Patient Endurance: Waiting in Faith

James 5:7 – 11

 

All of us have likely been taught that patience is a virtue. If you grew up in church you were likely taught that patience is a fruit of the Spirit. We know that patience is good thing, and we can usually admit that we probably need more of it, especially in this world of instant gratification we live in today.

 

No one is born with patience. As parents we work so hard to instill patience in our kids but raising them in our world today feels like trying to row a boat upstream on a rushing river. Everything is at everyone’s fingertips today, and that presents challenges to cultivating patience. Really, it’s a new face to an old problem, impatience.

 

Kids are a great model of impatience though. You ever try telling a toddler to wait their turn? Yeah, let me know how it goes. They’re cute though, we often overlook their impatience because they’re cute. Really though, many folks never grow out of that.

 

Just take a drive on the freeway, you’ll see many drivers who never grew out of their impatient season. Or take a drive down Lander during peak traffic times and see how many cars pass on the shoulder, especially at Bradbury.

 

Impatience often leads to dangerous situations, like I just described. But impatience also often leads to expecting instant results, complaining, and losing hope for the future.

 

Throughout his letter James repeatedly called out those who oppressed the poor in the church, which was most of the body of believers. James had just finished with his sharpest rebuke against wealthy oppressors within the body of believers in 5:1 – 6, and in our passage today, as he’s done before, he turns to addressing their suffering.

 

James began his letter with “count it all joy…;” he exhorted the poor to boast in the exaltation they would get in eternity; he called on the church to show no partiality to the rich among them; he rebuked believers for not meeting the physical needs of the poor, and he called on all believers, rich and poor, to humble themselves before God.

In today’s passage, James gets to the heart of persevering in the face of suffering and oppression, trials and temptations, by patiently waiting on God in faith to come through. Let’s read God’s Word together: James 5:7 – 11.

 

• Patiently endure suffering with expectant faith.

 

James strikes a very different tone compared to his tone in the previous passage. There he was harshly rebuking the rich among the body of believers, here he’s much softer, calling them all “brothers.”

 

Be patient he exhorts them. The inclusion of “therefore” here connects his call to patience to not just the oppression they face from the rich, but all the way back to the trials of various kinds from chapter 1. In the face of trials and oppression, in the face of suffering be patient.

 

Oh, how this is needed in the world today. In a world where instant gratification and avoidance of pain and suffering are considered primary goals in life, this exhortation from James seems out of this world.

 

Who wants to keep on suffering and going through a trial? Who wants to keep waiting patiently as they struggle, as they face oppression and injustice, as they face medical issues, family issues, relational issues, even church issues?

 

Well, brothers and sisters, James brings hope to everyone facing suffering, facing struggles, facing temptation, and facing trials. Hang on, hang on and patiently wait for the coming of the Lord. James is talking about the last days, when Jesus comes back. What a glorious day that day will be, we just must be patient.

 

King David shows us the real virtue in patience in Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” This is at the heart of James’ words today, waiting patiently in faith for the Lord.

 

James illustrates patience much in the same way I would illustrate patience, through the eyes of a farmer. Look at the example of patience the farmer sets. He plants his crop, and then he waits. He patiently waits for the rain, both the early and late rains that are needed to grow the crops. He patiently waits for the precious life sustaining fruit from those crops.

Having grown up on a farm in the central valley I thought farm life was hard. Having to wait two years for a newborn heifer to become a producing milk cow was a long time. Having to irrigate corn every summer seemed like such a hard job, especially the lack of sleep.

 

When I started travelling the country for dairy cattle judging, in FFA and in college, I really had my eyes opened and saw how spoiled we are over here in the Golden State. (Uncle John). Really, our weather can’t be beat, and our irrigation systems are quite the engineering marvels.

 

If you want to see what the patient faith of a farmer looks like today, look at dry land farmers in the Midwest. Dry land farming would test anyone’s faith. That’s farming the way James describes it here. Hundreds of acres of corn or soybeans or another crop entirely dependent on rain. No irrigation whatsoever, just planting seeds and sending up a prayer and waiting in faith for rain.

 

The farmer plants, perhaps prays, and then waits. He can’t rush the rain, and he can’t rush the growth of the crop. The farmer demonstrates patience during the wait. It doesn’t matter if the market tanks or if it soars, it doesn’t matter if he’s struggling with putting food on the table, he must remain patient and wait expectantly.

 

Talk about a lesson in waiting patiently with expectant faith. There is absolutely nothing he can do to speed up the process of rain and harvest, but he can trust that they will take place. They will take place only in the due process of nature. Everything has its appointed time, including the coming of the Lord. No one can speed it up, but everyone can trust that it's coming and place their hope in that.

 

So, James reiterates his call for patience, he implores his hearers again, like the farmer, you also be patient. And then he adds to it, establish your hearts, or stand firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. James’ addition to his call to wait patiently of standing firm is about how believers deal with the interim of waiting.

 

Waiting patiently isn’t as passive as it sounds. Establishing your hearts means proving the authenticity of faith by persevering to the end. Believers aren’t called to wait around until they’re called home or Jesus comes back. No, believers are to live faithfully, bearing good fruit in keeping with the Christian life.

• Patiently endure suffering without complaining about one another.

 

People are typically not at their best when facing the trials of life in a fallen world. Prolonged suffering can be especially draining on the body and the soul. Most people can attest to being short, snippy, rude, and downright mean when the going gets tough. It’s man’s sinful nature.

 

But mankind wasn’t created to bear their burdens alone. Quite the opposite really. When God created Adam he saw that it wasn’t good for the man to be alone. Yes, that led to the creation of Eve and the foundation for marriage, but the fact remains that mankind wasn’t crated to be alone.

 

This is a primary function of the church. No one must face the trials of life alone, no one must bear the weight of suffering alone. If believers are to endure their sufferings and trials, they would do it together. Really, trials are better endured with the encouragement and support of church family than alone.

 

However, sometimes sufferings aren’t just because of physical pain, sickness, or getting old. This is a fallen world, and sin is everywhere, and that includes the body of believers. The lives of Christians may not be characterized by sin anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s eradicated.

 

It’s the reality of a body of believers made up of people, who though saved still struggle with sin to one degree or another. Rodney’s words to my wife and I upon joining the church in Hilmar still ring in my ears. Two things are certain, someone would offend us, and we would offend someone.

 

And so, James’ words here in v.9 stand out as the biblical response to suffering caused within the church as much from the outside of the church. Do not grumble he says. Don’t complain about one another. Maintain the unity within the church so that you can all endure.

 

By referencing condemning judgement, James is almost equating grumbling and complaining against one another to slandering one another. Here’s the reality though. James is focusing on maintaining unity in the body as a demonstration of patience while waiting for the coming of the Lord. He goes back to the impending return of Christ by saying that the Judge is standing at the door.

 

Yes, when there is hurt between fellow believers, if there is any hope for unity in the body, it cannot be ignored. Reconciliation must be sought out and, Lord willing, achieved.

 

But that’s where the focus should be, not in grumbling against each other about it. Complaint demonstrates impatience, fosters disunity instead of unity, and takes the believer’s eye off the prize, the coming of the Lord.

 

• Patiently endure suffering knowing that God has a purpose.

 

Again, James calls his hearers brothers. Still gentle, still shepherding them, he calls on the church to look to the prophets as an example of faithful endurance of trials. He doesn’t name any prophets, but he doesn’t have to. The OT prophets didn’t receive the best treatment; in fact, many suffered and were persecuted.

 

Jesus said in His sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:11 – 12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

 

James was inviting his hearers to emulate the prophets because both believers and prophets share the experience of suffering and patience. The prophets looked forward to the day they would get to see everything set right again, the same day believers look forward to today, the coming of the Lord.

 

Believers who persevere to the end, no matter the struggles they face during their time on earth, receive unimaginable blessing in eternity. James states a fact, believers consider those blessed who remain steadfast, who persevere to the end. And he cites perhaps the greatest OT example of that when he calls on his hearers to remember Job.

 

Job had every reason to grumble against his friends, even his wife. He had every reason to give up hope and throw in the towel. He did grumble and complain at God for his lot in life, and God ultimately called Job out on it.

 

But Job never lost faith. Though he endured such suffering and complained, he never stopped putting his faith in God. He repented of his complaining to God, another demonstration of his enduring faith, and God blessed Job more than he ever had before Job’s suffering.

 

Here’s the sobering reality about the nature of trials in the life of a believer, God allows them to be tested in order to prove their faith. Most people when faced with the prospect of suffering would choose not to suffer.

 

But when believers endure through trials, when their faith perseveres and grows because of it, they come out on the other side closer to God. They develop a closeness that likely would not have happened without the trials God allowed. In some ways the perseverance of believers proves the Lord’s boast in them, like He boasted about Job.

 

However, the example of Job only gets Christians so far. In other ways, perseverance proves to the world that God is real and that the hope of eternity rests on those who remain faithful to Him despite all that they suffer. While Job received material blessing after his intense suffering, James is talking about the blessing of eternal life with Christ.

 

When Moses went back up the mountain to make a new set of stone tablets for God to write the Ten Commandments on again after the golden calf incident, God told Moses He would pass by in front of him.

 

 As God passed in front of Moses He said, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving the iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…” (Exodus 34:6 – 7a).

 

The first attribute God states about Himself is His mercy, and then He declares His patience, slow to anger, and then His love, forgiveness, and justice. Those truths about who God is ought to compel anyone to trust in Him regardless of what they’re facing in life.

 

That’s how James ends this verse by driving home God’s leading attribute that He spoke of Himself spoke to Moses, His mercy, and its related quality: compassion.

 

Because God is compassionate and merciful, you can remain patient through suffering as you faithfully wait for God’s ultimate blessing, eternal life in Christ Jesus.

 

That’s a gospel truth right there. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, nothing in this life can diminish your hope for that day when Jesus comes back.

 

The apostle Paul said it well in Romans 8:38 – 39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Nothing, no amount of suffering can separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ. No amount of suffering can separate you from God’s mercy and His compassion. As believers who’s faith is in Jesus you have every reason to persevere through suffering, to live a fruitful, flourishing Christian life while you wait for the coming of the Lord.

 

But faith is not confessed when a person merely acknowledges that there is one God, like James says the demons do back in 2:19. That was me as a product of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Rather, as James highlights here, a believer must also confess the Lord’s mercy and His compassion. These traits identify God, who blessed Job and the prophets even when they complained to Him under their trials and sufferings, and they identify the same God who blesses believers in Jesus Christ with eternal life.

 

How does a person demonstrate a faith that confesses God’s mercy and compassion? By admitting that they’re sinners, enemies of God, in desperate need of a Savior. By believing that Jesus Christ lived on earth, was crucified on a cross, died, and was buried, and rose again on the third day. And by saying with your mouth, that you submit your life to Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

 

It is precisely God’s mercy and compassion that sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sins, and it is His mercy and compassion that is put on display every time a sinner is saved.

 

And it is His mercy and compassion working through the Holy Spirit that sanctifies believers on this side of heaven and gives them the hope of eternal life to enable them to endure suffering and patiently wait for the coming of the Lord.

 

Let’s pray.