1015. How Do We Respond in Times of Troubles?

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today's speaker is Dr. Steve Pettit, who served as an evangelist for over 29 years before becoming president of Bob Jones University. Take your Bibles and turn with me please to the book of James, James chapter one this morning. We're going to look at the first five verses today, but I just want to begin my statement and my message with that which is very obvious. But in preaching, one of the most important things to do is to preach on the obvious. And that is that we are definitely living in incredibly troublesome times.

It's almost a message you get tired of hearing, but you really need to hear about it because we have to constantly focus our attention back on the Lord. I think of the trouble that we're facing today just in health, the threat of COVID. I mean, I don't think ever in the history of the school have we had to have so many different meetings about health regulations and protocols and all this going on. And we are having to wear masks. I'd like to say actually stupid masks because everybody is tired of wearing them.

I don't like wearing them any more than you do, but there's a reason for that. And of course, the rise of COVID today is significant. And in just the last couple of weeks, I've known a number of people who've gone to be with the Lord, who have passed on at this time because of health issues. We're living in great political upheaval times today. Today, as we're speaking now, we have a divided nation and I think we should say what it is. It is a troublesome time. One person said it's not been this bad since the Civil War. I don't know if that's totally accurate, but it will definitely go down in history as a troublesome time.

The first time a president has been impeached twice in the history of the United States of America. And not only do we have issues on the national level, and we have issues on state levels. And each state is different because of the way each state is led politically. And so California is very, very different than, for example, South Carolina, but there's lots of troubles politically. There's lots of troubles financially.

Paying the bills, what's happening right now in people's lives, jobs that are being affected. I think we're facing great disruptions educationally. As we completed last semester, we are so thankful to God for the wonderful attitude of our student body and just the way that you reported through surveys. And I'm just so deeply thankful for our faculty and staff, but it's weird. I don't ever see our faculty. I hardly ever see our people except those that work in the world that I'm in. And we don't even have faculty here. We'll go almost a whole year at Bob Jones University without having our faculty in our chapel meetings.

It's weird to go to an artist series and the only people that are there are students because historically we've had hundreds of people come. And so we're just living in very troublesome times educationally. And then I think we have to say we also are troubled spiritually. And I think that for some of you, if not many of you, you probably had troubles over the Christmas holidays spiritually. And I'm not trying to make anybody feel guilty.

I'm just trying to say what it is. Here we are in these difficult times and maybe you face some very unusual temptations. Maybe there's been some real struggles in your family. So I'm saying all that to say that, so how do we respond in times where there are great troubles?

How do we look at this? And there's no quick answer that I can give you this morning because trouble is going to be here tomorrow, just like it is today. But there is a way to think. And really spiritual growth actually has to do with the way you look at things, the way you change your mentality. And so I'd like us to look at the mentality of a believer and how he faces the troubled times of life. We're reading this morning from James 1. James is the brother of Jesus and he's writing to Jewish believers who are basically suffering because they were persecuted. They were driven out of their home in Israel and they're literally living as refugees. And they're living a life of a refugee is a very, very hard and difficult life. We have students that are here at Bob Jones University who come from refugee families who were born in a foreign country and they immigrated to the United States of America in the midst of turmoil and trouble. And so he's writing them and he's helping them to think scripturally, to think biblically, to think as a Christian in the light of God's control.

That's what I really want to talk about. And that's my heart to you this morning. We read in James 1, in verse one, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad, greeting my brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials or diverse temptations. We read knowing this that the trying of your faith work with patients, but let patients have her perfect work or her maturing work that you may be perfect, entire wanting nothing.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally and upbraids not and it shall be given him. So here's what James is doing. He's addressing the nature and the purpose of trials. He's giving us a perspective. He's helping us to understand realities.

But in the midst of those realities, how God is in control. And so the three things I want you to look at or see this morning about the nature and the purpose of our trials. The first is that trials actually are things that are really difficult. So we're not going to sugarcoat it.

We're not going to say, oh, everything's really, really great when everything really, really stinks, when things are really hard. And he says, trials are things that are difficult. The word for trial here, we read where he says, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. The word temptation there is not a temptation to do something sinful, although that is a part of a trial, because in every trial of life, there is always a temptation to do something wrong, to respond incorrectly.

But the primary idea of the word trial is something that has come into our life generally from the outside, something that is outside of normal. And it has brought a lot of pressure in my life. And therefore, it is affecting me internally. It's affecting my mentality. It is affecting the way that I feel about things. It's affecting the way I look at life. It is something that is a real pressure.

And what is it that makes trials difficult? Well, first of all, they are surprising. Notice what he says, count it all joy when you fall.

The word for when has the idea of something that's undetermined. You didn't see it coming. You could not pinpoint their arrival ahead of time. You don't look for them. They find you. And he says you fall into them. It's like the man on the road to Jericho, who the scripture says the story of the Good Samaritan. And it says he fell among the thieves.

In other words, they came up on him as he was traveling. So when you and I are journeying through life, we fall among these thieves. We fall among these troubles. And they're unexpected. They're unplanned for. But I want to make it very clear, they're also unavoidable. We always think somehow we could avoid a trial and everything will be OK.

But the reality is nobody can avoid them. The Bible says in 1 Peter, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you. And so something strange has happened to you. God is not picking on you. I just finished reading in my devotions over the last month, the Book of Job.

And and I've read it many times. But as you read the scripture, you always see new things because you always see new things in the light of your circumstances. And one of the things that really stuck out to me is in the first two chapters of Job, it basically gives you God's viewpoint on Job's trials. But what is important to understand is Job had no idea of what was going on in chapters one and two. When we get to the troubles that he went through, he couldn't see it. And we know that God is sovereign. He rules over all. But we don't understand the courts of heaven.

We're not there. And Job found himself in these trials that they came upon him. And of course, he encountered them and he did not see them coming. So they're always rising. Secondly, trials always are long. The Bible speaks of a season. He says, wherein you greatly rejoice. First Peter one six, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. You're distressed for a period of time. And the Bible is clear that trials do not last forever.

Even in the Book of Job, we know that Job's trials, because if you read the beginning and the end, you know that they didn't last forever. But sometimes when you're in the middle of them, it feels like it's long forever. You know, when you do things that you enjoy, you never have enough time to do what you enjoy. When you're doing things you don't enjoy, everything seems to be long. And a trial seems in the time to always be long.

And that's what makes them very difficult. These are things that you're having to live with things that you're having to adjust to. Five and a half weeks ago, I went into surgery. People often ask me, how are you doing?

I had somebody asked me this morning, how are you doing? And I said, I'm adjusting. Jesus, I am adjusting, adjusting. And I'm having to live with some new normals. I'm having to do things today that I didn't have to do five and a half weeks ago.

And to be frankly honest with you, you're kind of wondering, when am I going to get back to normal? We always are looking for normal when in reality, we're always having to face a new normal, something that we didn't expect. And these things often last a long time. But one of the reasons they last for a while is they last long enough to change you. You know, anything that's hard for a day, you can get over it. You can get through it, but something that lasts for a period of time. And I don't know how long that time is, but it's probably longer than what you want to do. That's long enough for God to change you. So these trials are long. These trials are surprising. And then to be honest with you, these trials are truly hard.

When the Bible says you fall into diverse temptations, he's talking about things you have to stick out. You have to endure it. Sometimes I have to sit through meetings here at Bob Jones University. And to be frankly honest with you, I have to endure them.

Yes, that is true. I have to endure meetings. If they only lasted five minutes, they would be great.

But after two hours, they get really old. And you and I all have to endure things. Paul received a thorn in the flesh and he prayed for God to take it away. How many times did he pray for God to take it away?

Not once, not twice, but three times. And do you know what the Lord said? I'm not going to take your trial away. I'm not going to take the thorn in the flesh away.

But what I'm going to do is to give you something better. I'm going to teach you how to learn to live by grace. And let me just stop here and say this, that all of us here are learning to have to live by grace. Grace means this.

I am weak, but God is strong. Grace means I don't feel like I can do this, but with God, I can do all things through him that strengtheneth me. You are learning to live by grace. And that's one of the great important things that you learn, that what the Bible says is this.

My grace is really sufficient for you. But I'm going to tell you this. You don't learn that the first day a trial comes into your life. I'm learning things right now that are some of the hardest things that I've ever had to learn in my life.

But I know this. I know in my head God's grace is sufficient, but to get it from my head to really living it out on a daily basis is what makes it a struggle. So trials, number one, are difficult. Trials number two are diverse.

And this is what he says in verse two. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse or diversified trials. We understand that in the business world you sort of diversify things financially.

You've probably heard that in your classes. Well, trials are diversified. The fact is the word here in the Greek has the idea of many colors, multiplied colors. And we know that there's a difference between the color blue and red.

They're different. So they're different trials that come in our lives. Paul mentions those trials in 2 Corinthians 12. He talks about five different trials we face. The first trial is an infirmity.

That's a physical problem. The second trial is verbal. That's a reproach. That's when people speak against you. The third trial is a necessity.

That's financial. The fourth trial is a spiritual trial where we're persecuted for our faith. And the fifth trial is called a distressing time, a calamity. And in the Bible calamities and distressing times came because of one of four reasons, a war, a famine, a disease, and a pestilence.

And you can read the scripture. And what creates distressing times in a culture? It's those things.

And obviously for us, a virus has created a distressing time. So James is telling us that these trials are diverse. And they're not just diverse in the kind of trials that we encounter, but in the responses they evoke out of our life. In other words, just like there are different colored trials, there's also different colored responses.

Because a trial squeezes us and it brings things out of us. Like let's take just different colors, like the color red, which represents anger. You get mad. Or let's take the color yellow that creates all kinds of fears because yellow is often the color used to represent fear. Or how about green? The green with envy and jealousy. Or let's take the color blue, the idea of depression or discouragement.

Or maybe the color black like darkness or confusion. Have you been through a trial recently where you're actually a little confused as to why this is happening or what is it that God's doing in my life and this doesn't really make sense to me and I don't really understand. You see, diverse trials affect us in diverse ways. And that's why God takes these trials in our lives and He uses them individually to really work in our lives.

And what we see here is we're getting a glimpse as to what's really going on in a trial. Why are we going through these trials? Because God is bringing out of us the things that are inside of us.

Just like you squeeze a tube to get the tooth pace out. So God puts us under pressure and what does He draw out of us? He's drawing out of us two things. Number one, He is drawing out of us the evil of our own hearts. Those evil sinful emotions.

I would say those immaturities. Those things of how I want my life to be, my expectations and I don't get what I want and I get upset. God is drawing all of that out first of all to show us ourselves. But secondly, He's also drawing out of us because we're believers, our faith. Because when you go through trials, you feel dependent. When you go through trials, you read your Bible and you suddenly see things you've never seen before.

It's the two things working together. Both your own immaturity and at the same time your own faith in God. So trials show us things about ourselves and trials show us things about God.

And guys, this is why it's so important you see this and you understand it. Now, let's be honest, when you're in the middle of it, you're kind of thrown upside down and you actually struggle with your emotions but your faith hasn't left you. You're trying to figure out how it all goes together and that leads me to my third point. And that is that trials are not only difficult and diverse but trials truly are designed by God. This is God's working.

For He says here in verse three, knowing this, understanding this, that the trying of your faith is working something. And let me just say that in general, a trial is developing you into spiritual maturity. You're growing up. You're having to put on your big boy pants. You're having to mature. And maturity in life is very, very difficult and you cannot be spiritually mature and emotionally immature at the same time. So for example, oftentimes people I can say this here in chapel, many students come to chapel and they sit there and they drink it in.

Why? Because they're thirsty. Others come to chapel and they actually don't take anything in because they're not very thirsty. And when God takes us through a trial, He is creating within us as a believer, a spiritual hunger, a spiritual thirst. I need God. I need God to work in my life. And so these trials are designed by the Lord to grow us up and spiritually mature us.

And how is this working? When you go through a trial, the first thing you begin to sense is you're living in a different reality. Could I say it this way?

You all understand this. You go into a sick, let's say when you get sick, you go into a sick zone. I mean, if you're a student here at Bob Jones and suddenly you find yourself testing positive for COVID and you have to be isolated, well, you're being isolated from the rest of the student body. So you're in a different zone, a different world. And that's what happens when we go through trials. Trials take us in a different world.

It's like a different zone. And our emotions are upset and they're affected by this. And trials are touching our expectations, what we want. And it's at that moment I'm learning how to surrender to God. I'm learning to say, God, I'm taking my expectations and I'm giving them to you.

Can I be transparent and share this with you? One of the biggest, one struggle that I faced over the last five and a half weeks after surgery is this, that all of my life, all of my life, with just rare exceptions, I hadn't been in the hospital for any other than the visit sick people. I hadn't been in the hospital for 46 years. My wife says my endurance level, as far as work is concerned, is she calls me a horse.

She said, Steve, you're a horse and you just go. My work schedule has been, since I've been the president, is between Sunday morning and Tuesday night, I've worked 40 hours. And the reason why is because most of that time I'm traveling and going various places.

And then there's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, excuse me, there's Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and Saturday. And it's okay. I'm not trying to do more than I ought to do. It's just that's the way I've lived. And I'm having to adjust to some new normals.

And I would like to get back to normal, but nobody is guaranteed normality any longer. And what it teaches you is to surrender to God. You don't know this, but one of the hardest things of life, and you're learning this, is you have expectations and there are things that you want. And what God is bringing in your life are the circumstances to teach you to want Him more than what you want. So how do I respond in faith to trials?

As we finish this morning, I want to just tell you what James tells you. Number one, the first thing you need to do is you need to count it all joy. Notice what he says in verse two, count it all joy when you fall into trials.

Now, what does this mean? Well, when we think of joy is an emotional thing. And when you go through a trial, you don't, you don't feel joyful.

So it's a matter of the choice of the will. It's a matter of changing your mentality. It is saying, God, things don't look bad. That means, excuse me, God, things don't look really good.

And that's why I'm so excited because you're good and you're working and I don't understand it. But I know this, that when I read the book of Job, when I read the beginning, when I read the middle, and when I read the end, I know that the end he was blessed greater than he was in the beginning. And the end result of the book of Job is seeing the blessing and the goodness of God. Folks, I want to tell you something. God is good even when things look bad.

Count it all joy. It's a matter of faith. Secondly, he says, stay under the trial. Knowing this, the trying of your faith is working endurance or patience or stay, it's called sticking with it. And let patience have its maturing work. In other words, as you go through this and you stick it out, it's going to bring in your life spiritual and emotional maturity. So here's what he's saying. He's saying, stay with it.

And I'd like to add another statement here. And that is this, that you always, when you're in these difficult times, you just keep moving forward. Do the next best thing now. I can't see way down the road, but I can take the steps today.

And we all live there. We need to keep moving forward. In some cases, the worst thing for you to do is to do nothing. It's to run back to what I think is a state of normalcy. I run home, I hide, I get away. I want to go back where I can just be comfortable. And that's not what God wants.

He wants you to keep moving forward. Actually, all four of my children have been deeply impacted by COVID-19 and all four of them in the realm of their job, their work. I have a daughter who lost a year's worth of work. She was leading tours in Israel through a school there. I have a son-in-law who's a lawyer and he's an outstanding lawyer, but because of COVID, it affected his job. I have a son who graduated from Bob Jones in cinema. He was in the film world and the film world shut down. My youngest son just got married and they had plans to go to Israel and they were going to work there in a school and Israel shut down. All my kids lost everything. And you know what?

When are you going to get a job in the midst of COVID? How easy is that? You already know how struggling it is. And they've all had to change. And you know what they've done? They've had to almost reinvent themselves. My oldest daughter decided to get a doctorate degree. But you know what they've all done? Well, all four of the kids have done this, but three out of the four specifically have shifted to go into stocks and they're investing in stocks.

It's like a whole new world for them and it's become the family thing. They've got me involved in it. And you know, I go up and down.

I'm not that good and I don't have the time because the opportunity to make a sale, I'm in a dumb meeting and I can't do it. But the point of the matter is we've kept moving forward. That's what you have to do.

Don't stop. And then finally, number three, ask God for his wisdom. When you're asking God for wisdom, let me tell you what you're asking for. The Bible says God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. In other words, he's saying none of us here really think like God and none of us really want to go in the way of God naturally, or we don't even know the way of God. But here's what God will do. If you'll ask him, he'll give you the right way to think and the right way to respond in the day and age we're living in. And do you know what?

Who knows? Who knows what God is wanting to do through the trial to give you the wisdom of how you should live and how you should do what you ought to do. And this should cause all of us that when things are bad as Christians, actually, it's a great time because God loves us. He's not going to forsake us. We are his children.

We are written in his book in heaven. We are already conquerors. We are already winners. We are already victors. The battle's been fought.

We've already won. And so what is it God that you're going to do to accomplish your will? This is a part of the mindset.

And let me just say this as we finish. This is not natural. And it takes time. Give yourself some room to grow. You're not a failure because you struggle.

It's just the way it works. But God is faithful. This is my hope for all of you this semester to grow in the wisdom of the Lord as you face the trials that you're experiencing and you learn of the greatness and the goodness of our God.

Let's all stand together as we pray. Father, we thank you so much that you are faithful and unchanging. Your ways are not our ways and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Lord, we don't think like you and we definitely don't go the way that we ought to go. And yet, Lord, you faithfully direct and redirect. And Lord, you constantly are working. And so, Lord, bless each student, each young man, each young lady. Lord, help them not to run from you. Help them not to give in to their sinful emotions, but help them, Lord, to live by faith and trust you in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University. We hope you'll join us again next week as we study God's Word together on The Daily Platform.