Text: James 5:7–11
Facebook live: God has a patient purpose for the light of Christ in you!
8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
“Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, found seldom in a woman and never found in man.”
My wife Monica told me that she would hear her mother repeat this saying often as she was growing up. Probably, three boys and a husband contributed to that but we also know that if patience is a virtue, then the opposite of it or the lack of patience must be a sin.
I’d be guilty as charged. I’d rather hurry than wait. Those who slow me down, whether in the store or on the road get me angry and we know what Jesus said about being angry with our brothers or sisters I might add.
James writes:
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.
At the time of James writing, the patience for the Lord’s return was already waning. Those expecting his return see time passing, the struggles of life remaining, and persecution increasing.
Paul writing to Titus some years after James’ own death and martyrdom calls the Lord’s followers:
… to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2:12b-13
That which is longed for and expected is coming - but the Lord through James uses an illustration of a farmer planting and waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, which will come, as the Lord sends early and late rains to bring forth the growth.
I have a small garden. I don’t grow from seeds but small plants.
I water and wait. At times rain falls. Other times I forget to water.
The leaves of the plants wilt. I water again, hoping I’m not too late to see the fruit.
I get impatient. I get frustrated. I lack patience. I’m not a gardener.
Maybe you aren’t either?
Waiting is hard, because we look to that which we think will fill our need now!
Instant gratification is the Golden Calf we trust to deliver that which satisfies.
I have a friend who builds fine furniture and another who builds guitars. Both are skilled at what they do and both are patient. If they move too fast in the process, either the construction is affected or the finish can be ruined.
8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
The work can only move so fast.
Since the fall into sin, the Lord has worked diligently to bring all things to pass in his time and in his way for the redemption of this broken world.
After the fall into sin, Adam lived 930 years and then he died.
Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
God gave Abraham his son Isaac by Sarah in his old age.
Moses and the children of Israel were 40 years in the wilderness.
Job lost everything, oxen, donkeys, sheep and cattle; servants put to the sword, his children killed in a collapsing house by a mighty wind.
His wife even tells him to curse God and die.
Job replies:
“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
11 Behold, James writes: we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.
King David writes in Psalm 27
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
In the midst of trial and doubt we seek the Lord’s face. Our hope is in that which is unseen. It is not a vain hope. Though our flesh can at time cause us to fear.
Job replies:
“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
11 Behold, James writes: we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.
King David writes in Psalm 27
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
In the midst of trial and doubt we seek the Lord’s face. Our hope is in that which is unseen. It is not a vain hope. Though our flesh can at time cause us to fear.
Even John the Baptist and his disciples from our Gospel reading today had his doubts.
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
And then he closes with this patient admonition:
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Be patient.
The outward hope and focus by inspiration of the Holy Spirit for God’s people through David, looks forward to the coming redemption promised in our Lord’s incarnation - but also to his second coming, in power, to judge the living and the dead for which we now wait.
That hope is Jesus. Then, now and forever.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
The Lord’s return is promised and it is sure. Be patient.
We might think: “Sure James, easy for you to say!”
“God from his lofty perspective can be slow! While we endure and suffer in a world gone crazy, living with the consequences of sin, death and the confounded tempting of the devil that continues daily.”
“Did God really say?”
St Peter writes in his second epistle:
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The patient and steadfast waiting continues so that all should come to repentance.
It’s for you and it’s for me.
It’s for those who come after and for those who came before.
It’s for those who need to hear and for those we need to call, by the gospel through the working of the Holy Spirit.
It is the patient and steadfast work of the Lord that began in eternity past and continues until the Lord who is compassionate and merciful returns.
The babe of Bethlehem. The coming Christ for whom we wait calls himself:
13 ... the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
The one who spoke all things into existence and who is coming again says,
20 … “Surely I am coming soon.”
And patiently … we can reply. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:13;20
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
And then he closes with this patient admonition:
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Be patient.
The outward hope and focus by inspiration of the Holy Spirit for God’s people through David, looks forward to the coming redemption promised in our Lord’s incarnation - but also to his second coming, in power, to judge the living and the dead for which we now wait.
That hope is Jesus. Then, now and forever.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
The Lord’s return is promised and it is sure. Be patient.
We might think: “Sure James, easy for you to say!”
“God from his lofty perspective can be slow! While we endure and suffer in a world gone crazy, living with the consequences of sin, death and the confounded tempting of the devil that continues daily.”
“Did God really say?”
St Peter writes in his second epistle:
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The patient and steadfast waiting continues so that all should come to repentance.
It’s for you and it’s for me.
It’s for those who come after and for those who came before.
It’s for those who need to hear and for those we need to call, by the gospel through the working of the Holy Spirit.
It is the patient and steadfast work of the Lord that began in eternity past and continues until the Lord who is compassionate and merciful returns.
The babe of Bethlehem. The coming Christ for whom we wait calls himself:
13 ... the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
The one who spoke all things into existence and who is coming again says,
20 … “Surely I am coming soon.”
And patiently … we can reply. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:13;20
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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