If you noticed the title of this week’s sermon, you may have realized you’ve heard that phrase before. Or what about this one, “Patience is a Virtue”? Well it turns out those phrases have some biblical significance. And it also turns out they are usually true. Let’s see how.
For the last few weeks we have been looking into the book of James. James as it turns out is a pretty smart guy. Add God’s guidance to his words and James really knows what he is talking about. This week’s scripture focus is proof of that.
We heard a minute ago that James is telling us to, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”
So there it is, in God’s Word. We are called to be patient, and if we aren’t patient people, we will be judged for it. So, because it is in God’s Word, that means we all believe it, we will all do it, and that’s the end of today’s sermon. Right?
Are our eyes open enough to notice that just because it is written in the Bible, that doesn’t mean people automatically follow it? All we have to do is look around, even in a congregation. We all have access to God’s Word every day, yet somehow we fail to yield to God’s Will. Somehow we still do disobedient things. Well James is here to help us, with God’s help of course.
First we need to realize as human beings, that we don’t always do right and we don’t always listen to God. Some people use that as an excuse. “I’m only human” is the phrase people say when they sin or when they disobey God’s commands. Did you know God can finish that statement for us? When people say “I’m only human”, God is thinking, “and I made you in my image, I made you to be holy”. As a matter of fact in the book of Exodus in chapter 31 verse 13 God actually says “I make you holy”. Further on in the book of Leviticus in chapter 19 God tells us again, that we are to be a holy people because He is a holy God. The more we look into God’s Word the more we realize, there is no excuse for our dumb decisions. Now back to our scripture verse. James is trying to teach us about patience.
James uses the example of a farmer, which as it turns out is a great example 2000 years ago, and is still that great example. Have you noticed that with all of our technological discoveries that in 2000 years we still haven’t figured out how to make plants, fruits or vegetables grow really fast? And don’t think we haven’t tried. Can you imagine how easy it would be to solve the world’s food shortages if we could grow a potato in 3 days instead of 3 months? Or if we could grow a field of wheat in 4 120 minutes instead of 120 days? Our food problems would be over. But James knows better. Back to that phrase we spoke of. Good things come to those who wait. Like what?
James points out that farmers get what they want and what they need if they are patient and wait for their seeds to grow. But we aren’t all farmers. So what about us? How much money do you get on a paycheck, if you walk into your bosses office every day and demand your pay? I’d be willing to guess that you wouldn’t get much pay at all. Because as soon as you do that, you’d usually be unemployed. SO, we wait for our paycheck, a week, or two weeks. As long as we are talking about money, what about that tax return from the IRS? We wait a year for that don’t we. It seems that the better the gift or the result, the longer it takes. How long does it take to pay off a car? 3 years, 5 years? What about something bigger, like a house? 20 years? 30 years? So far, it seems that phrase is true.
Now what about lessons that God wants us to learn? What about those lessons that will help us out in for the rest of our life? We should expect to wait even longer. And if we continue to think that way, what about heaven? What about eternity with God? And that is the point James is trying to make. If the goal is beyond this world, if the goal is so amazing it cannot hardly be understood, than we need to keep in mind it is going to take patience.
Now to understand that, we better know what patience is and what it isn’t. Patience isn’t, getting bored and finding something else to do. If we have a 1000 piece puzzle to put together, it is going to take patience. If we get bored and walk away and come back 6 hours later, did the puzzle get put together? Of course not. It will look just like it did when we walked away. So patience isn’t walking away to come back to it later. Here’s another example. Has anyone ever had to give their dog a bath? Or has anyone ever had to change a motor in a car or truck? Well in both cases, it is going to take some patience, it is going to take some work. But if we don’t like it, and decide to take a one hour break, the job doesn’t get finished. We have to keep at it, put up with the scratches from the dog, or the soapy water splashed all over our face, or the banged up hands, the greasy smudges on our clothes and whatever else happens. We have to put up with the things we don’t enjoy to get what we want out of it. Heaven is the same way.
Do we find ourselves wanting to spend eternity with God? Or do we want to spend eternity in hell? I will assume you are thinking Heaven is the place you want to be. So James gives us a little hint. You don’t get there by jumping up and telling everybody your Christian, and going home and doing the things you did before you said your faith was in Christ. Two weeks ago we covered this earlier in the book of James. God calls those people liars, and they have no place in His Kingdom.
Let me tell you a story. In 1897 there was a man named Pearl Wait. Mr. Wait came up with the idea of mixing flavoring with gelatin. His wife called it Jell-O. (material borrowed from a sermon by Steven Dow). Mr. Wait was not patient. He tried to market his invention for a few years but sales were very slow. He sold his invention to another man for $450. A hundred years later, not one of Mr. Wait’s descendants get a dime of royalties from the 1.1 million boxes of Jell-O sold each day. Mr. Wait, didn’t have enough patience. He missed out, his family misses out every day.
James goes on to finish his thought in verse 10. “Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” (James 5:10-11)
And that is the thing we must not forget. We can read the book of Job and feel sorry for Job. He lost everything, he lost his servants, his herds of animals, even all of his family, every one of his children were taken from him. It must have been horrible. But do we look to the end of the book? It can be our book of life as well. You see the book of Job is a great example of who we are and what we can be. Job persevered. He didn’t like it, but he was patient. And God rewarded him for his attitude. He went through some terrible tragedies, and so will we. But he never gave up, never forgot who God was or His commands. And in the end, Job received more blessings than he could have ever imagined. He had twice as many children as he did before, twice as many animals, twice as many servants and twice as much of everything. In short, he had more than he could have ever dreamed or asked for.
What about you? Do you want more than you could ever imagine? Do you want to live with God, in perfection, forever? Well then, it takes patience. Patience when God doesn’t think we are ready for more money. He knows we are going to waste it anyway, so we need to learn patience. Whether it be gifts, talents that we have or money, and God knows we are going to waste them, then don’t expect gifts or talents or extra money. We are called to share all of those things with His church, and He already knows our heart.
As we see the lesson we need to learn about patience, we need to realize that it is all in God’s timing. If we want to move things along, then show God what we’ve learned. If we are responsible with His blessings, Scripture tells us He will give us more. If we waste them, then scripture tells us He will take them away. If things seem hard, and we don’t know why, take a look at James and his example of a farmer. The farmer learns all he can about growing crops and he puts it to use. He isn’t irresponsible with the grain, or the water, or the fertilizer. He does exactly as he needs to, and then waits for God’s timing to produce his crop. You and I may not be farmers, but we might as well be. There are things in this life that we want and need. And more importantly there are things in the next life that we should be looking forward to. Without patience, we won’t see any of them. I pray a generous blessing of God’s mercy and grace on each of you. Be patient, do as God commands, and see how He blesses you for it.
