Exhortations To Be Patient & The Example Of Farmers Being Patient! Series

INTRODUCTION #27

1. Open your bibles to James 5:7-9.

2. In this passage James gives the exhortation to be patient until the Lord returns.

3. James also gives the example of farmers being patient.

4. James also tells Christians that they must be patient with one another and not start blaming one another when problems show up.

5. Let’s begin to read and discuss these things that James teaches us about patience.

DISCUSSION

I. FIRST, JAMES 5:7a TEACHES US THAT PATIENCE IS NOT A ONE TIME EFFORT, BUT THAT WE MUST BE PATIENT FROM TODAY UNTIL THE LORD COMES BACK.

1. Let’s read James 5:7a, “Therefore be patient, brethren until the coming of the Lord.”

(1) “Therefore” always refers us back to what was said before.

(2) “Therefore” is a signal to let our mind go back up into the six verses right ahead of this statement. There James teaches that often times the rich will hold back the wages of the laborers – the selfish and abusive rich will sometimes condemn and even murder the just and righteous.

(3) James is exhorting the mistreated to never cease to be Christ like, even under the worst of physical and verbal abuse, but patiently continue to be a faithful Christian, even if it is waiting until the Lord’s comes again, before the abusive receive their punishment.

(4) In the first six verses of James 5, James assures Christians that God will eventually punish the wicked. In the short-run, the abusive rich would seem to win, but in the long-run, only the faithful saint or Christian would be victorious. The N. T. uses the words saint and Christian interchangeably in reference to the same people.

2. From verse 7, “Be patient” has to do with our normal view of patience. It means to “hold the mind in check.” This same word is used to describe God in 2 Pet 3:9 as “longsuffering.” Rom 6:23 teaches us that the payment for sin is “spiritual death.” “Spiritual death” refers to being separated from God. Due to God being “patient or longsuffering” God does not bring physical death upon us at the exact second or moment that we commit our first sin and then keep us “spiritually separated from Him for all eternity”. 2 Pet. 3:9 teaches that God is “longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

(1) God’s example of patience with each one of us is an example that should motivate us to patiently wait for the 2nd return of Christ and allow Christ to be the one that brings punishment upon those who have mistreated us, instead of taking vengeance into our on hands.

(2) The saints or Christians who patiently endure, and will not give up their faith, will be richly rewarded by the Lord, according to the Lord’s time table and schedule.

(3) According to Thayer (the author of a Greek dictionary), the words "be patient," from the Greek verb [@makrothumesate] (from [@makrothumeo]), mean "to be of a long spirit, not to lose heart ... to persevere patiently and bravely ... in enduring misfortunes and troubles" (Thayer, p. 387).

3. The phrase from James 5:7a: “Until the coming of the Lord” reminds us of many passages in the bible that teach the certainty of the second coming of Christ!

(1) Turn to Matt. 24:36-44. In this passage Jesus teaches that it is uncertain just when he will return. Jesus also teaches that it is certain that He will return and that we must stay ready and prepared for his second coming! Let’s read Matt. 24:36-44, 36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

4. James and Jesus teach us that the Second Coming of Jesus is certain to happen and that Christians must remain patient and prepared every second of every day!