The faith that works practices patience while enduing suffering...

This week we are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. Yesterday, in James 5:7-8, we discovered that the faith that works practices patience. And in James 5:7-12, we see James reveal for us three specific ways that the faith that works practices patience.  First, we discovered that the faith that works practices patience while waiting on God's timing.

James point 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. Today we see James reveal for us a second way that that faith that works practices patience in James 5:9-11:

 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

Here we see James command followers of Jesus throughout history to do not complain against one another. Now what is so interesting is that the word complain here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to groan against. The word complain conveys the sense of expressing discontent with someone. James then explains that the reason why we are not to complain against one another, was so that you yourselves would not be judged.

James here is revealing for us the reality that the reason why we are not to complain against one another is due to the fact that those who express discontent toward others will be subject to judgment and punishment for that wrongdoing by Jesus. Because, as James points out, the Judge is at the door. James point is that upon Jesus return, all humanity will have to answer for how they lived their lives here on earth. And as a part of that judgment, we will have to answer for the times that we groan and complain about others. 

Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well Dave, what does complaining against others have to do with patience? What does our groaning against others have to do with the idea of practicing patience?” We see James begin to provide the answer to these questions in verse 10. James calls followers of Jesus to take as an example of suffering and patience the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

You see, a time when we can find ourselves most susceptible to grumbling and complaining about others is when we are suffering, isn’t it? A time when we are most likely to grumble and complain about others is when we find ourselves suffering at the hands of others. Think about the last time that you grumbled or complained about someone else. Why were you grumbling and complaining about them?

Could it be that the reason why we often grumble and complain about others is because we feel that we have been wronged in some way by that person? Could it be that the reason that we often grumble and complain about others is due to the fact that, at some level, we feel that we are suffering as a result of another person’s actions or inaction?

And it is here that we see James reveal for us the reality that the faith that works practices patience while enduing suffering. You see, we practice patience when we refuse to grumble or complain at others in the midst of suffering. Instead of impatiently lashing out at others in the midst of our suffering in a way that grumbles and complains to others, as followers of Jesus we are to be patient with others in the midst of our suffering.

Instead of impatiently grumbling and complaining about others in a way that passes judgment on others, as followers of Jesus we are to be patient with others because we will be judged by Jesus by how we treat others in the midst of our suffering. And instead of following the examples of others who are impatient, as followers of Jesus we are to follow the example of the prophets as they demonstrated patience in the midst of their suffering.

Now when James refers to prophets here, he is referring to men who were spokesman for God who proclaimed God’s word to the world. The reason why James pointed followers of Jesus throughout history to the example of the prophets was based on how these prophets experienced and responded to the suffering that they encountered during their lives.

Take for example the prophet Jeremiah. For over forty years, Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed God’s message to the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion and turn back to God. And for over forty years the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah and his message from God by arresting, beating, and imprisoning the prophet. I mean can you imagine telling people for forty years about God only to not have a single person turn to God, but instead turn against and oppose you? Yet even though there were times that Jeremiah wanted to resign from being a prophet, Jeremiah remained faithful to proclaim the message that he was to proclaim from God and patiently endured the suffering he experienced at the hands of others.

Or take the example of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah repeatedly called the Jewish people to turn from trusting in false gods and other nations and to turn to trusting in the Lord. However, Isaiah was mocked and ridiculed throughout his life as a prophet. And a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Hebrews tells us that Isaiah ultimately suffered as a martyr by being sawn in two after being placed inside a hollow log. Yet Isaiah repeatedly and consistently patiently endured the suffering he experienced at the hands of those that he had been sent to.

Then, in verse 11, James turns the attention of followers of Jesus throughout history to the example of Job. In a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament that bears his name, we see Job suffer the loss of everything that was near and dear to him at the hands of Satan. James reminds followers of Jesus throughout history that “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”

Now if James was writing verse 11 in the language we use in our culture today, verse 11 would have sounded something like this: “How favored are those in God’s sight who maintained their belief and trust in God in the face of opposition and suffering. Remember what you learned about Job and how he bore up in the face of all the difficulty and suffering he experienced. And you know how the story of Job ended, so make sure you remember and never forget what the Lord did at the end of the story of Job. Make sure you remember and never forget the affection, the compassion, and the mercy and concern that the Lord displayed toward Job. Take the example of Job and how he patiently endured suffering and was met with the compassion and mercy of the Lord and the end of his long season of suffering". 

James point to followers of Jesus throughout history is that we have the example of the prophets and Job to encourage us and to strengthen us to respond to suffering in a way that does not grumble and complain, but that practices patience in a way that bears up in the midst of that suffering.

Friday, we will see James provide a third way that the faith that works practices patience...