Hey guys, John here. I just want to take a quick moment and say thank you for tuning in to the Clearview Today Show. As you can imagine, producing a show like this takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of resources, and we are incredibly grateful to the Truth Network for giving us a platform to share the show as well as Pray.com, TBN Plus. But just know that the majority of our support actually comes directly from listeners like you.
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Now let's jump into the show. Joy comes when you keep your eyes on the future. But what about right now? How do I look ahead when I've got to get through what's going on today? Figuring out how to get that clear review coming up right now on the Clear Read Today Show.
You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Thank you for tuning in once again to the Clearview Today Show.
We're here in the studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. And if you're listening for the very first time today, you're just tuning in. We want to let you know who's talking to you. Dr.
Abadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, welcome. It's good to be here. Amen.
We're having a great conversation in the book of James. And someone has, you know, a lot of people have been talking about how James is helping them. James was the first book I ever read when I got saved, all sorts of stories. And someone actually sent in a verse that said, James made me think of this verse from 1 Peter. That's right.
Threw me for a loop, but there it is. 1 Peter verse of the day today, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 8. Though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible. That's right. When we left off on Friday's show, Dr.
Shaw, we were talking about that, how a lot of times we go through trials to prepare for something that's coming in the future. And it got me to thinking, I was thinking over the weekend, like, how do you do that? You know what I mean? Like, how do you focus your eyes on something that's coming in the future when I've got a hurdle to get through right now? It almost feels like I'm fighting on two different fronts.
And how is that different from just think happy thoughts? Yeah. Just make up your mind that you'll be happy. Yeah. Well, you know, the whole meaning of joy is much more than just feeling giddy in the moment.
It's much more than just temporary You know, exuberance or this sense of release, it's so much more than that. Our faith. The true faith, I believe, the faith that is coming from the Bible, from Old Testament to the New Testament, the faith that is centered upon Jesus Christ, who is the author of the Bible, as well as the center, the focus of the Bible. That faith, the Trinitarian faith, the faith that talks about salvation by grace through faith, the faith that talks about there is a real heaven and a real hell and a real judgment that is coming. The faith that talks about that God made everything, the heavens and the earth, out of nothing, and one day he's making the new creation, the new heavens, and the new earth.
What I'm doing here is I'm giving you the essence of true biblical Christianity. Don't let anybody, I don't care who they are, what they believe, I don't care how much they call themselves Christians or conservatives or whatever it is, they're not. Part of the fate that was handed down to us. And I'm not saying they're not going to be in heaven, but they're not in line with biblical Orthodox Christianity. That fate is a very reasonable faith.
I want us to remember that as Christians, we don't move by emotions, we don't move by hype, we move by reason, truth. Truth is what moves us, and truth has what has moved the people of God. Since the beginning of time, from Adam and Eve. All the way to today, until the last person who will come into this world. That's right.
Truth is what moves us. And when you. I'm going somewhere with this. When you come into the heart of that faith. In that faith, when we talk about joy, it's more than just a feeling.
It's based on hardcore facts that you put your faith in. In spite of the circumstances, and you move forward. I don't know, that was a lot there. No, it seems like a lot of people, especially people living in America today, Christians in America today, have decided to sacrifice truth in the pursuit of what they consider to be joy. This, like you said, this giddy in the moment, happy feeling, this false confidence in where things are going and how things are.
We're going to sacrifice actual biblical truth in favor of the illusion that things are where they're supposed to be. It also seems like in pursuit of joy, I mean, you said this, John, in pursuit of joy, we're going to sacrifice truth because we're, because we're aiming for joy. But when we aim for truth, joy follows.
So, so if we're after joy and we sacrifice truth, we'll never find it. But if we pursue truth, then we will also obtain joy. But also as a Christian, it seems like a Christian knows, even if they're just a Christian in name only, they know, like, okay, I can't. Quote unquote, sacrifice the truth. I have to disguise this thing that I'm pursuing as the truth.
You know what I mean? Like for me to say, hey, I'm going to willingly and knowingly sacrifice actual truth in order for comfort, most people say, no, I can't do that. But if you say, no, I'm fighting for this thing and I'm going to call this truth. Then I get to take this righteous moral high road. Right.
Quote unquote. That's right. That's right. Yeah. What I want to do for the next couple of minutes is just.
Explore the meaning of the word joy. Again, we're going back to reason, not emotions, not the latest hype song that came somewhere, or somebody with a microphone telling you what their idea is, and it's very convincing and passionate, but they're not coming from truth. I don't have time to listen to them. Show me in the Bible. That's where I'm going to.
So, what does the word Cairo really mean? Because that's where the word joy comes from: Kara, Cairo. Chiral is more of the verb form. To be glad, to rejoice. Kara is joy.
So it's an old word. If you go back to the Greek language, of course, you know, it's it's in Greek, it's it shows up about a hundred times in Homer. And mainly it means to be glad, to rejoice. It's found many, many times. If you go into the Jewish literature, The word Cairo occurs about 80 sometimes in the Septuagint.
Okay? And again, it represents words in the Psalms, represents words. In in let's see, Psalm thirty-five verse nineteen. Um Talking about Rejoicing or not really gloating, but rejoicing. in the face of the enemy because you know God's going to win?
Does that make sense? Yeah, it does.
So there's a joy, not that you're like, I won. No, the enemy is more powerful, but God is more powerful than the enemy. And that gives you joy in the face of intense struggle and trials and fear. And then when you get into the New Testament, I can keep going here, but for time's sake, the word Cairo occurs almost 75 times in the New Testament, including 29 times in Paul, 19 times in Luke and Acts, and 15 times in the Johannine writings, and especially found in Philippians nine times. The word joy shows up.
And then, of course, you find it's sort of interspersed in other letters of Paul. And then, of course, in the book of James, you find just like what we're reading right now, is the word joy.
Something else to mention. Here, for one example, this is a good one. when John the Baptist's disciples came to Jesus and said, what's going on? Why are your disci what's why don't your disciples fast? And Jesus' response was, How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn While he is with them.
Now there's a message there. Because Jesus was with his disciples, That was joyful because God, the Messiah, the one who was promised, was with them, hence they were joyful.
So no need to fast. Right. Because the fasting was like looking in anticipation towards his coming, right? Or even in a sense of mourning and repentance. and hope and longing No, he's there with them.
What is there to long for when literally God is with you? God is with you.
So, also, when we interpret that in James chapter 1, keep that in mind. Because Jesus is with us. We can have joy. Joy is future, of course, knowing that. In the end, God is in control and He will reveal Himself and all will work together for good.
But He is with us now. That is joy. And so we're chasing this illusion of joy, this thing that we're supposed to have. Like we almost think that joy is like the blessing of life, the things that God is going to give me in my life. That's what joy is, rather than the thing I've already got.
Mm-hmm. Right. But you have Jesus, and that's a source of joy. And in the future it's also a future-oriented word because God is in the future making all things right, and He will take care of it, and there's a better day coming that also gives you joy. Again, You know, discard the idea of joy being all.
Ah, yeah. Because there are a lot of Christians who don't do that. It does not mean they don't have joy. Right. Joy, is it fair to say that joy is future, not focused, but future-minded?
Yes, yes, it is, but also It is content because The future is with them. Jesus is the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end. He's everything in between. When he is with us, The future is with you. Right.
So You know, that's why Christianity is like no other religion, no other faith, nothing. Because. Our Savior is with us. And with the eyes of faith, we know that he is with us. And with the propositions in the word, we know that he is with us.
Yeah. So when James is talking about trials, count it all joy, my brethren. I'm guessing there is an understanding of as you're going through trials, Christ is with you. That's why you can count it absolutely because he's there. Yeah.
Yeah. So when you go through trials, let's say you're going into a surgery, Jesus is with you. Oh, okay, fine, whatever, but I'm still scared about. You won't be scared. I get it.
I get it. I've been under the knife before. Yeah. Believe me. It's sort of As the days approach, I mean, I I remember when I had to go in for procedures where they put you to sleep.
And as the days are approaching, I can just tell I'm like I'm like really tense and I'm you know, because not that I'm afraid that I won't wake up, but it's like I wish this was all just go away. Yeah. So I can just be. doing my you know, the things I need to do.
Now I have to drive there, do the pre op and then wait in the waiting room. They're gonna come and sign papers and then I have to be wheeled in there. And it's okay. Are you cold?
Okay, well, here's another blanket. All right. Yeah, it's not fun. I definitely felt that. I felt that when I had my wisdom teeth out, they were like, We're going to put you to sleep for this one.
And I was like, Oh, gosh. I didn't think about it at all, but then I was like, I'm kind of scared. I've never done this. It is a little unnerving. And it's, you do that thing you do when you're scared when you like try to solicit comfort without sounding weak.
So it's like, yeah, I've never done it before.
So, I mean, it's, it is what. And people, and people tell you, like, oh man, it's no big deal. And the more you hear that, It just doesn't. It just doesn't. I know.
It doesn't make you feel good at all. Can we talk about Libna's root canal? Is that okay? Yeah, sure.
So she was on Sunday, I could tell she was not her usual self. And I was like, hey, what's going on? She was like, I've got a root canal. And I was kind of messing with her. I was like, are you scared?
And she was like, yes. I was like, oh, hey, man, it's not going to be. And I remembered thinking back to when I was telling people I was scared to have my wisdom teeth out. They all tried to come for me and it didn't make any difference.
So it was like, hey, look. Jesus will be with you. Gotta be and that's and I told her that. You know, we had a conversation. I said, Look, number one, you're in the greatest nation on earth.
True. You're in America. You're in America, which means you're going to have the best technology, the best doctors. And there are people who are going to say, Oh, that's not true. Let me tell you about my experience.
I hear you, but compared to the rest of the world, We're doing great. That's right. That's right. Find me the worst hospital in America, and it's better than most of the hospitals overseas.
So you're doing great. But also I said, look, this is what's something you need. You need to get this done. And you are going to get it done. Great.
One more thing checked off the list. You are. You know, it's going to be painful, but you're going to be good. That's right. And thirdly, God's with you.
You know, your family's with you, your your church family is with you, but God is with you. That's right. So and she smiled. She said, Yeah, that's true. Yeah, absolutely.
I said, Yeah. It'll be painful, but I've been through pain. That's right. It's part of life. Yeah.
Not fun. Trust me, I don't like pain. Yeah. But it's part of life. That's right.
So all that to say As you're going through trials. Just know Jesus is with you. You may not laugh loud, you may not, you know, Crack jokes, but you just have that peace. That's right. If you're facing financial struggles, Job loss situations that you don't know about.
Jesus is with you. He's going to work things together for good. He gave his life for you on the cross. Do you think he's just going to say, oops, that's it? You're going to be begging all your life.
and then die a horrible death. Mm-hmm. People ask, you know, does that mean Christians, you know, Don't die horrible. Oh, yeah, they do. Persecutions, accidents, they happen.
But On the whole, it doesn't happen that way. Right. Yeah. Relationship problems, you're going to have tough days. Relationships might break down.
There may be misunderstandings, miscommunication, they will happen. And you will have some horrible, horrible, depressing, discouraging days. But He's with you. And he tells you I I'm working. Trust me, I'm working.
If someone's listening to this and they're saying, I get it, I'm going to keep my eyes on the future. Jesus is with me, we're going towards something together, but what is it? What are we pressing towards? What is this ideal outcome? What is the final outcome?
Well, let's go right back to James, if we can. James says right here, he says, Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. The Greek word is hupamone. Typically, that word is translated patience.
However, in this context, the word should be translated endurance. I relate more better with endurance than with patience. Patience is one of those things that I've, in my entire life, ever since I was a little kid, I've always struggled with. And so that's when you see that, it's like, yeah, clearly I've not been through enough trials in my life because I'm still not a patient person.
Well, and I love the comparison there between the words patience and endurance because they are cousins. I mean, they're very similar words, but they're also distinct in some pretty important ways. It's much more than just hanging in there. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's much more than just hanging there. It actually means being immovable, unshakable in the midst of persecutions, trials, difficulties, hardships, roadblocks. You keep pushing forward. Most people don't have that.
Now, there's sometimes lost people who are bullheaded for the wrong reasons. I get it. There's some Christians who are bullheaded for the wrong reasons, and they even brag about it. You know, I'm a bullheaded person. You know me.
Yeah. And that's where it says, but let patience or endurance. the staying power habits perfect The word perfect really means full work.
So stay enduring in your marriage. Yeah. Stay enduring as a parent. Stay enduring as a believer. Stay enduring if you're working in a church setting as a staff member.
Stay enduring. In the community. Stay enduring in the face of the craziness that is happening in a culture where people are believing crazy things, even church folks. I'm passionate today. Stay enduring.
Right. Don't go to the left or the right. Yeah. Don't deviate. Don't go off on a tangent.
Don't find the the the craziest view out there and latch on to that. Stay enduring in the right direction and let that endurance have its perfect work that you may be The way it's translated may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing, but I think a better translation is that you let patients have his full work, that you may be fully developed. Let's take a quick break. Why? Have you ever questioned why society is changing so rapidly?
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Dr. Shaw, we as a culture, I feel, are so allergic to discomfort. We're so just completely averse to the idea of any kind of discomfort or suffering at all. We want an easy, comfortable, laid-back life.
So, what can James help us with in dealing with situations where we might have to be a little bit uncomfortable? We might have to endure through a season of discomfort? Oh, man, I've been through those in my life, and I know in my early days, I hated pain. I'm not talking about just physical pain, but any kind of struggle. It was like, let me get out of this, let me wiggle my way out of this and just escape out of it.
And I realized watching men and women of God, throughout history, throughout biblical history, even You know, contemporary times, seeing those people endure things. And create. And build. And explore and discover things and I'm like. Wow.
stayed in there You know, through the power of the Holy Spirit, of course. And they were able to then get to things that would not have happened otherwise. Like I wanted to leave this church after the first few months of being here because I felt like I needed to keep up with all the seminarians, you know, who were getting the bigger churches and who were you know, every chapel day they would walk up to the front. for prayer and I'm like Wow. Yeah, there goes another one.
And then they would brag about it in classes about, you know, Dr.
So-and-so, you know, last weekend we had three people get saved. Last weekend, if I had three people awake while I was safe. I was trying to inform the same joke. I was trying to get there first. But I had the microphone.
I got it. You got it. I mean, you know, I was like. Golly, this is terrible. I need to find me another church.
I need to move somewhere. And I told you, I told my dad that and my dad told me, you know, don't run, you stay in there. And I think He didn't quote from James chapter 1, but I think that's. What was happening? Stay there and be fully developed.
And while I'm on the subject, let me also talk to people who are speaking out. And seeing things in our culture today. You're not fully developed. And I'm not saying you need to hold back until you're fully developed. Who knows when that will be.
But but you have work to do now. It's like a you know Cookie dome tastes good. But but a soupy Give me some food that hasn't been properly cooked. I mean, a cake, if you don't cook it all the way, is going to be just a pile of mud. Yeah, even though that's very different.
Yeah, even like a cookie. Like, if you eat cookie dough, that's one thing. But if you put it in the oven and take it out before it's cooked, it's still ruined. Yeah. You can't just eat that cookie soup.
We've done that before. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and a rare steak is great, but a half-baked chicken is not. Right.
Yeah. You may have, you know, food poisoning. Yeah. Some of you are just half-baked chicken. Yeah.
You're not a rare steak. I'm on a rare form today.
Well, that needs to be something. That needs to be a bumper stick or something. A rare steak is good, but some of you are just a half-baked chicken. Part of wisdom is knowing that you're not fully developed. I'm not fully developed.
That's why Ryan and I are sitting here. We're learning as much as you guys are learning. Our job, our job, the two of our job is not to give you our wisdom. Our job is to facilitate a conversation with someone who God has developed. And that's you.
Yeah, help me learn alongside us. And you have a long ways to go. I still have a long ways to go. There are places that I still go, you know, wow. I don't know that.
meetings, government meetings in our local local government. And there are some people who are there, I'm like, oh my gosh, I can do a better job. And I haven't even looked at what you're looking at, but I can do a better job. Then there are people who sit in those seats who amaze me. By how much they understand the issues and how well they dissect and get to the heart of it.
I couldn't have done that. Yeah. So that's a challenge to me. I'm just giving you one very secular example.
So, I want to grow. I want to develop. I want to be everything that God has designed me to be. And that's not going to happen overnight. It takes time.
Yes, and that's one of the marks of wisdom: knowing. When to speak and when not to speak because I'm not fully developed. There have been plenty, plenty of times where an issue has come up and I've brought it to Dr. Shah. Hey, do you want to talk about this on the show?
Not yet. Not yet. I'm not ready. And that's perfectly fine. That's a wise person.
But here in the day of social media, everybody who's done a little bit of research or hasn't done any research at all, has just heard clips, they got to speak. The loudest people on social media are the ones who have done the least amount of research. I haven't even read a book that's more than 100 pages. I probably hasn't read a book at all. Yeah.
I'm probably just copying what someone else in a comment section. Oh, yeah. Golly. But my challenge to people is let James chapter 1 help you. If you've gone through trials, if let's say your trials has been physical problems, let's say your trials have been job loss.
Let's say your trials have been a breakdown in a relationship. You're not ready to jump out there and become a spokesman for anything. Your job is to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life, right? Let him guide you as a believer. And in His word, in His truth, with godly people around you, in the power of the Holy Spirit convicting and encouraging you at the same time.
grow. And and then in time you will see, man, Uh so much I've learned so much I have grown. And then you can speak. That's right. I think that's so helpful, especially in a ministry context, because you often see people who have just come out of, let's use addiction as an example.
They've just cut, they've just been sober, just gotten clean, and they're like, I want to lead a Bible study on sobriety and the importance of a clean life. I'm like, you need to, you need to learn more. You need to grow more. Can God use that person's story? Absolutely.
A hundred percent. And they should use their story to encourage other people, but are they ready to lead? No. Not on such a large scale. Right.
Don't ask for a big platform too quickly. Unfortunately, social media has become an. a ready platform for people where they feel like, hey, I may not have a platform somewhere, but I have this. That's right. I tell you what, I'm going to do right now.
You know, post something out there. And it's like, ooh, yeah. Isn't it also interesting in the same book? James also says, Brothers, not many of you should become teachers.
Well, I mean, even then, talking about these trials producing patience in us, I know the word is endurance, but also I think there is some level of patience. Like Ryan and I are millennials. I don't know if you struggle with it as bad as I do, but like I want instant everything. I want instant Christmas. Oh, yeah.
I mean, we grew up in microwave culture. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And I do feel as though there was a world, at least by my parents, where they were constantly telling me, Listen, we are working hard, we are sacrificing, we are curating this world for you. The world is yours. And I know people make fun of millennials, but I was ver, I'll tell you straight to your face, I was verbatim told that the world is yours.
Oh, yeah, my 100%. My parents told me you can be anything you want to be. And you can be anything you want to be. And when I write, no, I cannot. I can't walk into the NBA.
There's no way. I can't go to NASA. Nashville and produce an album? No, that can't happen. True, but I mean, even then, what I'm saying is, even in my 30s, I still struggle with the fact that, hey, I said that I wanted this, I made it known I wanted this, and it's not happening.
I want it right now.
So. Developing and being, and having to come to that truth that you're saying, Dr. Sha, that listen, becoming a Christian is going to, like, not getting saved, but maturing in your Christian life is going to take a lifetime. Yeah. That stinks.
That's a tough pill to swallow. And I think you're exactly right. It's that it's the trials in life that God is showing me that is what it's going to take. Yeah, when you go through the fires of life, that's when that maturity begins to come. That's when you begin to graduate to the next class.
That's when you go from sixth grade to seventh grade, seventh to eighth, eleventh to twelve, twelfth.
Now we're heading to college, college, graduate school, graduate school, doing postgraduate work. I mean, that's where you that's how you grow. And in this life, you will never completely graduate and walk out saying, Yep, now I am here. Nobody does that because there may be something that'll happen right at that finish line that will humiliate you and humble you.
So we never completely arrive this side of heaven. And guess what? Even on the other side, you will never completely arrive. Yeah. Because you will never be God.
Right. There is no, you know, we think there is no time in heaven. Not true. There will be time in heaven. Million, billion, trillion years, keep going.
You will still be a work in progress. Yeah. Amen. None of us arrive. And so this chapter today, or this section that we focused on in James about trials, producing, you know, letting patience have his perfect work so that you may be fully developed.
I think it applies on so many levels. Whatever you're going through, let God do his work. stay on the task. stay committed to Christ, stay in the Word, stay in godly fellowship. Hold back on wanting to say something or being a spokesman, or all of a sudden you feel like I have a voice.
Don't do that. You're not ready for that. That's right. So, anyways, no, it's a great, great time. Absolutely.
So helpful, especially in the world that we live in today. Patience is tough to come by, especially when we talk about it in terms of endurance. But James gives us the secret. Amen. Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow.
Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show anywhere podcasting content can be found. And you can also support us financially at Abadansha.com forward slash give.
We've been talking about it for months and we are going to keep talking about it until March 28th. Big apologetics conference is happening right here at Clearview Church in Henderson, North Carolina. If you're into apologetics, if you want to dive deeper into our translations, especially coming from the Byzantine text form, you can register at the link in the description. And if you use our special promo code today, T-O-D-A-Y, you're going to get 20% off your ticket sale. That's a great deal.
We want to see you guys here. Pastors and ministry leaders from all over the world are flying in. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.
