WAIT TRAINING
James 5:7-12
INTRODUCTION: Someone once said, “Patience is a virtue; possess it if you can. Found seldom in a woman; never in a man.” Of course, the men are agreeing with this except the part about never in a man and the women are agreeing except for the part about seldom in a woman. We might think we have patience but the proof will be in the testing of it. Just like our faith needs to be tested, as James pointed out in chapter two, so does our patience. The people in chapter five had been under unjust suffering and they were, up to this point, not getting any deliverance. Their patience was being tested.
1) Be patient (vs. 7).
• Be patient, then. James is saying, ‘I know you’re suffering at the hands of unfair employers; be patient, the Lord will deliver you’. The Greek translation of patience basically means to have an attitude of self-restraint that enables one to refrain from hasty retaliation in the face of frustration. We can be impatient with God. We’ve been wronged; we’ve cried out to him and wonder when the deliverance will come. James is writing to restrain those who have been wronged from taking matters into their own hands. New England preacher Phillips Brooks was known for his calmness and poise. His intimate friends, however, knew that he suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like a caged lion. ‘What is the trouble, Dr. Brooks?’ asked his friend. ‘The trouble is,’ replied Brooks, ‘that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t.’” That’s the test of patience-will you react according to your will or God’s. Will you surrender to God’s timing, or act impatiently and do things in your timing? When God calls us to wait on him he’s asking us to act supernaturally. Our natural way is to retaliate when we’re wronged or to take matters into our own hands when things aren’t happening quickly enough. Having our patience tried is God’s way of testing us to see if we’re going to respond in the flesh or the Spirit.
• The example of the farmer. James provides a valuable illustration of how patience is needed and rewarded. The early rain was the November showers which prepared the ground for the seed; the latter rain, the spring showers needed to bring the harvest to maturity. The farmer’s patience is rewarded in the value of the harvest. However, while the farmer waits for the harvest he doesn’t just sit and wait. He needs to tend to it, weeding it and protecting it from animals. He also goes to work in another part of the farm. Same with us, while we are waiting for the Lord to return we don’t sit and wait; we work and wait. We are busy with the Lord’s work while we patiently wait for his return. This is wisdom. “A watched pot never boils”. If we are idle, it makes us more impatient. However, if we are active, we are less preoccupied with the wait. Also, in the farmer illustration there is the fact that he is dependent on the weather (rains) and, as we in Syracuse well know, the weather is unreliable. He can’t do anything about it; it’s out of his control. Therefore, the farmer will be tempted to worry while he waits. That’s what can trap us. We worry about the unpredictable. And it’s magnified because it’s out of our control. We have no choice but to wait. However, we can wait in patience or we can wait in frustration. We can either have a positive spirit while we wait or we can have a negative one. And having a negative one makes it worse because through worry and fear and frustration the wait feels that much longer. And if our frustration persists, we might throw in the towel. If we do that we will forfeit the blessings that would be ours if we were patient. Gal. 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” There’s a saying that goes, “Wait around long enough to see the miracle happen.” We need to have patience in order to see God’s miracles.
2) Stand firm (vs. 8).
• Stand firm. Other translations, “establish your hearts”. Strengthen your hearts. Our hearts can be heavy and we feel weighed down and weak by our calamity. James is encouraging us to be strong and firm in our hearts. We can have our hearts strengthened through prayer. We can have our hearts strengthened through fellowship. And the Word of God helps us to strengthen our heats too. David was a man who dealt with unjust suffering. Look at his heart strengthening words in Psalm 37:39-40, 40:1-3. We can have our hearts strengthened by believing and knowing that only Christ is the solid rock and everything else is sinking sand. The prophet Isaiah dealt with suffering. He wrote these encouraging words in Isaiah 40:31, “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” And we strengthen our hearts most of all in knowing that our Redeemer lives and he is coming back to right the wrongs and claim his own.
• Because the Lord’s coming is near. Time is short and Jesus’ return is immanent. It could happen at any time; we’re not guaranteed tomorrow (4:14). Therefore, let Jesus find you faithful and obedient when he does come back. Perhaps James needed to remind, confirm and encourage them that Jesus was coming back. “Your efforts are not in vain. He was telling the truth when he said he was coming back.” We need that encouragement too if we are going to stand firm and be patient in our suffering. We need to know that it will be worth it. We need to be reminded that we aren’t foolish to put up with our sufferings. In Lea, Holman’s commentary, it reads, "Our belief in the return of Christ can provide us courage to face difficulty. It can give us stamina to endure persecution. It can deepen our hope that God will provide us reward and recognition to vindicate our actions." It’s easier to endure something when you know there’s a reward coming. Titus 2:11-14. Knowing Jesus is coming back helps us to stand firm during adversity.
3) Don’t grumble (vs. 9).
• Don’t grumble toward others. Perhaps they were grumbling over those in their fellowship who favored the rich (2:3-4). Perhaps they were blaming others for their suffering. Maybe, if they were afraid to vent their frustrations on their oppressors they took it out on their fellow man instead. Whatever the case, this is a tendency we have when we’re suffering impatiently. We are angry and short with each other. We turn on one another. We complain about each other. We tend to find fault with each other when we’re under pressure. We blame and criticize. In this Satan gets what he wants through our sufferings. We need to remember that the Judge is standing at the door, hearing and judging every careless, angry word. Jesus said in Matt. 12:36 that we will have to give an account for every careless word we have spoken. Since this is true, do we want Jesus to find us in bitterness and resentment toward others? 1st Pet.4:7-9. This is how we should be.
• Don’t grumble toward God. What if our bitterness and resentment is toward God? Do we grumble and complain toward God because of the situations and circumstances that he has allowed us to be in? If so, we fail to realize that He is using our pressures, trials, and difficulties to bring us to a new degree of spiritual beauty. Contentment comes when we accept what God is doing and thank Him for it. A little girl walking in a garden noticed a particularly beautiful flower. She admired its beauty and enjoyed its fragrance. “It’s so pretty!” she exclaimed. As she gazed on it, her eyes followed the stem down to the soil in which it grew. “This flower is too pretty to be surrounded by all this yucky dirt,” she cried. So she pulled it up by its roots and ran to the water faucet to wash away the soil. It wasn’t long until the flower wilted and died. When the gardener saw what the little girl had done, he exclaimed, “You have destroyed my finest plant!” “I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in that dirt,” she said. The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could it grow to be a beautiful flower.” God knows what he’s doing. Phil. 2:14 says, “Do everything without grumbling and complaining”. That includes being patient. If we do everything without grumbling we can be at peace with everything. It can be hard but when we are at peace with God and others it will be easier to patiently endure.
4) Examples of patience in suffering (vs. 10-11).
• The example of the prophets (vs. 10). James gives the prophets as examples of patience in the face of suffering. The prophets weren’t altogether popular people. They often had to declare messages of judgment. And for this they faced persecution mainly from the kings whom they prophesied against. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. Jeremiah was beaten and put in the stocks. He was threatened with death for prophesying against Jerusalem. Yet he and all the prophets persevered in faith. Heb. 11:32-40. The ultimate example of patience in the face of suffering is Jesus. 1st Peter 2:18-24. We need to follow His example.
• The example of Job (vs. 11). “We consider blessed those who persevered”. One would think those who suffered unjustly were anything but blessed. Matt. 5:10-12. James gives the example of Job. In Job’s example we see someone who was suffering although there was really no explanation as to why. Job was upright, in good standing with God; he was blessed by God. He had it all and in an instant it was gone. His livestock was stolen, his servants were killed, all of his kids died in one tragic accident, even his health was taken from him. Unjust suffering for no apparent reason. That doesn’t sound very blessed. Yet Job’s suffering did not cause him to curse God. Job 1:20-22, 2:9-10. Although Job was frustrated at times, he persevered and did not give up on God. He said in Job 19:25, “I know that my Redeemer lives”. James draws attention to the end of the story-Job 42:12-17. If Job had given up and cursed God he would not have received deliverance and blessing at the end of his suffering. Perhaps there are some here today who have suffered without knowing why. If we persevere with patience we will be blessed too. Our story might not end like Job’s did, but we will be blessed; especially in the next life. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
5) Stop your swearing (vs. 12).
• Above all. Above all the things I’ve just asked of you, be a people of honesty and integrity. Therefore, what do we have if we have no integrity? James goes from speaking on one virtue, patience, to discussing two more virtues, honesty and integrity. Perhaps the people James was addressing were lowering themselves to the standards of their oppressors. “Hey, they made a promise to pay me then didn’t. They went back on their word and I don’t see God punishing them for it. So, if they can do it and get away with it, and prosper from it, why shouldn’t I?” Two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s tempting to follow suit but we need to be a people of integrity, even if others around us aren’t. Psalm 37:7-9. Give it to God.
• Don’t swear. James is speaking against the flippant use of oaths. Oath taking had become routine in James’ day. Since there was so much of it going around it showed that there was a lack of trust and honesty. James’ point in telling them not to take oaths was to challenge his audience to be people of honesty and integrity that there would be no need for them to take an oath because their word was enough. Matt. 5:33-37. In Jesus’ (and James’) day there was this “loophole” oath. The Jews felt that as long as they didn’t swear by the name of God but by other things like heaven and earth they could break it without incurring the wrath of God. The oath would sound legit because it was made by something profound. It would be like us saying, “I swear on my mother’s grave”. Jesus and James tell us this is wrong. If someone is asking us to swear to it then it shows that they don’t believe us unless we swear to it. But why? Have we proven ourselves to be untrustworthy? Do we tell someone yes without the intent to follow through? Do we borrow something from someone and promise to give it back at a certain time but we don’t because we had no intention to, we just said that at the time to get what we wanted? James is challenging us to be a people that when we say yes or no, we will stick by it without the need for an oath or promise. James wants us to be people of our word. We shouldn’t need to be more serious about something just because there is a promise attached. We may still need to sign a contract when we do business but we should be a person of integrity whether we sign something or not. Our word needs to be as good as our signature.
CONCLUSION: A young Christian went to an older believer to ask for prayer. "Will you please pray that I may be more patient?" he asked. The aged saint agreed. They knelt together and the man began to pray, "Lord, send this young man tribulation in the morning; send this young man tribulation in the afternoon; send this young man...." At that point the young Christian blurted out, "No, no, I didn’t ask you to pray for tribulation. I wanted you to pray for patience." "Ah," responded the wise Christian, "it’s through tribulation that we learn patience." No pain, no gain. This is our wait training.
