Creekside Church, Sunday, March 20, 2022
The Pure Joy of Being Tested
Locations & Times
Creekside Church
660 Conservation Dr, Waterloo, ON N2J 3Z4, Canada
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 10:30 AM
Do you like to take tests?
What comes to mind when you think of tests?
What emotions do you feel?
What about moral, ethical, spiritual tests?
What about life tests? Where do they come from? Are they even real or do we just experience them this way?
Does God test us?
Is there another force, persona, tempting us?
And if there is, why?
These are important questions that determine how we experience life and contribute to our worldview.
In the worldview of the Bible tests are a big theme. They are an undeniable device used throughout the storytelling of the Bible.
---
Temptations and Tests
Temptation is an enticement to act in disobedience to God’s will. Its sources are the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Test is a situation that God sends or allows in our life for different purposes.
---
Why are there tests?
Eden is set up as a test. (Genesis 3)
Israel enter the promised land and God sets up a test.
Judges 3:4-6
4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Post resurrection and ascension, we are now his Spirit filled people...and there are still tests!
It seems that God wants us to have choice and for us to choose God and his ways. In this we glorify God and his ways.
---
How should we think about tests?
James 1:1-4
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Perseverance/Endurance
- in the NT the characteristic of a person who is not swerved from their deliberate purpose and their loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings
- a patient, steadfast waiting, a patient enduring,
---
See through the test/temptation to the joy.
Jesus saw through the test to the joy.
Hebrews 12:2-3
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
James called his audience to see through the test of being poor and oppressed.
Abraham - Genesis 12:1-3
---
See through the trial to the purpose
See through the pain to the gain
See through the test to the joy
I’m not looking at the test I’m looking at my teacher
---
We should ask for wisdom to figure out God's purpose and path
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
---
You can be completely blindsided and still know exactly what to do and still be perfectly okay.
---
Job 23:2-10
2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say to me.
6 Would he vigorously oppose me?
No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
What comes to mind when you think of tests?
What emotions do you feel?
What about moral, ethical, spiritual tests?
What about life tests? Where do they come from? Are they even real or do we just experience them this way?
Does God test us?
Is there another force, persona, tempting us?
And if there is, why?
These are important questions that determine how we experience life and contribute to our worldview.
In the worldview of the Bible tests are a big theme. They are an undeniable device used throughout the storytelling of the Bible.
---
Temptations and Tests
Temptation is an enticement to act in disobedience to God’s will. Its sources are the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Test is a situation that God sends or allows in our life for different purposes.
---
Why are there tests?
Eden is set up as a test. (Genesis 3)
Israel enter the promised land and God sets up a test.
Judges 3:4-6
4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Post resurrection and ascension, we are now his Spirit filled people...and there are still tests!
It seems that God wants us to have choice and for us to choose God and his ways. In this we glorify God and his ways.
---
How should we think about tests?
James 1:1-4
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Perseverance/Endurance
- in the NT the characteristic of a person who is not swerved from their deliberate purpose and their loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings
- a patient, steadfast waiting, a patient enduring,
---
See through the test/temptation to the joy.
Jesus saw through the test to the joy.
Hebrews 12:2-3
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
James called his audience to see through the test of being poor and oppressed.
Abraham - Genesis 12:1-3
---
See through the trial to the purpose
See through the pain to the gain
See through the test to the joy
I’m not looking at the test I’m looking at my teacher
---
We should ask for wisdom to figure out God's purpose and path
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
---
You can be completely blindsided and still know exactly what to do and still be perfectly okay.
---
Job 23:2-10
2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say to me.
6 Would he vigorously oppose me?
No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.