James 5:7-11 Patience

James 5:7-11 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

7Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rain. 8You be patient too. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near.

9Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look! The Judge is standing at the doors! 10Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering with patient endurance. 11See, we consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job and have seen what the Lord did in the end, because the Lord is especially compassionate and merciful.

Patience

I.

It happens the same way every year. Springtime comes. I don’t really want to think about that just yet—there’s lots of skiing to be done first—but spring will eventually come. With spring comes a desire to get outside and do things. In my case, Easter has to pass before things can really kick in to high gear; for some reason, I’m extra busy until after Easter.

In spring, the garden starts to call. Does this happen for you, too? All sorts of energy goes into the garden. A tiller might get rented from Home Depot, and the soil gets turned over. Last year’s compost gets added to the garden at the same time as the tilling. Maybe there are some additional soil amendments to put on the garden. Then seeds are planted.

And then...you wait.

“Therefore, brothers, be patient... See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rain” (James 5:7, EHV).

How many farmers have you known? A garden is just a hobby in the backyard. Farming isn’t a hobby. It isn’t even really a job—it’s a lifestyle. Farmers work really, really hard. They are slaves to the weather and it’s cycles.

At the time James was writing, farmers in his area had some very particular issues to deal with. Summers were typically hot and very dry. The plows pulled by animals could not penetrate the hard-baked soil. Farmers depended on the fall rains to soften the ground sufficiently for them to be able to plow. Then they had only a little time to get a crop seeded.

Once the fall crop was in the ground, they waited. Spring rains were needed at just the right time so the crops could get one last dose of moisture to complete the ripening process throughout the hot summer that was coming yet again.

Back then they didn’t have massive pumps and fancy irrigation equipment. Once the seed was in the ground, there was little they could do other than wait to harvest the crop.

Be patient.

My spring goes something like this. I wait for the seeds to sprout. Every day I go out to check the progress. Some little shoots come up, and I’m happy. But then, I’m on to other things. The weeds also sprouted, but my interest in the garden has waned. All of a sudden, with no warning what-so-ever, the weeds have started to choke out the desired plants.

I’ll pretend to be patient in the garden. I’ll go out there and hack away with a hoe or some other weeding implement. If I’m feeling really industrious, I’ll sit out there on a bucket or kneel in the dirt and pull weeds for a while. But my heart is never really in it. After a while, I more or less give up on the garden.

II.

“Lord, grant me patience, and give it to me right now!” So goes an old saying. I use it sometimes as a joke, but unfortunately, it’s right on. You’ll be shocked to know I’m not the most patient person.

“Patience is a virtue.” So goes another saying. If patience is a virtue, then impatience is a sin. My lack of patience in the garden is just a symptom. Yours might not be with the garden, but with something else.

Do you get impatient with other people? James says: “Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look! The Judge is standing at the doors!” (James 5:9, EHV). The stress from impatience in the days leading up to Christmas often brings out the worst in human nature.

Amazon has spoiled us. Once the “order” button has been clicked, we expect nearly instantaneous updates on when we can expect that special something will arrive. Would you believe that some things will not come next day?! Shocking!

Next day delivery from Amazon often means people are even less patient in brick and mortar stores than they used to be. There’s jostling in the checkout lines. Irritation when the customer ahead of you didn’t have their payment method already in their hand when the checker announces the total.

Pause for a moment. Use up some of the little patience you might have been blessed with.

What’s the biggest problem? Is it the person at the stoplight who was looking at her phone and took an extra 7 seconds to move? Is it the “next-day delivery” that stretched to two whole days? Is it the person ahead of you in line fumbling through credit cards and maybe having the first method of payment not work and having to choose a second one?

Is it really any of those things, or you? Perhaps it is your “complaining about one another.” Your own sin. Your lack of patience.

III.

You have thought about your lack of patience. You have recognized it for what it is—sin. The truth is there are lots and lots of things that try a person’s patience. When you dig down deep you can find lots more troubles and grievances than whatever I might be able to list that apply to you. You can find plenty of things that annoy you to no end.

What should you do? Look at the farmer and learn from his patient attitude.

God has made lots of promises to you. Advent is the season when we specifically talk about waiting for Jesus. At Christmas we will celebrate his first coming, but Advent also encourages us to look forward to Jesus’ second coming.

Jesus’ second coming is only important because he came the first time and accomplished everything necessary for our salvation. Jesus didn’t stay the humble baby, born in a cattle shed and laid in a manger. He grew to a humble adult, who took on the task given by his Heavenly Father of keeping God’s law perfectly in our place so that he could pay the price God demanded for our sins of complaining and impatience.

He did it. The Holy Spirit gave you faith to believe that he did it all for you. Jesus promised believers that he would go and prepare their mansions in heaven. Then he said: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am” (John 14:3, EHV). Jesus promised. He is coming back. He’s coming back for you, to take you to your eternal home.

He didn’t leave you without tools for patience, either. Remember, the Holy Spirit worked faith in your heart. Faith bears fruit; Paul said: “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, EHV). Do you see the one in there that James talks about in our text? Patience. Patience is something God gives to your faith-filled heart.

James encourages: “Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering with patient endurance. 11See, we consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job” (James 5:10-11, EHV).

Think of all the prophets in the Old Testament who pointed to the coming Savior. I’ll bet they felt some stress. Remember those who God told to use performance art prophecy to teach the people? Their hard lives were part of the prophecy, yet they had to remain patient. None of them ever got to see with their own eyes the fulfillment of the coming Savior—they only pointed from afar.

Specifically James mentions Job. His life was impossibly difficult. Everything was taken from him; not just his wealth, but his children, his servants, the esteem and care of his wife; finally, even his health was gone. Job persevered. Once, his patience faltered; God chastised him for that, and Job repented. After the time of testing was over, God blessed Job with even more than what he had before.

Apply what you learn from the patience of Job and so many Old Testament prophets. Apply what you learned from the patient farmer James mentioned. “You be patient too. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near” (James 5:8, EHV).

IV.

The patience of Job and the prophets who never got to see with their own eyes the promises fulfilled is more than just seeing an example we are to emulate. We are reminded of these things so that we can see the Lord.

All along, through all the long centuries of prophecy, he was there with his people. In his mercy, he never allowed them to suffer more than they could bear. In compassion, he provided the complete salvation he promised them in the Messiah.

You know God’s compassion and his mercy. You have seen it in the forgiveness won for you by the Lord Jesus. Now, be patient. All those things that annoy, all those grievances, all the thing that tax your patience—don’t let them cause you to take your eye off your Lord Jesus. In his mercy, he forgave you. In his compassion, he gives you heaven.

2025 was different for my personal farming—my garden. Sure, I was still too ambitious in the beginning, planting more than I would later want to take care of. The weeds came up, as usual; there were too many to pull them all. But this year I put down lots of mulch around the real plants, and took care of the weeds a little at a time. There was so much produce, we had to give lots and lots away. We’ll still be eating things from the garden throughout the winter—if I can keep it from spoiling.

“Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rain. 8You be patient too. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near” (James 5:7-8, EHV).

Far more important than produce from the garden is the coming of the Lord. Strengthen your hearts continually through the Word and Sacrament. Put aside the things of this life that give you such anxiety. You won’t be able to change them all, but put them into the perspective of the eternity that Jesus has promised you. Throughout this Advent and Christmas season, remember patience. Amen.