Pain In Heaven - James 5:10-11 Series

James 5:7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See, the farmer waits for the valuable crop of the land, being patient until he receives the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, so that you will not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers, as an example of suffering and patience take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.

Introduction

Perseverance

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow.'”

That is a quotation from Mary Anne Radmacher. Theodore Roosevelt had a similar statement: “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength.” Thomas Edison said this: “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” And I like this one from Newt Gingrich: “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” People come up with some pretty clever sayings about perseverance. But when you are at the end of your rope, it takes a lot more than a clever quotation to keep going.

What is it that keeps certain people going after everyone else has given up? Some of it might be personality type – certain people are just naturally more tenacious than others. There are some people that will never give up even when they are barking up the wrong tree. God makes it crystal clear, “I haven’t called you to do this,” and they still keep pressing ahead just because they are too proud to quit anything. But then there are other people who quit at the drop of a hat. The slightest resistance or hardship stops them in their tracks. Those are the people who are always quitting everything. “We’re getting a divorce, I quit my job, I’m leaving the church, and I threw my phone in the lake – I’m done” - and they are just always bailing out of everything whenever the going gets rough.

Review

James is writing to people who are in a situation where the going has gotten really rough. And he doesn’t have any advice for them on how to escape their suffering or bring it to an end, he doesn’t have any advice on how to get the people who are hurting them to stop, but he has a whole lot to say about how to persevere through the suffering. And to teach us how to persevere, he gives three examples: the farmer, the prophets, and Job. We discussed the farmer back in verse 7, and found that he was able to stay motivated even though it was a really long wait until payday because of how much he valued the crop, and how much he trusted in the faithfulness of God. The farmer can see that the delay itself is what is achieving the ultimate goal. Now the second example is in verse 10.

The Prophets

Be Inspired by Heroes of the Faith

10 Brothers, as an example of suffering and patience take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

The word example means an example to be followed. James wants us to imitate them.

Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

It is good to be inspired by great heroes of the past.

Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Sometimes you know the right thing to do, but you can’t seem to bring yourself to do it until you see someone else do it and that inspires you. Imagine a group of soldiers who are frozen in fear until they see their leader charge ahead into battle, and they gain courage and follow him. The capacity for courage was there; it just needed to be activated by an inspiring example. Sometimes you know certain biblical principles in a theoretical way, but you don’t really understand how to put them into practice until you see it done. There have been times when I have seen Andrew deal with a really hard relational situation, or the Truong’s showing hospitality, or Bob with tenacious love, and I realize, “Oh, that’s what that biblical principle looks like in practice.” I did not really learn any new principle, but I did learn what that principle looks like in practice, and I was motivated to do it.