Tuesday, Oct. 30

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Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  - James 1:2-4

There is a great deal for us to understand in just these few verses.  The very first issue that James deals with in his letter of practical instruction to Christians is the problem of trials and suffering.  The first thing that James points out to us about suffering is that it is inevitable!

Notice that James says “whenever you face trials”, he does not say if you face trials, or in case you face trials, he says when you face them...because you will face them.  Difficulty, pain, loss, suffering, etc. is a universal reality of human life, nobody is immune to it.  So the question is not if you will suffer, but when and how will you face it when it comes.  

Jesus Himself indicated the inevitability of suffering in John 16:33 when He said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  

You might not immediately recognize it, but this was a rather unique aspect of the early Christian message.  You see the first century worldview was dominated by the pagan religions of the Roman Empire.  The basic premise of paganism was that you followed the proper rituals and offered the proper sacrifices to the gods in the hope that they (the gods) would bless you and make you more prosperous, comfortable, etc.  In other words, the pagan gods could help you avoid pain and suffering, if you appeased them in the proper manner.  

Christianity stood in total contrast to this idea.  Unlike the pagan religions, Christianity did not promise relief from suffering by appeasing God.  Rather, it simply promised that God would not leave you to suffer alone, but He would be present with His people in the midst of it.  This is a big part of the reason that the early Christians were remarkably courageous in their care for the suffering and poor.  These early Christians had a reputation for not only enduring great suffering themselves, but for suffering alongside others without fear.  Early church historian Eusebius states that because of their compassion in the midst of the plague, the Christians’ “deeds were on everyone’s lips, and they glorified the God of the Christians.”  A few decades after Eusebius, the last pagan emperor, Julian the Apostate, recognized that the Christian practice of compassion in the midst of suffering was a main cause behind the transformation of Christianity from a small movement on the edge of the empire to cultural ascendancy. Writing to a pagan priest, he said, “They support not only their poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.”  In fact, Julian proposed that pagan priests imitate the Christians’ charity in order to bring about a revival of paganism in the empire.

Well, that may be true for the early Christians, but what about us?  What about the influence of Christians and the Church in our culture?  

I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to say that we are living in perhaps the worst society in history for preparing people to face the inevitability of suffering.  The reason for this is that the prevailing worldview in our culture today is “Secularism”.  According to secularism, the material world, and this earthly life are all that exist.  There is no God, no heaven or hell, and there is no life after death.  In other words, you only go around once, so live it up and grab all that you can.  In this kind of world view, whatever you suffer or lose in this life, you suffer and lose ultimately, because this life is all you get!

This is one of the reasons that our culture has such a difficult time facing suffering.  Most people think that if you suffer, something must be wrong, and somebody must be to blame, and it cannot be you!  Our culture tells us that suffering is to be avoided at all costs.  The trouble is, how can you avoid something that the bible says is unavoidable?  There are even many churches that teach a “christianized” version of this world view; God wants you to be happy, healthy, wealthy, comfortable and never to suffer or feel pain.  You don’t have to look very hard to find books, songs, and sermons that are selling this kind of message.  

The problem is that this is NOT the message of the Bible and it is not the promise of the Gospel.  James is trying to help those first century Christians, and us today, see that as followers of Jesus, the way that we face trials and suffering is a critical part of our witness to the world around us!

Jeff Frazier