Open your Bibles to the Book of James.
We are starting a new study this morning.
We finished the book of Numbers last week and we are going to be
starting a new study in the book of James.
So I got to find it myself. I don't have my my bookmark
there this morning. We're going to be looking at
James chapter 1 and just the first 4 verses.
We'll be going through James at a much slower pace than we went
through numbers where we, you know, we would go to whole
chapters at a time due to the content.
It's it's dense with theology and application.
James is one of the most applicable books in the New
Testament. And so I'm, I'm pretty excited
to preach on this. I've preached sermons from this
book, but never preached through the whole entire book before.
So James one one to four. The title of the sermon is this
of faith that is tested. So let's read the text open as a
word of prayer and then we'll jump into the sermon beginning
in verse 1. James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion.
Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the
testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let
steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect
and complete, lacking in nothing if you will.
Pray, Father, as we start this new study, I pray over the next
several months or could be a year or longer that we will be
in this book that Lord, all that you desire to teach us, that you
would give us ears to hear every bit of it.
That we would receive the, the implanted word and we would
receive it with meekness and that the truth of it would
change us and conform us to the image of Christ.
God, this morning as we specifically look about our look
at the, the text where our faith is being tested, where we are in
counting trials, I pray God that you would help us to count it as
joy. So, Lord, would you help me as I
teach it this morning, to teach it with clarity and would you
help all of us to to listen well and to apply it, knowing good
and well that we will surely face trials in the coming days
or weeks. I pray this all in the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Do you remember the movie Cars? The animated movie Cars?
Thanks. Where each car is personified
and has a personality. I wonder why they didn't have a
character named Crash. Who does the crash test?
You know, cars. They do the crash test with the
dummies inside and they crash. Yes, they didn't want cars dying
in a kids movie. Before a car gets put on the
road, it goes through several tests, one of them being
Crashes. They have to test this car.
They have to and purposely crash it.
Why? Because the engineers need to
know if it's going to hold up in a real crash, they have to test
it. They need to know that if
someone gets in a crash, are they going to die or potentially
live. And so they have to test it.
Nobody should get into a car or an airplane for that matter,
that's never been tested. And nobody should want to stand
before the judgment having never been tested.
God is faithful to not only give us faith in this life, but He is
faithful to give us a faith that is tested.
That's what the sermon is about this morning, a faith that is
tested. We're going to look at the next
position of the text. There are 4 verses.
I'm going to break it down into 8 sections, 2 sections for each
verse for a total of 8 sections, and then I'll give us
application. We do have 10 points of
application this morning from these 4 verses.
There is a lot in these four, so let's jump right in.
Starting in verse one, A James, a servant of God and of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's start by asking the
question James. The title of the book is James,
the letter of James. Well, who is James?
There are three James's in the New Testament.
The first is James, the son of Zebedee.
He is one of the 12. He is also John's brother.
The second is James, the son of Alpheus.
He is also one of the 12. And the third is James, the
brother of Jesus. This last James is the author of
this letter, the brother of Jesus.
He is mentioned in Galatians 119 where Paul says, I saw none of
the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.
He's also mentioned in the 1st Corinthians 15, seven, where
Jesus said that he Paul said that he appeared to 500 people
including James. And he's also mentioned in Acts
12, Acts 15, and Acts 21, where it's clear from the book of Acts
that he is a leader in the early church in the Jerusalem church.
He's one of the leaders. Now.
What's more important though, then who James is, is what James
is. Look at how James describes
himself. James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That word servant is the Greek
word doulos. Some translate, prefer to
translate it as servant. Some prefer to translate it as
bond servant. Some will even translate it as
slave. Those will all work.
Look at verse 1B to the 12 tribes in the dispersion.
Greetings. Now this is an epistle, which
means it's a letter. An epistle is a letter, which
means that if James is the author, who is the audience who
was the recipient of this letter?
James writes to the 12 tribes in the dispersion.
Now this statement raises 2 questions.
Number one, who are the 12 tribes?
Well, this or this refers to the original 12 tribes of Israel.
We've been looking at that in the Book of Numbers.
So what's what this means is that James is primarily writing
to Jewish Christians. Obviously Gentiles are going to
read this, but he's primarily writing to Jewish Christians #2
what is the dispersion? He says to the 12 tribes in the
dispersion. The Greek word there is
diaspora. We sometimes use that word in
English, the diaspora. It means a state or condition of
being dispersed. This term came to refer to any
Jews who lived outside of the Promised Land and lived among
the Gentiles. So if you were a Jew and you did
not live in the Promised Land and you were living among the
Gentiles, you were in the diaspora.
Now some of this dispersion came through natural means.
Many people just moved by as as anybody moves, but much of it
came through persecution. In Acts 8 and in Acts 11, Luke
talks about a scattering of Christians because of
persecution that broke out in the early church.
What this also tells us the fact that James is not writing to a
specific church. He's writing to the dispersion.
What this means is that James intended this letter to be read
by multiple churches. It was intended to be circulated
again testifying that this is the word of God, that James
views us as authoritative not just for one church, but all
churches. Look at verse 2A.
Count it all. Joy, my brothers, we'll stop
right there. Count it all.
Joy, my brothers, What is the first thing that James wants to
stress in this letter? There are Christians living
abroad because of persecution. And James, when he writes this
letter after his greeting, what is primary?
What does he want to emphasize? Joy.
Joy, and specifically joy in the midst of trials.
James starts off with the command count it all, joy that
is an imperative, that is a command.
Now this raises at least three questions.
Number one, what does count it mean?
He says count it. What does that word count it
mean? The the verb for count is the
Greek word Hague, Oh my Hague, Oh my.
It means to engage in an intellectual process, to think,
to consider, to regard. It is like I look at something
and I, I, I intellectually consider what it is.
I regard it as something. I size it up and say that's what
this is. It's it's one of Paul's favorite
words in Philippians 2 and 3. And humility count others more
significant than yourself. He did not consider, He did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
Whatever gain I had, I counted as lost.
Those are all the same, Hagay O my same word #2 What does James
mean by all count it all joy. What does all mean there?
Some translate as pure joy, some translated as nothing but joy,
some translated as great joy. All of those will work.
All joy, pure joy, nothing but joy, great joy, they all will
work. And then #3 what is joy?
Count it all joy. What is joy?
Well, we could plant right there and spend the rest of the sermon
on that topic. So for time's sake, I'll answer
it this way. Joy, in this context, is the
fruit of the Spirit. It is the kind of happiness that
God's Spirit produces in US. Joy is a unique, specific
happiness that God's Spirit produces in our hearts.
And notice how James addresses his audience here.
He says my brothers, not just brothers, my brothers 19 times
in this short letter. Does James refer to them as
brothers? Now what is the antecedent of
it? Count it all joy.
What is the antecedent of it? What is it referring to?
Look at to be when you meet trials of various kinds when you
meet trials of various kinds. I want to point out four pieces
of this statement. Number one, notice James doesn't
say if count it all join my brothers if you meet trials of
notice he says when, when you meet trials, meaning trials are
promised #2 that word meat is probably better translated fall
into. That's how the net Bible
translates it. The word literally means to fall
in with or fall into. Think of it a trials like being
a pitch where you're walking along a path.
There's a pit that you don't realize it's covered by brush.
All of a sudden you step into it and you fall into it.
That's the idea. That's the word that James uses.
Counted all joy when you meet, when you fall into trials #3 The
Greek word for trial here is the same Greek word for temptation.
It's the same Greek word for test.
The Greek word for trial, test, and temptation are all the same
word, pay rosmos. Context has to determine how we
translate that term, whether pay rosmos is translated as a trial,
as a test, or as a temptation. Now here's why this matters.
All trials are a test, and they all present temptations, and all
temptations are a test, and they often lead to trials.
And #4 trials come in various forms.
Notice when you meet trials of various kinds.
Now we know this from experience, don't we?
There are physical trials. There are mental trials.
There are emotional trials. There's work trials.
There's relationship trials. There's financial trials.
There is persecution. There's discipline.
There is waiting. There is opposition.
There's spiritual warfare. God likes to change it up for a
purpose. Now let's put these together.
Let's put 2A and 2B together. Here's what James is saying.
As we go along in the Christian life, as you just live your life
as a Christian, it is certain that we will fall into a variety
of trials. Nobody intrinsically likes
trials. By definition, it's called a
trial. If you liked it, you wouldn't
call it a trial. Nobody intrinsically likes
trials. We usually consider them to be
unfortunate, undesired, unwelcome, unpleasant, maybe
even unnecessary. But James is exhorting the
Church to consider these trials as unbelievable joy.
Now why in the world would we do that?
Why in the world would I consider this trial that I am
going through to be great joy? Look at verse 3A for you know
that the testing of your faith. I like how James says for you
know, which is probably better translated knowing because it's
a participle in Greek. Knowing, knowing what?
Knowing the testing of your faith.
I want you to see that the testing of your faith is
synonymous with trials. If you write in your Bible, you
could even circle testing of your faith and draw an arrow to
trials because they're being used synonymously.
They're one in the same. James is saying that this trial
is testing your faith. Now, that word for testing there
is not the Greek word pay rosmos that we looked at earlier.
It's dokim, dokimian. It's the process or means of
determining the genuineness of something.
In other words, if you want to know whether something is real
or fake, what do you do? You run a test, right?
If somebody hands you $100 bill or a piece of gold, there are
tests that you can run to determine whether it is real or
it's phony. It's a fake.
And James is saying here that God uses trials for two
purposes. God has two main purposes for
trials. Number one, to test our faith,
to show us if our faith is real or it's fake, whether it's a
phony. And the second purpose, look at
3B, the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
James is saying that trials don't just try.
They don't just tempt, they don't just test, they also
produce. They produce.
Produce what? They produce Steadfastness.
Now what is that? What is steadfastness?
This is one of my favorite Greek words.
Hoopo Monet. One year we had a basketball
team. I wanted to name it Hupo Monet,
but it didn't pass. I love this word.
Here's the definition of the Greek word.
The capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty.
Patience, endurance, fortitude, steadfastness, perseverance.
Now I'm going to use this Greek word in the rest of the sermon,
not to sound intellectual, but because the word Hoopa, Monet
contains all of those ideas. All of those ideas are contained
in that word. Look at verse 4A and let
steadfastness have its full effect.
James here gives his second command.
This is the second command in the text.
Let steadfastness have its full effect.
Now what does that mean? Some translated as let it have
its perfect results, let it have its perfect effect, let it have
its perfect work, let it finish its work.
What does that mean? Let me give a very basic
analogy. You ever download something and
you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting, and
let's say that it's the other downloads. 50% done right and
you get tired of waiting so you just cancel the download.
Now if you cancel the download, do you get 50% of the download?
You don't. You either get all of it or none
of it. You have to let it finish to get
the download. The same ideas here.
What James is saying is that because trials are difficult,
when you when God puts you into a trial, the temptation will be
to end it prematurely. James is saying don't do that.
Don't do that. Let God's download of
steadfastness in your life be completed.
Don't cut it short. Looking for 4B that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
I want you to notice the subjunctive mood of this
statement that you may be. That's a subjunctive mood that
you may be verse 4B. It's subjunctive because it is
contingent on verse 4A. In other words, the only way to
be perfect and complete is if we let steadfastness have its full
effect. James says that you may be
perfect and complete. What does that mean?
Perfect and complete? Let me first state I think these
two terms are hand deities. I don't think they're two
separate things. I think they're saying the same
thing. They're stating the same thing.
Perfect, complete are being used synonymously here.
The Greek word for perfect is the same Greek word that Jesus
uses when he says in the Sermon on the Mount.
You therefore must be what Perfect.
As your heavenly Father is perfect, remember what Jesus
said to the rich young ruler. If you would be what perfect?
Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor.
Same exact term. It doesn't mean sinless.
Let's be clear on that. Perfect here.
It does not mean sinless. It doesn't mean without flaws.
But it does mean mature, complete, finished.
Let me give another analogy to illustrate this.
Suppose you were building a sculpture out of marble or
something. You work on it for three years,
slowly, just chiseling it away. When you finish, you pull the
cover back. Your friend looks at it and says
it's perfect. It doesn't mean it's flawless.
It could always be better, right?
What it means is this. It's finished, it's complete,
the work is done, and as James writes, it lacks nothing.
When God finishes sculpting us into the image of Christ, not
only will we be finished and complete, we will lack nothing.
We'll stop there with the exposition application.
I have 10 points of application, and I know that's a lot, but it
was going to be 15. Whittle it down #1 even Jesus's
brothers did not initially believe in Him.
Even Jesus's brothers did not initially believe in him.
CS Lewis was a Christian writer and apologist and arguably one
of the greatest, if not the greatest writer of the 20th
century. But did you know that he was
originally an atheist? Lee Strobel, who wrote The Case
for Christ, was an atheist, and he actually set out to disprove
Christianity. And in his effort to disprove
it, he became converted. And Augustine, held by many to
be the greatest Christian theologian in the history of the
church, was originally a secularist and a skeptic.
And this morning we are reminded that James, the apostle James,
who is the brother of Jesus, did not initially believe in his
brother John 75 for not even his brothers believed in him.
And yet here is James writing this letter.
Why? Because his brother changed his
life. Let this be an encouragement to
all of us that if God can bring water from a rock, then Jesus
can bring salvation from a heart of stone.
James is living proof that no one is beyond the grasp of our
Lord. Not your mom, not your dad, not
your grandma, not your grandpa, not your brother, not your
sister, not your daughter, not your son.
No one is beyond the grasp of our Lord #2 On your name badge,
what is the title say? Everybody has a name badge, a
life name badge. What does your title say?
When I used to work at UPS, before I was at this church,
when I was at seminary, my position had a title.
It was PTPCS, part time package center supervisor.
You know what that title taught me That titles me nothing.
There are a lot of titles in this world, lot of titles in the
workplace. CEOCOOCFOCTOCM President, VP,
director, GMOMPMSM, supervisor, operator, technician, and on and
on and on. What title is written on James's
name badge? Here's how it reads.
James Doulos. James.
Servant. James, Slave.
Notice how James doesn't describe himself.
He does not say James, the brother of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He does not say James, a leader
in the Jerusalem church. He does not say James, an
eyewitness to the resurrected Christ.
Those are all true, but James prefers to think of himself as a
servant. You see, those who have had
their feet washed by Christ, including you and me, feel most
comfortable washing the feet of the Saints. #3 God uproots us
from comfort before our roots grow too comfortable.
God uproots us from comfort before our roots grow too
comfortable. You ever had that, that
experience where you just get comfortable and then somebody
asks you to do something? Maybe you get a shower, climb
into bed, you get under the covers and then your spouse says
can you take the trash out before you go to bed.
I just got comfortable. God does that all the time.
The church was growing 3000 were saved on one day.
The number quickly blossomed to 5000.
And the temptation for the early church is the same temptation
for every church, including this church, and for every Christian.
And it is this. It is a temptation to grow
comfortable. You see, God loves to uproot us
from our comfort before our roots grow too comfortable.
James is writing to the 12 tribes in the Dispersion.
Part of the reason they are dispersed is because of
persecution. God would not allow the church
to grow comfortable. Why?
Because comfort breeds complacency.
You see, we plant our roots down in the soil.
We might even plant them deep down in the soil.
Why? Because it's safe there, it's
warm, It's predictable. And the gardener comes and
uproots us and transplants us to new soil where it's not quite so
safe, it's not quite so warm, it's not quite so predictable.
Why does he do that? Why does the gardener do that?
Because the gardener looks at this plant and he sees that
fruit is lacking and he knows the exact soil that is needed to
produce the fruit that he is looking for.
And so he uproots us and put some new soil #4 Trials are
promised. Unexpected and come in the
variety pack. Trials are promised unexpected
and they come in the variety pack.
That short phrase when you meet trials of various kinds tells us
3 aspects of trials and that short little phrase there are
three aspects of trials that are given here.
Number one, trials are promised. James says when, not if, when
you meet trials. We know this to be true from
other scriptures. Even Jesus said in the world you
will have tribulation. Paul says through many
tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God for yourselves.
Know that we are destined for afflictions.
All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted over and over again. The New Testament affirms to us
that trials are promised #2 trials are unexpected, which is
seems kind of a contradiction. If they're promised, why are
they unexpected? James writes, When you fall into
trials, it's like falling into a pit, right?
Every time, I mean, every time you fall into a pit, it was
unexpected, right? If you're walking along,
nobody's like, well, I expected to do that.
You know? Trials often feel that way,
don't it? Doesn't it?
You didn't see it coming, Peter writes.
Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to
test you as though something strange were happening to you.
Why does Peter write that? Because our bent is to be
surprised. Our bent is to think that
something strange is happening. You know how we know this to be
true? When a trial happens, do we not
all ask the exact same question? Why?
Why is this happening? Trials are promised, trials are
unexpected, and three trials come in the variety pack.
I was watching a video of Arnold Schwarzenegger talk about
lifting weights, which is quite humorous.
He was saying this, that if you do the exact same workout
everyday, your muscles will grow accustomed to it.
They will learn how to handle the stress that's put on them.
And so he was exhorting people to do what he calls to shock the
muscle. In other words, throw something
at it that it doesn't expect because that's how it will grow.
God does the same thing with us. You see, God doesn't just give
us physical trials, He also gives us emotional ones.
God doesn't just give U.S. financial trials, He also gives
us relational ones. God mixes it up.
Why? He knows what trial to give to
achieve the outcome that He desires.
Five, God gives us the ability to not only be joyful, but to be
joyful in the midst. God gives us the ability to not
only be joyful, but to be joyful right in the midst of trials.
There's nothing Christian about being a joyful person.
Nothing. There are plenty of lost people
out there who are happy. If the goal in life is to be
happy, you don't need Christianity for that.
You don't. But God doesn't just give us the
ability to be joyful, He also gives us the ability to be
joyful right in the midst of trials, James writes.
Count it all joy when you fall into trials.
Now, the fact that this is a command and it is a command
means that it's possible. God always empowers what He
commands. If He commands it, it's
possible. Which means there is no trial in
your life, brother and sister, none where God is not willing to
give you the grace to count it as joy.
There are no exceptions to this. Job's experience is not an
exception. Paul's experience is not an
exception. Neither is Jeremiah's or
Joseph's or David's. None of them are an exception.
Hear me when I say this. God doesn't just make us happy.
Salt and straw can make you happy.
Investing in NVIDIA five years ago can make you happy.
God makes us happy. When the fig tree should not
blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the olive
fail and the fields yield no food and the flock be cut off
from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.
Even the then God makes us happy.
He gives the grace to count it as joy. 6 Trials are God's way
of keeping Matthew 722 from happening to us.
Trials are God's way of keeping Matthew 722 from happening to
us. You ever been fearful that a
product or service you were buying was either faulty or
fake? Right?
Every time I get my car fixed, even if it's just tires, like if
I if I go and just get new tires or get them rotated or
something, I always think, man, I hope they do this correctly.
Because if I go on the the Interstate going 60 miles an
hour and they didn't put this on correctly, my family might die.
Or you ever buy a product and you think, what if it's a fake?
Especially if you bought like an expensive one.
Like imagine you bought a Louis Vuitton bag and when you got it,
it said Louis Button. My disciple used to say that
Matthew 722 was the scariest verse in the Bible.
On that day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,
did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name
and do many mighty works in your name?
And then I will declare to you, I never knew you.
How do we know that on the day of Judgment, we won't find out
that we were a fake, We were a phony.
Trials, trials. James says that trials test our
faith. They reveal cracks.
They reveal cracks that can be dealt with in this life.
Brother, sister, before you begin to resent the trials in
your life, before you begin to grow bitter at the trials in
your life, remember this. They are keeping you from
Matthew 722. 7 Joy is not found in the trial itself.
It's found in what the trial produces.
Joy is not found in the trial itself.
It's found and what the trial produces.
Now I put this point here because sometimes I think we get
confused as to what exactly James is telling us to do here.
When James says count it all joy, he's not commanding us to
find joy in the trial itself. In meaning the source of it, he
means through it, not source, we find joy and what the trial
produces. Now, let me give an obvious
example to make this point. Suppose while a woman was in
hard labor, right in the middle of like excruciating hard long
labor, she's in excruciating pain and her husband comes to
her bedside and he says to her, count it all, Joy.
The nurse probably needs to put duct tape on his mouth.
The joy is not found in the labor itself, but in what the
labor produces. This is so important that we get
this because through the years I've had people to ask me this
and they're like, you're telling me to find joy like this is so
painful. This this is so hurtful.
This is so difficult. And and what you're telling me
to count this as joy, It seems like it's logically impossible.
And if I were telling you or God were telling you to find the joy
in that trial, yes, that's logically impossible.
It's like telling a person who was in pain, fine, pain
pleasurable. You can't.
By definition, it's pain You can't find pain pleasurable.
God is not commanding us to find joy in the trial itself.
He's commanding us to find joy in what the trial produces.
So what does it produce? Hoopa.
Monet. #8 Final salvation requires Hoopa Monet, and Hoopa
Monet only comes from one source.
Final salvation requires Hoopa Monet and Hoopa Monet only comes
from one source. You know, maybe we think I read
this text and you think I get it.
I get it, brother. Trials produce Hoopa Monet, all
right. Good.
Why should I find joy in that? What's so great about Hoopa
Monet, Matt? This Nobody is finally saved
without it. The only seed that made it in
the parable of the sower is the one that bore fruit.
With what? Hoopa Monet, that word patience.
There that word perseverance, there is hoop O Monet.
Jesus said to you, the disciples, By your hoop O Monet
you will gain your lives. You see justification.
Justification requires faith and faith alone, but final salvation
requires Hoop O Monet and Hoopa. Monet only comes from one
source. If I am driving a gasoline
powered car across the country, I must stop at a gas station to
fill up my vehicle. I cannot stop at a water filling
station and put water into it and think this will work.
I cannot stop at fast food and put a bunch of Big Macs in it
and think this will work. I can't even stop at a gas
station and put diesel in it and think this will work.
I must put gasoline in it. It's the only thing that will
keep this car running. Brothers and sisters, we need
Hoopa Monet to make it to the finish line.
And the only station that serves Hoopa Monet is the trial
station. That's it.
Paul confirms this. What produces endurance?
Same word. What produces hoopoe in a
Anybody suffering. Suffering produces endurance. 9
Have a holy discontent with your steadfastness.
Have a holy discontent with your steadfastness, James writes.
Let's steadfastness have its full effect.
This is the second command in our passage today.
Now why does he give this command?
As I mentioned earlier, because the temptation is to be content
with the amount of steadfastness that we have achieved.
Isn't that the the temptation to be content with how much
steadfastness I have in my life? Suppose someone went to the
doctor and the doctor said to them you are at an immediate
risk of having a heart attack and dying.
Like you could die at any point. You're at immediate risk of
having a heart attack and dying. Suppose this person heard this,
they took it to heart and they so much so they actually did
something about it and after one year they lost £100.
That would be great, wouldn't it?
That would be great, £100 in a year, That would be amazing.
They should be very, very pleased with their progress.
But suppose their starting weight was £600.
Should they be content with losing 100 lbs?
No, no. Why?
Because they have a lot more to go.
You see, the same can happen in the Christian walk.
God, I've gone through a lot of trials and and you've really
persevered me through them. Praise God.
And to be honest, I think I'm good.
I've grown a lot. I'm persevering.
Well, brothers and sisters, there's still a long way to go.
Don't cut the download short. Don't settle for a 50% download.
Let steadfastness have its full effect in your life.
Let it fully download. Let the Lord teach you
everything that He wants to teach you.
Have a holy discontent with your steadfastness. 10 Last point.
God will make sure that on the day of judgment His children
lack nothing. God will make sure that on the
day of judgment His children lack nothing.
Remember when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said to
him, What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus said keep the commandments and the ruler said I've done
that. Did you notice that rather than
affirm his obedience, you think that Jesus would affirm his
obedience? Good job well done, good and
faithful servant for keeping the commandments.
Rather than affirm his obedience, Do you remember what
Jesus said to him? One thing you still lack Go sell
everything you have and give to the poor.
You see, selling everything was a trial that he was not willing
to undergo. It was a trial that he could not
count as joy. James tells us that on the day
of judgment, God will make sure that His children will be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
You see, trials are God's chisel and He will keep chiseling until
we look like Christ, and then he'll say you're finished.
Enter into the joy of your Master.
Let's pray.