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.
When I was a boy, I would write letters to football players and coaches and ask for their autographs. I heard back from a few of them – I recall Dan Reeves the Denver Broncos coach and Joe Gibbs the Redskins coach. But until I heard back, I remember many days sitting on the front lawn waiting for the mailman, looking down the street willing his truck to turn the corner. Then as he pulled up to our mailbox playing it cool, avoiding eye contact and then as he drove away running to the mailbox..
In this meditation James refers to a waiting, but this isn’t the kind sprawled out on the front lawn. This is waiting under great pressure. That he says “therefore” connects this passage with the one before, and so likely this is waiting for God to act, to change things, while powerful people are stripping you of rights, using you, bullying you. How long will God stand by while those who put their trust in him are losing?
It’s good to remember that some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering to a degree that we aren’t. John Piper is good for striking observations such as this:
Brothers and sisters in Russia, Nigeria, China, parts of India, parts of the Middle East are facing just such. Church buildings on fire, prohibitions from sharing Christian content online, anti-conversion laws, various levels of ostracism – Christians face this all while confessing that Jesus is Lord of the world, King of kings. How long?
And James says to them, wait for the appearing of the Lord! Because he most certainly is on his way…at the door…. He is always present with his people, even unto the end of the age; this coming refers to his impending arrival to remedy situations, to round up the bad guys and punish them while rewarding his faithful ones for continuing to trust him even while that appeared weak.
The coming of the Lord Jesus: Just as with the coming Day of the Lord that the Old Testament prophets referred to, the coming of the Lord refers both to a final coming of the Lord at the end of history and also significant, altering arrivals and actions of the Lord within history before that final coming.
When James says to his first century audience that the Lord is at hand, he likely isn’t referring to the final coming – – this would strain the meaning of at hand beyond recognition. Rather, he probably has in mind the in-their-lifetime coming of the Lord in judgment against Jerusalem and her Temple. Judgment against those elite in Jerusalem who had killed the Messiah and then had proceeded to savage his people.
But when the Lord appeared, in that day those Christians who had trusted that the Resurrected Jesus was the re-built Temple, the mediator between God and man, the place where heaven and earth intersects, their refuge against the heart of darkness… who had for their faith in Jesus been cast out of the physical Temple, ostracized by society (though no one could pluck them out of the Father’s hand) – – in that day when the Lord Jesus arrived they would be vindicated.
But for now, patience is necessary. And James offers them some examples of patience. First, farmers who put seeds in the earth and then wait for things to develop, patient even while the earth looks as bare as ever, nothing seems to have changed. But precious is the fruit that will come! Then we will be like those who dream!
I’m not sure the spiritual lesson James means by referring to the farmer’s patience until the land receives the early and latter rains. Perhaps he is pointing out that in waiting for the final product there are often sub-waitings. You pray and wait for Peter to be released from prison…but then even after that you’re still waiting for Herod to be overthrown. There are small victories within the great final victory. As we wait for the main event we also wait for smaller events. Point is, the Christian experience is a lot of waiting. Develop a farmer-like stoicism, resilience.
James also points to the Old Testament prophets as examples of those who suffered and waited for the word of the Lord to come to pass. For the most part the prophets didn’t deliver God’s word into positive or even neutral environments. Rather they were saying things that were deeply unpopular, words that clanged, that stopped the music in the room. And, to make matters worse, these faithful prophets speaking unpopular words were often surrounded by faithless prophets who were giving “messages from the Lord” that were positive. People want to hear good news, not bad news.
When we worked in Boston, I was a member of a local Toastmasters, an organization to improve public speaking. I became friends with several folks there who came to know I was a pastor. Anyway, I ran into one of these friends at a Trader Joes, and she was excited to tell me that she had started dating a guy that was a Christian (though she herself was not). A couple weeks later I met her fiancé and he was impressive – graduated from an Ivy League school, held an influential job – and also a really sweet guy. And had a moving testimony of coming to the faith. Though she remained non-Christians, the two of them soon started attending the church I was with.
The dreaded day arrived: “Pastor, we’re engaged. Would you officiate the wedding?” How much I wanted to please them. My hope was that my old friend would become a Christian…I had been explaining the gospel to her for some time – but now she was about to see the hard side of the faith. What a marketing disaster! I told them, “sorry, I can’t.” And to her fiancé: “even though I know you’re in love and happy I think you’re violating God’s command.” Tough to be the bad guy, to be an outsider to people’s joy!
Well, multiply that sense I had by 20 and you have folks that James is writing to – people who in turning to Jesus are implicitly rebuking their family and friends who have not confessed Jesus as Lord. They’ve necessarily turned their back on the faith of their childhood, lost friends, had their career interrupted. Their lives are now insecure, are perhaps being threatened….
None of this is new…remember the prophets, James says – those who now we memorialize as oaks of righteousness, heroes of the faith, who are now at rest with their Lord – they had to endure under suffering. The suffering of being cast out of the inner circle of friends and family.
Remember the farmers. Those solid people who face long waits and setbacks without excitement. Remember the prophets who accepted the fact that they stood outside the main current of society. Remember these tough, gritty people.
And remember Job, the man who unknowingly was the object of an arrangement between God and Satan, and because of this arrangement lost almost everything. He too was marked by steadfastness under suffering.
Bringing up Job moves forward James’ exhortation. Because Job didn’t suffer quietly, hands clasped, blissfully gazing upwards. He railed against his pain. He was loud and insistent in his lament and questioning, but – and this is the key – his laments and questioning were before God. He never threw in the towel but rather: though he slay me yet I will trust in him. Patience and steadfastness doesn’t always equal quietude.
And after much suffering, Job experienced the coming of the Lord. Because he endured, what precious fruit came up! The Lord restored the fortunes of Job. And, Job’s view of God was expanded, now my eye sees you: what else does a human want then to know better his Creator.
Specifically, one of the main things about God Job came to perceive was that, even though for some prolonged period of intense hardship he had felt like the object of God’s displeasure, accusation – that all the way through the Lord was compassionate and merciful.
This is something that happens: the people of God go through periods of relentless stress and/or danger, and the idea settles into them that somehow God doesn’t care for them, that his love is just a nice thought. In his silently standing apart we can begin assuming that in important ways God is not for us. So, part of the sweetness of the Lord’s arrival is the realization that God is and has the whole time been for them. That what they were experiencing was a mercy, even if had to be for a time a severe mercy.
Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ: whatever you’re experiencing today, let me speak with the authority of God that he is both all-mighty and that he loves you.
Kai our son just got done with special forces dive school, and at the conclusion he sent some photos to Tonia from the school. Me being the attention seeker, I shared some of those photos in a group text to folks and the big Landry family group chat. To Tonia Kai expressed annoyance for this – he said those photos were meant for his mother. And it’s true: publicizing himself isn’t his style. Plus, Green Berets are supposed to live up to their name, “Quiet Professionals.”
Anyway, a couple days later Kai asked for Tonia and me to call him so he could ask us a question. I figured that he was planning – sure, politely, respectfully – to ask that we (meaning me) cease and desist sharing photos. I was mentally preparing for that call, ready to look hard into the FaceTime camera, posture myself between offering a begrudging apology while also expressing my right to do whatever I want to do with photos that come into my possession.
Well, we got onto the phone call and after some small talk, Kai got to his point: we’re rafting in Alaska this summer and want to invite you guys. Don’t worry about the costs, they’ll be “handled.” I really want you guys to go…why wouldn’t you?
Whoa- you build up in your mind something hard and cold and ugly… and then suddenly you’re hit with love and grace – it’s quite a sensation.
You get the idea: At the end of a hard season when Job thought of God only in connection with doom and gloom and hard judgments, when the Lord arrived it was also with the realization that he is compassionate and merciful.
Brothers and sisters, I dare to say that 2000 years from now, we will look back on every day of our this-age experience and be in awe of the love of God that fired every minute.
So, be steadfast. Establish your hearts. That entails a few things: remember what is true, including what is true about you, at your center. You’re an image bearer of God. You are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You’re being prepared, particularly through your sufferings, for an eternal weight of glory – your settled state will be the opposite of confused, harried, shabby. You are a servant of Jesus Christ. You are a saint. A member of Christ’s Body etc. GOD LOVES YOU.
To establish your hearts is also a re-commitment to obedience to the Lord even while under duress. I’m going to keep partnering in the advance of the gospel – the good news that God is expanding his authority in the world while offering forgiveness of sins and a new start on the basis of the death and resurrection of Christ. I’m going to keep stewarding my wealth obediently. Even when my life is currently in something like shambles, I’m going to keep worshiping God among the Body of Christ. I’m going to stay faithful to my oaths. Etc.
Re-commitment to obedience and also a time to take stock: am I being obedient to the Lord? Am I a selfish husband? Am I a nagging wife? Are we stealing from the Lord by not giving our wealth to his church? Am I a shirker at work? Have I slipped in self control? Are we as a church not known for our partnership in the gospel but rather our whininess? Point is: waiting for the Lord is the time to make pure your heart.
To establish your hearts is also a call to renewed focus. When you’re experiencing trials, that’s not the time to go on a binge of watching all seasons of the Office. Rather, it’s the time to – at least temporarily – plan for more Scripture, more prayer. So then, when trials settle down on us, not escapism…but less Office, less Adam Sandler, less of the silly and trivial. At least for a time, leaning into the serious, the eternal.
While steadfastly waiting for the coming of the Lord under stress and suffering, the Spirit through Pastor James gives one other specific command: don’t grumble against each other. You might think that when members of the church or the church as a whole pass through a season of marked suffering, there would then be a natural coming together…unity like never before. Well, I give you COVID as contrary evidence.
Remember when the Church was experiencing COVID while also navigating the extra thing about how to honor the Lord and honor the king at the same time? It was a time of biting and devouring one another. Fear and fault-finding and grandstanding amongst ourselves; instead of holiness, fear of God, principled speech.
When suffering comes, especially in the form of political pressure, it’s easy to question people’s loyalties, to compare your suffering or your response to suffering with others, to resent those who aren’t suffering like you are. In a word, under suffering it’s easy to become a jerk.
Well, brothers and sisters, be afraid. The Lord who is coming is not immoral, he is not apathetic, he is not the all-nice-one, but rather it is the Judge standing at the door. Jesus will arrive with opinions and consequences regarding how we conducted ourselves during stressful days, or while we passed through a year wherein we took hit after hit, or when his people suffered poverty and persecution and shoving over a generation or more. The Judge won’t give us a pass because of our suffering.
The questions will still be: while we passed through those times did we pray for the Spirit of patient endurance and love for our Church? Did we continue to invest and engage? Or did we lash out and write people off and end years-long friendships? Did we gossip and make alliances against others? Did we quit on the Church?
Conclusion
This morning during Sunday School we came upon old Naboth, the fellow who declined to sell his ancestral land to the king and so was set up by the government, falsely accused, and then killed…all under a religious veneer. Terrible, but just one example of suffering in the Scriptures. The word of God is the written down witness that as people live with God there is not the elimination of suffering… and sometimes just the opposite. Everything from bad days to sustained periods over several generation of living under such regimes as Ahab’s…and all seemingly to no consequence; the heavens are silent.
There is short-term suffering; there is long-term suffering. The word to all who suffer as Christians is Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. In relatively small ways the Lord will arrive and brings an end to our momentary suffering. He comes in the middle of history to put down the unrighteous mighty and give relief to his brothers and sisters. And at the end of history there will be a final, visible return of the Judge… and then all will give an account to him. Justice will be served. All who have not authentically taken refuge in the wounded side of Jesus and who have rather distanced themselves from Christ and his church…all will be put to shame
Take heart, brothers and sisters, the Lord is coming. Take heart, afflicted and perplexed and struck down brother, the Lord will not allow this to continue indefinitely. Even when you don’t see signs of relief, he is still coming at just the right time. We are in a tradition of people who have suffered while still serving the Lord. We have great stories of people coming to the end of their suffering and perceiving that it was all shot through with compassion and mercy. These are our witnesses and our instructors.
Establish your heart. Don’t lash out at your brothers and sisters.
On that first day of the world’s new week, the women came to the tomb and find the stone rolled back and an angel sitting on the stone. They were terrified at seeing him. He tells them that Jesus has “risen,” an interesting verb to use. And tells them they’re to instruct his disciples to go to Galilee where he will meet them.
They book it out of there and on their way who shows up but Jesus. He says to them “Greetings.” And then: tell the disciples to meet me in Galilee.
I read that this week and thought to myself: the women already had been given that message. Why repeat it?
My guess is that Jesus simply wanted to say hi. I say it reverently I hope: Jesus is a Person who likes to be around his people. To show up. I’m pretty confident about that because Jesus is the Source of Everything. Back…back…back…back…back…back – get behind all layers of reality and you’ll find Jesus – but not just Jesus – you’ll find the One God, a Triune Community of Persons. The heart of reality is a relationship of loving, joy-filled, completely satisfied with each other Persons.
All that to say when Jesus isn’t showing up and his lambs, his siblings are suffering, you just simply have to believe that in his silence and seeming absence and inaction he is managing the whole scene out of love. The blessed news I have for you is not that Christ will keep you or us or Christendom out of intense suffering, but that if he does or doesn’t he is always acting out of love that is older than time, that is stronger than death, that is more fierce and wise and powerful than any analogy I could bring up. God loves you, Friend. Be patient. And church, live with each other, act toward each other in his love.
AMEN