Main Idea
We have two essential truths from James:
A Command - Be patient...until the coming of the Lord.
A Promise - The Lord is compassionate and merciful
Notes
Introduction -- For the last several months we have been studying in depth the NT letter of James.
James is described by many as the most moral book in the NT
The letter is devoted to giving guidance to Christians
It is not a letter to unbelievers to teach them how they can earn salvation by their good works, but it is directed to Christians to guide them in how to live once they have acknowledged Christ as their Savior.
The letter is filled with commands
Of the 108 verses in James, 54 are in the imperative mood, which is used to express direct commands or instructions
They look at first like a random list of disconnected moral instructions, but a closer study will reveal a very caffefully organized presentation of biblical guidance on how to live wisely during God's meantime.
Today's Passage: James 5:7-12
In these verses, we can detect a pattern that will guide us during God's meantime:
The pattern of patience
The pattern of judgment
We also can see God's promise to encourage us
The Pattern of Patience
The Pattern | Resulting Action |
vs. 7-8, 10 Patience (Longsuffering) | vs. 9 The Tongue (Grumbling) |
vs. 11 Patience (Perseverance) | vs. 12 The Tongue (Using Oaths) |
The gist of our entire passage is found in the two lines of the text:
A Command - Be patient...until the coming of the Lord. (v. 7)
A Promise - The Lord is compassionate and merciful (v. 8)
James is taking us back to the opening theme of the letter which is a call to perseverance in the face of trials.
In chapter 5, James expands on the meaning of patience by adding another Greek word to his discussion.
Two Greek words for patience:
Makrothumeo, which means patience or long-suffering
Hupomeno, which means endurance or perseverance
They are often used interchangeably, so it is easy to translate both words as patience.
In fact, Paul also speaks of these two qualities together (Col 1.11, 2 Tim. 3.10; 2 Cor. 6:4-6)
Patience
Combination of two words. Many Bible scholars suggest that the word usually applied to remaining silent and not retaliating when mistreated by others.
Sometimes, however, long-suffering is applied to remaining quiet when one has not been mistreated by others, as James illustrates the patience of the farmer who waits without complaining during the long period between the planting of his seeds and the harvest of the crop.
If any of you have seen farmers during their time of waiting they do not spend that time sitting at home watching TV. No, during their waiting time, they also work, cultivating the crops and preparing for the time of the harvest.
They leave us with a very important lesson to apply to our lives: We learn to work while we wait for the coming of the Lord.
This also leads to a warning to watch our hearts:
In verse 8 James commands to Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James is saying be careful what you think, because out of your thoughts will come the words that are on your mind (cf. Matt. 15:19)
Second, James is telling us to watch our fellowship:
In verse 9 James exhorts us: Do not grumble against one another, brothers.
NEB: Do not blame one another for your troubles, my brothers
How sad that one of the most frequently addressed topics in the pages of the NT concerns the lack of unity in our churches
Many people leave their church, or stop attending church altogether, because they are tired of the fighting among the members of the congregation.
Have we ever considered that when we complain about others, we are actually acting as their judge?
We are playing the role of God when we judge others (cf. Matt. 7.1)
James goes a step further and tells us that the Judge is standing at the door - a reference to the ancient practice of a judge standing at the door of the court building for all the people to see him before he enters his chamber to pass judgment. When he stands at the door, it means judgment is near.
Long-suffering calls us to hold our tongues and not retaliate against those who insult us. Rather, we respond by showing our love for them.
John Wesley: We should be rigorous in judging ourselves and generous in judging others.
Perseverance
The Greek word, hupomeno, is usually translated as endurance, steadfastness, or perseverance.
Often contrasted with long-suffering by suggesting it involves persevering through difficult circumstances.
This is where James gives us 2 more examples of patient endurance in verses 10 and 11. In these verses, he talks of the prophets who suffered great mistreatment by his own people when they did not like the prophecies of judgment, even resulting in the deaths of many of the prophets.
James uses both patience and perseverance to discuss them
The lesson of the prophets: We can learn to witness and wait in the midst of suffering
At the end of v. 11, James goes on to illustrate the patience of Job, but using the word for endurance to describe how he maintained his commitment to God, even when he suffered through difficult circumstances.
From Job we learn that we can Worship and Wait while trusting God.
At this point, we should ask the question why James is adding another word for patience at the end of his letter. I believe he is telling us that patience involves endurance, but it includes more than endurance of those trials which are largely beyond our control. Even unbelievers do that.
By adding the other word for patience, he is informing us that there are matters that are within our control where we are called to be patient. We cannot always control how others are going to mistreat us, but we can control our responses to them. We can love them anyway and not complain about them or retaliate against them. That is long-suffering.
Presence
The power to endure all the pain and suffering is the second coming of Jesus - the Pattern of Judgment.
We are told to be patient until the coming of the Lord
When the coming of the Lord is mentioned in the NT, we usual refer to it as the Second Coming of Christ
There are approximately 1800 references in the Bible to the second coming.
That is 1 mention in every 30 verses.
The most common word in the NT for the return of the Lord is Parousia which comes from the Greek word for Presence or Arrival.
It is a term commonly used in the days of the Roman Empire to describe the arrival and personal presence of an emperor/king/governor in a village of his domain.
So, when we talk about God's "meantime", we are talking about the time between Jesus' first and second coming.
In the Spirit, Christ is present with us just as much as He was physically present with His followers during His first coming, and He will be again with us during His second coming.
Bernard of Clairvaux got it write when he wrote, "We know the coming of the Lord is three-fold: the first coming was in the flesh and weakness, the middle coming is in spirit and power, and the final coming will be in glory and majesty.
John 14:16 - Jesus promises his disciples, "and I will ask the Father, and He will send you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth."
The Parousia is not good news for everyone
For the Christian it is good news, the cause for rejoicing, hope, and joy.
It is what we pray for. It marks the end of the pain and suffering we endure throughout our lifetime.
For the unbeliever, however, it is bad news, the cause of terror, unanswered questions, and judgment. They have nothing to look forward to in the life to come, but fear and uncertainty.
Once again, we see this in the structure of James' letter.
The Pattern | Resulting Judgment |
vs. 7-8 The Coming Lord | vs. 9 The Coming Judge |
vs. 10-11 The Coming End | vs. 12 The Coming Judgment |
This passage is talking about such oaths as saying, "I swear to God" or "I swear on my mother's grave" that I am telling the truth.
James is telling us that if we are known to be truthful and trustworthy people of integrity, we can let our yes be yes and our no be no when we make a promise.
He is concerned that if we make an oath that we cannot keep, we are going to be in danger of the judgment.
The judgment at the end is the judgment of unbelievers, whereas the judge before whom Christians appear is Jesus, at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5.10). This is not our judgment for salvation, for that was already settled at the cross, but it is the judgment of our works for the determining of our heavenly rewards.
Why is Jesus taking so long to return?
Christ desires that all should come to repentance
While this is God's desire, the Bible teaches that not everyone will commit their lives to Christ
There is one thing we can be sure of: Christ will not return until all who are chosen to be saved will be saved
Doesn't this say something to us about the importance of evangelizing the world (Matt. 24.14)?
Doesn't Peter exhort us in v. 12 to be "waiting for and hastening the coming of the Day of God?"
If we want Christ to hurry up and return, why don't we hurry up and spread the gospel to the whole world?
God's Overlooked Promise: Rejoice in the Lord's Promise (v. 11b)
It sounds throughout the letter that James is describing an angry God. After focusing on the 54 commands of the letter, this is where most of us stop reading.
As a result, we miss the second important line of this passage, and what I believe is the most important line of all, because this is where our hope lies
Even the great Reformation leader, Martin Luther, missed this line for many years and thus he called James an "epistle of straw", because it conflicted with his understanding of justification by faith alone.
After he addressed a multitude of sins committed by the people of God, he closes his call to patient endurance by declaring in 11b "You have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."
When we fall short of obeying all the commands that James gives in his letter, and all of us do the good news is that we have a compassionate and merciful God.
When we fall short of obeying all the commands that James gives in his letter, and all of us do, the good news is that we have a compassionate and merciful God.
Because we have hope we can be joyful
You may wonder how can Christians be joyful when we are surrounded by so much turmoil around us?
How can we rejoice when we even experience division among ourselves and fellow Christians?
When we understand joy as, "the assurance that God is in control of every area of our lives", we can have joy in every circumstance.
We know that the Lord is compassionate and merciful
Second, we are assured of a glorious future
Third, God has enabled us to patient endurance.
When all is said and done, we can sum up the message of James with a command and a promise, which I believe are the essential truths of the letter
A Command - Be patient...until the coming of the Lord.
A Promise - The Lord is compassionate and merciful
The command teaches us how to be effective servants during God's meantime; the promise is what gives us our assurance of eternal life.
Closing Story: Cliff Young
Cliff Young was a potato farmer and sheep herder in Australia. When he herded his sheep, he did not use horses, or dogs, or a jeep. He would literally run after his sheep, all day, every day, to herd them to where he wanted them to go
His friends who watched him running day in and day out, urged him to enter Australia's famous ultra-marathon, an annual 544-mile run from Sydney to Melbourne.
Ultimately, in 1983, he relented and decided to give the race a try. He had never before run in a professional race, so he showed up at the starting line in his usual running gear, his farm clothes and rubber boots.
Naturally, he ran much slower than the seasoned runners around him who were in their running gear, but after 5 days, 15 hours, and 4 minutes, he crossed the finish line, 2 full days ahead of the other runners. He didn't realize the others would stop and sleep at night, but he just shuffled along while the other runners dozed. He ended up crossing in record time.
And he was 61 years old when he ran the race. That is patient endurance.