Be Patient (2)

Introduction

Good morning everyone. I am so thankful for the oppurtunity to open Gods word together today. we’ve been in the book of James the last few months and I’d ask you to go ahead an open up to James 5 and in a moment we will start in verse 7

As you are getting there in your Bibles I want to tell you where we are heading today. James is going to encourage us in the area of suffering. He is going to encourage us to wait on the Lord in 3 ways.

wait on the return of the Lord

wait like the farmer on the crop

wait like those who have gone before us.

and in gernal in the world today we don’t like to wait on anything. We have the world at our fingertips on our phones and computers. Amazon has 1 click buying. We have same day shipping for a charge. Theme parks have express passes. Pizza places have guratees of how fast they will get your pizza to you or it will be free.

The last thing any of us want to do is wait. Our city has a hope that you can have the 15 min communte so when “traffic” hits….I put that in air qoutes because Huntsville proably doesn’t have traffic but we don’t like to wait at all so if there is an apperance of traffic we get fustrated maybe even angry

and there are positve things we don’t like to wait for. CHristmas- or christmas music. BIrthdays when we are younger. Turning 16. An awesome vactaion. Often if you ask someone how they are feeling about good things in their lives they say “I cannot wait!”

we have that in common this morning. and when it comes to our pain and suffering waiting is extremly difficult.

and I know in this room today there are many who might be suffering. Suffering from sickness, from hurt, from disappointment, from a lose of, job, family, friendships, and even dreams

and it’s to those places James writes. Let’s read James 5:7-12

James 5:7–12 ESV

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. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 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. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

2 words in our english laguange that can be some of the most difficult words in our language.

Be patient.

What does patients in the midst of this life mean?

Patience is graciousness, and steadiness, in the face of delayed gratification!

There is something we are longing for and we wait. We learn the joy of grace and the fruit of grace which is steadness as we wait.

We learn to be patient in life

Patient with others

and Patient with the Lord

James says be patient until the coming of the Lord.

He is saying no matter what you are facing, no matter what injustice has come, no matter what suffering is touching your life you have a promise that is unbreakable

Jesus will Return, Jesus will make all things right, and Jesus wins.

Chances are you are one of two groups of people in this room when it comes to reading a book. Some of you Like to read the book, feel the tension, be suprised and enjoy the ending when it comes.

others you can’t take the supense so you do something pretty remarkable, you read the last page of the book just to know how things turn out.

and james seems to be in the second group. He tells us the end of the story. He is recalling this same Jesus who defeated death, Rose again and ascended into heaven is coming back for his bride one day.

We know how the story ends! We know the last page and it is such a great and glorius ending

For a group of people who were poor and perscurted the reminder of the return of Christ would serve as a great encourgement. And I get it. You think what’s going on. Is god douping us? Why hasn’t he returned yet if he said he return was near?

It is near. It’s just our understanding of time is so limited.

I’ll illustrate it a few ways

Think about christmas. For the children it can’t get her soon enough and it feels like forever. For parents we are like are we already back here?

on a more persnaol level when my kids where young I can remember I was hanging with them they probably were 2 and 5 and I stepped outside in the front yard to take a quick phone call.

I told them I would be right back. I walk back in my house and to my suprise they are crying. They run up to me and hug me. I thought maybe they got in a fight and asked what’s going on? They said we thought you would never come back.

For me a few mins but at their young age it felt like forever

and if logic is worth anything we are nearer to the return of Christ then the orginal readers of James letter that’s good news.

so we wait and we pray come Lord Jesus soon.

And here’s what James is saying … What he’s trying to say is someday, God will make everything okay. Right now you have a disease, someday God will heal all diseases. There’s injustice, someday God is going to put it all right. Someone’s mistreating you, someday God’s gonna write all wrongs. Bad things are happening, someday God’s gonna wipe away every tear

and how do we wait in this life. Like a farmer.

James reminds the readers the farmer is waiting on the precious fruit of the earth.

and the early and late rains where a gift in ancient palastine. It rained often but these were the most important rains.

If you think about a farmer

The farmers would go out and plant their crops and desire growth but they would have to wait for the rains to come in order to see the growth they desired.

All farmers had to submit to this process......To fight against it, or worry, or insist that the harvest would come in the middle of the process would be futile

It would not change anything. Farmers had to LEARN the disciple of waiting.

In submitting to God’s process, they will inevitably undergo stressful times when it appears the rains will never come.....This was a time for a farmer to allow his crops to grow.

If you go and watch a local farmer plough their fields and sow their crops sometimes things don't change right away. The soil sometimes looks as bare as it did when the farmer went to work.

And that could make us ask the question are they wasting their time? Has the crop failed?

no it’s just producing something precious.

what James is offering us is as we wait their is a precious fruit that comes through our suffering.

That there is something in the midst of your pain, suffering, and waiting that God is doing in you that wouldn’t happen without it.

and that’s hard. But it’s what we are inviting into. I don’t know many times my faith has grown as much as it has as I’ve waited on the Lord.

There have been moments when I’ve had to wait on something to happen and as I am waiting I can either run from God or Run to him and wait. and it’s those moments that I wait on him and lean into him that my life is really changed.

It’s when I am at my lowest, my darkest and my lonliest that I find Jesus there waitning on me.

I learn what it means when the psalmist says even the dark is not dark to you God

and it’s there I am being confirmed more into the image of Jesus

It’s there I am being made the person God itends to make me complete and lacking nothing.

and if you think back to the farmer. They could plant and then go to their crop and yell at it and say grow. It wouldn’t do anything

they could go and just try to pull the crop early out of the ground and it wouldn’t work

but they wait becasue they trust thier is something really Good happening under the soil. They know what will grow will keep them alive and those they love alive also

so we are invited to wait and allow God to produce something precious in our lives.

that’s how we count it all joy when we face trails Because we know something good will come from this.

and as we wait James says we are to Establish our hearts.

You aren’t just passively waiting but you are growing in your relationship with God and you are fortifing your heart with his truth, with prayer, with his charcter as you wait in life for God to make all things right

the next area of patiences James encourages us with is to be paitent with others.

He knows that if we aren’t careful when we face a trial or suffering we can start to grumbe against our brothers and sisters in Christ

because when anxiety, anger and impatients comes into our lives often that moves into hurting others around us by grumbling against them.

and that does something inside of us that is not good. We start to judge others when we are hurting and that’s not our place.

No pateints with others is a practice of humilty. Because when we are patient with others we are saying God

I’m not the Judge. I’m not in control. God I’m no moncient. I may not understand all your purpose but I won’t let grumbling control my life or my heart.

It’s why in verse 12 tells us that we don’t have to make oaths or make promises our Yes gets to be yes and our no gets to be no

Why

James has been encouraging Christ followers to be patient, endure suffering well, hang in there - and don’t make oaths??? Our words reveal our hope in the coming of christ. Our words express what our hearts are anchored to and that we live and talk in the light of a returning savior.

It seems that James is saying that swearing and weighting our words reveals a lack of patience. The evil intent is to get one’s way through verbal manipulation.

That’s what we get to do while we wait on the Lord. We get to say what’s most true about God, what’s most true about others and what’s most true about oursilves.

and as we do this we get to have patients like those in the past. First james says that we should look at the prophets who reminded steadfast and spoke the name of the Lord(they didn’t grumble agaisnt others, instead they said what was most true about God!)

Hebrews chapter 11 does a great job at looking to the people James might have had in mind

Read Hebrews 11:32-40

Hebrews 11:32–40 ESV

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

How rich is that? He is saying you have example of people who waited and how God used them and How God was with them.

this is who we are suppose to look to.

and then James goes to one more example. He says consider Job. You’ve heard about him and seen what God did in his life.

Surely everyone reading this would have known about Job and if you don’t know about him he is this guy in the bible who

had a healthy family

a healthy soul

had so much wealth

and he was physically healthy

but that’s not what makes him unforgetable that’s not what James is calling his readers to remember.

He is known for his steadfastness, that is, his persevering faith that triumphed in the end.

See Satan attacks job but Job doesn't turn from God.

Job didn't serve God for what God gave him He served God for who God is

and as you study the book of Job you see a profound humility

and in the worst of times rather then renounce God listen to the words of Job

“‘I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!’” (19:25–27)

Job had his rough moments. He had his questioning. He had his wrong answers and that should encourage us all. That in the midst of trails and suffering God doesn't expect us to just be stoic and take it like it is.

He knows we are clay

He understands our tears

He accepts our questions

But he does demand that we recognize our finiteness and acknowledge there are processes at work beyond our comprehension.

A plan far bigger than us is moving toward completion. And God demands that we, like Job, hold on to our faith and hope in God.

in the end Job experienced great intimacy with the Lord.

Who are you going to be?

We weren’t meant to be somebody we were meant to know somebody. And that somebody is God

Job didn’t miss this. through all his suffering and lose look at what he says in the end

Job 42:5 ESV

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

that’s powerful. That’s what we need. It’s one thing to hear about the works of God but it’s another thing to know him and through our suffering we began to know God in ways we wouldn’t without it

we see the purpose of God. We realize as Ross said a few weeks ago God ordians, orders and orchestrits all things for his glory

There is no panic in Heaven only plans

and we can have confidience in teh Charcter of God no matter what we face that he will purpose our pain.

So we wait and we prayer. God purpose my pain

and as we pray that we expierence the compassion and mercy of God

and as we learn more about his compassion and his mercy we can say with James what he has already said

James 1:2–4 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

and that word steadfastness is so encouraging. We see the prophets were steadfast, we see job was steadfast, we are told we can be steadfast

and

It means to remain under. TO hyper stand.

It’s this idea of being unmovable. That nothing which comes your way can shake you. They did this by looking forward to Jesus and we do this by looking back to Jesus

Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

there it is we can hyper stand in the middle of our suffering becasue Jesus did this when it came to the cross.

He went to the cross.

and he knew it would cost. He knew people would laugh, and mock at him but he endurded. He is are ultiment example of patients and he invites you to come to him. To come to the cross. To remeber how loved you are, and see what God is up to.

It’s there we see Gods compassion and mercy on display

“The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

that is heart Goes out to the person in need of Help

James message to the church today and the church back then

God loves you(not just a future version of you)

He hasn't forgot about you

He is working for you

He will sustain you

Be patient and wait on the Lord

Grow in your faith

Establish your hearths

and experience intimacy with God grater then you could ever imagine.

Let’s pray

Philippians 2:1–10 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,