The dude who posts the C.S. Lewis quotes on twitter is having issues today or something because it hasn't been posted yet, so i'll put it up later when he gets around to it.
Joy In Pain, Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast ( this one is from 2009 so its pretty far down the list if you decide to go listen to this...which you should, cause its good for you. )
Breakaway Ministries.
Joy In Pain
James 1:1-12
I'm going to post the scripture used before my notes, just because its short, and so you have it.
[1:1] James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
[9] Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [10] and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. [11] For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
[12] 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.
(James 1:1-12 ESV)
-Trials are inevitable, and Christians aren’t exempt from them. When trials come we shouldn’t only expect them, we should rejoice in them.
-Who would think trials should be rejoiced?
1. Crazy people…like the ones who have lost touch with reality…the really out there ones who think pain is fun.
2. People who know something. People who know that locked into that trial is something good. They rejoice not just in the future but even in the trial.
Example: Obi Wan Kenobi. “Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possible imagine.” Getting hit by a light saber probably wasn’t fun, but when its happenings he’s just really chill. Why? Because he knows it will produce something beautiful in the future. He’s gonna get to be blue and be anywhere he wants to at any time.
A little more down to earth example: lifting weights. You put your muscles in pain, but you know it will produce the result you want. Even in the midst of the pain you are rejoice because you know it will produce something great.
-So which is he calling us to be? The crazies, Or the people who rejoice in their trials?
-James 1:3 “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
-Every trial has the potential to teach us steadfastness (perseverance, endurance)
-Perseverance: the ability to not only handle stress, but to thrive under it.
-James 1:4 “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. “
-Locked within every trial is potential. Potential not only for endurance, but for maturity, completion, not lacking in anything. To fill you up when your empty and make you whole.
-We idolize people who go through trials and because of them they are better. People with tough skin and soft hearts. They’ve been made mature through pain. And that’s what he says will happen. Pain produces maturity.
-How does some pain make you mature?
- “I got my heart broken and im not better, im bitter. I’m hurting.” How do you get out of that darkness?
- Family troubles that wont seem to go away, and they make you doubt God.
-Verse 5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
-If you lack wisdom, ask God and he’ll give it to you.
-Pain will give you perseverance which will make you mature, i.e., wise.
-Wisdom: an understanding of how reality works and the ability to navigate it well.
-Its very different than knowledge. Knowledge lacks the ability to navigate.
-Wisdom isn’t something we’re born with. Wisdom is something we have to learn and be given. God gives it to us through pain.
-All children are born with one of three specific temperaments. Anxious, Aggressive, or Philosophical.
Anxious: will thrive in dangerous situations because they naturally will flee, but in calm or social situations they will usually fail.
Aggressive: will thrive in moderately dangerous situation, because they “take the bull by the horns” so to speak. But put them in a highly dangerous situation? They’ll have more fun, but probably wont live long.
Philosophical: flourishes most in very safe situations. They don’t think anything is a threat. Put them in any danger and they’re out of luck.
-No temperament is wise, because wisdom is finding the right response, the appropriate response, to a given situation.
-No one is born wise because we have a natural default, run or attack. We are born habitually doing one thing.
-Natural question for a parent: How do I balance my kid out? Put your child in a situation where they’re natural response is the wrong one, then teach them the right one, there they will learn wisdom.
-God is a good dad. He puts you in overwhelming situations and makes you learn how do handle it.
-Pain forces us to seek wisdom.
-Wisdom gives us 3 things:
1. In the face of pain, wisdom will keep you from putting your hope in the things that fade. (Verses 10-11)
-the reality is when nothing is going wrong, you will start chasing after and reveling in things that will fade. You will get a skewed view of reality.
2.Wisdom teaches us that pain is real, but its temporary. We can rejoice in it because we know its not going to last. (Verse 9) There is life beyond pain. (Verse 12)
-Normally when people go through a large amount of pain, they lose they’re faith in God. How can you tell me that suffering now teaches me that there is a world beyond where there is no suffering?
-Pascal said it this way: “You never see anyone complaining that they lack a second mouth.” Why not? Because its not even an option. Its not reality. Well why do we rage against suffering? Why do we rage against pain when that’s all this world knows? Not everyone gets joy, everyone gets pain. So how can we look at pain and say its wrong? That it shouldn’t be this way? Why do people hate death when its inevitable for everyone? The death rate is still one death per person right??
-We rage against pain because every time we experience it there is a small voice inside us that says it shouldn’t be this way. Because we can conceive of a place where its not this way. It wasn’t always like this and it wont always be like this.
-Its funny when atheists rage against pain, because the very fact that you are raging against pain proves there is a God. You are proving that this pain is an anomaly and that there is a world without it.
-Pain purifies the mind.
3. Wisdom turns your head upward. You put your hope in God. (Verse 12)
-You don’t understand your pain, but God does. God took pain and suffering and made life out of it through Jesus. He will take your pain and make it into life if you let him. That’s the joy that pain will give you.
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