MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT, SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 MESSAGE 14 OF 17 IN JAMES SERIES : Practical Wisdom For Daily Living CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, minister The Power of Patience Message 14 of 17 in James Series: Practical Wisdom For Daily Living JAMES 5:7-12 Tonight as we continue in our series from the Book of James I would like for you to please turn with me in your Bible to JAMES the fifth chapter. And let s read VERSES 7-12. P R A Y E R James 5:7-12 ********************************** I N T R O D U C T I O N The story is told about a truck driver who stopped to eat at an all-night truck stop in Broken Bow, Nebraska. The waitress had just served him when three leather-jacketed motorcycle riders came swaggering in. Trying to pick a fight with the truck driver, one of the motorcycle riders picked up the truck driver s hamburger and took a bite out of it. Another took some fries off his plate. And the third grabbed the truck driver s COKE and started drinking it. Seemingly unaffected by the bullying, the truck driver calmly got up from the table.walked over to the cash register paid the cashier..and walked out.
One of the motorcycle bullies hollered at the waitress, That guy wasn t much of a man was he? Looking out the window, the waitress said, He isn t much of a truck driver either. He just ran over three brand new Harley Davidson motorcycles. ************************ Patience is one virtue that should characterize the life of each and every Christian. But unfortunately patience is something many Christians seem to be woefully lacking. You and I cannot learn PATIENCE by reading about it in a book. Much to our dismay, the only way we can truly learn patience is by persistently enduring life s challenges over and over again. I want you to notice JAMES mentions the words patient or perseverance SIX times in these few short verses. verse 7 Be PATIENT, then, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. verse 7 See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how PATIENT he is.. verse 8 You too, be PATIENT and stand firm. verse 10 Brothers as an example of PATIENCE in the face of suffering. verse 11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have PERSEVERED. verse 11 You have heard of Job s PERSEVERANCE.
The apostle Paul stressed the importance of patience in the Christian life throughout his writings in the New Testament. In I Corinthians 13 Paul tells us PATIENCE is one of the qualities of true love. Love is patient. In Galatians 5:22 Paul list PATIENCE as one of the nine Fruit of the Spirit. In Ephesians 4:2 Paul admonishes us to live a life worthy of our calling in Christ. And one of the characteristics of that worthy life is to be PATIENT. In Colossians 3:12 Paul list the spiritual garments every Christian should be clothed with. One of those spiritual garments is PATIENCE. And in I Thessalonians 5:14 Paul admonished the Thessalonian Christians to be PATIENT with one another as they awaited the return of Christ. And now in verse 7 of our text, James, like the apostle Paul admonishes us to. Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord s coming. Those two words be patient aren t at all foreign to us are they? We ve been hearing those two words ever since we were little kids... When are we going to get there? Be patient!.. How much longer? Be patient!.. When can I go outside and play? Be patient!. When can we go get ice cream? Be patient!
When JAMES tells us to be patient what does he mean? -Is he telling us to be patient when we get behind a slow driver on the highway? -Is he telling us to be patient when we re sitting at a long stop light? -Or is he telling us to be patient when we re standing in a long checkout line at Wal-Mart? Well certainly as Christians we should exercise patience in all those day-to-day circumstances that can frustrate or irritate us. But this is NOT the kind of patience James is talking about here. JAMES is looking at a much bigger picture! Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord s coming. James is using the return of Christ as a reference point by which we should view every circumstance in life. When I view my circumstances in light of THE PRESENT MOMENT they can seem HOPELESSLY OVERWHELMING. But when I view my circumstances in life in light of THE RETURN OF CHRIST I can live victoriously no matter what life throws at me. Let s consider THREE AREAS in which the POWER OF PATIENCE can really help us.
I. We Need Patience In Times of Difficulty vs. 7, 8 1. One of the most valuable lessons we must learn in the Christian life is how to respond in the RIGHT way when things go WRONG. 2. As you may remember, when we first began this series, we learned the Christians who first received this letter were quite familiar with suffering and persecution. And in the first six verses of this fifth chapter, James tells us many of these Christians had suffered great financial hardship because the wealthy people they had worked for as servants had failed to pay them their wages. 3. Now James is reminding them, that no matter how wrongly they have been treated no matter how bad their circumstances may be Be patient until the Lord s coming! 4. The Greek word James uses here for patience is the word makrothumia. Makro meaning LONG And Thumia meaning TEMPER. Be long tempered.. be patient! It is from this same Greek term we get our English word longsuffering. It carries with it the idea of restraining oneself from doing what one feels like doing when he suffers a wrong or injustice in life.
I L L U S T R A T I O N I don t know how many of you are familiar with WAYNE SMITH. Wayne served as minister of the Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky for over 40 years before retiring. He is commonly referred to as The Bob Hope of The Ministry. Well several years ago I heard Bro. Wayne speak. And he told about a really bad experience he had one Sunday after Church. There was a man in his congregation that was always causing problems, always looking for a way to get under Wayne s skin. Well one Sunday after Church this guy approached him and said he needed to talk to him. So Wayne sent his wife on home, while he met with this thorn-in-the-flesh. As soon as Wayne closed his office door this guy tore into him, ripping him up one side and down the other. It was not a good meeting to say the least. When Wayne got home his wife hollered from the living room, Honey, your lunch is on the stove. Why don t you bring your plate in here and watch Charles Stanley on TV with me? Wayne hollered back, I don t feel like watching Charles Stanley preach, I feel like watching Clint Eastwood kill somebody! 5. Sooner or later things WILL go WRONG! And sooner or later somebody WILL do us WRONG! The question is: How will you respond to your difficulty? Will you respond with PATIENCE and refrain from doing what you feel like doing? Or will you lose self-control and respond in a way you will later regret?
6. To illustrate PATIENCE IN THE TIME OF DIFFICULTY James uses the example of A FARMER. verse 7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. -Who knows more about DIFFICULTY than a farmer? -Who has more opportunity to see things GO WRONG than a FARMER? 7. A farmer doesn t plant his seed in the ground one day and go out and reap his harvest the next. A farmer knows that once he plants that seed in the ground he will have to patiently wait through a long growing season before he can reap his harvest. And in the mean time there are so many things that could go wrong. -It might not rain or it might rain too much. -Or deer or insects might destroy his crops. -Or a hail storm or wind storm could destroy his crops in a matter of minutes. And yet the farmer patiently endures through all these things because he knows they are out of his control. 8. In this life you and I will likely face many difficulties that are out of our control. And like the FARMER we must PATIENTLY ENDURE, realizing the harvest..the return of Christ is coming.
II. We Need Patience In Times of Disappointment vs.9 1. Now this verse almost seems out of place in the context of everything else James is talking. Don t grumble against each other, brothers.. 2. What in the world does this have to do with PATIENCE or PERSEVERANCE? Stop and think about it. How do many of us respond when things don t right? We GRIPE and COMPLAIN to anyone who will listen. And sometimes we take our frustrations out on innocent people. We GRUMBLE against others. And usually its the people closest to us. 3. The New English Bible translates it this way: My brothers, do not blame your troubles on one another. The Phillips Translation says, Don t make complaints against each other in the meantime, my brothers----you may be the one at fault. 4. James is simply telling us to be very careful how we act toward others when we re going through difficult times. 5. Let s go back to James illustration of THE FARMER for just a moment. I have lived in rural farming communities almost my entire life. I have known a lot of farmers and farmer s families over the years. And if there is one thing I have learned about farmer s families it is this: They stick together! In good times and bad times THEY STICK TOGETHER!
6. The same thing must be true of our SPIRITUAL FAMILY. Whether we are going through GOOD TIMES or BAD TIMES we must all PATIENTLY STICK TOGETHER! 7. When we go through tough times in life how easy it is to lash out at people who aren t experiencing the same difficulties. -When we go through tough times financially, how tempting it is to grumble about those who never go through financial difficulties. -When we lose our job, how tempting it is to grumble against those who still have their job. -When we go through marital problems, how tempting it is to grumble against those perfect couples who seem so happily married. -When we start having trouble with one of our kids, how tempting it is to grumble against those perfect parents who are raising perfect children. I think you get the point. 8. The truth is everyone will experience many, many disappointments before this life is through. It may be you who is going through a time of disappointment now. But it may be the person you are grumbling against who faces disappointment next week. 9. This is why we must all PATIENTLY ENDURE THE TIMES OF DISAPPOINTMENT TOGETHER! We Need Patience in Times of Difficulty. We Need Patience in Times of Disappointment. And finally.
III. We Need Patience In Times of Disaster vs. 10, 11 1. I am no Greek scholar. But let me point out an interesting shift in original text in this verse. Remember earlier James used the term makrothumia. And we learned that term means to be long tempered or long suffering. It primarily has to do with how we respond toward PEOPLE in times of difficulty. 2. Now in verses 10, 11 James uses a different Greek term, hupomeno which means steadfast endurance. It has to do with how we respond to CIRCUMSTANCES rather than how we respond to people. 3. To illustrate how you and I should respond to our circumstances, James uses the example of JOB. As a matter-of-fact, James is the only New Testament writer who mentions JOB. 4. Of course if you have ever read the Book of Job in the Old Testament you are quite familiar with all the disasters that came upon him in one single day. -He lost all his oxen. He lost all his donkeys. He lost all his sheep. He lost his camels. He lost all his servants, except for the few who lived to bring him the bad news of his losses. And worst of all, he lost all ten of his children when a tornado destroyed the house they were in. Later he was covered with painful boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.
5. Through all this other people were telling JOB how he should respond to all these disasters. -His wife told him he should just curse God and commit suicide. - His three friends figured all these disasters were the result of SIN in JOB S life and he just needed to repent. 6. But rather than listening to the advice of his wife and friends, JOB continued to worship God and refused to blame God for all these disasters. JOB was not a PERFECT man, but JOB was an extremely PATIENT man. So much so we associate patience with his name. He s got the patience of Job. She s got the patience of Job. 7. Hopefully you and I will never suffer any disaster in life to the magnitude of what Job suffered. But we have lived in this world long enough we know disaster can come upon any one at any time. -No one expects to lose a loved one in an automobile accident. But it happens every single day. -No one expects to lose a loved one to suicide. But it happens every single day. -No one expects to lose all their material possessions in house fire or storm, but it happens every single day. 8. Our prayer should be, Lord, if disaster should ever strike, help me to respond with the PATIENCE OF JOB.
C O N C L U S I O N Te train was filled with tired, weary travelers. Most of them had traveled all day long through the hot dusty plains. At last, evening had come and everyone was ready to settle down in their cabins for a good night s rest. But seated at the end of the train car was a man holding a little baby. As night fell the little baby became restless and started screaming at the top of his lungs. Unable to take any more, a big brawny man impatiently snapped at the man, Why don t you take that baby to his mother so we can all get some sleep? With tears running down his cheeks, the man said, I m sorry sir, but my son s mother is in the casket in the baggage car in front of us. There was a long, awkward silence. Feeling awful that he had snapped at the widowed father, the big brawny passenger got up out of his seat and apologized. He reached down and took the little baby in his arms and said, Sir, I know you must be exhausted. Why don t you try to get some rest and I will take care of your son for you. *************** We are all just weary travelers in this world. We all have our burdens to bear, our battles to fight and our trials to endure. But for those of us who are Christians, I believe what James is saying to us is this: No matter what you go through..no matter how much you suffer.no matter how much pain and sorrow you may experience in life, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT IN THE END. One day our Lord is coming back to get us and then we will realize.it WAS WORTH IT ALL. Until that glorious day we must Be Patient.. Be patient.be patient.