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Again, welcome everyone back to our study of James. And if you want to open your Bibles with me to James chapter 5, we're going to be looking tonight at verses 7 through 11. I've given you a handout that includes not only the English Standard, which is the version that I use, but also a couple of other popular versions, as well as the original language there for you to see.
Now, I know several of you have been here each week, and you're part of what we're doing. Some of you haven't. But I do want to make mention in my introduction to something that I said last week. Because in our last session, we talked about the rich.
James chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 deal with James's prophetic announcement against the rich, and how we ought not envy the rich. Because while the rich may have everything in this life, those who are not of faith, they can have everything in this world, and it will matter not on the day of judgment.
In fact, their riches will simply testify against them because they had so much and yet did not have Christ. And in that lesson, we made mention of the many famous and well-to-do stars who died relatively early in their lives.
We talked about Elvis Presley and others like that who had everything in the world and yet died very early. And I just found it quite interesting that the day after that lesson, a very famous musician, Prince, met his end on this earth and entered into eternity.
And it just is a reminder that life truly is a vapor. The wealth of this world and the talents of this world and everything that this world has to offer is nothing when compared to eternity. And what matters here is oftentimes so inconsequential when compared to what matters in eternity.
So I just thought it was very interesting that we talked about that on Wednesday night and then Thursday that that was the headline of the news. Well, tonight we're continuing in James chapter 5, and we're going to the portion where James is going to focus his attention on the subject of patience.
The title of tonight's lesson is Keep Calm and Know Jesus is Coming. I know you all have probably seen the Keep Calm and Carry On or Keep Calm and whatever t-shirts. It's very popular. I'm not even sure where it came from.
I don't know what it really means and since, but it does say keep calm and something. Well, in this portion, James really does address what it is that should be the impetus for our patience. The reason why he calls us to patience is that we know that Christ will come.
Patience is a quality that not everyone shares. Amen? Okay, I was hoping to get a little response. How about this one? Even among those who have patience, it is not equally shared. Not everybody has equal patience.
And it's also true that while some demonstrate patience in one area, they may not demonstrate patience in another area. I've seen men who are very patient with their friends, but not with their wives.
I've seen people who are extraordinarily patient with their pets, but not with their children. So we see patience itself as a subject with various contexts that can be explored. And the Bible says a lot about the subject of patience.
Patience is exhorted throughout the book of Proverbs. We're told a man's wisdom gives him patience. It is to his glory to overlook an offense. That's Proverbs 19, 11. Proverbs 14, 29 says, A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.
Proverbs 16, 32 says, Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. And then in Numbers and other places, we're told that God Himself is a patient God, that He is slow to anger.
We see this in Numbers 14, 18, Psalm 86, 15 and 103, verse 8, Nahum 1 and verse 3 and on and on. Ecclesiastes 7 says this, Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools. And Paul in the New Testament uses patience twice as a definition for love. You all are probably familiar with 1 Corinthians 13, right?
If I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am nothing but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I can speak prophecy or move mountains and have the faith to do all things, but I have not love, I am nothing.
That's the first few verses paraphrased. But then he says in verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 13,. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It does not seek its own. The very first word Paul uses to describe an equality for love is patience.
Love is patience. And also when Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit, and what is the fruit of the Spirit? It's love. But how is love expressed? He says the fruit of the Spirit is, and fruit is singular, love.
And how is love expressed? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and against these things there is no loss. So Paul uses twice in the New Testament patience as a way that we express love.
Well, James has already told us also several things about patience in this epistle. James 1 verses 2 through 4, he says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various kinds of trials. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Now steadfastness is not the exact same Greek word for patience, but it has a similar idea. It's the ability to endure under stress and trial. It's the ability to stand fast even when things are difficult.
And that's what trials do. Trials build you up in your ability to hold fast your faith even in difficult times. In James 1 verse 12, he says,. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he receives the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
So we see even James has already extolled to us the virtues of patience. And he says in chapter 1 verse 19,. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Well, that's the definition of patience. We're going to see in a little while the definition of patience, at least in the Greek, as a person who it takes long to make angry. Well, patience, again, has been a running theme throughout our study.
It makes sense then that as James begins to draw to a close, we're here in chapter 5, we're here at the end, he's going to begin his closing remarks by reminding us about this important subject. And he's going to connect our call to patience with our hope of the Lord's coming.
And for this, as we will see, is what gives us the ability to demonstrate patience in adversity. So let's read verses 7 through 11. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until he receives the early and the late rains.
You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. There's that word steadfast again. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
So ends the reading of God's Word. In James chapter 5 verse 7, it begins talking about the subject of patience. And as I was beginning my study of this, as I was beginning to try to... Because when I'm studying it, I'm studying it to learn it, but then I'm also studying it to teach it.
You want to imbibe the information yourself, see how you can apply it yourself, and then how do you help other people apply that information. And the first thing that we have to do in studying anything is understanding the context.
We've talked about this before. How do you interpret the Bible? Three ways. Start with the context, stay with the context, and end with the context. There's a context to everything, right? It's how you interpret.
And so when we look at this, what is the context that brings Paul... I'm sorry, James, to talk about patience? Well, before this, he's talking about the rich. Before that, he warns about people who make plans without God in view.
Remember, he says, come now, you who say, we're going to go here and do this and that. You should instead say, if the Lord wills, we'll go here and do that. You remember that? That was before this. Before that, he provides a warning against speaking evil against one another.
And all of this flows out of what I believe started all this was back in chapter 4, verse 6. So go with me for just a second back to chapter 4 and look at verse 6. Because I think this is where it all kind of flows out of.
If you look at chapter 4, verse 6, it says, but he gives more grace, therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You see, the overarching concern of James in this last section of his writing is that we understand that to be in relationship with one another as the body of Christ, we need to be expressing humility as one of our primary attributes.
And so he says, you need to be concerned with humility in your speech. You don't need to speak evil of one another. You need to be concerned with humility in your scheduling. You don't need to be saying, I'm going to do this or that.
You need to be saying, if God wills, I'm going to do this or do that. You need to understand he's sovereign, not you. You need to be also humble in how you understand finances, how you understand saving.
If you want to go with the three S's, it's speech, scheduling, and saving. You need to understand how money can make you not be humble. Money can lead to pride issues. So he's calling the church away from pride.
He's calling the church toward humility. And a hallmark of humility is patience. A man who lacks patience, lacks humility. Let me say it again. Because this actually, this was a light bulb moment for me.
A man who lacks patience, lacks humility. Why? Well, let me just put it to you this way. If you saw a man who had to have it his way, every way, on time, or he got mad about it, would you say that's a humble man?
Never. And isn't that what a lack of patience is? I want it on time, my way, every time, every way. It's pride. It's a lack of humility to demand it my way, on time, my way, every way. I can't say it right.
I can't say it right, but you understand. So James is calling the church away from that kind of pride. He's calling them towards patience, which is ultimately a call to humility. So he says in verse 7, be patient.
Be patient. That's simple enough. I could go on, but just stop right there. What does that even mean? He says be patient. We've been talking about this word. I've been talking about it for the last 20 minutes.
I've been talking about the word patience. What does the word patience mean? Well, I'll share with you. I don't always go to the Greek, but you have it in front of you. There's a word there. It begins with what looks like the letter M.
After that, it looks like an A, because that's what it is. It's an alpha. And then it's a K. And then after that, it looks like a P. But the P is actually the R in Greek. And then there's a O, OK? You'll see that.
Everybody see that? See that word? OK. After that is a big O with a line through it. That's actually the theta. It makes the th-th-th sound, OK? And then it is the epsilon, which is our U. And then it is the mu, which is our M.
After that, it is the eta, which is a long A sound. The sigma, which is the S. And after that, alpha, tau, and then epsilon. There. OK. Huh? You see the word? This is the word for patience. But I want to teach you what this is.
I'm going to write it in English, OK? Macro, and this would be, it's thumesetae, because it's a, the ending changes. But the actual root is simply thumos. So macro thumos is the word that's there. Thumosetae is simply the, the, the ending.
Sort of like when we like, you say construct, constructed, construction. The ending changes, and it changes simply how the verb is being used. It's the same thing. It's just the ending would change. But the root word is macro and thumos.
What does macro mean? You guys probably know that. Huh? Big. Right? Big. OK. So the, so the word for patience begins with macro, which means big. What's the next word mean? Thumos means angry. Now, you might say, well, that's weird.
It means big angry. No, it doesn't mean big angry. If you think of big, instead of big, think long. And you think of angry as anger. Now think of a person who is long angered. Meaning it takes a long time to make the person.
Actually, the word thumos is from a root, an even further root, which means fiery or, or piping hot. So you have macro thumos means it takes a long time to get hot. A long time to get fiery, or a long time to get your steam up.
OK. Now, very quickly, listen to Proverbs 15, 18. You can make a note of this. You can go there if you want, but just listen. I want to read to you. Proverbs 15, 18 says this. A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
All right. A hot-tempered man makes a lot of problems. But he who is slow to anger, he's the guy who quiets the problems. All right. What language is the Old Testament written in? Hebrew. What language is the New Testament written in?
Greek. The word in Hebrew for slow to anger was translated into Greek in something called the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It was written before the time of Christ.
It is actually the Bible that most of the apostles used when they were writing Bible verses. We can tell that they quoted from the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew Bible, most of them writing in Greek.
In Proverbs 15, 18, a hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention, the word slow to anger. When the Hebrew writers, translating it into Greek, translated the word slow to anger from Hebrew to Greek, they translated it macro thumos.
So what is James calling us to? He says be patient. He's saying be slow to anger. Be slow to anger. Don't be a hothead in the modern vernacular. Don't be a person who is easily frustrated. The opposite of a hothead is what?
Somebody who's cool-headed. You might say that guy's pretty cool. He's pretty, and I don't mean cool like the kids, like, hey, you know, Fonz type cool. Hey, put the Fonz. I just dated myself a little.
The Fonz. No, I mean cool. Somebody who's not angry, but somebody who you can talk to and they keep their cool. That's the language we use, right? We say, man, that guy really keeps his cool. He's cool under pressure, right?
That's what James is saying. Now, in this world, there are many things which cause frustrations for us. They anger us. And honestly, some things rightly anger us. There is something called righteous indignation, meaning we get upset appropriately so.
Because some things are just wrong. But how does it keep up? How do we keep from allowing those things to drive us into sinful outbursts? We focus on the reality that this world is temporary. How do you keep the things that frustrate you from causing you to explode?
When you realize that everything in this world is temporary. I'm going to make that point from James, because he tells us how do we find comfort? How do we find patience? He says, go back to verse 7. Be patience, therefore, brothers, be macro, be long suffering, long angered.
Be that way until what? Until the coming of the Lord. Now, you might say, oh, man, it's been 2000 years. Can I get mad yet? But the point that James is making is simple. Because he goes on in verse 8 to say this.
You also be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord. In two verses, he's talked about the coming of Christ twice. And in both, he's related it to our patience. And in both contexts, he talks about the farmer.
He said, look, man, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. And he's patient about it. He doesn't get angry just because it didn't happen right away. He put that seed in the ground and he waits patiently.
He doesn't get mad about it. He knows it's going to come eventually. He knows it's going to work out eventually. And when he sees the early and the late rains, he said, there's the... I know it's coming.
And he's patient about it. He didn't stand there mad about it. And here James says, you need to be patient. You need to be slow to angry. Because you got to think about this world this way. This world is temporary.
This world is absolutely temporary. One of the things which aids a person in patiently enduring the difficulty of this life is knowing that eventually it's going to end. You know, over the years I've had health issues.
Not serious, major health issues. But I've had a few health issues. I've had to go to the hospital. Been out of the pulpit a few times. And one of the things that I had years ago was a kidney stone. And if you've never had a kidney stone, imagine everything you've ever thought would hurt.
And compound it by five. It hurts that much more. It's so painful. They say it's as close to giving birth as a man can get. Wow. It really did hurt. But let me tell you this. When it happened, it actually happened here at church.
I was preaching. And I preached through the pain. And I came down off the pulpit. I don't remember if Jack remembers. My wife sure does. I came down from the pulpit. Came down. Looked my wife in the eyes and said, we're going to the hospital.
I was all white, sweaty. I was, yeah. Put me in the car. Took me to the hospital. The only comfort I had in the whole ordeal was I knew the pain would eventually end. I knew they were going to fix it or I was going to die.
No, I mean, seriously. That was the comfort. That the whole time we're driving, I'm counting stoplights. Because my wife's taking me, or street lights. You know, I'm riding down 95 and she's going towards Baptist Hospital.
And I'm counting the street lights because I know everyone is closer to the hospital. And I know when I get there, they're going to give me something. They're going to help me. They're going to figure out what's wrong.
Because at that time, I didn't know it was kidney stone. I just know it's hurting. But I knew something. They were going to help me. That helped me be patient, knowing there was an end coming. It helped me be patient, knowing that there was an end goal.
You know, if you tell somebody to be patient and you don't tell them what they're waiting for. That's a smack in the face. If you look at your child and say, just be patient. And they don't know what they're being patient for.
That's like saying, just shut up. You don't do that, right? You say, be patient because this is what you're waiting for. Be patient because this is how long it's going to take. Be patient because there's a goal in mind.
Your child's working on something. He's not getting it right. Be patient. If you work hard, it'll eventually work out. Right? That's how we express patience. We express patience with an end goal in mind.
If I didn't think there was an end goal with that problem, I'd have went crazy. Thinking there's no way this is going to end. So the writer here, James, he's saying, be patient and know that the Lord is coming.
Know that this life is temporary. Know that no matter what you face, the blessed hope of all believers is this, Christ is coming. And he says it this way. He says, the coming of the Lord is at hand. Now, there is a sense where that seems kind of an odd thing to say.
Because James spoke 2 ,000 years ago. And here we are 2 ,000 years later, and he still hasn't come. And I know that some people take great offense at that. In fact, some people have even said, that's where the Bible's wrong.
Here's an example of error in the scripture. Because the apostle Paul and James and others talked about Jesus' return like it was right around the corner. And here we are 2 ,000 years. He hasn't returned yet.
He must not be coming back. Because he hasn't come back yet. And there are people who say that. People who deny the scriptures because of that. But you have to understand this. Jesus, when he talked about his second coming, he didn't give any promise of a time frame.
In fact, quite the opposite. He said, you will not know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will return. And he said, you need to always be prepared for that. And I think that that's why every generation that has preceded ours, and our generation too, believes that they're the one.
Every generation has thought that theirs was the last. And I think that's by design. I think there was a sense where Paul felt like, yes, Christ could come. And we need to be ready. Because that's the way we should live.
We should live as if he could come right now. We should live as if he could, at any moment, split the eastern sky, blow the great trumpet, and be here. We should live with that mentality. And you know, if we did, we would probably not as get as frustrated by the small things as we do.
We probably wouldn't allow our anger to blow up like it does. If we really thought Jesus was coming tomorrow, we might behave different today. And people say, well, how is it that he's been gone 2 ,000 years?
He hasn't come back yet. Think about God's prophetic clock. 2 ,000 years is two days. For the year, 1 ,000 years is as a day. And a day is as 1 ,000 years. He's only been gone two days. And Jesus returned on the third day.
So maybe it is this generation. No, I'm just kidding. There's a lot of crazy predictions. But the reality is, James is telling us, be patient because Christ is coming. Be patient. You don't know when he's coming, but you know that he is.
You know that there's an end game. There's something that's going to bring about the finality of all of this. And all of the little conflicts that you had, all of the little arguments that you had, and all the little things that made you piping hot on the day that Christ returns, none of that will matter at all.
So why should it be allowed to destroy your day to day? Why should it be allowed to take over your heart today? But it does. So he's calling us to patience. Now, verse 9, he gives a warning. He says, do not grumble against one another.
Brothers, so that you may not be judged, behold, the judge is standing at the door. Now, you might say, well, he's going on to something different here. I don't think that he is because of what he says about the judge is standing at the door.
This fits in context because James is calling us to patience in our difficulties. And he tells us to look forward to the future. Hope that Christ is coming back. And he's telling us to be careful how we treat one another in the idea that Christ is coming back.
Let me read it again. He says, do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Christ could come back at any moment. Wouldn't you hate for Christ to come back while you were in conflict with someone that you could easily resolve, but you wanted to stay angry and you wanted to stay mad, so you kept it going?
He says, the judge is standing at the door. He'd come back any time, any moment. Derek Prime, pastor and author, wrote this. It's kind of a long paragraph, but I want to read it to you. He writes about this verse specifically.
He says, Christian patience puts a restraint upon our grumbling against each other. Grumbling is a common human feeling. It's never more prevalent than when things are difficult in one way or another.
Grumbling is a way of releasing some of our bad feelings. People may even argue that they feel better after they've had a good grumble. But as we have seen earlier when dealing with slander in James chapter 4, grumbling is a form of judging.
When we grumble, we're declaring that someone has either not done something that he ought to have done or that he has done something wrong. And when we grumble, therefore we judge. And if, however, we exercise patience and develop Christian stability with our eyes on the Lord's return, we appreciate that his return will herald the day of judgment.
We must therefore leave all judgment to him, and he is well equipped to judge, and he's ready to judge. So ultimately, here's the thing. If somebody did do something wrong to you, if somebody did do something that's bad, your grumbling about it, and your fussing about it, and your anger about it isn't going to be the issue that they have to face.
They got to face God. Know that God's going to rectify this in the end, not you. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, not yours. It's his, not yours, right? And so that's what James is telling us here. Now, he concludes with an illustration.
He concludes with actually two illustrations in one. Because verse 10, he says, as an example, it's interesting, too, when the Bible authors tell us, I'm giving you an illustration. He says, as an example, I'm going to give you a picture to look at.
I love that, because that's helpful as a teacher. Well, he tells us what it is. He says, as an example of suffering and patience, take the prophets, brothers, who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast, who had patience under trials, who stood fast in the midst of trial.
We consider them blessed. Now, I want you to think about it for a minute. We've all experienced difficulties in this life. Sometimes it can feel like we're the only ones. Suffering can be a very lonely feeling.
But James reminds us, hey, you're not alone. Particularly if you're suffering for the name of Christ. If you're suffering for God's sake, you are not alone. Elijah, think about how he was hounded and hated.
Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern with the threat of starving to death. Amos was falsely accused of raising a conspiracy, was told to go back to where he had come from. The list of suffering for the prophets goes on and on and on.
What did Jesus say? Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who slay the prophets and kill those who are sent to you. That's what they were known for. The prophets were persecuted for speaking the word of God. And James is here telling us, look, if you're suffering, particularly if you're suffering for your faith, you're in good company.
You're not alone. If you think you're the only one who's suffering or who has ever suffered, this is a moment to take stock and look at the world around you and know that while, yes, you may be having a difficult time and sometimes we do have difficult times, but we're not alone.
But then he reminds us, he reminds us of one particular man who suffered. Verse 11, Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
I don't know how many of you remember Job, but Job as a biblical account, we don't call it a story because it wasn't just a story, it was an account of a man's life. And as a biblical account of a man's life, it's one of the most perplexing accounts in the Bible.
Because he was, according to the scripture, a righteous man, which means he was a man who had been declared righteous by God, by grace through faith. And he lived his life in service to God. And God loved him and he loved God.
And yet, God opened the door for Job to suffer. And while it was somewhat incremental, because he's first allowed him to take away his property and take some of his family. And then he said, but don't touch him.
But then he allowed him to touch him and Satan took away his health. And at one point, his wife said, you need to just curse God and die. You just need to curse God and die. What did Job say? Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.
Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. You see, that is a patience and perseverance that is meant to be exemplary. And in Job 42, we see God's goodness towards Job. As in Job 42 .10, it says,. And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends.
And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. God never turned his back on Job. In fact, in the end, God rewarded his perseverance. It's easy when you know the end of the story, it's easy to read about Job and feel okay about it.
Because you know Job turned out okay. Even though he went through a bad, difficult time, it's easy to say, well, we know how it ended. But you don't know how your life's going to end. And so you become frustrated.
You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So you become angry today. What does James tell us? Be patient. Jesus is coming. You may not know what's going to happen tomorrow. You may not know how you're going to leave this earth.
But you know how the story ends. You already know that that page has been written. And you can even go and read it. For God will judge the world in righteousness. Those who are in Christ will be with Him forever and ever.
If you are in Christ, you know how your story ends. And thus, today, use that as your motivation to be patient. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this time to study. I pray that it's been fruitful and encouraging to your people.
I do pray, Lord, I pray that you would help us to fix our eyes upon Christ and know that the struggles of this world, the hardships of this world, as the Apostle Paul says, the trials of this world are not to be compared to the hope that we have to look forward to.
So I thank you, Father. I thank you that we do know the end of the story. I thank you that we have read the final page and that we can look forward to eternity knowing that you have already determined the end from the beginning and no one can thwart that which you have determined.
So we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.