Can you believe it’s 2026! Today we're kicking off a series on James called, “Let's Talk.” As you may know, James was the brother of Jesus. Like Jesus, James spoke of faith at an extremely practical level. For James faith is to work itself out in everyday life. It's not just a way of thinking, or believing, or feeling… but trusting God and living for God. Our team created a study guide booklet for this series. We're hoping it will spur conversations and greater faith.
Let's jump into James. Since we ended 2025 talking about the JOY-FULL life, it’s only fitting we can begin 2026 the same! James 1:2-4 begins, “2 Consider it a great [pure] joy whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”
One of the most obvious facts of life, is that “stuff” happens. Not a day goes by, that stuff doesn't happen. You wake up in the morning. You walk into work. You come home. You glance at your phone. You tune into the news. We're bombarded by stuff all day long. Some stuff is extremely trivial. When you’re young something trivial may overwhelm you, but later in life you get greater perspective, and realize it’s a nothing burger. But other stuff is legitimately hard.
Some stuff is external or circumstantial. The other day Lara and I were driving through downtown, St. Louis and our engine light came on. I casually said, “Well lookie there sweetheart.” But then Lara, completely panic-stricken says “Get us home now!” (All this, as she calls OnStar, to run diagnostics and starts reviewing our car warranty information).
Some stuff is of course internal. Physiological, Psychological, Spiritual. At the root of our mental health crisis, is a hyper fixation, a preoccupation with our own selves, and our inner world. Why do I feel this way? Why do I have these kind of thoughts? Why do I keep doing the things I do?
In James 1:13-15 James writes, “13 No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. 14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” So much of what weighs us down is of our devices. We fixated on a desire and it carried us away, leading not only to sin, but so much pain.
James chosen word for the stuff of life is “trial.” Jesus’ chosen word for trials was trouble. “In this world, you will have trouble.” How are we to navigate the stuff of life? Troubles, Trials, Hardships, Temptations?
During NT times, Stoicism was the rage. The Stoic would say, “Don't let stuff get to you. Accept what you can change, and let go of what you cannot control.” But James has a radically different response in mind. He says, “Embrace the trouble of life with sheer joy! Let the trouble strengthen you, let it teach you endurance, let it have its “full” affect of bringing you to complete maturity.”
Such is the paradox of joy. Trials can be one of the deepest, most enriching, transformative wellsprings of joy! After all, we don't develop maturity in vacuum. For James, the key to endurance is four-fold.
(1) To Endure We Must Maintain a Faith-Perspective.
So often as Christians, we confuse our destiny with our destination. Our ultimate “destination” is to be with God, in heaven. But what is our “destiny?” God's chief purpose for our lives? Is it not that become mature and complete, lacking nothing? In Romans 8:28-29 Paul writes, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” And just what is the “good purpose” that’s to unfold even in the midst of life’s trials and troubles? Paul says, “29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” God predestined us to be like Jesus.
If you have the faith to accept it, every trial is an opportunity for God’s Holy Spirit to shape, form, and mold us to be more like Jesus! This is incredibly great news. It means that whatever hardship or trouble we face, it’s not a detour—it’s not wasted—it’s not a departure from our destiny. To the degree trials form us into Christ's likeness, they catapult us toward our eternal destiny. Our “destination” maybe heaven, but our destiny is that Christ be formed in us!
(2) To Endure We Must Seek Wisdom Urgently.
The Evil One uses trouble to sink us. At first, trials bring confusion. We cry out in agony, “Dear Lord! Why this? Why now? How much longer?”
But the longer a trial persists, the deeper our questions cut to the heart of faith. “Seriously. Where are you God? Why are you still silent? Do you hear me? Can you see me? How can I trust you when everything seems to be falling apart?”
And trials can cause us to question the very character of God Himself. “God, if You are so powerful, why didn’t you stop this? If you are so good, why are you allowing this?” Sadly, so many stop believing altogether.
For this reason, James interjects, as a matter of great urgency, James 1:5-8, “5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.” Don't throw out the baby and the baby water. Pray expectantly. Don't be double-minded. Don't let your faith be ravaged and tossed about by the storms of life. Don’ abandon ship! Pray sincerely. Expect wisdom!
(3) To Endure We Must Practice True Humility.
James 1:9-11, James says, “9 Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation, 10 but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11 For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.”
There is an echo in these verses of Jesus. When we find ourselves in poorer circumstances (financially, spiritually, physically) we tend to denigrate ourselves. We make certain assumptions about our standing before. And when we find ourselves in richer, more fortunate circumstances, we tend to over-appraise our standing before God. The Bible prescribes sober-minded humility.
Once when Jesus was teaching, he expressed how it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person enter the Kingdom of God. The disciples were incredulous! “If it’s hard for the rich to enter of kingdom of heaven, then who can?” They conflated their personal affluence with special spiritual status.
Another time Jesus was asked about why a certain man was born blind—was it because of his sin, or his parent's sin? People conflated sin with disability. Still another time Jesus was asked why certain people were tragically killed when a tower collapsed, and then also, why certain Jews were brutally killed by Herod. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that God causes the sun to rise and fall (he sends his rain) on the righteous and the unrighteous. In Luke 13 he rebukes those who thought those upon whom the tower fell, or those victimized by Herod's cruelty… were “worse sinners.” Trials, Trouble, Cruelty, Calamity, Disaster are not reliable indicators of divine disfavor or wrath. To the contrary, we're just flowers in the field. Every one of us eventually loses his or her petals, in one manner or another. Like Jesus, James emphasizes our fallibility, and need for humility. Later he says, “Do not be presumptuous about tomorrow—you don't know what tomorrow brings.”
(4) To Endure We Must Cling to Hope.
James 1:12, “12 Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has endured the test he will receive the crown of life God has promised those who love him.” Whatever happens in this life (whatever trouble, trials … sunshine or rain… riches or poverty… whatever fortune or misfortune befalls us… it isn't ever our final chapter. God's very best, his eternal gift (a crown of life) looms large over anything this life throws at us.
Let me mention two metaphors for hope. One is the crown of life. Imagine you are the Olympic athlete. For most of your life, from childhood into adulthood, you've trained, sacrificed, subjected your body to hardship. You didn't do it for virtue’s sake, nor for endurance sake. You did it all to take the crown, take the gold.
Another metaphor is childbirth. In Galatians 4:19 the apostle Paul says, “My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you.” A mother subjects herself to hardship, 9 long months. And then the water breaks, the mother endures hardship of labor, and then there is recovery, and nursing, and weening. But what is the goal of all that hardship? It isn't just to have a baby, but to raise a young man or woman, in whom Christ is fully formed. Paul says, “I'm again in labor… it’s for Christ to be formed in you… it’s totally worth it! Paul's hope for the Ephesians Church. Ephesians 4:13, that they would keep “growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.”
Look up Paul's prayer in Colossians 1:9-12. He prays for them to have all spiritual knowledge and wisdom. To walk worthy of the Lord. To Please God in every way. To bear fruit in their labor and knowledge. To be strengthened with power. To have endurance and patience in all their trials. To have joy, giving thanks for the inheritance that awaits them in glory.
One last comment about endurance. James says (1:13), “13 No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.” We shouldn't suppose God's up in heaven, throwing curve balls, hoping we'll stumble. It's one thing to say God “causes" calamity, it’s quite another to say God “uses" calamity. God is the author and perfector of faith, not the author and purveyor of evil. Calamity can indeed come from God, in the form of ultimate judgement. Calamity is overwhelming authored by the Evil One. And if not the Evil One, James warns, “14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” And if not by us, evil originates in others.
What does James most want us to understand? James 1:16-18, “16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
If it’s the goodness of God that should prevail… Then consider this. There is the path of the evildoer. If left to his own choices, the evildoer fixates on his own temptation and desires. In time, that desire as acted upon (not just thought upon), gives birth to sin. And that sin brings fruit of death.
But then there is the path of the righteous. If our life is lived by God's purpose and plan… God gives us a faith-perspective. We understand that the chief aim of our life is to be formed in Christ. Instead of being tempted, we turn to God in every circumstance, seeking wisdom on how to live to please God. We continually stay sober, humbly submitting to God. Even in the face of hardships, we cling to hope. Instead of sin giving birth to death, God's word in us gives birth to endurance, and endurance gives birth to complete maturity, and with maturity comes pure unadulterated joy.
It’s an amazing thing. The same trouble can come to two different people. The Evildoer responds bitterly to hardship, and self-destructs. But the righteous endure hardship with joy. They don't speculate as to the nature of the hardship, they endure hardship as discipline. And in so doing, grow into maturity with all the stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
What is growing out of the hardship in your life? Are the hardships giving birth to greater faith or disillusionment? Greater sin or righteousness? Defeat or endurance? Death or life? Bitterness or joy? Deformity, or formation into Christ's likeness? The fulfillment of your destiny… or the abandonment thereof?