Learning patience is difficult, but necessary.
Have you noticed that a lot of our lives, we spend waiting?
There are many things in life that test our patience: freeways, supermarket lines, and doctor’s offices, irritating people. We do not like to wait.
Patience is no virtue in our society. We’re the society that invented:
– fast food,
– microwaves,
– jets,
– and express lanes. (Confession time, how many have you ever found yourself counting the number of items of the person in front of you in the express checkout line? Raise your hand.)
For me, almost all of my pet peeves revolve around impatience of some kind or another:
– Long lines anywhere,
– waiting at the doctors office,
– slow drivers in the fast lane.
-slow service at fast food restaurants
Have you noticed the different waits when you go to a restaurant: You wait to get a seat, wait to get the menu, wait for water, wait to order, wait to get the bread, salad, wait for refills, the main dish, then you wait for the bill. And they have the audacity to call that guy the waiter!
We need to be more like this guy: his car stalled in heavy traffic just as the light turned green. All his efforts to get the car started failed, & a chorus of honking horns behind him made matters worse. He patiently walked back to the first driver behind him & said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to get my car started. If you’ll go up there & give it a try, I’ll stay here & honk your horn for you.”
In verse 7, James says, “Therefore be patient, brethren.” And the words “patient,” “patience” or “patiently” appear in verses 7-11 five times in the King James translation. It tells you what the subject matter of our text is.
In the text, James begins to speak directly to the brethren. Verses 1-6 were for the benefit of the brethren; they knew God would judge the wicked wealthy. Then verse 7 says, “Therefore be patient, brethren.” And when he uses the word “brethren” in verse 7, he’s not only talking to the men. It’s a generic term for the believers, the Christians, the brethren, which includes brothers and sisters in Christ. James also uses the word “brethren” five times in verses 7-19—in verses 7, 9, 10, 12 and 19. And in our text, James refers to “the coming of the Lord” three times.
Our theme, the big picture, the big idea is that the Lord is coming back, so the brethren are to be patient.
First, notice that James says, “Be patient.”
The word “patient” comes from two, Greek words. The first is “makrós,” which means “long,” and the second one is “thumos,” which means “temper.” The word means “long-tempered” or “long suffering.” It’s the quality of restraint in the face of provocation. It’s bearing insult or injury without retaliation.
And God is revealed in the Scriptures as long-suffering or patient. And when we are patient, we are God-like. So when I’m patient, I am displaying the attribute of God. And patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22. And in Ephesians 5:18, it says that when I am “filled with the Spirit,” I have patience. In 1 Corinthians 13:4, it says “Love…”—which is agape love—“…suffers long and is kind.” It’s talking about patience and perseverance. And after suffering long, if we’re “filled with the Spirit,” we’ll show kindness. And how long must we be patient in our suffering and mistreatment? The answer is in verse 7. “…until the coming of the Lord.”
Be patient; the Lord’s coming. And verse 8 says, “For the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Then verse 9 says, “The Judge is standing at the door!” He’s going to enter at any moment, so be patient. Three times in three verses, 7-9, James makes reference to the Lord’s coming.
The Bible talks more about Jesus’ second coming – than it does about His first coming. God is in control of history — “his story”. He’s got it all planned out, everything is on schedule, nothing is late, it’s all moving toward a climax. God is in control.
If you really believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back and set all things right when He comes, wait for Him to do that. Be patient for Him to do that. Don’t take matters into your own hands. “‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord,” Romans 12:19. And the book of James opened in chapter 1, verse 4, by saying, “Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” So we are to be patient, waiting for the coming of the Lord.
Now the question is, “What ‘coming’ does James have in mind?” In the Bible, there is the doctrine of the coming of the Lord for His church, which is the rapture, and then there’s the coming of the Lord with His church, which is the Second Coming or Second Advent. But strictly speaking, there is only one second coming, and that is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the seven years of tribulation. I believe the Lord will come back before the millennium at the end of the tribulation. The Second Coming is when we come back with the Lord, Revelation 19, and He will judge the wicked and set up His kingdom on earth for 1,000 years, commonly called the millennial reign of Christ.
But there is that earlier coming, seven years at least, before the tribulation, in the clouds to catch up the church, the believers, the body of Christ, saved individuals to “meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord,” 1 Thessalonians 4:17. So the rapture is when the Lord comes in the air, and we get caught up to meet Him in the clouds.
So what “coming” is James referring to in verses 7-9? I believe it is a reference to the Second Coming. And when we talk about the rapture in the New Testament, it’s always presented as being imminent. That means that nothing has to happen before the rapture occurs. We could get raptured at any moment.
The Second Coming will be proceeded by signs, Matthew 24 and 25. But the rapture is the imminent hope that Christ will come at any moment to catch up the church to “meet the Lord in the air.” It seems James is referring here to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and not to the rapture.
The word “coming,” in verses 7-8, is the Greek word “parousia,” which means “presence.” So it means not so much that we’ll get to “meet the Lord in the air,” but the Lord Himself, His physical presence, will be manifested to those on the earth.
And Jesus, speaking of the Second Coming in His famous Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, said in verse 27, “As the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming…”—the “parousia”—“…of the Son of Man be.” Revelation 1 says, “Every eye will see Him….His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace….Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.” And He comes in righteousness and vengeance to judge the wicked. So that is what we need to wait for: the manifestation of the church, when it comes back with Christ, and He reigns in righteousness upon the earth.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8, Paul says, “…since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you….” He’s writing to the believers in Thessalonica saying that it’s a righteous thing that God is coming back, and He’s going to bring judgment on the wicked who trouble you. Verse 7, “…and to give you who are troubled rest with us.” James says, “Be patient,” and Paul says, “Rest with us.” He says, “…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels…”—that’s the Second Coming—“…in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And if you continue reading in chapter 1, it talks all about the Second Coming and the vengeance and the judgment God will bring through Christ upon the unbelieving world at that time.
If you are suffering because of the wicked world around you, be patient, because Jesus is coming, and He will vindicate you and judge the wicked. But it’s hard to be patient when we are being mistreated and abused.
Pictures of Patience – What do we Do While We Wait?
James gives us three, encouraging examples in our text of patient endurance. He gives us the example of the farmer, of the prophet and the man Job.
First, we see the example of the farmer, in verses 7-9. “Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer…”—or “husbandman” in the King James translation—“…waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge…”—referring to “Christ” at the Second Coming—“…is standing at the door!”
- The Farmer- We Work
If you’re a farmer, you have to be patient and keep working. You have to till the soil, prepare the soil, prepare the seed, plant the seeds, water, pull the weeds, water it and you have to wait. It doesn’t come immediately.
The farmer waits. Notice verse 7: “the farmer waits…waiting patiently.” Farmers must have faith and patience. And why are farmers willing to wait? Because the fruit is “precious.”
If we will wait on God, the future is precious and awesome. If we will trust God, put the future in His hands, it is like the precious fruit that we will reap at harvest. Verse 7 says the farmer, “waits for the precious fruit.”
The next reason why farmers are willing to wait is because it is a process, verse 7. The fruit comes after a process that takes time. They wait for “the early and the latter rain.” The “early rain” would come in October and November, in the fall. The “latter rain” would come in April and May before the final harvest.
The fruit is precious and comes after process. Also, we must trust in God’s providence. If you’re a farmer and waiting for the crop, you trust God for the weather and for the harvest. And we, as Christians, must wait for the precious fruit in the future, as the promises of God are fulfilled in our lives. We must be patient during the process: our hearts are the soil; the seed is God’s Word; during the seasons of life, we grow and respond to God’s Word; the rain is the sorrows; the sun is the circumstances of the soil of our life. Then God produces the crop.
In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” But the branches that bear fruit, He prunes. If the branch could talk, it would say, “Ouch! Why are you cutting back?!” It’s because he wants it to bear more fruit. And we are branches in the process of being pruned in order to produce more fruit in our lives.
So don’t get impatient and freak out and doubt God. He knows what He’s doing. He’s the perfect husbandman.
Now notice what we are to do in verse 8: “Establish your hearts.” The word “establish” suggests “a mustering up of courage to strengthen your inner being.”
If you are discouraged and want to give up and run, God is trying to speak to you. He wants to get your attention. Stay put. Trust Him. Don’t give up on your marriage. Don’t run away from your husband or wife. Don’t run away from your problem. You can’t run from your problems, because if you do, you take yourself with you wherever you go. And most of your problems are you. Everywhere I go, I take me with me. So my problems come right along with me wherever I go.
Then notice, in verse 9, that as you are waiting, stop your complaining. “Do not grumble against one another.” I have a problem with patience; I want it now. And I don’t want to suffer in the process. I just want to go to a weekend conference on how to have patience in five, easy steps and come home patient. But it’s not gonna happen. The Bible says, “Tribulation produces perseverance” or “patience,” Romans 5:3. There is no shortcut. There’s no other way to get there.
But I also with no grudging or grumbling. “Grudge” means “to sigh, to groan “…to murmur or complain.” James is talking about these grand themes of the coming of the Lord and we are to be patient. But also don’t gripe and complain about one another.
This is another way of saying, “Don’t be judgmental, fault-finding and critical of one another.” The natural, non-spiritual tendency is of unjustly blaming others when we suffer instead of trusting God. We want to blame, grumble against and murmur about other people. The New English Bible says, “My brothers, don’t blame your troubles on one another.” And that’s an imperative or a command in the Greek.
Just like the farmer is patient, we must be patient. It implies that we must keep working, because God is working. Be like a farmer and patiently keep working until the Lord returns.
- The Prophets – We Witness
The second picture is from the prophets, verse 10. “My brethren, take the prophets…”—he uses the plural, so it’s the prophets of the Old Testament—“…who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.” I like that the prophets were God’s spokesmen. They would preach and say, “Thus sayeth the Lord….” I don’t believe we have prophets in that sense today. The only way you can say, “Thus sayeth the Lord,” is if you’re reading the Bible. I don’t get direct revelations from God. But the Bible is the Word of God, so when I read the Bible, it is “Thus sayeth the Lord.” And that’s what a prophet proclaims: the Word of the Lord.
Then also notice in verse 10, that they suffer affliction, and they do it with patience. When you think about the prophets, we know that Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den. We know that Elijah suffered from King Ahab and Jezebel. And all of them “spoke in the name of the Lord.”
Anyone who speaks for God will be persecuted. You can take that to the bank. If you proclaim God’s Word to this wicked, hostile generation you’re living in, you will be persecuted.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake…for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” So if you are sharing God’s Word and are persecuted for that, you are in good company. Like they treated the prophets, they are persecuting you.
The encouragement is that you can be right smack in the center of God’s will, doing God’s work, in God’s way and still suffer. Where did we ever get the idea that if we’re in the will of God, we’re doing the work of God and we’re preaching the Word of God that everything would be hunky-dory? It’s not in the Bible. Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah and all the prophets were persecuted. They suffered hardship or affliction. So you can be right in the center of God’s will and still suffer affliction.
Someone said, “The will of God will never lead us where the grace of God cannot keep us.” When you are persecuted like the prophets, we should be patient like the prophets.
The third thing we learn from the prophets is that they patiently kept witnessing for God. They didn’t stop, quit or throw in the towel. “Well, thanks a lot, God! If you’re going to have this happen to me, I give up!” No. They persevered and continued.
- Job – We Worship
The last individual we should learn from as an example is Job, verse 11. So we are to be like the farmer, who keeps working; we should be like the prophets, who keep witnessing; and we should be like Job, who kept worshipping. “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job…” that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”
So when we suffer, when we go through trials, remember that God is full of compassion and full of tender mercies. Always. God is good and He is good all the time.
Job’s patience was proverbial. He was a righteous, rich man. One day the angels of God had come together. Satan was there among them. Evidently Satan had access to God’s presence. And God was bragging about Job.
God is bragging about Job and saying, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” Then the devil basically said to God, “He only serves You because You blessed him. You’ve given him wealth. You’ve given him health. You’ve given him all these possessions, a wife, children. The only reason why Job serves You is because You’ve given him all these things.” He’s saying to God, “You’re not worthy to be worshiped or to be served apart from your gifts.”
What if the theme of the book of Job is not suffering? What if the theme of Job is that God is worthy to be worshiped apart from the gifts that He gives?
The devil was actually putting God to the test and using Job as his instrument. And the devil said to God, “He will curse You. Let me touch his body. Let me take his possessions. Let me afflict him. He’s going to curse You to Your face. You take away the blessings, he won’t serve You anymore. He won’t love You anymore. He won’t follow You, because You’re not worthy to be worshiped apart from the gifts that You give.” And God said, “Okay, go ahead. You can do it.”
But God put a hedge around Job as He puts a hedge around us. I believe that with all my heart. We may not know why He allows what He allows. We may not understand why He lets us suffer when we suffer. But it’s all about God’s perfect care. Nothing breaks through the hedge of what God allows for His purpose. And God is good.
So the devil took all Job’s possessions in one day. You think you’ve had a bad day? He took everything Job owned, except for his loving, supportive wife. She said, “Why don’t you curse God and just die?”
We know the story of Job. In Job 1:21, he says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be…”—or “praise”—“…the name of the Lord.” He said in Job 2:10, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In Job 13:15, he said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
Can you say that? I don’t see. I don’t know. I don’t understand. Whenever you’re in the dark, God is never at a distance. You may be in the dark right now. You may not see. You may not know. You may not understand. But God is never, ever at a distance.
So never doubt in the dark what God has spoken in the light. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” Deuteronomy 13:5. He’s with you. Be like Job: patiently waiting, trusting the Lord. Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
Here are the lessons from Job. Number one, Job was a righteous man, yet he suffered. Number two, Job didn’t know why he was suffering, but God had a purpose. It’s the same with us. Number three, Job trusted and kept loving God and worshipping God, even though He didn’t understand. We should do the same. And number four, God blessed Job doubly at the end of his life.
Isn’t God good? Job lived to be 140 years old. He saw his son’s sons and his sons to four generations. And Job was old, yet he was full of days. And then notice verse 11 in our text. He experienced God’s compassion and God’s tender mercy.
In time of affliction, we most commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God. In Job 42:5, he said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” At the beginning, the power of darkness may have an hour, but at the end the Lord will be seen! We need to wait and trust in the Lord. You may be in the dark, but you’re never at a distance from God!
In conclusion, James encourages us to be patient like the farmer, keep working or serving. Jesus is coming. Keep witnessing like the prophet, keep “sharing God’s Word.” Don’t give up. And like Job, keep worshipping, trusting in God’s compassion and in God’s mercy.
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