The faith that works practices patience...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. James was the half brother of Jesus who turned from being a doubter in Jesus to being a pastor of Jesus church and an author of this letter that is recorded for us in the Bible after seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead.

And as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus. Now this week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that the half brother of Jesus wrote to early followers of Jesus, called the book of James, we will see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works.  So let’s discover that timeless truth together beginning in James 5:7:

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

James begins this section of his letter with the word therefore. Now when James uses the word therefore here, he is basically saying, “in light of everything that I have just said. In light of the fact that that there are people who are arrogantly relying on their self importance and self confidence in their plans and in their ability to control their future. In light of the fact that those who are treasuring their treasure are exploiting you and dragging you off to court so as to get more from you; In light of all that, my fellow followers of Jesus I am commanding you to be patient until the coming of the Lord.”

 When James uses the word patient here, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to remain tranquil while waiting. This word conveys the sense of having a calmness and endurance in the midst of one’s circumstances. In addition, when James refers to the coming of the Lord, he is referring to Jesus return to earth when He will begin to usher in the Kingdom of God in its fullest sense.

James is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to remain calm and to remain faithful as they endure whatever difficult circumstances that they may be facing as they await the promised return of Jesus, who will defeat selfishness, sin, and death as He ushers in the Kingdom of Heaven for all eternity. And it is here, in this command, that we see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works.

And that timeless and true principle is this: The faith that works practices patience. Just as it was for followers of Jesus in James day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, the faith that works practices patience. Now right about now the thought that is running in your mind is “Well Dave, that sounds great in principle, but that is so hard to put into practice. That sounds great to talk about, but that is so hard to do. So how do I come to the place where I am at a place where I am practicing patience?”

That is a great question. I mean, after all, we live in a culture that totally rejects the idea of patience, don't we? This morning, think of it this way: When was the last time where you looked and yelled at your cell phone because you only had 3 G instead of 4 G? When was the last time that you yelled at your computer because a video was not downloading quickly enough?

Or think of the last long trip that you took with family and friends. I mean, when we go on trips now, everyone brings their own portable device so that they can listen to music or watch movies, or play the latest video game. Believe it or not there was a time when people went on a long trip and simply read a book or looked out the window at the scenery. Or played the sign alphabet game.

But regardless of the time in history that a long trip that was taken, there has always been one question that is repeatedly asked on that trip isn't there? And we know that question, don't we? The question that has resonated throughout history is "Are we there yet?" And five minutes later "Are we there yet?"

You see, in the core of our being, we are an incredibly impatient people, aren't we? So how do we come to the place where we are at a place where we are practicing patience? And in James 5:7-12, we see James reveal for us three specific ways that the faith that works practices patience.

We see James reveal the first way that the faith that works practices patience in verse 7 by using the example of a farmer. James explains that the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You see, in the culture of the first century, a farmer, after planting their crops in the spring, would have to wait through two different rainy seasons.

There were the rains that occurred during the spring season, and there were the rains that occurred during the early fall, before the crops were harvested. Between those two rainy seasons was the summer, where there was relatively little precipitation. A farmer would not go to harvest their crop before the fall rains. Instead the farmer would wait for the full growing season to occur before harvesting the plants.

However, in the first century, without the irrigation systems that we have today, the farmer had no guarantee when it came to when the late rains would come or even if the late rains would come. And the farmer had no control over the amount of rain that the crops would receive. So on the one hand, to harvest the crops too early would hurt the crops.

On the other hand, there was no guarantee that the farmer would receive the necessary late rains to ensure a great harvest. The farmer, who had little control over and who could do little to effect the outcome, had to patiently wait for the rains to fall and the growing season to complete.

James here uses the example of a farmer to reveal for us the reality that the faith that works practices patience while waiting on Gods timing. As followers of Jesus, we practice patience by waiting for the right result at the right time. Instead of impatiently attempting to seize control over the things that we cannot control; instead of impatiently attempting to manipulate circumstances to gain an early outcome; the faith that works remains faithful with what is in our control while waiting patiently for God’s timing to unfold.

We see James reinforce this reality in verse eight be repeating his command to remain tranquil while waiting for their earthly circumstances to unfold. In addition, James commands followers of Jesus to strengthen your hearts. Now when James uses the word strengthen here, this word literally means to cause to be inwardly firm and committed to someone or something. In addition, when James uses the word heart here, he is referring to the center and source of our emotions, wishes and desires.

If James was communicating this command in the language we use in our culture today, this command would have sounded something like this: “make sure that you remain tranquil and remain firmly committed in your desire to follow Jesus in the midst of the circumstances you are facing.” James then explains that the reason that they were to remain tranquil and faithful to following Jesus in the midst of their circumstances was due to the fact that the coming of the Lord is near.

James here is reminded followers of Jesus throughout history that Jesus return to earth should inform and influence how we engage the difficult circumstances that we experience here on earth. James point here is that, as followers of Jesus, we practice patience by committing to trust in God’s timing while we wait Jesus return. Instead of impatiently placing our confident trust in our timing; instead of impatiently committing ourselves to pursue our desires with a focus on what is temporary, as followers of Jesus we practice patience by placing our confident trust in God’s desires for our lives and God’s timing by focusing on what lasts for all eternity.

Tomorrow, we will see James reveal for us a second way that that faith that works practices patience…