Active Faith (Part Twenty): The Priority of Patient Endurance

Transcript

JRNT 20
April 30, 2023
Active Faith (Part Twenty): The Priority of Patient Endurance
James 5: 7-11
Jesse Randolph

There are some days where it’s just hard. It’s hard to face the day. It’s hard to open our eyes. It’s hard to get up. It’s hard to swing our legs across our body and land them on the floor, as we go about the day. It’s hard to think about pushing that rock uphill one more time. It’s hard to think about that every-growing list of items that you need to accomplish that day. It’s hard to think of the many sources of heartburn that are coming your way that day. The mounting debt. The brewing conflict with a vendor. The tension with your spouse. That difficult conversation you need to have with somebody from your home bible study. It can be hard to keep your eyes focused on Christ. It can be hard to keep eternity in view. It can be hard to spend concentrated time in the word. It can be hard to pray. It can be hard to come to church. Then, in the midst of the ordinary circumstances of life, the difficulties and doldrums of life, a trial comes. A death in the family. A troubling medical diagnosis. A pink slip. Divorce papers. A child who denounces the faith and never wants to see you again. A granddaughter who now says she’s your grandson. A grandson who’s been eaten up by a drug addiction. It falls on you like a ton of bricks. You feel crushed. You feel suffocated, as though under the weight of an avalanche. You feel like you’ve been kicked in the teeth. Life was already hard, but now, it feels impossible. So now, you’re questioning yourself. You’re questioning just how solid the ground you’re standing on is. You’re questioning just how sovereign God is. You’re questioning just how good God is. You’re questioning, in some cases, whether God is even there; and whether the faith you thought you had is real. You’re questioning whether the message of the Christian gospel is real. You’re questioning whether there might be a kernel of truth to what all those skeptics are saying. You’re questioning whether there may be a better way, or an easier way, to navigate and survive this life. Because, if there’s not, if you’re being honest, you sometimes feel tempted just to give up.

To which James, the Holy Spirit-directed human author of the book that we’re studying this morning, and each Sunday morning, would say: “Hold on.” See, the first-century recipients of James’ letter, they knew difficulty. They knew hardship. They knew what it was like to go through difficult days, and difficult seasons. They knew struggles and they knew suffering. Remember, this was a group of newer believers. Those who had left their Judaism, and turned to the Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, in saving faith. They’d believed in Him. They trusted in Him. But, having done so, they were now experiencing trials of various kinds. Which is why James told them, all the way back in James 1:2, to “consider it all joy” in the midst of their various difficulties and trials. He told them in James 1:3, that the “testing of [their faith] produces endurance. And he told them in James 1:4, that their endurance, that their perseverance, in the face of trials would “have its perfect result, so that [they] may [would] be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

But still, it was hard. Life continued to be hard. The terrain continued to be tough for these early believers. Because they were still facing their trials. Still experiencing difficulty and suffering. They were still facing the “flaming arrows of the evil one.” Knowing that, James gave them, and he has given us, some additional words of exhortation and admonition, in our text for today, which is James 5:7-11. Turn there with me in your bibles, please, to James 5: 7-11. Your bulletins may say James 5:7-12, I was ambitious. We’re not going to make it that far today. We’re going to make it through verse 11.
God’s word reads:

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and merciful.”

The title of this morning’s message is “The Priority of Patient Endurance.” In it we’re going to see James gives: A Plea for Patience, that’s in verses 7-9; and then he gives: A Pattern of Perseverance, in verses 10-11. Two points, A Plea for Patience and A Pattern for Perseverance.

Let’s look again at:

1. A Plea for Patience
As we take in verses 7-9. He says, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.” So, James here in our section for today, is turning from the rich, that’s who we saw last time, in James 5:1-6. To now, the restless. To them, the worried, the anxious, the frazzled, the hope-starved, James stresses the importance of developing that trait, that godly virtue, of patience. It comes out three different times in just these three verses: “be patient, brethren . . .” “The farmers . . . patient about it . . .” “You too be patient . . .”

Now, the word that James uses for “patient” is from the Greek term makrothumeo. There won’t be a spelling test afterword, don’t worry. It’s a compound word which brings together two Greek words, just sort of jams them together. The first word is Makros – which means “long.” Think macro verses micro, Makros. The other word is thumos – which means “temper.” So you have “long” and “tempered” jammed together. That becomes “long-tempered.” To be patient means to be long tempered. That makes sense, because even in our English terminology, when we think of somebody who’s impatient, what do we say of them? They’re “short-tempered.” A “patient” person, by contrast, is long-tempered. It pictures somebody who is not easily irritated or diverted. Somebody who’s not quick to erupt. Somebody who’s not readily provoked. Somebody, to borrow from a modern vernacular, “has a long fuse.” Someone who, when you really get down to it, is mirroring in some sense, the character of God. The God who is described all over scripture as being “patient.” Although, of course, in His case, perfectly so. Such as in Romans 2:4 where Paul there, says, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, [same word] not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Or Peter uses the word in II Peter 3:9 when he says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” Praise the Lord that He is “long tempered!” Praise the Lord that He is patient. Because if He weren’t patient, we would have long ago been consumed by this God, who is described in Hebrews as a “consuming fire.”

When James here tells his Christian audience, the one he calls “brethren” here, to be “patient”, he is tapping into a steady stream of biblical revelation which impressed upon God’s people, the importance of developing patience, and cultivating patience, and prioritizing patience, in our lives; knowing that we serve a God who has shown such immense patience toward us.
For instance, this idea of God being “long tempered” is repeated throughout the Proverbs; and are called to be long tempered in response. Proverbs 15:18 says, “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger [same idea there] calms a dispute.” Or Proverbs 19:11 says, “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.” Then the importance of “patience”, as a Christian believer now, is seen at multiple places in the New Testament. For instance, I Peter 2:20 where it says, “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.” I Thessalonians 5:14 says “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, be patient with everyone.” The “patient” person is long-tempered, meaning, that when they are mistreated. When they’re oppressed. When they’re provoked. When they’re simply discouraged, they show self-restraint.

Now, in some ways, patience, makrothumeo, is a passive virtue. Because, we know from experience, that in many cases, patience simply involves waiting. For instance, we wait for a wound to heal, can’t do anything about it. We wait for our loved one to arrive at the airport, can’t change the flight patterns. There are many times where we can do nothing but wait. But patience, biblically speaking, is not always passive. Because, as we’re about to see, there’s also a sense in which cultivating patience, as a Christian, involves an active and an expectant waiting on the Lord. Literally, the coming of the Lord. Look at the next part of verse 7, he says, “therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.”

See, the patience that we’re called to cultivate and model in this life. In the face of trials. In the face of difficulties. In the face of adverse circumstances. In the face of ungodly opponents. Is the reality of “the coming of the Lord.” The patience that we are called to develop and to live out, is tied to the truth that Jesus is coming back. That word for “coming” in a word which we see in the various secular Greek writings of this day. It would usually refer to a physical arrival, a grand entrance of a king or a ruler. But James here is referring, not to just any king or ruler, he is referring to “the Lord”, the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it. These early believers to whom James is writing. They had recently had their worlds completely turned upside down. They’re no longer shackled by the strictures of the Mosaic Law. They’re not following their Messiah. But now that they’re following Christ, they’re facing all sorts of opposition. They’re facing ostracism from their families. They’re facing persecution from the authorities. They’re facing economic penalties for being publicly affiliated with Christ. The money is getting tight. The food is getting scarce. The clothing is starting to unravel. While they’re still here on earth, the one that they had trusted in, their Messiah, Jesus Christ, had ascended to the right hand of the Father. So, He is no longer there, physically present anymore. So there would have naturally been this temptation to worry and to wonder. This temptation to doubt and despair. This temptation to lash out. The temptation to be impatient, and maybe even a temptation to give up. Which is why James, here, steps in and provides this eternal perspective as he reminds them that the Lord is coming. What James is communicating in this passage, is that things won’t always be this way. The injustices and the hurts and the pains of this world will one day, for believers, recede, the way that the tie recedes from the shore . . . as Christ comes back for His people.

Now, while James doesn’t get into the details here, and I know this will be way of review for a lot of you here this morning. He doesn’t get into the details of how Christ’s “coming” back to earth is going to happen. We know from the totality of scripture, the bible teaches that the “coming” of Christ, when it says the “coming” of the Lord here, is going to occur in two phases.

The first aspect of the “coming” of Christ, will be this event known as the Rapture. This removal, this “snatching away” of the church, before the period of tribulation and wrath that God is going to one day pour out on this planet. We know that from places like I Thessalonians 4:16-17 which says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air . . .” Christians won’t experience that period of great tribulation which follows the Rapture. Because we’ll already have been “snatched out”, “taken up”, that’s where we get our word Rapture, out of the world. Then the second phase of the “coming” of Christ, will be when Christ returns to earth with His redeemed people. At which point He’s going to establish His literal and physical thousand-year kingdom rule here on earth, in which we will rule with Him. So, the Rapture, Jesus comes for us. The Return, we return with Him. That’s the two phases underlying what James is saying here, about the “coming” of the Lord.

Again, his purpose here is not to hash out the exact timing and sequence of every single end-time event. His purpose, in context, is to encourage these beleaguered and beat-down and beat-up believers, to remain patient and to encourage them in the simple truth that . . . the Lord is coming!

I hope that’s a helpful reminder and encouragement to everybody here this morning. The Lord is coming. To be reminded that the Lord is coming back. He hasn’t forgotten His promises. He’s not going back on His promises. He is one day going to snatch us up out of the world and meet us in the air. He is going to spare us from the wrath that’s one day going to be poured out on this sinful world. He is going to return with us. He’s going to bless us with the great privilege of reigning with Him. He will execute His perfect justice. He will make all things new. He will allow us to dwell with Him in a New Heavens and a New Earth. Do those truths help you see your life in this present world through the lens of the eternal? Rather than the other way around? Which is how we tend to think. Do these truths motivate you to persevere? Encourage you, in the meantime, to remain patient? Especially when you might be tempted to give up?

Now, there are going to be, and there might even be some here in the room this morning, those who mock you and scoff at you for having that sort of heavenward perspective. Those who are going to make fun of you, when you look to the sky, continually waiting for the clouds to break. That should be no surprise. It’s no surprise to God. It should be no surprise to us. In fact, God has predicted that that very thing would happen, declared that that thing would happen, in the word. Look at II Peter 3. Come over with me to II Peter 3:3, it says, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ [note, even the mockers are creationists] For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” See, as sure as day follows night, those days of judgment are coming on the earth. But if you are here this morning, a follower of Jesus Christ, these aren’t events to fear. But rather events to look forward to. So when the insults come, and are hurled at you, ignore them. Share the gospel with the mocker. Pray that they would come to Christ and wait patiently for the coming of the Lord.

We’ve only looked at the first part of verse 7, where James encourages his “brethren”, it says, to be “patient” . . . “until the coming of the Lord.” Well, how are we supposed to do that? Well, what does this “patient” living look like? He gives us an illustration in the next part of verse 7. He says, “The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.” Now, James here is not giving his audience some random information about weather and agriculture here. He’s not giving us an almanac. Rather, he is driving home the point that he has just made about the importance of being patient as we wait for “the coming of the Lord.”
Now, I realize that we have some farmers in the room. I concede that I know virtually nothing about farming. In fact, I rode in my first “combine” last October. At that time, I didn’t know what a “combine” was. Never even heard the term “combine” before last October! So, thank the Lord for the clarity of His word. The study helps He provides to non-farmers in the room, so that we can understand what He’s saying here.

So, he is painting the picture of a patient farmer. Who, year over year, patiently waits for the Lord to provide. He trusts in the Lord to bring the “precious produce of the soil”, it says, meaning the wheat, the barley, the corn, the grain . . . which the Lord does by causing, it says, “the early and [the] late rains” to fall. Farmers in this part of the world, during James’ time, they needed these “early rains”, that came in the Fall . . . October, November time frame, that softened the ground for plowing and sowing, after the scorching heat of the summertime. Farmers also needed the “later rains”, meaning the spring showers of April or May, to grow and mature those crops which had already been planted. But note, it’s not as though, as this farmer is waiting for the rains to fall, he’s just sitting on his hands, waiting for something to sprout. The farmer would not have been passive or apathetic. Rather, in between rains, he would have been busy weeding and hoeing, and fertilizing, and doing whatever else he needs to do to bring those crops to fruition. But at the same time, he would have recognized that he had to depend on certain things that were outside his control . . . like the falling of rain from the sky. See, the farmer that’s pictured here is patient, but he’s also persistent. He knows that the worries and the fears and the anxieties he has when he lays his head on the pillow at night, is not going to bring the rain any sooner. It won’t cause a rain cloud to suddenly sweep over his land. He knows that it’s the Lord who is sovereign, who governs the weather patterns. He knows he ultimately depends on the Lord for those rains. He knows that, once all he has done, all his preparatory work, the plowing, the sowing, the hoeing, the fertilizing, there’s nothing left for him to do. Rather, his responsibility is simply to wait upon the Lord. To wait patiently upon the Lord; and to trust in the Lord to provide.

That’s the parallel for we, who are followers of Jesus Christ. James is calling on us to wait patiently, for the “coming of the Lord.” We don’t know what day that will arrive. Just like a farmer doesn’t know what day the rain is going to come. But like that same farmer, who accompanies his trust in the Lord, with diligent labor in plowing, and sowing, and weeding and hoeing, we are called to wait persistently, by diligently pursuing Christ in all aspects of our lives before He comes. We’re called to model what Paul said to Timothy in II Timothy 2:6, to be the “hard-working farmer” with our lives. We’re called to strive, Hebrews 12:14, for the “sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” We are called to “work out [our] salvation [as Paul says in Philippians 2:12] with fear and trembling.” As it says in Galatians 6:9, we’re to “not lose heart in doing good” but remember that “in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” So, like the farmer, our lives are to be marked by this rhythm of working and waiting. Toiling and laboring for the Lord, knowing that He is coming. As we’re soon going to see, His coming, the text will tell us, is “near.”

Well, as we move on to James 5:8, verse 8, we’re going to see that James develops these ideas even further.
Look at James 5:8, he says, “you too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
James here is doubling down. In verse 7, he’s told his audience to be patient, with that view toward the coming of the Lord. Then, he gives that illustration of the farmer waiting on the early and the late rains. Now, he’s back to the main idea of the section, when he says, “you too be patient.” As in, “Like the farmer who waits on the early and late rains, you need to be patient as you wait.” Wait for what? “The coming of the Lord.”

Then sandwiched, you’ll notice, between those two concepts of being patient and waiting for the Lord, are these words, “strengthen your hearts.” Make firm your hearts. You could even translate it, prop up your hearts. I like how one commentator puts it, “put iron in your hearts.” Or be “stout-hearted.” Now, in a number of places in the New Testament, we see references to God, being the one who strengthens believers in this way. I Peter 5:10 says, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
II Thessalonians 2:16-17 says, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.” James here, refers to the “strengthen[ing] of our hearts”, as being, in some way, our responsibility. As he challenges his audience, these early struggling, suffering believers, to “strengthen their hearts” as they gaze heavenward, and as they do, to be reminded and encouraged by the promise of the one-day return of Christ. We’re called to do the same. We need to be “strengthening our hearts” for all that comes our way. For the petty afflictions that come our way. For the general grievances that come our way. For the minor offenses that come our way. But we are also called to “strengthen our hearts” for the major disruptions that come our way. For the angry outbursts that are directed toward us. For the lies that are told about us. For the rebellious teenagers who turn their back on us. For the wayward spouse who leaves us. For the compromised lawmakers who disappoint us. To be “patient” the way God, through James, is calling us to be. Especially when we’re facing some form of evil, requires that we “strengthen our hearts.” We don’t want the “fattened hearts” of James 5:5, when it speaks of the rich. We want the firm hearts, the fixed hearts, the strengthened hearts that He calls us to have.

Now, there are a number of ways that we can strengthen our hearts. We can do a whole survey of the scripture and build out that idea. By beholding the glory of God in His creation. That’s one way to strengthen our hearts. We can strengthen our hearts by being reminded of truths from God’s word, as we store that word up in our hearts. We can strengthen our hearts by communing with God through dependent prayer. Or by living in a community of like-minded faithful believers, in a church like this. Or by reading and listening to theology, theological material, as we’re built up in our doctrinal convictions. But what James has in view here, as he speaks of “strengthening our hearts”, is something more specific, and something more limited. He links his charge to “strengthen our hearts”, with this truth, at the end of verse 8. Look at the end of verse 8, where he says, “for the coming of the Lord is near.” We “strengthen our hearts” in knowing that the “coming of the Lord” is not only certain, as we saw back in verse 7. But that it is imminent, it’s near. It’s so imminent, that we’re going to see down in verse 9, that it’s pictured as “the Judge standing right at the door.” Meaning, it could happen at any moment. We see this truth about the imminency of Christ’s return all over the scriptures, expressed in various different ways, by different biblical authors. For instance, Paul, in Romans 13:12 says, “The night is almost gone, and the day is near.”
Peter, in I Peter 4:7 says, “The end of all things is near.” John, in I John 2:18 says, “Children, it is the last hour.” Here in James 5:8, he says, “. . .the coming of the Lord is near.” Now the fact that James mentions here, the coming of the Lord not only once, but twice, tells us that this was a living reality for James. That the Lord Jesus Christ, James’ own half-brother. Now crucified, and risen, and ascended, was coming back. That He was coming back soon. That strengthened James’ heart. Surely it strengthened the hearts of these early believers; and it ought to strengthen ours.

Now, we can’t not, I think I can say it that way, address the elephant in the room. Which is that James here says that the “coming of the Lord is near.” James, we know, wrote these words nearly 2,000 years ago, and Jesus hasn’t returned. So, what are we to make of that? Were James’ dates off? Was James wrong? Is the Bible, in fact, in error? No, no and no. “Near” is a relative term. To a child . . . how long it takes for Christmas to get here. Or how long it’s going to take to get to the next rest stop. Or how long it’s going to take for Dad to get home after work . . . it’s all relative. It’s near in one sense, for us, but for them, it’s far. So it is with us, as it relates to the “coming of the Lord.”
As we wit for these next series of events to unfold on God’s divine timeline. As we wait, we must remember what Peter said in 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” So, don’t believe the date-setters. Don’t believe the dispensational premillennialists that say that Christ is definitely coming back in the year 2027. Don’t believe, on the other side the scale, the postmillennial Christian nationalists who say that Christ definitely isn’t returning for at least 10,000 years. Don’t believe any of it. Ignore the prognosticators. Ignore the predictions. Ignore the charts and the graphs and the arguments. Instead, tether your thoughts, all of your thoughts, to what has been objectively revealed to us on the pages of scripture. Trust that God knows the timeline, and how it’s all going to unfold, and when it’s going to unfold. In the meantime, seek His will in His word. Allow His word to be a light unto your feet and lamp unto your path. “Strengthen your hearts” in knowing that “the Lord is coming”. That’s what we need to know, as it says here in James 5:8. In the meantime, be diligent about doing the Lord’s work faithfully as you wait for Him to come. That’s what Jesus communicated in one of His parables in Mark 13, where He speaks of being on the alert. He says: “Therefore, be on the alert – for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning – in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep.” That’s what Paul is getting at, our diligence while we wait. He says this in Romans 13:11-14. He says: “. . . The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” He said something similar In Titus 2:11-13
Where he said, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires [there’s the moral command] and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

The model, then, is obedience to our Master, Jesus Christ, submitting to His lordship, daily, in every aspect of our lives, as we await His return. As we live that way, when we live that way, as we wait patiently for the coming of the Lord. Patiently, like the farmer, with strengthened hearts, with our gaze fixed on the sky. We can adopt what David said in Psalm 57:7, where he said, “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.” We can, like Paul, say that our hearts are being established, this is I Thessalonians 3:13, that our hearts are being established, “without blame in holiness before God our Father.”

So, James has told us, in verse 7, to “be patient . . . until the coming of the Lord.” In verse 8, he’s told us to “be patient,” and to “strengthen [our] hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” Now, as we turn to verse 9, we’re going to encounter James developing one more idea about the reality of the one-day return of Jesus Christ. Which is the Lord’s role as Judge when He returns. To make sure, accordingly, that our conduct toward our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, will not result in condemnation when He comes. Look at verse 9, it says, “Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.” Now again, James is speaking to a specific context here in this day, as he’s encountering these new converts, who had been rescued from the crushing burdens of Jewish legalism. Who have now found their freedom in Christ. But they weren’t free from all the pressure and all the opposition, and all the tension. Which was coming, not only from outside their gathering, but from within. In fact, there was tension and there was opposition. So, the hearts of these early believers were becoming distracted. Were becoming discouraged. Were becoming disordered. Following their hearts were their tongues. So, now their tongues followed suit, and now they’re grumbling and complaining against each other. They’re showing the opposite of “patience” toward each other. The result was, as we saw back in James 3:14, they were demonstrating “Bitter jealousy” and “Selfish ambition” toward each other. We saw in James 3:16, that “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” That’s apparently what was happening here. Though Christ was coming again; and though the Lord’s return was imminent. The people to whom James is writing this letter were still grumbling and complaining against each other.

We know what that’s like, don’t we? We grow impatient. We grow frustrated in our circumstances. Which actually is an expression of impatience and frustration toward God, who appointed those circumstances. Suddenly we’re lashing out and expressing our impatience and our frustrations toward the people that He’s brought into our life. People made in His image. A husband has a bad day at work, so he comes home and snaps at the kids and kicks the dog and goes down to the mancave. A wife has had a ruff day with the kids at home, so when hubby comes home, she is short, and she’s curt, and she’s bitter. James here in verse 9 is saying: “Cut it out.” “Do not complain, brethren, against one another.” Then he gives his reason for this admonition: “. . . so that you yourselves may not be judged.”

We know that followers of Jesus Christ will never face God’s wrath and judgment in the ultimate sense. We recall what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 – that we “wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” See, those who are truly saved have no fear of hell, no fear of judgment, no fear of our salvation being here today, but gone tomorrow. No, the one who has truly trusted in Christ for salvation has had their sin debt paid. Once and forever, it’s been nailed to the cross, as it says in Colossians 2. They are safe, they’re secure in the hands of their Savior. Because their salvation is rooted ultimately not in their performance or their goodness, or their merit, or their deeds. But instead in the sufficiency of His sacrifice. Rooted in His perfect, redeeming love. All that to say, when James here in verse 9, warns believers about complaining against each other, and when he says . . . “so that you yourselves may not be judged”, he’s not referring to a saved person being a little loose lipped, and running their mouth and then suddenly facing the lake of fire. That’s not what’s going on here. Instead, what he’s alluding to, is what his own half-brother, our Lord said in Matthew 12:36, where He says, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.” There will be, for believers, a sorting through, a judgment, we know it as the Bemis seat of Christ, in II Corinthians 5:10, where we will lose potential eternal rewards for every instance of grumbling and complaining we every engaged in, as believers. That’s the idea here in James 5.

Well, he concludes verse 9 with these words, “. . . behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.” What a picture that is. A picture of the soon-to-return Lord Jesus Christ . . . “the Judge” . . . as being right there on the threshold of coming back for His people. This picture gives us a sense of the proximity, the imminence, the certainty, of the Lord’s return. The return of Christ is not some hazy, or theoretical, or far-distant event, that we don’t ever need to think about, or dwell upon. No, He’s actually returning, and He’s returning soon. So, knowing that Christ is returning soon, and that He, the Judge, is right there at the door, it says, are we, as God’s people, willing to clamp down on our complaining and our grumbling toward one another? As James is commanding us to do here. Are we willing to do what James is imploring us to do? To curb the complaints. To stop the grumbling. And to be found faithful as we await the Lord’s return.

We’ve worked through verses 7-9, so far. We’ve seen James’ Plea for Patience. As we move on to verses 10 and 11, we’re going to see A Pattern of Perseverance.

2. A Pattern of Perseverance
Specifically, we’re going to see this pattern of perseverance, endurance, steadfastness, in the prophets, in verse 10 and then in the life of Job, in verse 11.

We’ll start with the prophets, in verse 10. Look at James 5:10, he says, “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” As he has done throughout this letter, James here is using an illustration to make his point. He’s been illustrating throughout the letter. He’s illustrated using examples from nature. In James 3, as he highlights the parrels of our tongues. He’s illustrated using various hypothetical scenarios, as he did with the illustration or the picture of the rich man and the poor man in the same assembly at the beginning of James 2. He’s illustrated using examples from Israel’s history, like Abraham and Rahab in James 2. Or Elijah, as we’ll see next week, toward the end of chapter 5. Here in our text today, he mentions the examples of both the “prophets” and Job.

Now, as we dig in a bit, here in verse 10, the question naturally arises, which “prophets” is James referring to? Because you note, he doesn’t quote any specific “prophet” to give you an idea of who he has in mind. But though he doesn’t directly quote a “prophet”, it’s not as though he hasn’t given us any clues. Because he does give us some descriptive language here. That these are the prophets “who spoke in the name of the Lord.” On account of their doing so, they suffered, but they did so with “patience.” Now, to James’ earlier audience, and to us, now that we have the full 66 books of the scriptures, several options would have immediately come to mind, when they saw those words here in verse 10. They would have recalled various prophets of old, who God had sent to His original people, Israel, to confront them with their sin. Command them to turn from their sin and to turn back to Him. They might have recalled the example of Hosea. The prophet Hosea, who we’re studying in the evening’s here. Who think of his personal shame and his sacrifice as he was repeatedly pursuing and seeking to bring back his adulterous prostitute of a wife. In doing so, picturing through his own embarrassment, and self-sacrifice, God’s covenant love for His people, Israel. James’ audience might have remembered Jeremiah, who fearlessly preached the truth to the people of Judah there. He did so, even though he was warned ahead of time that no one was going to listen to him. He did so, though he was constantly persecuted. He did so through tears. He’s the weeping prophet. He gave us the book of Lamentations. They would have remembered Ezekiel, who witnessed his wife’s sudden death, but continued to obey and serve God. They would have remembered Zechariah, who was murdered for his faithful testimony. Amos, who suffered for his own obedient endurance in fulfilling his call from God. They would have remembered Isaiah, who according to tradition, was eventually put to death by being sawn in two.

See, Prophets were commissioned by God, not to win friends and influence people. Not to tickle ears. Not to pursue social causes. Rather, they were commissioned by God, on the authority of His word, to call a wayward people back to Him. They were never guaranteed success. Instead, what they got, was persecution, leading, in many cases, to death. Jesus called it out during His earthly ministry in Matthew 23:37, He speaks of the treatment of the prophets at the hands of their own people, the Israelites. He says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!” Stephen, on the verse of being stoned to death, said this in Acts 7:51-52. “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One . . .”

The prophets weren’t perfect men. If fact, in many instances, they struggled with their calling. Doubted the plan of God. Even despaired over their circumstance. But ultimately, they were unwavering in their commission. Unwavering in the message, of God’s calling on His people to repent. Unwavering in their faith in the God who had commissioned them. Which is why we see the prophets mentioned in Hebrews 11. You can turn with me to Hebrews 11. We know it, of course, as the “Hall of Faith.” Hebrews 11, where the author here is referring to the same “prophets” that James is referring to back in James 5:10
We’ll pick it up in the middle of verse 36, Hebrews 11:36. He says, “. . . and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all of these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

No, the prophets weren’t perfect men, in the way that we think of the word “perfect.” But they were faithful men. Which is why, going back to James, at the beginning of verse 11 of chapter 5, he says this: “we count those blessed who endured.” They were “blessed” in the sense that they received the objective approval and favor of God, these prophets did. They faced opposition. They faced death. But they endured and they were blessed. It calls to mind the words of Christ our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:10, when He says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It brings to mind the words of Paul in Romans 8:18, where he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” It’s a great reminder for all of us. As we wait for the coming of Christ. As we wait for the Rapture. As we wait to be snatched out of this wicked world. As we wait to go on to live forever with our Savior. That in this life, in these bodies, on this planet. We are not promised protection from trouble. The testimony of scripture is the exact opposite. II Timothy 3:12 says, “. . . all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” We are not promised that we’ll be spared from suffering. Again, the testimony of scripture is the exact opposite. I Peter 2:20-21 says, “But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” We aren’t promised that our message is going to be popular, or widely embraced by the world. The exact opposite is testified to in scripture. I Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” See, we have many lessons to learn from the prophets. Which is to learn how to wait patiently, as we await the Lord’s vindication. In the meantime, to be faithful and obedient to our Lord. Even when we face mocking for our allegiance to Him.

Well, James isn’t done with his illustrations about patient endurance. In verse 10, he brings in the “prophets.” At the beginning of verse 11, we just saw, he says “we count those blessed who endured.” In the remaining few words of verse 11, he brings in this second example of faithful endurance. Which is the example of Job. Look at the end of verse 11, he says, “You have 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.” You recall the story of Job, right? In fact, I think it would be profitable if we turn back to the book of Job. I’m going to do sort of a high-level flyover of Job, as we interact with James here. Turn with me to Job 1. Job 1, and I’m just going to start here, and you can catch up as your eyes are on the page there. But, in Job 1:1, Job is described as “blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil.” He was a faithful man. He was blessed with a large family. Seven sons and three daughters. He was a wealthy man. It says here in verse 3, he had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and then, “very many servants.” He’s described in that same verse, verse 3, as “the greatest of all men of the east.” But then Satan, with God’s permission, tested the faith of Job. Job was slowly stripped of the many things and people that the Lord had blessed him with. He lost his fortune, he lost his businesses, he lost his workforce. Most devastatingly of all, he lost all of his children . . . when a great wind [it says] blew over his house, and collapsed on his children, killing every single one of them. In verse 20 of chapter 1, it says he arose after all that happened, and “tore his robe and shaved his head”, heartbroken. But then look at what it continues to say, but “He fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord’.” After that though, Satan continued to afflict Job. With boils all over his skin. Job is trying to scrape off those boils with ruff pieces of pottery. Job’s wife, looking at her husband with some combination of disbelief and awe, and feeling sorry for him, says “Do you still hold fast your integrity? [this is Job 2:9] Curse God and die.” Then it says, “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity’?” It’s a remarkable account and up to this point in the account we can’t help but be amazed by Job’s faith and his resolve. Especially when you consider that he had not been given any access to that dialogue between God and Satan. That was all behind the curtain, you could say. He was just living in faith. These things are just happening to him, real time.

Now, keep a finger in the book of Job. We’re going to go back to James. Because bringing it back to James, his mention of Job here, has been thought of as problematic by some. The thought process, when he mentions here the endurance of Job, the thought process for objecting to what James is saying here is, well Job didn’t necessarily conduct himself very nobly or faithfully after those first two chapters. Because for the next thirty-something chapters of the book of Job, he’s doing things like, lamenting the day of his birth; insisting upon his own innocence; disputing with his friends; complaining that he didn’t deserve any of the woes that had come upon him; and virtually demanding that God justify the suffering that Job now found himself going through. So, the argument goes . . . how exactly is Job “patient”? Why do we have that cultural phrase that we’ve heard of before, I’m sure, about the “patience” of Job? Well, we don’t have to take on those objections head-on today. Because you’re going to note, in your NASB translation has this right. That James actually doesn’t say anything about Job being “patient”. He doesn’t commend the “patience of Job.” He certainly doesn’t commend the silence of Job. What does he commend? Verse 11, the “endurance of Job.” He commends the “endurance of Job.” He used that word – makrothymeo – long tempered, back in verses 7, 8 and 10, to describe “patience”. When he turns to Job, he uses a totally different term. He uses the word hupomene, “endurance”. A word that we’ve seen, and we’ve studied in our look through James, already. It’s the same word we see all over James 1:2-4, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance [hupomene] have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” “Endurance” is a word that describes resolve, determination, to continue marching forward on the right path, notwithstanding the difficulties you face. It describes having a strong and determined fortitude. Like the weightlifter who pushes through that final rep when his muscles want to give in. Or the marathon runner who sprints through the tape when her legs want to collapse underneath her. Paul uses that word for endurance in Romans 8:25, when he said, “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” Was Job patient? Not characteristically. Did Job endure? He certainly did. He lost all his wealth. His children died. His wife ridiculed him. His health left him. His friends misled him with their very poor counsel. But he never deserted the Lord. He complained. But, as he complained, he was like the psalmists, whose complaints were ultimately born of faith. Like David, in Psalm 13:1, “How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever?” Or the Psalmist, Heman, in Psalm 88:14 who says, “O Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?” So, while Job complained, he still is an example of endurance and perseverance. While he was impatient at different times, as we see all throughout the book of Job, he was steadfast in his faith. We see evidences of his faith drift throughout the pages of the book of Job. You can jot down just these references, which showcase, that in the darkest of his valleys, Job had faith:

Job 13:15 – “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”
Job 16:19 – “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.”
Job 19:25 – “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.”
Job 23:10, - “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Job’s faith is alluded to here too in James, in verse 11, when he closes with these words, he says, “you have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings.” That, in context, appears to be a reference to the end of the Lord’s dealings with Job. How the end of Job’s story was told. Which we see in Job 42. If you’re still in Job, or if you’re not in Job, let’s go over to Job 42. The very last chapter of that great book. Where we’re going to see the outcome of the Lord’s dealings with Job. In
Job 42:1 it says, “Then Job answered the Lord and said, ‘I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You’. [and then verse 6] ‘Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” That confession from Job then led to the restoration of Job’s wealth, the replenishment of his family, as he had seven additional sons and three additional daughters. Then the regaining of his life. Look at Job 42:16, the second to last verse of this book, it says, after this “Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.” Then verse 17, he died “an old man and full of days.” All of that, the ending of Job’s story is wrapped up in what James is saying in verse 11, regarding the “outcome of the Lord’s dealings” with Job. It’s also wrapped up in the very last words of verse 11, where it says, that “the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” He sure is. I was counting, I think two of our song’s sung here this morning dealt directly with the reality that the Lord is merciful. He sure was toward Job. He was toward James. He was toward James’ audience here, who needed this reminder, the Lord’s compassion and mercy. He certainly has been and is compassionate and merciful toward all of us who need that same reminder. He is a merciful and compassionate God. It’s in His nature. It’s in His character. Psalm 86:15 – But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.” Psalm 145:8-9 says it similarly, it says, “The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.”

Of course, we who have trusted in Jesus Christ, for salvation, for the forgiveness of sin, have been demonstrated God’s mercy in the ultimate sense, by having our sin debt paid for, and our sins atoned. The penalty washed away or taken care of. Titus 3:4-5 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to [what] His mercy . . .” Not only that, but we are also recipients daily, of His mercy.
Lamentations 3:22-23 “The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions [could also be translated His mercies] never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” He is a God of mercy and compassion. He’s unfailing in His mercy and compassion. No matter what types of trials. No matter what types of difficulties we find ourselves going through, as we wait for the return of the Lord. That is such an important reminder for all of us here this morning. Now matter what you are walking through right now. No matter what season of blessing or season of despair, or trial or difficulty you’re walking through right now. That season, that trial, that difficulty, that doesn’t define who God is. God defines who God is. He’s defined who He is and given us a picture in propositional truth who He is, in His word. He is compassionate. He is merciful. He’s ever compassionate, ever merciful. He’ll aways be compassionate and will always be merciful.

As we close, I just want to say that I do know that there are many of you in our body who are facing difficulties right now. Are facing various types of hardships. Like each of your brothers and sisters here, I cannot pretend to perfectly relate to what that is like for you. Or the feelings you’re feeling right now. I cannot literally feel the pain that you’re experiencing right now. I can, like any of your brothers and sisters in this room, commit to walking with you, through whatever it is you’re going through. But I cannot walk through the trial for you.
But what I can do, as a shepherd of the flock. As a preacher of God’s word. As a pastor, is to promise you, on the authority of God’s word, that God always rewards faithful perseverance, and endurance, and the patience of His saints. He may not reward you with all the temporal blessings that Job got, back in his day. If you wait patiently; and persevere and endure faithfully. As you wait patiently and expectantly for the coming of the Lord. In the meantime, conduct yourselves accordingly, in these bodies, in this life, on this planet, you can lay claim to this promise. Turn over one page, from James 5 to 1 Peter 1. In my bible, it’s directly across the page, James 5 on one side, 1 Peter on the other. But look at 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Amen.

Let’s pray. God, thank You for this time in Your word this morning. Thank You for the rich truths that we get to mine each and every week, in the book of James. Thank You, that You are a God who is compassionate and merciful. Thank You, that You are a God who is real and true, is there. Thank You that You are a God of history, past, present and future. That You have a plan, by which You have saved people. You are coming back for Your people. So, God, may we, as Your people, we who have trusted in Christ, may we heed these words this morning. Not just this morning, but each and every day of our lives. To be patient as we wait for the coming of the Lord. To conduct ourselves, in the meantime, in holiness and honor. In doing so, to bring great praise, honor and glory to Your great name. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.