Patience is our theme for today. [Wait on the Lord and be of good courage.]
Jesus speaks over and over again about the time frame of patience for the Christian, and that is the phrase a little while.
Our Old Testament Reading speaks about our Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator is
Is He who gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Our continues and says, Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
Peter, through our Epistle urges as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul, and I’ll ask you if impatience often wages war against your soul.
And I’ll ask for your patience and attentiveness as I read 4 verses from James 5, just listen:
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruits of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the patience [some translation will say steadfastness, perseverance, endurance] of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord (that word purpose is telos in the Greek, the end, the final purpose, the final aim), how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:7-11)
The Lord calls me to preach the Word, and as the Lord’s Word is preached, He primarily does two things. He shows you your sin and He shows you your Savior.
Sometimes God’s Word and His preachers are very creative to try and get you to see your sin, root out hidden sins that lie deep within your heart,
But I don’t know if a preachers job ever gets easier than for you to begin to see your sin of impatience.
Who does this not convict right away?
Be patient. Wait on the Lord. Have patience.
Now, I don’t know where your mind goes where you are admonished toward patience:
Does it go toward the pain that you are enduring pain in your body?
Maybe, you’re thinking about deep pains in the soul – depression, anxiety, grief, loneliness, fear?
Maybe, you begin to think about some family and friends and their pains,
Or maybe you’re thinking about some family and friends and the pains and frustration they sometimes cause you.
What is making you say?
“I only have to endure this for a little while, Jesus, I get it. But c’mon, a little more specificity, a little more measurable timeline would be nice, too.
A day, a week, a month. Give me something more, Jesus. Be patient. Have patience. Wait on the Lord. I get it. A little while just doesn’t seem to cut it sometimes.”
Remember how God in His Word shows you your sin and shows you your Savior?
I don’t want you to leave this sermon only saying,
“I gotta be patient. I gotta wait. I gotta endure.”
That’s Biblical. That’s true. I want you saying that.
But especially do I want you to leave saying something like,
“I can be patient. I can wait. I can endure, because I’m a child of God.
Because Jesus will not fail me.
Because the Holy Spirit is in me and beside me and works on my heart again today to strengthen me with a strength and peace and joy and a mercy and a forgiveness and Christ’s merit and an abundance of gifts that no one can take away from me.”
The Lord doesn’t just tell you to wait, He tells you to wait on Him.
Jesus doesn’t just say in a little while, your suffering, your sin, your pain will be done, He says, In a little while, you will see Me.
That James passage doesn’t just say you’ve heard of the patience of Job, be more like him, as if we just need to try harder,
It says you’ve heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end (the final purpose; the telos; the aim) of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
The Lord has a final purpose for you. He has a final aim in mind. There will be an end to suffering, trouble, sin and pain, but there won’t be an end to you.
You’ll get to the be with Him forever.
So you might draw strength again today, the very One that you are waiting on is here now to strengthen you have mercy on you and show compassion on you.
You are not ultimately waiting for them, whoever all the thems are, you are not waiting on them to get their act together, or for you to get your act together, whatever those acts are.
You are not ultimately waiting for that pain in your body or deep in your soul to end,
you are ultimately waiting on Christ’s return, the end of the world, or the glorious end of your life, whichever comes first.
Let’s get our perspectives right.
Did you catch how Jesus spoke in the Gospel Reading that in a little while you won’t see me, and then you will see me, because I’m going to the Father.
What a glorious, final end, final purpose way to speak about what He knows is getting ready to happen to Him.
He doesn’t say I’m going to betrayed and rejected and spat on and crucified, He says I’m going to the Father.
He doesn’t say I’m getting ready to endure an unimaginable suffering of body and soul, He says I’m going to the Father.
He doesn’t say He’s going to die, He says I’m going to the Father.
Now, does He speak plainly about His death and betrayal and crucifixion at other times and places, yes, of course.
His is sorrowful, He sweats drops of blood, He ask His Father if it were possible the cup be removed.
And it’s great to speak to God plainly about your tears and pains and struggles and sins, do that!
But don’t miss the big picture.
All things are working out so that you can be confident that you’re going to the Father.
We can’t wait!
Except, we can wait, because we know how all of this is going to end.
You can begin turn the other cheek, you can begin pray for your persecutors, you can begin to love your children and spouse and neighbor with an unconditional love and full of boundless mercy and forgiveness because you know how it’s going to end.
One of favorite professors at the seminary wrote this recently:
“Patience is the Christian form of life, and it is not passive or inactive, it is supremely active. But the aim of the patient way of life is not to eliminate or to evade suffering, but to bear it, to endure it, and finally to outlast it.”
You can outlast your sufferings, endure your pain, bear one another’s burdens, because you are baptized in the everlasting God.
He is merciful and patient toward you. His steadfast love never ceases.
This promise is new every morning and it is also forever.
We who are suffering draw strength again from the One, the Son of God, our Jesus who did not avoid suffering, but chose to bear our sin and endure our death so that we might be children of God.
Only because we who wait on the Lord and His day, are strengthened by Him and His gifts constantly, even today. Amen
Addition Thoughts:
….Hear again, the patience of Job. He suffered in every way imaginable:
He lost his money and property, every single child of his died, his body was covered in sores, his wife scorned him and told him to curse God and die.
And yet, he in faith, only in faith that has been renewed and strengthened by God, said,
Shall we receive good from the hand of the Lord and shall we not receive evil. Though He slay, yet will I trust Him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
We consider the patience of Job, we wage war against the passion of impatience in us, we rejoice even in our sufferings,
….We may not think our Lord knows how to count, but it’s us who don’t know how to count.
Our Lord is not slow as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
We’re the one’s who need to be reminded how to count and keep track of time
And so give us this day, our daily bread,
During this time of a little while.
….
God sees you, not in a little while, but right now, in love, blameless, pure and holy in Christ Jesus.
All because of that little while of Jesus hanging and bleeding and dying.
Do you think that time of great physical, spiritual, and emotional suffering felt like a little while to your Lord?
But it won an eternity for you, it is the foundation of the joy you have now that no one can take from you now or forever.
He knew what He was talking about. So, when He says a little while, trust that He knows how to count, as well as how to save and give joy and strength in waiting.