It’s good to be back in the pulpit today after taking a week and spending some time with my family and not worrying about the stressors of life. We had a good week spent with my family in Orange Beach, and Amy and I found it particularly refreshing to have built-in babysitters for a few days so that the kids weren’t completely our responsibility. Now, that all came back to bite us when the what-should-have-been 5 hour trip home turned into about 8 hours due to traffic issues and we had to deal with three sleep-deprived kids in a car that wasn’t moving. However, the time away was good for us and was refreshing. And I even followed that up by letting Amy sleep almost every day this week, which she rarely gets to do, instead of waking her up. Well, I’m going to throw all of that away today by poking fun at her. You see, my wife hates the concept of working out or exercising more than you can possibly imagine. Oh, she does it, but she just can’t stand it, primarily because there is no instant result (other than pain and sweat). She also hates when things that should take a certain amount of time end up taking much longer than they should (like a car ride home from vacation). Now, I will readily admit that I don’t have much room to talk in the field of lacking patience, but my wife puts me to shame. However, I will give her credit and say that this lack of patience is due in large part to the efficiency at which she operates, and that she has inherited that trait from multiple members of her family, generations even.
Now, of course, I’m speaking about patience in an earthly sense. However, patience in a spiritual sense, as a spiritual discipline, is a different animal. I think that the spiritual discipline of patience is an often overlooked and misunderstood aspect of the Christian faith. Now, I know that we missed a week last week and that it’s been a little bit since we started this look at James entitled True Faith Works, so let me remind you what we’ve looked at thus far. We’ve seen James talk about faith, true saving faith, being one that produces good works. He’s not promoting salvation by works, but saying that a faith that leads to salvation also leads to the production and exhibiting of good works. It’s the C.S. Lewis quote about faith and works being opposite blades on a pair of scissors that we’ve repeated throughout, neither one being of any real use without the other. Then, James took some time in the middle of his epistle to deal with the concept of sin. Now, an important part of our faith is learning to recognize true sin for what it is instead of just brushing it off as human nature. We have to realize that human nature, as it exists naturally within us, is a road that leads only to condemnation. We cannot allow ourselves to be motivated and led by the things of this world, but must instead be completely driven by God and our desire to be obedient to His will. And finally, we saw a few weeks ago that we have to completely acknowledge that it is up to Him. By that, I mean that we don’t have the power to do anything good, and that we bring nothing of real salvific value to the table. We ended a few weeks ago with James reminding us about using our gifts and blessings for building up the kingdom instead of destroying it. Well, before giving his closing remarks to this epistle, James has some words of advice or caution or warning for us about what we must do: we must be patient.
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” One of the most difficult things that we are asked/commanded to do as Christians is to be patient. Waiting, something that seems so simple and easy, is one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. You heard last Sunday about a world that seems to be growing less and less inclined to being accepting of the Christian faith. We see on the news constantly that Christians are being painted as closed-minded, racists, and bigots. Many people will tell you that the most hate-filled folks they know are the Christians that they have encountered. We seem to have a real problem (or at least we’re heading in that direction) when it comes to being Christians, biblically-sound Christians, in today’s world without being labeled as someone who spews only hate. The only Christians who seem to be accepted in today’s world are those who are willing to let things like biblical inerrancy, the sinlessness of Christ, or orthodoxy fall by the wayside. People ask me all the time what I think we need to do about the growing trend that seems to want to mute (if not destroy) the Christian faith. My response is simple really. I tell them to remember the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and to be patient. Now, I will admit that all of that is easier said than done. However, if we truly believe the words of Scripture, all the words of Scripture, then we know how it’s going to turn out. We know from the book of Revelation that Jesus ultimately wins don’t we? Well, then let’s actually started acting like we believe those words to be true.
Now, a word of caution or clarification that I need to give here about what being patient actually does and doesn’t mean. Notice that in my answer that I said that I give to people about what we are to do, I gave you the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Both of these texts are direct instructions given by Jesus to his disciples during his earthly ministry. Both of them also involve doing something, they involve action. Being patient in the biblical sense doesn’t mean just sitting around and waiting for something to take place. That’s why James gives the analogy of a farmer. Farmers don’t just sit around and wait for crops to grow. No, they spend hours and hours and days and weeks and months working the soil, watering crops, pulling weeds, and caring for the crops before they harvest them. If a farmer were to just simply spread some seed and wait for something to happen then he would be sadly disappointed. Nothing is ever accomplished by just sitting back and doing absolutely nothing, we have to always be working towards something. James is simply calling us to be patient about the results. Things don’t always happen as quickly as we would like for them to happen. Just because you eat healthy and exercise for one week doesn’t mean that your pants are going to start fitting better. Just because you’ve started reading your Bible every morning for a few months doesn’t mean that you understand and can remember all of Scripture. Just because you’ve given something a little effort doesn’t mean that you’re seeing all that you’re going to see. The words of advice from James here are in essence to just keep giving it more time, but also more effort.
To drive home his point, James gives the Old Testament examples of the prophets and Job to this Jewish-Christian audience. Remember, James was writing originally to a group of Christians who had grown up in various amounts being Jewish and adhering to their religious tradition that largely worked off of a works/righteousness system. He reminded them that many of the prophets of the Old Testament were constantly ridiculed and looked down upon. Many of them had long since passed away (some being killed) by the time the heart of their messages came to fruition in the form of Jesus Christ. Now, of course, there were some of their messages about contemporary things that came about, like Jonah’s sparing of Nineveh, but for the most part, the prophets spoke largely of future events. Many of these events so far into the future that they never saw any of their prophecies (at least these “larger” ones) come to fruition. However, that didn’t stop them from continuously proclaiming the messages that God commanded them to deliver to His people. Also, remember the person of Job. A man who had everything and lost it all, but continued to praise God throughout it all despite receiving constant encouragement from his friends to rebuke and denounce God. However, Job never denounced God but continued to strive forward and persevere. Eventually God restored what Job lost and then some. You’ve all read the story of Job before and if you haven’t then I encourage you to do so because I certainly don’t have the time to do it justice this morning.
Just remember that things are not always going to go the way that we want them to. Scripture is filled with verses that speak to the wicked thriving in this life while the righteous struggle. And we see that constantly in our world today. However, that is not the way that things work on an eternity level. I want you to look at what James says in between his call to be patient and his giving of the prophets and Job as examples of faithful patience. James says, “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.” If you’re looking at your Bible, then you will notice that the title “the Judge” is capitalized. This is the way that we treat words like one, savior, his, or him when they refer to the Triune God. Also, by telling us that the Judge is standing at the door, James is conveying the urgency with which we are to treat the second coming of Christ. I know that it seems like it’s been a long time since Christ first came. I know that when we read James and when we read Paul that it seems as if they thought that Christ’s coming was going to take place any day. I also know that many Christians today (maybe even you) have grown doubtful of Christ’s return. Well, maybe you don’t doubt it, but you don’t treat it with any urgency either. We act as if there is a certainty within us that we know that Christ won’t return during our lifetime. So, we’ve largely grown cold and tired of doing the things that he commanded us to do until his return.
I’ll put it like this, when I run I typically start out with a distance in mind. I may have in mind 3 miles, 4 miles, or 5 miles. After about 2 miles I can judge what kind of day it’s going to be. If I’m struggling, then I can definitely tell that it’s not going to be a 5 mile day. However, there comes a time in every run where I really don’t want to continue on, but I know that I haven’t reached my distance yet. I have to tell myself to keep going until I reach a certain point. Now, I usually don’t have trouble reaching that distance, but it’s primarily because I can see the end. I know the difficulty that many people face when it comes to the Christian faith and continuing to be patient and do the works of missions and evangelism is that they can’t see the end. In fact, as I alluded to earlier, many Christians will tell you that the finish line is getting farther and farther away as our world slips further and further into sin. However, I would remind them that every moment, every second that passes by brings us one second closer than we were to the return of the Christ. The popular contemporary Christian band Third Day has a song called It’s Alright that’s about 15 years old that I’ve heard I don’t know how many times. However, I just heard it within the last few weeks again and couldn’t help but think how perfect it is for our text today and explaining this point. It goes: Your letter said that you were leaving; But you didn't know how long; I have never stopped believing; That one day you would return; And though waiting is the hardest; Part of everything I do; I do confess it's getting better; Knowing I will be with you. It's alright, It's okay, I won't worry about tomorrow, For it brings me one more day, Closer than I was to you. Now the question isn't “will you”; What I want to know is “when”; If it's one day or a million; I will wait for you 'til then; So I'm holding on to your words; And the promises you've made; There is not one you have broken; There's not one I didn't take.
Friends, that’s what biblical patience is all about. It’s about trusting in the promises of God. It’s about continuing to do the things that He commanded and instructed us to do until he comes again. It’s about truly believing and acting as if we fully know without a shadow of a doubt that He indeed is coming again. The elements on the table before us, as you will hear me say in just a moment, are given to us and we are told by Jesus to eat of this bread and drinking of this cup and proclaim the Lord’s saving death until he comes again. Friends, he is coming. We don’t know when and we don’t know what exactly it will look like. To be honest with you, it’s really none of our concern because it doesn’t change our job or our responsibilities one bit. You know that answer that you give your kids or coaches give players when they ask how many or how long…until I say stop. Well, Jesus has given us that very answer. He’s told us to continue to proclaim his name, witness to others, baptize in his name, love others as we love ourselves, and love God above all else until he says stop. And he will say stop at the time of his second coming. But until then, we are to remain patient, remain active, and the remain fully and completely devoted to seeing the spread and growth of his kingdom here upon this earth, and to see that everyone who has ears to hear has heard the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it can feel like a never-ending task of proclaiming the gospel, but what is a lifetime of service upon this earth compared to an eternity in heaven with our risen Savior? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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