First Baptist Church, 9 West Main St. Earlville, NY 13332

“REMEMBER THESE 3 LITTLE WORDS” (James 1:2-8)
Series: JAMES, May 14, 2017 10:30 AM
Rev. Jeremy B. Stopford, Pastor

INTRODUCTION
“Today’s Special” #1 – Karyn’s Dad’s Joke: The physics teacher and the calculus teacher dated without success. They had no chemistry between them.

“Today’s Special” #2: You Know You’re a Mother IF…
~ You automatically double-knot everything you tie.
~ You hear a baby cry in the grocery store, and you start to gently sway back and forth, back and forth. However, your children are at school!
~ You actually start to like the smell of strained carrots mixed with applesauce.
~ You get soooo into crafts you contemplate writing a book called “101 Fun Crafts To Do with Dryer Lint and Eggshells.”
~ You spend a half hour searching for your sunglasses only to have your teenager say, “Mom, why don’t you wear the ones you pushed up on your head?”
~ You are out for a nice romantic meal with your husband, enjoying some real adult conversation, when suddenly you realize that you’ve reached over and started to cut up his steak.

Last week we began our new series in the Book of James. We learned an important point: the book of James is about a choice – do we live for Jesus as if we are Homeward Bound people, or do we live for the world and don’t make a difference with the brief life God has given us? This is believed to be the first written of the NT books -and it is pure practical theology! PRAYER

#1 The Growth-Life (vs. 2-4) Revolves around your choices:
a. “Pure joy” – just 3 little words tell God’s secret to spiritual growth
“Pure” = “all”; “full of”; “an opportunity for great joy” (NLT)
b. “Consider” = welcome! Phillips says, “don’t resent them [trials] as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”
c. “Trials” – those “tests and challenges [which] come at you from all sides” [Message]. Those cause your faith to show its true colors!
Illustration: Perhaps you saw this on our beloved Facebook this week:
From a CBS News Documentary, the words of Charleton Churchill: “Saying this was an epic and amazing trip is true. But I would be remiss if I didn’t share, it came with some suffering, doubt, fear, anxiety, and physical pain. Often times when striving for something great, there is usually a cost. There’s no glory without suffering.” The glory: a wedding! The trial: the location, which was the summit of Mt. Everest! And his job? He bills himself as an “Adventure Wedding Photographer”.
But your trials are not the uncertainties of the base camp of Mt. Everest! Your trials are, well, LIFE!
d. Progress of faith to maturity: the mindset [3 little words: “count it pure joy”], the test/trial of faith, the experience which develops perseverance, and the perseverance develops maturity. See Matthew 5:48 “be perfect [mature, complete] as your Heavenly Father is perfect”. See 1 Cor. 3:1ff “I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.” It’s possible to belong to Christ, to be a Christian, to be saved, but be immature. And trials are often the test to show outwardly what’s going on inwardly.
The “Growth-Life” revolves around those 3 little words, “count it pure joy”

“WAIT, PASTOR! That’s FOUR words!” Almost 30 years ago, my wife’s cousin’s family and us went camping for a week. During the Sunday of that week, we went to church where the guest speaker spoke on this passage. Repeatedly, he said, “now, just remember these 3 little words: count it all joy.” By the end of the sermon, the kids had all they could do to hold in their laughter. Yet almost 30 years later, that message is still remembered by our family members who heard it! Let’s remember these 3 little words – from our NIV: “count it pure joy”.

#2 The Grace-Life (vs. 5-8)
How do you know you lack wisdom? You might say: “I don’t know how I can do this!” Or, “I don’t know how I have the time!” Or, “I CAN’T DO THIS!” The Grace-Life revolves around 3 thoughts:
a. God is generous – He loves to hear from His children, OFTEN!
b. The prayer of faith stems from a relationship of trust: no doubts in God nor in His ability to do what He says He can!
c. The grace-life lives as if each day is dependent upon the wisdom of God and not upon the wiles of God’s child.
Illustration: the summer breezy day sail in the sunfish, and then there’s the day when the wind takes you to the other end of the lake. That is the life not lived in grace but in self-will. Wind swept. Can’t get back without retracing many steps. [sailing upwind can be done, but it is easier not to!].

CONCLUSION
Remember the growth-life. God hungers for mature children! Where are you today? Have you remembered those 3 little words: count it pure joy!
Remember the grace-life. God hungers for seeking children! Where are you today? Have you remembered to trust, to rest in the One Who brought you to the cross in the first place? Trust! Intimate trust! Hunger for that just as He hungers for that in us!