In the Meantime
Rusty Wirt   -   February 22, 2026

Sermon 3

  Handling the Doubts from Trials 

 Trials or persecution can enhance our doubts. When we feel like the whole system is against us, we are tempted to let our faith falter. We buy into the victim mentality wholesale. We convince ourselves God has abandoned us. We pull away from those who really care for us. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Today we will consider the life and teaching of James, the brother of Jesus. James sets a high bar when it comes to trusting God in the face of severe trials. While we may never face the things he faced, we can certainly learn from his life example as we handle our doubts that are born out of frustrating trials.

 

Background Information on James

  • James is the brother of Jesus, and pastor the church in Jerusalem.
  • He was deeply respected for his piety, sometimes described as spending so much time in prayer that his knees became calloused like a camel’s.
  • According to Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History, after Paul was sent to Rome, Jewish leaders turned their hostility toward James.
  • James was brought before the people and pressured to deny Christ. Instead, he boldly confessed Jesus as the Son of God.
  • Enraged, the leaders cast him down from the Temple’s pinnacle. When he survived the fall, he was stoned, and finally killed by a blow from a fuller’s club (a tool used in cloth-making).
  • Josephus, the Jewish historian, also records James’ death, noting that he was executed by stoning under the high priest Ananus, which caused outrage among many Jews

 

James shows us that joy is possible in our trials (1:2)

    1. Joy- (χαρά) a state of being often described as calm delight
    2. Consider- speaks of careful reflection, leading your thoughts in a certain direction
    3. So, we cannot control our feelings, but we can control our thinkings
    4. You need to have controlled thoughts about the feelings that you are feeling if you don’t want your feelings to control you.
    5. Three powerful tools to help you do this
      1. Solitude
      2. Prayer
      3. Worship
  2. Trials do something that happy moments cannot (v. 3-4)
    1. Suffering has a “because”
      1. I can endure suffering because, there is a “because”
      2. Produces endurance (steadfastness)
      3. Endurance leads to a more complete understanding of life
      4. Pain, when it has a purpose, points to powerful potential.
      5. For endurance to exist, testing must happen.
  3. Trials can also trip us up with bad decisions (vs. 5-6) (stress can lead to a mess) 
    1. So, we must seek wisdom (this is a first-class conditional statement)
    2. Wisdom “the endowment of the heart and mind which needed for the right conduct of life” (Craig L. Bloomberg)
    3. Knowledge based upon how the world really works
    4. We must ask with solid, single minded faith in God’s provision

 

Application

We all have feelings when we go through trials. James challenges us to have thoughts. Think through your trial in this way:

My trial is (the facts in reality):

My feelings about this trial are (the feelings in my heart):

God’s wisdom is (the truth in God’s word):