James 5:7-12

Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning We're gonna be talking about patience and perseverance from James chapter 5. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word Let's pray by the way, thank you so much for this day We thank you for the blessing. It is to get to have your word to read it Lord We pray that your Holy Spirit would please help us to understand it Father, but not just understand it, we pray that we would live it. That it would be so true to us that it would become the fabric of our thinking, our feeling, and our living. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Alright, here we go. James, chapter 5, verses 7 through 12. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain? You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or any other oath. But let your yes be yes, and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment."
Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So what's this even about? Well, it starts off with this be patient, right? There's trials, there's tribulations, there's troubles in this world, but we know We know that our God is King. He's reigning on His throne. He's doing His will. And so we trust Him. We trust that He's returning again until the coming of the Lord, that's speaking of Jesus.
And so the illustration for us is like a farmer, right? The farmer plants in the field and they don't have any, right? There's no crop insurance at this time. They don't have any assurance that they're going to be sowing and then reaping later on because they don't know if God's going to bring the rain or not. And in Israel, there's the early rain and there's the latter rains, right? There's the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. You've got to have the rains at their appointed seasons to be able to have a successful harvest so you can actually eat.
I mean, this is largely hand-to-mouse, subsistence type farming. And so it's patiently waiting on the Lord to provide. And so he says, be patient. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, right? Firm your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. We don't know when that's going to happen. We don't know when that's going to come. And neither does the farmer know when the rain is going to come. But we trust him. We trust Him because He told us it's going to happen, so we trust Him.
And this is what He's saying, is endure. Fix your hearts, establish your hearts, trust in the Lord. He's going to return. Be patient. And in the meantime, don't grumble and complain. That's the whole point of what He was getting at in chapter 3 and the first part of chapter 4.
Right? Tame your tongue. Don't let that little rudder steer the ship. Don't let the little spark put a whole forest ablaze. Right? But control your tongue. Don't bite and slander, devour one another. No, no, no. You don't want to do that because you'll be condemned.
And we need to recognize that the judge is at the door. I mean, you've seen these scenes in movies or maybe you've been to a courthouse before, right? All rise for the honorable such and such. Well, how do they know that they need to rise and judgment is about to happen? Because the judge is at the door. The bailiff knows. He's coming into the room. Do you know that Jesus Christ is coming to judge? He's doing it. The judge is at the door. And so he says, just look at the prophets, right?
They knew this. We read the Old Testament prophets, and we're able to know that, okay, they were patient. Their hearts were established. They were firm, trusting in the Lord. We're able to think about Isaiah, and think about, as he looked to, guys, you've got to repent because the judgment's about to come. Hezekiah, there's sin. You've got to take care of it. Jeremiah the city's gonna get destroyed you need to repent when you think about those prophets who went up north like Amos and then such right and Warning the king the judgment was about to come and they didn't believe but the prophets hearts were fixed and established patient that the Lord was doing to it and Specifically James here points out the prophet Job Who though he suffered in life had to have his heart established firmly fixed knowing and that he would see his Redeemer. That though I die, I know I will see my Redeemer. His Redeemer lived.
And he was trusting in that. And though I'm sure I can't imagine the pain and the trials that Job went through, he had hope in God. He knew God's goodness, God's care, God's sovereignty over all things. He had the perseverance that James points out here. You have heard of the perseverance of Joan and seen the end intended by the Lord, right? The end is not just constant suffering forever, but for Job, the end of his life was better than the beginning. That's what God says at the end of the book of Job. He was even more well-off having gone through the suffering and the trials.
And so James finishes verse 11 off with saying, If your heart is not firmly fixed, trusting that He's the one who brings the early and the latter rains, like the farmer waiting for it, then you might think all the suffering and the persecution and the trials you're going through in this life, God may not know what He's doing, right? But no, we trust Him. Our hearts are firmly fixed. We know that suffering has a purpose. And so we look up to heaven, we remember who He is, we trust in who He is, and our hearts are fixed. And so He says, but above all, Don't swear either by heaven or by earth.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no. He's specifically pulling back to his brother, his big brother Jesus' teachings in Matthew chapter 5. Don't swear upon heaven or the altar. And this was a kind of a Jewish superstition, right? They would, well, I don't want to break the ninth commandment or the third commandment. So instead of appealing to God himself with my prayer or with my oath, I'll take an oath upon the altar, or I'll take an oath upon the money instead of the temple, right? And Jesus is saying, that's foolish, right? How about you just speak the truth?
This isn't saying there shouldn't be any oaths whatsoever. I mean, I think we see that in especially Paul's writings, right? Philippians 1, 2 Corinthians 1, Romans 1, for God is my witness, for God is my witness, for God is my witness, right? There's multiple times in which people have to call God as a witness to what they're saying is true.
But the point is, right, are you dealing treacherously with your brother? Remember what he had just talked about up above with the rich? You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of labor have mowed your field. You have kept back by fraud, cry out. The cries of the reapers reach the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. And so they've promised wages and they haven't given them.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Have your heart firmly fixed. Walk before the Lord in integrity. Know that suffering has a purpose. Have patience and have perseverance. The judge is at the door. He'll make all things right. And the Lord is compassionate and gracious. He's going to bring justice and righteousness, and so we can have hope.
So that's what this is about. Okay, so what's the best verse to summarize this? Woo, doggy, I got a lot underlined here. So I've got verse eight underlined, and I have verse 11 underlined. So those are the main two underlines I have. I have a whole bunch of other notes all over the place, but that's what I would, feel free to let me know in the comments what you would underline as the best verse to summarize this.
Seek calling. What are we called to do? Be ready. The judge is at the door. We're awaiting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know when he's going to come. Maybe it will be tomorrow. Maybe it will be a thousand years from now. Whenever that day comes, neither the angels in heaven nor even the Son of Man knows, only the Father. And so I don't know when that's going to happen. But James said the judge is at the door. And so I'm going to be patient for it. And we need to establish our hearts waiting on Jesus to come again. knowing that when he does come there will be perfect justice.
So what's our job in the meantime? Let our yes be yes and our no be no. We suffer with patience and perseverance, looking to Jesus the judge, having our hearts established, and living lives of integrity, not coming to the judgment, but letting our yes be yes and our no be no, trusting that the Lord is gracious and good. Let's pray. God, we pray that we would be more like Jesus, that our yes would be yes and our no would be no. And Lord, we do look forward to that last great day when the trumpet will sound. And as our Savior went up into heaven, so he will also come again. And so Lord, we look forward to that day.
Father, please give us hope. But as we live our lives in light of that hope, Father, we pray that we would live our lives like Jesus, not gossiping and slandering, not tearing each other down, not with partiality. but loving our neighbor as ourselves, because we love you, because you've poured out the love of your Son in our hearts. Thank you, Father, for who you are. Please help us to be more like your Son. In Jesus' name, Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace that comes from Jesus Christ. May your heart be established, knowing that the judge is at the door, and the Lord will return. I'll see you next time. Bye.