Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles this morning to the Book of James, chapter five. We're almost done. We're in verses seven through 12 talking about a very interesting topic. I have such a concern in our church family about so many people who are walking through a season of difficulty, sorrow and suffering. You know, DA Carson wrote a book a number of years ago called How Long O Lord? Reflections in Suffering and Evil. And he shares the big question. I think the question everybody asks, you know, if God is so good, why does he allow evil to happen? That's a question that enters our mind. And I'm going to talk a little bit and touch on this because we see it all the time. He shares a story of a pastor who's cutting his front yard. He looks from his task just in time to see a big garbage truck backing out of his neighbor's driveway. Unfortunately, their 18 year old toddler is right behind. The garbage truck runs over the child. The pastor races over and now he's dealing with a hysterical mother and a shell shocked father.
[00:01:02] And they're taken. He's riding with them in the ambulance. And the question is why?
[00:01:09] Why does this happen?
[00:01:12] Carson continues on. He names a whole bunch of things, but then he shares. My own mother was mugged at the age of 72 and as a result she fell, she hit her head on a curb and. And then her family immediately noticed this deterioration in her personality and within weeks she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. And then she went through that predictable stage of that wretched disease, which it truly is, and she passed away nine years later.
[00:01:37] The truth of the matter is that we all have to live. If we all live long enough, we will all experience some measure of suffering in our life. Our loved ones will die.
[00:01:47] We ourselves at some point in life will be afflicted by disease or some other tragedy that comes into our worlds. And all of these things represent the suffering that takes place in a relatively stable society. Can you imagine today living in a country like the Ukraine and the suffering that they're experiencing? War, racism, there's genocide. We've read about different genocides around our world. And you know, there are some things that are hardly ever reported. I was just noticing that 52,000 Nigerians were massacred in Nigeria just because they're believers in Christ. I mean, have you heard anything about that? Yeah, we don't hear. We don't. And there's no outcry in our society. And yet we know that these terrible things are happening in our world and we Wonder why? Why are these things happening?
[00:02:38] We could answer, you know, very simply that when sin came into the world, so did suffering, so did evil, so did death.
[00:02:47] But this can simply be a set of beliefs until suffering strikes us personally. Isn't that true? We can have these things in our heads. They're nice, pat answers, but the reality is maybe we haven't experienced it yet. And Carson is going to push us to see beyond the mental aspects of truth, to apply the truths we know that are consistent with a good and compassionate God. And so he says it this way. He says, in addition to holding that Christian beliefs are true and consistent, the Christian, to find comfort in them, must learn how, and I love this, how to use them. You know, it's one thing to know something, it's another thing to begin to apply it, to begin to experience it. He says Christian beliefs are not to be stacked in the warehouse of the mind. They're to be handled and applied to the challenges of life and discipleship. Otherwise, they're incapable of bringing comfort and stability, godliness and courage, humility, joy, holiness and faith. In other words, folks, it's not enough to know something. We got to do something about it. We got to experience it. We've got to take these truths into our lives and begin to act on them. And when we begin to act on them and experience them, then we begin to see the reality of them. And it's very, very powerful. I think suffering is a haunting topic because we all have to deal with this somewhere. We may long for it to either never touch our lives, we want to avoid it as much as possible, or we want quickly to escape from it. Isn't that true? I mean, the moment we find out God deliver me. You know, James is interesting in that he doesn't have us to pray for deliverance. I find that fascinating. His prayer, I'm not saying that's wrong, by the way. We'll get back to that. We can't ask for that. But he does pray and tell us we should be praying for wisdom.
[00:04:33] Reality is suffering is a part of the human equation here on this planet. And James, rather than shying away from the reality of suffering in our world, he's going to speak right to the issue. I appreciate that. How many appreciate? Instead of dodging the bullet, instead of living in denial, instead of giving out a pat answer, why don't we just face it head on? Let's take this giant on. Let's take a look at what God's word has to say, that it gives us the tools to handle those moments in our lives when we're experiencing things that are mysterious to us, beyond our understanding. And we go, I don't get what God's doing in my life. We're kind of like, job, what's happening here? God, I didn't do anything to deserve this. Why is this occurring to me? So he begins his letter to those who are suffering with a message that explains a value that can be attained through hardship and suffering. This is what he says in chapter one. We're going to get to chapter five. But I want to remind us where he starts the letter and then where he finishes up. He says, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces something.
[00:05:41] It produces perseverance. But let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Obviously, as we mature in our earthly life, we're developing. How many know that's true? And you know it's not. When we start out, sometimes when people finish school, they think they've learned all the lessons. No, you haven't.
[00:06:07] They're just sending you out into a world to learn more lessons. And if you think you've arrived at it, I wanna wait till you get to old age. There's a whole new set of lessons for you to learn there. So you're not graduating until you're promoted into God's heavenly kingdom away from this planet. That's graduation day, folks. Okay, so we're all in school right now, whether we like it or not. I know a lot of kids go, I don't like school. But the reality is, you're in.
[00:06:33] There's no way getting out of it. You can't play hooky in this school of God. It just doesn't work. You're there.
[00:06:40] Yet we find that suffering is often overwhelming. And in this letter, he's speaking to believers who had been exploited by those who used their wealth and power to bring devastation into their lives. And I spoke about that last Sunday.
[00:06:55] So how do we respond to evil? Isn't that a great question? What can we learn from James so that in our time of suffering, we. We'll have the right response and we'll begin to see some amazing outcomes.
[00:07:06] Well, how are we going to find the endurance and hope necessary in times of suffering in our lives? And James calls for a right attitude. He's calling for restraint and patience in addressing these issues.
[00:07:23] He gives several reasons for those who are suffering to be patient and entrust their situation To God. Okay, so here's what you need to learn. We have to learn patience. How many go? I don't like that lesson.
[00:07:38] I don't want to learn patience, Pastor. I'm an impatient person. I just want God to move fast. I want to be on a fast track. Well, you know, God goes, if you're going to make wonderful character, you have to put it in the slow cooker. This is not a microwave option, guys. This is slow cookers. And so God is working at developing something inside of us. And we're going to look at three reasons why we need to be patient in suffering. How many go? I don't know if I want to learn these lessons. But you're going to learn them anyways. You're in school.
[00:08:13] This is required curriculum by God. Okay, so what's the lesson number one that God is going to address? Letting God address the situation rather than our reaction, apart from divine wisdom. I didn't quite write it right there, but I've straightened it out. My notes here.
[00:08:30] What I'm saying is we need to learn to rest, trust God, don't overreact.
[00:08:37] How many know that's kind of hard.
[00:08:39] Andrea was just explaining something about a violin. I didn't know this, but she said violins are very difficult to tune. And when you have an instrument like that, when you're a novice, they actually have a fine tuning element to the instrument. Because when you play with the knobs, it really messes things up in a hurry. Or think of it this way, you're driving down the road and you hit black ice. How many know if you over respond to that, you're going to be in trouble. How many know the natural response is to, you know, try to turn away from it rather than to turn into it. That's the human response in life to problems, right? We don't want to turn into it, we want to turn away from it. How many say, that's my response, I want to turn away from it, but God is challenging us to turn into it and to let the thing get straightened out in his good time. And that's very difficult for all of us. So why or what is God's purpose in allowing this to happen to me? It's a great question. You know, we could easily say, why me, right? Why now? Why this? Well, I think we need to develop an understanding about seasons in life. What is God trying to accomplish in my life, in your life, and finally through our lives? What is God doing but working at developing a character? And, and the character is Christ. He's carving away in our souls. One of the keys to living a successful life is to understand the concept of deferred gratification. How many know that's true? You know, we can't have everything we want when we want it. We have to learn patience. People who wait and see it through wait through the testings of life finally experience these two elements, God's mercy and compassion. How many here say, I want to experience God's mercy and compassion. I got my hand up. I want to experience God's mercy and compassion. And God wants to reveal that to us. Even through these situations, we have to remember the context of the admonition we're urging by James here. Earlier, in the previous verses, James is talking about being defrauded by the wealthy. I've mentioned that they've experienced injustice and the temptation was to react in anger, which often leads to what?
[00:10:46] Violence. And James, however, reminds both his hearers and us that the proper response to is to patiently wait for God's coming to set things right. See verse 7.
[00:10:57] This is our text.
[00:10:59] He says, 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. You too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. Peter Davis writes, patience is not resistance is the virtue of the poor, for their hope is the purusa, which really means the arrival of the Lord. We're waiting for God. Can I just say this? In the world you're going to face injustice, how many? Well, that's true. And not all things are going to get straightened out in this life. Does everybody say that's true as well? There's a lot of the system's broken and I just want to tell you something. It's always been broken.
[00:11:44] I read through history and I even read through earlier in our days and our times and corruption has always been here.
[00:11:52] Injustice has always been here.
[00:11:54] People have always been taken advantage of. It's just the nature of our sin filled world. You go, well, shouldn't you say something about it? Yeah, we can, but don't get out in a knot because it's not straightening out and the way you want it to. That's what he's basically saying. We got to wait for God sometimes. Actually, Scott McKnight says James urges the poor to wait, patient patiently for the act of God that will vindicate them. So God can vindicate sometimes in this life, sometimes in the next. His counsel then is precisely the opposite of the growing influence of the Zealots. Now, see, I think we have to read the Bible in a context.
[00:12:36] I want you to go back to the first century for a minute. You're a Jewish people, you're oppressed by Romans. How many know there's a movement in the land?
[00:12:45] And I don't know if you're acquainted with the Zealot movement, but you know, in the first century in Jewish life, they were a militant activist group that perceived themselves as freedom fighters.
[00:12:55] They wanted to get rid of the Romans. They thought it was not wrong to be using any means to get rid of this, these foreigners in their domain. And so they would use even violence to accomplish their aims and purposes. How many know that's true? They would not only kill other Roman, they wouldn't just kill Roman soldiers when they were there. They would even kill any Jewish person that they saw was a collaborator with the Romans. Did you know that? And they had people, they had certain groups called the Sicari, they were called the knife men. And they would come in a crowd and they would come alongside of somebody that they knew was a collaborator, and they'd just stab them to death in the midst of a crowd and walk away. And the guys left their.
[00:13:34] They had no qualms about murdering people.
[00:13:38] None whatsoever, because they saw themselves as freedom fighters. You know, when we have a certain mindset, it's amazing the degrees that we'll go to, to actually have our agenda accomplished. Now, how many know that's fascinating to me that Jesus earlier disciples, the early disciples, had two different people in this group that were on the opposite side of the political spectrum. So you have over here, Simon the Zealot, he's in that group that's going to. He's a freedom fighter. Then you got Matthew or Levite, the tax collector. He's a collaborator. And these two guys are in Jesus inner circle. How many go, that's really fascinating. How did he pull people from those two units? Brought him, brought them to himself.
[00:14:26] So the question then that comes to my mind was what brought these two men together?
[00:14:32] You know what the answer is? Jesus.
[00:14:35] Jesus has a different approach to the occupation of Rome. And we know that Jesus message to an oppressed people was a message of hope. Jesus brought God's kingdom of love and redemption, which ultimately triumphs over retaliation, violence and vengeance.
[00:14:52] I mean, he's preaching forgiveness. He's saying, oh yeah, you know, these Romans, they're going to compel you to go a mile. No, no, go two.
[00:15:00] How many go? That's just like what he Says, I want you to overcome evil, not by rendering evil. In return. I want you to overcome evil by doing good and blessing people and showing them goodness, forgiveness, and kindness. This is the message of the Gospel, folks. And sometimes in the church, we forget the message of Jesus and we get sucked into how the world is operating to somehow stand up for our rights and stand up for our freedoms. I think we have to take a look at what Jesus is doing.
[00:15:33] So how does an oppressed people survive and even influence and impact their society?
[00:15:39] Well, Jesus life is the model. How many go? Jesus life is our model. And how did Jesus go about overcoming the oppression in his world? You know what he did? He went about doing good.
[00:15:50] As a matter of fact, Peter, in explaining the gospel to a Roman centurion, how do you win your enemies? Right? This Roman centurion actually had a soft spot for God, and he was actually praying and giving alms to the poor, just like the righteous Jewish person was. And God was revealing himself, sends an angel to him and says, go talk to this man named Simon Peter. He'll tell you what to do. And so what does Peter do? He shows up with some friends and he says this in his sermon. He says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him.
[00:16:30] You know what I think we should be doing as a church? We should be copying the model of Jesus. We should be a people that's full of the Holy Spirit and power, going about doing good and helping people who are under the power of the devil. How many say that's probably the right approach to how we're going to actually reach our culture today?
[00:16:49] Well, it sure worked in the first century. I think it's the model that I want to follow, because I think that's the model we're taught to follow.
[00:16:58] As we look at today, we have growing political polarization. And I see it not only in Canada, I see it all around the world. It's not just in the United States and Canada, folks. It's all around the world. Okay?
[00:17:12] We need to bring the good news of Jesus to people. That's the answer.
[00:17:17] The change that needs to occur is not a change that's going to come from the outside putting pressure on people to change. The change that's going to occur is coming from the inside. And it's a transformation of the human heart that changes the person and their wrong thinking and their wrong attitudes.
[00:17:35] It's a Transformation from within.
[00:17:38] But how many know patience is required, receiving desired results? You know, the scriptures teach us a very important principle and we see it every harvest season, the sowing and reaping principle. How many know you put seeds in the ground? The farmer is putting seeds in the ground hoping he's going to get a harvest. Right? Isn't that why they do it? They do it with faith, they do it with hope. They're, you know, they're really dependent upon, they say the weather. No, I think they're dependent on God. God's controlling the weather. You're dependent on God.
[00:18:10] So Warren Wirsbe points out in the growing season in Israel, he said Jewish farmers would plow and sow and what to us are the autumn months. The early rains would soften the soil and the latter rains would come in the early spring, which is our February March, and help them mature the harvest. And James pictured the Christian as a spiritual farmer looking for a spiritual harbor. He says, you too, be patient and stay. Stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. So what is he saying? While we're waiting for the harvest, what are we doing? We're standing firm. We're waiting, we're looking. I think the church many times has lost a sense of the eminency of Jesus return.
[00:18:51] Actually, there's a hope there, folks, that you and I are not just looking for humanity to solve our problems. Right now, we're actually lifting our eyes higher and say, even so, Lord Jesus, come. Our world is broken. I don't believe any human leader is going to solve human problems. I think we need help that's way beyond the capacity of any human leader. I think we need to see Jesus come back to rule and to reign. And he will. The Bible assures us that he's coming to do that so as well. There are seasons to the spiritual life as there are to seasons to the soil. God sends the sunshine and the rain of his goodness to water and nurture the seeds planted. But we must be patient for the harvest. What's he mean by that? Well, God's putting seeds in our lives too, guys.
[00:19:35] The seeds of his Word. And those seeds need to come to maturity in our lives. And here then is the secret of endurance. When the going is tough. Anybody going through a tough time right now, here's the secret. He says, what God is producing a harvest in your life and what does he want? He wants the fruit of God's spirit to grow inside of us. And what's the fruit of God's spirit? Love and the Expression of love is joy and peace and self control.
[00:20:01] Patience.
[00:20:02] Well, those are powerful elements inside of us. That's what God is looking for. And he can do it. And he does it how? Through trials and troubles. Instead of growing impatient with God and with ourselves, we must yield to the Lord and permit the fruit to grow.
[00:20:17] I agree with him.
[00:20:19] So sometimes, you know what, some of you are too hard on yourself.
[00:20:23] I'm telling you, relax.
[00:20:26] Trust God.
[00:20:27] Continue to walk with him. Continue to grow with him. Let God's life grow up inside of you. That's what we're talking about here. Patience is required for the harvest to grow. How many say that's true? Farmer doesn't go out there. You know, they're not like the little girl that, you know, the mom took the little toddler out, or five year old out to look at. You know, we're going to plant a garden here and they put the seed in the soil. And then the next day the little girl came along and said, mom, what's wrong with the harvest? You know, what's wrong with the garden? There's nothing happening. How many know it takes time for the seeds to germinate and to grow up? And I'm going to say that to all of us in this room. You know, you need to be patient with yourself and you need to be patient with each other. How's that?
[00:21:10] Amen. It's the way it works. Yeah.
[00:21:14] Matter of fact, it's interesting, that harvest analogy. You know, we find Jesus telling a parable. I think this is so interesting. In Matthew's Gospel, he says here, he left the crowd, he went into the house to his disciples and he said, they said to Jesus, explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field. And he said, the one who sows the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one. And the enemy comes along and sows them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age. And the harvesters are the angels, he says, and as the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so will be at the end of the age. The Son of man will send out his angels and they'll weed up of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And they will be thrown into a blazing furnace where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. Whoever has ears, let him hear what's he saying? He's saying God is the one that determines things, not human beings, and God will decide. And so we have to allow the fruit of God's righteousness to grow in our life. Douglas Moon, Understanding this Coming speaks of it as the final judgment James intends, and his readers would certainly have understood the Lord's coming to refer to Jesus Return as judge and savior. Alec Montior says, the very circumstances which calls for patience are the circumstances that usually create impatience. How many know that's true?
[00:22:49] When you're going through a hard time, how many feel a little impatient? When's this going to end? Does anybody else besides myself say, is this going to last forever?
[00:22:57] You know, I went through about six or seven years and I just kept thinking, you know, everything we're doing is not working. So what are we doing wrong? God, you know, am I the wrong? Am I doing something wrong? You know what God finally revealed to me after six or seven years? I'm a slow learner. But what he finally said to me is, no, I'm teaching you. And I'm going, well, what are you teaching me? I'm teaching you endurance, and I'm teaching you long suffering.
[00:23:24] I'm teaching you perseverance. Oh, how many know those are not lessons we want to learn, right?
[00:23:32] But we need endurance. How many know if you're going to, if you're going to run a marathon, probably the greatest thing you need is endurance.
[00:23:39] How many know that's true? You know, and so, you know, in the Christian life, it's not a, it's not a, you know, hundred meter dash here, folks. It's a marathon. And so you and I need to run the race with patience and endurance.
[00:23:52] And so a lot of new Christians come along and they run right on by me, and I go, yeah, okay, they'll figure this out.
[00:23:59] You know, they're going to. If you're running a marathon, you can't run full speed all the time.
[00:24:04] Slow and steady wins the race, folks.
[00:24:07] Just keep at it.
[00:24:09] Don't give up, don't quit. Just keep moving forward. Okay, James Call for patience and endurance does not preclude those who suffer from engaging in legitimate protest about their circumstances or appropriate actions to try and change their situation. So what is he saying? He's saying it's not wrong to say to somebody, this is not right. It's not wrong to advocate for what's right.
[00:24:35] He's not telling here. James is not saying to us, don't stand up against social injustice. What he's saying is, be patient about it and don't resort to overreacting to it and expressing anger and frustration and violence. That's what he's warning against.
[00:24:52] Are we catching on?
[00:24:53] Yeah. We can't overreact to the injustices of life. There's just far too many.
[00:24:59] We need to patiently and graciously address the issues, not so much by cursing them, but by doing good.
[00:25:07] You can point out that's evil. Why don't we do something good to help overcome that evil? Let me move on to the second reason.
[00:25:15] We have to be patient. Because we ourselves might be tempted in sin. It's during the great trials and sufferings in life that we're tempted to give up.
[00:25:24] Isn't that true? We're tempted to give in or to express anger in our pain or begin to complain against God or grumble against one another. And all of these behaviors are subject to God's judgment. Look at the warning in verse nine. Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door.
[00:25:44] Well, James has been warning against the oppressors being judged in God's coming as judge. He's pointing out, be careful that you and I don't sin and in turn respond the wrong ways, and then we'll stand in judgment. That's what he's warning us against. As a matter of fact, Paul writes to the Corinthians. I don't want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud. In other words, they were all coming out of slavery. He says, and they passed through the Red Sea. Right. They were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
[00:26:16] And they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them.
[00:26:22] That rock was Christ. So he's saying, hey, these people are sharing a communal experience. They were walking through the wilderness together. Nevertheless, it says God was not pleased with most of them.
[00:26:35] Wow, that's a pretty strong statement.
[00:26:37] He said their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. We should not test Christ as some of them did. They were killed by snakes and do not grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down. Why? As warnings for us on whom the culmination of the age has come. So if you think you're standing firm, be careful you don't fall. In other words, don't be proud and puffed up. No temptation has overcome you except what is common to Humanity and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you're. What you can bear. But when you are tempted, he'll provide a way out so that you can what?
[00:27:18] Endure it. So here's the lesson. We're all going to be tempted in this room.
[00:27:23] But God says, listen, I'll help you. I'll provide a way out.
[00:27:28] We don't have to give in to temptation.
[00:27:31] And you know, we always think of temptation as real bad things. But I think, let's look at the one he's using. Complaining, griping, grumbling, blaming.
[00:27:42] Come on now. Isn't that what people do all the time? We can't handle something, we're tempted, so we start blaming. We're blaming the leaders of our country, we're blaming the pastors, we're blaming somebody. It's got to be somebody else's fault. God says, stop blaming people.
[00:27:57] It's counterproductive.
[00:27:59] Don't do that.
[00:28:01] I'll give you another way out. You don't have to do that. He says, Now I say all of that because sometimes people misunderstand something. I keep hearing this comment, God will never give you more than you can handle. That's not true. He will give you more than you can handle. He'll just never give you a temptation greater than you're able to bear.
[00:28:23] You say that you're nitpicking. I'm going, no. This is a big, important distinction.
[00:28:27] God says, I'll never allow you to be tempted more than you're able to handle.
[00:28:31] But listen to what Paul writes in Second Corinthians. He says, we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure beyond our ability to endure. So the pressure was beyond them, so that we despaired of life itself. Here's the great apostle Paul and his missionary team saying, we've been despairing of life. It was that bad. The pressure was that great.
[00:28:55] Will God let me experience things that are greater than I can handle?
[00:28:59] Yes.
[00:29:00] Will he allow me to have temptations greater than I can handle? No, he won't. He'll always give you a way out. Okay, so what did Paul learn from this experience he gives us verse nine, so important, indeed, we felt we received the sentence of death. But this happened. Why did God allow this? This happened? That what? We might not rely on ourselves, but on God.
[00:29:23] The greatest sin that's happening in our lives is a sin that most of us don't even think about Self Reliance, that's the great sin.
[00:29:33] We look to ourselves rather than to God.
[00:29:37] Most of us don't even think of it.
[00:29:39] He said he delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us again. And on him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.
[00:29:48] As you what?
[00:29:50] As you, the people, help us how?
[00:29:55] By your prayers.
[00:29:57] You know, Paul is explaining the proper response to pressure is to lean into God, to rely heavily on God and seek the prayers of your fellow believers.
[00:30:07] This moves us from self dependency to reliance upon God and from isolation into community. And you know, the great temptation that I find with so many people, when they're being under pressure or they're being tempted, what do people tend to do? Withdraw.
[00:30:23] And they tend to isolate. And you know, that's exactly what the enemy wants you to do.
[00:30:28] Because now when you're isolated and alone, you start feeling sorry for yourself. You're no match for all of his, you know, tremendous terrible accusations and fiery darts that come to your mind. He's out to destroy and kill you. When you're in isolation, you just start feeling more and more sorry for yourself. Nobody loves me. Nobody cares about me. I guess I'll go eat worms.
[00:30:51] That's true.
[00:30:53] And so what I'm saying to you is what you need to do when you feel overwhelmed, that's when you should be pressing into God and coming among the believers and living in community and sharing, not in complaint, but sharing. I need prayer and I need help and I need community. I need support right now. And this is an opportunity. You know, we have great ministries in this church to support you.
[00:31:18] We have Stephen's ministers that we train so they can come alongside of you in crisis. You know, listen, we have actually a prayer meeting. A lot of churches have gotten rid of those. We actually have a weekly prayer meeting. Last week we had. Well, week before we had 33 people out for prayer, but Wednesday night we had 230 people out for prayer.
[00:31:40] Yeah, you say why? What's the difference? Well, we had all of our youth join all of these adults during this week of prayer and fasting, and it made a huge differ.
[00:31:49] And I'm telling you, people are walking through suffering and sorrow and difficulty. Don't try to do it alone.
[00:31:56] You won't make it.
[00:31:58] I've been a Christian for five decades. I can tell you what helps you make it to the end. Community.
[00:32:04] You need other believers. Look at the example. He goes on now, gives us an example, brothers and sisters. An example of patience in the face of suffering. Take the Prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Now, he doesn't mention any prophets by name here, but let's explain.
[00:32:20] One of the ones that immediately came to my mind and when I was reading the commentary, they immediately brought him to my mind again was Jeremiah. And what's Jeremiah doing? He's just telling people what God told them to say. But nobody wanted to hear what he had to say because they didn't like the message.
[00:32:36] You know, sometimes God's going to tell you something you don't like.
[00:32:39] What are you going to do about that?
[00:32:41] You know, but why does God do that? Because he hates you? Of course not. He already loves us. He died for us. If he's telling us something we don't want to hear, it's for our own good. Maybe we need to listen. And Jeremiah was trying to warn these guys from impending judgment. And he told them if they would repent, God would not judge them. He was telling them the way out. He was showing them the way out of their temptation and they didn't want to take it. Therefore they suffered deeply.
[00:33:07] We can get hard hearted and obstinate and we suffer for it. And Jeremiah suffered too, because they didn't like his messaging. They wanted to kill him. God says, I won't let them kill you. But, but you know what? Jeremiah was thrown into the pit. He was sinking in mud, he was threatened, he was beaten, he was put in stocks. I mean, he had a terrible existence. He did not have an easy life. You know, sometimes we go, God, I'm doing all the right things. Why is my life such a mess right now? Sometimes doing the right thing causes people to come against you and oppress you and fight against you and don't like you and you're rejected because of them.
[00:33:44] And you know what Jesus said? Blessed are you when people persecute and revile you and say all manner of evil against you for my name's sake. Your reward's going to be great in heaven. Wow.
[00:33:56] Remember I talked last week about investing a portfolio for heaven, not just for earth. Do the right thing. Say the right thing.
[00:34:05] You may suffer. Yes, you may suffer.
[00:34:08] James now gives us an example of what God expects us to do in crisis when addressing evil. Here, James gives us a prophetic model in addressing the injustices. And I love how Bloomberg and Campbell explain it. He said the prophetic model that James puts forward steers a middle ground between pacifism and violence or indifference. I could use the word indifference and agitation and being upset and violence swinging to neither extreme. And then he Quotes this guy, Christopher Churchy. And he has the observation, a key part of the way the prophets spoke in the name of the Lord.
[00:34:46] Rhetoric denouncing injustice even when the perpetrator was the king.
[00:34:51] They always, however, stop short of violent reprisal or of inciting revolution.
[00:34:58] Okay.
[00:34:59] You know, sometimes we get so caught up in social injustice, we begin to incite revolution.
[00:35:05] That's wrong. Shouldn't do that. Okay, let's move on to the final reason.
[00:35:10] Because the end of God's purpose is always compassion and mercy. I like this.
[00:35:15] What is critical in a time of suffering and difficult is to remember God is good and loving. Don't ever forget that.
[00:35:23] And he always has our best interest in mind.
[00:35:27] You need to believe that when you're in pain, you go, I don't see how this is going to help me, Pastor. Well, listen to this. In verse 11, he says, as we 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. Paul reminds us in the book of Romans. Listen to what he says in Romans, chapter eight. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him. In all things. In the suffering things, in the trouble things, in the trying things and the difficult things, not just the good things and the happy things. He puts those in there, too. But they're all going to work, he said, who love him, have called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son. So what is God really doing?
[00:36:16] You're like a piece of marble, and God is the ultimate sculptor. And he's.
[00:36:23] And he is making you look like Jesus. That's the goal.
[00:36:27] You know, I'm going, man, I just don't look like Jesus. And I'm not talking about a physical representation. I'm talking about a spiritual and moral representation.
[00:36:35] By the time he gets done, you're going to go, man, I just feel so good about who I am right now because I'm becoming the person I always wanted to be.
[00:36:43] Isn't that beautiful? See, God designed you with a purpose, and he wants you to become like his son. And that's what he's doing. That we might be the firstborn among many brothers, that he was the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Warren Wirsby. I'm going to skip these verses and go over to. He says the word endure and patience in verse 11 literally means to remain under and speaks of endurance under great stress. Patient means to stay put and stand fast when you feel like running away.
[00:37:13] Anybody ever felt like running away? Did I ever tell you I ran away once?
[00:37:17] I did. And I was actually in my 20s.
[00:37:21] I was in my 20s and I ran away. I just started Bible college. It was getting so hard. I just decided one night, I can't take it anymore. I drove up the road, went back home.
[00:37:29] But then the next day I drove back to school.
[00:37:33] I ran away.
[00:37:36] And you know what? God was trying to teach me something.
[00:37:39] Don't run.
[00:37:41] You know, I had to learn a lesson. You got to face your troubles, you know. You know what happens when you run away from your problems? They drown you.
[00:37:51] They overcome you. You're just running from them, you're just delaying them and they get bigger and you're adding more problems into your life. What God wants to teach you is face every trouble you come into head on with God's help. Just face them and he'll get you through them. Many Greek scholars think that long suffering refers to patience with respect to persons, while endurance is patience in respect to situations or to conditions.
[00:38:18] Actually, when I was looking up these words, there are two Greek words that are used by James that are translated patience and perseverance. The first word literally means to be long tempered, tempered, long, you know, long suffering, long tempered, you know, you ever notice some people, you can keep poking them, you just don't get any reaction from them. You know what, all of the buttons are disconnected.
[00:38:40] They've died to themselves. It's not about them anymore. See, long tempered or long suffering, it has the idea of self restraint which does not quickly retaliate. The second word which the translators use is the word perseverance and it speaks to remaining steady and not giving up under trial.
[00:38:57] You're just steadfast.
[00:38:59] You don't run when the battle is on. You're standing, there's other people that are running, they're fleeing. They can't handle it. You know, I've read some interesting texts from the Old Testament. Here's a guy in the field, everybody else is fled. And the one guy's fighting everybody. And then all the battle is over. He's taking out all the enemy. All the other guys creep back up and go, oh, good job, buddy. You know, he was the only guy that stood and he's commended as one of the people with great courage.
[00:39:23] Listen, courage doesn't mean you're not afraid. Courage means I'm just going to do the right Thing, even though I am afraid that's true courage.
[00:39:29] Okay, but let me close, because I'm running out of time. For one, we got the example of Job, and we know what happened with Job.
[00:39:40] Let me just say this about Job. Job is an example of someone who's suffering without apparent reason.
[00:39:45] His suffering makes no sense as to why. Yet Job stubbornly holds on to his trust in God, though God appears to be silent and others are condemning him. How many of you know that's pretty tough. You've done the right thing, and you just feel, you know, nobody's there for me. And God doesn't seem to be responding. The point James is driving at is Job is ultimately vindicated and blessed by God. Equally important is that Job learns from experience regarding the nature of God and His ways. As a matter of fact, you know, what happens at the end? Job has been, you know, really got upset. He lost his cool. I was telling God, hey, you have to explain to me what's going on here. And, you know, God never does.
[00:40:22] And at the very end, God says, you know, I'm going to. You know, I'm not accountable to you, Job. You're accountable to me. If you can give me answers to these questions, I'll answer your question.
[00:40:32] Of course God asked him questions. Job had no idea what God was talking about. You know what Job finally says?
[00:40:40] I was a foolish person. I should have kept my mouth shut.
[00:40:43] Yeah, you should have. Actually, James talks about that. You know, don't swear, yes or no, and all the rest of that stuff. People make vows. God, if youf'll get me out of this, I'll do this. You know, that's not what it's about.
[00:40:57] God. Finally, Job finally says, God, I'm so sorry. I sinned with my mouth against yout, and God forgave Him. So I always ask the question, what would you rather have an answer to your problems or God's comforting, merciful and compassionate presence? Which would you rather have?
[00:41:14] And for me, you know, I'm at a stage in life where I'm going. I like answers. I like learning. But that's not what I want. I really want God's presence. I want God to help me through that experience. Just having the information isn't going to change things. And so I like what Alec Motyer says here at the very end.
[00:41:33] As we look back in our lives, we see that God graciously brought us into seasons of difficulty in order to bring us nearer to Himself. Indeed, the older we get, the more we can look back and Give heartfelt thanks for the benefits reaped through experiences which were at that time full of grief and pain. How many say that's true? I can look back now through the sorrow coming into the other side. Look back and go, you know what? That was painful. And no, I don't want to go through that again.
[00:42:01] But I'm so grateful for what I gleaned from that experience. It changed me as a person.
[00:42:08] That's powerful stuff.
[00:42:10] Yet sometimes in our backward look, it's touched with sadness and even remorse because the spiritual ground gained during the trial has not been held when once again the sun is shining and our circumstances become manageable.
[00:42:22] And it's for this very likely reason that in the Old Testament, people sometimes made vows to God while in their trouble, while it lasted, promising to fulfill the vow when the cloud of trial had lifted again.
[00:42:35] But within the Old Testament, it's also recognized it's easier to vow than to fulfill. And the warning is given that when you vow, vow to God, do not delay. Pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. But better yet, don't vow. This is so close to what James is teaching that it may well have been in his mind. Also, our stresses are could give rise to an unreal pledge to God made in the most solemn terms. But in James practical book, it's essential to be real rather than dramatic. And to me, what we say for in this manner. Also, it's not unusual for a believer to carry about an unfulfilled promise to God.
[00:43:11] So what should I learn through my trial?
[00:43:15] I need to be patient. And why should I be patient? I need to trust that God's going to bring me through, number one. Number two, you know, I should be patient because there's unusual temptations to sin by saying stupid things and doing dumb stuff.
[00:43:35] Right?
[00:43:36] Number three, as we get through and we're going through this trial, God's going to tell you this.
[00:43:42] If you will hang in there, you will learn the lessons of endurance and perseverance. And at the end of the day, you know what you're going to discover.
[00:43:49] God is compassionate and merciful.
[00:43:52] Let's stand.
[00:43:57] I know some of you today, you're probably going through, you know, trials.
[00:44:02] Some of you are under great tests. Sorrow, difficulty.
[00:44:06] You know, my heart breaks for a lot of people in our church. I find myself praying more, not less, because I know I can't change their circumstance. You know, I'm not God, and thankfully, I'm not God because sometimes God knows exactly what each of us needs to experience in order to develop the person that you need and I need to become.
[00:44:28] And so what I do want to pray for you right now. If you're in the middle of a trial right now, why don't we just lift our hearts to God right now, say lord, would you help me to trust you in this trial? Would you help me right now not to over correct, not to. To do crazy stuff, not to say dumb things, but just to trust you and be patient in this experience and to allow you to bring me through this journey so that I can, like Joe, can experience your mercy and your compassion.
[00:44:58] And Lord, I pray right now for my brothers and sisters. I pray for everyone that's listening to me and even those that may not know youw. Lord, I believe that these truths apply to every person's life. That as we approach youh for help, you're going to hear our cry in our time of need. You're not going to be indifferent to our plea. You're a compassionate and merciful God. You care for everyone you created and you desire, Lord, for us to experience fullness of life and to experience a joy even in the midst of adversity and difficulty. Lord, we cannot always choose the situation we're in, but we can obviously choose the attitude to which we are going to walk through this moment in our life and fill us with your joy, fill us with your spirit right now. Father, would you feel my brothers and sisters who are walking through an agonizing, lonely, difficult, challenging time. Help them not to isolate, but fill them with your spirit and your joy. In Jesus name, Amen. God bless you as you leave.
