Rev. David Holwick ZD Book of James series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 14, 1994
James 5:7-11
|
I. How patient are you?
A. Real life reveals us better than our theories of ourselves.
Personal example of waiting for a new telescope.
1986. Comet Halley makes its once-in-a-lifetime visit.
I ordered an expensive telescope from a company in California.
They said it would arrive in three weeks.
After two weeks I began calling them every day.
Five weeks went by, and still no telescope.
In frustration, I order an identical one from a company
on Long Island.
When I called to cancel the California telescope, they said
I was too late - it was already shipped.
Dilemma: do I believe California, or end up with two
telescopes?
Instead I canceled the telescope from Long Island, which
did not bless them at all.
(My first discovery of rudeness on the East Coast.)
The telescope arrived in three large boxes, which I promptly
tore into and assembled my telescope, making a mess in the
process.
I am a patient man, except when it comes to my toys.
And my children... And driving on Route 46... And....
B. Impatience is normal.
1) Example of small children, who can never wait.
Addam's Family dinner manners:
"Pass me the meat."
"Now, darling, what's the magic word?"
"NOW!!"
2) Oppression can lead to impatience.
a) Context is dealing with poor Christians who are being
put down by the powerful rich.
b) Natural for them to end up with a bitter, defeated
spirit.
3) Impatience has its consequences.
a) Foolish decisions. (rash choice of a spouse)
b) In our rush, we accept second best.
C. Patience has to be learned.
1) Patience is a valuable possession of believers.
2) Doesn't depend on personality, but our confidence in God.
3) One of nine fruits of Spirit.
#2747
II. Be patient, God is always on time.
A. Palestinian farmers plant in fall and harvest in spring. 5:7
1) Must be patient for three things:
a) Early rains for germination.
b) Late rains so plants will mature.
c) Actual harvest of the crop.
2) They can speed up maturing process, but not eliminate it.
a) Even American farmers must wait.
b) Not passive resignation, but expectant waiting.
B. Christians must also learn to wait.
1) We live within limitations.
2) Important growth is not instant but must take time.
3) Work at incremental changes.
III. God has a secret timetable for us. 5:8
A. Life is not open-ended, but is drawing to a conclusion.
1) Image of "End of World" doomsayer sign-holder.
a) But Second Coming is stressed in 300 verses in NT.
b) God is going to tie up the lose ends.
c) What seems unattainable to us will be done by God
in an instant.
2) The End may be closer than we think.
B. Problem: James wrote almost 2,000 years ago.
1) Dilemma of nearness of parousia. (OT and NT)
2) God has a special way of looking at time. 2 Pet 3:8f
a) Doubters have always been around.
b) Yet the signs are more obvious than ever:
1> Moral decay in society.
2> Dramatic realignment of world governments.
3> Developments in Israel.
C. It may seem slow, but God has his reasons.
1) God is slow because he is so loving. 5:11
2) He gives us all the time we need.
IV. The coming of Jesus should make a difference.
A. Stand firm. 5:8
1) Be firm in what you believe.
a) Tremendous amount of bad doctrine among Christians.
b) Heresy among liberals, wishy-washiness among conservatives.
2) Be firm in how you are living.
a) Your lifestyle DOES matter.
3) Be firm against opposition.
a) Everyone around you may be compromising, but you will
only answer for yourself.
b) Opposition makes you tough.
Since baseball is on strike, I'll share a football
illustration.
It was a Monday Night football game between the Chicago
Bears and the New York Giants.
One of the announcers observed that Walter Payton, the
Bears' running back, had accumulated over nine miles in
career rushing yardage.
The other announcer remarked, "Yeah, and that's with
somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!"
Walter Payton, the most successful running back ever, knew
that everyone - even the very best - gets knocked down.
The key to success is to get up and run again just as hard.
#1921
B. Be positive.
1) Grumbling is a normal response to adversity.
2) The promise of heaven should give us a new perspective.
a) We have a new perspective on suffering.
1> God can use suffering to teach us. Any suffering
can be turned into a benefit.
2> In faith, we trust God has his reasons.
3> Without suffering, we would be insufferable.
The British social commentator, Malcolm Muggeridge,
wrote:
Suppose you eliminated suffering, what a dreadful place
the world would be.
I would almost rather eliminate happiness.
The world would be the most ghastly place, because
everything that corrects the unspeakable little
creature, man, to feel over-important and over-pleased
with himself would disappear.
He's bad enough now, but he would be absolutely
intolerable if he never suffered.
#2745
b) Patience means we believe God orders everything for our
spiritual good.
3) Every situation, good and bad, is an opportunity to honor
God in a new way.
V. We stand in a long line.
A. Most of the prophets suffered (for good), yet kept the faith.
1) Jeremiah.
a) Beaten and put in stocks. 20:2
b) Thrown in prison. 32:2
c) Dropped in a muddy cistern. 38:6
2) Those who endure are BLESSED.
a) Not just subjective emotional state of happiness.
b) Objective approval and reward from God.
B. The "patience" of Job.
1) He had healthy faith, family, wealth, and health.
a) Immense suffering when it was all taken away.
2) His faith was shaken, but he never lost it.
a) Job complained, but hung in there.
1> Not "patient" but persevering.
2> He questioned God and his goodness, but always
submitted to him.
b) In end, God doubled his possessions and his children
(through resurrection). Job 42:10-17
1> The full blessing required a heavenly perspective.
VI. Hang in there.
A. Christians are not grim and fatalistic.
1) Everything that happens to us can result in good.
2) God is still in charge.
3) We must accept this in faith, and make most of our lives.
Mario Cuomo, governor of New York, wrote in Life magazine about a
time he was especially discouraged during a political campaign.
He wondered what his father would have thought if he knew his son
felt like giving up.
A thousand pictures flashed through his mind, but one scene came
sharply into view.
They had just moved to Holliswood, New York, from their apartment
behind the store.
They had their own house for the first time; it had some land around it,
even trees.
One in particular was a great blue spruce that must have been 40
feet tall.
Less than a week after they moved in, there was a terrible storm.
They came home from the store that night to find the spruce pulled
almost totally from the ground and flung forward.
Its mighty nose was bent to the asphalt of the street.
Their hearts sank.
But not Poppa's.
Maybe he was five feet six if his heels were not worn.
Maybe he weighted 155 pounds if he had a good meal.
Maybe he could see a block away if his glasses were clean.
But he was stronger than the whole family together.
They stood in the street, looking down at the tree.
"Okay, we gonna push 'im up!"
"What are you talking about, Poppa? The roots are out of the ground!"
"Shut up, we gonna push 'im up, he's gonna grow again."
They didn't know what to say to him.
He wasn't the kind of guy you said no to.
So they followed him into the house and got what rope there was and
tied the rope around the tip of the tree.
Poppa stood up by the house, with Mario pulling on the rope and his
brother Frankie in the street helping to push up the great blue
spruce.
In no time at all, they had it standing up straight again!
With the rain still falling, Poppa dug away at the place where the
roots were, making a muddy hole wider and wider as the tree sank
lower and lower toward security.
Then they shoveled mud over the roots and moved boulders to the
base to keep the tree in place.
Poppa drove stakes in the ground, tied rope from the trunk to the
stakes, "Don't worry, he's gonna grow again...."
If you were to drive past that house today, you would see the great,
straight blue spruce, maybe 65 feet tall, pointing up to the
heavens, pretending it never had its nose in the asphalt.
Remembering that night in Holliswood, Cuomo couldn't wait to get
back into the campaign.
#2428
B. God has a plan for each of us.
1) This plan may involve hardships, which will sharpen us.
2) This plan cannot be speeded up, but has reasons for its
timing.
3) We must have faith that God is good, even when all the
evidence suggests otherwise.
4) The End is coming. Are YOU ready?
Original sermon: January 24, 1988
I. How patient are you?
A. Real life reveals us better than our theories of ourselves.
1) Personal example of waiting for a new computer.
So eager, I allowed substitutions, which didn't work.
B. Impatience is normal.
1) Example of small children, who want everything NOW.
a) (Addam's Family manners illust?)
2) Patience has to be learned.
II. Example of the farmer.
A. Plant in fall and harvest in spring.
1) Must be patient for three things:
a) Early rains for germination.
b) Late rains so plants will mature.
c) Actual harvest of the crop.
2) They can speed up maturing process, but not eliminate it.
a) Even American farmers must wait.
B. Same with Christians.
1) Each event in our lives is sent by God to shape us.
2) Incentive: Second Coming.
a) It should put our daily nuisances in perspective.
b) But usually it doesn't.
3) Heavenly perspective doesn't come easily to us.
a) Heaven and judgment are not the motivations they used
to be.
4) The End may be closer than we think.
a) ("End of World" doomsayer sign-holder?)
b) Problem: James wrote almost 2,000 years ago.
1> Dilemma of nearness of parousia.
2> God has a special way of looking at time. 2 Pet 3:8f
c) God is slow because he is so loving. 5:11
III. Problem of theodicy.
A. If God is so loving, why is there human suffering?
1) (Illust of Darlwin Carlisle, who loved abusive mom.)
2) Why doesn't God do something about all this?
3) Christian patience focuses on this.
B. A perspective on suffering.
1) All suffering is directly, or indirectly, due to sin.
2) Nevertheless, God can use suffering to teach us.
a) Any suffering can be turned into a benefit.
b) In faith, we trust God has his reasons.
3) Patience means we believe God orders everything for our spiritual
good.
4) Every situation, good and bad, is an opportunity to honor
God in a new way.
IV. Example of the prophets.
A. Most of them faced opposition and suffering.
1) Jeremiah.
2) Job.
a) Immense suffering.
b) His faith was shaken, but he never lost it.
B. Overcoming attitude.
1) They are not grim and fatalistic.
2) "Hang in there" attitude.
a) Patience is a valuable possession of believers.
b) One of nine fruits of Spirit.
V. God's plan.
A. God has a plan for the world.
1) The day is coming when he will wipe our suffering and pain.
2) That day may not be far off.
B. God has a plan for each person in this church.
1) This plan may involve hardships.
2) If you keep the faith, these will work out for your good.
3) Seek understanding of God's will, don't fight him.
4) God wants you to have a relationship with him.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Create HTML Help, DOC, PDF and print manuals from 1 single source