How to Suffer Well
James: Rules for Living • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 15 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Reminders: Feed my Starving Children
Prayers for Ukraine Thursday at 7:00 at Christ UMC
Yellow and blue.
Review: The Book of James
Take your Bibles. Lift them high and repeat after me.
This is my Bible. It is word of God. I will hide its words in my heart, that I might
Wait. Don’t you just hate to hear that word.
“Your call is very important to us, so please wait…
We wait for appointments, at the DMV, and at the grocery store.
Rick Warrens sermons and stuff (HOW TO DEVELOP PATIENCE)
A lot of your life you spend waiting. As a little kid, I waited all my life to start school, then I couldn't wait until I got out of school, then I couldn't wait to fall in love, then I couldn't wait to get married, then I couldn't wait to have kids, ... we spend a lot of our lives waiting. There are many things in life that test our patience: freeways, supermarket lines, doctor's offices, irritating people. We hate to wait. We are the Now Generation. We do not like to wait. I am a very patient except when I'm hungry. Then I lose my character. Have you noticed that the more expensive the restaurant the longer you wait? There are actually five different waits when you go to a restaurant. You wait to get a seat, then you wait to get the menu, then you wait to order, then you wait to get the food back, then you wait for the bill. And they have the audacity to call that guy the waiter, when you are the one doing all the waiting.
Today we're going to look at what James has to say on “How to Develop Patience.” You need patience in every area of your life. In this passage, James uses the word "patience" or "perseverance" six times. He uses three different illustrations to teach us when to be patient, why to be patient, and how to be patient.
Practice Patience.
Practice Patience.
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.
Rick Warrens sermons and stuff HOW TO DEVELOP PATIENCE
When circumstances are uncontrollable
Have you figured out that a lot of life is beyond your control? You cannot keep your thumb on everything. James uses a farmer as an example of when circumstances are uncontrollable. v. 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 ..." Don't go into farming unless you've got patience. Part of the job description of being a farmer is you do a lot of waiting: waiting to till, waiting to plant, waiting to prune... there are a lot of factors in waiting. Yet more than the factors of waiting on things to do are the factors that the farmer has no control over -- weather, rain, heat, the economy, labor practices... If you have a lot of faith you can be a farmer but if you don't have a lot of faith don't be a farmer, because it takes patience. You deal with a lot of uncontrollable factors -- circumstances -- in life. Even in Palestine, where James is talking about, it wasn't the best of farming land, so they needed extra patience.
But like the farmer, we are called to active waiting. We are not to just sit back and let life happen. How do we wait on the Lord, with prayer and expectation.
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.
What does James say about those who are sick.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
So what is active waiting? Pray and ask others to also pray.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Stand Firm
Stand Firm
You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Rick Warrens sermons and stuff (HOW TO DEVELOP PATIENCE)
"Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near." v. 8. Three times in this passage, James says, “The Lord's coming is near, Jesus is coming back. That is the ultimate proof that God is in control. Nothing can stop it. The Bible talks more about Jesus' second coming -- when He comes back to judge the world -- than it does about His first coming.” God is in control of history -- "his story". He's got it all planned out, everything is on schedule, nothing is late, it's all moving toward a climax. God is in control. God's purpose for your life is greater than any problem you're facing right now. God is in control.Phillips translation, "... resting your hearts on the ultimate certainty..." Though a situation may be out of my control, no circumstance is out of God's control. Although I can't control everything that happens in my life, God can, so I ought to trust Him. Because God is in control and everything is working out, be patient. Job persevered. God's timing is perfect, He's never late. Some of you are experiencing a real delay right now but God's delays never thwart His purpose.
Your delay might be sickness, or suffering. Rest in the assurance God has it all under control.
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.
We are not only to practice patiences, and Stand firm, but James takes it a step further… He said…
Stop Groaning
Stop Groaning
Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Rick Warrens sermons and stuff (HOW TO DEVELOP PATIENCE)
James points out the fact that we have a tendency to run off at the mouth when we're irritated, when we're tense, when we're under pressure, when things aren't going our way and things aren't under our control. James warns us of two things to avoid.1. "Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged." Why does he talk about grumbling right in the middle of patience? It's hard to be quiet when you're frustrated. When you're frustrated, you want everybody to know about it. You want to grumble, mumble, moan, complain. We don't mind waiting if we can complain about it. I'll wait if I can gripe while I'm doing it. James says, “Don’t grumble”. The New English Bible says, “Don’t blame your troubles on one another.”When you get up in the morning, do you rise and whine? Hit the ground griping? Everything is bad! If you come home at night dog-tired, it's because you growled all day!I heard about a lady who griped at her husband all the time. Constantly. The guy died and she put on his tombstone, "Rest in Peace". Then they went and read the will. He willed $5 to his wife and everything else to his secretary. She went back and changed the tombstone to "... till we meet again."v. 12 "Above all, my brothers, don't swear." Does waiting ever tempt you to swear? Sometimes when I get frustrated I feel like cussing. I have a lot of patience with people but I don't have a lot of patience with mechanical things.What happens when you get uptight? When you're frustrated and things aren't going your way and things are beyond your control? How do you normally respond? Typically, we take it out on those closest to us. We unload on our husbands, our wives, our children, and it's not even their fault. But we're frustrated and impatient. We displace our anger and focus it on those we love the most. James says don't do that.
Jesus said to his Disciple…
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.
Paul even told the Philippians…
Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
Answers: Patience, Firm, Groaning
