As many of you know, I officiate high school basketball and volleyball. As a high school official, I am subject to the control of the Arizona Interscholastic Association. The AIA determines what qualifications I must meet in order to work, they establish the game/match fees, they establish uniform requirements, they make all my assignments, and they pay my game and match fees among other things.
Over the past couple years, the State of Arizona, and especially Southern Arizona has experienced a drastic reduction in the number of officials who are working in all sports due at least in part to some of the additional requirements and restrictions that the AIA has placed on their officials over the past couple of years. But since I really enjoy working with these student athletes and being an integral part of high school sports I have continued to be an official.
But when I got home last week from vacation and opened a couple of emails from the AIA I got really angry. I won’t go into all the details, but in general, there are two significant issues that came up. First, is the fact that the AIA has not yet paid me for some state tournament matches that I worked over a month and half ago and they are not going to pay our mileage reimbursement for the spring season that began back in February for at least another month because they failed to bill the schools for the correct amount last fall.
The second issue is that the AIA has implemented several new policies that will both decrease the game fees that we’ll be paid beginning in the fall and will increase our expenses for uniforms and equipment.
So when I opened up those emails last week, my immediate reaction was that I was going to do something about it. I got on Google and established a new email that I could use to communicate with other officials and the AIA without revealing my identity and then I sat down to write an email to my fellow officials to urge us all to take some action. But as I got ready to hit the “send” button, I sensed that I needed to stop and cool down for a while before I overreacted.
And when I sat down a read our passage from James for this week and began to study it and prepare for this message I understood why. Will you join me as we turn to James chapter 5 and follow along as I begin reading in verse 7:
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
(James 5:7-12 ESV)
You’ll remember that in the first six verses of this chapter, James addressed the rich people who were associated with the local bodies of Jewish believers who were exploiting the poor within those bodies. And in that passage we learned that:
The way I acquire and use wealth
is a good measure of my spiritual health
As James continues, he now turns to address his brothers and sisters in Christ who were being abused and exploited by the rich.
This is such a relevant passage for all of us because as we live life here on earth we are going to be hurt by other people. Sometimes we suffer because of our faith in Jesus and other times we incur trials and difficulties just because we live in a world that has been stained by sin. And often, just like these believers to whom James is writing, we’re not really in a position to do anything about the hurt itself, but we can control how we respond to the hurt.
Often the biggest hurts in life come from those closest to us:
• A spouse who violates the marriage covenant in spite of our efforts to be the husband or wife that God desires for us to be.
• A child who rebels in spite of the fact that we did everything we could to raise them up to love God and others.
• A fellow church member who either intentionally or unintentionally says or does something to cause us hurt.
Sometimes, the hurts come from others that we don’t know very well or even those who we don’t particularly like:
• That’s certainly the case with my situation with the AIA. These hurtful decisions are being made by people that I hardly know and who don’t really know me.
• Perhaps you’ve been passed over for a promotion at work that you really deserved because the boss gave that promotion to one of their personal friends.
• Even after all these years, I still remember one time I was literally hurt unjustly in junior high. As my math teacher, Mr. Martindale, was taking a disruptive student out into the hall to give him a swat – that was back in the day when a teacher could still do that – the student made a smart aleck remark on the way out the door. And like the rest of the class, I laughed because it was really funny. Unfortunately I did that right as Mr. Martindale happened to be walking right by my front row desk. And so guess who else got a swat?
When someone hurts us like that, we tend to react like I did last week when I received those emails from the AIA – we want to retaliate in some way. But James point out here that God has a better way for us. Twice in this passage James repeats the command that is the key to our response:
Be patient!
There are several different Greek words that can be translated patient. James used one of those words back in James 1, when he said that trials in our lives are designed to develop “steadfastness” as it is translated in the ESV. But he uses a different word here:
makrothumia =
makro (long) + thumia (termper) =
long-tempered
The idea here is that when we are wronged or hurt, we are to be self-restrained and not quick to retaliate. But that is not always easy to do, is it? Fortunately, James gives us some specific guidance about how we can do that. And we could summarize his teaching here like this:
Tomorrow’s hope enables me to endure today’s hurt
The way I can be long-tempered and endure the hurt that I suffer today is to focus on tomorrow’s hope – a hope that is made possible by the return of Jesus.
It is not insignificant that James refers to the return of Jesus three times in this passage. In verse 7 and verse 8 he writes of “the coming of the Lord”. And in verse 9 he reminds his readers that Jesus is “standing at the door” – language that his readers would have immediately understood to be a reference to the second coming of Jesus.
The overall idea here is that we can be long-suffering because when Jesus returns to this earth He will make everything right. As we see clearly in the rest of Scripture, when Jesus returns as Judge, He will reward those who have been faithful to Him and He will punish those who have exploited and abused those who belong to Him. Therefore we don’t have to take things into our own hands right now.
Tomorrow’s hope enables me to endure today’s hurt
I think we would probably all agree that is a true statement and if we are genuine, mature followers of Jesus then we will have a desire to live like that. But I think that most of us would also admit that we struggle with how to actually do that in our day-to-day lives. So James provides us with three examples to help us understand how we can live like that. And each of these three examples provides us with an important, practical lesson about how to hang on to tomorrow’s hope in order to endure today’s hurt.
Three lessons about hope:
1. The lesson from the farmer – Hope is not passive
Although, as James points out, the farmer patiently waits for the precious fruit of the earth, that doesn’t mean he sits around doing nothing. Although he is dependent on God for the early and late rains, he still has to prepare the soil, sow the seed, protect the crops from weeds and pests and eventually harvest the crop.
I’ve personally seen a demonstration of that kind of patience in person, at least to a small degree, up at Howard’s Orchard in Catalina. Every year, the crop of peaches, apples and other fruits and vegetables is largely dependent on factors outside the Howards’ control. A few years ago a late frost meant that there were very few peaches that year. And other years when the weather cooperates, the tree branches get so full of fruit that they literally touch the ground and sometimes even break off.
But year in and year out Mr. and Mrs. Howard diligently work that orchard. They remove damaged trees and plant new ones. They prune the trees so they will produce more fruit. They repair the irrigation system. They fertilize. They remove weeds.
James is making the point that hope is a lot like that. Being long-suffering in the face of hurts doesn’t mean that we just have to sit around and “grin and bear it”. We certainly can and should take prudent steps to resolve the issue that gave rise to the hurt when it is possible for us to do that.
Let me use my situation with the AIA to illustrate. There is no doubt that my initial reaction was wrong because my goal was to do something to hurt the AIA in retaliation for what they have done to me and to the other officials. One of the ideas that I came up with was that I’d get all the Tucson officials to get together and refuse to register for next season until the AIA met all our demands. That would serve them right since they wouldn’t have any officials to cover the games and matches in Tucson.
I’m here today to tell you that was wrong. That had nothing to do with using tomorrow’s hope to help me endure today’s hurt. It was all about trying to right the wrong on my own without even attempting to trust God to make things right.
But that doesn’t mean that I just have to sit around and wait for things to change on their own. There would be nothing wrong, for instance, with getting a group of officials together to go to the proper people at the AIA to respectfully discuss our concerns. Nor does it mean that if some of these issues aren’t resolved that I can’t decide that it is no longer in my best interest to work for the AIA.
But if I do proceed to take action, I must do it in a way that it maintains my integrity. I think that is what verse 12 is all about. It’s interesting that commentators on this passage can’t really agree if verse 12 goes with this section that we’re looking at this morning or whether it goes with the next section that begins in verse 13 or whether it just stands on its own somehow. But given the context it seems to me that it is more likely connected with today’s passage.
Certainly this whole idea of swearing oaths is kind of foreign to us in our culture. Not surprisingly, Jesus addressed this same issue in the Sermon on the Mount:
But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
(Matthew 5:34-37 ESV)
Both Jesus and James are addressing a common practice in their culture where people would promise to do something but then later go back on their word by saying something like, “I only swore that oath on my own head and not on God therefore I don’t have to keep it.” In today’s culture it would be like promising something with our fingers crossed behind our back and then excusing our failure to keep the promise because of the crossed fingers.
Both Jesus and James are making the point that we must always maintain our integrity by keeping our word regardless of whether we swear an oath or not.
One of the things I did that nearly compromised my integrity with the AIA was to create a whole new email address that would protect my identity so that I could work behind the scenes. I’m so glad that God kept me from following through with using that email address like that. If I’m going to do anything in response to this situation, I need to do it in a way that is completely above board, understanding that by approaching the situation like that, there may very well be some personal repercussions for me. That leads us to our second lesson…
2. The lesson from the prophets – Hope does not guarantee freedom from pain
James does not identify any particular prophets here, but his audience would have certainly been familiar with the accounts of the Old Testament prophets and what they had incurred as a result of speaking in the name of the Lord:
• Although it was largely due to his own disobedience, Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish before he was vomited onto dry land.
• Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den
• Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for three years
• Hosea was instructed to marry a prostitute
• Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet” because he ministered for over 40 years under reign of five different kings without seeing even one convert.
In general the life of a prophet was not easy. For the most part, being faithful to proclaim the word of God did not make life comfortable for them. It certainly never guaranteed that God would remove them from or keep them free from pain in their lives.
Enduring today’s hurts by focusing on tomorrow’s hope doesn’t guarantee that God is going to remove us from that difficult situation. It doesn’t even mean that He’ll always take away the physical or emotion hurt here in this lifetime. This is such an important principle for us to understand. I think that’s why James had to remind his audience three times that Jesus is coming again and when He comes He will make all things right. But in the meantime we often have to continue to endure pain and suffering, just like the prophets did.
Peter also reminded his readers of this very same truth in his first epistle:
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
(1 Peter 5:10 ESV)
Whatever suffering we’re going though right now is so short compared to the eternal glory that will result when Jesus makes things right. And we can be confident that He will completely restore, confirm, strengthen and establish those who belong to Him one day.
Given that most of us already have enough pain inflicted into our lives, James wants to make sure that we’re not guilty of adding to that burden in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. So he commands his readers not to grumble against one another. The grammar here could indicate that the people were either grumbling to each other about their difficulties or that they were even actually blaming the others in the body for their problems.
We probably all know people like that. I know that I’ve actually had to unfriend several people on Facebook because they constantly gripe and complain about their lives and blame others for all their problems. That kind of attitude actually takes my focus off my hope in Jesus when God has given me that hope as the main way of being patient and enduring my hurts.
3. The lesson from Job – Hope comes from understanding the purpose of God
Obviously Job is a great example of how to endure hurts by focusing on hope. In the midst of all the trials he was experiencing, including the accusatory words of his so-called “friends”, Job spoke these familiar words:
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
(Job 19:25-26 ESV)
Job was able to endure his trials because of the hope he had that one day he would experience a bodily resurrection and stand face to face with his Redeemer. And at the end of verse 11, James reveals why Job was able to have that kind of hope in the midst of such terrible hurt.
…you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Job understood the nature of God. He knew that God is compassionate and merciful and therefore he was able to trust that whatever hurt God was allowing him to experience was ultimately for his own good.
At the beginning of the book of Job, we see that Job is a very religious man. He meticulously observes all the religious rituals by making sacrifices and praying for his family. But he doesn’t have a personal relationship with God. One indication of that lack of a personal relationship is that throughout the first 31 chapters of the book, with only one exception, Job refers to God using the generic term for God – the Hebrew word “elohim”. While God is often referred to using that term in the Old Testament, that same word is used to describe the gods (with a small “g”) of the non-Hebrew nations.
But after God speaks to Job, beginning in chapter 38, we find that Job now refers to God as “the Lord”, using “YHWH”, the name of God that implies a covenant relationship with Him. That transformation in Job’s life that occurred as a result of the pain he had suffered is confirmed by Job’s final recorded words:
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
(Job 42:1-6 ESV)
Job certainly didn’t understand God like that when his troubles began, but what he did know about God is that God is compassionate and merciful and that understanding of God gave him the hope he needed to endure the hurt he was going through.
When others hurt us, we often can’t see at the time, why God is either allowing us or causing us to go through those painful experiences. Sometimes, like Job, we understand the reasons a whole lot better on the other side of those trials. And sometimes, like many of the prophets we looked at earlier, we may never understand all the reasons during our life here on earth. But the one thing we can be certain of is that God is compassionate and merciful and that He had our best interests at heart.
We’ve covered a lot of ground here this morning and there is a lot to remember and think about. So I want to make this real easy for you this morning. Instead of asking you to remember a whole bunch of principles, let me leave you with this bottom line.
The bottom line:
The way I endure today’s hurts through tomorrow’s hope is by…
Treating others the way God has treated me
That may not always be easy to do, but it’s certainly easy to remember isn’t it? When somebody hurts me I need to treat them the same way God has treated me – with compassion and mercy.
The greatest hurts we experience in this life cannot even begin to compare to the hurt that we inflict on God when we rebel against Him. So aren’t you glad that the God we worship this morning is the God who we meditated on earlier at the beginning of the service – a God who is compassionate and gracious, full of mercy, slow to anger and abounding in love? God doesn’t treat us as we deserve. He doesn’t seek to get back at us or retaliate against us. Instead He sent His Son to die on the cross to pay for our sins so that we can have a personal relationship with Him.
So when we’re hurt, how dare we do any less? Once again we’re reminded of the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
(Matthew 5:7 ESV)
The next time someone hurts you, either intentionally or unintentionally, the first thing you need to do is to think about how God has treated you every time you have hurt Him. And by doing that, it will be a whole lot easier to apply this morning’s bottom line:
The way I endure today’s hurts through tomorrow’s hope is by…
Treating others the way God has treated me
