05 Apr

4/7/10    James 5:1-12   “Are You Patient?”

I would like to begin today as James did in our reading by talking about the rich people.  I know that most of us consider ourselves to be just ordinary middle class folks.  We hardly ever stop to consider that our middle class would be considered to be very wealthy in many parts of the world.  I would go on to say that most of our poor people in this country would be considered to be wealthy in many places.  We have drinking water and we have food.  We have many of the things that are luxuries in some places.  The reason that I start out with this reminder is that we need to remember that we are not only wealthy, but we are also role models for anyone who sees us.  James starts by telling us that there will be very hard times unless we are in Jesus Christ.  Jesus holds everything together.  Sure there will still be hard times but at least we have somewhere to go.  It is in Christ that we can find true love, kindness, hope, peace and patience.  Today we are going to take a look at patience and see how we might be able to have and maintain it.

I would like to begin today with the testimony of a Chinese Christian: “I walked through the road of life and had fallen into a great ditch. The ditch was filled with depression, discouragement, and sin. As I lay in that ditch, Mohammed came along and said, ‘It’s your fault you’re in the ditch. You offended Allah, and this is your just punishment.’ Then Marx came by and said, ‘You’re in the ditch because of class warfare. You must revolt.’ But after the government changed, I was still in my ditch. Then Buddha came along and said, ‘You’re not really in that ditch. You just think you’re there. It’s all an illusion of the mind. Be at peace.’ Then Confucius came by and said, ‘Here are the 10 steps of self-attainment by which you can get out of your ditch. If you will struggle, you will climb out eventually.’ But as much as I struggled and strained, I couldn’t get out of the ditch, because it was too deep.  “Then one day, Jesus Christ came by and saw me in my ditch. Without a word, he took off his white robe and got down in the muddy ditch with me. Then he lifted me up with his strong arms and got me out of the ditch. Thank God that Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself.”  People, you cannot have anything good without Jesus.  This includes love, hope and patience.  I praise the Lord that He came beside me when I was in my ditch.

I wanted to include the first few verses here because they really do paint a picture of unintended circumstances.  First if you don’t know Christ then you will be in for a surprise, an eternal surprise.  If you are following some of the false churches in this country, you may be also in trouble.  I have said this many times that there are many incompetent pastors who are working for the devil and leading congregations astray and they don’t even know it.  Beware!  If a pastor doesn’t follow the Bible exactly, then beware.

Listen all you rich people and most of us are rich people.  You will take nothing with you to heaven or to hell.  James tells us that your gold and silver will corrode away.  Your money is worthless.  We learn in other places that the only things that come with you are kind acts, what you have gave others and love.  In other words, the fruits of the Spirit that you used while in this world.  Things from God are the only things that will last and they will last an eternity.  The rich man in Luke 16 was burning in hell as he looked across the great chasm to Lazarus who was happy and joyful in heaven.  Which place would you rather be?

If you are truly rich even by our standards, then beware again.  How do you treat your employees?  Do you not care who they are or what they do when they are away from the job?  If you are a cruel employer or just a normal employer in this country, then you should begin to take an interest in your people.  They have a hotline to God in heaven.  They are the poor and the needy.  How many times has your church not helped someone in need?  This is the same thing.  The church has the best luxury in the world in Jesus Christ and yet we are afraid to share Him with the people around us, especially those new on Sunday morning.  I was just talking with a fellow who told me how friendly his church was.  However, I knew of 2 sets of people in the last little while who had been there and no one talked to them.  What happens in these so called friendly churches is that we are friendly to ourselves and not outsiders.  I attended a church once where we had a rule that we couldn’t talk to each other but we had to find people we didn’t know and engage them.  Do you know what happened to them?  They are on their second building project in 10 years and they still haven’t built a sanctuary.  That is what I call intentional hospitality.

Anyway, we finally get to the crux of this sermon about patience in verse 7.  We are told to be patient until the Lord’s coming.  There is quite a difference between ancient and modern thinking on this, or is there?  The ancient writers took Jesus at his word in worldly time.  Jesus said He would be right back, basically.  But He was talking about His time zone.  For Jesus every minute is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a minute.  In other words, time like we know it doesn’t exist.  We know now that Jesus will be coming back when the Father says it’s time for Him to come back.  It probably will not be soon on our time table, although it could be.  He will be back when we don’t expect it.

I think we do the same thing today.  How many people do you know who tell you we are in the end times?  I know that we are always in the end times but these people seem to have some sort of inside track that they know when these things will occur.  Here’s a tip; don’t listen to them.  I recently preached on Luke 21:11 where Jesus basically tells us that we are not in the end times yet.  They are coming but not in the fashion that many people think.  We have no more patience than the ancients when it comes to Jesus coming back.  Everyone thinks He will be here soon but still it isn’t time.  But just because He might be coming soon doesn’t mean that we give up on Him.  He is coming and that is a promise.

We live in an area of agriculture where we have some real patient people.  A farmer plants his crops and waits for them to be harvested.  He cannot go out and harvest until the crop is ripe or else there would be no crop.  He is patient for the sunshine and rain.  The farmer cycle has always been there.  I have visited with farmers who have lost their whole crop due to hail.  They tell me that it is just part of the deal.  They don’t like it but there is really not much they can do about it.  They rely on Jesus.

They might have lots to grumble about but there is nothing they can do to change it.  It’s the same way with us.  I cannot win one person to Jesus Christ.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  There is no reason for me to grumble about you or anyone else when things don’t go right in the church.  As a matter of fact I don’t think that grumbling does any good at any time.  When things aren’t right here or any other place, action is much better than inactive grumbling.  Jesus tells us right here not to do it lest we be judged for it.  I’m not going to judge anyone but Jesus will judge everyone and you should get used to this idea.  There is nothing you can do in this world, there is no thought you can have that Jesus doesn’t know.  He is the judge and He is standing at the door.

Then James goes on to tell them about the prophets of old and the tremendous patience they had to have.  Think about the lives of Jeremiah and Isaiah.  They were both persecuted because they dared to stand up and tell the kings what they were doing wrong according to what God told them.  Can you imagine what would happen if you told President Trump or President Obama that what they were doing was totally against the will of God and that they would pay for their sins committed while leading the country?  Think of the bad things that happen just because a baker refuses to make a cake for a so-called marriage of a man to a man or a woman to a woman.  Or better yet, how hard do you think people will laugh at you if you said divorce and abortion are wrong.  We live in a society that hates the truth.  It’s ok as long as people agree with it.  But the Bible isn’t a book that you have that option of agreeing or not.  You can either accept Jesus Christ as God or you can go to the place where there is no light or joy of any kind.  You can do this today by confessing your sins to Jesus and asking Him to live in your life as your Lord and Savior.  It’s that simple.  The result will be the best life you can ever ask for and that is a promise from Jesus Christ.  And I’m a witness that this happens.

James mentions the prophet Job.  If you remember Job was a man who loved God and did everything right according to God.  He was rewarded with great wealth and riches.  He had a large family and much happiness.  Then Satan interrupted his life and all was lost.  The first lesson to learn from this is that you will lose everything if you follow Satan.  If you don’t know Jesus yet, then you will never gain anything by following Satan.  Anyway, Job doesn’t waver in his love for God.  He stays the course with God even when his health is so bad that he just wants to die and go home.  His whole family has died and he has no flocks and no crop.  But he will refuse to denounce God.  He remains patient and steadfast.

If you look at the prophets of the Old Testament you will soon see that they were all tested almost beyond endurance.  And yet, yet, they remained patient with God.  They knew He was in charge even when the world persecuted them to the limit.  Then look at the prophets of the New Testament.  Many times Paul was beaten, tortured, stoned and left for dead.  All the disciples were murdered in some fashion by the authorities.  John is the only exception and he was exiled to a penal island in his old age.  It must have been terribly hard for him to even exist.  But in spite of all the terrible things that were done to them, not a one renounced Jesus.  They had seen Him in person.  They saw the love, the miracles, and the ways of God in person.  They were not about to go back to the old way of life where nothing was good.

It’s the same way today.  I don’t have to be here.  I’m retired.  But I do these things because of my love for Jesus Christ.  I am the happiest when I’m talking about Jesus to people, whether it is up in the front or in a coffee house.  It doesn’t matter where I am.  I have seen the miracles of Jesus, the love of Jesus to all people and the ways of God in person.  I spent or wasted 40 years of my life before I came to know Jesus.  I have never looked back because Jesus has provided me with a life that is absolutely so much better than my old life that there is no comparison.  You can have that too.

This leads me to our last point which is the evidence of patience in your life or more importantly, Jesus in your life.  When I became a Christian, I had absolutely no intention of becoming a pastor.  I was perfectly content to work behind the scenes.  I was patient because I knew that Jesus would open up things for me to do.  He started by having me teach a kindergarten Sunday school class.  If you have never done anything like this, let me tell you that this is really hard.  I had never taught young kids before but I stumbled through.  I kept going just patiently doing what the Lord asked.  Next thing you know, I’m a retired pastor and I’m standing in front of you today.

People will know that you are a Christian by the patience you have.  Now some people come to Christ and they are totally impatient with everything.  Sometimes it takes time to get rid of the kinks in your old way of life and that is ok.  But patience is a good sign of a Christian life.  The Apostle Paul for instance had been a ruthless killer.  Later he would just brush himself off after being in prison or whatever and move on to the next place.  This is important.  Don’t waste your time on people who get angry with you for being a Christian.  There are plenty of people out there who are dying to hear the message.  Brush yourself off and move to the next person.

Michael McCartney gives us meaning to patience.  He says that patience is the ability to sit back and wait for an expected outcome without experiencing anxiety, tension, or frustration.  It is the ability let go of your need for immediate gratification and be willing to wait.  Patience is the trait that displays tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping abilities.  And finally most importantly patience is the ability to remain calm in the midst of turmoil because you know God is in control.

People, God is in control of everything even when you think you are or especially when you think you are.  Learn to develop patience.  As a matter of fact I have a little assignment for you this week.  Pray for patience.  Do this every day.  Maybe you have to do it for a month but when you start to see the results you will wonder why you waited so long.  Jesus Christ only wants the very best for you.  The very best for you may start with patience.  Keep praying for this until people know you by your patience.  Jesus loves you more than anyone or anything else in the world.  Give Him a little patience in return.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.