Patience Endurance In Christ Brings Great Reward (James 5:7-12) - A Sermon By Elise Beatrice

Patient Endurance In Christ Brings Great Reward (James 5:7-12)

James 5:7–12

A sermon by Elise Beatrice -16 December 2024

Transcript

Lord, thank You so much for this James 5:7-12. Lord, You are our provider. Help us to understand what Your will is today. Thank You, Lord God, for Your grace, and for Your mercy and peace.

James 5:7–12

Thank You for Your Holy Spirit who guides us. In Jesus’ name, Father, I pray. Amen.

James 5:7-12,

James 5:7–12

“7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door! 10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. 12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.” Amen.

Okay, there's one part there I am not comfortable saying, like,

"You can see how the Lord was kind to him. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy."

I don't see it as God was rude to him before. But this is how the New Living Translation reads it, all the other translations dont give this idea. But we must understand that God's righteous actions are not rude. God is doing the work He must do for His righteous purpose. Job went through what he went through, and God was not being unkind to him but blessing Him.

Yes, patient endurance. All believers, especially those devoted to the Lord, need patient endurance. And sometimes, we may not be surrounded by people we can look up to and see, "Yes, they are giving us a perfect example of patient endurance." So, where do we look when we happen to be some of those who don't have leaders of churches who are that perfect example of patient endurance to their congregation? What do we do? We look in the Holy Bible, at many who have been there first and remained in the Lord till the end. James here is listing Job as a perfect example to look up to when we're going through trials and tribulations. As we look into the life of Job, it was unbearable all the things the devil was throwing upon him. But his faith and patient endurance were remarkable. I mean, it was admirable, it was something to look at as an example. He went through all those things and did not curse God as many do nowadays.

We see many nowadays, when they're going through trials, they cannot cope, even if it is a little one; they would curse God, and they would blaspheme and allow the enemy to turn that beautiful person they may be into something ugly. Being with the Lord does not mean that we'll click our fingers and the Lord will just come and do everything we're asking. We must understand that many things in our lives happen for a righteous purpose. We see the way the Lord has used Job. He used him for greater things to come; He used him as an example of faith, endurance, patience, to help us today, so when we're going through tough times that we should look into the life of Job and see how he coped, how he patiently endured without cursing God, without losing His faith. And no matter what the devil did, he insisted in the ways of the Lord. He did not rebel; he did not retaliate by saying, "Well, because God, you're doing this, I don't care anymore, I don't want You; You can do whatever You want." He did not speak those kinds of words. He just truly waited patiently and endured. And the Lord had seen his wait, and the Lord had used him for that purpose. The Book of Job is even deeper.

I have been looking at those in the Holy Bible for my comfort, looking to the Lord for my comfort, and at His prophets for my comfort, because that's the reason why they were there before us, to make way for us.

If we are suffering, we are not alone. As the Bible says, "Our brothers and sisters are undergoing the same kind of suffering all over the world." Some people have worse suffering than others. But each one of us has something. It can be small; it can be big, but even if it is small, God is giving them the amount of suffering they can endure, because the Lord said that He won't give us what we cannot handle. So, somebody may have their small trials, and you may say, 'It is too small trials.’ But to them, it is big because God only gave them the amount they can handle.

When things like that happen to us, it is not God NOT showing kindness, it's what we must go through when we're in the battle between good and evil. The evil is bound to oppose the good, to throw weapons and their missiles at the good people, to target those who are devoted to the Lord, because he wants to do everything he can to keep them away from the Lord. For this, patient endurance is our weapon, and we hold on to the Lord Jesus, for He Himself had been through the worst sufferings of all. Yes, all kinds of suffering, He's been through them, His prophets have been through them. And us today, who serve the Lord, we go through our share of sufferings, and some have it worse than others.

This life is tough. It is a battle between good and evil. We must be equipped with the words of the Lord. He is our shield, the Lord Jesus, and we hold on to Him. And when we're going through tough times, we look at those who Have been there first and succeeded in the Lord, and remained in the Lord till the end.

There is no 'serving the Lord' without a heavy cross to bear. Those who have it easy, they are not really serving the Lord; they are relaxing in the battle between good and evil. They are the passive ones in the battle who have chosen the easy part by teaming up with the enemy for convenience.

The Lord is commanding us to be patient and to endure and persevere. As we look into the Life of Job, he had patiently waited and endured without grumbling. And the generous Lord restored him and gave him even more than what he had before.

Yes, and the Lord Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, "I'm coming, bringing my reward with Me." So we must endure and persevere, even if the suffering is ongoing, we keep on persevering, holding on to the words of the Lord, for He is coming, bringing His reward with Him.

Revelation 22:12

The Lord, who has already seen the ending, is not concerned, for He knows that if we put our trust in Him, He's with us to carry us through our pain, our sufferings, trials, persecution, whether spiritual, physical or verbal. The oppression and any other thing we may experience in our journey with the Lord. So we hold on tight to our Lord, who leads the way and who leads well. With Him we get there eventually, no matter what we encounter on the way.

Yes, it continues in Verse 12 by saying, '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.'

And this is right. Why should we swear by anything on this earth? We did not create anything on this earth. It is the Lord's earth. The things on this earth are His. We cannot swear by the head of any human being because we did not create that human being. We cannot swear by Heaven because we did not create Heaven, and we cannot swear by Earth because we did not create the Earth. So, those who have a tendency to swear by everything on this earth now, "I swear by my, I swear by my, I swear by this..." Some even swear by the heads of their children. Do you really understand the meaning of swearing by the head of your children? So yes, this is why we should not do such a thing. Only the Lord is allowed to swear by something because He created everything. And He swears by His Name because it is His great Name that makes things happen. He can swear by Himself because He counts on Himself to make things happen even for us. So, who are we to swear by the things created by God? So we should not do that.

So, Lord, thank You so much for Your teachings, thank You for Your love, Your joy, and Your peace, and Your patient endurance.

Yes, Lord, we are looking forward to Your coming again. It is a great hope we look forward to; it keeps us going, Lord.

Because we believe in this truth, which is why we look forward to that great Day when You will Come Again.

Thank You, Lord God, that You're standing at our door and knocking, and I pray that many will not miss out on Your knocking.

I pray that many will hear You knock on their door and they will open for You to come in and dine with them while they're still here.

Gracious Father, thank You. Thank You for the great things You are planning to do.

Thank You for Your servant Job, for all Your prophets and all Your faithful ones of today who are striving to do their best and plead for people to hear Your Words, the truth, the Hope to come.

You are the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the End, and the First and the Last.

Yes, my Lord. Come, Lord Jesus, come, and be with us forever.

Thank You, Father, for the great thing You are doing for Your Son Jesus.

And for His beautiful Bride, the New Jerusalem.

Thank You, Lord God, for Your forgiveness, and for bringing those whom You see are ready to You. We love You and we bless You.

And we thank You for Your grace, and Your mercy, and love, and kindness and generosity.

Thank You, Lord Jesus. Please hear my prayer, in Your holy Name I pray.

Thank You, Lord, for everything. Amen.