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Oct 20, 2024

Patience | Faith in Action

Patience | Faith in Action

Passage: James 5:7-11

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Faith in Action

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: sunday morning, prayer, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, gospel, jesus christ, spiritual growth, bible study, church unity, personal growth, active faith, bible teaching, christian motivation, burnt hickory baptist church, faith communities, faith over fear, church livestream, burnt hickory, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, faith empowerment, how to pray through fear, sermons on fear 2024

What does patience look like in your life? In today’s message from the book of James, we dive into the profound connection between faith and patience. We explore how Godly patience is not just about waiting, but about trusting—looking back on God's faithfulness, looking forward to His promises, and looking up for His strength. Through the examples of the farmer, the prophets, and the life of Job, we see how patience develops perseverance in the midst of life's trials. This kind of patience grows when we stand firm in faith, even when things seem uncertain. Are you facing challenges that test your patience? Today’s message offers insight into how you can deepen your faith, build perseverance, and discover how God is full of compassion and mercy even in the waiting. If you’re ready to take the next step in your faith journey, we invite you to visit burnthickory.com/next.

Well, good morning church. In our series Faith in Action, James chapter five is where we will be coming from today. Over the past several weeks, we've been following James, the half-brother of Jesus, and he's given us so much practical wisdom about how to walk out our faith and put our faith in action.

Now, look, if you are a regular Burnt Hickory member and you've been here over the last couple of months, and by some way, you have escaped James, getting all up in your spiritual business, today is your day. I can guarantee that James will get into your stuff today because today's topic is one of those topics that I would call probably as close to a universal struggle as anything else in all of the Bible. James will teach these first-century believers, and he will teach us today the topic of patience in the struggle and how God is in the business of blessing his children.

What James is going to show us today is that while we're living in this fallen world, it's going to take some time, in fact, many times, for you to see how God is working, weaving, moving, and what God is doing. And with that, you will see that it also sometimes comes with frustration in times when we just need to be patient. James, chapter five, that's where we will be today. Let's go ahead and jump in because we have some ground to cover.

James says in James 5:7: "Be patient then, brothers and sisters." Now, I want you to look at the word "then." I know it seems kind of funny to start with the word "then," but it is an incredibly important word. Some of your translations say, "Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient." Now, here's what James is doing. James is looking at what he has said, and now, he is connecting everything he has said in this letter thus far to this idea of patience. So don't think of this message as a little one-off stray thought of James.

He knew that it was a struggle. What James is doing in verse seven is connecting patients with every other challenge that he has presented to us over these last couple of months. He's talked about suffering, he's talked about trials, he's talked about disappointments in life. He's talked about relationship problems. He's talked about unanswered prayers and unmet expectations. And what he's saying here is that even though you're a believer in Jesus, and even though God is the king of your life, and even though you have prayed for a lot of these things to be handled and you ask God to move, even though you've done all that and you haven't necessarily seen him moving, and there's some frustration that is happening, what he's saying to us in this verse is, that God is still good and God is still moving.

But in the middle of that moment, before we experience the good, we have to exercise patience. Can I just be honest with you for a minute? You are looking at a guy who struggles with patience. I struggle particularly with people. There are some of you in here today who have been on the other end of me struggling with patience. I have had to apologize to multiple of you in this room at some point in our walk together. One of my many faults, and out of my faults, this one is a big one for me. Here's what I know: it's probably a big one for you too. When you go to Publix, when you go to Kroger, or when you go to Home Depot, what do you do after you get everything you need and you come up to the checkout lines?

What is the first thing you do in that moment? You are calculating which line is the fastest. You're scanning the people in front of you, and you're deciding which one is least likely to want to talk to the cashier for a long time. Which one of these people is going to pay with cash, and heaven forbid the coupon lady gets in front of you. I mean, save 20 cents, but it took us 12 minutes. In that moment, you are like me, looking at your choices.

We live in an instant society. Everything about our society is instant. Four of you today have already asked me if we're going to put mobile ordering on the app for the coffee shop, for goodness' sake. With one click on Amazon, or Walmart Plus, it'll be there before I arrive home.

Do you remember commercials? I don't. I even struggle watching a full football game with commercials. We're in an instant gratification culture, which is incredible. Everything is at our fingertips. But with the positives, there come some negatives. When things don't go our way or when things aren't on our timelines, it just seems to me that where we are in culture now, we are so less equipped to have patience in the moment because everything is so uninstantaneous. We don't have to wait until next week till our TV show comes on. I'm mad if it buffers for five seconds, right?

But that's what I'm talking about.  We all struggle in this middle ground between desire and fulfillment of this desire. So here's what James tells us. He says, listen, patience is necessary if you're going to walk out your faith. Patience is absolutely necessary if you're going to experience God's full joy, full grace, and full mercy in your life. Listen to me closely if we, as believers in Jesus, are going to be able to hold up the cause of Jesus without just being absolute jerks. Patience, patience, patience. So, here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to read the rest of the passage today. And since this is such a big topic, I just want to ask two questions of the day to hopefully teach through this text. Number one: What exactly is patience? And number two: How can I develop and grow more patience? Alright, let me read the text. Here's James, he says: "Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop patiently waiting for the autumn and the spring rains? You two, be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door." Verse 10, "Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord."

Verse 11. "As you know, we count as blessed. Those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about." Listen to this; you may want to underline this last sentence. "The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." Alright, so here's the first question. What exactly is patience? I mean, six or maybe seven times, patience or a synonym of patience has been used in the passage that we just read. It is the core teaching. So what is it? In verse seven, James uses the word patience, but it's the Greek word makrothumia. I know you know this, but let's just review it. It's makrothumia, and it means long-suffering.

Makro means long, meaning large, meaning lengthy, and the second word is thumia or suffering. Think, endurance, or remaining in. Now, he's not talking about some brief moment of pain or shame or some brief moment in our life. What he's pointing towards here is the long season of standing. A long season of suffering, a long season of questioning, a prolonged hardship, or a long persecution, especially in their world. Now, this is important, and here's why. Many of us, as believers in Jesus, think that just because we gave our hearts to Jesus, we should automatically live this blessed life, right? Maybe now and then, something comes on the radar for a day or two or a week or two, but I should just be in this blessed moment for every other part of our life.

No, that is not what is promised. The word patience here implies that we, as believers in Jesus, before we go home to be with the Lord, we are going to have these long seasons that we are called to stand. Yes, sir, that we're called to stand, particularly dealing with people, is what James is saying. Now, as soon as I say that, I know there are some who have been living in that world. Some have been living in this with their health, family relationships, and work life for a long time. But here's what James says in verse seven. No matter the situation, if Christ is your king, he has told you to be patient.

Verse seven: Be patient. Keep enduring – makrothumia – with long-standing and suffering. But also, in verse 11, James knows that we're not going to get that totally. So he uses another word in verse 11 to continue to get this cause in us. Let me read verse 11, and I'll show you what I mean. He says this in verse 11. He says: "As you know, we count it as blessed. Those who have persevered." Circle that word persevere because in Greek, persevered is slightly different, but it is the word hypomeno, hyper-stand. The first one was long-suffering. Now, he's drawing it down even more to show us patience is standing that won't quit. That's patience. You want to define patience. It is standing in a long moment of suffering and not quitting, not retaliating, not coming up with a plan to be God.

It is long-standing. Picture this: a boxer in the seventh round who is getting pummeled, but they won't fall because they know if they just keep standing, they can win. Picture your 2-year-old when you first put them in their big bed. Remember that moment? Remember how they beat you back downstairs over and over and over again? Hyper standing. That's what he's meaning right here. And so what he's saying here is that is the goal of our lives. We persevere, and we have long-standing patience and steadfastness in the face of controversy. And verse 11 shows us what happens when we stand.

He says it's counted as blessed. This is important because, in standing, we have a God who sees it. Yes sir. We have a God who blesses it, and we have a God marking it down for eternity. Yes sir. I don't know what your problems are. I don't know what you're currently suffering from or what your moments of patience look like, but James is showing us our calling is to stand in them because we have a God who will one day make it right.

Yes sir. He'll make it right. If we're blessed to have patience and endurance, and we keep standing in times of troubles, how can we grow or develop more godly patience in our lives? That's where James goes today. Just like he has done just about every week, James gives us this command that seems too big to live in our lives. But then he circles back around it, and he gives us an example, a real-life example of how we can live this out. Well, here's what James knew. James knew we struggled with this so much, so he didn't just give us one example of how to have patience.

He gave us three pictures of Godly patience in the text that I just want to burn into our minds today. Number one, he gives us the example of seeing the farmer. Not many of us are farmers, but this is a farming society that James is writing to, and James and his brother Jude were both farmers. This makes much more sense when you look back at his writing because he's always writing about nature, water, the wind blowing, or something happening in the soul.

If anybody knows patience, if anybody knows standing firm, it's farmers. Look at the example in verse seven. He says, "Be patient then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming and see how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rings. You two, be patient and stand firm. Why? Because the Lord's coming is near." So why are we looking at farmers? What does a farmer do after he plants the seed? He does two things: he trusts, and he waits. That's all he could do because that's all he can do. There was no GPS irrigation to manage or forecast or anything else.

He knew the farmers in that day knew they couldn't control the weather. He knew it was out of his control once he planted something, but it was never out of God's control. He could put down some fertilizer and try to keep the pests out. But what happens after the seed is in the dirt is not up to the farmer. It's up to the seed, the dirt, and the weather. If this farmer gets mad and tries to dig up the seed in two months, he will kill it. So the farmer holds himself in check, and he stands firm.

He's done everything that he can, and now he just stands. Church, listen to me. In those moments of your helpless waiting where you feel like you've done everything you can do, you've prayed all you can pray, you've lived all you can live, you've talked all you can talk, all you can do in that moment is just keep standing. Just keep standing and do what? Trust that what's about to happen, the fall and the spring rains of God's grace will come. Hallelujah. That's what James is trying to teach us. Think like a farmer. Work the ground, spread the new good seed, and keep the intruders out. But then you just have to stand and keep standing. No matter what hits you, you just keep standing.

God sees it, and God will bless it so much more. But I want you to see the second example here, and then we'll get some action steps. Look at the second example, verse nine. James says, "Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door, brothers and sisters, 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 count as blessed. Those who have persevered." Number one was the farmer; number two is the prophets. If you want patience in your life? Look at the prophets. If you follow the Old Testament prophets through the Old Testament, you will see what most of them have in common. They were called to preach the word of God, to be the mouthpiece of the word of God, to be God's voice.

But many times, they preached for years, and they encountered nothing but persecution, opposition, and pain way before their prophecies came true. Many of them never even got to see their prophecies come true. So, all they could do was just keep standing, enduring, and having patience. Let me give you a couple of examples. Think about Noah just for a minute. For 120 years, he talked about rain to people who have never seen rain. Have you ever thought about that? They had never even experienced rain in their lives. But all he could do was just keep standing and keep speaking about who God was. Think about Joseph for a minute. He was sent to do what? Save Israel. But his brothers hated him and sold him.

He was falsely accused and sent to prison for 20 years. What could Joseph have done? All he could do was just keep standing. Isaiah, when you read the book of Isaiah, he wrote so much about the coming of who Jesus is, the coming of the Messiah. But do you remember how Isaiah's life ended? It ended in persecution, and it ended stuffed into a hollow log and cut in half. All he could do was keep standing. Remember Jeremiah? He knew so much about suffering. He wrote a whole book about it called Lamentations. For most of his adult life, he was put in a cistern or put in a dungeon, and he was up to his armpits in mud. Think about Daniel. Remember the lions’ den, Daniel? He was in captivity for 20 years. Well, what could he do?

Even in the moment of the lions’ den, he just had to keep standing. All these guys had these super long seasons of just having to stand and endure. But in the end, every single word of God's truth that came through their mouths came true. That's the point here. Eventually, in verse 11, we see and know that God counts them as blessed. Now, if you ask them in the middle of the suffering, how's their life going? Are they feeling blessed at the moment? The answer would be no, and they wouldn't know what God was doing. And it's just total honesty, right? Even if you ask them years later, they probably wouldn't know, but what are we doing now? We're still talking about God's faithfulness through their lives. That's the point, right? When we don't know what God's doing, when we don't know how God's moving, when we have prayed all week, we are called to just stand.

Third illustration: it's the man Job. If you didn't follow the farmer and you didn't follow the prophets, the third illustration of patience is Job. I'm not sure you can give him a message on patience and not mention Job. We don't have time to tell this whole story. But listen to what James says about him in verse 11. James says, "You know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." Poor Job. This was a man who really, for a major season of his adult life, did not see what God was doing. But what did Job do with his life? He just kept standing. He just kept remaining, and so what did God do?

God allowed Satan to pour out a limited amount of vengeance and evil on him. Whether it was physical or mental or family or emotional, Job lost everything. Job's whole family died. He loses everything that he has his friends turn on him. But what did Job do in the middle of all this? He just kept standing. And at the end of his test, what do we see at the end of Job's test? We get to see God's character. We get to see God move. We get to see God provide. We get to see a glimpse of what God wants to do. In fact, as we see Job's life, we see that God never leaves him, and God is using all of what's happening in Job's life for His glory. I love what Job does.

He just stays standing and stays faithful. Job 19:25 is one of my favorite verses out of the whole book of Job. Job says this to one of his friends, who is telling him to give up. Job says: I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand on the earth. Hallelujah. That's incredible from a guy who didn't even have a full picture of what it was going to cost God to send Jesus. But here's what Job knew: my God wins in the end. And in the end, I've been called to stand for God. Job knew that even when it seemed like he had been abandoned, even when it seemed like God wasn't moving, God was there, and he had always been there. And what do we see at the end of Job's life?

Look at Job 42:10, "The Lord restored the fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before...The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part. After this, Job lived 140 years and he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died an old man full of years." Now, don't take this the wrong way in the prosperity gospel. This doesn't mean when we live with patience in the suffering, that God is going to automatically bless us with double the amount of stuff.

That's not what it means, but it is a glimpse into what God promises for every one of his children in the next world. And that glimpse is that God will ultimately bless you, and he will stand for you, hallelujah. James says this is a picture of God's faithfulness. Verse 11, I'm going to keep reading. It says this: "You have heard of Job's perseverance, and you have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion, and the Lord is full of mercy." Is that compassion how we always think that compassion should go? No. Is mercy given how we think it should be dealt out? No. But listen, it's even better because it is straight from God, proving that God loves and gives.

Our role is to long standing. To long stand no matter what the world throws at us. To long stand no matter what the controversy is. To long stand no matter what that friend group says. To long stand because we have a God who says our home is coming, and he is ours. So, with that being said, here's what I want to do. I want to take all of this text and show us how we do it in the few minutes I have left. How do we long stand? How do we hyperstand? How can we live with this makrothumia - this patience? There are three things. Number one, we do it by looking backward. Now, I know that's a weird place to start, but as we look at the farmer, we see that the farmer trusts because why?

Because he knows that God has always been faithful, when we look at the prophet's world, we know that we're looking back at how God has always been faithful to them. And when we look at this man Job, what do we see in Job's life? No matter what happened in Job's life, God was already and always going to be there. That's what we just saw in verse 11, that God has always been full of compassion. God has always been full of mercy, and he is still today. I thought about this this week: we, as believers in Jesus, get to look back at the cross and what happened to Jesus. And we get to look back at the crucifixion and the resurrection.

And I got to thinking about it even farther apart than that is the fact that the crucifixion happened on Friday, the resurrection happened on Sunday, but doesn't it seem like much of our lives are just lived in the Saturday? In between those two things, do you ever wonder why Jesus didn't just rise late Friday night? I get the prophecies being fulfilled, and they wanted to make sure that he was dead. But I also think there's another lesson, and I think it's because God wanted to show us how we can live in the Saturday of life knowing that the Sunday is coming. We look back, but the answers are not always going to come today or tomorrow. Your relief is not always going to come today or tomorrow.

Your joy is not always going to come today or tomorrow, but it will come because God is faithful. He's faithful. And in this moment that we live so much of our lives in this middle of the ground life, we've got scripture that has been preserved to help us look back. We have our own testimony of what God has done in our lives to help us look back. We've got the encouragement of other believers in our lives to help us look back at how God can move. Looking back at God's faithfulness shows us that God is supreme. Don't let yourself slip in those moments of endurance. Into woe is me - nobody cares. The maker of the universe did. Number two: we look forward.

The farmer, what is he doing? He's looking forward to the soil and what God's going to do by sending the rain. The prophets lived their lives looking forward to the fact that God is and has always been and will be faithful. Job, he's looking forward at the fact that God has never let me down, and he will never let me down. Church, this point alone is worth the day. If we could just set our minds on the long eternal life and quit having such passion for the one that we're in, God would be evident in every single thing in our lives. How much perspective would it give us if we finally just realized that this world that we're living in right now is only about two inches compared to the long point of eternity?

In verse eight, James says, "You too be patient and stand firm. Why? Because the Lord's coming is near." The word "stand firm" means to be fixed and don't waver. It's the opposite of so many of the problems that James has brought up, like being grass, that the wind blows or shifts around, or being unstable. James says there is stability when we begin to look forward to who God is, and specifically, we begin to look forward in two places. First of all, we begin to look forward to the fact that the coming of the Lord is evident. How many times did you think about this week that God's coming is evident in your life? Did you see what he just said right here? He just said that the coming of the Lord is near. Now, I'm not saying that we just flush all of this world, and we live like one of those weird people who just totally reject all the goodness that God has given us now.

But what I am saying is that we have our eternity meter set too low and our earthly meter set too high. I am saying yes, we need to enjoy this world. Yes, we need to enjoy the everyday graces. Yes, we need to enjoy the things that God has given us. So, for goodness sake, go have a steak, go have a great vacation, have a great car, or whatever. But what I am saying on top of that is never let it overshadow the fact that God is coming back for us. I love the balance that David says in Psalm 27:13. David said, "I remain confident of this that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." You get that right; God wants you to see his goodness here. But then he said, "wait for the Lord and be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

We can expect that God should be moving in God's goodness in our lives. So yes, pray for it. But also remember, hold it lightly, and know that God may not show you his full goodness in your timing and on your plan or even in this world, but he will one day. So keep standing because he's coming back. But he also said, Hey, listen, you keep this in focus by recognizing God's presence and not grumbling. You know how you look forward? You quit your grumbling. That's what he said. Why is grumbling such a big deal? Grumbling is the opposite of patience. Why? Because grumbling is not trusting that the Lord is with you. Look at what he says in verse nine. I didn't just make this up. He says, "Don't grumble against one another brothers and sisters or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door."

You see, our patience problems are nothing more than trusting God is there, trusting God will meet our needs, and trusting God is the judge of the universe. So what did James say? He's saying, listen, if you want patience in your life, look back at what God has done and then set your gaze on the fact that no matter what happens on this earth, God is coming back, and God, the judge of the universe, is with you. Number three: look up.

Now, here's what I mean by that. Looking up to God is asking God to move in your life. Did you know that you can pray for patience now? Now, I'm not talking about "God, give me some patience." No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying, "Hey God, I know that I have a bent towards this, and God, honestly, I'm looking back at who you are. I'm looking forward to that. You are the maker of the universe, the judge, and the creator of the world. But God, in this moment, I just need you." That's what I'm talking about. Now look, I'm not going to flesh this out because the rest of the book next week, spoiler work, we're going to close with prayer Because that's what he does in the book. But here, I wanted you to have this in your notes because, this week, here's your goal.

I'm going to give it to you real quick. Then we're going to have an invitation. I want you to think about the farmer. Think about the prophets and think about Job. And then I want you to think about them in your patience moments: am I looking back at God's faithfulness? Am I looking forward to God's return? And am I looking beside me to know that the judge of the universe is with me and asking him to step into the situation? Or am I just spouting off and not trusting him? So let me get real personal as we end. Do you struggle in the waiting? Is patience a thing for you? Because if it is, God just says this:

Walk with me because my yoke is easy, my burden is light, and I am yours.

Follow Along with the Message

Patience

 

October 20, 2024

James 5:7
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters…
James 5:7–11
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
2 Questions

1. What is ?

Patience = makrothumia
(long + suffer)

James 5:11
As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered.

Persevered = hypomeno
(hyper + stand)

2. How can I grow or develop godly patience in my life?

3 Pictures of Godly Patience

1. The

James 5:9–11
9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered…

2. The

3. The man,

James 5:11
As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered…
Job 19:25
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
Job 42:10, 12, 16–17
10 …the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before… 12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part… 16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
James 5:11
…You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Patience is Found Looking to 3 Places

1. Looking .

2. Looking .

James 5:8
You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Psalm 27:13–14
13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
James 5:9
Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

3. Looking .

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