2019-10-27 James 5:7-11 WHEN IT’S NOT FAIR (2): YOU’RE IN GOOD COMPANY

WHEN IT’S NOT FAIR (2): YOU’RE IN GOOD COMPANY (James 5:7-11) October 27, 2019 Read James 5:7-11 – We’re programmed to want fair. Like Bob Gibson. The last pitch he ever threw in the majors resulted in a grand slam by Pete Lacock. Ten years later. Old timer’s game at Wrigley. Gibson pitching and up comes Lacock. Gibson hits him square in the ribs! Later Bob Costas says to Gibson, “Mr. Gibson! It’s an old timer’s game!” Gibson replied, “Robert, the books must be balanced – no matter how long it takes!” Human nature at its finest! But kingdom principles differ. The flesh says, “Get even – no matter how long it takes.” But the HS will be saying something different. So Jas quest is to show us how to deal with unfair treatment. Jas gives us I. The Exhortation (patiently endure): II. The Encouragement and III. The Examples. II. The Encouragement (Why endure? Two reasons) A. Blessing – V. 11: “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.” Blessing is in enduring, not revenge. Defending rights is distracting and exhausting. God’s plan is Phil 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Is there any greater promise in the Bible than that? Peace! Daniel was blessed. Jealous colleagues pushed a law that you couldn’t pray to any but the king for 30 days or you go to the lions. I’d be in the king’s office pushing a reveral. Not Daniel! Dan 6:10: “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” No whining; no complaining; no revenge; just the continuation of his pattern of faith, prayer and thanksgiving. Stellar example, isn’t it? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor imprisoned and eventually executed by Hitler days before the war ended wrote his fiancé: “Please don’t ever get anxious or worried about me. I am so sure of God’s guiding hand that I hope I shall always be kept in that certainty. You must never doubt that I’m traveling with gratitude and cheerfulness along the road where I’m being led. My past life is brim-full of God’s goodness and my sins are covered by the 1 forgiving love of Christ crucified.” That’s a blessed man; that’s the blessing available to all who trust God with patient endurance – above circumstances. B. Vindication – Abe says in Gen 18:25b: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” He knew in the end, God would right every wrong. That’s a great place to live – in the certainty of ultimate justice! Bc it’s coming! Three times (vv. 7, 8, 9) Jas mentions the “coming of the Lord” – speaking of Jesus 2nd coming. He’s urging patience. Even if you don’t see any hope for vindication in this life, don’t sweat it. This life isn’t the end. The final word will not be written until Jesus is on the scene. So take courage. That takes faith, but a million years from today, this day will be far in the rearview mirror, and we’ll be glad we obeyed. Wise people have hope that extends beyond this world. Even Abe, with God’s promise of Canaan in hand, was “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb 11:10). He looked beyond this world, into the next. Paul had the same hope. With the executioner just outside his door, he wrote in II Tim 4:8: “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” His hope was in then, not now. We’re all to live Titus 2:13, “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing (coming, arrival) of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” We don’t have to plot for our own vindication; it’s coming with Him! I’m a Dodger fan! But game 7 of the 1965 WS – Dodgers and Twins – found me on the road, driving from KS to a new home in CA. Sandy Koufax, pitched a shutout on 2-days’ rest. But I never saw it; only heard the radio. Fast forward 50 years. ESPN Classic replayed that game on TV. I recorded it and finally saw it. Guess what? I never had an anxious moment; never worried that Koufax’s curve wasn’t sharp. No sweat. I knew – they win. That’s just how we are to live, bc the end is already written by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Vindication for every wrong is coming with Him! Faith wins out. So don’t sweat the small stuff; don’t even sweat the big stuff. Trust Him. III. The Examples A. Farmers – 7b) 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.” You don’t plant a crop today and harvest tomorrow. You have to wait. Early rains in Palestine arrive in Oct-Nov. Late rains March-April. The dry 2 season (June-Sept) is not suitable for crops. So you plant in Oct – and wait until October. Meantime – out of your control! Nothing to do but wait. So what is the lesson from this example? Wait, and allow God to do what you can’t do anyway. Same with unfair treatment. Wait on the Lord to produce “fruit” which will never happen if we try to help the harvest. Patience! A young father was pushing a shopping cart with his son strapped in front, raising a big fuss. Dad kept calmly saying, “Easy, Donald. Keep calm, Donald. It’s all right, Donald.” An amazed mother was impressed. She said, “You sure know how to talk to an upset child – quietly and gently.” Then she asked the boy, “What seems to be the trouble, Donald?” The father stopped her: “Oh no. He’s Henry. I’m Donald.” That’s what the lesson of the farmer teaches us. Wait patiently for God’s result which may take a little self-talk! B. Prophets – If you think the Xn life is about coming out on top, look at the prophets. Those guys deserved hazardous duty pay. God told one, “Isaiah, I have a job for you. I’m going to send you to preach the gospel to these people for the next 40 years and no one will believe you – ever. They will never understand. But get going.” So, Isaiah did. His reward? According to tradition, he was sawn in half. Fair. No, but Isaiah was faithful. God comes to Jeremiah: “Judah’s done for. They’ve had hundreds of years to forsake idolatry and they refuse. So, tell them I’m sending Neb to execute judgment. They’re going to lose this war. And my instruction to them is to submit.” Man, that’s a traitor’s errand. The people think so, too. For his obedience, he’s thrown into an empty well and left to rot in the cold mud had a foreigner not intervened. He was nicknamed “the weeping prophet.” Was it fair? No. But Jeremiah patiently endured. God came to Hosea: “Hosea, you won’t be much of a prophet until you understand what my life is like. So marry Gomer – the prostitute. She’ll never be faithful to you. She’s going to continually commit adultery, and you’re going to forgive her and bring her back. That’s how your life is going to be. It’ll give you some idea what it’s like to be me. So get going, Hosea.” Daniel, taken from home at 15 and after decades of faithful service in a foreign place, thrown to the lions. Elijah pursued by Jezebel. Think of it. Selected by God for His work. But also selected by God to suffer patiently. It must have looked like a deadend game to them many times. But think what would have happened if they decided to do what was practical – to disobey, to be their own protection. Then – you and I would never have heard of them! 3 The great irony is, they could never sit down and say, “Oh, I get it! If I do this thing, which means getting beaten, jailed, despised, ignored and rejected, my career will be a bust – BUT if I obey God I become one of the great figures in human history –my writings be preserved and my prophecies survive for centuries. I will be one of the great heroes of faith. Millions of people will be helped. Oh, I get it. That’s what I have to do!” They didn’t know that. God didn’t reveal that to them. They had no special insight, but obeyed anyway. They patiently endured anyway – even when it all seemed senseless. And Jas is saying, “There’s your example. Endure for His glory.” Are we ready to go there for Jesus’ sake? Without even knowing why?! C. Job – Who ever suffered more unfairly than Job? He lost all his earthly possessions and all ten children overnight. Then came painful boils from head to foot. Then came hopeless “friends” accusing Job of causing his own problems. And finally a wife whose helpful advice in Job 2:9 was, “Curse God and die.” That’s a furnace none of us have ever been in. Yet Jas uses him as an example: 11b: “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job.” Some suggest Job wasn’t all that patient. They point to Job 3:1: “After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.” Concerning his accusing friends he says in 16:3, “Shall windy words have an end?” A little impatient? Perhaps. But are these not simply human expressions of anguish at the calamities that have befallen him? Who would deny him such outbursts of frustration? Certainly not God. He assesses: Job 1:22: “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” And again in 1:10b: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” The lesson? Patient endurance consists in not charging God with wrongdoing. He questioned, but never blamed God. Job’s faith remained intact even as his life was completely upended. And what faith! Job 16:19) Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.” Despite his troubles, Job knew he had a Savior on his side. Job 13:15: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.” Wow! Even if God kills me, I’ll still trust Him. Profound. Job 19:25, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26) And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” Even in anguish, Job never blamed God. He took the long view. We learn one more thing from Job – perhaps needful for some of us here this morning. God never explains Himself to Job. For some reason, God does not feel compelled to explain Himself to His creatures. Never does. He doesn’t 4 say to Job, “Well you see, you have shown true faith to the Devil himself, Job. Thank you for your faithfulness.” He never says that? Instead, the climax of the book is a series of questions, not from Job to God, but God to Job! Job 38: 1) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2) “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Four chapters of unanswerable questions follow. “Where were you when I created the universe? Are you eternal and omnipotent? How big is the universe? Do you know how to make the earth rotate – to start and stop time itself? Do you know how to make snow? How about starting and stopping the wind? Can you move the stars around or create lightning?” The questions pierce like arrows. Frederick Buechner says, “God doesn’t explain. He explodes. He asks Job who he thinks he is anyway. He says that to try to explain the kind of things Job wants explained would be like trying to explain Einstein to a clam…. God doesn’t reveal his grand design. He reveals himself.” When Job realizes that he does the only reasonable thing. He cries Uncle. Job 42:5) I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6) therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Beloved, whatever God has allowed in your life that requires patient endurance, it is God’s way of revealing a little bit of Himself. That’s what Job learned and that’s what God wants us to learn as well. D. God – That brings us to one final example. God Himself. He is “compassionate and merciful.” Compassionate is literally “many-boweled.” Jews spoke of bowels as the seat of emotion. In describing God in this way, Jas is saying an infinitely large God is completely filled with compassion and mercy. He knows your situation; He cares, and he would never do you wrong. But notice what he says just before that. 11b: “and you have seen the purpose of the Lord.” What purpose of the Lord. That is exactly the problem; you are not seeing the purpose of the Lord. It is all unfair! That’s the problem. I see no purpose to this. But that’s just it. The purpose is to get us to see that God is compassionate and merciful – even when it’s not fair, humanly speaking. Listen carefully – unfairness is a great test of faith. Is our trust in what God gives or is it in God Himself? That’s the test. And the reward is to faith. Conc -- Lauren McCain was a student at VA Tech who was killed with 31 others in the 2007 attacks. Shortly before she had written in her diary: “Lord, show me your purpose for me at Tech, and on this earth. But, if you choose not to, I will still praise you and walk where you lead, not because I am 5 selfless, or holy, or ‘determined to sacrifice myself to do what is right’ but because you are the delight of my heart and I cannot live without you.” Those words greatly comforted her parents. Her mother, Sherry later wrote, “We have only one thing to mourn – that Lauren isn’t with us. We miss her so much, but we don’t mourn for Lauren because she is with Jesus. She has lost nothing compared to what she has gained and we wouldn’t bring her back. We only mourn our loss. And in our mourning, he still comforts us.” That’s the patient endurance of someone who has found God, even in tragedy. Conc – So when it’s unfair, when it just isn’t right, here’s what God wants us to find – Himself. Others have gone before to show us the way, most tellingly, Jesus Himself. When they crucified Him – the only sinless man who ever lived, what was His response? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” We have a host of examples – now it’s our turn. God’s intent all along is not to help us find fair, but to help us find Him. Let’s pray. 6