Gaudete Sunday – Be Joyfully Alert, Prepared and Patient – the Coming of the Lord is NEAR

Gaudete Sunday – Be Joyfully Alert, Prepared and Patient – the Coming of the Lord is NEAR James 5:7–11 (NIV84) 7 Be patient, then, brothers, UNTIL the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is 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 each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers, 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 consider 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. When I listen to these 5 verses in isolation an inadvertent question that pops into my mind is: What do patience, farming, grumbling and judment have to do with one another? James’ answer is the Advent of the Lord: “The Lord’s coming!” And “The Lord’s coming is NEAR.” Friends, today is the third Advent Sunday of 2018. Traditionally, in the worship calendar of the Western Church, [that is the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches, and most mainline Protestant churches], the Third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a Latin command: “Rejoice!” It is the first word of a very well-known quote: “Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete.” I’m a bit naughty for quoting it in Latin this morning. However, if I’ve quoted it in English all of you would’ve responded by nodding your heads and saying: “Of cause, we know it is true for the Bible compels us to do this.” Listen with me to Philippians 4:4–6 (NIV84) “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” The essence of worship all through Advent is one of anticipation and preparation for the feast of Christmas when we celebrate the first coming as well as for the second coming of Christ. However, on Gaudete Sunday we have a break with the repentant character at display during Advent. Instead of having a remorseful spirit we display a spirit of joy and gladness in the promised Redemption that commenced when Jesus came the first time and that will be completed when He return with His second coming. This is the purpose of Gaudete Sunday. Its purpose is to remind us that even in this repentant season of preparation and expectation, we are commanded to rejoice because God’s salvation is real and inevitable. We are called not be so serious in our preparation for Christ’s coming that we forget to rejoice. Today we remember that we celebrate the birth of Christ as a joyful event. Gaudete Sunday reminds us it is not just the first coming of the Messiah that fills us with joy. His second coming, that is metaphorically speaking just around the corner, should cause us to rejoice as well! This morning we’ve listened to a snippet of James’ letter. The Letter of James was addressed to communities who, like ours, lived in a culture that gave little attention to the values of the Christian tradition or to the good news of Jesus Christ. I think that these few verses reveal to us the very reason why we should and could rejoice. It also introduces is to the kind of attitude that we should cultivate I would like to highlight 2 verses [7 and 8]: “Be patient, then, brothers, UNTIL the Lord’s coming.” And “…be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is NEAR.” In my text I’ve typed two words in bold capital letters: UNTIL and NEAR. On Gaudete Sunday we are reminded that we rejoice because the Messiah had come once [Scripture witnesses to this]. And it urges us to rejoice because His second coming is NEAR. What is more, we are urged to continue with the practice UNTIL He has arrived! This is not a once off practice. This is not something that we can tick off the list saying: “Been there, Done that!” No, James reminds us that this is a life long practice…UNTIL the Lord appears again! It is in this context that James reminds us to practice patience. Now, I know you all know the saying: “Patience is a virtue.” But I’m convinced that you will agree with me that not many humans have mastered this practice: Patience is not a character quality that most of us possess. In what circumstances is it appropriate to urge people to be patient? When is patience a virtue? James is reminding us today that we should stand firm in the faith. He reminds us that we shouldn’t allow the hustle and bustle of everyday life to cause us to lose focus and to become impatient. Being a Christian requires patience. Living the Christian life requires patience. Waiting for the Messiah to return requires patience. I could say to you that certain kinds of work require patience. For instance, a cabinetmaker restoring a piece of furniture, the clockmaker repairing a broken clock, the quilter carefully restitching the fabric of a torn quilt, an accountant running trial balances to make sure all records are accurate: all of these must work carefully and patiently, because precision and accuracy are demanded by the work they do. Learning various things often requires patience: A concert pianist will tell you that years of finger exercises precede playing Bach or Mozart; A pro-golfer will tell you that hundreds of hours on the driving range is needed to master a good golf swing; A linguist will tell you that hours upon hours of memorization and repetition are required to learn any new language. All of us understand this kind of patience—the “practice-makes-perfect” kind. But James talks of a different kind of patience: He uses the very down-to-earth image of a farmer waiting patiently for his “valuable crop” to grow until “it receives the early [autumn] and the late [spring] rains” (verse 7). Friends, with this example James is telling us that the farmer’s patience has to do with something that he is not in control of. The farmer is not creating the autumn or spring rain. That is the doing of our Creator – the Creator of heaven and earth – the Lord God almighty. All that the farmer can do is waiting patiently for the rain to come at the appointed time the Creator allocated for it to come. And while he is waiting for it to happen the farmer is tending his crop patiently so that when the rains come the crop would be in perfect condition to maximise the benefit of its coming. The farmer doesn’t know the day and hour when the rain would come, but he knows that its coming is inevitable. Therefore, he prepares… The farmer must wait patiently for his crops to grow; he cannot hurry the process. But he does not take the summer off and hope that all goes well in the fields. There is much work to do to guarantee a good harvest. In the same way, we must wait patiently for Christ’s return. I’d like to suggest to you that with linking this image to the Lord’s coming James implies that the Lord’s return will not be just any day now, but that it will occur when what is needed for his return has fully taken place. We cannot make Him come back any sooner. But while we wait, there is much work we must do to advance God’s kingdom. Both farmers and Christians live by faith, looking toward the future reward for their labours. Like a farmer Christians should be prepared for that so that God’s crop in us can break forth fully with Christ’s return, the second time. I think James is telling us with this image: “Don’t live as if Christ will never come. Work faithfully to build his kingdom—the King will come when the time is ripe.” And while we are waiting for the King to return James encourages Christians to stand firm, not to judge one another, but to bear each other’s faults and failings with patience. He reminds us that we should live every day with the same commitment to Christian principles and morals as if it were the last day. James encourages us remember in James 3:16 and 4:2, that complaining leads not to peace but to disorder, nor does it do anything to alleviate the real problem. Life does bring trials, of course, that is an undisputable fact, but no one is served by nurturing an attitude of complaining and judging. James supports this point by reminding us that true judgment is coming and that he has already instructed us in the name of the Judge from speaking any kind of evil one against another. Therefore, Gaudete Sunday reminds us to rejoice because we know that even though standing firm is difficult, especially in the face of temptation, persecution, problems, trials, and suffering, we can stand firm because God has blessed us with His presence so enable us to persevere patiently. This is why James tells us, that in spite of the abuse we might perceive we have to endure, that we shouldn’t grumble. Now, I’d like you to note the key phrase here: “against each other”. He wants us to grasp an important truth: Only Christ, the Judge, has the right so to criticize. He wants us to understand that domestic infighting is an evil that easily affect and occupy the life of Christians, their families, and the church, preventing us from our primary task: To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Gaudete Sunday reminds us to replace our grumbling attitudes with rejoicing. James reminds us that another reason not to grumble is that others will judge us and, in us, the Christ whom we claim to serve. In these between times, between the first Advent and the second, how do people know what Christ is like, if not through us? There is only the body of Christ to witness to His lordship and His love. The most important reason not to grumble, however, is that God will judge us for it. As a matter of fact, “the Judge is standing at the doors!” (verse 9) tells us. If we do not want to be judged by the Judge, we had best leave judgment of others to the Judge as well. The day of eternal salvation is near, and when that day comes, the Lord will take care of everything and everybody. Until then, the thing for you and me to do is to patiently attend to the sinner who lives under our own hat. Friends, James clearly expects us to be familiar with biblical examples of patient suffering. The prophets as the messengers of God experienced suffering. But they endured, patiently, hopefully and joyfully waiting for the judgment and the mercy of God. Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is dependent on external conditions. Joy is "the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death – can take that love away." Thus, joy can be present even in the midst of hardship. How much hardship should we be willing endure without complaining? James offers the Old Testament prophets, Job specifically as real-life examples. He doesn’t draw our attention just to their lives, but specifically to their perseverance and endurance. Now, I know that Job complained. But the thing about Job that stands out to me is the fact that even in his hardship and suffering he acknowledged God’s right to act and do as He please; Job 1:20–22 (NIV84): At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Mariette, I think the devotion that you shared with me that tells the story of Cliff Young, is a wonderful example of this too. In the last part of verse 10 James describes the prophets as those “[speaking] in the name of the Lord.” In doing so, James strongly suggests the provocative behaviour the prophets endured was not petty shortcomings or bothersome habits, but something far more significant. The prophets were known for persistently proclaiming God’s message in the face of opposition from those who didn’t want to hear what they had to say. This does not excuse our grumbling for more petty reasons, but the reference to the prophets suggests James had more significant issues in mind. God’s plan for believers, as James has been at great pains to point out, is to live a life of Christian virtue based on Jesus’ teaching. This will lead to being called “blessed.” Blessed Christians take their faith seriously in their daily lives. Blessed Christians translate their faith into action. What is the use of faith that does not bear fruit? It is an empty show. Friends, it isn’t enough that Jesus gets our attention or that we engage in self-examination. We can see a problem and know ourselves thoroughly, but unless we change our response to God in some way, we will never benefit fully from hardship or grow as a result of it. Self-examination may feel painful. But remember, whatever you find within yourself, Jesus Himself came to help you carry that burden to the cross and deal with it there, once and for all. He has your best interest in mind. He knows that pain sometimes paves the path to complete healing and restoration. Friends, I think that James exposes a major flaw in us: By nature, we are impatient; by nature, we grumble; by nature, we focus more on self than on others; by nature, we are judgmental; and by nature, we are highly offended when others judge us or evaluate us using the same criteria we use. Gaudete Sunday reminds us of the reason we have to go against our nature. Gaudete Sunday reminds us of the reasons why we could and should rejoice! This morning I’d like to remind you of this truth too: “Lord had come and is coming again! The Lord’s coming is near! Therefore, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice… rejoice UNTIL the Lord comes again. Rejoice regardless your circumstances.” If you are willing to allow God’s grace and mercy to replace the inner garbage of your life [impatience, grumbling, selfishness], and if you are willing to change and allow God to change what needs to be changed of your negative nature, you will emerge from hardship closer to Christ, more mature as His joyful child, and with far greater potential to reflect the love of God to the world around you. In these days of Advent, James keeps us aware of the multiple paradoxes of our faith: A God who is wholly other, yet born to an adolescent mother who is engaged but not married yet. A God who reveals God’s self as the unsurpassed mystery born as a child in a stable outside an obscure village in Judea. How else than through paradox do we invite contemporary people to touch this Mystery? Like the farmer, we invest a long time in our future hope. The farmer is at the mercy of the weather—it is outside his control. Likewise, the timing of the Lord’s return is beyond our control. James believed that Jesus could return in his lifetime. We ought to live with the same conviction. Christ may come back today; at any time, his return may be “near,” for we do not know when it will occur. But we do know that it will occur. Therefore, we can continue to persevere patiently UNTIL He comes. Therefore, let us rejoice and be glad. We do not know when the Lord will return to reward His faithful people and to set right the world, but we know that He will. His promise gives us hope—but we must remain patient until He fulfils it. The coming of Christ is near. The ultimate epiphany is just around the corner. If we think otherwise, we tragically impoverish our souls. Most Christians think little of Christ’s return, or if they do think about the day they will see Christ, they associate it with the day of their death. This is a proper hope, but death is not a pleasant thing, and thus the expectation of seeing Christ is mixed with a certain fear of the dark veil. But it is not so with his Second Coming. It is all joy! And that singular joy is meant to be a boon to our souls. The Scriptures say his coming is near, and we are not only to believe this, but to embrace it! If logic be worth anything, we are much nearer his return than the apostles were. We are much nearer than the Apostle John who ended Scripture with Christ saying, “I am coming soon.” He could come today! And if he does, all the mysterious Scriptural teachings about the end-times will be clearer to us than our children’s picture books. Jesus is coming soon! Friends, could it be that God, the eternal Light, wishes to illumine our inner darkness this Advent, to give healing and light we had dared not even hope for? The Christian Advent tradition of Gaudete evokes this paradoxical, redemptive hope...Therefore: “Be patient, then UNTIL the Lord’s coming…be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is NEAR.”