Introduction:
A. Once there was a boy who asked a girl to go to the school formal dance.
1. She agreed, and he decided to rent a tuxedo, but the rental store had a long line, so he waited and waited, and finally he got his suit.
2. Then he decided to buy flowers, but the flower shop had a long line, so he waited and waited, until he finally bought flowers.
3. The boy and girl went to the dance, but there was a long line into the dance, so they waited and waited.
4. Finally, they got inside the dance hall and boy offered to get the girl something to drink.
a. She asked for punch, so he went to the drink table, and thankfully there was no punch line.
b. No punch line at the table and no punch line to this joke!
B. Do you realize how much time we spend of our lives waiting?
1. It has been suggested that we spend up to one third of our waking hours waiting.
a. It may be waiting in line, or waiting in traffic, or waiting at the doctor’s office, or waiting for a phone call, or waiting for test results.
b. There are other kinds of waiting as well; like: waiting to graduate, or waiting to get a job, or waiting for the right man or woman to come into your life, or waiting to start a family, or waiting to buy a house, or waiting to retire.
c. Then there’s a spiritual kind of waiting; like: waiting for your loved ones to come to Christ, or waiting for a prodigal to come home, or waiting for God to answer a prayer, or waiting for Christ’s return.
2. Most of us would rather do anything other than wait, am I right about that?
a. Some of us would rather do the wrong thing than wait.
3. But in many ways, one of the secrets to life is learning how to wait in the right way.
4. We might think waiting is nothing more than passive resignation, giving into our circumstances, throwing up our hands in despair and walking off the playing field.
5. But truth is: we don’t “wait” for the Lord because we think “waiting” means giving up.
a. From a biblical perspective, waiting isn’t passive; it’s the most proactive thing we can do.
b. To “wait” on the Lord means to get out of the way so He can act.
6. When Jesus stood before His accusers, He did not retaliate, but He waited on His Father to accomplish His purposes and waited for His Father to dole out justice and mercy.
C. With this introduction in mind, we turn to our text where James shows us three ways to wait, especially when hard times hit.
1. Let’s keep in mind that he is writing to believers in the first century who were poor, struggling, and suffering, who were scattered across the Roman Empire.
2. These Christians had been abused, lied to, misused, and exploited, especially by people in powerful positions, and wealthy landowners who ripped them off, stole their money, and walked away laughing.
3. They were at the mercy of rich and powerful people who got away with murder both figuratively and literally.
4. And there was nothing they could do about it.
D. What does the Word of God say to those who are cheated?
1. How do we respond in a godly fashion when we are mistreated?
2. How do we keep our faith alive when hard times seem to have no end?
3. Basically, James says we must learn to wait on the Lord.
a. The operative word is “learn.”
b. Waiting doesn’t come naturally or easily for most of us.
4. No one wants to wait when your loved ones are suffering, or when you are being cheated.
a. Yet often that is what we must do.
5. Sooner or later we have to come to grips with the fact that life in this world isn’t fair.
a. When that unfairness happens to us, we want to shout, “I didn’t sign up for this.”
b. Truth is: when we became followers of Christ, we did “sign up for this.”
6. Let’s walk through today’s section of James and see the three ways we are to wait, especially when hard times hit.
I. The first way we should wait is to WAIT EXPECTANTLY.
A. James wrote: Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. (James 5:7-8)
1. James encourages us to consider the farmer.
2. Farming is a noble profession, wouldn’t you say?
a. We wouldn’t eat if there weren’t farmers to grow the crops and tend the herds.
3. Farming is hard work, which is why not many people want to do it nowadays.
a. Today’s farmer must be an economist, financier, business executive and computer expert on top of all the things he has to know about growing crops and raising animals.
4. The farmer must have an extra dose of patience because an impatient farmer will lose the shirt off his back.
5. James wants us to think about the farmer who waits expectantly for early rain and latter rain.
a. He digs the ground, he plants the seed, he pulls the weeds, and then he waits.
b. That’s all he can do - he can’t make the rain come any sooner, but he knows if he waits, eventually the rain will come and the seed will grow.
B. A key word for us to hold on to is the word “eventually”
1. Eventually is a word that expresses our hope and our expectation.
2. Eventually means not today and maybe not tomorrow and maybe not next week or next month.
3. Eventually means that sooner or later, the thing we are waiting for will happen.
C. When James encourages us to “be patient,” he uses a word that is sometimes translated as “longsuffering.”
1. We don’t especially like the word “longsuffering” because no one wants to suffer at all, and we don’t want any part of longsuffering.
2. We might accept “shortsuffering,” but we don’t want anything to do with “longsuffering.”
3. Let’s go back to the illustration of the farmer.
a. He endures droughts, attacks of strange bugs, hailstorms, and animals that eat his crops.
b. He may be attacked by robbers who come at night and steal his animals.
c. But the farmer endures it all because he knows the rain must come eventually, and eventually there will be a profit from his efforts.
D. In verse 8, James repeats the need for patience and encourages us to “strengthen our hearts.”
1. The word translated “strengthen” means to fix, make fast, immovable.
2. It describes a person who is so certain about the future that he cannot be moved by the troubles of the present.
3. We must learn how to do that when hard times come or when we are being treated badly.
4. James says that the reason we must strengthen our hearts and make them fast is because the Lord’s coming is near.
5. Jesus is coming soon!
6. Two thousand years have passed since Jesus went to heaven, and some of God’s children feel weary and we might wonder why Jesus hasn’t come back yet, but we must wait expectantly.
7. Jesus has not forgotten us and He has not made other plans.
8. It’s been a long time from our point of view, but He’s only been gone for two days in heaven’s perspective (see 2 Peter 3:8).
9. Jesus said He would come back–and He will, and when He does, He will set things right.
10. Our job is to wait expectantly.
II. The second way we should wait is to WAIT GRACIOUSLY.
A. James wrote: Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door! (James 5:9)
1. This is a warning we all need to heed.
2. Perhaps we can state it this way:
a. When you are tired, when you are scared, and when you are angry, then watch your mouth.
b. When you feel backed into a corner, when life tumbles in around you, when you are betrayed, attacked, harassed, lied to and lied about, when your world turns upside down, then watch your mouth!
3. The word translated “complain” means to groan or to sigh; to grumble.
a. It’s what we do when we’ve had just about enough, and we don’t feel like taking it anymore.
b. Our spirit becomes upset and overwhelmed, and we sigh inwardly and outwardly, but then the pressure mounts and we move into the attack mode.
4. We begin to grumble against our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
a. They have it easy. They have more money. They are happily married. They have perfect children. They don’t treat you right or looked at you the wrong way. On and on it goes.
5. When we are tired, scared and angry, it’s easy to get hypercritical of the people you love the most - it’s odd how that works, isn’t it?
a. If we walk down the street and someone we don’t know shouts an insult at us, we’re apt to laugh it off and move on.
b. But let our spouse say or do one wrong thing, or let our kids get on our “one last nerve,” or let our friends at church not respond the way we want them to, well, what happens then?
c. We blow our top. We lose our cool. We say something stupid.
6. If we are looking for reasons to grumble, then we’ll find them easy enough.
a. Even the of best friends will let us down.
b. Spouses get on each other’s nerves.
c. And the kids? Well, the kids can drive you up the wall.
B. Grumbling and complaining destroys.
1. It destroys relationships – it can destroy your marriage, tear your family apart, and destroy your closest friendships.
2. Grumbling certainly becomes a hindrance in our relationship with God – remember what happened when the Israelites began to grumble against the Lord? Not good!
3. But notice the reason not to do it that James gives in verse 9.
a. Do not complain “or you will be judged.”
b. Judged by whom? By God, for He, the Judge, stands at the door!
4. We’re all familiar with the image of Christ standing at the door, knocking and waiting for us to open the door (Revelation 3:20).
a. It’s a beautiful picture of the Lord waiting to enter and have fellowship with us.
b. But James gives us the flip side of that scene.
c. Christ stands at the door, ready to come in and judge the judger.
d. He will personally expose our critical spirit, our bitter words, and all the inward sighs we thought no one noticed.
5. Grumblers will answer to the Lord, and He’s not accepting any excuses.
C. So here’s a question to ponder: Can I, with God’s help, maintain a gentle and gracious spirit when hard times hit?
1. Can I smile when they throw me into the fiery furnace?
2. Maybe not, but if I can’t smile, can I at least refrain from snapping at my loved ones?
3. Let’s also keep in mind that nothing destroys Christian unity quicker than a complaining and grumbling spirit.
4. How many churches have been split, how many good ministries ruined, how many servants of the Lord have been injured because of the thoughtless grumbling of other believers?
5. James suggests that when hard times hit, we must first wait expectantly, and then secondly wait graciously. but James has one more challenge to set before us.
III. The third way we should wait is to WAIT PATIENTLY.
A. James wrote: Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience. See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:10-11)
1. Ray Pritchard said: “Sometimes victory looks like survival, and survival looks like victory.”
2. Sometimes the only thing we can do is hunker down and hang on.
3. That’s why God blesses those who persevere; those who patiently endure.
4. The Lord honors those who keep believing when it would be much easier to walk away.
B. James encourages us to remember God’s prophets.
1. They spoke in the name of the Lord, but what happened to them?
2. As a group, they were maligned, attacked, and criticized.
3. They are the ones the writer of Hebrews was thinking about when he spoke about the high cost of faithfulness to God: “Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground” (Hebrews 11:35-38).
4. Who were these “others”?
a. They are the men and women who would not bow the knee to Baal.
b. They are Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who would not kneel before the golden image in Daniel 3 that Nebuchadnezzar had built.
c. These “others” are all the saints of all the ages who regarded faith in God as worth more than life itself.
d. They are the believers in Afghanistan, Nigeria, India and China who at this moment are being harassed, beaten and sometimes killed because of their faith in Christ.
C. Then James encourages us to remember Job.
1. You remember Job – he was that righteous man whose soul was put to the test through the waves of hardship that hit him one after the other.
a. Even though he was cast down and discouraged, he never gave up his faith.
b. And even when his wife urged him to curse God and die, he instead chose to bless the name of the Lord.
2. How did the prophets survive? How did Job survive?
a. They survived because they knew who God was.
b. Everything in life comes down to one question: What do you believe about God? What sort of God is He?
c. Job and the prophets understood that “the Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (v. 11).
d. That phrase “full of compassion” translates a Greek word used only here in the New Testament.
a. We could translate it as “exceedingly compassionate” or “full of tenderness.”
e. You might remember that Job ended up with more than he started with, but he had to go through a terrible trial to receive it.
f. The prophets also suffered in the name of the Lord.
g. Sometimes they received their reward in this life, but more often it came in the next life when they saw the Lord face to face.
D. How will we survive when hard times hit?
1. It all depends on our view of God.
2. Do we believe and trust that our God full of tenderness and overflowing with mercy?
3. If that is our view of God, then even though we may be knocked down by circumstances, we know that we won’t stay down forever because the Lord will pick us up.
4. Sometimes victory looks a lot like survival, and survival looks a lot like victory.
5. I find it encouraging that James doesn’t offer his readers an easy way out of their troubles.
6. James doesn’t say, “Pray this prayer, and your problems will vanish.” He’s too honest for that.
E. Life isn’t fair and sometimes we can’t do anything about that, but we can control how we respond.
1. If we believe that God is in control of our lives, and if we believe that our enemies couldn’t trouble us without His permission, and if we believe the Lord is full of compassion and mercy, and if we believe Jesus is coming back soon, then we will find a way to hang on and wait expectantly.
2. We will find a way to keep from complaining and grumbling.
3. We will find a way to stand firm in the Lord and to wait patiently.
4. Why? Because we know the Lord is coming again, and we know the Lord will issue rewards and justice.
4. We know that we just need to hurry up and wait.
Conclusion:
A. Life is all about learning to wait on the Lord.
1. As we wait on the Lord, we must not grumble against the Lord, or panic, or take matters into our own hands.
2. Our duty is to trust and obey.
3. As we surrender ourselves to God, we declare: I know God is going to resolve this situation. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but I know He’s going to do it. I’m not giving up. I’m waiting on Him.”
B. James gives us one final instruction about waiting.
1. James concludes this section: Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment. (James 5:12)
2. James’ concern was not swearing in the sense of profanity, or giving an oath in court.
3. James’ concern was with the kind of swearing that comes with the giving of oaths and making promises beyond what we should.
4. Jesus had quite a bit to say about this subject in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.
5. What does this kind of swearing have to do with suffering?
a. Well, if you have ever suffered, then you know how easy it is to say things you don’t mean, and to make promises or bargains with God.
6. Integrity demands that our simple “Yes” be yes and our “No” be no.
a. Our speech should be more sincere than dramatic.
7. While we suffer, we must talk to God and others honestly and truthfully, without deal-making or manipulation.
C. Right now, some of you are suffering greatly, and the last thing I want to do is to come across callously or to give the impression that patience in suffering is easy.
1. The only thing that I can offer myself or anyone else while they suffer is the declaration that James makes in verse 11 – “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
a. When we have gone through hard times – and we’ve been through a few of them – that is what has gotten us through.
2. What I know for sure is this: God loves us. He is full of compassion and mercy. He is coming back. And He will reward our patience and faithfulness.
3. May God make us strong and give us grace to endure.
4. May our faith grow as we wait on the Lord.
5. And when the Lord’s purposes are finally made clear, we’ll all be glad we didn’t cut and run, but that we stood firm in the Lord and waited on the Lord expectantly, graciously and patiently.
Resources:
• “Three Ways to Wait When Hard Times Hit,” Sermon by Ray Pritchard.
• “Patience in Suffering,” Sermon by David Owens, 2006.
