James 5:7-20
Notes
Transcript
Read Chapter 5, 1-6, 7-12, 13-20
Read Chapter 5, 1-6, 7-12, 13-20
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James 5:7 “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.”
Following on the heals of James’ grim warning on setting wealth and personal gain above all, even using and abusing the court system to oppress and even kill the innocent James tells us to be patient even in our suffering, calling back to James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” James says to be patient until the coming of the Lord, or be patient all the way until the end. James uses the imagery of the coming of the Lord three times in these three verses, 7, 8, and 9, to emphasize that our patience is to last until the very end of our race on earth.
James uses the farmer as an example of someone who is patient, waiting for both the early and late rains. The early rains come at the fall, October and November, and soften the ground for the planting season. Then they patiently wait for the whole growing time, until the late rains which come in March and April to fully ripen the crops for harvest.
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James 5:8 “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
Just like the farmer is patient until the end of the growing season, until all the growing has been done, so must our patience be, from when our hope was planted in the beginning of our Christian lives through all trials and tribulations in our lives, both physical and spiritual, until the end when we see our Lord and Savior face to face, either at the end of our race and our death, or at his second coming. For the coming of the Lord is at hand, it will indeed come but we do not know when it will be, we have not been promised our next breath, nor do we know when the Lord will return will be, but we are to prepare ourselves and our hearts, and live in accordance with all of the commandments as if every minute will be the last here on earth.
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James 5:9 “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”
When times get tough and we are going through trials we may have a tendency to grumble and complain, sometimes even being hungry will cause us to be irritable and short fused, hangry. But in these times we need to remember in whom we have our trust and our peace in, knowing that this life and these trials are very temporary when compared to the eternal reward that awaits us in Heaven. James that we should not be irritable and complaining, picturing Jesus as our judge, and he is standing right behind a door and we do not know when he will enter into his courtroom to pronounce his righteous verdicts.
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James 5:10 “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”
James next tells us to use the Old Testament prophets as an example of patience in suffering. Moses dealing with the hard hearted Jews who were constantly rebelling against God, David being hunted like an animal by Saul, Elijah facing the evils of Ahab and Jezebel, Jeremiah facing fierce opposition throughout his time making him known as the weeping prophet, Ezekiel suffering the death of his wife during his ministry, Daniel being ripped from his home and later thrown into the lions den for his faithfulness to God, Hosea and his heartbreaking marriage, Amos faced lies and scorn, and John the Baptist who was beheaded for calling out the evil practices of the rulers of the day. Jesus even called out the Pharisees as the murders of the prophets, Matthew 23:31 “Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.” All of the prophets patience and faithfulness in the face of all of their trials and tribulations can give us encouragement to persevere and remain steadfast in our patience.
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James 5:11 “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 the first part of verse 11 James says that those who remained steadfast through their trials, like all the prophets in the OT, are to be considered blessed, very similar to telling us to count our trials as joy. Leaning on the Holy Spirit as our helper in any trying circumstance is a blessing, that we have God with us through anything that this fallen world can throw at us should leave us with spiritual peace and comfort.
James then reminds us of Job, the man and the book on being patient and steadfast through trials. God is in control and is sovereign in everything and through Job we can see God’s purpose in the suffering of Job. Throughout all of Job’s suffering at the hands of the devil, we can see God is in control, telling Satan how far he can go and no further, and that He has a purpose for Job’s trials, just as He has a reason and purpose for any and all of our trials, and in the end God will be glorified. James then ends this section saying that even through any trials God is compassionate and merciful. This may be hard to see and comprehend when we are in the midst of a trial but no matter what happens, if we are his, we are held in his omniscient, omnipotent hands and he will never let us go no matter what happens. God will hold us fast until the end, either our final breath or when our Lord and Savior returns to call us home.
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James 5:12 “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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James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”
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James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
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James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
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James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
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James 5:17 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.”
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James 5:18 “Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”
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James 5:19 “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,”
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James 5:20 “let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
