trusting to the very end.

E. Suffering helps us appreciate what Jesus did for us on the Cross.

One of our residents at Village Ridge suffered great pain and disability and bore it well. She told me that something that helped her was to remember that others suffered even worse. She also said, “When I remember what Jesus suffered on the cross, I know that what I have to suffer isn’t so bad.

Jesus suffered this terrible feeling of forsakenness when he cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

But God had not forsaken Jesus, and that bitter forsakenness turned into the joy of resurrection. And so it will with us.

CONCLUSION

Imagine what life would be like if there was no trouble.

Imagine being beautiful smart, athletic, popular—always strong, always successful, always happy—

no failure, no disappointments, no disease, no weakness no arthritis, no old age, no death…

What kind of a person would you be?

Would you have compassion for those who suffer?

Could you look back on battles fought and victories won?

How could you have gained the wisdom you have now?

Would you be grateful for your blessings, or would you just take all the good things for granted?

Would ever be willing to let go of this life, and contemplate the world to come?

An ancient Stoic philosopher named Demetrius is famous for having said, “No one would be more unhappy than a person who had never known affliction.”

When James writes, “Whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy” he’s telling us to value these experiences as opportunities to prove our faith is genuine and that God is real.

He’s telling us that suffering bravely borne qualifies us for a great reward in the world to come.

James goes on:

“Blessed is anyone who endures temptation.

Such a one has stood the test

and will receive the crown of life

that the Lord has promised

to those who love him” (v12).

Let us keep in mind that this world is a place of sojourn and a time of testing.

The troubles of this life are preparing us for the real life to come—that life in which God will wipe away every tear, and mourning and crying and pain will be no more, and we will be with Jesus for ever and ever.

Simon the Pharisee and the Sinful Woman

Luke 7:36-50

INTRODUCTION

We all know that Jesus was the friend of sinners. People criticized him because he ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other disreputable people.

But Jesus loved good people too, and the story we are going to talk about today is about a time when a Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner.

From your Sunday school days you may remember Pharisees as self-righteous hypocrites who must have been insufferable to be around.

But that is not so. Pharisees were looked up to and admired. Mothers would be proud of sons who grew up to be Pharisees.

Jesus criticized Pharisees because—like religious people everywhere—they were tempted to feel superior and look down on other people. Often, like us, they didn’t practice what they preached.

Our story today is about a time when a Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to dinner.

Luke 7:36-50:

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table.

And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”

Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

“Teacher,” he replied, “Speak.”

“A certain creditor had two debtors, one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.”

And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven, hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.

Then he said to her, “You sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I. Let’s try to picture the scene.

A. Some think that Simon invited Jesus just to find fault with him. But I want to believe that Simon was genuinely curious about this new rabbi who was causing such a stir and wanted to have conversation with him to see what he had to say.

Simon was a thoughtful person. He had an inquiring mind—especially for spiritual things.

Simon was open to the idea that he might learn something from Jesus.

Maybe he was like Nicodemus, the man who came to Jesus by night for conversation and finally became a believer.

B. But not long after they had all settled down and begun their dinner and conversation, something quite unexpected occurred.

A woman crashed the party. She rushed in and threw herself at Jesus’s feet and began weeping, wetting his feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair.

Then she opened a little jar of ointment and poured it out on his feet.

Now this scene seems very strange to us. We can hardly imagine it.

But here is what you need to know.

The houses in that warm climate were more open than ours.

It was not unusual for people to wander into a house where there was entertainment going on and stand around the room to watch.

Simon and those at the dinner weren’t sitting on chairs at a table.

When the Bible says that people were “sitting” at a table, the Greek word really means “reclining.”

The table was in the middle of the room, and people reclined on couches or mats around the low table with their heads toward the it and their feet away from it.

They leaned on their left arms and ate with their right arms.

That way they could converse easily.

Conversation was flowing. Simon was asking questions and expressing opinions. Jesus was teaching and telling stories and holding everyone’s attention—when suddenly this woman rushed into the room.

She didn’t intend to create a scene. She just wanted to get close to Jesus to honor him and show her gratitude to him.

Her intention was to slip in and pour her ointment on his feet and leave.

But she lost control of her emotions. She burst into tears. She was embarrassed, but she couldn’t help herself.

She began to weep uncontrollably.

She was getting his feet wet with her tears. She let down her hair and began mopping the wet, dirt-stained feet with her hair.

This was beyond scandalous. Women’s hair in those countries, even today, is considered sexually arousing. Good women—when they were in public—kept hair done up and their heads covered, out of sight in public.

Simon looked at Jesus with unbelief. He was smiling! He was enjoying her attention as she touched his feet!

Jesus didn’t need supernatural power to read Simon’s thoughts—they were written all over his face. Simon was thinking, This man can’t be a prophet, or he would know this woman is a harlot. A true prophet would have drawn away from such a person in horror!

II. Jesus saw this as what school teachers call “a teachable moment,” an unexpected opportunity to drive home an important lesson that will never be forgotten.

A. So he told a story—not much of a story—just enough of a story to make a point.

A creditor had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii (a year and a half’s wages for a working man). The other debtor owed 50 denarii ( a couple of month’s wages).

But the creditor forgave both men their debts.

“So which man,” said Jesus, “do you think loved the creditor more?”

Simon fell into the trap. He said, “I suppose the one to whom he forgave the most.”

Then Jesus drove the point home. He called Simon’s attention to his failure to offer the common courtesies of hospitality—water to wash the dusty feet, the kiss of welcome on the cheek, and the ointment for the head.

B. Simon must have been astonished. Jesus was telling him that the woman loved him so much because Jesus had forgiven her for her many sins.

Simon knew that only God forgives sins. What did that have to do with Jesus?

Do you see—Jesus is claiming to be the one who forgives sins in God’s name.

The woman understood this. Simon didn’t—yet.

This poor sinful woman had felt enslaved by her sins. She knew her guilt, the filth of her heart. She longed for release, for cleansing, for forgiveness.

Somehow—perhaps on the edge of the crowd one day—she understood Jesus’s message of God’s grace to sinners like her. She took heart. She felt the courage to believe and commit herself to the God who loved her, in spite of what she was.

And she felt that spirit of peace and cleansing and wholeness fill her being. She felt like a new woman. She was, as Jesus said once, “born again.”

She understood that Jesus loved her and God loved her. She had the gift of salvation! Her tears were tears of joy.

It was with this sense of overwhelming gratitude to the one who brought her that message that she was bold enough to come into the room and pay homage to her Savior.

C. When Jesus addressed Simon I don’t think that Jesus spoke to Simon in scolding tones.

I think that when Jesus spoke to Simon, he did so gently; he loved Simon; he wanted Simon love him as the woman did.

Up until this day Simon hadn’t understood that he was a much-forgiven sinner.

This Simon still had to learn. And I think that he began to understand that day that he loved little because he had so little sense of forgiveness.

III. Then Jesus explained to Simon and to the trembling woman what had just happened.

A. Nodding toward the woman he said to Simon: “Her sins which are many have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love, but the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.”

Jesus isn’t telling Simon that he’s outside God’s grace. He’s telling him that his sense of forgiveness is too small to inspire him to love deeply.

Simon was a lot like I am.

Most of the time I think of myself as a pretty good person.

I compare myself with others who have more egregious sins.

I judge. I criticize. I feel satisfied with myself.

I don’t realize that I am not aware of most of my failures.

But now and then I do something that brings me up short, and I realize that I’m not nearly as good as I thought I was.

Sometimes I get a view of my heart and see what it is really like. I see how selfish I am, and how proud. And maybe my pride and self-satisfaction are as distasteful to God as some of the things “worse” people do.

I sometimes use an old hymn by Charles Wesley to help me in my prayers. It goes like this:

Show me, as my soul can bear, the depth of inbred sin;

All the unbelief declare, the pride that lurks within;

Take me, whom thyself hast bought, bring into captivity

Every high aspiring thought that would not stoop to thee.

The sins of other people are obvious to us. Our own sins are often hidden from us until God reveals them to us.

A philosopher said, “When two people meet, there are really six people:

There is each man as he thinks he is.

There is each man as the other man thinks he is.

And there is each man as he really is.” (William James)

B. Then Jesus turned to the woman and said, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus said this to many of the people he healed, so that they would understand how God’s power had come into their lives.

Instead of “Your faith has saved you,” Jesus could have said, “God has saved you,” and that would have been true too.

But he calls attention to her faith as the necessary attitude that connected her to God.

Salvation is the gift God offers to every one. Faith is the hand that reaches out and accepts the gift.

Jesus wants us to understand what is happening in our hearts.

He wants us to keep on believing—to keep our faith bright by continual trust in the One who loves us—to keep holding tight to God by believing.

C. Some people think that forgiveness is easy for God. “Why shouldn’t he forgive?” they say. “It costs him nothing.” This woman knew better. She didn’t know what we know: that Jesus would give his life on the cross to gain her forgiveness, but she sensed that it was costly to him—and that’s why she was so grateful.

CONCLUSION

Let me leave you with this thought.

We want to love Jesus. We want to love Jesus more and more because we know that that is the way to please him and to enjoy him and to be happy in our world.

We sing:

More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee!

Hear thou the prayer I make on bended knee;

This is my earnest plea: more love, O Christ to thee,

More love to thee, more love to thee.

But we’ll never love Christ as we ought to love him, and as we want to love him, until we realize—like the woman in our story—that we are sinful, and we realize how much we’ve been forgiven.

Lord, show us the depths of our forgiveness—not that we may feel wretched—but that we may feel your amazing grace, and overflow with grateful praise.