The text this morning is from the Epistle of James, the first chapter:
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Blessed, the Lord says through James, is the one who remains steadfast under trial. Blessed, not happy. Blessed, not pleased. Blessed, not satisfied. Blessed. I mean, do you really think Abraham was happy when God told him to offer his son, his only son, the son of the promise of God, in sacrifice? Of course not. But, Abraham was blessed by God through the hope he had in that very promise. Abraham knew that Isaac would be the son through whom God would give Abraham grandchildren and great-grandchildren and make his descendants as numerous as the stars. Even if Isaac were to die, God would raise him up that he would be the son of the promise. And Abraham was blessed because he had faith.
Blessed are you then, when you remain steadfast under trial. It probably won’t be happy. It probably won’t be easy. But through your faith, because our Lord has blessed you with faith, going through the trials of life is no burden for you know that the crown of life waits for you on the other end. That’s God’s promise to you through Christ. No matter what you endure, beatings, mocking, hunger, thirst, hardship, starvation, sickness, disease, even torture and death, the crown of life awaits you, for here you share in the sufferings of Jesus. And as He received the crown of life, as He was raised from the dead, because you share in what He has gone through, by faith, so, too, will you receive His reward.
When we endure through the trials of this life, however, it’s hard to keep in mind the end result. The pain, the agony, the defeat we feel is so great, it is like there is no end in sight. This, quite honestly, is why people report most often why they attempted to commit suicide. There doesn’t seem to be any other way to end their pain and sorrow, and so they try, and, sadly, sometimes succeed, kill themselves. They’re overcome, and you can understand that feeling. It’s not that they have a death wish necessarily, but they want the pain to stop. Pain in life is difficult and we can be overcome by it just as easily as being overcome by any sin.
When we’re in that place, when it just hurts so bad, it’s easy to forget that we are beloved and blessed by God. We’re overcome, it makes sense. It’s not true, but it makes sense. It’s easy to think, too, on the opposite end, that we are being condemned or judged by God. And that’s not true either. Or, it’s possible to think that God wouldn’t put you through it and that he and Satan are locked in some kind of battle and Satan seems to be winning. That’s not true either. God absolutely might be putting you through a trial. And there’s never a battle between God and Satan where the outcome isn’t decidedly in God’s favor; Satan cannot win against our Lord in any way shape or form because he isn’t God.
It’s really impressive, when you think about it, the ways that we are tempted to turn away from God and His Word and seek our own understanding in our trials and temptations. Instead, and this takes a lifetime of effort, we must learn to trust God’s Word and see what He says about us and what we are going through. So, if God says that, when we are going through trial, and when we remain steadfast, we are blessed, we must trust that we are. And when God says that He tempts no one, we must trust that. When God in Christ says He will neither leave nor forsake us, we must trust that. When He tells us that we are His beloved bride, the Church, we must trust that. It’s hard, but we must learn to trust Him, and to do that we must remain steadfast.
How is this done? It’s not done, necessarily, by your own effort, but the steadfastness of faith, even the growth of faith, the dependence on your God, is given through the same way He does all things: through His Word and through His Sacraments. You want to remain steadfast? You want to receive the crown of life? You can. It’s not hard. Go to the place you know you can always find His Word, always find His Sacraments. God gives to you the power, the strength, the ability to remain steadfast, for this is His gift to you, that you may go to life everlasting.
If we should fall away, even during our difficult times, this is not God’s fault but our own. It is our own choices, our own sin. We choose not to come, we choose to go places where our ears will be scratched but not where our consciences will be pricked, we choose to worship at St. Mattress with Pastor Pillow preaching. And when the trial and temptation comes, we give in, for we have no strength to endure.
God tempts no one. Tempting one to sin is sin itself. God cannot sin, therefore He will never tempt you to sin. He may test your faith, He may even run you through the wringer, but it is out of His love for you that He does this. Luther writes, “[God] does not test in order that we may fear and hate Him like a tyrant but to the end that He may exercise and stir up faith and love in us.” God’s testing is always to bring us closer to Him, and by faith this always happens. Yet, we may also make bad decisions, bad choices that lead us away from God. And that is by the power of our sin and the influence of the devil. Luther goes on to say, “Satan, however, tempts for evil, in order to draw you away from God and to make you distrust and blaspheme God.”
God tests you love, Satan tempts you for death. God tests you that you might receive life, Satan tempts you that you might go to hell. And, because of our sin, we give in to sin so easily, don’t we? Our sinful flesh wars against the faith that God gave to us, and so when we are tempted, it comes from within, it comes from Satan using our desires to take us to the dominion of sin, death, and darkness.
That’s the thing, giving in to sin does feel good, relieving the burden of our suffering feels like the right thing to do. Getting the abortion when having a baby at this time would be inconvenient feels like the right thing to do. Getting the sex change operation because you feel trapped in a man’s body feels like the right thing to do. Shooting up with heroin to make your horrible week seem a little better feels like the right thing to do. Taking your life when everything is going wrong feels like the right thing to do. But we know that it’s not. To do these things are sins, they are to give in to the temptation that Satan is presenting us with. When God tests us, it is to bring us closer to Him. But when we turn from Him, when we give into the temptation we face, we come, not closer to God, but closer to hell itself.
God doesn’t do things that take us lower, but that which brings us higher and closer to His eternal kingdom. Every good gift comes from Him and every good gift is what He gives to each and every person. He doesn’t take us lower because He already took His Son to the depths of despair for your sake. God needs take you nowhere but to Himself, for that is where His Son resides. God doesn’t want to take you anywhere but there. Yet, it is by our choice if we are not. It is by human will and reason that we strive for hell. It is by God’s desire that we are given heaven.
And this is His will, that all who believe in Him would never die but receive eternal life. And we will. And you’ve received this promise even now, so blessed are you as you endure the trials of life. Blessed are you that you are made His own, that you, in your Baptism, have been made a new creation, a firstfruits of the creation which is to come when Christ returns. You are the example to the entire world of what God will do when He comes to judge the living and the dead. You are the image, even now, though what you will be is not yet even fully realized.
God tests you now, through this life, that you might be found faithful. And yet, you will be even greater still when Christ comes to make you incorruptible, perfect, forever forgiven, forever righteous. Word and Sacrament now are the down payment on the holiness which is to come. If you have it now, you will have it then. And God will continue to bless you, to bring you to Himself, to show you who His Christ is that you may also be His own. This is His good and perfect gift to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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