JAMES Patience Lesson 16 James 5.7-11 011319

Introduction 1 Back in October of last year we took a break from our study through the book of James at the end of chapter 4 with the promise we would come back to finish up chapter 5 in the new year. 2 Well here we are in the New Year and last week, we once again turned our attention back to final chapter of the book of James. This week we are focusing on verses 7-11 which, among other things, highlights the of patience. 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 for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. James 5.7-11 NIV84 3 Four in this passage James uses the word patience and twice he uses a similar word perseverance. So, this passage is about patience, why we need it and how we can get more of it. a I don’t think there is a person in this room this morning or watching online that would say I don’t need more patience. We all need more patience. b But we have to be careful here. We are not just talking about increasing the virtue of patience in our lives, we are also talking about becoming happier people. James exhortation to patience is also intended to rescue us from the misery of impatience. • He’s warning us against a spirit of restlessness and irritability that voices itself in complaining and a general unhappiness that is always upset with the way things are and the way people are unfairly treating us.

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• And living that way is miserable … for you and others around you. c So the exhortation to patience is an invitation to more happiness and joy in your life … even when you are facing a trial or some kind of suffering as was the case for the folks James was writing to. d He gives them and us three ways to grow in patience; Look up, Look in and Look back.

1 Look up - Live your life with the of the Lord’s return 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 for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. a These verses are really a continuation of the previous six verses of James. In those verses, as we saw last week, James prophesies to non- Christian wealthy landowners who were oppressing poor Christians day laborers. He tells them to weep and wail because there is going to be a day of when the Lord Almighty returns to judge them. b And then, beginning in verse 7 he turns is attention to the believers or “brothers” who were being oppressed and says to them be patient for the very same reason … because the Lord is coming back. Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. • And the word translated coming in the original language of the New Testament is Greek word Pa’-rou-sia. • It means more than return or arrival, it also means presence. c So James is saying the Lord is coming back to judge your oppressor but he is coming back to bless you with his presence. But you must be patient, patient with the unfolding of God’s plan just like the farmer is patient for the land to yield its valuable crop. • The farmer has planted the seed and now all he can do is wait for God’s providential sending of the fall rains and spring rains to mature the crop. • The farmer waits on God’s timetable. And sometimes, in our own lives, that is a hard thing to do because we’re not in control of God’s plan for our life. All we can do, just like a farmer, is trust in God’s providence. It’s not an attitude of passivity or resignation but rather a call to be patient, to persevere.

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• You can’t always see God’s hand at work, but you can rest in the fact that God has a plan for your life and He is working it out right now and it will come to pass for his glory and your joy (Phil 1:6). • So in the meantime scripture calls us to seek Him and patiently trust Him in everything. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. Psalm 37:5 NASB d Be patient. I think patience is an underrated virtue because when we are tired of waiting on the Lord in faith for something, we are often tempted to look to other sources to meet the needs of our heart instead of the Lord. We look to substitutes, to false saviors. • And those false saviors never deliver and always end up producing pain and taking us away from the Lord. Of course, the great example in the scripture is the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. • God promised Abraham a son. The problem though was that he and his wife Sarah were unable to have children. After some years went by and they grew impatient and decided to fulfill God’s promise with an alternate plan … Hagar. They were impatient and got ahead of God. Hagar and Abraham produce Ismael who has been a thorn in Israel’s flesh ever since. • Patience is so important. Finally, after Sarah miraculously conceives, she gives birth to Isaac. Abraham finally had his promise child. • But over , that blessing from God because Abrahams idol. Instead of finding his identity and happiness in the God who blesses, he sought to find those things in the blessing itself. • The point of it all is that when we become impatient, we will always be tempted to look to other sources to find our identity and happiness instead of the Lord. e Be patient. The same patience is required for reaching unsaved loved ones with the gospel. • Sometimes when our attempts are dismissed or rejected, we just give up to easily. • We assume that God’s plan for everyone is a quick work. But some of God’s greatest servants came to Christ through a process that lasted many years.

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f The same patience is needed for reaching our adopted unreached people groups with the gospel; the Mariners of SE Asia and the Mountain People of Central Asia. • Sometime is seems like progress is creeping along and it is a real temptation to grow weary. But we know God is at work. • God has promised to call Mariners and Mountain people into his family and so we keep sowing seeds of the gospel. Galatians 6 speaks to us … Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 g And when it comes God’s plan for all of humanity we have to be patient too. When you consider the mess the human race is in, and all the brokenness, pain and injustice you just say in your heart with the Apostle John, “even so come Lord Jesus.” But we must be patient, James says, because we know there is a day is coming when … • All wrongs will be made right and all of our afflictions will be eclipsed by His glory (Romans 8:18). • All of our doubts, fears, confusion and frustration will be vanquished because the Prince of Peace will rule over the earth, sin will be no more and all things will be made new. • And knowing that and believing that produces supernatural patience within us. It’s no wonder then that the second coming of Jesus is mentioned over 500 times in the . h We need to live with the reality that the next thing on God’s calendar is the return of Jesus Christ. And the only thing that delays it is His loving patience, the same patience that waited for you to finally say, yes Lord. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means ... 2 Peter 3:15 i So, in order to grow in patience, the first thing you need to do is to look up – Live with the reality of the Lord’s return. The second way to grow in patience is to …

2 Look in - Admit you that you struggle with impatience. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! v9 a Now the reason James says don’t grumble/complain (NASB) is because they were grumbling and complaining.

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• We each have things in our lives that we struggle with that someone else does not struggle with. But everybody struggles with the complaining and grumbling that flow from impatience. • Impatience is caused by the belief that things are supposed to go the way I want them to and people are supposed to do what I expect them to do. • And when they don’t, and I can’t control the circumstances, I get irritated, frustrated which is voiced in grumbling and complaining. Grumbling and complaining are the children of impatience. • So, we all struggle with this and we need to see that in order to deal with it. You can’t deal with something that you don’t admit. b What’s ironic is that these believers James was writing to were not grumbling against their oppressors, they were grumbling against one another. • If anything, the fact that they were being oppressed should have unified them instead of causing them to grumble against one another. • But have you ever noticed that same tendency in you … when things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to … or when people are behaving the way they’re supposed to … or you’re frustrated with yourself … that sometimes you channel that frustration towards those who are near and dear in your life by grumbling and complaining? c One of the greatest reminders of my daily need for Jesus is my grumbling and complaining. It is pure brain freeze. It means that I have momentarily forgotten I deserved hell for my sins but I have been graciously redeemed by the Love of God in Jesus Christ. • If that was always at the forefront of my mind I would never grumble and complain. • God loves me, I’m going to heaven, He never leaves me or forsakes me and, in all things, works for my good. What am I complaining about again? d And I think this complaining is more serious than we think it is. We say, “a little impatience, grumbling and complaining no big deal, after all I’m only human.” True. But God sees how destructive these things can be in your life and because he loves you so much it is no small thing to Him. And that’s why James says Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. JAMES / Patience /Lesson 16 / James 5.7-11 5

• Now wait a minute pastor Jeff. I thought Jesus took our judgment for all our sins on the cross. He did, perfectly, completely and eternally. • But that does not mean He is unconcerned with the sins in our lives. And one of the reasons is that they are destructive and keep us from the peace and joy He wills for our lives. • And therefore, he judges us …not in the sense of condemning us but in the sense of correcting us or disciplining us. That’s what you do when you discipline your children. You make a judgment concerning their destructive behavior and correcting them because you love them and want them to have peace in their hearts. • And God does the same thing with us. And why? Because the grumbling and complaining that arise out of impatience are the seed of something poisonous and toxic to our wellbeing as His children. And he wants us to have His peace and so he corrects us. e Look up, Look in and …

3 Look back - Be encouraged by the example of the heroes of faith 10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. v10-11 a This is why growing in your knowledge of scripture is so important. It’s not enough to know the Bible commands patience or forbids grumbling and complaining because the Bible is not just a list of commands, do this and don’t do this. b Yes, it contains commands but those commands are revealed in the context of the story people’s lives who sought to follow after the Lord. The two examples James highlights are the prophets and Job. c The prophets refer to the OT prophets who spoke the Word of the Lord to God’s people, the Israelites. And the Holy Spirit intends on strengthening us through their life stories. • Their testimonies are, as 1 Cor 10:11 says, examples for us. And the common thread throughout the lives of the prophets is that they suffered, not for doing wrong but for doing right, for obeying God.

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• And this was such common knowledge that when people thought on the prophets their first conclusion was that they were people who were patient and persevered under trial. d For example, • Isaiah was called by God to speak the Word of the Lord for 30 years to a group of people who God said would never believe him. That required patience and perseverance. • Jeremiah was so mistreated for speaking God’s truth that he was called the weeping prophet … but he never quit. • Daniel was torn from his homeland as a young boy and later thrown into a den of lions because of his faithfulness to God but he persevered. • Hosea endured a heartbreaking marriage, Amos faced lies and scorn. And of course, Job’s life is the ultimate story of patience and perseverance. The list goes on and on. e The patience under trials exhibited by these faithful prophets is intended by God to be a source of encouragement for us to run our race with patience and perseverance. • Their example is one of the tools the Holy Spirit uses to strengthen our resolve to patiently persevere. So, we need to know their stories. • It’s ironic that much of our Biblical teaching to children revolves around the people in the Bible, like the prophets, but as we grow older, we tend to get away from the stories of the heroes of faith. • But God has always intended for them to be a part of our arsenal to defeat our spiritual enemies. The writer of Hebrews summarizes … Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Heb 12:1 f But it’s not just their stories we need to reflect on. We also need to reflect on our story. We need to look back in our own lives and remember how patient God has been with us.

4 Look back – Be encouraged by God’s patience with you You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a JAMES / Patience /Lesson 16 / James 5.7-11 7

day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come … 2 Peter 3:3-4,8-10b a Notice the phrase … He is patient with you. This is really a key to developing spiritual patience and perseverance. • See you can’t become more patient, you can’t defeat impatience by simply making the decision, I will become more patient. • You can’t challenge yourself into patience. You “should yourself” into patience. You can’t beat yourself into patience. You can only repent yourself into patience. b And to do that you have to see how patient God has been with you which is exactly what Paul does in his own testimony. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 • The patience God showed Paul is an “example” of the same patience he has shown to us. • When you go back and study the life of Paul one thing you will realize is how patient God was with Paul or as he was known before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus. • If anyone in his day should have seen that Jesus was the Messiah and believe in Him, it was Saul. Everything in his life pointed him to get it. He had opportunity after opportunity. • And yet he went the opposite direction by not only rejecting the Lord but seeking to eliminate his followers. Paul eludes to this when he gives his testimony before King Agrippa in Acts 26. He said, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ Acts 26:13b-14 • A goad was like a cattle prod used to direct livestock. Over and over God used his goad to direct Saul into the barn of salvation, but Saul continually refused.

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c Think about how patient God was with Saul. It’s the same with you. God was patient with you. The story of your life is the story of God’s patience. • He was patient with you when you ignored his testimony in creation that declares his glory so clearly that Romans 1 says that people are without excuse for not turning to God. How many years went by and everyday the sun came up and every night the stars came out but you didn’t inquire about the God who made them. • He was patient with you when you went from one idol to another in your search for happiness. You went from one pursuit to another, one entertainment to another, one hobby to another trying to find what only the Lord could give. • He was patient with you when you tried to medicate yourself with drugs, alcohol or pornography instead of drinking from His well of salvation. • He was patient with you when you flipped past the channels on the TV where the gospel was being proclaimed. • He was patient with you when you took the credit for the good things in your life not realizing that every good gift comes from Him. • He was patient with you when you thought your goodness was the way to heaven. • He was patient with you when you substituted religious ceremony for a real relationship with Jesus. • He was patient with you when you were off just doing own thing instead of living for his glory and serving his purpose. • You might have been ungrateful and indifferent to him or totally ignoring and forgetting him, or fighting against him or denying his existence. But all the while he was patiently working to bring you into His family. d I could go on and on. But when you stop and look back and think about God’s patience with you it just melts you and reminds you of His goodness. And there is a moment of transformation. e The heart recognition of God’s patience with you empowers you to grow in patience and persevere and do the will of the Lord, and to serve his purpose, and not live for yourself but for him who died for you.

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Closing: How to grow in patience and perseverance 1 Look up (the Lord is at the door) 2 Look in (see your need for God’s work in your heart) 3 Look back at the example of the heroes of faith and look back and the testimony of God’s patience with you.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Invitation: Application: 1 What did God show you about himself through his Word? 2 What did God show you about yourself? 3 How are you going to respond?

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