Patiently Awaiting to Go Home
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Of all of the prayer request I was asked to pray for people, it has been a prayer for patience
“Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for saving to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once.” Howard Whitman
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4264 Life’s Waiting Stages
Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once.
Humans are not patient beings
the bible is filled with 100’s of examples of people not being patient
David in thirteen different psalms uses the phrase “wait for the Lord”
End of
How involved is the Lord in our lives
In our decision making
In our plans
In our thoughts
In our interest
(end)
If we have trouble staying in step with Christ on day to day basis, how much harder will it be when we encounter suffering
James ends his letter in the same way in which he started
How to continue to be faithful wait patiently for the return of our savior while the church endured unjust suffering
How do we patiently endure in our faith when the injustices of this world continue to knock at our front door
Two churches in the Book of Revelation
Smyrna- “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you,k and you will suffer persecution for ten days.l Be faithful,m even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
Pergamum- “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me,s not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness,t who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.”
What is our attitude and our focus need to be while we are on this earth
how do we patiently journey through this land to our ultimate home in Him?
That is the question we need to answer today
PRAY
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. 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.
James:
BACKGROUND:
The first 6 verses dealing with unjust oppression from the rich
The rich in the ANE would use their wealth, influence, and popularity to increase their personal net worth through the purchases and enslavement of the poor
Often the Rich are singled out by biblical writers in their perception that it is harder for them to be people of faith
The persecution James speaks about here comes from those who are rich, and the continuous injustice and persecution they endure at the hands of these people
Verse 7
Be patient until the returning of the Lord
We are to hold fast and to patiently bear
knowing God’s grace is sufficent to carry us through
nothing to depend on except God
Farmer
The early and latter rains, harvest
Harvest in the bible usually illusion to the second coming
Harvest season April through June
Early rains
The early rains were those that were responsible for germination and initial growth of the harvest
In the same way it describes the beginning of your walk with Christ
The Latter rains
These rains were responsible for the strengthening and matured the crops preparing them for harvest
The farmer had learned the reliability and trustworthiness of God for these rains
In the same way
The early rains represents the living water coming into our lives
Latter rains represent God’s continue grace being poured out into our lives
In both ways God shows his continue faithfulness to provided what we need to the very end.
God provides for us in the right time
We must wait for the Lord, and trust in his faithfulness to provide for us
English Standard Version Psalm 27
11 aTeach me your way, O LORD,
and lead me on ba level path
because of my enemies.
12 cGive me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for dfalse witnesses have risen against me,
and they ebreathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look6 upon fthe goodness of the LORD
in gthe land of the living!
14 hWait for the LORD;
ibe strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
11 Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. 13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Phil. 1:8
Stand firm
We are in engage in warfare
We are in a fight for our life and we need to stay focused, stay engaged
Enemy is looking for ways to sabotage our walks with the Lord
We need to
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Put on the whole armor of God
so we can stand against the wiles of the devil
We cant pick and choose what pieces of the armor we want to wear, we need to put on the whole armor of God
War is a terrible thing
Being on the ground is different than being in a ship
Being on the ground you realize how vulnerable life can be
Need to have your head on a swivel
We are not guaranteed to return from war
We are soldiers, Lt. Col Hal Moore, “So let us understand the situation. We are goin' into battle against a tough and determined enemy. I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear before you and before Almighty God: That when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to stop off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive we will all come home. So help me God.”
In the same way, we are sojourning through a land that is not are own
We are never guaranteed to be delivered from a trial, God will be with us through the trial even to the point of death.
He will provide us the grace to stay faithful in and through every aspect of life
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (, NIV)
Paul’s life was no walk in the park
He understood the aspect of suffering
Yet he also understood the need to continue in his journey here
We cannot get distracted by little things here or there
We need to stay engage and ready to enter the war
This is our time now, to get refreshed, load up on some food, the word of God, we need to fix the kinks in our armor, we need to check our gear out before we leave.
Check our flack and kevlar
We are not the first or the last
prophets (Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea)
Consider Job
looked intently into his life
All thought he was guilty
But his life was good with God
Sometimes life just gives us junk to deal with
But we need to remain faithful to what God has called us too
God is full of compassion and mercy
God will provide what we need to make it through each and every day
It is not our responsibility to develop the plan of attack, it is our responsibility to do our job while we are under attack
We should not concern ourselves with getting justice, we need to be reflection of the Father and pointing people to the God of justice
God is concerned with us living out our faith, trusting him for the results of what will occur in this life
Whether death or life
Whether good times or bad
We must remain faithful, for this present suffering will not compare to the glory that will take place in our lives
So how do we do this
We need to stay connected to Christ and His Word ()
We need to walk circumspectly towards those on the outside ()
We need to know that God will be there with us each and every step of the way ()
We need to understand that this world is not hour home ()