E12”Courage in the Storm - Faith and Stoicism (Part 1 of 4)”

Explore the empowering courage of faith and Stoic philosophy as presented in the first episode of this four-part series on James, chapter 1. Discover how faith, hope, and philosophy intertwine to help us navigate adversity. Dive into wisdom, historical context, and practical spiritual insights that strengthen us to stand firm through life’s storms. Perfect for seekers of faith, healing, and spiritual growth.

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Episode 12 of “Spiritual Hot Sauce” by Chris Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  
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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:39 Good Religion
• 2:46 Who is James
• 6:37 James writes a letter using the philosophy of Stoicism and Faith
• 7:39 Courage and East of the Compass
• 10:18 We grow in the storms
• 13:41 When belief becomes faith
• 14:34 Final thoughts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Welcome. I'm Chris Jones. This is where believers and skeptics alike are invited to embark on a journey of faith, philosophy, and life from a different perspective. Whether we are joined by an insightful guest or we just jump into the deep end, this exploration promises to challenge us all. Are we getting it right? This is Spiritual Hot Sauce. Let's talk about good religion. Some of you might be under the impression over the last few episodes that I'm against religion, but I absolutely am not. I'm just trying to help us get a better understanding of it, that there's a difference in the religion of the worship of the deity of Christ and then becoming a disciple of Christ, that becoming a disciple of Christ makes you the antidote to the poison that's in humanity. Now, some of you might say, but Chris scripturally it says there's no redemption for our flesh. Okay, but there's a difference between redemption and healing. Jesus' ministry predominantly was healing our flesh, so it makes sense that his commandment of love would not only address things to come, but things here and now, our current state of suffering, the poison within humanity. So I'm going to be honest with you, this is not the first time that I've recorded this episode. This episode I try to do in one big stretch. And I try to keep these between 15 and 20 minutes long. This went really long and I was rushing it the whole time. So such an important message, I'd basically just kind of brushed over and just dumped a bunch of information. And I went back and I said, I've got to redo this, and I'm going to have to do this in series. So this will be in a series of four parts. So we're going to be talking about James chapter one. And James chapter one is so rich and dense and complete. It is presented as religion. It's the only place in the Bible that talks about religion in a positive way, but it's speaking about religion as in your religion. Much like we talked about in episode one, that a good religion should serve you, give you the tools you need to navigate through adversity in life. Okay, so who is James? James is the pastor of the Church of Jerusalem. He's half brother to Jesus, it's believed, and he's also the one who sends Paul and gives him his blessing and tells him to go ahead and take go to the Gentiles and sends Barnabas with him. So what's the Church of Jerusalem? It's ground zero for Christianity. And it is James that says we are a kind of first fruit. In other words, they're the first harvest from what Jesus started. And they're a little different from what we would expect. They still practice Judaism, so their religion looks a little different than ours, but they accept Jesus as the Messiah. In other words, what Jesus says goes. So they've taken the commandment of Christ and they have made it the pinnacle in their life. And above everything, including their religion, they are trying to become a disciple of Christ in his love and how he loved, becoming the antidote to the poison. So why is James writing this letter? Well, this letter is in response to the dispersion. If you don't know what the dispersion is, in 66 AD, Jerusalem, the Hebrew people, were under occupation of Rome, and they wanted their freedom, so they had an uprising hoping to drive Rome out and reclaim independence. However, they weren't successful. So General Titus comes in and starts the campaign in 66 A.D. with the sword to kill all men, women, and children. It's believed that from the time of 66 to 70 A.D., that nearly half of all the Hebrew people were killed or enslaved. The remainders just fled. They just ran. And 70 AD is when they totally reduced Jerusalem and the temple to rubble. And they would continue a few years later, even driving further away from the Judea area, just out of that general vicinity, and pushing them on to wherever, making them nomadic. So that's who James is writing to. He starts the letter with to the 12 tribes who are of Christ that's been dispersed greetings. So he is writing these people that he has been helping become like Christ in this commandment, that are going through unbelievable amounts of adversity, things we don't even understand. We can't even start to get our heads around it. I mean, it's all of a sudden you have to leave. It's just whatever you can carry is all you can take. You become a stranger in a strange land where you can't speak the language, you don't look like anybody else, you dress funny compared to everybody else, and you're an outsider. Places could be hostile, they may be friendly, you really don't know. Communication is less than ideal. I mean, this predates any kind of digital communication. So this is just word of mouth. And you hope that the situation hasn't changed before you get there, of where you think it may be safe, or a temporary place of just trying to gather yourself. These are people going through tremendous amounts of adversity. So what does James, the pastor of the Church of Jerusalem, say in this letter to the people going through this adversity? And keep in mind, this is the only book in the Bible that uses the word religion in a positive context. And if you think it's full of religious ideas and concepts of the practice in Judaism or even the religion of the worship of the deity of Christ, you're wrong. James writes this letter that uses the word religion, and he uses philosophy and faith together with wisdom to help people going through that kind of adversity. James uses Stoicism. James chapter one is broken out into four sections, and each one is a virtue of stoicism. It's courage, wisdom, discipline, and justice. And I'm going to break down each episode into each virtue. But it's not about stoicism to philosophy. It's actually about faith and overcoming adversity. But he's using this philosophy, this philosophical approach with the faith. So we get into this kind of weird place where we only want to allow ourselves to see what's in the Bible to try to use as a roadmap. And James is utilizing a lot of things that you're going to find out as we get into this. So James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4, this is the letter James writes. James says to count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various, and he uses this word, parasmos, which means testings, trials, tribulations, suffering. So he's saying to count it all joy when you encounter various sufferings and trials and tribulations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces, he uses this word from the Greek houpamene, which means steadfastness, patience, and endurance. And he says, but let steadfastness, patience, and endurance have its work on you as you go through these sufferings, and that it will produce maturity. So what's he talking about? He's talking about East that we talk about on the compass. This is suffering in things you cannot control. And that if you'll push in with your faith and let it have its effect as you go through it, endure it, and push in with hope, you'll get better results. You can survive it. Not just survive, but thrive. See, he isn't saying that it's going to be joyful. He is saying to look past your immediate circumstances and look towards the end of it. Because how you go through this is how you're going to come out of it, that you have to stay courageous. And he is saying that as you push in to adversity and you use your faith and you push in with it with steadfastness, patience, and endurance, that it's going to grow you and it's going to change you, and it's going to make you something that can endure this kind of adversity in that life and in that path. But you are grown in the storm, so you can thrive in the storm. That's what he's saying. And he is saying to be courageous. Here's the thing about courage. Courage doesn't mean that you're not afraid. Courage just means you stand up anyway, that you push in even though you are afraid. Do you know what the most given commandment in the Bible is? Not the most important, but the most given? It's fear not. Fear not, for I'm with you always. That no matter how it ends up or however it comes out, with faith you'll endure it in a different way, and your results will be peace. It's like I've said in the past, in the storms you're going to grow. You will either grow stronger, further ahead, and better prepared for the future, or you will grow weaker, further behind, and further frustrated with life. But you're going to grow. Now, how you grow is heavily dependent on the attitude you have as you go through it. And James is saying to count it towards joy as you look ahead. So some of us that's listening to this may be going through a storm like that. One of these raging storms that makes us want to cower in fear or makes us want to go find a corner and hide. But we know this storm isn't going anywhere. And we might be asking, is this applied to me? Can I use this? Well, James says, various trials. In other words, no matter what it is, this can be applied to it. And he is saying that when you're going through that kind of storm that seems to take so much from you or change your identity, he is saying what we talk about in the compass to push in east and see it as purpose of suffering and things that we can't control, and that there is a purpose for it, and that it will grow us and it will help us, it will strengthen us and better prepare us for the future. And that if we'll push in with our faith, it will produce this hoopamine he's talking about, this godly hope and endurance and patience and steadfastness, that as we go through it, we are growing and our roots are getting stronger, and we are getting stronger, and we're being formed and shaped to look like we need to look like for life. And if we'll grab on to that, James is saying it will produce the hope we need to push in and do it, and we can find the courage to stand and push in through the storm, even though we may have fear. So this is for any and all of us. There's this place in Luke chapter 8, verse 13, and it's Jesus. He's teaching his disciples about receiving his logos, his commandment of love, and how we are grown in discipleship in that. And he says in Luke 8, 15 that we receive that into our cardiac, like we talk about, the center of our compass, and it calibrates us, and it will produce long term through this process that we're talking about now, but it will produce fruit. It will produce the antidote to the poison. But he warns in Luke 8.13 that those who receive his logos and they receive it with joy, and they think that because they're going to get into the faith, they're going to navigate around suffering and they don't have to go through it. And Jesus says that in a time of parasmos, the same word that James is using, these sufferings, trials and tribulations, testings, that they won't make it because they have no roots. That in a time of testing is when we are grown. It's when our faith matures, it's when we mature, it's when we are formed. In those moments of those storms and those trials and those tribulations, we stop having belief or an opinion of. And we have these moments that produce true faith, these convictions of what we hold to be true, even though we have no way to prove to you objectively and show you evidence. But yet we've had these personal experiences that have grown us and have given us a conviction of that faith that no one can take from us either. But it has to be grown and matured. But those moments that I'm talking about, where you go from belief to this conviction of faith is in the storm. It's in those moments that define us. A good religion that serves you and gives you the tools. So be not afraid. Embrace the storm, push in, stand up with courage and hope of what's on the other side. No matter what it is, that you know it has purpose and let it define your faith. Thanks for joining me here on Spiritual Hot Sauce. I'd love to hear from you. So please reach out with questions, comments, andor concerns. And don't forget to like, subscribe, and review us. You can follow us on Facebook for updates and information. And if you enjoy the flavor of the sauce, then please share with others. I would appreciate that. We'll see you next time.