Ralph Porter

© 2003

    How do we respond to the rising pressure of life? Normally we tend to respond in one of three ways. Sometimes we are tempted to give up--to throw in the towel! Sometimes we experience the desire to get even--to take matters into our own hands. We think that we have the right to respond: "Vengeance is mine!" At other times we experience the desire to solve it--to come up with a plan. "We have to DO something about it! It is not as easy for us to acknowledge that we can trust God and be patient, because we have confidence in where it's all leading--because we're looking forward to the Lord's return!

    When do people most commonly look forward to the Lord's return? When we're hurting, when times are hard, we want the Lord to come soon! The day of the big exam, in the midst of the times of crisis, we cry out: "O Lord, come right NOW!"

    However, when things are going well, we don't often hear people say, "Everything's wonderful!

Life is so exciting! I sure wish the Lord would come, TODAY!" For the next couple of weeks our attention is fixed on all the local high school graduations! Everyone is celebrating. On June 14, David and Meredith will be celebrating their wedding. It's right for us to celebrate those joyful occasions. However, we don't often ask God to come "right now!" at those times. Rather we respond, "Lord, couldn't you wait just a little bit longer?!!!"

    When we face the pressure cooker of life, we all have a tendency to become practical atheists. We think, "If God is there, why doesn't He care?" "If God cares, why doesn't He DO something?" When we lose our job, when we suffer a big disappointment, when we're rejected by someone we love, when we lose a child, when our ministry fails, we tend to wonder, "Where is God?" We want to "chuck it all!"

    As James writes, the church has been going through a terrible time of affliction because of their faith in Christ. James urges us to respond to the pressure with a living, fruit-producing faith. Such a faith has two basic characteristics: 1) A living faith endures tribulation (1:2-12); and 2), a living faith overcomes temptation (1:13-27). The rest of the book relates these two principles to the specific problems that arise in the midst of suffering. It demonstrates a third mark of a living faith: it is able to face the practical problems that arise in the midst of suffering (2:1-5:6). A living faith enables us to face the practical problems of life, and come out triumphant.

    James concludes his message with several practical exhortations for God's people when we face times of suffering and the pressure rises. What we ought to do is the opposite of what they've been doing! We want to fight for our own benefit. We want vengeance for what we have to go through. We tend to view suffering the same way as the world around us. We want to escape the pressure and be victorious.

    We quit seeking God's will in our suffering. We criticize one another. We tear each other apart! But that doesn't get us what we want! We make plans to solve our financial problems and get out of this mess. But our plans don't produce what we're looking for! We ought to submit our will to God's will and let Him solve the problem His way!

    We look at the rich and powerful and hope to get our "fair" share. But the riches don't last. They become corroded and worthless. Our desire for "just a little more"--our desire for wealth--leads to our contamination along with that of the things we hoard! Ultimately the desire for more, leads us toward the same destiny as the rich: condemnation! Why would we want to follow their path to destruction?!!

    James writes to encourage us to hang in there--to remain faithful. We ought to endure the suffering and wait to see the blessing God wants to send us through it. In the light of our inability to understand what tomorrow holds, much less control it, . . . in the light of the temporary, corroding, and contaminating nature of riches, and the coming judgment of the rich, we ought to wait patiently on God (5:7-11). We ought to trust Him in the dark!

    This is the opposite of what they've been doing--and of what we normally do! We struggle to survive, desperately trying everything to improve our situation and meet our needs. We try to get by in our own strength-and it doesn't work! Therefore, James introduces three ways that we ought to wait for the Lord's coming (5:7-11). Each of these is presented as a separate command.

    "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. 

    You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near."

The example of the farmer   5:7

    What do we learn by watching the farmer? Though I make no claim to any knowledge of farming, based on the teaching of this passage, and some casual observation, there are some lessons for us to learn about life from watching the example of the farmer. The farmer waits for the harvest, until both the early rains and the late rains have produced an abundant return. Farmers take advantage of early rains--the autumn rains to prepare land before the seed is sown, so it's ready to receive the seed. Early rains aid planting and make germination possible.

    In the spring they wait for a second wave of storms--the spring rains--to give the crops a final touch in preparation for the harvest. It produces a better crop. (When you live in the desert, waiting for rain in spring could be a long wait!) Impatient farmers who try to shorten that process won't get the same harvest as those who wait for God's time!

    So we wait patiently, for both the early and latter rains, before harvest, to receive the most abundant return. The word James uses in his call for patience, has to do with our relationships with other people. Literally it means: "slow to anger." That's the one specific application mentioned in verse 9: "Don't grumble against each other!"

    In the illustration of the farmer-it's the verbal abuse of the brethren that James compares to the rain which prepares the crops for the harvest. God uses this mistreatment as His way of making us become all He wants us to be! Our modern pressures are different than those of the church James was writing to. We don't usually face physical persecution for our faith! We face difficult marriages, frustrated dreams, lay offs at work, credit card bills, high blood pressure, spoiled kids, angry teachers, and other kinds of struggles. Under such pressures, we become infected with a natural tendency to criticize and blame!

    God uses this mistreatment as His way of making us become all He wants us to be! Only after all God's rain has fallen can God do His perfect, complete work in us. As James told us in 1:4, perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

    When we understand that God is using the pressure to make us "mature and complete," we'll stop trying to escape! We'll stop trying to get vengeance! We'll look forward to our "harvest"-to our Lord's coming!

The value of hope   5:8

    There's no particular value in hope, in and of itself! The value of hope depends on the object of our hope! The farmer's hope is that the harvest will come! While that hope is not always realized, the normal sequence of events tells us that after the rains fall, the harvest will follow. Similarly, our hope is that, after the storms of life assail us, the Lord will come. His coming is sure! Therefore, our hope won't disappoint! When Christ returns, we'll reap the benefits of our patient wait.

    2 Peter 3:7-9: "By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, 

    being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget 

    this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a 

    thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some

    understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but 

    everyone to come to repentance."

    God waits patiently for others to come to Him. God isn't in a hurry! Don't misinterpret His delay. The end will come. But it will come in His time. He's in no hurry. We shouldn't be either.

    2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result 

    you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is 

    just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are

    troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from 

    heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

    God will judge the unjust. He waits now, so He can be glorified in us. We must wait too, with the firm conviction that He is coming! When we are waiting patiently, expecting God to do His thing-trusting Him-it's hard to grumble about the pressure, or about those responsible for the pressure! This logical conclusion forms the basis for James' second exhortation.

    "Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is 

    standing at the door!"

The warning about grumbling

    People were in such miserable condition, they were at each other's throats. James warns us that as we wait for God to work, we ought to stop complaining about other people!

The danger of judging

    We should be patient with each other also. It's not our place to judge others. We'll be judged by the same standard we use to judge others. Thus we should leave that judgment up to God. He'll judge justly.

Our motive to avoid complaining

    The main motive James suggests for not complaining about what others are doing is that the Judge is standing at the door! He's coming soon and He sees all that's going on. He can handle the judgment in his time, without our advance help.

The example of the prophets   10-11a

    "Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who 

    spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have

    persevered."

    What do we learn by watching the prophets? Study the example of the Old Testament prophets who suffered taking a stand for God. Think through the ones you know about. Name a godly person of any generation. I'll show you a person who suffered, who knew something about criticism and rejection: Moses, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Micaiah, you name him, I'll show you where his faith was tested!

    The prophets didn't suffer for doing anything wrong. They suffered for doing what was right! Where was God? Why didn't He do something?!! The prophets stood firm; they persevered! They left us an example of what real patience looks like. We should follow their example! We look up to those who persevered!

The example of Job   11b

    "You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought 

    about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."

    What do we learn by watching Job? Job suffered and left us an example of patient endurance. He persevered and God rewarded him by repaying twice what he lost (compare Job 42 with Job 1-2). The Message puts it this way: "You've heard of Job's staying power!" How's our "staying power"?

    We shouldn't let ourselves be swayed by the skeptics! We can be patient and wait, because we know that the Lord is full of compassion and full of mercy. We can trust Him!

The Message:                                                                                                     5:10-11

    "Take the prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything,

    and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the

    course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it 

    all together for him in the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last

    detail."

    Are times hard? Are you feeling alienated? A couple of years ago we went through some really dry times in the desert, feeling as if no one cared, at times as if we were all alone. Do you know that feeling? Elijah did! Jeremiah did! Moses did! Job did! Paul did! Timothy did! YOU WILL! Yet all of these were able to endure, and we consider them blessed by God.

    Wait for the spring rains! I believe that God is going to bring a rich harvest, if we wait for His rains to pass! When the storms have blown over, the blessings come. Wait patiently for the Lord! Wait for the Spring rains! The Lord's harvest is coming!