INTRODUCTION
(Bench press, oly bar and plates)
Some of you know exactly what this is. A 135 lbs bar might not look like much…until you’re the one under it.
I’ve asked (Austin, Jeremiah, ?) to come up and show us what happens when you’re under this much weight. Imagine if this were you. At first, it feels manageable. But the longer you stay under it, the heavier it gets. Your muscles start to tremble. You try to recruit every other part of your body to help. Before long, everything in you wants to rack it and get out from under it. But if you stay just a little bit longer, your body adapts and gets stronger. In weightlifting, it is called time under tension—the longer a muscle stays under strain, the stronger it becomes.
The same is true in life. Life can also get awfully heavy sometimes—carrying responsibilities, shouldering expectations, pressing through conflict, absorbing hurt, bearing the weight of loss—it all piles on, and you just want relief. But here’s the thing: whether you’ve been walking with Jesus for decades or for days, learning to stay under the weight matters because it isn’t just testing you; it’s training you.
When you refuse to run from the pressure of life’s hardships and heartaches, you get stronger and you grow deeper. That’s how spiritual strength, maturity, and resilience are formed—when life gets heavy.
That’s the struggle James is addressing in his letter. He is writing to believers who are being pushed to the limit. Persecution has scattered them, forcing them to leave their homes and live as refugees in unfamiliar places. They’re demoralized, discouraged, and worn down by the troubles coming at them from every direction. And then James opens his letter with something unexpected. Listen to how he says they’re to think about these troubles:
“2Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
Why? Persecution has rocked their entire sense of spiritual, social, and
economic stability & security. What reason do they have for joy?
James explains → V:3-4
3For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4So let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” – James 1:2–4
Notice that James also refers to their troubles as a test of their faith. In other words, their troubles aren’t bad luck; they’re not accidental or pointless. Whenever their faith is tested, those tests have a purpose:
First, tests will always reveal what their faith is made of; and
And second, tests will only refine their faith | if they remain willing and open throughout the process. That’s why James wants them to see that even in their troubles, there is an opportunity joy, a joy that comes when they learn to do the hypomonē.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Do the hypomonē?” Sounds like a dance
move, right? Like, “Everybody up! We’re gonna do the hypomonē!” But it’s not. It’s Greek.
hypomonē /hoo-po-mo-NAY/ (ὑπομονή) is the Greek word James uses for endurance, and it literally means ‘to remain under’. To do the hypomonē, means to stay put when everything in them wants to run from the test because they know that their endurance is being developed. And that’s where the opportunity for joy comes in: when they realize that what’s testing them is also training them.
So when the weight of life feels like it’s crushing them, and they choose to practice hypomonē —to stay under the test—that’s their opportunity to disrupt the urge to quit the test, to interrupt the reflex to run from it, to stop the spiral of anxiety and panic that rises in middle of testing, and find joy in knowing thier character is being strengthened. If they let it, those moments and seasons of trouble don’t have to destroy them; they can develop their hypomonē. Because every rep they grind out under pressure builds a resiliency that can’t be built any other way.
Now, I want to make sure you’ve got this word down. Look at the person next to you and ask them, “Are you doing the hypomonē?” Now tell them, ‘You better be!’” It’s funny to say, but that’s exactly what James is after — people who know how to stay under the weight and let endurance do its work.
Now, as we come to V:12, there’s a subtle shift that you might miss if you’re not
looking closely. James writes → V:12
12God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.
Up to this point, James has written about enduring tests that happen to them. However, in V:12, he shifts to enduring temptations within them. And that is what our focus will be on: enduring temptation.
Next week, Pastor Nate will take us into Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, but today, we’re talking about how to endure our temptations.
Before we do that, it’s worth pointing out what kind of temptation James is writing about. When he says, 12God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation,’ he is not talking about the urge to do something wrong or unwise like lying, cheating, and stealing. He’s talking about the deeper temptation at the root of those behaviors—the temptation to believe lies about God. Those false beliefs are the hidden roots that eventually produce their fruit in what we do – but for now, James wants us to look beneath the surface, at what’s growing underneath. Let me give you a few examples.
When tests of faith get hard, the urge to give up on God is often fueled by the temptation to believe He’s given up on you. ‘If God really loved me, why would He let this happen? I’ve been praying the same prayer for months. He’s not looking out for me. I’m on my own.’
When a struggle drags on, the temptation isn’t just to get frustrated and angry. It’s the temptation to start blaming God and believe the lie that He is against you. ‘God’s the reason this marriage is still stuck. He’s the reason the anxiety won’t lift. If He really cared, He would’ve done something by now.
Have you ever felt that life is unfair and been tempted to take matters into your own hands and take what you want apart from God? That sinful act grows out of the lie that He isn’t good or generous and whispers, ‘If God won’t provide, I’ll make it happen myself. If He won’t satisfy me, I’ll find something that will. If He’s not coming through, I’ll take control.
This is the kind of temptation James is talking about. And here’s the crazy part: it’s so subtle and deceptive that we don’t even realize we’re being tempted to believe it. But when we do, we start living and acting out of those false beliefs that contradict God’s character. ‘He isn’t good. He can’t be trusted. You deserve more. He isn’t enough.’
So what does endurance— hypomonē—look like when we’re tempted to believe lies about God? In V:12-18, James shows us three practices for enduring this kind of temptation. The first one is in V:12
How do we endure Temptation?
V:12 – When You Are Tempted to Doubt God’s Faithfulness, Remember God’s reward
Remember that James is writing to believers who had lost almost everything for following Jesus—home, work, reputation. Every day, like you, they were trying to live right —working hard, staying faithful, showing up to worship, but instead of life getting easier, it was getting harder. And in moments like that, it’s easy to wonder, ‘Does God see any of this? Does He care? If He’s good, why is this still going on?’
The temptation James is addressing in V:12 isn’t the temptation to abandon one’s faith – it’s quieter than that. It’s the temptation to believe that God is distant, detached, or indifferent. That He doesn’t notice your faithfulness, or worse, that He doesn’t care about your pain.
So James reminds them:
12God blesses those who patiently endure testing (V:2-11) and temptation. Afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
In this verse, James repeats the word hypomonē for a third time, highlighting
that God sees and values every moment His people stay faithful under pressure. To emphasize this, he mentions that God has a reward in store for them: the crown of life. Now, don’t picture a shiny gold crown like the one that recently made headlines. James isn’t talking about that kind of crown. He’s thinking of a victor’s wreath—made of leaves—the kind a Greek or Roman athlete would receive for finishing a race. What makes this crown special is that it’s not temporary; it’s a picture of eternal life with God Himself. So when James talks about the ‘crown of life,’ he’s not describing a trophy for spiritual elites. He’s describing the reward God promises to everyone who keeps loving Him even when life gets hard & it costs them something.
Like Jesus did when He promised the same crown to the suffering Church of Smyrna in Revelation 2, Jesus said, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” – Revelation 2:10
Folks, God isn’t detached from our struggles; He’s deeply involved in them. He sees every moment you choose to stay faithful when it would be easier to walk away. And He blesses that kind of endurance because it proves that your love for Him is real. The God who is sovereign over life and death promises eternal life to those who keep loving Him by refusing to give in to the temptation to believe that He’s distant, detached, or indifferent. This is what it looks like to stay under the weight and do the hypomonē.
But how do we endure the temptation to doubt God’s faithfulness?
#1. When you are tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness, remember God’s reward.
But how do you actually do this? You fix your eyes on the reward of heaven by building a rhythm of prayer, worship, and time of progressively reading through God’s Word. Those habits help keep your focus where it belongs—on what’s waiting for you, not what’s weighing on you.
And if you don’t know where to start, ask someone in your LG, a staff member, the person who invited you—we’d love to help you learn how.
That’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, every athlete trains hard for a crown that won’t last, but we’re running for one that never fades. When you value the reward that awaits you, it just becomes easier to endure, and the trial in front of you starts to look a lot smaller.
V:13-15 – When you are tempted to Blame God for Your Struggles, own your desires
As you can imagine, the people James was writing to were under enormous pressure—scattered, struggling to make ends meet, mistreated by people with power. When every door you knock on stays closed, and every prayer seems to bounce back unanswered, when life stays hard for too long, something dangerous can happen in the heart – you start wondering if God is behind it. ‘Is He the reason I’m suffering? Did He set me up to fail?’
That’s the temptation James is confronting in V:13–15. He moves from the temptation to doubt God’s faithfulness to the temptation to accuse God of being the problem.
13And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.
14Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
15These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
Have you ever had the audacity to accuse God for your struggle? I have.
Years ago, back in 2004, Denise and I had a crazy idea to plant a church in Georgia. Things started with such excitement and faith. Then, 4 years later, the 2008 housing market crashed.
Overnight, people in our church plant started losing jobs. Key families made the difficult decision to stop giving, and their finances began to dry up. I still remember one evening. I went into our master closet, shut the door, and just broke. I didn’t want my wife or kids to hear me because I was about to yell at God, and I did. I said, ‘You told me to plant this church—and now You’re going to abandon me and my family?’
That’s the kind of moment James is writing about—the moment when pain and fear turn into accusation. When the pressure is on and life feels unfair, something in us wants to turn on God and accuse Him of being the problem. In that moment, V:13-15 served as a warning shot across my bow; because of my trial, I was being tempted to believe the lie that God misled me, that He led me into a trap, that He’d forgotten me, and that He wasn’t faithful.
It’s like James is saying, “Be careful. Don’t go there. Don’t even say, “God is tempting me,” Since God is holy; He cannot be the source of anyone’s temptation.
Then James explains where temptation really comes from. It’s like bait to a fish—the lure isn’t the problem; it’s what’s happening in the fish that makes the bait look good. In the same way, it’s what is happening inside of us – our desires – that makes the temptation to blame God so appealing. When those desires get twisted by fear, distorted by disappointment, or stretched to the point of exhaustion, the lies about God can start to sound so convincing. And when that temptation to believe those lies grab hold of us, it drags us toward sin.
Think about it like this, if you start believing that God is the one doing this trial to you, bitterness towards Him can take root. Go ahead, believe the lie that He set you up to fail, and despair can consume your life. If you really believed that God doesn’t understand you, then you’ll stop going to Him. And if you really believe that He’s the problem, you’ll never look at what’s going on in your own heart—and you’ll never grow, never change.
And if left unchecked, James says, all those false beliefs of God will ultimately lead to death, not just physical death, but the slow death of the soul, the death of joy, of intimacy, of a faith that once was alive but stopped being honest.
So how do we endure the temptation to blame God for our struggles?
#2. When you are tempted to blame God for your struggles, own your desires.
Instead of accusing God, examine what’s going on inside of you. Be honest about
what you want, about the desires that are pulling you. Stop pretending that those desires are not there, and don’t project them onto God.
James is saying: Look inward before you look upward. Before you ask, ‘Why is God doing this to me?’ ask, ‘What’s happening in my mind, emotions, thoughts right now?’
So how does this help us endure temptation?
Well, if you believe that God is to blame for your struggle, then you’ll never have to be honest about what’s really going on inside you. You’ll spend all your energy fighting the wrong enemy, blaming God. But when you take personal responsibility and own your desires, that’s where growth begins. Sometimes it means slowing down before you react—doing the hard work of naming what’s happening in your mind, putting words to what you’re feeling, and bringing it into the light with God. And sometimes it means confessing the struggle to a trusted friend who can pray with you and remind you of what’s true.
When you do that, you move from resisting God to cooperating with Him and the work He’s doing in you. That’s when your ability to push back temptation grows stronger. That’s when you start learning the spiritual skill of staying under the weight instead of trying to escape it.
V:16-18 – When You Are Tempted to Question God’s Goodness, Trust His Unfailing Generosity
For James’s readers, part of their struggle was what they thought they knew about God. They grew up believing that if you do good, God will bless you; if you mess up, you will suffer. So there they were, trying to live faithfully, but still suffering; it didn’t fit their theological framework. “Wait, if we’re obeying, why isn’t life working out?” Their religious formula broke down and it really messed with them. And so when their expectations of how God should act didn’t square with how painful life felt the temptation to question God’s goodness crept in, “God, are you paying attention? Are you really good?”
Their suffering didn’t just hurt—it made them doubt God’s goodness. That’s the temptation James confronts in V:16-18: the temptation to believe that God isn’t as good as He says He is.
And so James steps in with,
16So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.
He’s saying, “Don’t let your suffering twist what you know to be true about God.”
James is warning them because he knows that pain and suffering have a way of distorting someone’s view of God. When life hurts long enough, the voice of suffering can sound more convincing than the voice of Scripture. And little by little, they begin to interpret God through their pain.
We see this everywhere. When tragedy strikes— a hurricane in the Caribbean, when parents lose a child, or when a woman loses her husband – people start out saying, “God’s got this.” But months later, after the world moves on, the help stops, pain lingers, the questions start: “God, where were You? Why didn’t You stop it?’ Even the most faithful hearts can start to wonder, ‘Maybe God isn’t good after all.’
How about you? You try to do everything right, live with integrity, work hard, pray, and still you can’t seem to get ahead. You look around and say to yourself, “So what’s the point of following God if it never works out?” Or the parents who have been praying for years for their estranged child to come home. Eventually, they start wondering, “Maybe God’s done listening.”
Don’t mistaken these words as rebellious, they are the words of broken hearts trying to make sense of God in a world that doesn’t make sense. But that’s what suffering does, it turns pain into a lens that distorts God’s character and preaches a false gospel – “Maybe God’s not good after all.” So James steps in to say, “Don’t let your pain tell you who God is. Let God tell you who He is.”
So he points them back to the truth in V:17-18:
16So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.
17Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
18He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
So when pain tries to tell you that God isn’t good, James says, “Let God speak for Himself.” and he goes on to give 3 reminders of what God’s goodness actually looks like.
So first, James reminds them—and us—that God is generous. His generosity doesn’t rise and fall with our circumstances. He is our good Father, who continually gives what is good. V:17a, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.” In other words, every good thing you’ve ever known, if it’s good, it didn’t come from luck, hard work, or the right connections—it came from your heavenly Father’s hand. That is what God’s goodness looks like.
Second, God’s goodness is consistent. In V:17b, James adds, “He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” Everyone understands how light and shadow move—day turns to night, seasons change, shadows stretch and shrink. The world is constantly in motion. But James says, not God. His character and His generosity don’t fluctuate with the changing seasons of creation or the shifting seasons of your life. God was good when He created light, and He is still good when darkness falls on your life. This is what God’s goodness looks like.
And third, God’s goodness is redemptive. He is the Savior who brings new life. V:18, “He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word.” Perhaps the greatest evidence of God’s goodness and generosity is in what He’s already done for you. Out of all creation, James says, you are His prized possession. He gave you new life through the gospel. That means the same God who saved you and gave you eternal life will not abandon you or withhold what’s good from you. This is what God’s goodness looks like.
– GOSPEL :: If you’ve never trusted this good God, today’s the day to stop running from Him and start trusting Him. The same Jesus who stayed under the weight of the cross for you can help you stay under the weight of your trial.
So how do we endure the temptation to question God’s goodness?
#3. When you are tempted to question God’s goodness, trust His unfailing generosity.
So how does this help us endure temptation?
When you can’t make sense of what you see God doing or not doing, and you are tempted to question His goodness, look back to what He’s already given because God’s goodness is seen in His generosity. Look at how generous Paul said God is in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” In other words, God doesn’t prove His goodness by giving you a comfortable life. He proved it once and for all at the cross—by giving you Jesus.
So when life feels unfair, preach that gospel truth to yourself. Gratitude becomes the way you fight disbelief. Each time you thank God for what He’s already given, you’re training yourself to trust His unfailing generosity again.
CONCLUSION
So what do we do with this? We’re on the bench, trembling under the weight of temptation pressing down, and everything in us wants to rack it and quit. So how do we endure it? Do the hypomonē.
When you are tempted to…
… doubt God’s faithfulness, the hypomonē remembers God’s reward.
…blame God for your struggles, you do the hypomonē by owning your desires.
…question God’s goodness, the hypomonē trusts His unfailing generosity.
And it’s right there—if we’re willing and open to stay under it—that James says there’s an opportunity for joy. Because as you stay, endurance grows. Faith matures. And when this life is over, God Himself will place the crown of life on those who have loved Him through it all.
So stay under it. Breathe. Trust Him. Because under the weight, God is still good. And
that’s the hypomonē.
Prayer
Father, teach us & strengthen us to stay under the weight—to trust Your reward, to own our desires, to rest in Your goodness—until endurance has its perfect work in us.
