James 5:7-12

Okay, we are continuing our study through the letter of James and in 5/1 through 6, James has offered a prophetic denunciation of the rich who are oppressing the poor. And it reminds believers, his original audience, of poor believers, that God isn't blind to our oppression. God hears our cries and to be faithful. Well in James 5, 7 and following, James takes up that topic directly and immediately. And so he really now turns his attention from the condemnation of the wealthy unbelievers that was found in 5/1 through 6. And he begins to look directly at the believers and says, "So here's what you should do. In view of how you're being mistreated, in view of how the wealthy are getting away with it, you feel helpless and powerless. In view of the fact you know that God hears your cries and sees your need and God will bring justice, how should you respond?" And James 5, 7 through 12, tells them how they should respond. And by extension, tells us as well. So James writes these words, James 5, 7 says, "Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." So that's the basic response. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Couple notes, the word here, patience, is not the same word as perseverance that we saw for suffering and trials and difficulty in James 1. The word for perseverance or endurance is the idea of not giving up. Not giving up. It's Hupamone in Greek. Be patient is from the idea of macrothamia, macrothrometo. It's the idea of, it's going to take you a lot to get angry. So being patient as this idea is, you're going to stay the course. You're going to keep doing what's right and you're not going to lash out. You're not going to get all nasty. You're not going to get all uptight inside and worked up inside. You're going to be patient and you're going to have a heart that's at rest and that patience trusting God to do what's right. So be patient therefore, brethren. Intel specifically, Intel, here's the deadline, here's the time you know when it's going to happen until the coming of the Lord. The word translated coming is the Greek word, paracia, which literally means presence or appearing. And it's one of the words used in the New Testament for Jesus' second coming because in the ancient world, it was used really to describe an official visit by a royal monarch by an emperor or something like that. And so your city would get word somehow that the emperor was coming for a visit and his visit was described as his paracia, his coming, his appearing. And so you would make preparations and then you would be ready to visit him. So Jesus is the world's true emperor. He's the true king over all kings, over all emperors, over all presidents. And so we wait patiently, not an anger, not an strife, not an irritability, we wait patiently until our king appears, until he comes. With that then, James begins to give some illustrations of what that might look like. He actually is going to give three over the next several verses broken up by some instruction between. The first illustration he gives is that of a farmer, which again is very apropos. In view of the condemnation in verses one through six, what it was about, day labors and tenant farmers working wealthy landowners farmland, very appropriate that the first illustration is a farmer. Particularly since most of the poor were probably in that situation. It was farming was the dominant trade of the day. It was the easiest place to find work and so many of those poor who are being mistreated were farmers. And so it's an appropriate illustration. And so James writes, behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil. And so this idea of waiting, waiting. Okay, we know there's an incoming. We know it's coming. And so the farmer waits. He waits patiently. And we are called to wait patiently as well until Jesus comes. So the farmer waits patiently for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and late reigns. The Palestinian landscape was dominated by two rainy seasons, one rainy season in kind of the November time periodish and one rainy season in the spring, March, April time period. And it was that rainy season that allowed the produce to grow. And so the farmer does all his work and knowing that trusting that the rainy seasons are going to come and his harvest will be fine. And so he patiently goes about his task, goes about his work, believing that there's an end point to come. And so James says in verse eight, you likewise, you to be patient. Notice the repetition on the word patience. This is the third time James has used that word in us. Just a little over a sentence he wants us to really see that. And this is how we're supposed to wait. In view of oppression, in view of injustice, in view of wrongdoing, we know that God will hold people accountable. We know that our king will appear and make all things right. So we go about our work. We go about what we're called to do with patience, knowing God will sort everything out and make things right. So you to be patient. Be patient in your heart. It will come. He will appear every morning. You wake up, you're a day closer to the appearing of Jesus when he will sort everything out, make everything right and make everything new. So be patient and strengthen your heart. Strengthen your resolve to continue to do what's right and to continue to follow Jesus, regardless of what life throws your way. Verse 19, James offers some more instruction in view of this kind of situation. He says this, don't complain, brethren, against one another. Notice this is a really important shift. He shifts to address interpersonal relationships within the church among the body of believers. And he says specifically, don't complain. And the idea of complaining is grumbling against and murmuring and getting annoyed with. This is an extension of being impatient. Right? Like when we're impatient, we become irritable and we become contancorous and hard to get along with. And he's saying, don't do that. Don't complain. Don't murmur. Don't grumble, brethren, against one another, against your fellow believers. And oftentimes what happens is when there's pressure from the outside, pressure externally, that we can't control and we can't do anything about, we become irritable within ourselves and that we take that out on the people closest to us. The people that we need most for support. And James is saying, well, hold on, pay attention. Be aware that that's a tendency and don't do that. Don't let that happen. Don't grumble and complain against each other, brethren, that you yourselves may not be judged because God will hold you accountable for that as well. Behold, He says, the judge is standing right at the door. And this is a reminder again that God is at hand. He is near. He sees. He will appear. And He will make everything right. And He will hold wrong doers accountable so you don't have to worry about it. So you just continue to do what's right. Trusting that God will sort everything out in due time. Then James offers another example to help strengthen us and encourage us. He says, as an example, brethren of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. In other words, think back to the Old Testament prophets. Think back to them and let them be a pattern to you, an example to you, a model to you of suffering and patience. That word translated suffering here. This is the only place it's used in the New Testament in it. And it has to do with dealing with difficulty, with bad stuff in your life. And He says, so take a look at the prophets. Think of what they went through. Think of Jeremiah and some of the experiences he endured. Think of Isaiah and some of the things he endured. And think about Elijah and Elisha and what they put up with. Look at the prophets and see how they continue to speak in the name of the Lord. They continue to do what's right. Even when everything was against them. And even when they were being treated unfairly and wrongly. In fact, James says when we look at the prophets or others like them, we were encouraged because we count them blessed for having endured, right? For having put up with all this and stayed the course and persevered under difficulty. And then James comes up with another example, Job from the Old Testament. He says you've heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. In fact, if you're familiar with the story of Job in the Old Testament, Job endure just a whole series of unfortunate events that just come up on him as a way to test his faith and his faithfulness. And Job remains true. Job never gets an answer from God as to why it happened. Job even endures like mistreatment from his friends who are giving him bad advice, have a bad perspective on the whole situation. situation, but Job stays the course. And the end of it, as James highlights here is the end of it, is that God restores Job's fortunes. God blesses him beyond measure. And so, as James says, we see that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. And so James ends the section by saying, "So above all my brethren, don't swear by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be knows that you may not fall under judgment." And what James seems to be saying is he ends this and wrapping it up is, you continue to act with integrity. You continue to do what's right. Let your yes be yes and your no be no echoes the words of Jesus in the sermon on the Mount that is really calling us to a life of integrity. When we say, "We're going to do something," we do it. When we say, "No, I'm not going to do that." We don't do it. We are people of integrity. We are people of our word. We do what's right. And so, James, this final appeal to us is, "As you go about life and as you deal with difficulty, keep doing what's right. Live with integrity. Be patient, persevere, watch your spirit, guard your tongue, and you be a person of integrity, and do what's right." There's so much wisdom for us in the words of James here. So often, when things are wrong in the world, we want to fix them. We want to straighten people out. We want to take people to court. And occasionally, there's times to do that. There's occasionally times where we need to take people to court, right? That may be fine. But the wisdom of James here is, "But what's going on inside of us? What's going on in our heart and soul?" And James really is primary advice here. The main command is be patient. Have a patient heart. Have a patient soul that waits on God to make things, right? Because the reality is, there's going to be no perfect justice in this world before Jesus returns. And so, if we're looking for perfect justice, if we're frustrated by the injustice of life, be patient. Be patient. Wait until Jesus returns. Who will sort all things out, who will bring ultimate, complete, and perfect justice to this world, who will vindicate his people, those who have lived an integrity and done what's right. And so, don't let your spirit get all worked up into a frenzy. Don't become irritable, grumbling, and complaining. Don't become angry and hostile. Be patient. And wait for the coming of the Lord.