James 5:7-12: The art of patience

Welcome

Introduction: Patience is difficult

Almost everyone would agree that patience is a virtue

But patience by its very definition and nature is one of the most difficult virtues to acquire

Patience is at its core means that we are not receiving what we want and we need to be ok with that

Patience = longsuffering, and we generally hate suffering

The prosperity and ease of living of our modern society have left us with very little ability to be patient

Therefore, we live in a paradox - everyone acknowledges the virtue of patience, but very little people exhibit true patience

James 5:7–12 ESV

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.

I. We have need today of patience

James 5:7–8 ESV

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.

The original recipients of James’ letter had need of patience and longsuffering

They were dispersed and scattered from their home country - James 1:1

They were poor and being oppressed and exploited by wealthy land owners - James 5:1-6

Their hope in Christ for the future didn’t match up exactly with their situation

They believed that Jesus was the messiah who was coming to establish the kingdom of God and reign forever in truth and justice

But their present reality didn’t reflect that

We have need of patience

We are living in a present reality that does not look like the kingdom of Jesus - we know he reigns over all things, but we don’t see everything as being under his reign exactly

We live in a very real sense as strangers and foreigners outside of our true home

We are in a global pandemic that has brought with it all kinds of realities that we don’t like

We can’t regularly gather together

We can’t see each other very often face to face

We can’t hug each other, shake hands, fellowship

We are in a position of having to be patient and longsuffering with circumstances that we don’t want

So we have to be patient

Patience has an object

Meaning we are never just “waiting” with patience

We are waiting for something

This is important, because what we are waiting for will dictate the degree to which we can suffer long and well

Illustration:

James tells us what the object of our patience is: the coming of Jesus

Example: The farmer who waits for the early and late rains so that his crops will grow

There is an object to his patience: he is waiting for rains and crops

The farmer sows his seeds, but ultimately he can do very little to effect the outcome other than wait patiently and pray

In the ancient near east, farming was critically dependent upon late fall and early spring rainfall

Some of you will say we have irrigation, which is to miss the point of the illustration

The farmer hopes expectantly for the rains he knows will come, even though he doesn’t know exactly when they will come

So the farmer provides a simple but effective example of patience

Twice in this passage James identifies the object of our waiting as “the coming of the Lord”

The coming of the Lord is “near” or “at hand”

Christians have struggled with this for the last 2,000 years, because in what sense can we say that “soon” refers to a period of 2,000 plus years?

Without going too far off course here, let me make a couple of points

From the persepective of an eternal, almighty, infinite God who is working out a redemptive plan through human history, 2,000 years is the blink of an eye

When the NT talks about the nearness of the coming of Jesus, it is talking in terms of the events of salvation history, meaning the steps of God’s redemptive plan

In the first coming of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection, and in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the people of God, the final period of God’s salvation plan has arrived; the last days have been started

Though we don’t know how long those days will be, the return of Jesus is imminent because it is the next event in God’s salvation plan

Even if Jesus doesn’t return in our lifetime, the scriptures teach that to be away from the body in death is to be present with Christ

Therefore, one way or another, the day will soon arrive when you see Jesus face to face

All of our days are numbered, and we will soon see Jesus face to face

The final hope of the Christian faith is that Jesus will return as the king who will reign forever over all things

All sickness and disease will be wiped away forever

True justice will be established for all people

In our impatience, we are trying to fix all of our problems in our own effort

It’s not wrong to want to fix broken things, correct injustice, and do what is right in our societies and governments

But the overriding movement today is hopeless because in reality it is attempting to bring about the kingdom of God without the king

It wants the justice and righteousness of Jesus without Jesus, without submission to Jesus, without acknowledgement of the reign of Jesus, without faith and trust in Jesus

So we live today with a great need for patience for the reign of Jesus

It doesn’t mean that we don’t advocate for good change and for justice to be done in our culture

It doesn’t mean that we don’t seek cures for disease

It means that we humbly acknowledge that on our own effort, we won’t ever actually get very far

Therefore, let us be patient and stay the course

Patience is shown, not spoken

James 5:8–12 ESV

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.

Establish your hearts

In the ancient world, the heart was used to summarize several human realities

The heart was the seat of emotions, feelings, desires

The heart was the source of thought and reflection

The heart was representative of conscience and moral will

Therefore, the heart was seen as a summary of the whole human person

So when James calls us to “establish our hearts,” he is talking about strengthening or resolving ourselves

Illustration: Sometimes you have to prepare yourself, steele yourself to endure something

The deep breath before you plunge into a cold river

When you breathe and bite down on something when you know something painful is coming

Living with faith is not automatic - and if you don’t resolve in yourself to live with faith in Jesus, you won’t. You will get carried along by whatever circumstances are presently around you

What do we resolve ourselves to? Faith in Jesus

We know circumstances are bad, things are dark, our immediate future is unknown

But we slow down, we take a breath, we remind ourselves and each other of the gospel, and we resolve to live with faith and hope in Jesus

We decide to fix our eyes not on what is around us, but on Christ

This is why the community of faith is so important, because we have to continually strengthen each other by reminding each other of the gospel

Do not grumble James 5:9

James 5:9 ESV

9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

One of the first things that happens in a situation that calls patience is grumbling

Because when our eyes are primarily on the circumstances that are unhappy with, we grumble

Grumbling is a sure sign that we are fixated on the wrong things

This is why James tells us to not grumble against one another, that we might now fall under judgement

The more you grumble against your brothers and sisters, the more you reveal yourself as 1) operating in a capacity you are not qualified for, and 2) fixated on things that reveal your immaturity

Submit to God in humility James 5:12

James 5:12 ESV

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.

This is a little bit out of order

Do not swear by anything, but simply say “yes” or “no”

Anything beyond this presumptuous - by “swearing” you are presuming to be able to guarantee something, which is to pridefully assume to be in the place of God

Remain steadfast by looking to the Lord’s purposes James 5:10-11

James 5:10–11 ESV

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.

James appeals to the prophets and then interestingly to the story of Job to highlight the need for steadfastness

Prophets

Specifically, the prophets “who spoke in the name of the Lord”

That is, the prophets who were preoccupied above all else with doing the will of God, with speaking as he told them to

The ones who were “blessed” were the ones who remained “steadfast”

The ones who settled in for the long haul, resolving themselves not just in a moment but for a lifetime to serve God faithfully

Job - James says you have seen as you look at Job the “telos” of the Lord, how he is compassionate and merciful

Look at Job’s story and see the “end” or “purpose” of God

Job was a righteous, faithful man who lost everything and suffered immensely

The story of Job explores the human reaction to suffering, and the story ends with God blessing job greatly, ad more importantly revealing himself to Job in a way that forever changed Job’s perspective and understanding of God and life

Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvado - “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried”

The Job at the end of the story is not the same Job at the beginning of the story

In his compassion and mercy, God changed Job and gave him a greater perspective than he ever had

“It would be a great gift if we could be in Job’s position at the end of the book without going through what he did throughout the book—gain his knowledge without suffering. But it is doubtful that it can happen. It takes fire to refine gold (23:10).” Robert L. Alden, Job, vol. 11, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 413.

God does not waste any of our pain or suffering while we wait patiently for the return of Jesus

He is not wasting any of our sorrow during this pandemic

We haven’t seen each other for five months

We can’t do this every weekend, and the truth is we don’t know when we will be able to gather again in a large setting

But we do believe God has good purposes for his people even in the midst of this pandemic

Key things we think God may be teaching us now

Our unity is not ultimately based upon a program but rather upon our common faith in and devotion to Jesus

Our large gathering has been temporarily taken from us, but because our unity is based upon our common faith in christ, our unity cannot be taken away

Our desire for comfort can be deadly to a thriving faith in Christ

Our normal comfortable rhythms of life have been ripped from us

We are having to wait patiently in a season that has upended every normal rhythm of life

This is the nature of patience - waiting in uncomfortable circumstances

This is why people jokingly say “never ask God to teach you patience”

Suffering and crisis in the world is an opportunity for God to bring his kingdom

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Historically, Christians have not been ones to point fingers with blame when crisis strikes, but rather how in crisis they can care for the needs of people, point them to the gospel, and display the love of God

People are right now coming face to face with the insufficiency of humanity and the crumbling of our world, and they need compassion, love, and hope for the future, hope that only comes through the gospel

If you just will reach out and engage people with love and compassion, you will find that opportunities for gospel ministry and witness abound everywhere

We must take ownership of our own faith - it’s not enough to just have a spectator faith

It’s not healthy for us if our entire experience of the community of the church is a consumeristic, spectator event that we come to once a week and watch

We must be people who take responsibility for our faith and for our belonging in the community, to participate rather than spectate

That’s why we are really trying to emphasize our house gatherings in this season, because small groups are a place where it is decidedly easier to participate in a meaningful way

Conclusion

We are a people who are able to be patient because we know God loves us and has good purposes for us even in difficult times

We are a people who are able to be patient because we have a great hope for the future when Jesus comes again to reign forever as king with truth and justice

We know the day is coming when every disease will be done away with, every tear will be wiped away, death itself will be defeated and we will live eternally with Jesus

We know the day is coming when justice will be done in all the earth under the righteous reign of king Jesus

So for now, let us be a patient people

Who establish our hearts and resolve ourselves to live with faith in Christ

Who treasure our unity and refuse to grumble about our circumstances or each other

Who submit to God with humility and obedience

Who remain steadfast as we lean into the purposes of God in this season