Be On Your Best Behavior

“Be on Your Best Behavior”

James 5:1–12

Pastor Ricky Powell

First Baptist Church of Blairsville, Georgia

Introduction

Has anybody ever told you to be on your best behavior? Maybe it was your mother dropping you off at school on the first day, or leaving you at a friend's birthday party: "Now be on your best behavior." Maybe it was your fiancée introducing you to her family for the first time. Or your husband sending you off to a job interview: "Honey, be on your best behavior today."

I remember one particular time I heard those instructions. I was at Lake Park Elementary School in Lake Park, Georgia. Our teacher stepped out for a few minutes, told us to do our book work at our desks — no talking, no moving around — and then she left. She didn’t come back as soon as I expected. So I decided to entertain the friend next to me. Got a laugh out of him. Thought, "This is pretty good — I’m going to take this show on the road." I turned around and started cutting up with the kids behind me. Of course, they’re all snickering. They’re doing their work. And my back is to the door.

When suddenly the snickering ends. Have you ever felt just the piercing gaze of someone in the back of your head, and you know someone is there? I turned back around, and there was my teacher at the door. She had caught me goofing off. She simply motioned for me to come to her. I had seen boys and girls go out into that hallway and never come back — so I was afraid. And she said, "Richard Powell — of all the students I didn’t think would misbehave, I didn’t think you would." I remember those words, and I’m a grown man — because I didn’t listen to the instruction: be on your best behavior.

The Apostle James, here in this section of his letter, is writing to persecuted Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire. The pressure from outside, and some tension within the Christian community, is tempting to spill over into how we treat one another. And sometimes — let’s just be honest — whether it’s a first-century Christian or a twenty-first-century Christian, we are not always on our best behavior.

So James is writing to say: Jesus Christ is coming back one day. We don’t know when our Lord will return — Jesus himself said only the Father in heaven knows the day or the hour. But in the meantime: be on your best behavior. That’s what I want to talk about today.

This message is practical and pertinent to our culture. There are pressure points believers face in this day and age. It feels like the culture has changed almost overnight. It feels like sometimes we are being targeted, and people aren’t as kind as they used to be. If we’re not careful, we will let the culture dictate our culture. And yet we all know that Christ is the one who sets the tone for how we live and conduct ourselves.

Now some of you might be thinking: "Pastor, if they thought Jesus was returning soon — it’s been 2,000 years." I agree: no one knows the day. By the way, if a preacher ever starts setting dates for when the Lord will return — and many have tried — you need to run from that preacher. But let me ask you this: if it’s been 2,000 years, are we not closer than ever? This is not the time to let our guard down. This is the time to lean in — living for the Lord, because he could come at any moment. And when he comes back, I want him to catch us doing things well.

A Note Before We Begin: James 5:1–6

Before we walk through our three points, I want to address something some of you may have already noticed. James 5:1–6 and James 5:7–12 can feel like a non sequitur — like one thing doesn’t quite lead to another. James is pretty harsh in those first six verses. What’s going on?

I believe he is preaching not to the church, but for the church. Some of the pressure these believers are feeling from the outside is coming from people who were using and abusing them: the rich living off the backs of the poor, employers defrauding workers and not paying what was owed, a culture willing to persecute over the slightest difference. These Christians are suffering at the hands of the powerful.

The way I envision it: James is standing in a Christian assembly like this one. He walks over to the window, throws it open, sticks his head out, and yells to those people who are hurting his church:

"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you."  — James 5:1–6

And then James closes the window, turns back to his church, and says: "Now — you be patient, my brothers, until the coming of the Lord. God will take care of that. You just keep your eyes on Jesus."

Whatever you may be going through — whoever may be doing you wrong, however you may be afraid of the direction our world is headed — James would say: yes, we need to preach the Word of God to them. But we need to close the window once in a while and say to each other: hang in there. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. Don’t let the world in here. Let’s live like believers.

God will judge the oppressors. Your calling is to be faithful until he does.

Scripture Reading — 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.  — James 5:7–12

May God bless the reading of his holy Word.

James is teaching us that we need to live with longsuffering until the Lord returns. Here are three ways Christians ought to be characterized as we wait.

I. Believers Are to Be Known for Their Patient Endurance

See this in verses 7–8 and 10–11. In verse 7, James explicitly commands: "Be patient, therefore, brothers." The Greek word is makrothumia — macro, meaning large, and thumia, meaning heat. We talk about people who are easily offended as being short-tempered. James says you ought to be long-tempered. That’s what patience means: a long fuse. Holding up under pressure from problems or people.

Some of your problems have names, don’t they? But we won’t mention that today.

You live the Christian life when it’s good and easy. You live the Christian life when things aren’t good and things aren’t easy. You live for the Lord when it’s popular. You live for the Lord when it’s not popular. You endure. And the same is true with people — people will test you, people will get on your last nerve — and James says when you’re feeling that pressure, rather than retaliating, you rest in the sovereign grace of God and you endure.

That’s the uniform Christians are called to wear. Colossians 3:12 says:

"Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience."  — Colossians 3:12

Put it on like a garment. Get dressed for your day: "God, give me patience — because I’m going to need it." It is one of the hallmarks of true love. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us love is patient. Love is not so much an emotion as it is an action — how you handle the problems of your life, and how you handle the problem people of your life.

James also tells us there is a limit — or really, a horizon — to our patience: "Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord." When Christ returns, all that is wrong in this world — all that is wrong in your life — will be remedied through his grace. The work he began on the cross of Calvary, not just to forgive you of your sin but to redeem everything sin has tainted — our bodies, our relationships, our governments — he will set right. And in that moment, our patience will have been fulfilled.

The Illustration of the Farmer

James gives us a picture of patience: "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." This Palestinian farmer gets the field ready, sows the seed, and then waits — for the early rains to germinate the seed, and the later rains to bring the crop to fruition. Months later, he enjoys the harvest. James says: be like him.

In our modern culture, we don’t value the farmer like we should. People think you just show up at the grocery store and it’s magically there. You ought to thank God for a farmer who worked day and night, month after month, by faith — because there are no guarantees. James says: learn from that patient man.

"You also, be patient. Establish your hearts" — settle them, firm them up — "for the coming of the Lord is at hand." If you can see the finish line, it helps you endure the agony of the race. James says: by faith, see that finish line. The Lord is coming back. It’s not a matter of if — it’s a matter of when.

The Example of the Prophets

He gives us a second example in verse 10: "As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord." The word he uses for "example" in the Greek was used of children learning to write — given dotted letters to trace. James says: trace the life of a prophet.

Think about Jeremiah. When most preachers receive a call, people celebrate. But his own family turned on him. His community wasn’t happy to hear his message. He was opposed by the religious establishment, opposed by the politicians — and yet he endured. That weeping prophet endured. And those are the people we celebrate: not the people who gave up, but the people who stood fast.

"Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast." Dad, will your children see you give up at the first hardship — "We’re not going back to church, we’re not reading the Bible" — or will they see you living for God no matter what? Mom, what will they see in you? Senior adults, what will the next generation see in you? I pray they see an example of suffering and patience.

The Example of Job

James then gives us the patriarch: "You have heard of the steadfastness of Job." If anybody had an excuse to quit, it was Job. He was a righteous man before God — and yet Satan appeared before God and said, "The only reason Job serves you is because you’re good to him. Take your blessings away and he will curse you." God allowed Satan to test Job in ways unimaginable to us — permission to do almost anything except kill him.

Job lost his family — his children tragically killed. He lost his fortune — his business decimated. He lost his health — covered from head to toe in painful boils and sores. He was left with a wife who said, "Why don’t you curse God and die?" Left with three friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar — who said, "Tell us what you did wrong, Job, because you wouldn’t be suffering like this if you hadn’t sinned." And Job wrestled with God — who never answered his questions, but gave him a question instead: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the universe? Where were you when I created everything?"

In other words: I’m God. You’re not. You’re not always going to understand my ways. You’re going to have to trust me. And Job — through it all — never cursed God, never turned his back on God. He said: "This I know — even if I die, I will see God. The LORD has given; the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

James says: "You have seen the purpose of the Lord" — the intention, the goal — in allowing Job to suffer. It was to demonstrate to everyone, including Satan himself, that Job is a man of faith, not feelings. That he trusts God because God is God, and God is good, even when life is not. God eventually restored Job — his family, his fortune, his health. And when Job died and went to heaven, he met again the family he had lost. He is now an example to you and me of faith in the midst of suffering.

I grew up near a paper mill in Lake Park, Georgia. You could smell it before you saw it. Some of our friends and family worked there and would describe the process: massive log trucks unloading their cargo, logs going through chippers and debarkers, turned into pulp and fiber, mixed with water and chemicals. It looks like a mess in a vat. It looks destructive, violent — doesn’t look like anything good is happening. And yet on the other side of that process, paper shows up.

We have to remember that when we’re suffering and hurting — when it’s ugly and painful and doesn’t make sense — one day we’re going to look back and see what God was doing: glorifying his name through us and making us more like Jesus Christ. As Paul writes: "The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us."

The Ultimate Example: Jesus Himself

Every illustration James gives — the farmer, the prophets, Job — points us finally to someone greater. Because who is the supreme example of patient endurance under suffering? It is Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews, after listing the heroes of the faith, turns to a suffering congregation and says:

"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."  — Hebrews 12:1–2

Jesus endured. He did not retaliate or lash out. He entrusted himself to the Father as his righteous judge. And on the other side of that cross was an empty tomb.

This is the ground of your patience. You are not simply gritting your teeth and holding on. You are following in the footsteps of a Savior who has already run this race and won. James 5:8 points to the coming of the Lord — and that Lord is the same Jesus who endured the cross for you. You can trust him. You can be patient. He is coming back.

Patient endurance is not willpower. It is faith in the One who endured for us.

II. Believers Are to Be Known for Their Peaceful Existence

Verse 9: "Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged."

The word "grumble" in Greek means to groan, to sigh. It’s not always outward. But you can tell when a person isn’t happy. If you’ve ever asked your spouse, "What’s wrong?" and heard "Nothing" — you know exactly what I mean. There can be a spirit that invades a church where people start groaning against one another, letting it be known they don’t like you or aren’t happy with you. They become critical. And James says: don’t do this.

The Prohibition: Stop the Grumbling

I can promise you this: if you want to find fault in me, you won’t have to look long. And if I want to find fault in you, I won’t have to look long. My grandmother used to say it like this: bumblebees and buzzards both find what they’re looking for. The bumblebee is looking for beautiful flowers and sweet nectar — and she finds it. The buzzard is looking for stinking, rotting carcasses — and he finds that. If you start looking for things you don’t like about another person, things you want to criticize and look down on — you will find them. We are not perfect. Not one of us. The only perfect person who ever lived, we nailed to a cross.

"Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged." Remember what Jesus said: judge not lest you be judged — for with the same measure you use, it will be used for you. He wasn’t saying never make a judgment. He was saying: get ready for that standard to come back on you. How can you try to help a brother with a speck in his eye when there’s a log in your own? Deal with the log first. James says: when you start finding fault in others, fault will be found in you as well.

"Behold, the Judge is standing at the door." You’re not going to stand before Pastor Ricky at the judgment seated in heaven. I’m not going to stand before you at the judgment bar of God. We are each going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ — the only righteous Judge who knows the full story. Leave judgment to him.

The Prescription: Pursue Unity

But there’s a positive side to this command. It’s not only what we are to stop doing — it’s what we are to pursue. James’s vision for the church is a community that looks so strikingly different from the world around it that the world cannot help but take notice.

Do you know what got the attention of the first-century Roman world? Do you know why the pagans said, "Those Christians who turned the world upside down have now come to our city too"? It’s because they saw in them neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free — but that they were all one in Christ. A unity the world had never seen.

That is what the world is watching for. And that is the way believers ought to behave. Every tension in the world wants Christians to divide up over external, worldly allegiances. But James says: don’t do that. Don’t let the world’s divisions become the church’s divisions. In a culture of strife and animosity and prejudice, God’s people are called to be different.

I am grateful to be in a church that loves God and loves people. If you’re new here, I want to be honest: we are not a perfect church. You know how I know? Because they called me as their pastor. If you look for the perfect church and you find it — as the saying goes — don’t join it, because you’ll ruin it. There is no perfect church. But there can be a church marked by grace, patience, and genuine love for one another. That is what James is calling us toward.

Stop grumbling. Start pursuing the unity the world cannot explain apart from Christ.

III. Believers Are to Be Known for Their Plain Expressions

Verse 12: "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."

Why "Above All"?

Notice the weight James places on this command: "above all." That phrase signals that what follows is not an afterthought — it is the climax. James has talked about patience under pressure. He has talked about peace within the community. Now he arrives at the root issue underneath both: what kind of people are we in our words?

Patience under pressure will eventually be tested in speech. Grumbling is, at its core, a speech problem. The way a community either holds together or fractures is largely through words. So James saves his most emphatic instruction for the integrity of our speech — because you cannot have patient endurance or peaceful community without plain, honest, trustworthy words.

What James Is — and Is Not — Prohibiting

When James prohibits swearing, he is not speaking about profanity — even though profanity has no place on the lips of God’s people. He is also not prohibiting oath-taking in a court of law. Even the Apostle Paul would say, "Here is what I know, and God bears me witness that this is true." There is nothing wrong with that.

What James is condemning is the tendency to play politics with our words — to use God’s name to buttress our argument or shut down a conversation. "By God, I’m telling you…" "For heaven’s sake…" "God is my judge." Often what we’re really doing is letting emotions run rampant, or trying to make ourselves sound more spiritual than we are.

This is why pastors must be careful when seeking to lead a church by saying, "The Lord told me we should…" and then filling in the blank. A pastor can feel the impression and leading of the Lord and say, "I believe this is right" — but he ought also to say, "I could be wrong." Because sometimes we want to use God to get our way.

James is saying: once you start invoking God’s name in your arguments, you are getting dangerously close to breaking the third commandment: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7).

James the half-brother of Jesus is echoing the words of his Lord in Matthew 5:

"But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil."  — Matthew 5:34–37

The Positive Call: Let Your Yes Be Yes

The positive command is just as important as the prohibition. Christians don’t need to enter a spirit of politics — and I’m not talking about Republican or Democrat. I’m talking about the political spirit where we weigh our words carefully, say one thing to one group and something different to another, shade the truth to manage perception.

Just let your yes be yes and your no be no. Be the same person in every room. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. A Christian’s word should be so reliable that oaths are unnecessary.

This is why plain speech is the apex of this passage. Because a church of patient endurers who are grumbling behind each other’s backs is not actually patient. A community that speaks unity but practices division is not actually peaceful. The integrity of our witness — to each other and to the world — rests finally on whether our words can be trusted.

Let your yes be yes and your no be no. A Christian's word should make oaths unnecessary.

Conclusion

Believers are to be known for their longsuffering until the Lord returns. We hold up. We hang in there. No matter what.

And it is all because of Jesus. Every sermon is really about him, isn’t it?

The writer of Hebrews, after that great cloud of witnesses, turns to a congregation under pressure and says: run with endurance the race set before you — looking to Jesus. He endured the cross. He despised the shame. He entrusted himself to the Father. And because he endured, he is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Who is the ultimate example of patient endurance? Jesus. Who is the ultimate model of speaking truth without equivocation? Jesus. Who is the ultimate ground of the church’s unity? Jesus.

Keep your eyes on him. On the other side of this groaning, there is going to be glory. In the meantime, let believers be known for their longsuffering — until the Lord returns.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray together. With your heads bowed and eyes closed — I know there are people in this room who are hurting. Some of you are in the middle of relational pain that has brought you low. Some of you are dealing with physical trials that have worn you out. Some of you are under financial pressure and genuinely worried. Some of you face hostile people at your workplace every day. Some of you go home to a family that doesn’t share your faith — and they mock it. We have missionaries right now whose lives are in danger for one reason: they live for Jesus in a country that doesn’t.

And I think James would say to every one of you: "Be patient, therefore, brothers — until the coming of the Lord." Hang in there. He is coming back. You can trust him.

Let Jesus be your example of faithful, patient endurance. His refusal to retaliate or lash out. His choosing to trust God the Father as his righteous judge. And on the other side of that cross — an empty tomb. Because he lives, you can know he is coming back. He is going to keep his promise. You can trust him.

My prayer is that God, through his grace, will give you strength to endure.

Maybe you have never received Christ as Savior. This could be the moment. Right where you are, you can pray: "Dear Lord Jesus, I admit to you I am a sinner. Thank you for dying for me on the cross. Thank you for rising from the dead. I believe you are the Son of God, the Savior. I confess my sin, and today I believe in you for the forgiveness of my sin and for the gift of eternal life. Come into my life, help me learn more about you, and give me the strength to live for you."

Heavenly Father, have your perfect will and way in this moment. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.