Reactions Under Pressure

James moves from warning the unsaved rich that God’s judgement is coming and from a reminder to the believers to be patient since that judgement may not come as fast as we would prefer to:

a call to believers to be careful about their reactions as well.

James has given them a clear example of waiting - the farmer who waits for the crops to grow.

James 5:7 KJV 1900

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

James 5:8 KJV 1900

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

James here tells them to make their hearts strong - because Christ is coming soon.

Maybe this past week, your heart has grown weak - you are wondering how long we must endure the troubling circumstances. Yet James reminds us that we need to wait patiently - because God is coming back and very soon - so strengthen your heart:

James now gives three basic warnings about our reactions in a crisis situation:

Warning One: Do Not Gripe and Complain

James 5:9 KJV 1900

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

James: Verse by Verse Avoiding Dissension (5:9)

The verb stenazō is used of “groaning” and “complaining” and recalls the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites. But in that case they were complaining about God and Moses, while here they are grumbling about each other

To walk above with saints we love;

That will indeed be glory;

To walk below with saints we know--

Well, that’s another story!

Have you ever noticed that when times are tough, we tend to lash out at the people closest to us? Many times, they are not even the people who are giving us trouble - but they are safe for us to grumble and complain about. Think about your family right now!

Do you ever complain and gripe about little things that normally would not bother you - but now are driving you up the wall?

James gives us the reason in the last half of the verse

James 5:9 KJV 1900

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

We don’t want to stand in danger of God’s judgement and James paints the picture of jesus Christ, the judge about to enter the courtroom doors. Picture a throne room with a king about to enter through double doors to come and sit on his glorious throne in judgement.

James Explanation of Text

Christians often act as though judgment remains far off, a distant future possibility. James argues, however, that Christ’s return lies close at hand, on the threshold of the doorway, so that we ought to behave as people ready for a judgment that has already begun in this life and will culminate quickly at his return.

That is the picture James paints in reminding us to stop griping and complaining about each other.

Galatians 5:15 KJV 1900

But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

And a positive command:

Ephesians 4:2 KJV 1900

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

James then goes on to give them two clear examples of suffering and endurance

Warning Two: Keep on Enduring

James 5:10 KJV 1900

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

James 5:11 KJV 1900

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Example One: The Prophets in general

Sometimes in scripture, the examples are what not to do - in this case, the example is how to act and react.

They all communicated God’s Word, but were persecuted for it.

Yet they continued - for they served a greater purpose than personal comfort.

Am I ready to give up?

Example Two: Job

the word patience here is not the same word that is speaking about our attitude of patience - instead, it is speaking about the endurance of Job - he obeyed until the end (even if he was not perfectly patient throughout the process).

Paul writes in the book of Romans about that patience:

Romans 8:25 KJV 1900

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8:26 KJV 1900

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:27 KJV 1900

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Am I willing to endure difficulty?

When serious trials bombard us, we don’t know how to pray as we should (8:26a) and can only endure with patient perseverance (Jas 5:7–8, 10–11). Yet we do know three things: The Spirit is praying for us more deeply than we are praying for ourselves (Rom 8:26b); he is interceding for us and knows the mind of God (Rom 8:27); and for that reason God “causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God” (Rom 8:28 NLT).

Grant R. Osborne, James: Verse by Verse, Osborne New Testament Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 155–156.

Am I trusting God in difficult times?

Warning Three: Do Not Hedge the Truth

James 5:12 KJV 1900

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

James is not talking here about profanity, but rather about the tendency for many Jewish believers to carry over their bad habit of taking an oath to prove that they were telling the truth.

James: Verse by Verse Shallow Oaths Are Prohibited (5:12)

People in the ancient world, when they wished to affirm a statement in a solemn manner, would invoke the gods, often adding, “May he strike me dead if this is not true.” For the Jews God became a virtual legal witness to the veracity of the claim. It was so important that the Talmud devoted an entire tractate to it (Shebu’ot) with all sorts of distinctions between various kinds of oaths and statements on what was valid. By Jesus’ time this had led to frivolous oaths that replaced honesty and truth. Jesus prohibited oaths in Matthew 5:33–37, but it is critical to recognize that he didn’t mean all oaths whatsoever. God makes oaths (Heb 7:20–22, 28), as does Paul (Rom 1:9; 2 Cor 1:23; Gal 1:20). Jesus and James here were negating casual, shallow oath-taking.

Matthew 5:37 KJV 1900

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

James tells them not to swear or take an oath - instead, they are to be honest in every situation.

They were not to hedge the truth. Any time they spoke, it was to be the truth.

James: Verse by Verse Shallow Oaths Are Prohibited (5:12)

James thus commands that “a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ” should more than suffice. All believers must be trustworthy and stand by their word. There should never be a need for an artificial oath to supplement the dependency of their promises.

Can people trust my word?

So, in the midst of trying time and difficult circumstances, James warns us:

Do not gripe and complain about fellow believers

Endure trials

Do not hedge the truth - simply be honest