Last week I concluded by saying what we do with our money matters because through it, we can give more people the opportunity changes the world as heirs of God through Christ, their savior. When we do this, our treasure is immutable and cannot be denied by anything. This week I want to tell you that we need to be patient because change comes just in time. Lets open our Bibles to James 5.
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7-8)
Lets take the first two verses in this passage first. Here is the key phrase that sums up everything that I want to teach you today in Jesus name. You see, this was insight Jesus gave me all week. This insight was about patience because I need to be more patient than I am. All of us need to be more patient than we are. The reason we need to be more patient than we are is not that were impatient, but because Gods not done with us, it hasnt even begun and if we peak too early, we will be unable to seize opportunities that were meant for us. Look at it, Be patient until the coming of the Lord. See some of us today were tired of waiting for God so we take matters into our own hands. Dont we? And heres the best part, when we do, it seems like were doing okay, but that is only until we royally mess it up. We cant figure out how or why weve messed it up but we do.
Then we get to sit on our butts and ask ourselves, what happened? For those of you who are in that phase of life that youre taking life into your own hands making decisions because God isnt moving at your pace, I want to tell you this Sunday that God is not your genie, and your limited foresight even into your own life is a pitiful rationale for your lack of patience. One can say that a lack of patience and therefore the taking of into your own hands is a lack of faith, but I want to go further and say that it is sinful disobedience. On the flip side, having heard that argument, you may say that I am arguing for a lazy approach to life, that we should just stand back and be passive about the coming and going of the circumstances in our lives. That is absolutely wrong. Being lazy and saying that youre waiting for God is also sinful, it also shows that youve given up on your faith so youre not even trying. This is just as bad as being impatient and taking matters into your own hands.
Patience here isnt a moralistic philosophy based on circumstantial and subjective ideals of what patience is. No, absolutely not. Patience to James is the endurance of practicing what is the glory of God despite the wicked afflictions and trials with humble acquiescence in the wisdom for the will of God, having an eye for the future of His glory. Ive been telling you that James is all about the glory of God and that God is about the glory of God. So by living for the glory of God through the difficulties in our lives is being patient. That means that were not trying to take our circumstances into our own hands to change our fate like we have any choice in the matter, nor is it doing nothing about our circumstances because were too lazy to do anything about it. It is about glorifying God where we are because were here. This week has been a hard week for me. I mean, its been a pretty hard week the last few weeks. I wake up in the morning and its hard. I want to go back to bed, not because Im tired, but because I dont want to face the world. Not because Im afraid of the world, but because my patience for my current circumstance has run out.
So Ive been in deep prayer, but all I get is a word of praise. So Ive been praying long, but the well is dry and all I get is a word of praise. What does that mean? It means, I just need to praise God in thankfulness for things I dont even know about. God wants the glory in my life that seems to be lacking in my view of the world, but it is my life and my praise that brings the power of the Holy Spirit with full conviction to the people around me. You see, the key to what James is saying this morning is that we need to be patient until the Lord comes. So when is the Lord coming exactly? I have no idea. That is the point. It doesnt matter when God comes because until God comes, we are patiently doing what God calls us to do, to bring Him glory. To praise Him when there seems to be nothing to praise Him about or for. Long commute, praise God. Horrible fight, praise God. Bad day at work, praise God. Tired and depressed, praise God. Be patient until the coming of the Lord See, if that was the end of the sermon that would be easy but we havent even gotten past the first verse in our passage this morning.
Lets look at the second part of verse 7: See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. This is actually a reference to Deuteronomy 11:13-16. You didnt know that but the people reading this passage knew it because it was in verse 13 that God tells Moses that people need to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul and he will give the rains, early and late that you may gather your grain and your wine and your oil. Lets read it together.
13 And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them (Deuteronomy 11:13-16)
But you see how this relates to patience? Its because patience is bringing glory to God until the time is just right. James makes the point, as does the writer of Deuteronomy, to tell us that there is early rains and late rains, I want you read it as, its subjective when the rain comes whether early or late, what we know is that the rain will come and in the meantime you just need to love God and love His glory for your life. But I want to take this further because its not enough to tell you simply that you need to worship God in your circumstance right now and not the circumstance you want God to place you in. You need to make it a pattern in your life. Stop being so flippity-floppity with it. Make the decision in your life to commit to knowing and reassuring yourself that Jesus saved you for a reason.
Look at verse 8 now. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. James implies the fact that he was patient, he waited his entire life for God to come back. He wanted his big brother Jesus to come back. He believed that his brother was the Son of God. He lived doing what Jesus asked him to do until he came back. James did this his entire life. He preached the gospel and preached the gospel and preached the gospel. He told people Jesus was coming back for 30 years and then was stoned to death by some corrupt priests. He established in his heart, and he wants us also to commit to it in our hearts and go after the glory of God.
I know it doesnt it doesnt make sense given your current predicament and it doesnt make sense because youre not hitting all cylinders, but it makes sense when you glorify God where you are by doing what you can to love Him. That means pour your heart and soul into the tasks and people in front of you despite how ugly they are and dirty they seem. I want to go back to the farmer. The farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it I already explained that patience according to James is mustering up the commitment in your life to pour out your heart and soul into loving God the best you can where you are in life. But it is interesting that James uses the word, waits as opposed to saying that the farmer was patient. I think this is intentional because when you look at it, it is telling us that patience is one thing, but timing is another. There is a timing involved by which we need to wait. We need to give glory to God by loving him where we are. We love him by pouring our heart and souls to doing things in our lives dedicated to God, but there is something entirely else different when we wait for God. In order to understand this, we all need to go to Mark 4:26-29. Im going to wrap up here. This is Jesus talking. The man Jesus is talking about here is a farmer.
26 And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29)
First thing is this: this farmer doesnt know what hes doing. He knows not how. Isnt that how life feels sometimes? We dont know how to live it? I mean yeah, we have our days and were in elements of life, but overall, in general, we just dont know how to live it. So the man does what he does knowhe scatters seed. This is code for, he does what he can where he is at. Some of us need to scatter some seed while we wait for God. That means put in job applications, put in school applications, study, make friends, do some self-development, connect with people, work harder. How many times have we had the opportunity to do what we know and failed to do it this past week? Be honest. But some of us have already done that, havent we? Were tired of being patient because it doesnt seem like God is ever coming. Hes not speaking into our lives like we ask him to. We dont feel the impact of the seeds that were sowing trying to glorify God. I know, I feel like that all the time and Im sure you feel like that too. Of those people, look what Mark writes in verse 27.
The farmer sleeps. You and I may never know how our glorifying God is changing the world little by little. Dont worry about it. Dont fret over it. It doesnt matter if youre not sure whether youre headed in the right direction with your sowing or not. Just sow it. Then go to bed. Get some rest. Theres a reason Im telling you this, because this is different than being lazy. Mark doesnt say to us that we need to go be lazy, he says go to sleep and even though you wont know how the seed grows, it will grow. That seed you sowed will grow. When you get up, now that you have the energy, its time harvest. You need to get to work.
Verse 28 and 29 says, then the full grain in ear and the harvest time has come. Thats right, its just in time when were patient, and then when we wait. God comes just in time for us to reap a harvest. I want you to know that Jesus tells us that there is a day when harvesting will require more than the sowing, and thats what were patiently waiting for. God grows opportunities for us to seize just in time with his glory to be maximized. We need to be patient and establish our hearts because when we wait for it, Gods glory is at hand. This is why we are saved. This is why we are where we are. This is why we should never give up on Gods glory.
Lets pray.
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