Series on James - Patience, Patience, Patience

                     

Patience, Patience, Patience 

James 5:7-11

Every writer knows that the lead sentence or paragraph reveals the subject of the content of the writings. In this lesson, it is patience in every aspect of our lives. And how do we get patience from God? By the Holy Spirit, for the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In the context of the letter, James is calling the church to forbearance, endurance, and long suffering in their suffering from the oppression by the rich overseers. So let’s look at the first portion of the text. “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.”

James is still contending with the oppressors and those who are being oppressed, especially among the righteous. It is the self-restraint and the divine patience of the Holy Spirit that will enable the church to endure. Jesus had told the disciples and all who were with them oppression would come and that His coming was imminent. It could be at any time, which leads James to use the first of three analogies to support and encourage those who are oppressed to be patient. 

The Farmer and his yearly contention for ample water for his grain crop, he had to be a person who understood patience and his God. For in the fall He would have planted or sown the seeds for the coming year’s crop. James used the word “valuable” to enlighten the importance of the crop to life and the needs in the life of the farmer and others who depended on the crop for substance to live. It was in the fall that the early rains would fall providing the seed with the essential nitrate nutrients from the rain water and the soil. The seed will begin to germinate by absorbing the water and the nitrate nutrients. The latter rain was to nourish the growth of the plants to the maximum yieldage of the crop. But all of this took patience. The farmer couldn’t rush the crop, he must wait for the God given rains. 

In like manner, the church was to look forward to the imminent appearance of the Lord Jesus. They couldn’t do anything to enhance it or hurry it. For it was all in the hands of almighty God and His appointed times and His providence. Patience and long-suffering are hallmarks for the church’s understanding growth in their lives, for just as a plant depends on farmer it most certainly needs the provision of God’s nutrient of the living water applied to the seed (the Word of God) to see a life that grows to yield a bountiful harvest. 

Application - After forty years of walking with Jesus, I still need patience and to wait for Him. Like the first century church, we are going to be oppressed by the accuser (Satan) and we are going to feel the oppression from the world (under Satan’s control). It would be easy to lash back at those who oppress us, but God’s Word told us to be patient. My favorite verse on this subject is Psalms 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Like James, David was told by God to wait patiently for Him and not to fret, worry, or be anxious, but to trust in Him. 

And like the farmer, I live in a dry wheat farming area. The farmers depend upon the rains of fall and spring in the growth of their wheat. They have learned to be patient, and let God bring growth. And it is true in our spiritual lives as well. Paul spoke of the growth of a christian. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Cor. 3:6-7)

For the seed (the Word of God) has been planted in your life, and the living water of the Word, the salvation through the grace of God, and the abundant watering of the Holy Spirit gives us the god-given nutrients to thrive. And as plants, we depend on God for that growth. So be patient, as we grow and wait for the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ to take us to the place that he has prepared for us. 

Next, James tackles the enemy’s scheme and the sinful nature’s tendency towards discontent and complaining against each other, against the worldly struggles, and even God. James uses the Old Testament prophets as an example of patience in the face of a sin-laced world and people of God. So let’s read the next portion of the text, “Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 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.”

James knew the unexplained meaning of a sigh against the oppression of the day, it was much different than the murmuring in Moses’ day. And like the prophet Jonah who sighed (got angry) and was seen and heard by God and God addressed it by disciplining Jonah. Then God showed grace by giving him first the shadeful vine to comfort him, when God continued to hear the sigh of Jonah’s discontent, He sent the ravenous worm, appointed the scorching east wind, and the relentless heat to show Jonah that He was sovereign and compassionate, gracious, and merciful even to the salvation of the oppressors. (Jonah ch. 4)

James wanted the oppressed church to know that God is watching and listening to all. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.” (Psalms 139:1-5) 

Knowing that God knew their plight and had provided patience through the Holy Spirit. They were not to grumble or sigh against one another, their oppressors, or against God. The prophets were a great example of patient endurance in suffering, even Jonah who learned perseverance in a most unusual way.

Application - I don’t know about you, but I have been caught in the act of the sigh, or grumbling, or even mumbling about the deception and oppression of our times. It is in these times that God teaches me through His Word that I must be patient. Again, psalms 37:7 and other psalms and the lives of others have been given to us to show us to not fret, worry, or be anxious. We are to wait patiently, for it is God who is working in us, or is fighting for us. 

So let’s stop with the sighing, grumbling, and murmuring against one another, against the oppression of the evil ones, and especially not against God. For we have God the Holy Spirit living in us for we are overcomers (victorious) over this world and its ruler. So be patient, gracious, merciful, and compassionate.

Now James leads the church and believers in reflecting on the champion of perseverance and endurance through suffering, Job. So let’s read the last portion of the text. ”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 gives the third illustration of perseverance and endurance in the life of Job. God saw the oppression and the suffering of Job, for it was an appointed test and He used it to show His manifest blessings even after great trials and testing as he stated earlier in the letter. “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (1:12)

For perseverance taught them to have restraint, not to retaliate against the oppressors. For God is a compassionate and merciful God, again even to the Ninevites in Jonah’s life, for they received forgiveness through their repentance. James wanted the church to be an example of this compassion, mercy, and grace through forgiveness and repentance. “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

Last, James wanted them to understand that true victory came through perseverance, they were not to fight back like the world, but to be like their Savior and Lord. It wasn’t in understanding perseverance through the acts of the flesh nature, but in suffering through obedience to God, knowing that He sees it all and He is able to save. “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.” (Isa. 59:1) He is the sovereign over everything, and He will reward and save and He will judge and condemn.

So James exhorts the church to be patient in suffering, not to grumble or complain inwardly or outwardly, and to persevere in trials. As James stated at the beginning, “You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”

Application - Perseverance is a lesson learned on the field of battle. As Paul stated later to the Romans on suffering for the faith, “... because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Rom. 5:3b-5)

Nobody wants to go through what Job endured. But God used Job’s testing to show us to persevere in the midst of oppression and testing of our faith. We know our God is compassionate and merciful, and gracious to us in the midst of our suffering. In the end Job was blessed, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before…The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.” (Job 42:10,12)

So let's be like Job, let us pray for our oppressors, pray to our God with thanksgiving especially in times of suffering, testing and trials. And wait patiently for our Lord’s coming. For we know that what He has prepared for us is much greater than what we have in this world. God has called us to forbearance and perseverance, for we are more than conquerors. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom. 8:18,37)

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation for all those who have not yet received Jesus Christ for salvation. For Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I have revised my webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. Thank you. http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com