Present and Future

You know when someone say something is overflowing it can be either a good thing or a bad thing right?

I mean I can say I am overflowing with cash and most of us would go “wow thats good!”

I could say our food pantry outside is overflowing and you would say “wow pastor that is great news!”

But then there are also times where overflowing can be a bad thing-

Has this ever happened to anyone? (toilet overflowing)

Its usually not a good thing…

If I had an extra ticket for a concert for your favorite artist and I told you I will give you it for $300

But then you get there and it turns out that it is the overflow section, which is actually just parking outside the concert venue… You would be pretty mad right?

Because overflow can be a good thing, but it also has the potential to be something that is not so good.

And really we have been in this series called “overflow” and in our lives there are positive and negative things that overflow into how we live.

Some people are overflowing with kindness

And you can just see the room light up when they are around

Some people are overflowing in generosity

Some people let their anger overflow and they make some big mistakes

Some people let jealousy overflow (like we talked about last week) and it can be destructive.

And so we have all these things that can overflow in our lives,

And whats interesting is we have been in this book of the Bible called James and he is writing to a church and he is addressing toxic areas that are spilling out into how they are living,

But whats amazing is he does not just leave them there, but he tells them about what should be abundantly overflowing in their life and it is their faith.

And so we have been looking at all these areas in our lives that he addresses and today we are looking at the very end of the letter

And really today James is actually talking about how our faith overflows into our commitment to Him or our steadfastness in our walk with God

So we are in James 5:7-20 and there is a lot here so we may not cover every single thing, but we are going to start in just the first verse (verse 7 and part of verse 8) it says:

James 5:7–8 (ESV)

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient…

You know before anything in this section James tell the people in this church to be patient.

And he talks about a farmer being patient where he waits for the different seasons and really he waits for his crops to grow.

And he is saying we need to be a people who are patient for God’s timing.

And specifically for Christ to comeback, but really even in the small things of life.

Because the truth is very often we will look at our lives from a very short term lens instead of seeing the bigger picture that God sees.

Its kind of like, how a lot fo you know this but a few years ago I ran in the Chicago marathon,

And when you run a marathon that big, it feels like you are in the superbowl

You write your name on your shirt so people will cheering your name

Little kids are giving you highfives

And what I ended up doing was going out extreamly fast. For the runners in the room my first mile was 8 minutes…

But I had the short term in my sight, because the half way point was a reality check that maybe I was focusing on the wrong thing.

And then the 17 mile marker came then the 20 then the 23 and then by the time I made it to the 24 mile marker I am pretty sure I limped the rest of the race.

But you know in a way our life is kind of like a race and their are things that can seem valuable and fulfilling (like we talked about last week), but we need to look at the eternal view.

And really we need to have a patience where day in and out we are living faithfully for God even when we might not see the result.

Because the truth is really our walk with God is not just a decision that we make and we are done, but it is the decision to say yes everyday and faithfully walk with God throughout our life.

and look at this next part (in the second half of verse 8) because this is why James says this:

James 5:8 (ESV)

8 … Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

James tells us to be patient and to do this by establishing your heart.

And really that word “establish” can be either used as Establish or strengthen.

And really in a way its almost like this nail (use a nail, wood and hammer).

I can hammer this nail a few times and it will be in the piece of wood right?

But what happens, because the more I hit that piece of wood the stronger the nail gets in and the less likely it is to move.

And really this is what James is saying when he says establish your heart.

Because when we are repeatedly living faithfully in our walk with God it strengthens our faith and establishes and strengthens our walk with God.

And look at these next verse because James tells us why this is important. He says this in verse 9. It says:

James 5:9 ESV

9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

You know we talked about this in the past but this church that James is writing to has an issue where they are fighting with eachother.

And James is telling them here, don’t you guys know that there is a day where God is going to look at our lives.

and he is going to see the things we have done that are just wrong.

And that day might be far away, but its coming

Its almost like if you can remember being in school and having a sub, How do you act when there is a substitute teacher?

If you are like me, not very well!

But here is the thing, because you can have a sub for a few days or even a full week, but eventually the actual teacher will come back, and they here what happened.

And in a way there is a day where Christ will come back, and He is just, and thankfully he has more grace than we can imagine, but He is also a God who is just

and really we want to be a people, who say “No I was not living opposite of how you called me too, but I was establishing my heart with you daily.

And look at the next part, because we want to do that in how we live, but one thing about this church (that James is writing to that is interesting) is they lived in persecution, and so James is telling them to be faithful in the your behavior, but he is even saying to be faithful through the trials of persucution.

Look at verses 10-11 it says:

James 5:10–11 ESV

10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

You know we are not persecuted, but I would guess their are trials in our lives that we face.

And sometimes those trials are big, and if I had to guess there have even been trials that make you question if God is so good than why did he let “this” happen?

In fact James even brings up the book of Job and if you are familiar with this book in the Bible, it is basically a guy who just everything went wrong for him.

He lost his lively hood, his family, his friends betrayed him and just everything in his life had gone wrong but look what Job says in the middle of this book in Job 13:15 look what Job says:

Job 13:15 (ESV)

15  Though he slay me, I will hope in him;

You know Job is saying everything in my world may have fallen apart, (in fact he even mentions that it feels like God has turned his back on me)

Which God does not do this, but this Job expressing how he feels

And he says it feels like God is attacking me, but I will trust in Him.

And really throughout the entire book it seems like Jobs life falls apart, but his hope and trust remains in God.

And James really in the book of James he is not sugar coating things for this church, because he is saying trials are going to come, but the God we serve is faithful,

And we have a God who walks with us in the unthinkable times and not only that, but when unthinkable evil occurs, we serve a God who can make unthinkable good, from the evil.

He is not the reason for the pain, but He can make something out of the broken pieces.

And lets look at this last part because James tells us what to do in the middle of life’s ups and downs: (James 5:13-15) It says:

James 5:13–15 ESV

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

You know James knows our lives change, I mean I think we can say our lives change!

But He is saying regardless of if good things are happening or bad things are happening to have the source of your life be God.

Because there may be times where the answer might look like it could be somthing else, but the awnser is to trust God through the storm,

Its almost like if you were on an airplane and all the sudden really bad turbulence started happening,

And so you decide the best option is I need to get out of this plane,

But here is the issue thats probably not a good idea right?

Because why would you get out of the thing that is holding you up?

And here is the issue, I feel like so often things go wrong or even if a situation changes we are tempted to push away God from the situation and say I know better then Him.

But in reality we are being self destructive.

And I want to just read this last part of the passage (verses 16-20) because it says this:

James 5:16–20 ESV

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

You know there is a lot here and I can’t get to it all, but there are really two major emophasi’s

Because James emphasis’s us trusting in God, but then really the second emphasis is being in community

Because really it is great to trust God- I mean that is awesome, but we need people to help us in our walk with God.

To push us back when we stray away, to encourage us when we need that encouragement.

And as we close today we will be ending by recieving communion

But something neat about communion is when Jesus gave this to his disciples it signified two things.

First it represented Him extending His grace towards each person,

but it also happened around a table with others

And I guess we this is where we start our new sermon series, because you probably have noticed you are around a table, instead of rows

And its kind of odd because so often when we receive communion we do it starting at the person in front of us’s head.

But whats amazing is its meant to receive in community.

And so as we close we are going to sing this last song, but I also want you to think about the people around the table, and in this room.

You have a group of people that are here for you in the tough times and are here for you in the good times.

And we are pushing eachother to be the people God has created us to be.

And so I am going to explain communion a little more after this song, but everyone here is welcome to receive communion as long as you have placed your trust in Christ.

Because the truth is Jesus is extending His grace, but we have to decide if we want to accept it.