James 5:7-12 Grace Give Me the Power to Endure

James 5:7-12 Grace Gives Me the Power to Endure is a sermon about patience. Learning to live by grace is a process. We have learned that God’s grace teaches me that I can live this life strong although I am weak. Grace teaches me how to live this life until Jesus returns. Grace teaches me the spiritual traffic lights and how I grow. But grace also gives me the power to endure. Grace teaches me endurance.

FIVE FORMS OF PATIENCE THAT GOD’S GRACE GIVES ME

Patience with waiting (5:7-8)
Patience with people (5:9)
Patience in my present task (5:10)
Patience in receiving answers (5:11)
Patience in my words (5:12)

Patience with waiting (5:7-8)

Therefore, brothers, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
(James 5:7-8 HCSB)

The first form of patience that God teaches all of us is to be “patient with waiting.” You and I must learn to not just wait, but to be patient with waiting. This is the reason why we have to stand in line so long. Why did we ever learn to stand in line for something? Because God wants me to learn to be patient with waiting. It is the most basic, elemental form of patience that I learn.

I go to the grocery store and I stand in line.
I go to the government office and I learn to sit and wait for them to call me.
I go to the doctor’s office and half a day later they call me.
I go to the post office and although there are fifty people in line, there are only three people behind the desk. The other counters are empty.

Why is that?

Because God wants me to learn to be patient with waiting. Waiting is form of patience. It is the most basic form. If I get upset at just sitting around and waiting, then I can’t handle what God has planned for me.

This is the reason why James recalls the picture of the farmer. If the farmers wants to see a good harvest, then he learns to wait for the fruit to grow. The farmer cannot make the fruit grow. He can help it grow, but then he has to just wait for it to grow. He can give it good soil, and he can give the plants plenty of water. But in the end, the plant has to grow.

James compares this form of patience – this waiting – to the return of Jesus Christ. In one sense, we can’t push Jesus. We can’t tell Jesus to finish His work this afternoon. Now of course we can help it by planting the seed, and watering the seed. We can tell so many people about Jesus that the gospel will be preached to the entire world. That is like the early and late rains. We can help the harvest come, but we will have to wait on Jesus. God’s grace teaches me that Jesus will return. Remember, we are called to “wait on the blessed hope”? God’s grace comes to me and teaches me how to live. God’s grace also helps me wait patiently until Jesus returns. So this is one form of patience that God teaches me.

Patience with people (5:9)

When I have learned to be patient with waiting, God teaches me how to be patient with people.

Brothers, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
(James 5:9 HCSB)

Brothers, do not say mean things to each other. If you do, you will be judged. Listen, the judge is standing at the door now.
(James 5:9 WE)

Patience in my present task (5:10)

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.
(James 5:10 NKJV)

PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE

Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God.
(James 5:10 MSG)

What is the difference between patience and endurance?

Patience is a form of toleration.

I can learn to be patient with someone or something. In other words, I learn to tolerate it.

Endurance is a form of hope or victory. There is an end to something and by enduring, you overcome the difficulty in the future. The difficulty is with you in the present. But you learn to overcome it and the difficulty will end in the future.

You can be patient with people. But the object of endurance is not a person. The object of endurance can be a characteristic of a person that you learn to endure.

Here is a picture that shows the difference between patience and endurance:

I am patient with my coach, but I learn to endure the race.

Specifically, endurance is a form of patience. Endurance is the “ability to see the end intended by God.” Having endurance helps me to be patient. If I know that God intends the end to be, then it helps me to be patient to wait it out. I endure to see the intended end. However, I may have to learn to be patient with people to help me see the intended end to completion.

If I can see the goal (the intended end by God), it can help me to take the steps necessary to reach the goal.

GRACE AND ENDURANCE

Patience in receiving answers (5:11)

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
(James 5:11 NKJV)

ENDURANCE AND PRAYER

ILLUSTRATION: Endurance and Prayer Is Like Getting on a Plane

I can travel from Bremen, Germany to Los Angeles. The first way I can do this is by walking. I walk until I get to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Then I can start to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. When I swim by England I can wave to the Queen. Then I keep swimming until I get to New York. At New York stand on the shore and I can walk all the way across to Los Angeles, California. It will take a long time to get there. I can do it by my own power, but it I might wear myself out in the process.

The second way to do this is by place. I go to the Bremen airport. I get on a plane, and I stay in the plane until I arrive in Los Angeles. Perhaps I have to switch planes, but the process will take about 12 hours. But all I have to do is trust the pilot and enjoy the ride. When the plane lands, I get off the plane and I am there. It is much quicker and easier than using my own two feet. And I won’t get frustrated, nor worn out in the process.

Endurance without prayer is like walking and swimming to Los Angeles by my own power. I will get there. I will arrive at the “intended end”, but it takes a long time, and I will certainly wear myself out.

Endurance with prayer is like getting on the plane.

Some of us need to learn to get on the plane, and stop walking and swimming ourselves to death about things that God has planned for us. Endurance requires that we trust God with things that require the plane rides in our life. If we spend time swimming and walking, when we should riding planes, we are not going to be able to endure.

GRACE AND ENDURANCE

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
(James 5:11 NKJV)

For example, if I know God is compassionate and merciful, I know that God is loving, then it helps me to see the end as a good thing.
Because I know God is loving and because I can see that God will show me His intended end.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
(Romans 8:28 NKJV)

“All things work together for the
good.” For whose good do all these things work together? Are they for my good? No. They are for God’s good. God’s good is much better than my good. God’s good is a much better intended end than what I would plan to do.

God is the good coach and I am the runner.

Therefore, because I know that the intended end by God is a good intended end, I can learn to be patient. I can wait it out.

If however, I can’t see this intended end (this God’s good for me in a given situation) – and it requires faith to see God’s good or God’s intended end in a situation, then I will just panic and have trouble with what is going on right now. I will lose my patience.

LOSING MY PATIENCE

Losing my patience comes from not seeing the grace of God in the situation that He has placed me. I have to believe in faith that God knows what He is doing. I have to believe that whatever the intended end is for this situation comes from a loving, merciful and compassionate God. If I don’t, I won’t stay patient. I will just lose my patience. What happens to me when I lose my patience?

I get frustrated. I get angry at God. I get critical about the people and the circumstances around me. I become bitter. Let’s go back to the illustration between the player and the coach. The coach knows the game plan. He knows the big picture. The coach knows what the player needs for him to run the race well. But if the player gets upset at the practice. If the player says: “I’m tired of running these laps.” “I don’t see the point in getting up early and working out.” “I want to eat marshmallows and cakes and coffee.” The player will start to lose his patience. What happens?

He will never win the race. He will never have the power he needs to endure the race long enough to win.

I wonder what would have happened if Job had given up? Of course Job did not entirely see the end intended by God. He did not entirely know God’s good in the situation he was in. Everyone around him told Job to “lose his patience.” But Job did not. And if Job can learn to be patient, we certainly can.

Patience in my words (5:12)

Now above all [else], my brothers [and sisters], stop taking oaths, neither [by] the heaven nor the earth nor any other oath. But let your* “Yes” be “Yes” and the “No” [be] “No,” so that you* shall not fall into hypocrisy.
(James 5:12 ALT)

Your words have power. As a Christian, what we say has an impact on other people’s lives. What we promise will be taken by outsiders as a reflection of our lifestyle. My words as a Christian reflect my reputation as a Christian. They stand like a mirror toward my actions. Does what I say match what I do?

If I make a promise, I should keep it. The Jews had two types of oaths. They had non-binding oaths. These were oath that were said in the name of “heaven”, or “earth.” for example. When an oath was made in God’s name, then it was binding. The person had to commit to it. Jesus tells me that I should be patience with my words. Why?

Because it takes a long time to build trust. This trust can be destroyed very easily. So I should be patient with my words. I should not promise more than I can do.

I learned this a long time ago in college. I do not remember what exactly I had said. The conversation has left my mind. But in the conversation I was telling a woman that I had made a promise to someone about something. I don’t even remember what I promised. All I remember to this day were these words:

“Your mouth is writing checks that your body can’t cash.” What she meant was this: I was making promises that I could not possibly keep. Why is is this dangerous? Because when I make promises that I cannot keep, when I make oaths that I never mean to commit, then it makes me out to be a liar. I can never be trusted.

Hypocrisy or condemnation in the NKJV, really means to pretend. A pretender is someone who says something but never really means it. A pretender eventually builds a reputation that no one can trust. A hypocrite’s words can never be trusted.

What does this have to do with patience and endurance?

Patient people are sincere people. Christians who have endured trouble become because of the circumstances sincere and honest people. Patience and endurance helps me become real to other people.

Let me close with this example:

On the Saturday morning that Paul and Alina were married, Heike and I went to the hairdresser. We arrived at 9am. I had made an appointment with the hairdresser the previous week. We had agreed that I should show up with Heike at 9am. We would both get a haircut at the same time. So we showed up. They seated us next to one another at the hairdresser stools. They served us coffee, and we waited. Within 20 minutes they started working on Heike. I sat and read a magazine. I saw another person sit down at the end of the aisle. They started to cut his hair. I waited. The little girl served me a second cup of coffee. A family came in and the hairdressers worked on another family. Two sons, and a father received a haircut. I was finishing the magazine, when I realized how long I had waited. It was two hours later. My wife had curls on her head and no one had come to cut my hair.

I was needless to say starting to get upset. So I asked, what is going on? In classic fashion, I was told that I had misunderstood. I was about to get very angry because it was 11:15 and my hair was still not cut. So they start to work to finish my wife’s hair. Then the hairdresser came to me two and a half hours after I sat down and started to cut my hair. It took him 12 minutes. He apologized, and I realized that I had not caused a scene in this shop. What is my point?

I endured an impatient situation with grace. The hairdresser who was not a Christian, probably learned more from my example then and there than any amount of time he would have spent in this sanctuary.

Photo by Ben White, courtesy of Unsplash.com