It was my turn to preach this morning at my home church Caffee Junction. Not that it was my turn in that I'm on a preaching roster and it was my "at bat". It was more like, Pastor is on vacation and I'm covering for him. Big shoes to fill.
Early about 3am one morning on my Christmas vacation the post title message sort of leaped from the text that I was reading and begin to speak to my heart. Thus, a sermon was born and I named it "When Troubles Come."
James was writing to the "12 tribes" who were scattered abroad as the NLT renders the verse. Jews have an affinity for their homeland. There's a sense of pride in the land that God promised to them, and in the nation they protect with the lives of their sons and daughters. To be scattered from that homeland they loved so much, inspired James to begin his letter, "When troubles come..." (James 1:2). Being away from this land that they loved so much -- by force and persecution -- clearly defined itself with the word troubles.
For the believer, troubles aren't a possibility, but a guarantee. It doesn't matter how much we confess the right phrases, or believe for blessing beyond measure. Jesus said in John 16: 33, "In this world you will have troubles, but I give you my peace... take heart, because I have overcome the world" (paraphrase). The problem that our word of faith friends have with what I'm is perhaps a misunderstanding of what "troubles" really are.
Most of the time when Americans think of troubles, it almost always is in reference to financial struggles. Being so wealthy, as we are, our hearts are disembodied from our torsos and have attached their sinewy tentacles to live on some heap of gold we have so loved in this world. So when we think of troubles we immediately think of where are our hearts are located. The troubles, however, that James and Jesus are referring to are troubles that are directly related to our Christian witness and how this world hates us for it not the inconveniences so much that we face in life for loss of possessions.
So, in this context, do we really have troubles as American believers?
When have we been persecuted for our faith, or for sharing it? Rarely, I would guess, if you're like me. I can't say that I've been persecuted for preaching the gospel ever -- unless of course you count congregants taking up arms as I preach on to the brink of noon. Barring those rare instances, then where's your trouble? Where's my trouble? Life is filled with inconveniences, of course. Hard times, of course. But being hated by the world for our faith? Not so fast my friend.
American society doesn't mind our tucked-away-Sunday-gatherings so as long as we keep them tucked away. The world is our enemy, of course, because we stand for the righteousness of God, and the world... well, we formerly didn't stand for those things, did we? As the community of believers engages our ever degrading culture in an active sense, we'll become more and more alienated from the world. But wasn't that the point when we were saved... to come out of the world? After so much of leaving the world with our new salvation zeal, we somehow were lulled asleep again while Delilah stroked our hair, we fell asleep and she wove it back into the fabric of society. We don't have the kind of trouble James was speaking of because, well, we're more accustomed to being like the world instead of being in it and not of it.
I almost went a different direction for my sermon this morning. I was tinkering with an idea about how the church isn't anymore separated from the evils that surround us. It was a piece about how entangled we are in the ills of society... and how we have lost our hatred for said ills. The message was to be titled "When God's Children Get Used to the Dark." Maybe that will remain on the shelf until a later time.
So where's our trouble? Is our Christian witness causing us to be ipso facto hated by the world? Or is our light so dim that it can no longer be detected in the dark? Has our light ceased to extinguish the night? We are to be the light of the world, right? Yet we've learned to embrace the darkness because there's so much of it. It has enveloped us and since it's difficult to beat 'em we sort of joined 'em.
Verse 6 of James 1 encourages believers to NOT WAVER. Don't be double minded he says. He goes on to say that a double minded person shouldn't expect to receive anything from God. Maybe we should then ponder why God's voice seems so distant and why His hand seems so far removed from our lives. Just a suggestion.
Let's not waver. Let's stand firm in Him because when these troubles come -- persecutions for our witness -- James said we will grow, and these troubles will be an opportunity for great joy. What great joy you ask? They joy of loving and being so close to our savior that we count it joy to join Him in his persecution. That's a closeness to the savior that only comes through testing, growth and faith. It's a deep knowing of the Savior that goes beyond just a casual acquaintance to Christ. When we can have that depth, then we'll have Great Joy.
