Fruit of the Spirit: Have Patience?
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James 5:
7 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. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 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.
7 Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. 8 Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.
9 Friends, don’t complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.
10 Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. 11 What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.
PRAYER
Ill:
It was a momentous cool falll day in 1990- Lalainia and I standing behind by parents in my father’s upstairs office, my father sitting at his computer, my mother proudly placing her hand on his shoulder, we all waited with bated breath ad my father hit connect, and we heard the beautiful sound that would change our lives forever.
eeeeeeeee, EEEEEEEEEE, ch bong bong bong bong.......oooooooooooooooooooo
The internet, the world wide web, giving us everything all at once, teaching us about the world, letting us communicate with people from far off lands and sucking our lives of time!!!!!
It experienced two emotions that day 1) excitement over the whole thing
2) and coming in quickly was impatience- all of a sudden it seemed like every move my father made as we stood on the cusp of the entire world was soooo slooooooow, move faster, explore more quickly!!!
In our day and age you feel it, and I feel it, we are rushed. We want to get places quickly, even if we are not late!
When we first got the internet in our house---Some of you have grown up with wifi and internet and thought it was created on the 7th day, but there was a time it was not around.
I can remember the day clearly:
We want our food fast....because we can have it fast!
We were in the computer room - ..
And if our technology, heaven forbid, should put us in a situation where it is not giving us what we need right now, we lose out temper.
We are impatient.
And sometimes this transfers over to how we deal with each other.
If they do not move at a pace in conversation, or in relationship, we leave you behind, we cut you loose.
James throws a wrench into our modern practice of impatience.
_____________________--
A little background, and this is important to James message to us.
James was the half-brother of Jesus
James knows Jesus
in , James and the family go to grab Jesus in the midst of his ministry, they think “he is our of his mind” (not a paraphrase). And they are like um....Jesus, we have brought some friends and family members and we’ve each written a letter about how your behaviour has effected us. Mom do you want to start.....?
It was an intervention they were lets go, maybe get you some help, because you think you are GOD!!
But then were get to post death and resurrection and James starts referring to HIS BROTHER ad the Lord, and you need to know that for Greek Speaking Jews, when they said Lord, they meant the all powerful, personal God of the OT!!
OK, so think of your siblings,.....what would it take for you to call them GOD??
Think about it! Something significant took place!
He literally worships him.
He becomes the elder of the church in Jerusalem!! The chief proclaimer of Jesus (his half brother) as God; resurrected!
And died for it.
Consider it!
Something about the resurrection, changed the entire worldview of James.
His identity completely changed, because of the resurrection!
His very life, found meaning in who Jesus was and what he did.
Here in James letter , he has hit a handful of things about what life ought to naturally look like.
And here he says, this is what patience looks like, in light of who Jesus is.
Now how many here this morning would rather we skip this topic??
My too
Has there ever been a time in the history of mankind where we have been less patient?
We are an impatient entitled bunch! Just me?
I. Gives us 3 illustrations:
A. FARMER -
mood rings- it has no mind of its own- it is dependant on its surrounding and its circumstance,
James is saying is your heart like that. Or like a wind sock, are you simply moved back and forth by the wind, light wind,
wrong order at starbucks- we become like ......were all good having a nice conversation with the person behind us at Starbucks but hen then barista gets our order wrong and were like... like “Hulk smash”
Amazon—what you cannot have it hear tomorrow?
James says you want evidence that the Spirit of God HAS you.....be patient!
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. (v.7)
v.7)
But so many of us lack patience!
We have been bred by our culture to be restless , complainers.
James is saying that patience is not something separate from being a Christian..my faith is over here and patience is something I will work on some day....
Paul doesn’t think so—he say
This is an aspect of the fruit of the spirit that ought to manifest itself in our lives if we belong to God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
now we have hit on this a little bit. But notice that it is the fruit of the spirit not the fruits of the spirit; which may seem like a small deal, but the point is that they come together!
Gal. 5:
some will say, I’m good, Im goos with being joyful, loving people. I am NOT patient but that’s ok because I am so good in these other areas, and PATIENCE is just one of the fruits of the spirit.
NO, they are all connected.which means that they come together.
Each one effects the other, where we are not loving, we will not be joyful, we will not have peace, patience.
Where we are not joyful, we find it difficult to love.
are not joyful, we find it difficult to love.
If we are not patient we will not be loving, joyful, have peace, be kind, ------people just become objects in the way of us getting stuff faster.
OK, so patience is important.....now your saying under your breathe....”fine, we need patience, get on with it!!”
So how do we get it.
James says let me give you 3 examples.
the farmer v. 7, prophets v. 10, and Job, v. 11
vv. 7
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. (v.7)
The name of the game for the farmer is PATIENCE! hurry up and wait!
plant it and wait!
forget what we see for farming; huge tractors, irrigation equipment,
they spread the seed and wait......and wait..
looking at the sky, it is not reliant on them anymore
notice it says the “early and late rains”
I. Patience doesn’t rush
you cant rush it, you have to wait for time to play out.
In Palestine, they would get their first rains and the majority of their rain from December to February, but those weren’t the only important rains.
There were other rains just before they would harvest in April and May.
Which needs to fall-
Imagine the farmers life.
The rain falls, then he sits and waits.
Growth is slow.
Without patience, imagine the farmer planting the seeds, then looking at the sky and going....
“alright, (clap clap) lets do this!!
I’ve done my part hurry it up!”
And if that is how a farmer lives his life he will not last as a farmer. He will either not grow anything and harvest to early our of impatience or he will go crazy yelling at the clouds.
James says.....be patient like a farmer..
That means that we need to realize that a part of patience is remembering that much of what goes on in your life is outside of your control
Realizing that you and I are dependant on something outside of our control.
II. Patience submits to something bigger
for you and I to look to God and like the farmer, trust in something and rely on something bigger than ourselves.
Because the option is yelling at the cloud. The option is ruined harvest after ruined harvest.
trying to rush things in our lives. Being impatient with ourselves and people around us and with God!
And so leaving people behind, being frustrated with ourselves and at times leaving our faith behind, because God is not running at our pace!!
James is saying in those time of uncertainty, people of faith, ought to be like the farmer, waiting patiently understanding that there are something beyond our ingenuity, beyond our will that are at work in order to grow (in this case) in us the precious fruit.
Submit yourselves to God and His providence his calendar.
That is the essence of our faith!
v. 8
8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Establish your hearts....where.....to HIS calendar.
But what about me getting what I want, when I want it, and how much I want, and keep it coming until I say stop.
If we try to establish our hearts there we will always be discontent. That is why patience is so important.
Have you ever tried to sync a calendar with someone in your family so you know what’s going on.
I never know whats going on.
recitals, soccer games, (if I’m honest I seem to remember soccer games more than recitals (confession)
But one of the things we’ve tried to do is use google maps to sync up so that I know whats going on.
James says,.......sync your calendar with God’s and where there is a conflict ......let his calendar overturn your calendar.
Never find joy until we have confidence in the sovereignty of God!!
Don’ t have to like it understand it, but trust it!
PAUSE
One of the natural outcropping of believing that time belongs to us, is grumbling. Any grumblers here?
If you are a grumbler, it is probably because you are impatient.
Grumbling isn’t like complaining is when I am verbal about it.
Complaining is what we say to the person who cut us off!!
Grumbling is when I’m sitting in the car waiting for my family.
Its low irritation.
That comes when our time is being infringed on, when our schedule is not being respected.
Grumbling is a dangerous root.
If we are looking for fruit.
Grumbling is like a weed that slowly chokes our relationships.
our friendships, our marriages, families
that comes from impatience, it comes from believing that time belongs to us!
It cause grumbling in our churches when Sunday belongs to us!!
grumbling kills more churches than heresy and a moral failure
James says its not your time.
Be like the farmer- be patience
we think patience means I cant wait until the World Cup!!
It means you have a roundedness and settledness in your heart that is not based on you, but the bringer of the rain.
And we can laugh at impatience when we see it in George Costanza or Michael Scott, but James implies it is quite serious.
but James seems to think it is pretty serious.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
Now we are quick to read judge and think that we quickly become condemned; thats not what he is saying.
He is saying that God sees, and he doesn’t like it…why?
Because God does not like those things that tear at the fabric our our spiritual and emotional health.
He doesn’t like it when we pour poison on our lives
He doesn’t condemn things for fun!
See unfortunately, for many of us, and this will affect our obedience to God.
Many of us think of God as if he is a scientist rather than a doctor.
By this I mean, we picture God more like we are in a lab and he is trying different things on us to see how we will react, without reason and without meaning and purpose.
Instead of like the great physician who looks at our lives and tells us how to best live it for our long term health.
When you visit the doctor, she doesn’t say, “don’t smoke, don’t drink too much, try exercising, to take away anything from you.
He does it to give you something.
See we always seem to think of God’s condemnation of certain things in our lives as a removal of life....no, no ,no they are mean to give us something. Life and life more abundantly.
because impatience with ourselves, others, God, is poison and it steels life.
maybe ?
No! your doctor gives prescribes because they know what is best for your health.
God prescribes a life of patience, slowly trusting, and submitting that your time is not your own, so that you will be healthy, and stop yelling at the clouds!
and await fruit and growth.
Patience is the soil of robust spiritual and emotional health.
Just like it is spiritual health.
Anyone who has taken on an exercise regiment, or changed thei
r eating habits to get healthier, knows that it does not happen over night.
We don’t take a day in the gym and expect to come out a different person.
One day of eating right, and we are good to go.
It is long and methodical- that i how we build strong bodies and that is how we are grow spiritually.
As one French playwrite put it
“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”
Lalainia and I were talking about our years together as a couple and the growth that has happened in the area of patience. And how patience with each other grows over time so that we end up producing in ourselves and each other strength and peace and acceptance, kindness. They get stronger, because we are in for the long haul!
Plants do not grow overnight, they take time and the strongest plants take decades and centuries!!
And fruit trees that are well established produce the most and best fruit.
III. Patience is a key Ingredient to Holiness
Patience is a key ingredient in our path to holiness; character, taking on the image of Christ.
Remember, the important things in life are generally formed over time. The strongest tools are forged by the hottest fires. The most beautiful artistic expressions take the most energy and care to create. So it is with the beautiful thing called “holiness.” It is not achieved quickly, or without effort, or in the absence of pain. In our instant society, much to our disappointment, there is no such thing as “microwave holiness.”
Professor of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary Michael Beates
That is what James is saying..look at the prophets look at Job, these guys were not developed over night!
v. 10-11
10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 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.
None of the prophets speaking the Word of God, Job considered in his day to be the most righteous of men, they were not fashioned, they were seen to be patience because of their steadfastness, meaning they were unshakable by waiting!!!
Man, today we think waiting is 5 minutes for Starbucks, man I was really being tested today!!! What??
Anyone who has done great things for the kingdom of God has done so on the realization that their time does not belong to themselves. Even atheists who have done great things for humanity would argue, in possibly a more complicated way, that it was their duty, or that they were entrusted with life and they had to do something with it.
IV. Our Patience is based on His Purpose
11 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.
James 5:
“...and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”
Patience is found in
(v. 11b)
“you have seen the purpose of the Lord”, James says.
Don’t muster up patience; that will result in you just being quiet but inside grumbling.
True patience is found when our lives and purpose rest in His compassionate, merciful work on our behalf.
Jon 10:10
Remember that your time is sacred, because Jesus has given new meaning to your time, your life is worth more than being on the clock, more than getting
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Then n Luke chapter 4 Jesus gives his missions statement.
And its pretty good.
I mean ours is good, help seekers and believers become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ
Jesus says this-----this is the purpose of the Lord that James is talking about.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
James is saying hey, are you impatient; frustrated!
Do you find yourself rushed and you don’t even k now why?
Do you explode because your fast food order wasn’t fast enough.
Are you driving by yourself in the HOV lane even when you don’t need to be somewhere.
Is your temper short with people?
Are you impatient with yourself, with others, with God?
That doesn’t change over night, but it does transform from a refocusing and a submitting our time to his calendar and his purpose.
Catholic Philosopher....Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability— and that it may take a very long time.”
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability— and that it may take a very long time.”
James says.....patience like a farmer brings life, patience in suffering like the prophets, like Job,
that comes from a settledness that time is out of your control and in the control of , and for the purpose of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose purpose is to proclaim good news to those who are yelling at the clouds, trust your trust-worthy God, bring liberty instead of enslavement to impatience, to give sight instead of a self-centred blindness.
All these come from a beholding and a submitting to the one who gave his life for many, who holds time in his hands, and who steers history toward his return.
B. We cannot skip chapters in our life! (patience)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Professor of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary Michael Beates