James: Learning to Walk in Maturity

As parents, my husband and I are working to develop our teenage son into a mature young man. We want him not only to be a contributing member of society, but also to be a successful adult when we launch him into the world. Success can be defined in many ways, but for my husband and me, as Christians, we desire our son to have a personal relationship with God, not based on his parents' experiences and teaching, but on his own. Maturity grows not only through physical development, but through emotional and spiritual growth that happens through experience and education.

Not only as a parent but as a woman in ministry, I have encountered far too many Christians who proclaim to love God but quickly fall away, or invite disaster into their lives by living contrary to the Bible. Over the next few weeks, I want to explore maturing in Christ through the book of James. In his letter, James calls his readers to live a life of maturity in Christ.

I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.

Greetings!

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.. (James 1:1–4, NIV)

This general letter from James, the half-brother of Jesus, was written to encourage Jewish believers who had been scattered by persecution. James did not believe Jesus was the Messiah early in his life and even challenged Jesus' authority (John 7), but we later see a transformation in him at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

James calls himself a slave, or bondservant, of Christ, language also used by Paul and Peter in their letters, meaning their lives were in submission and service to Jesus. Jesus modeled this same submission throughout the Gospels, doing nothing outside of what He felt directed by God to do. James, in calling himself a slave, is pointing his readers back to that same posture of surrender.

So what is James actually asking of them? He tells the church to count it all joy when they experience trials. The Greek word here carries the sense of pressure. God will use that pressure to deepen their faith and character, making them complete, or perfect.

But why would James expect them to respond this way? The answer is found in the early church's recent history.

Earlier, in Acts 1:8, Jesus promised His followers the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That promise was fulfilled in the upper room, where both Jewish and Gentile believers were filled with the Spirit.

But witness came before persecution, not after it. Saul (later Paul) endorsed the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, and in Acts 8 a wave of persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, scattering Jewish believers throughout the region, the diaspora. What looked like disaster became the catalyst for Christianity to spread beyond Jerusalem.

This is the pattern: God promises witness, then allows pressure, and uses that pressure to accomplish what witness alone could not. We see His sovereignty even in Saul's story; the same God who could open Saul's eyes to Jesus as Messiah could have stopped the persecution altogether. Instead, He let it scatter His people, using their pain to move the gospel forward.

When you've lived long enough, you recognize that life brings painful moments, disappointments, and detours. But James is telling his readers, and I believe he's telling us too, that God uses hardship and trouble. Not only does He use it to do a deeper work in us, but James is reassuring believers that God sees them in the pain.

That joy isn't naive; it's rooted in the understanding that when you cling to faith through the trial, it deepens your endurance and, ultimately, your character; until you become complete, some versions say perfect. It is a fruit of God’s Spirit given to those who cling to Him. Even when you're walking through something painful or difficult, if you let Christ into that pain, He will do a deeper work within you.

I have a dear friend and mentor who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer two years ago. Unless the Lord intervenes and heals her completely, she will walk through chemo for the rest of her life. But here's what I want to say about her: two years after that horrific diagnosis, and through all the side effects of treatment, she is still beating the odds. More than that, I have never seen a woman carry more joy for life than she does. She has submitted her life and her future to the Lord.

Just as my friend is a mature believer, walking out her trouble with faith, my hope is to cultivate in my son a heart that doesn't crumble when trouble or pain comes — but instead knows God sees him, and trusts that He can use it to deepen his character and faith in ways that might not happen otherwise.

That is maturity.

Prayer:

Lord,
I know you see my pain and trouble and have not forgotten me. Lord, this pressure feels too much at times. Meet me here. Help me to trust you and continue to surrender my trust and life to you. (If this is a trouble brought on by sin, take a moment and ask God to forgive you for stepping out of His best for you). Thank you for your faithfulness to me. Amen.