JAMES 5:7-11
FAITH WORKS PERSEVERINGLY
FAITH WORKS #15
The value of courage, persistence, and perseverance has rarely been illustrated more convincingly than in the life story of this man (his age appears in the column on the right):
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Failed in business |
22 |
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Ran for Legislature—defeated |
23 |
|
Again failed in business |
24 |
|
Elected to Legislature |
25 |
|
Sweetheart died |
26 |
|
Had a nervous breakdown |
27 |
|
Defeated for Speaker |
29 |
|
Defeated for Elector |
31 |
|
Defeated for Congress |
34 |
|
Elected to Congress |
37 |
|
Defeated for Congress |
39 |
|
Defeated for Senate |
46 |
|
Defeated for Vice President |
47 |
|
Defeated for Senate |
49 |
|
Elected President of the United States |
51 |
That’s the record of Abraham Lincoln. Bits and Pieces, July, 1989, http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=1094
Imagine that you are a world-class concert pianist at the peak of your career, someone who has spent years studying and practicing to develop your art. Your fingers respond instantly to your mental commands, flitting along the keyboard with grace and speed. Then one day you feel a stiffness that wasn’t there before. You go to a doctor, tests are done, and the diagnosis comes back: arthritis. Your fingers are destined to become wooden and crippled.
From the heights of success and acclaim you will plunge to oblivion.
It happened to Byron Janis. Within a short time this concert pianist saw arthritis quickly spread to all his fingers, and the joints of nine of them fused. Some people would have never recovered from such a blow, but Janis decided to fight back. He kept his ailment a secret from all but his wife and two close friends. He worked long hours to change his technique. He learned how to use what strengths he had instead of concentrating on his weaknesses. He also used a regimen of medications, acupuncture, ultrasound, and even hypnosis to deal with the pain. His wife learned how to give him therapeutic massages to loosen his stiff joints.
Through hard work and sheer determination, Janis was able to continue his career. He maintained a full concert schedule for 12 years without anyone suspecting. Finally, he told the world at a White House concert in 1985. These days, he is active in fund-raising for the Arthritis Foundation and still plays the piano. He credits faith, and hope, and will for his success and says, “I have arthritis, but it doesn’t have me.” Bits and Pieces, August, 1989, http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=1094
We have all heard stories of remarkable perseverance about many different people. The stories of Byron Janis and Abraham Lincoln are just two among many.
Often Christians are called to persevere under the most difficult of circumstances. We already know that we could at anytime face trials, tribulations and/or persecution. In such situations we are called upon to persevere.
The Christians that James was writing to were facing various trials, tribulations, and persecution or mistreatment.
One of the problems they faced was mistreatment or persecution from wealthy land owners who would withhold or cheat them out of their pay. These wealthy land owners are rebuked in James 5:1-5.
James next encourages those who are persecuted or mistreated to persevere in spite of their circumstances. In James 5:7-11, we learn that we are to:
PERSEVERE BY EXPECTING THE LORD’S COMING
PERSEVERE BY EXCLUDING GRUMBLING
PERSEVERE BY EXAMINING BIBLICAL MODELS
PERSEVERE BY EXPECTING THE LORD’S COMING – Vss. 7-8
Vs. 7 – The word patient here means to be ‘long-tempered’. It has to do with our reaction to people who persecute, abuse, or cause us difficulty.
We are to be patient until the Lord comes.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 - For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: [17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. [18] Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
When do people most want the Lord to come?
Not when things are going well, but when things are not going well.
The church and individuals are most anxious for the Lord to come when there is persecution and discomfort.
Perhaps you have been most anxious for the Lord’s return during times of adversity. If you have, you are very normal.
James gives us an illustration of the farmer waiting for rain.
Perhaps as a child or even as an adult you got very anxious for produce in the garden and wanted to pick things prematurely. A good farmer is patient until the right time for the produce to be picked.
“The ‘fall’ (literally early) come in late October and early November in Palestine. Farmers still eagerly await these because they aid planting and make seed germination possible. Heavy rains come in December through February. And finally the spring rains come in April and May. These rains represent a process apart from which there can be no harvest.” R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word – James, Faith That Works, (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1991), p.223
Vs. 8 – Just as the farmer is patient. We are also to be patient.
In our patience we are to establish or strengthen or confirm our hearts. One of the ways we do this is by anxiously anticipating His coming whether we things are going well or not so well.
Matthew 25:13 - Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Mark 13:35-37 - Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: [36] Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. [37] And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Luke 12:40 - Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Titus 2:11-13 - For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, [12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [13] Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
1 Peter 4:7 - But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
The joy of knowing Christ should help us endure as we actually anticipate his coming for us, whether by the “upper taker” or the undertaker.
“In the nineteenth century Billy Bray, a dynamic Christian and a Cornish miner, so overflowed with Christ that wherever he went, men trust Christ. Each day as he went down into the mines – very dangerous in those days – he would pray with the miners as he went down. ‘Lord, if any of us must be killed or die today, let it be me. Let not one of these men die for they are not happy and I am, and if I die today I shall go to be in heaven.’ It was rumored that at times when he got to the bottom of those mines, the other miners would all be on their knees.” R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word – John, That You May Believe, (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1999), pp. 217-218
Vs. 8 – James next tells us that the coming of the Lord is “drawing nigh”.
It’s been almost 2000 years now since He left. How can we say that his coming is near? There are many who don’t think that He will return at all! Things haven’t changed since Bible times!
2 Peter 3:8-9 - But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
According to these verses, Jesus has just been God a couple of days according to God’s perspective. That’s not long at all!
The Lord is not a slacker!
The Lord is delaying so more can be saved!
If the Lord is delaying so more can be saved, what are we doing about witnessing?
1 Peter 3:15 - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Of course, the meaning of this passage is that the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh as far as His literal return is concerned.
But you know, today the Lord came for some of His saints.
Psalm 106:15 - And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
And we never know when He will come for us.
Psalm 39:4 - Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
Psalm 71:17-18 - O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. [18] Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
PERSEVERE BY EXPECTING THE LORD’S COMING
PERSEVERE BY EXCLUDING GRUMBLING
Vs. 9 – This grumbling was probably an inward sigh or groaning. It was a bad attitude towards others. There was bitterness towards others that would easily be displayed in the ways others were treated.
There was a critical spirit afoot.
And James warns that we will be judged for that critical spirit!
Matthew 7:1-2 - Judge not, that ye be not judged. [2] For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
“The judge is standing at the door.”
If Jesus is coming back soon, and He is, the judge is close by!
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
1 Corinthians 4:5 - Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
When we persevere we don’t grumble or whine.
We might not be able to change things, but we won’t complain about others and let it get us down.
PERSEVERE BY EXPECTING THE LORD’S COMING
PERSEVERE BY EXCLUDING GRUMBLING
PERSEVERE BY EXAMINING BIBLICAL MODELS
Vs. 10 – To be called a “servant of God” is a honor.
But with that designation has often come suffering and affliction at the hands of men.
James audience, which was suffering affliction was encouraged to remember the example of the long suffering and patience of the Old Testament prophets. Here was a group whose suffering for the cause of righteousness were legendary.
Matthew 5:11-12 - Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. [12] Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew 23:37 - O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 - For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: [15] Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
Can you think of any Old Testament prophets who were persecuted or suffered hardship?
· Moses – children of Israel, Aaron and Miriam
· David from Saul
· Elijah by Ahab and Jezebel
· Micaiah by Ahab – sent to prison for speaking the truth. Diet was bread and water.
· Amos 7:10-13 - Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. [11] For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. [12] Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: [13] But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
· Jeremiah – thrown into muddy pit and left to die
· Ezekiel – wife died
· Daniel – lion’s den
· Hosea – unfaithful wife
And besides this formidable list, we can add those who have suffered as martyrs for Christ in times past, and even in our present day.
George Atley was killed while serving with the Central African Mission. There were no witnesses, but the evidence indicates that Atley was confronted by a band of hostile tribesmen. He was carrying a fully loaded, 10-chamber Winchester rifle and had to choose either to shoot his attackers and run the risk of negating the work of the mission in that area, or not to defend himself and be killed.
When his body was later found in a stream, it was evident that he had chosen the latter. Nearby lay his rifle all 10 chambers still loaded. He had made the supreme sacrifice, motivated by his burden for lost souls and his unswerving devotion to his Savior. With the apostle Paul, he wanted Christ to be magnified in his body, “whether by life or by death.” Our Daily Bread http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=1782
Compared to what others have suffered for the cause of Christ, I have had to endure very little. If I am forced to suffer I am to endure with the same patience of the Old Testament prophets and the Christian mar
Vs. 11 – The prophets that endured were blessed.
Then there was Job who persevered.
He lost all things and became dreadfully sick.
And yet, although Job did question God, and curse the day he was born, and argue his righteousness with his comforters, Job never denied or cursed God.
Job 13:15 - Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 19:25-27 - For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: [26] And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: [27] Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
And in the end, after God appeared to Job and Job repented, God blessed Job once again.
Job 42:12-13 - So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. [13] He had also seven sons and three daughters.
PERSEVERE BY EXPECTING THE LORD’S COMING
PERSEVERE BY EXCLUDING GRUMBLING
PERSEVERE BY EXAMINING BIBLICAL MODELS