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…
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