Opening Illustration: Quiz: Do you wait or not? When you are giving a gift, do you wait until the occasion or just give it right away? When you are receiving a gift? How long will you wait to be seated at a restaurant? 10 minutes or less? 20 minutes or less? 30 minutes or less? 45 minutes? 60 minutes? Amazon shoppers, how many of pay the $2.99 to have some person speed through Nashville to get your package to you in 2 hours? How many of you select the longer shipping option? (I want those digital rewards!) When you get the mail, do you look at the mail at the mailbox or wait until you get inside? How many actually have the post office email that shows you what is coming in your mailbox before you even get the mail? Some you are like, that exists?! Our culture has lost the art of waiting. I don’t like to wait. I asked my parents if I was a patient or impatient kids growing up. My dad said I had “virtuous impatience” – isn’t that such a parent thing to say?! He also reminded me that I had more speeding tickets than the rest of the family combined. Mom said she had no problem with me until she told me “no”. I still don’t like being told no…Do you wait well? What about waiting on the things in life you have no control over? Medical test, estranged relationships, salvation for loved ones. Our lives are constantly made up of waiting. Today, as Christ-followers, we are waiting for something big. We are waiting for Jesus to come back to complete His grand plan of redemption. As Christ-followers, HOW we wait is important. And that’s exactly what we see in James today. Here’s what we are called to do: Wait like Jesus is coming back. We are in our Sermon Series: The Book of James: Faith and Works.  It’s been a challenging book, we are almost at the finish line. We’ll wrap up the book next Sunday. Read James 5:7-12. Pray. 

One of the challenges of preaching from week to week is trying to help you not lose sight of what we studied last week. And in reality, what we’ve studied over the past month or so. On a side note, what would help out both us is if you consistently read the passages we cover. In an attempt to refresh your mind of what we saw last week in James’ letter, we talked about the Mayfly. Do you remember that? It may have the shortest adult life span of any creature on the planet. Do you remember how long? 30 minutes to 24 hours. Do you remember why we talked about the Mayfly? Because we are to live our lives with a specific purpose – to glorify God. We are to do what God wills for our lives. We are to live like God exists. That’s a reality that needs to shape our lives. Today, we come to a passage where James gives us another life-shaping reality: Jesus is coming back. So, we wait. Here’s how we wait: We wait on Jesus with courageous patience.

1) We wait on Jesus with courageous patience. (vs. 7-8)  Before we look at how we wait, I want to jump into the reality of Jesus’ return. Maybe you are new to the Bible, new to church, or new to what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. Here’s something you need to know: Jesus is coming back. Which, by implication, means that Jesus has already been on earth. Some 2000 years ago, Jesus enter into humanity and did the unthinkable for us – gave us a way not to be punished for our sins and to spend eternity with God. But that’s not the end of the story. We are living between the 3^rd and final act of history. Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. We are in this period of history where the next and final act is when Jesus comes back to restore creation. We are living somewhere between Acts 28 and Revelation 5 through 20 (depending on your views of the end times). But Revelation 21 is where our eyes are fixed. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” – Revelation 21:1-4

If you have never looked at a Bible, this whole notion of Jesus coming back and getting rid of everything that doesn’t belong to Him and restoring everything that does belong to Him may seem far-fetched. What our culture keeps telling itself is that everything is getting better, everything is evolving into something better. But those with eyes can see that is not the case. Here’s the truth: God created this world. Sin messed it up and it’s not getting better. Jesus is coming back and make everything new again. Until you take hold of that truth, your life will never make sense. History (past, present, and future) will never make sense until you see it from God’s perspective and God’s plan.  It’s important to understand this truth because when we see our place in history, we can live out our place in history. The early church lived in expectation of Jesus’ second coming. We see lots of life instruction that is directly impacted by the reality of Jesus’ second coming. Look at what James says in verse 7: ⁷ Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. Why is James telling them to be patient? From last week, we saw that ungodly rich people were taking advantage of the poor. Most likely, these poor were in the church. James is calling them to wait patiently in their injustice. And James uses the illustration of the farmer. The climatic conditions of Palestine often led to two seasonal rains. There was the early rain season would cause the seed to sprout. The late rain season would strengthen the stalk for harvest. James is saying, just like the farmer waits between rainy seasons, you can wait too.

Look at first part of verse 8: ⁸ You, too, must be patient. The waiting game is so hard, especially when it comes to injustice. We love to take matters into our hands, especially when it comes to injustice. James knew that. He didn’t flippantly say, “Oh, you’ll be fine. Just rub some dirt on it.” He knows how hard it is to take this posture. Which is why in verse 8, he points again to Jesus’ second coming, but with some timing. Look at verse 8: ⁸ You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. Why did James say “for the coming for the Lord is near?” That was like some 2,000 years ago. Was James wrong? Is the Bible wrong? Do you remember how long your life lasts? It’s a morning fog; a mist. When you think about how quickly our lives last in the scope of eternity, it’s easy to say Jesus is coming back soon. Because of the nearness of Jesus, we can take courage. We can let our hearts test in what we know to be true. Quote: “Rest your heart in the ultimate certainty.” – Alistair Begg. “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.” – Hebrews 10:35-39 (NLT). Being patient is being courageous. The hardest part of waiting is not knowing. As Christians, we know!  What part of your life is God calling you to change your patience? What part of your life is marked by fearful patience? What part of your life is marked by apathetical patience? What part of your life is marked by anxious patience? Whatever that area of your life is, let God turn it into courageous patience by looking ahead. Wait on Jesus with courageous patience. Stand firm because we know the end of the story. That courageous patience has a strong internal impact. When we wait with courageous patience, that internal impact starts to show itself externally. If we are truly resting our hearts in ultimate certainty, then it will show. That’s what we see next: We wait on Jesus by showing we have Jesus.

2) We wait on Jesus by showing we have Jesus. (vs. 9, 12) Can you guess what theme James goes back to that we’ve already seen? In case you’ve missed the 8,000 places that James talks about your words, he goes back to it again. Why? Do you all remember why James cares so much about our words? Your words reveal your heart. And that includes your thoughts. Whatever is in your heart will reveal itself in your thoughts and in your words. I want to look at verses 9 and 12 next. Verse 12 is a verse that stands on its own, but it’s connection to verse 9 is seen because they both deal with what we say. What does verse 9 say? ⁹ Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door! Remember the context of this verses – Christians were facing opposition. Christians were facing injustice. The issue stems from outside the church family. But here, James is addressing what is happening inside the church family. The problem James is addressing is when the pressures of the culture affect the dynamics the church family. I do this a lot in my own life. I let my stress affect my family. It’s so easy for me to walk into the house with a burden on my back and dump it on my family with my words. James is saying, “You can’t let the injustice of the world cause you to complain about your brother or sister in Christ.”

Of all the parts of our speech, grumbling seems like one of the lower concerns, right?  Is this one really that big of a deal? 1 Corinthians 10:6-10: ⁶ These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, ⁷ or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” ⁸ And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. ⁹ Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. ¹⁰ And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. Do you think God cares about complaining and grumbling? Absolutely! God also cares about the integrity of your words, which is what verse 12 is about. ¹² But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned. The whole point of this verse is that if you are consistently honest, you’ll never need to add extra emphasis to words. Christians should need to say things like, “I swear I’m telling the truth.” Here’s why grumbling and lying matter: Our grumbling dulls the brilliance Jesus’ return. If we are living in courageous patience of the reality that Jesus is coming back, that should ignite a passion inside of us. And that passion should be noticed and seen by others. But when we start grumbling to others, it makes that passion start to grow cold. Has the glory of God grown cold to you? God’s glory is to never be microwaved in your life. God’s glory is a raging fire that must be constantly stoked in your life. We wait like Jesus is coming back be courageously patient. As we are being patient, we don’t let embers of God’s glory turn cold. And here’s how we do that: We wait on Jesus by getting to know Him now. 

3) We wait on Jesus by getting to know Him now.  (vs. 10-11) In verses 10 and 11, James points back to one of the greatest examples of patience, endurance, and faith in suffering: ¹⁰ For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. If you are not familiar with Job’s story, Job was a man of integrity, feared God, and stayed away from evil. God allowed Satan to test Job. Job lost everything – his wealth, his home, his family, and his health. But in all of it, Job never lost his faith. Job had three friends come and offer advice to fix the situation. They didn’t help Job. In the end, Job grew in his knowledge and love of God. Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you". (Job 42:1-2).  God restored Job.

There is a verse at the end of Job that has always jumped out to me. God is talking to one of Job’s three friends and says this: After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” – Job 42:7 (NLT). God tells the three friends they didn’t speak accurately about God. Why was that? Because they didn’t know God! The whole time Job was enduring and courageously waiting, He was getting to know God. Job learned that God is fully in control and there is nothing God can’t do. Quote: “There may be a faith which never complained or questioned; but still greater is the faith which was tortured by questions and still believed.” – William Barclay. If you want to wait like Jesus exists…If you want to wait with courageous patience…If you want to wait by showing you have Jesus…Then spend your days getting to know Jesus. Quote: “Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.” – J. I. Packer. Talk with God, the read the Bible, seek to know Him. Ask God the hard questions. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Read a book! (Knowing God by Packer). Get in a Community Group. Just do something to get to know God. If we are going to spend eternity with God, wouldn’t it be wise to start to get to know Him now? Use your time waiting to get to know your Creator, your Savior, your God. 

I’ll close with this question…What about heaven are you most excited about? If you have never wrestled with the reality that Jesus is coming back and that there is an eternity, make today the day you begin a relationship with Jesus. GOSPEL PRESENTATION. What about Jesus’ return is something that you “just can’t wait?” If you are more excited about checking your mail than you are waiting on Jesus, let’s flip that script. Let’s wait with courageous patience. Let’s wait with by showing Jesus. Let’s wait by knowing Jesus. Let’s be a people that that keeps our eyes fixed on what’s ahead. Let’s all wait with the hope of Jesus. Let’s pray. 

Transition to Prayer Time – Praying for Teachers, Administrators, and Students

Previous Page