James teaches that true faith is demonstrated not by intellectual assent or volitional commitment alone, but by how one responds to life's testing situations. The sermon uses the example of the Apostle Paul before King Agrippa to illustrate how 'counting it all joy' involves a deliberate mental process of focusing on God's purposes and opportunities, even amidst unjust circumstances like imprisonment and delayed mission. This deliberate evaluation, akin to Christ's self-emptying service, allows believers to find joy not in trials themselves, but in God's work of producing enduring Christian virtues. Ultimately, the sermon concludes that while happiness depends on external circumstances, true joy stems from an internal commitment to God's values, making believers responsible, choice-making individuals capable of enduring trials.
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Pray that you will help us in our studies and in our response to you and to your words. We pray that you will give us a good half an hour together and that each of us will be gladly changed. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, let's pick up a little bit of a review. Yesterday we talked about the word believe, the verb in the New Testament. And you have this kind of instruction in the New Testament. Believe that. Call that the intellectual faith.
And then you have believe in, ah, in. Ah, and I call that the volition. James should turn, let's take me to chapter twelve, and all the way through the book, is that we have this that I did. Now, that's the only truth to the non-Christian. That's also truth to Christians. The non-Christian can believe all about Jesus Christ and believe the facts of the gospel without committing itself to Jesus Christ, and therefore he's not Christian. And we as Christians believe a great deal up here, so we all believe none here. We can recite many truths that we believe, and whether we have committed ourselves to Jesus Christ about that truth or something else.
What James is concerned about in many areas of life, let this be true of us as well as this. Now, what shows that a second original faith is true of us? The only way that that can be demonstrated is in the testing situations of life. It's growing in June. No, we are not to think just of extraordinary tests. The great trials have come on now. But throughout this epistle, James talks about ordinary tests in life.
You talk about things like money. And to have it or not to have it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate the reality of our commitment to what we say we believe. People we meet, people of different cultural backgrounds, people of different races, they provide tests whether or not we are committed to what we say we believe. And throughout James, many of the ordinary circumstances we face in life are really tests of the reality of our commitment to Jesus Christ on the basis of what he has said.
So this division between an intellectual faith and a volitional faith is not just for the non-Christian, it's also true of us. we may not even be aware of some of those testing situations that we face every day. But there they are. And they show whether or not, in regard to this teaching, we have committed ourselves to Jesus' grace. And this is what James is talking about. So we recognize it just of those extreme tests, those grave trials, But if we had times about Judaism, we would see those ordinary, everyday situations we all face.
They are in reality tests that our commitment to Jesus Christ, in regard to the truth that we say we need. But now, as you can be talking about something else first, Jim, I've read on times of all joy. Now, I think all of us are aware of the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness depends upon what happens to me. Is that right? And that's what happens to me.
That is therefore controlled by things outside myself. Over which I have no control. Now, what is there in me that makes that kind of a response? If the sun is shining, the temperature is warm, I'm happy. If the sun is not shining, the temperature is low, it's raining, and I came to Florida for a vacation, I'm not happy. And what is outside myself, which is told by me, calm, but what kind of an attitude is within me that makes that possible? Yes. That could be. Revelling? What do you think?
Revelling is what? Revelling is a God who, you know, that I have trouble with that Psalm that talks about God setting the ice and the frost and the snow and that kind of thing. Yes, all right. Anybody else? Selfishness, why? I want to believe me. Go with faith. We're talking about places. And James will have something to say about pleasure laying on in the system. It's what pleases me. And if my external circumstances please me, I'm unhappy, they don't please me, I'm unhappy.
And therefore I am really controlled by something outside myself. Right? And that should be... We were made in the image and likeness of God as we do it. We have been redeemed and brought into God's family, and things outside. I should not control our people. Remember in Romans chapter twelve too, Paul is saying, don't let the world around you squeeze you into this world, but be transformed from within. What is outside me, whether it's the ideas of my society or my circumstances, what is outside me should not control me.
And happiness depends on what is outside me. What brings me pleasure. And all I am saying, then, is that I am committed to a pleasure principle. That's the way I live. And that's the way Christians are supposed to live. A pleasure principle. On the other hand, we'll talk about joy in a moment. What are we going to say about joy? We're talking about the comfort of it. We've got to come from within.
Sure. So it's pleasure and it's external. It's happier than external. Lloyd is his internal. Therefore if my body is outside me, does it turn in that? I'm going to put down again, to some degree, it is intellectual and volitional. It is really a viewpoint, whether or not I have joined them from my viewpoint. And I am the one who determines whether or not I have joined.
Circumstances determine whether or not I have happened, but I determine whether or not I have joined. Now, even what James says, counteth all joy. When you fall into various trials, or when you meet various destinies, counteth all joy. Now, what I want to look at is that word count, because that's the key to the whole thing. What or not I enjoy hinges on that word count. Now if I keep writing on the blackboard, we're going to run out of time, but I won't put any stuff up there from time to time. Now, if you were to look at this word count in Bind's repository dictionary of these Testament words, you will discover that it means originally to lead the way.
And in the second jargon, it means from that it is kind of leading to the mind. And finally, this word count. It's an intellectual process to begin with. It's whatever I read into my mind. That's what I count. All right, but let's see how it's used in these texts. I'm going to go back and look at Acts chapter twenty-six. And here's Paul before Agrippa. Verse two, Paul says, I think myself have...
You've got another translation of that expression. I think myself have. There's another translation. I think myself fortunate. Okay, any other? Any other translation of the word faith? Fonder. Fitter. Fitter. Fitter. It's the same word, change, you, and... counting all sorts. I count myself fortunate, see with Griffin, because I commanded for myself this day before, and he was long, long ago. Now Paul says in those circumstances, I count myself fortunate.
Now let's think about the fact that Paul had faith. Look at how those says the fact. We don't see this one is really important. Think of Paul's circumstances. What can you write down about Paul's circumstances right now at this point in Act XXX? He's in prison. All right, he's in prison. Is he just in prison arrested? Okay. So it's a matter of injustice. What else do you say about Paul in these circumstances of Paul? All right, it seems to me the delay of his mission to recover that moment empire with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And it's not only a delay of his mission, but you know that there's a delay in his trial. These Roman officials keep putting it on, both of them in favor with the Jews, no one in the sort of trouble. And Paul is a captain, captain, captain, captain of the financial field. Jesus. And here is a man who is bursting to get out to the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he's confined. Now, you could list a number of other things. And if you look at those circumstances, what is your response to them? Yeah.
All stirred up and other half is miserable. Right? Are there any other frustration? Yeah. Right? They get all frustrated. Are there any other facts about Paul that we've put over here? Okay. Okay. And this was an opportunity for me. what has been the Lord's commission to Paul? Remember? Dear before kings, those in authority, Paul, that's the way I'm getting hold of you.
You're going to stand before kings, before people in authority, and you're going to bear testimony that what I mean in those circumstances. I'm going to get you there. Which side should we put that on? So we can put negative up there and positive up here. So we also put it over here. Some of them appear on both sides. But that's one more. Any other factor of Paul in these circumstances that we can put up there? We can say here he is falsely accused.
We have that up there. Now he has an opportunity to answer for himself. Yes, that is just a false accusation. So if we have time to get out to those two, that you've got two sets of facts. Now, if I'm in no circumstance, and I can look at those two sets of facts, and I can see only this over here, that I'm going to be visual. Or I can look at this. I count it, I count myself for it.
It depends which step of fact is more important to me, which step of fact I lead into my mind. I cannot stop thinking but I can determine what I think about it. And if I let these facts fill my mind, I'm going to be unhappy. If I let these facts fill my mind, I'm going to have joy. And Paul let these facts fill his mind. And here's a great opportunity. Who else is going to get to talk to you in prayer about Jesus Christ? Because that's the way Paul looked at it.
I have the opportunity to tell King Agrippa to remind him about Jesus Christ. So Paul can say, I count myself for him. Now we can do the same thing in our circumstance. You can list down the facts of where you are, what's going on in your life right now. And you can put the negatives and the positives. and you fill your mind with the negatives and the negatives. Now this is not an agent, because on the positive side we are dealing with facts. This is not a daydream world, but these are facts.
The whole sense which I count more important, what I lead into my mind, And if I lead these into my mind, I'm going to have joy. And if I lead these into my mind, I'm going to have joy. Got it? All right, looking at chapter two. He's going to look at a couple signs where this word, how is used. in chapter two verse three let nothing be done from strife or vain glory but in loneliness of mine let each esteem others better than themselves and that word is seen is the word count the changes I am to count other Christians better than myself.
Again, that is a delivered, mental, and volitional act on my part. Yes, yes. Now, how do we do this? And you don't do it by saying, whoa, he's so much better than I am. That doesn't mean anything. Except if you want somebody to tell you, no, he's not. You're just looking for a pat on the back and somebody to boost your ego. That's all we're doing when you say that. True. And if I would tell you, oh, I can't play the piano as well as so-and-so, that's not you, really.
That's a fact. I can sit down with a piano and in five seconds I can position this with one kid. That's not you, Billy. That's a fact. How do you count others better than he shall? How did our Lord, in one sense, count his disciples better than himself? It has nothing to do with who they are. But our Lord counted his disciples better than himself. Watch with me. He counted them...
better than himself, he took the position of the servant. Now, as far as what they are, no one would ever say they are better than he is. But that's something he counted. That's something he said, what really did he decide to do? Did it have nothing to do with the merit of being with it? Now, that's what Paul's telling us. It's not to say that somebody is better than I, or I am better than somebody. All those comparisons are odious. It's that I deliberately decide to take the position of service, and I come to help you.
You decide to take the position of service, and you come to help me. That's counting the other person better than myself. I put myself in the position of service. That's a deliberate act on my mind. Use in verse six. Let's put it in verse six. So he says in verse five, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, taught, if not in our way, that each one of the gods that made himself of no reputation of the... That word, thought, is our word for them. A deliberate decision on his part, not to hold on to all that he has as equal to God, but to empty himself, make himself of their reputation, we come down here as a servant.
So it's a deliberate act on these parties. This is a deliberate act on both parties. Deliberate evaluation. James chapter one. Count it all joy. It is a deliberate mental and volitional act on my party. Count it all joy when you fall into various drives. But, what does James say? Knowing. Knowing. But you see, I am the one who decries whether I have joy or unhappy. I'm the one who decides that.
By my own choice of outlook. What is important to me? That I have to make up my mind what my values are. Knowing this in verse three, that the testing of your faith, the work of patience, or the word is endurance. Now, the first one has to make up my mind. Is endurance important, or is the life of ease important? I today have to make up my mind. And if I make up my mind that a life of ease is important, pleasure principle again, then I am going to be unhappy when I fall in the drive.
If Christian virtues are important to me, if endurance is important to me, because it's obvious it's important to God, if I count that important, then as God works that into my life, I am joyful, because that's what I want. I want those Christian virtues worked in me. And trial is one of the things God uses to produce endurance. I don't rejoice in the trial, but I rejoice in the endurance that God is producing. Well, I can, again, if I were to fill the two sides, what was on this side is the long life of trial.
Now, if I come back to James, what is on this side? Is it Jordan? Which is important to me? Is it Jordan's important to me? Or is the absence of trial important? It's not that I want the trial of God. But which is important? And I have to make up my mind. We're not going to try to cover all this, but this is exactly what James is saying further down this chapter. In verse six, let him ask in faith that as he's written, which I think is in the trial, I need wisdom to see the outcome for how to handle it.
If any of you like wisdom, he says in verse five, let him ask you, God, again, for all men living, not great, it's not even to be given him, but let him ask, if faith nothing wavering or nothing doubting, he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind of the sea, Let's not pass on to you. You shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unsaved on all this way. That's the man that has to have his mind as long as he goes. And until I make up my mind that these Christian virtues are more important than my pleasure. I'm in that double-minded state. And I ask God to believe me and I confuse you. Because I have to make up my mind which is really important in life.
And in giving me the wisdom... So this is the result of the trial. But if I haven't made up my mind, then that's the way I really want to go. You know what I'm doing? So what are you talking about doubting this chapter? I don't understand that to me. If you trust and never doubt, it will surely bring you up. It's making up my mind which way I'm going. I'm taught this way and that way because I haven't made up my mind. So it comes down to this, that I make up my mind which way I am going to go to Christians. And if the things that are important to God are important to me, then I see those and I rejoice that God is doing what he is doing.
That's why I rejoice. Not in the trial, but in what God is doing in the trial. I rejoice in the work of God. and I can count it all joy, when those trials come to me, know it, but the trying of my dream works and works. Now we've come back to our whole idea today. I believe that. I believe that endurance is important. Is that an intellectual statement, a propositional truth that I get out of the Scripture and remember I say, if you will, have I been living my life with her?
Now, this is what James is coming to. Have I pleaded myself with it? Is that the way I really live? No use talking about this yet. I believe that endurance is important. Unless I am committed to that, and so is trial, I can count it joy, because I know God is working in the world. Amen. So, see, a great deal of our discussion, we talk about the Bible, we talk about the Jews of the past, because we believe them. We believe that they are true, but are we committed to them? That's the whole test David has taught us.
How does the Spirit work that into my life? Does He work that again? By the way, it's in that verse. Revelation chapter five. How does the Spirit work that into my life? Does He work that again? By the means, again? One for one reason, or do I make a profit with it? And I've done it. If you're working in the law of salvation, then I should be gross. Yes? And I can decide which I'm going to do. I can rejoice in the Lord, or I can complete it on a certain basis.
Right? Sure. So whether or not I have joy is right in my own being. I cannot control my circumstances. But I can determine my outlook. I have a responsibility. read before my mind the truth of God in any circumstance in life. And so counteth all good. How do you do that? And then he produces endurance. Well, we can't talk about endurance this morning. Oh, you know what that is. But there is no way to endure unless there's something to endure.
Isn't it right? You've got to have some to endure, but you've got to have endurance. And God thinks it's very important to build endurance in your own life. What about, is everybody about chess? That's the way it comes, is it? Endurance? Only as we are under the test, can we develop endurance. And we have to both go together. Love that. For endurance, how many? And I determine whether or not I had true or whether or not I collapsed under them, or whether I quit. I decide that. Doesn't it rather the Hebrews tell us that's the things we can do with God's chasing you, we can fade under them, we can rebel against God, or we can go on in faith and develop endurance.
I quit, I get mad with God, or I develop endurance. Oh, of course, Jesus is not talking about that, but all of us understand that humanly speaking, there is no way to do this on our own. But on the other hand, the Spirit of God will not automatically do it. He's not going to force people to do it. No. Or else there will be no Christian faith in the trial, or no Christian faith in the trial, or no Christian faith in the trial, if it were automatic. But these are the kinds of things that we see as genes that make it possible for the spirit of God to be very mindful.
Yes, yes. None of us is going to say, I did that. No. Spirit of God did that. See, that's what I meant. Yes. And that's why I need to hold those things before my mind. The real values of life. Pleasure isn't one. Let me close by a statement from C.S. Lewis. It was a very hard statement. God really doesn't care whether we are happy or not. God really doesn't care whether we are happy or not.
What he cares about is that we are good. And as hard as we live this that way, is it? Do I want to be happy or do I want to be good? Being good, isn't it? Sure. Okay. Right. Yeah. Right. Very good. I suppose we want the word holy in there. God cares if you're holy, but that's what Jesus is. The passion doesn't trigger, but it reveals. And it gives us the opportunity to develop. Yeah.
Right. But there are changes coming in psychology, by the way. This reality therapy was I moved last a number of years ago, and I've personally been picking up like Jay Adams, but even in the second world, more and more, the idea of our being responsible is coming to the sun, are rejoicing in it. Because we are not simply the response beings. We are not imprisoned by our past. We are responsible individuals capable of making choices. and determine it under God. Let me show you what we're going to do.
Right? Well, this was finished in this one. Let me pray. Our Father, we realize that when we stand before our Lord Jesus Christ, our whole viewpoint of our life will be different. Now we pray that if that viewpoint is revealed in your word, we will embrace it and make it ours. not only in this moment where we agree that it is true, but in those moments and hours and days and weeks and months and years of testing. Now we thank you for this time together and we pray with blessings upon each one of us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.