James 1:2-18 | Pastor Scott Lackey

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God’s blessing on the man who endures testing! When he has passed the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. - James 1:12

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Nobody being tested should say, “It’s God that’s testing me,” for God cannot be tested by evil, and he himself tests nobody. - James 1:13

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Endure the test of trials

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“My dear family, when you find yourselves tumbling into various trials and tribulations, learn to look at it with total joy…” - James 1:2

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because you know that, when your faith is put to the test, what comes out is patience. What’s more, you must let patience have its complete effect, so that you may be complete and whole, not falling short in anything. - James 1:3-4

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We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28

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Endure the test of compromise

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If any one of you falls short in wisdom, they should ask God for it, and it will be given them. God, after all, gives generously and ungrudgingly to all people. But they should ask in faith, with no doubts. A person who doubts is like a wave of the sea which the wind blows and tosses about. Someone like that should not suppose they will receive anything from the Lord, since they are double-minded and unstable in everything they do.  - James 1:5-8

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“James does not demand that a believer never question what God gives them, lest their faith prove null and void. Rather, given the context, he maintains that we should not doubt the character of God as one who gives unflinchingly. To doubt his character can also imply that a person is unwilling to trust God with their life or that they do not believe that he is who he claims to be.”- Blomberg and Kamell

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Endure the test of Money

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Brothers and sisters who find themselves impoverished should celebrate the fact that they have risen to this height—and those who are rich, that they are brought down low, since the rich will disappear like a wildflower. You see, the rich will be like the grass: when the sun rises with its scorching heat, it withers the grass so that its flower droops and all its fine appearance comes to nothing. That’s what it will be like when the rich wither away in the midst of their busy lives.  - James 4:9-11

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17 What about people who are rich in this present world? Tell them not to think of themselves too highly, and to set their hopes, not on something so uncertain as riches, but on the God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous and eager to share. - 1 Timothy 6:17-18

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Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask for things back when people have taken them. - Luke 6:30

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God’s blessing on the man who endures testing! When he has passed the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. - James 1:12

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Helpful tips for tests #1: Resist Sin

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Rather, each person is tested when they are dragged off and enticed by their own desires.  Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.  Don’t be deceived, my dear family. - James 1:14-16

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Helpful tips for tests #2: God is the supplier of all that is good.

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Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes down from above, from the father of lights. His steady light doesn’t vary. It doesn’t change and produce shadows.  He became our father by the word of truth; that was his firm decision, and the result is that we are a kind of first fruits of his creatures. - James 1:17-18