Patience – James 5:7-10
Patience
James 5:7-10
INTRODCUCTION:
A dad was taking his son on a long excursion to go fishing. They lived in New Mexico and were going fishing in Colorado - a 250 mile trip. As you could imagine, this four-year-old had a hard time being patient. Every fifty miles he would ask if they were almost there. The father answered that they still had a ways to go. The son would wait a few minutes and ask again. Once, the father said, “Sorry, Son, we have another hundred miles yet.”
After waiting a little while longer, the son said, “Daddy, am I still going to be four years old when we get there?”
“Patience” - the ability to tolerate delay or accept trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset.
The Christians to whom James is writing are being ignored and treated unfairly by others and maybe even by some wealthy Christians. Back in 2:1-7, James warned Christians not to practice their Christianity with an attitude of personal favoritism by giving precedence to Christians who were wealthier.
At the end of James 2 (2:14-26), James points out that all Christians need to be known for doing good to those who are in need. Then in chapter 3, James warns Christians to watch their tongue because they cannot bless God and curse their fellow man - especially fellow Christians - with the same tongue.
In chapter 4, James warns against fussing and fighting among Christians and encourages Christians to submit themselves to God and humble themselves before God. They should not judge each other nor should they focus so much on the future that they forget to do good in the present.
Finally, in the first part of chapter 5, James speaks to the rich people - and I suspect some of these wealthy people to whom James is directing his thoughts are wealthy Christians - he says they have abused God’s children with their wealth and have condemned and put to death the righteous (ver. 6).
So then in the paragraph we’ll consider in this study (5:7-10), James directs his thoughts to Christians who might not be among the wealthy members of society, but who are “rich in faith” (2:5). However, it is not easy to be patient when things in life are going poorly. We want problems resolved now!
BE PATIENT - 5:7:
James tells Christians to be patient until Jesus comes again. Wow, that could be a very long time! Patience is mentioned as one of the fruit of the Spirit, a quality that is the result of us having the Spirit dwell in us and walking by the Spirit’s teachings. If we have the Spirit dwelling in us, we need to also develop the patience that He teaches us to have.
As Christians, we need to be patient with everyone - we need to be patient with God and allow Him to work in our lives on His schedule. Sometimes we’re in a hurry but God isn’t. We need to be patient with people around us. And we need to be patient with ourselves, because growth does not come automatically and it does not come overnight.
In 1 Thess. 5:14, Paul tells the Christians in Thessalonica to “be patient with everyone!”
God is patient toward us - Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:9 that God is not “slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
James uses an illustration from the agricultural life since it was all around them. The farmer expects the precious fruit of the earth, but he has to wait patiently for it, until the land receives the early rains and the late rains. Only then does the land produce a crop.
A department store manager in a mall noticed a young boy was staring intently at the handrail of an escalator. The manager walked over and asked if he was doing alright. The boy nodded yes without taking his eyes off the escalator. “Can I help you?” the manager asked. The boy shook his head no. “Well, young man, do you want me to explain to you how escalators work?” The boy then replied, “No, Mister. I’m waiting for my bubble gum to come back!”
How can we be patient until Jesus comes again?
STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART - 5:8:
Our righteousness and our wickedness are dependent on where our heart is located. Disobedience and obedience begin and end in the heart. So here in verse 8, James says to be patient and to “strengthen” your heart.
To “strengthen” your heart means to make it determined, like when Jesus “determined” that He would go to Jerusalem, even though He knew that it would mean His crucifixion (Luke 9:51). We have an obligation to also help each other to be patient and stay determined, as Jesus told Peter to do in Luke 22:32: “strengthen your brothers.”
We are established or “strengthened” through the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ (Rom. 16:25), so we need to feed our spirits with the word of God and study the gospel. We are strengthened in the truth of God’s word - 2 Peter 1:12.
To encourage us to remain holy and be patient until Christ comes again, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 that Christ is able to establish our hearts without blame in holiness before God at the coming of Jesus Christ (see also 2 Thess. 2:17; 3:3; 1 Peter 5:10).
No-one treated Abraham Lincoln with more contempt than a man named Edwin Stanton. He denounced Lincoln’s policies and called him a clown. In fact, he called him the “original gorilla.” He said that this one explorer who had gone to Africa during their lifetime to capture a gorilla could have saved himself some time and money because he could have easily found one in Springfield, IL, Lincoln’s hometown.
But when Lincoln needed a man to head his War department, he asked Stanton to do so because he believed that Edwin Stanton was the right man for the job. The night Lincoln was assassinated, Stanton said with tears in his eyes: “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.” The patience of love had conquered in the end.
Strengthen your heart to be patient.
DO NOT COMPLAIN - 5:9:
Complaining is often a symptom of a heart that is not patient. We complain because we want something and we want it now! So we complain because the world does not revolve around us.
This word is also translated “sighing” (Mark 7:34) and “groaning” (Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 5:2). Sometimes it is sighing or groaning because things are not working out as fast as we want them to. In Hebrews 13:17, the Hebrew writer tells Christians to obey their leaders in the church so that the leaders will lead with joy and not with complaining!
Among the vices that complaining illustrates is a lack of thankfulness to God for the blessings He has given to us.
James says that if we complain against each other, we might be judged. And the One who judges is standing right at the door! Jesus endured a lot of discomfort and abuse throughout His life time and we never reading of Him complaining! But He also stands ready to judge those who do not have the patience to receive God’s blessings in God’s time and in God’s way, so they complain about what someone else has.
Be patient. Strengthen your heart. Don’t complain.
I am reminded of the elementary school teacher who had just finished help her first-graders put on their galoshes, all 32 pairs. The very last girl said, “You know what, teacher? These are not my galoshes.”
The teacher took them off her feet. Then the little girl continued, “They are my sister’s and she let me wear them.” The teacher patiently put them back on her student.
Patience means not complaining, but doing what needs to be done.
CONSIDER THE PROPHETS - 5:10:
The prophets, James writes, are an example of suffering evil and of patience as they spoke in the name of the Lord.
When we study the prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, we learn what all they experienced and went through - but yet they stayed faithful to God - in circumstances and conditions that are far superior and easier to endure than what we have here in this life and this timeframe. Consider the prophets, how faithful they were in staying faithful to God, and staying faithful to His word.
Among the prophets would, of course, be Abraham. In Hebrew 6:13-15, the Hebrew writer uses Abraham as an example of patience. God made Abraham a promise and God emphasized that promise by swearing an oath that God would bless him and multiply his family. Then the Hebrew writer says that Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
Abraham would have missed out on the promise if he hadn’t waited patiently for God to fulfill His oath.
In Ephesians 4:2, Paul associates our patience with humility, gentleness, tolerance, and love.
HOW CAN WE BE MORE PATIENT?
1. Picture yourself being successful at whatever you’re needing patience for.
2. Pray to God for patience.
3. Slow your own life down; a busy life contributes to an impatient mind.
4. Distract yourself with things that are good and healthy.
5. Breath deeply when you get anxious in your impatience.
6. Talk to yourself; remind yourself of the rewards of being patient and what might happen if you are not patient.
7. Trust God to work things out for your improvement, which might be to teach you patience!
8. Write about what causes you to be impatient, in what circumstances you are impatient, and what you can do to stay patient.
9. Spend time in God’s word and be taught by the Spirit and inspired to be more patient. The decline in reading is correlated with our culture’s rise in impatience. Reading, especially the inspired word, can help improve your patience. Just start with a chapter a day.
Take home message: Jesus challenges us to be patient. Strengthen your heart. Don’t Complain. Consider the prophets.