Patience in Suffering
Text: James 5:7-12
Core Idea: We are called to be patient and stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near. Then let’s not grumble or compromise in our words but let’s persevere in fighting the good fight knowing that God is using our sufferings and trials to grow and mature us to become more like Christ.
INTRODUCTION
Well, we are going through the Book of James – looking at different ways the gospel impacts our lives. And two weeks ago, we learned that money is a powerful thing in that it can be a life-giving tool in the hands of our God, or that it can be a doorway to dangerous and evil things. It can cause us to forget God, or it can help us to advance the Kingdom of God. Now, this is so important to see because it means that the problem with money is never about having too much or too little. The problem always lies in the heart – having this lust and obsession for money. So, to free us from the shackles of our greed, we were reminded that our wealth is only temporary – that our money is absolutely worthless in light of eternity. No wonder James shares that it’s foolish for us to put our trust in money. Instead, we were encouraged to invest our wealth in the things of eternal significance – to glorify God and bless others with the resources that we’ve been given. Then my prayer for us is that we’ll grow to be good stewards of our money – experiencing the liberating joy of generous giving knowing that it is always more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:25). Now, if you didn’t know, we’re almost at the end of this letter – in fact, we have just two more sermons after today. Then, as a way of wrapping up his book, James will return to the theme that he introduced at the beginning of his book – namely, the subject of trials and suffering. If you remember, James was writing this letter to the Jewish people who had been scattered among the nations as a result of great persecution that broke out against them. So, in our passage today, James will offer his final thoughts on how they should live in light of their pain. Then with this in mind, let’s open up our Bibles to James 5:7-12. Let me read this for us.
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear – not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me focus on three commands that James shares here:
· BE PATIENT
· DON’T GRUMBLE
· DON’T SWEAR
1) BE PATIENT
James shares that an appropriate and God-glorifying response in the midst of our suffering is to be patient (v. 7). Now, what does it mean to be patient? Well, the Greek word for “be patient” is makrothumeo which literally means to wait, to hold up, or to bear. Then what James had in mind wasn’t this passive waiting but a call to action – to hold our ground and do everything we can to remain faithful. He was inviting us not to give up but to persevere. Now, if we’re honest, this is not the kind of command we want to hear in our trials because what we really want to do is hate those who oppress us, retaliate, complain, scream in anger, or wallow in self-pity. We want to give up, run away, or just disappear. Patience is not our natural inclination. But not just that, what makes this even more challenging is the fact that the world we live in idolizes instant gratification – which actually cultivates impatience. We have to have what we want right now. – so, we look for faster phones, faster computers, faster results, and faster service. This is why we have Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium, Spotify Premium, and Netflix. This is why we complain if the food comes out late at a restaurant and get frustrated if we’re stuck in traffic. Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not condemning us for wanting things fast. I’m just pointing out the fact that this is dangerous because it’s not helping us to be patient – in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s actually cultivating impatience in us. No wonder James’ command doesn’t sound all that appealing. Waiting seems too hard. Patience requires too much work. We want God to do something about our situation right now. All this to say, this command to be patient feels burdensome.
So, to help the original readers embrace patience with joy and intentionality, James provides an illustration that would’ve been very familiar to them. Verse 7, “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” Everybody knew that patience was required to be a farmer – especially in the first century. Because they didn’t have the means to artificially provide sunlight and rain (which obviously were necessary for the crops to grow), even after the hard work of plowing and planting, they had to simply wait and pray that God would provide. In fact, even if it did rain, farmers still had to wait because crops grew slowly. In other words, they could do everything right, but the success of their harvest was still completely dependent on the providence of God – they had to wait to see the result. Patience was not optional for a farmer – it was part of their job description. Now, if we’re to learn from them, we must ask ourselves, “How were the farmers able to wait? Why didn’t they give up? What kept them going?” Of course, there must be many reasons, but one of the essential reasons why the farmers were able to wait was because they understood that waiting was not useless. Even though they couldn’t see with their own eyes, they knew that radical changes were taking place under the soil. They believed that the seeds were generating shoots, that those shoots were going deeper into the earth and up toward the topsoil, that at the right time, those shoots would finally make themselves seen (growing to become a strong plant), and that the plant will grow to bear much fruit. In other words, they were able to be patient because they believed that their waiting wasn’t being wasted but that it was necessary for a successful harvest.
Then in the same way, if we want to cultivate patience in the midst of our trials, we must remember that our waiting isn’t meaningless but that a radical transformation is taking place in us. God is using this opportunity to shape our characters and mold our hearts so that we would become more like Jesus Christ, so that we would be fit for His Kingdom, so that we would bear much fruit. Brothers and sisters, are you in the season of waiting? Are you waiting for something to happen – for God to rescue you from your troubles? If so, here’s a truth that will help you wait patiently in a way that will honor God. Remember that waiting is not just about what we’ll get at the end of the wait – waiting is ultimately about what we’ll become as we wait. In our waiting, God is graciously changing us. Do you know what this means? It means that God is with us in our waiting – we’re not alone. He’s not keeping His distance – in fact, He’s moving closer to hear our cries, to comfort us, to embrace us, and to pour out His grace to us. In other words, in waiting, we’re getting more grace. Isn’t that amazing? If you’re waiting, God is pouring out even more grace in your life – to strengthen you and to help you grow in your faith.
But that’s not all – James gives us another reason for us to be patient. Verse 8, “Because the Lord’s coming is near.” Now, why would this be a good reason to remain patient in our suffering? Because the Bible tells us that all of God’s promises will be fulfilled and that everything will be made perfect when Jesus comes back again. Every human being is searching for hope – we’re constantly looking for something that can give us a reason to get up in the morning, something that will help us know that the life we have right now, the feelings that we’re experiencing now are not permanent. Now, to demonstrate the power of hope, some scientists from John Hopkins University conducted a study where they dropped a group of rats in a bucket of water and timed their ability to swim. What they observed was that many of them were able to swim for 10-15 minutes before they started to drown. So, in the second experiment, what they decided to do was periodically lift the rats so that they could briefly rest before being put back into the water. And what they discovered was that they were able to swim for close to 60 hours. What was their conclusion? That hope is powerful – in fact, they were certain that hope was what awakened patience in these rats. Tragedies don’t destroy people. Trials don’t ultimately break us – hopelessness does. No wonder many of us are desperately looking for things that can become the source of our hope. Now, the problem is the fact that we’re looking for hope in this world. This is a problem because nothing in this world will satisfy. They will always disappoint because they’re not permanent. They won’t last. But the Bible tells us that there’s a King who is worthy of our trust. And we’re invited to put our hope in Him because He always comes through and does what He promises. In fact, James reminds us that this King is coming soon. And when He comes, He’ll fix everything that sin has broken. He’ll give us a life that is far more glorious than anything we would’ve dared hope for. Listen to how John describes this day in Revelation 21:1-4, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her Husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” Brothers and sisters, no matter what you’re going through today, this is how it will end for us. He will wipe away every tear. Death will be no more. There will be no more mourning, crying, or pain for the old order of things will have passed away. Then let’s meditate on this glorious future because it will help us cultivate patience for present suffering. It’ll give us a reason to get up in the morning and press on with everything that God has called us to do. Remember that our suffering has an end date. The Lord will come and make all things right again. Every broken thing will be restored. Every struggle we face now will be fixed. Then in light of this hope, in light of this coming reality, I pray that we would remain patient even in the midst of our severe suffering.
2) DON’T GRUMBLE
This is the command found in verse 9. Now, what does it mean to grumble? Simply put, it’s to complain out of disappointment and frustration – it’s to express our discontentment. We grumble because we don’t have what we want. And when we grumble, we’re basically saying, “It’s not fair. It’s not good enough. It’s not how it’s supposed to be.” Now, it’s obvious that Christians shouldn’t grumble but be grateful in all our circumstances knowing that we’re the recipients of God’s amazing grace. But what perplexed me were the words that followed this command. What I expected to read was, “Don’t grumble against God” or “Don’t grumble against those who are oppressing you, those who are making your life miserable.” That makes sense if you follow the flow of this letter. But that’s not what James said – instead, this is what he said in verse 9, “Don’t grumble against one another.” Now, let me explain why this is incredibly profound and practical for us today. Suffering often wears us down. When trials come, we’re exhausted, disappointed, and pushed to our limits. And James was aware of the fact that at that moment, we have the tendency to take our emotions out on the people who are right next to us – those who are closest to us. Isn’t this true? When we’re in pain, we’re more prone to treat our family members poorly than strangers – even if they had nothing to do with what was going on in our lives. Then knowing this, James wanted to guard us from this sin – “don’t grumble against each other but be more intentional to love and protect each other, especially those who are close to you.” The reality is that hurting people often hurt other people. We often treat the very people we’re called to love and protect with impatience and temper, negativity and cynicism when we’re in pain.
Then let me ask you, “Are you guilty of this today? Did you unfairly let out your anger on your spouse this week? Did you wrongly lash out at your kids? Did you blame your parents or friends for what took place – even though they had nothing to do with what happened?” I know I’m definitely guilty of this. I don’t want to – but I continue to find myself attacking my loved ones out of my impatience and frustration. And I just feel absolutely devastated and discouraged – knowing that I’ve let them down again. Friends, do you find yourself grumbling against your loved ones when you’re burdened, stressed, and in pain? If so, I invite you to repent because James tells us in verse 10, “You will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door.” If we’re not careful, it’s so easy to think that grumbling is a minor sin – something that God will understand. But the warning that James gives couldn’t be more serious. He shares that God is not far from us. In fact, He’s right at the door – ready to judge us for our actions. Then brothers and sisters, let’s not take this sin lightly knowing that it’s a serious matter to God.
Now, to help us do this well, James provides two examples of what it means to remain patient in the face of suffering – the prophets and Job. Who were the prophets? They were God’s servants. They were God’s mouthpieces. They used their words to advance the Kingdom of God, but their faithfulness to God didn’t exempt them from suffering. In fact, trials and suffering came because of their obedience to God. Jeremiah preached for over 40 years and, as far as we know, nobody got saved. In fact, history tells us that he was stoned to death for preaching the Word of God. Daniel was a faithful man of God, but his devotion got him thrown into a lion’s den. Isaiah was sawed in two. Elijah was constantly on the run because Jezebel was determined to kill him. It’s clear that the prophets suffered because they chose to serve God. How about Job? The Bible tells us that he was blameless and upright – someone who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). But in the span of just one day, he lost all his wealth, all his servants, all his children – and not long after, he lost all his health as well. Think about how crushed he must have been. In other words, both the prophets and Job experienced great suffering despite their love for God. If anyone had the right to grumble, resent, and retaliate, it would’ve been them. But that’s not what they did – they persevered and continued to speak in the name of the Lord. Then how were they able to do this? Because they firmly believed that “the Lord is full of compassion and mercy” as it says at the end of verse 11. Brothers and sisters, in your suffering and trials, there will be moments when we’ll be tempted to doubt God’s love, question God’s goodness, and wonder if God will truly be with us. In fact, what makes this even more difficult is the fact that the enemy will be right there – whispering lies to our hearts, saying, “God has given up on you. God has abandoned you. God has forgotten about you.” This is why we need to anchor ourselves to the truth that tells us who God really is. If we want to find the strength to persevere, we must remember that our God is merciful and compassionate – that He hears us and He loves us, that He’s not done with us, that He is working for the good of His people. Elisabeth Elliot said, “God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.” Then I invite you to remember God’s unwavering love, retrace God’s sovereign grace, and rest in God’s wise plans for you today. Trust God because even though we may not fully understand what He’s up to, we can be sure that He will give us peace and rescue us at the right time. I love what Job said in 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” My prayer for us is that we’ll have the faith and courage to echo these words in our trials so that instead of grumbling against others, we’ll choose to worship the Lord.
3) DON’T SWEAR
Verse 12, “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear – not by heaven or by earth or by anything else.” Now, it’s not difficult to see how the first two commands are connected. Knowing that our impatience often leads to grumbling, we ought to cultivate patience so that we’ll learn to persevere and use our words to breathe life into others. But this last command seems out of place – no wonder many scholars thought that this was just a supplementary truth that James wanted to add but didn’t know where else to put it. Now, considering that James has been very intentional in the way he wrote this book so far, it’s unlikely that he randomly placed this here – I firmly believe that he had a clear purpose. Then how does this connect to the rest of the passage? First of all, let me clarify that James wasn’t prohibiting people from making oaths – as if it was somehow sinful before God. If that were so, he would be contradicting the rest of the Bible because God Himself made oaths in the OT, Paul took an oath several times, angels took an oath, and even Jesus testified under oath in Matthew 26. So, clearly, James wasn’t prohibiting the act of swearing in itself.
Then what was James saying here? To help us better understand this command, listen to what James says in the second half of verse 12, “All you need to say is a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’” In other words, James was addressing the issue of integrity. He was concerned that there were many Christians using oaths to not only convince others that they were telling the truth (you have to believe me – I swear to God) but also to mislead others by telling them partial truth or even flat-out lying (especially to avoid troubles and pain in their lives). And James knew that this absence of integrity in their speech was fracturing their relationships. So, he gave them this command in hopes that they would speak the truth at all times. No matter what they faced, no matter how disappointed they may have been, no matter how much they were grieving, no matter how great the trial was, he wanted their words to be true and clear because it’s a reflection of their character – a reflection of their love for God. In other words, James was calling to set a godly example of endurance in every area of our lives – in their speech, attitude, and heart. Then let me ask you, “Is your word reliable? Is this the kind of reputation you have today? When you say you’ll do something, do you? When you say you’ll be there, do you? In fact, is there anyone that you have misled or deceived this week? Have you sworn to others about something but failed to deliver?” If so, I invite you to repent and seek forgiveness if necessary. Brothers and sisters, we must not take this lightly knowing that God takes our words seriously. Revelation 22:15 says, “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” God hates lies – He despises deception. Then let’s make every effort to become men and women of our word knowing that this is what pleases our Lord.
Well, let me wrap this up. James calls us to be patient, not to grumble, and not to swear but to pursue integrity in our words. Now, the problem with patience is that you cannot cultivate patience apart from being tried and pushed to the limits – in other words, you cannot grow in patience without going through pain and suffering, which is why this passage is so difficult to embrace. We know every word in this passage is true and good – but let’s be honest, no one wants to suffer. We don’t want to be tested. We don’t want to be stretched. So, we grumble. We complain. We become frustrated that it’s not working. We blame God. We blame others for our failures. And some of us are even on the verge of giving up saying, “What God’s asking of us is too high. It’s impossible.” Brothers and sisters, if this is what you’re thinking, know that this is God’s way of preparing you for the gospel because you cannot accept the good news without first embracing the bad news. You’re right in that the standard that God requires from us is infinitely high – impossible to achieve. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never be able to attain it on our own. We’ll never be patient; we’ll never be grateful; we’ll never be holy on our own – which is why the gospel invites us to look to Jesus. Jesus alone was the only innocent sufferer. Only Jesus lived a perfect life. Only Jesus loved God with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength and His neighbors fully and perfectly. So, only Jesus Christ truly deserved a great life – but the gospel tells us that He got a terrible life. He became poor. He was misunderstood. He was rejected. He was betrayed. And in the end, He was arrested, tortured, and killed. In fact, even His own Father abandoned Him. But what’s shocking is the fact that throughout it all, He remained perfectly patient. He did not sin; He did not grumble; He did not retaliate; He humbly took it all. He stood His ground. Why? Because He knew that we were behind Him. He knew that if He moved away, the fullness of God’s wrath would consume us – and we would have no chance of coming out of that alive. He knew that without His obedience, we would have no hope. So, He obeyed. He went to the cross and took the punishment that we deserved. He died for our sins – for our impatience, for our grumbling, and for our deception. He took the penalty of our sins so that God can be infinitely patient with us – never giving up on us even when we fail Him. Yes, Jesus is our example of what it means to be patient – but more than that, He is our power. He is our Savior when we fail. So, meditate on the gospel again and again and again. When troubles come and when we’re tempted to be impatient and grumble, look to Jesus again – He understands. Remember that He suffered for our salvation. But more importantly, remember that He’s generously pouring out His grace and power so that we will have the means to fight the good fight. Brothers and sisters, let Him be your hope. He’s the reason why you should wait – for He will come to make all things right.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, we are called to be patient and stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near. Then let’s not grumble or compromise in our words but let’s persevere in fighting the good fight knowing that God is using our sufferings and trials to grow and mature us to become more like Christ. If you’re in pain today, I invite you to patiently wait as you place your hope in the One who is coming back.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) How does our culture cultivate impatience in us? How can we cultivate patience in us? How does the truth of Jesus’ return help us cultivate patience? Where in your life do you need patience the most?
2) Why does impatience often lead to grumbling? Why do we often find ourselves grumbling against those who are closest to us when we’re in pain? How can we guard ourselves from falling into this sin?
3) Why are we often tempted to compromise in holiness when we’re going through trials? What can help us pursue holiness in all circumstances?