The Judge Is Coming, Be Patient
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Please keep your Bibles open to James 5.
I was reminded this week as I was preparing for our sermon of the Israelite slavery in Egypt. Specifically, in the Lord’s words to Moses when he called him initially to deliver the people from the hands of Pharaoh. He said:
7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings,
8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them,
10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Last week, we spoke about how there were some in the church who used their wealth and influence to take advantage of others, either by exercising their influence and wealth merely to assert control, or even to sin against God and their brothers in Christ by withholding wages they rightfully earned. Last week’s passage was geared specifically toward those in the church whose greed overtook their identity as Christians and reminded us all of the need to make Jesus’ work in our lives take precedence and priority over the influence of wealth and power.
In our passage for this week, James is addressing those who would have been the victims of those wealthy brothers in the Lord, and reminds them - and us through the same letter - of the importance of allowing the Lord’s judgment and justice to be sufficient for us when we are facing times of oppression - especially from others within the church.
This week, we are reminded that patience in suffering is possible because the Judge is near and His mercy is sure, patience in suffering is possible because the Judge is near and His mercy is sure.
Last week is a rebuke of wealthy oppressors, this week addresses the response God desires from those who are being oppressed in the church.
Today, we are going to look at three specific ideas, namely:
That the oppressed Should:
Wait In Patience (5:7-8)
Wait Without Grumbling (5:9)
Wait With Endurance (5:10-11)
Wait In Patience (5:7-8)
Wait In Patience (5:7-8)
Normal
7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
He begins with “therefore” - so we should examine the context to figure out what it’s there for - Remember that in James 5:1-6, James wrote a rebuke to those in the church who we could call the wealthy oppressors - those who allowed the influence of their riches on Earth to influence them more than their riches in heaven. Let’s make it clear, he didn’t say that they weren’t believers in the first place, and he didn’t call them evil for being rich - his rebuke of them was that their money and power became more important to them than the call of Jesus in their lives to live like people who have been redeemed by the grace of Jesus Christ.
With that in mind, he tells the church to be patient until the Lord’s coming and reminds us of how the farmer has to wait for the harvest and the rains.
A couple of questions - can the farmer produce a harvest? No. It is the Lord that causes the fruit of the ground to grow. Can the farmer produce rain? No, that comes from the direction of God alone. Can a farmer influence these things - yes! But can he cause them? No. He can influence them by supplementing the soil with nutrients and furtilizers to aid whatever might grow - but it is the Lord that causes the growth. A farmer can supplement watering his crops with irrigation systems, but unless I am mistaken, that is only a supplement at best - a farm can’t survive without the rain - am I right?
It bears repeating here that I have very little experience with farms and agriculture, so there are some of these illustrations that aren’t quite as obvious for people like me - but here at Sprague, I can rely on you all to help me fill in in some of those gaps.
Notice the heart of what James is saying - he uses the illustration of the farmer waiting of the fruits of the harvest and on the rains - things he can’t do himself. He is telling the oppressed in the church to be patient like the farmer is patient for the rains and for the harvest.
There is a subtext here that deserves to be brought out a little though. The patience that James is highlighting is a patience specifically in the Lord for things outside of our preview. We need to remember that God works in mysterious ways and sometimes, behind the scenes to do things that we may never see this side of Heaven. However, our patience is not in expectation fro some grand spectacle of God’s justice against those who oppressed us, but the patience we are called to have is rather a patience that is represented by peace in the person of Christ. Patience in suffering is possible because the Judge is near and His mercy is sure.
Because we know Jesus and we know his nature is one of holiness, righteousness and love, we can be patient - resting in Him and making sure our peace comes from the person of Christ as His presence is manifested in our lives.
The story of Nelson Mandela is a profound example of enduring oppression with patience. Imprisoned for 27 years, Mandela held onto hope and faith, knowing that change was coming. After his release, he became a symbol of peace and reconciliation, showing that even in the darkest times, God's peace can sustain our hearts in the midst of being oppressed. His life reminds us that patience in suffering can lead to incredible transformation, both personally and in society.
When the Bible tells us to wait patiently for the Lord, some of the most beautiful imagery is given:
5 I wait for the Lord; I wait and put my hope in his word.
6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning— more than watchmen for the morning.
2 Like a servant’s eyes on his master’s hand, like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until he shows us favor.
13 I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord.
3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.
Patience in the midst of oppression isn’t weakness - it’s placing our trust in the one who is sovereign over the entire universe and declaring - sometimes through tears - that we trust God and will continue to trust Him while we are going through our various trials and circumstances.
James’ is reminding us to live in a way that honors the Lord and accurately reflects Him to a world that is actively observing us. As such, when we are being oppressed, James is saying that patience is how we reflect our Lord to the world.
So not only does he tell us how to wait (in patience), but he also gives us a reminder of what to avoid while we are waiting.
Wait Without Grumbling (5:9)
Wait Without Grumbling (5:9)
Read with me again, starting in verse…
9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
As we go through and look at this passage, I want to quickly draw your attention to the fact that there are three times within this passage that he makes a special address - to “Brothers and Sisters…” In the Greek, he is using the word αδελφοι which we would roughly just translate to the word brothers - but sisters is implied, so the CSB translators included it. But he is referring to those in the faith - those who belong to Christ.
So he is telling brothers and sisters in Christ not to complain about one another - who is the “one another?” Other brothers and sisters who are also in Christ - other people within the church.
James is telling us - in terms of the argument of the entire book - that living in a way that reflects Jesus well to an outside world who is actively looking at us as living testimonials for Jesus, means that we shouldn’t grumble and complain about one another.
It is reminiscent of Jesus words in the sermon on the mount when he says this in…
1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.
2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.
3 Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.
6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
Here, we are reminded of Jesus’ own words - don’t judge so that we wont be judged. It’s important to define terms here - in other words - what does Jesus mean not to judge others? Is he telling us to ignore fault and sin in others for the sake of escaping judgment ourselves? That would create massive contradiction within the Scriptures!
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.
14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person; don’t associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.
15 Yet don’t consider him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
In Scripture, we are obviously commanded to make judgement calls on things. If we allow the Scriptures to define its own terms, there is a distinction that is important.
Judgement, the way that Christians are often accused of being, isn’t the same thing as what Paul addresses in the two passages we just looked at. Rather, it is a kind of judgment that is hypocritical, harsh, and self-exalting, not the necessary discernment Paul described that has its purpose in protecting the community and restoring the sinner.
The kind of Judgement that Jesus is speaking against often lives in circles of gossip, in the lies of slander and in the unspoken words of a hardened and judgmental heart. Jesus tells us that the measure we use for others - the metrics of our judgment - will also be applied to us. That’s scary! There are times we can be very judgmental - times I remember where I was unfair in my assessments of a person I just met or even people I have been in community with for years - it is what I call a “sneaky sin” that likes to creep up and bite us when we least expect it. That’s why we need to remain vigilant.
James is telling us that while we are being patient that we need to be guarded against the temptation of grumbling against one another. Given the context, who would the oppressed person be grumbling about? His or her oppressor, right? And we already know that James was referring to the rich oppressors within the church, right? So he is saying that when we are being patient and waiting for the Lord, that we need to keep ourselves from the temptation of grumbling to one another about those who have wronged us. Make no mistake - what James referred to in James 5:1-6 - our passage last week - is definitely sin. The rich oppressors within the church were guilt of sin against those they were oppressing - and James is saying in the midst of our oppression, that we need to be patient and avoid grumbling against them.
It reminds us of a point that we don’t often talk about. Just because someone sins against us, we do not have the right to sin against God. If we are oppressed, we don’t have the right to gossip about them, to slander against them, to harbor hatred in our hearts against them because those things are sinful and all sin is against God first.
If we allow ourselves to get into gossip against another believer when they’ve wronged us, all we are doing is joining them in their sin. If we are to be patient, we need to wit for the Lord and his judgement to rise against our oppressors.
What are we able to do though? Matthew 18 outlines a process that Jesus gives us on the right way to go about handling those who sin against us within the church. It starts out privately - going to that person on your own. If they don’t repent, go back and bring a few witnesses to establish a pattern. If they still refuse to repent, bring them before the church. If at that point they still refuse, they are to be dismissed from the fellowship because of their refusal to repent from their sin. This goes into the purpose of the church to be presented to Christ as Holy when he comes back - that we should seek purity and separation from sin as much as possible.
James is reminding us not to join our oppressors in sin while we wait for the Lord. Why?
James says, “Look, the Judge stands at the door!”
He is reminding us that God will stand in judgment over those who wrong us because of their sin against God and against us. Patience in suffering is possible because the Judge is near and His mercy is sure.
We need to remember in the midst of everything we go through in this life that we live with in the reality that the return of the Lord is promised - it is imminent and can come at any moment - Scripture tells us that the return of the Lord will be like a thief in the night. So regaurdless of whatever our theological perspective may be, whether we align ouselves with a pretribulational, mid-tribulation or post-tribulation perspective - that is not in question here - what we are told is to live ready for the Lord’s return - as if it could happen at any moment.
It reminds us that the Judge is near. We should live like he is near and remember - as we are being patience in the midst of oppression, trial or even seasons of difficulty, that the Lord is near and He will handle all the sin committed against us as he will be the one standing in judgment over sin.
So in the midst of suffering, we are told how to wait - patiently - in that we are called to be wait patiently for the Lord. We are also reminded of what to avoid while we wait in that we should not join those who have sinned against in their sin by sinning against God by grumbling about them to others. And now, we explore the why - why can we be patient and wait for the Lord?
Wait With Endurance (5:10-11)
Wait With Endurance (5:10-11)
Read with me again starting in…
10 Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience.
11 See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
James is concluding this section with another call to the αδελφοι as a call to people to listen - and he reminds them of the suffering of the prophets and how they are counted by the saints as blessed because of their suffering patience - they endured their various persecutions, beatings, and even death, waiting patiently for the Lord. What he is trying to remind them is that the if the prophets can endure and be blessed, that they can be blessed if they - and we by extension - wait patiently for the Lord in the midst of our suffering and oppression, wait for His justice, wait for Him to move and we act with the resolve to be right before God by not acting with evil in our hearts, that we can be counted as blessed too: patience in suffering is possible because the Judge is near and His mercy is sure.
As a reminder - what kind of things did the prophets endure?
Elijah was hunted by Jezebel
1 Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”
3 Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there,
Jeremiah was mocked, imprisoned and beaten
6 So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the guard’s courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
Daniel was targeted and thrown into the lion’s den
10 When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God.
12 So they approached the king and asked about his edict: “Didn’t you sign an edict that for thirty days any person who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “As a law of the Medes and Persians, the order stands and is irrevocable.”
13 Then they replied to the king, “Daniel, one of the Judean exiles, has ignored you, the king, and the edict you signed, for he prays three times a day.”
14 As soon as the king heard this, he was very displeased; he set his mind on rescuing Daniel and made every effort until sundown to deliver him.
15 Then these men went together to the king and said to him, “You know, Your Majesty, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or ordinance the king establishes can be changed.”
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you continually serve, rescue you!”
Zechariah was killed in the temple
20 The Spirit of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands so that you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’ ”
21 But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king’s command in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple.
22 King Joash didn’t remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him, but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and demand an account.”
So Elijah was oppressed, Jeremiah was oppressed, Daniel was oppressed and Zechariah was killed - and they were the messengers of God. They remained faithful and resisted the temptation to sin against the Lord by cursing their oppressors. They waited for the justice of the Lord and his deliverance. In Zechariah’s view, was God’s deliverance too little, too late? No! Otherwise, he would have done something different. He was faithful to the end and his deliverance was a promotion from this life to eternity - his hope was in the ultimate deliverance and rescue from the Lord. And these were all people who didn’t see Jesus - they didn’t see how exactly God was going to redeem his people, but they knew he would.
From our perspective in history, we know that God would send His only son to die for those who believe in him to be forgiven of their sin and reunited with Him in glory. We see and have the privledge of 2,000 years of time to study the scriptures and clarify the teaching of the scripture clearly enough to define that Christ’s death was a subsitutionary atonement - that his death should have been our death - the punishment he received should have been given to us. We can also benefit from the ability to speak clearly the fact that his holy life is also seen as a substitution on our behalf - not only did he take the punishment for our sin, but the holy life he lived and the reward of his holy life is credited to our account.
James reminds the church, both in his day and in ours, that the Lord is coming and will be compassionate and merciful to those of us who endure oppression and suffering. We have the hope of being rescued by him and reunited with him in heaven!
We should wait patiently in the midst of our suffering and oppression, without joing our oppressors in their sin by grumbling against them and so sinning against the Lord, knowing that He will judge and that He will show his people compassion and mercy because He is a loving and righteous God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There are times when we encounter suffering or oppression in our lives from those outside the church, and unfortunately, also from those within the church.
You have heard me say before that there are times when we simply need to take action. We determine those times through discernment, our time in prayer and in Scripture and through fellowship and counsel from other Godly believers. Likewise, there are also times and situations when we are called to wait.
John Barry said this:
We often associate waiting with inaction, but waiting is faith in action.
John D. Barry; Rebecca Kruyswijk
When it comes to waiting on the Lord to exercise his judgement over those who have used their influence to oppress, there is no better option - the Lord sees fully, knows fully, is not dependent on our perspective or view - he is concerned with ultimate justice. We can be assured that God will be a fair and just arbiter of whatever grievance may rise - and that he will show the oppressed compassion and mercy.
Our responsibility as Christians - the way we live faithfully, knowing the world is watching us with baited breath (hoping to see us fail) is to wait for His judgment without entering into sin ourselves. We have the Scriptures as our guide and the truth as our defense. Jesus laid out how we are to handle when others in the church sin against us, but we must refrain from the temptation of dragging others through the mud when they hurt us. We must remember that James is calling us to wait because he wants us to live in a way that honors Christ and shows a hurting and dying world hope through us.
In our time today, my hope and prayer is that you are reminded that patience in suffering is possible because the Judge is near and His mercy is sure.
As I have grown a little older, I have learned that the things that I have endured and the things that have been thrust upon me, whether by random circumstance, my own stupidity or from the hands of others, that waiting patiently for the Lord in my distress has helped me grow more and more impatient to be home with Him. The longing in my heart to be home with the Lord grows a little more every day. Waiting patiently for Lord should help us all to grow more and more homesick - as Christians, we want to see and increase in our desire to not only be the people He wants us to be, but also to be with Him.
Whatever situation you may find yourself in, my hope and prayer for you today is that you know and understand that God is compassionate and merciful, that His justice will prevail and that He has moved heaven and earth to make a way for us to be reunited with him because of his great love for us. The ultimate reality is that all things will pass away except the Lord - his love and faithfulness endure forever - you have not been forgotten.
Lets pray.
