Maturity Profiled 11—The Mature are Patient in a Hard World—James 5:7-12

James 5:7–12 (ESV) — 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

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The words that best condense the exhortations of this paragraph are found in 5:10—suffering and patience. James saw how these believers were trudging along in a hard world, and he knew that patience was required, so he used some form of the concept at least seven times in this paragraph. If they were going to handle suffering as mature believers, they would need a massive dose of steadfastness.

James seems to know many of them were under some economic persecution as a result of their faith in Jesus. Since this letter is steeped in Jewish Scriptures, thinking, and practices, right down to talk about synagogue gatherings, it isn't hard to imagine what might have happened here. These new Christians had declared Jesus as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah-Christ, the descendant of David who would establish a forever reign on earth. He had, they said, defeated death and the grave when he rose from the dead, and his death was the great and final sacrifice to whom all the Old Testament era sacrifices pointed. In a sense, acceptance of Jesus hinted at the completion of the Mosaic law, but this was taken as rejection by others in the Jewish community. Soon, the hostility the religious leaders aimed at the church in Jerusalem found its way to the cities and towns far away.

Whatever their situation, wouldn't we also confess we live in a hard world? It might not be so for the same reasons—our modern comforts certainly take the edge off—but the echoes of their plight are not hard to find in the church today. The community was rejecting them because of their faith in Jesus, just as many are physically persecuted in other continents and nations for their faithful walk with Christ, and just as some of us in our culture are feeling some heat for following him. And if James were alive today, don't you think he'd lob these same exhortations to endure and be patient our way? I do.

Patient for What?

At the center of his pleas for patience is a question: patient for what? The coming of the Lord (7, 8). He declared this coming was at hand and that, when it arrived, the Judge who is standing at the door would enter the scene (5:9).

The Lord's return is clearly a doctrine that developed very early on in the life of the church. They took the simple word for arrival—i.e. Stephanos just arrived—and turned it into a theological term describing Jesus' eventual return. Jesus had told them that "as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24:27). He had told them that it was not for them to know the times or the seasons the Father fixed for that moment (Acts 1:27). He even said that "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matt. 24:36).

James could declare Jesus' coming (parousia) as at hand because, in the context of the history of salvation, the next significant event after Christ's resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit is Christ's return (5:9). From a biblical perspective, his return is the next major event. Good, Jesus-loving, biblical people and scholars debate about the smaller events that might precede his visible return. However, when James brought up the topic, he had no concern about the signs of the times. I don't mean to be disrespectful to the cottage industry of novels, charts, news alerts, and prophecy updates that have taken root in the modern Western church, but James's emphasis wasn't on any of those things. His instinct, given the return of Christ, was to encourage the church towards steadfastness and endurance.

I admit this is also my instinct, and I am happy to take my cues from sources like James. Pastorally, I am not all that concerned if someone develops a fascination for biblical prophecy. When I become concerned is when it (a) lacks balance and becomes an all-consuming subject, (b) lacks the humility or willingness to understand many good Christians don't share the popular prophetic grid, or (c) becomes a version of escapism. The biblical emphasis is to be found working, faithfully obeying and serving our King until the day he returns, and that is our emphasis today because it is James's emphasis today. James's target or goal is clear. He wanted these churches to be patient as they awaited the inevitable return of Christ (5:7). He used a Greek word that means long tempered, meaning he wanted them to set the timer of their temper for the long run. Remember, he had just rebuked a wealthy group who had tormented many in these churches by withholding wages and refusing fair treatment of the working classes in their midst. Now, he comforts them with the doctrine of Christ's coming while simultaneously telling them to endure until that day comes. This is a hard world, but the coming of the Lord is at hand, so how can we develop the brand of patience and steadfastness James encouraged?

1. Adjust Your Expectations

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

To help his exhortation to patience, James holds out farmers as an illustration. You would never see a farmer going out a day or two after casting seed expecting fruit because they are patient about it (5:7). In his era and area, the farmers James witnessed planted and waited for the early and then late rains before expecting to harvest (5:7). James wanted his spiritual family to adopt an agrarian mentality as they plowed through life—"You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand" (5:8).

Mature believers are patient in a hard world because they know all God is doing takes time. They adjust their expectations to his clock. They know their hearts are point them to various dreams and desires, but they also realize their hearts are shapeable, so they establish them to look to God's long game. They are praying for the Father's kingdom to come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven, but they are simultaneously willing to wait for it to arrive. They are no Veruca Salt—I want it now, Daddy!—but are instead content to run with inner longings that will not be fulfilled until the late rains come and Christ returns.

We must be sure we do not expect too much now and too little later. The farmer expects fruit after the latter rain. The believer should not expect too much before Christ returns. What is it that we want? We want connection to others—we can have it to a degree, but when our Lord returns, and his kingdom comes, we will feel a connection to him and others that is beyond compare. We want provision and security—we might get them to some degree, but we won't truly be safe until that day. We want peace, joy, understanding, and love. Everything we get today is a mere seed or shadow of the greater realities coming with Christ. When the latter rain comes, when Jesus appears, we will obtain the full blast of our truest desires, so we must point our hearts in this direction.

The fullness the kingdom will exceed all our expectations, and the despair and brokenness of this world are going to remain until that day, so it makes sense we adjust our expectations—less now, more later. We must adjust our expectations, establish our hearts, and live with patience until he arrives. The rain will come when it comes—we would be wise to establish our hearts and be patient until it does.

2. Prepare for Assessment

9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Speaking of waiting for the latter rains and being patient for fruit to come, one area we must become more longsuffering in is our relationship with others, especially in the church. A hard world can make us hard towards others, so James tells us not to grumble against one another (5:9). Sometimes called displacement or projection in the therapeutic world, believers must watch out for the temptation when being hit by the outside the church, to begin fighting within the church. David is illustrative of this principle—in his younger years he handled Saul's persecution with the heights of dignity, but during that same season, when Nabal refused to thank him for his services, he flew into a fit of rage (1 Sam. 23-25). How could such a comparatively small infraction have caused him to erupt when his father-in-law's repeated attempts on his life hadn't? For all of us, there are people and pressures we can endure more handily, but then there are others that tax us to no end, so we must be alert and aware of our tendency to snap in some environments even if we are strong in others.

But James insisted that they not grumble—or groan and sigh—against one another for a reason: "so that you may not be judged." James announced that the Judge was standing at the door (5:9). This concept was another of James's strategies for being patient in a hard world. He wanted them (and us) to prepare for assessment. We all have a righteous Judge who will evaluate our lives. James would say, "You aren't your own judge, nor are you the judge of one another. You have a Judge, and he is coming soon."

It is a sad fact that many modern believers are functional antinomians, meaning they have taken the grace of Christ's cross as a license to live however they please. And while it is true that our admission into God's forever family is not by works, our response to that amazing grace is meant to include works of some kind. As Paul said, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10, NIV). And in another place, after declaring that we are built on the foundation of the work of Jesus Christ, Paul said, "Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames” (1 Cor. 3:12–15, NLT).

Life is better when lived in the light of the judgment seat of Christ, as Paul put it. This is not the great white throne of Revelation, where the unbelieving world is not found written in the Lamb's book of life, but a time our good Lord assesses the lives of his people for eternal rewards of some kind. James thought of that judgment as he exhorted the church to watch out for grumbling against one another—"You'll regret that groaning at the judgment," he is saying.

But please don't take this judgment seat of Christ the wrong way, as if it's an inconvenient truth, far from it! Jesus, when he spoke of it, made this time of evaluation sound pregnant with joy. Yes, there was sadness for those who buried their treasure or hid their talents, but there was joy and celebration for those who went to work, those he found faithful—"Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord!" The Master of the household, the Lord of the harvest, our great Judge, returns looking for what he can praise, and when he finds it his praise is immediate and warm (Matt. 25:21-23, Luke 19:17-19). The judgment is a fire-like search, burning down all the sillinesses of our lives, but it is conducted by our caring and loving Lord, who desperately longs to be reunited with us. He is the one we are preparing for when we sing that we are readying ourselves for his return. In Romans, Paul told us to give our lives as living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1-2). It was his way of describing the entirety of our lives as acts of sacrificial praise and worship. Perhaps this is a better vision of the final day of assessment, a moment of worship as we present our bodies on last time before entering into the fullness of his kingdom. When we think of that time as a moment of worship, an offering of our lives for him, it helps us live in the light of our righteous Judge.

3. Get Better Heroes

10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

In a few strong sentences, James told the church to endure a hard world by getting better heroes, namely, people like the prophets and Job, who were blessed as they remained steadfast (5:11).

The prophets were well received after they were dead and gone, but during their lifetimes they often suffered. Elijah was harassed by a wicked king and queen during his entire prophetic ministry and forced to hide in the wilderness for a season just to survive. Ezekiel served as a living illustration of God's sorrow over the rebellion of his people. Jeremiah endured a long ministry that put him in stocks, prisons, and miry, muddy, dungeonous pits. Isaiah began his ministry with the promise that he would be widely rejected, which he was, for a period of forty to sixty years. No mother was excited to hear their child announce a desire to pursue the prophetic office, it would be like telling your mom you are joining an elite military unit. Proud? Yes. Anxious? Certainly. All the prophets suffered. As Stephen asked of the religious leaders in Acts, "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" (Acts 7:52).

And Job, the main character in one of the oldest and most mysterious books of Scripture, was a man whose life imitates world history as presented in the Bible—a beautiful beginning, a painful middle, and a glorious end. In the opening pages of his story, Job's idyllic life is presented as stemming from a God who blesses. Then, in an orchestrated catastrophe, at the hands of the Devil, but with the permission of God, Job's life is destroyed. After some time, conversation, and prayer, Yahweh speaks and then restores double to Job. It is a wild story many find enigmatic and difficult. James called Job's final days "the purpose of the compassionate and merciful Lord" (5:11). I don't take this as God buying Job off for all his miseries, but as God announcing that the middle part, the pain, at least to some degree, is inevitable to humankind, but brighter days can come. We are meant to search the Scriptures to find how to unlock those brighter days—and the answer is that they are found through faith in the finished work of Christ. Once in Christ, with our future secured, our pains today actually work toward a more glorious future. As Paul said, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17, NIV).

People like the prophets and Job are those whom we should set our minds upon. When we consume the stories of those who seemingly have it all right now, we are often consuming the stories of those whose stories are the reverse of the prophets and Job. Glory now, pain later. The good life now, hardship later. And because of this, they are the wrong heroes for us to set our gaze upon. Instead, we must acquire better heroes. We must pay attention to who we admire, emulate, and celebrate. The prophets and Job can serve as our models and mentors, but so can anyone else who has emulated them. If we spent less time idolizing athletes, actors, and influencers and more time celebrating missionaries, martyrs, and people of prayer, we would be better equipped to endure this hard world.

4. Watch Your Commitments

12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Finally, James tells us to be patient in a hard world by watching our commitments. The exhortation I base this on appears, at first, rather random. How do we go from being patient for the day of the Lord to keeping our word?

We must recall the Jewish context James was in. It was a context Jesus also addressed. Since their society valued truth-telling and vow-making but was also filled with people who, just as they do in every other society, sometimes find it advantageous to break their word, they had created a complex system of promise-making in appearance only. Soon, by swearing on heaven or by earth or with any other oath, the promisor could find technicalities on which to betray the promisee. James, like Jesus, told them to let their "yes" be yes and their "no" be no—to be people of their word.

It would be easy to talk about how far our own society and world have devolved in this area—an honest and upheld "gentleman's handshake" has given way to the frequently broken written contract, often without anyone thinking it unethical. Though true, what was James's point? Why does he tell a church enduring the hard world of marginalization for their faith in Jesus to keep their word and avoid rash oath-making? Perhaps James knows that, in the face of pressure, it is easy to make rash commitments or say things we don't really believe. Perhaps James saw how easily times of pressure could introduce compromise into the church. Perhaps he saw some of his beloved brothers and sisters making vows or agreeing to things they shouldn't have.

If you want to grow in Christian maturity, you must learn to become patient in a hard world by keeping a close eye on what you agree with. Far too many have changed their doctrine or theology, often under the guise of openmindedness or studiousness, but in actuality, because of pressure. Don't allow the pressure to crack you. We should certainly be people who let go of ideas and concepts if the word of God corrects them, especially if they are ideas and concepts we only thought were biblical, only to discover the truth after careful study and teaching. But we should not cave to societal pressures and assent to false doctrines or ideologies God would have nothing to do with. We must watch our commitments.

Conclusion

In closing, the false prophets who competed with the prophet Jeremiah come to mind. Their message was that the Babylonian exile would be no bother at all, at most a temporary blip in God's beautiful plan for his people. They couldn't imagine that Yahweh would allow a people as wicked as the Babylonians to not only flourish but defeat God's people and subject them for a time. Jeremiah told them to hunker down in exile—it would take seventy years before they'd be set free—but the false prophets assured everyone God would certainly, swiftly, and shortly hammer the Babylonians. It won't be long now, Babylon is going down! Rather than listen to Jeremiah's exhortations to embrace exile, the people listened to the false prophets who told them God would soon and decidedly destroy Babylon.

James was similar to Jeremiah. He encouraged the church to grow in patience as they waited for the coming of the Lord. He told us to adjust our expectations to have the long run in mind. He told us to prepare for assessment—our Judge stands at the door! He told us to get better heroes, to admire the right people. And he told us to watch what we commit to during times of hardship. If we do, we will develop the patience required to navigate a hard world.

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge, Facts, Understanding):

1. What does James 5:7-12 teach about the importance of patience in the life of a believer?
2. How does James compare the coming of the Lord to the work of a farmer in this passage?
3. What examples of suffering and patience does James offer, and how do they relate to the overall message of this passage?

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires):

4. How does the promise of the Lord's return influence your personal feelings about the challenges you face in life?
5. In what ways do the examples of the prophets and Job inspire you to remain steadfast in your faith?
6. How do you feel about the idea of being judged by Christ for your actions and words?

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions):

7. What practical steps can you take to develop patience in your daily life, especially in difficult situations?
8. How can you guard against grumbling or negative speech within your relationships, particularly within the church?
9. What commitments or promises do you need to reevaluate to ensure they align with your faith and the teachings of James?