Having Patience

Good morning. I am glad that we can be here together this morning.

One of the great challenges in life is learning to have patience. I mean let’s be honest how many of us like being waiting for things?

This last week or so I have had to learn to be patient. During August I had been working on trying to get the soil by the house ready for planting grass seed. I wanted to get some grass in that area before it all went dormant for the winter months. Hopefully then next spring we will have an area covered in grass and no one will be any wiser about the area.

Now at first I was having no problem being patient. It would grow when it would grow but then something happened.

Angie informed me that I was in a competition with my Father in-law. He was working to get some grass in his yard and he apparently was comparing his lawn to ours.

Now i know this may seem kind of silly but My father in-law is very “diligent” with his lawn.

He works very hard to keep it nice. In fact the reason my wife likes to mow as much as she does is because of the standard he set.

Now I love my in-laws as all son in-laws do so you can imagine when I found out he was competing that Suddenly i went to a position of anticipation for the grass to grow.

I had to beat my father in-law. I had to win.

Now you might think that is the real illustration. It is not. No, the real issue of patience came when I had just finished that sentence and my laptop suddenly went to a black screen and said, “Your computer has encountered a problem and shut down”.

I sat in my office trying to figure out what had just happened. Going through my mind were all the terrible things that could have happened to my computer. I needed to figure this out. It is incredibly frustrating.

Yet in all of this I had to practice patience. I didn’t want to but I had to. Ugh why though.

It was that feeling of frustration that was were I was at when I started writing this sermon and speaks in many ways to the very scripture I was to preach on.

James 5:7–12 NIV

7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

The Call to Patience

It is not unusual for many of us to look at the world around us and to feel a sense of anxiety and impatience for the coming of the Lord. The world around us seems to be burning itself to the ground and the hope feels lost at times.

We see wars, suffering, and so many other struggles that we can’t help but wonder when is the return. Its been difficult lately to not feel like Jesus can’t come back soon enough.

I laughed thinking about the image I shared of watching the grass grow because of the illustration of the farmer waiting for the rains to come and the crops to grow. It is tough when what feels like there is no hope or chance of it happening in sight but you have to be patient in your longing for the rain.

Why though do we long for this? Why do we want to see Jesus return?

I know it seems like an obvious question to answer but think about this a moment. What happens when we get focused on the waiting?

The challenge is that if we aren’t careful we slip into an attitude of impatience. WE have to remember that we can’t be this way. That we are called to trust in God’s timing and that we can’t just sit and look out the window at the field and just hope for the crops to grow.

Instead we have toe remember that we stand firm in the knowledge that The Lord will return and it is in his timing. We have to have the resolve to trust in God’s plans and to know that we have to remain active in our faith and trust in God that he will return at just the right time.

James follows this call to have some resolve with a warning.

James 5:9 NIV

9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

The Warning

Have you ever experienced a child who is waiting for something? Are they the most pleasant people to be around. If you need an image just go take a long car ride with a kid and see what happens. How long do you have to wait till you hear the fabled words

“are we there yet”

or my personal favorite.

Mom dad their on my side of the car. I mean i don’t know about you but when i was growing up and I had to travel in the back seat with my brother it didn’t take us long to draw the line down the middle of the car separating our sides. How often that would lead to one of us pushing the boundaries and try to touch their side of the car.

Now James is speaking to more specific situations in the local church at the time but the same challenges can arise here for us today. We want to fight and bicker with each other as we wait for the Lord’s return. Yet, we forget that he is standing at the door we need to be ready and that we must be lookin gto work together to share the messsage of hope that we have in Him.

I think there is another side of this that we can’t forget though. WE will face suffering and that can lead to hard times. Yet, there is a difference between external suffering and internal division. there is a difference between crying out to God in a lament and in our struggles and complaining and directing our frustrations on others around us. We are called to cry out to him but to stand in confidence that he has us and his return is coming.

What does this look like

James 5:10–11 NIV

10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

The Examples

We look back to the prophets that Came before Jesus and they would face suffering and challenges that we can’t even begin to imagine. Their lives were regularly in danger and faced persecution. They were faithful in their service to God and they stood to the test and were willing to do what they were called to do.

What I always find interesting is that if you go back it wasn’t uncommon though to see these prophets to complain as well. Yet, like we said before they complained to God. I look to Jeremiah and think about that there is a whole book about the complaints of Jeremiah and the pain he struggled through.

This is just one example of how the prophets suffered as they lived out their faith and hoped for the Messiah that was to come.

James also points us to Job and his story. to be reminded of the difficulties that he faced. Yet in all of it what was Job’s Response.

Job 19:25–27 NIV

25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job went through a tremendous amount of suffering and hardship but he lived his life in such a way that he stood firm. He knew who he was before God and he was confident not only in himself but that God would make it right. He had the patience that we could only hope to have sliver of.

Job embodied the end of this passage in how he lived and set the example for those around him and us.

James 5:12 NIV

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

Having Patience

Folks we sit here and we talk and we wonder about the end all the time. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear someone say. He is coming back soon. I have news for us.

HE IS!

Yet, we have to be reminded on the regular basis that we aren’t to sit and wonder and get imaptient in our waiting. Imagine a world were I sat out and I stare at the grass all day hoping it will grow.

We have to ask ourselves what is the work that we are to be doing?

How are we living for him in the waiting?

Or for some of us are we really sitting in the expecation and do we need to draw back to him?

Where are you this morning in that story.

Let’s Pray