We kicked off our new series, Didn’t See That Coming – A Skeptic’s Guide to Living Like Jesus, by looking at the powerful story of James—the half-brother of Jesus. James opens his letter with this challenge: “consider it joy” when we face trials. But how is that even realistic? It is when we reframe how we look at trials. Pressure doesn’t mean God has left us—it means He is refining and strengthening us!
Notes 📓✏️:
“When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple He loved [John], he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And He said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.”
John 19:26-27 (NLT)
“When His [Jesus’] family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of His mind.”
Mark 3:21 (NIV)
“For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.”
John 7:5 (NIV)
“After that, He [Jesus] appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time…Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles…”
1 Corinthians 15:6-7 (NIV)
“Didn’t see that coming”… “A skeptic’s guide to living like Jesus.”
- The loudest doubters can become the boldest disciples.
- Healthy doubt can become the foundation of unshakable faith.
“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:1-4 (NIV)
“Consider it joy… when you face trials.”
Pressure can produce permanence of faith.
1. Trials Are Not Random – They Are Refining.
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”
Romans 8:28 (NLT)
The Greek word for “face” (peripiptō) carries the idea of being unexpectedly surrounded. (Trials ambush us.)
The word for “Trials” here means: “Proving or Testing.”
“Testing” is not about God discovering something about us He doesn’t know – it is about God developing something in us we don’t yet have.
James sees trials as instruments of divine formation, not signs of divine abandonment.
Pressure does not mean God has left you; it may mean He is shaping you.
2. Testing Produces Perseverance. Perseverance Produces Maturity.
“…the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
The word “testing” (dokimion) that James uses refers to the refining of precious metals.
The heat separates what’s weak so what’s strong can remain.
Craig Blomberg say James is encouraging us to have…“Active perseverance under difficult circumstances with a forward-looking hope.”
You don’t grow in comfort. You grow in pressure.
Maturity does not come with age, but with wisdom gained through resilience.
3. With God, you can do hard things.
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We quit instead of remain.
We complain instead of trusting God.
We misinterpret trials as God’s rejection.
We refuse to submit to what God is exposing.
We try to persevere in our own strength.
Trials expose where our faith is fragmented.
You are no longer partially devoted, occasionally trusting, or situationally obedient.
Discussion Questions 📝❓:
- What does James’ transformation from skeptic to believer teach us about how God can work in the lives of those who doubt?
- According to James 1:2-4, why should we consider trials as ‘pure joy,’ and what does this mean practically in our daily lives?
- How does the example of trees in the Biosphere project relate to our spiritual growth through difficulties?
- What does it mean that ‘trials are not punitive, they can become productive,’ and how does this change our perspective on hardship?