Faith that is Patient and Prayerful

Today we're gonna finish the last 20 verses of our whole Bible study. We're doing James chapter 5, and if you kind of thought to yourself, wow, these are super disjointed topics as we end this. It's like rich oppressing the poor, and we better be patient, and don't grumble, and you know pray for people, and you know help the backsliders. It is kind of a menagerie, but this week as I was going through it again, I noticed a common thread that went through this chapter, and that was a consciousness of eternity. One eye on eternity, and some of the phrases that we have seen in this, the coming of the Lord, right? The phrase the judge is standing at the door. Even talking about those rich people, the misery is coming upon you. There's one eye on the future, one eye on eternity, and so it helps us get our focus off of what is going on in our lives right now. Now before we start reading this morning, we're gonna see right off that James addresses you rich, and throughout this whole book he's used, he's been talking to believers, right? Brothers, brothers, over and over again, and now he says you rich, and so I want to ask a question. You don't have to answer out loud, just think of an answer in your mind. Do you think that on a Sunday morning, every person who comes to church here at our church is a mature believer? Do you think that every person is submitted to Christ? Do you think that every person who comes to church is even born again? Even has Christ? And if you said no to any of those, I would say yeah, I kind of agree with you. We are a mixed multitude when we gather together. We have all kinds of people. I think about, that's exactly what it said when the community of Israel left Egypt and they went, were headed to Mount Sinai. It said they were a mixed multitude. All kinds of different stages in what's going on. I think the people that James was writing to were also a mixed multitude. There were some people in there, in that group, that were outside of Christ, but inside of the church. And so when he starts saying to them, you know, you rich, he doesn't use the word brothers at all in this section. He'll use it again five times in the rest of this chapter. But whether he's talking to believers or whether he's talking to those not submitted to Christ or unbelievers, anyway, here's what he says. James 5.1, he says,

Oh wow, that is strong, isn't it? Father, help us as we go through these six verses and the rest of the chapter, Lord, to open up our hearts to exactly what you want us to hear, what you want us to see in the mirror of our own lives today. In Jesus' name, amen. Now at the outset, I don't have a problem with wealthy Christians. I've often talked about the David Green family that started Hobby Lobby and how they have used their wealth to advance the kingdom of God. I think they're the ones behind the Museum of the Bible, right? I don't know, I didn't look it up before, but I don't think James has a problem either with wealthy Christians and yet he is leveling some grievances against the rich people that he believes are going to be in the audience of this letter. And so what I want to do is I just want to go through some of those grievances, offer some scriptures that we know, and say, well, what does it mean to us? Let's look at the grievance and say, how does that apply to my life? The first one is in verse 3. He said, you've laid up treasure in the last days. Well, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6, Jesus told us, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Why? Wherever your treasure is, your heart is going to be attached to it. And so that is the truth for us in whatever way that reaches into our lives. It's a good reminder for us, wherever we place our treasure, our heart is attached to that too. Verse 4, James said, you've kept back by fraud the wages of the laborers who've mowed your fields. And look at what Proverbs tells us, Proverbs 3 27, do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. And so that is our instructions. The third grievance in verse 5 is you have lived in luxury on the earth, or you have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. And Jesus had told us in Luke 3, whoever has two tunics, so if you have an abundance, if you have more than what you need, if you have two tunics, share with the one who has none. And whoever has food is to do likewise. So there's probably some area of our life, remember we said every one of us is wealthy compared to someone. There's some area of our life that these instructions should penetrate us, lift up our eyes from what's going on here with an eye toward eternity, and think about how we can respond to those around us. And then we move on to the next section, starting in verse 7, which is about patience and prayer. And he says,

We'll skip verse 9. 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 remain steadfast. You've heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you've seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. And so we'll stop right there. Now, it does seem like this conversation is completely shifted right back to the believers, because he uses brothers again over and over to punctuate his sentences about patience. And patience in oppression seems to be kind of the theme here. The rich oppressing the poor. You know, back when we talked about favoritism in chapter 2, he said to them, are not the rich the ones that are oppressing you? Why are you guys favoring them? They're the ones that are oppressing you. So that's kind of the context here. But you know what? In our life, maybe someone in this room is being oppressed by someone rich, but really that's not probably what's happening in our life. As a nation, we all think we're being oppressed by the rich, but we are not. But so there are other things that we want to look at here, too. What does patience have to do with real faith for a woman like me? Well, we need to have an eye on eternity. One eye looking for Jesus to come and make right the injustices, the inconsistencies, and the infirmities that sin has produced. And so we wait patiently. We are waiting patiently for the return of the Lord. He says, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. This is a reminder to us, if we have gotten socked in to today, it's a reminder to us that the day will come when Jesus will make these things right. So be patient, whatever's going on, whatever oppression we have. And he gives the illustration of this faithful farmer, and I just love this verse, verse 7. He says, this farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. Being patient about it. How long does he have to wait? He has to wait through the early rains, and he has to wait through the late rains. Now what does that mean? Well, even in Eastern Oregon, even in a community like ours, here it is November 2nd today. We are in the season of the early rains. We get about 10 inches of average rainfall, right? Most of it comes in October, and then again in April. And so if you're planting over the winter crops, like winter wheat or something, you plant, the early rains come, and what did they do? They soften the kernel, they help it germinate and sprout and grow, and then what happens all winter? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Nothing happens. It is a long season of waiting for that farmer who is growing a crop like that, until the late rains come, and the warmth, and then all of a sudden that crop springs up, and then it is able to produce. And so I love that illustration, because a lot of things in our life are just that way. Now this is one of those verses. James 5, 7, that I believe we can lift completely out of the context of the passage, waiting for the coming of the Lord, waiting in oppression, we can lift this out and say, what can we apply this to in my life? Because every single one of you is waiting on something. We are all having to be patient about something in our life. Right now, today, you're waiting for something. You've been praying for something and you, through perseverance and through prayer, you are waiting for that to happen. Maybe you're in that winter season where we have relationships that are strained and it requires long suffering and patience, patience for that to be made right. Or we want to bear a certain kind of fruit for the kingdom and it takes time and it takes steadfastness and patience. And we need to be like this faithful farmer. So I've loved that verse about five years ago. This came into my life and really helped me to be patient about some things in life that are going to come to maturity in God's time and in God's way. And my job is like the faithful farmer to wait, wait, wait through the winter until. And isn't that the way God works sometimes? All of a sudden there's that whirlwind of the late rains and it's like now things are taking place. So I think that we can really get some inspiration from that. But what James is saying is while we're waiting, he gives us some advice in verses 9 and 12 and they come back to the things that come out of our mouth and the things that we've learned about our tongue. Look at verse 9. He says, do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. And look at verse 12. He says, 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. Two excellent pieces of advice, super practical wisdom while we're waiting, while we're waiting for whatever we're waiting for and while we're waiting for the return of the Lord, he says, do not grumble. So let's start with that one. Do we have to? Do we really have to talk about that? Because we probably think, you know, I don't grumble until we study the word and the Lord puts our face in front of the mirror and then we're confronted with the fact in this heart, I'm grumbling. I'm grumbling that someone else gets preference over me. I'm grumbling. I don't even go into the list because it's just ugly. It's just laundry. You know, as we go back, when we go back to the Old Testament, the next thing that we need to do, because we've done Genesis and Exodus, we have to cover the wilderness years. And do you know what the wilderness years, we got to get that community of Israel from Mount Sinai to the Jordan River. And do you know what it's marked with? Crumbling. So much crumbling. They grumbled about their food. They grumbled about their leaders. They grumbled about God's instructions. Even when God said, go in and take a look at that land that I want to give you. Just go check it out. They came back grumbling about it. The gift. They grumbled about the gift. So anyway, we'll get to that when we get to it. But James tells us, do not grumble. And however that fits into your life, it is a good word. And it's all from down here, isn't it? It's all what's going on in our heart. And then he also talks about swearing and oaths. And when he says, do not swear, this doesn't mean, well, I better not be a cop, because they swear you in. Or don't lead Girl Scouts, because there's a Girl Scout oath. And it's not talking about swearing like backwards, bad words. It's talking about, we should be people characterized by the words that we say bearing truth all the time. So that we don't need to put an extra layer of oomph over them to prove to somebody, no, what I'm saying is really true. So in just a normal life situation, how does this play out? I'll just pick an example that is common to all. Will you meet me at 5 o'clock? Yeah, I'll meet you at 5 o'clock. Are you really going to be there at 5 o'clock, because you're always late? No, for reals. I swear, I'll be there at 5 o'clock. Why did you have to say that? Because you were characterized by saying one thing and not doing it. And so this is something for us to look at and say, oh, Lord, help me to be characterized by the girl who says what I mean and means what I say. I remember trying to teach my kids, when you accept the first offer that comes along, you stick with the first offer. Because inevitably, a better offer will come along. You say you're coming to a birthday party, and then all of a sudden, someone comes in and says, oh, come roller skating with me. That's what I want to do. But you said yes. You know, those are some hard lessons, but boy, even for mamas, if you can teach your children, stick with the first thing that you said. Let your yes be yes. It might help us practice a little bit in life, and that's good. So we go on here to verse 13. And he says, is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And we'll pause there. Patience, praise, and prayer are characteristics of women who are growing in the Lord. And we pray. We pray about a lot of things, but James is talking about praying for the sick person here. The sick person, he says, should reach out. Let him call. Reach out and go to those who are more mature, he says, the elders here. The word sick here in the Greek is a word that we translate in English both into sick and to diseased, okay? So at face value, if you are sick, if you have a disease, ask for prayer. At face value, James is saying, ask for prayer, okay? Don't carry this alone, but go to those that are more mature. Go to the elders. We provide opportunities every Sunday to go up and to be prayed for. This honors the Lord when we reach out and say, would you pray over me? It's very honoring to the Lord. Most of our sicknesses that we have, most of our diseases are due to the fallen nature of this world. Did you know we live in a world that's broken? It's pretty broken because of sin. And so we suffer a lot of things in this world. And they have nothing to do with what we have or haven't done. What I'm saying is that a sickness that we have isn't necessarily caused by the sin of the person. But can I also say that a sickness that we have may be caused by the sin of the person? And I want to take us on a little bit of a thread for a minute. Can I just talk to you, not like the Bible study teacher, but just like a girl sitting in a discussion group now, and tell you just my personal insights here on this? I wonder if there's something we can learn from this. If anyone is sick, call for the elder, or reach out for prayer. Because of the phrases that are coming up, if anyone has committed sins, then confess your sins to one another. So I want to kind of take that layer. Like I said, at face value, if you're sick, if you've got something going on, if you broke your arm, go and ask for prayer, absolutely. But I want to go down to the next layer and talk about the sicknesses that we might bear that are deeper than that. And one reason I want to do it is because we don't talk about it. We do not often ponder whether we are emotionally, spiritually, physically sick due to sin in our life. We don't talk about that with one another, but you know, it is biblical. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and he said, I have observed that some of you are eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. That's why some of you are sick and weak and have even died. And then here's what we read in Proverbs. I forgot if this was in our homework. Proverbs 1430, it says, a heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Now if envy rots the bones, certainly so does bitterness, so does anger, so do all those other things rot the bones. That sounds like we're moving towards sickness, right? Okay. Now, if we think about this word disease, I want to use the word disease because in our English, well, it comes from Old French, but even in our English word, we can get it really easily. A disease is a dis-ease. It comes from a lack of ease. Things aren't right. We have a lack of ease. And so that's why I want to use that word. Something isn't right. Something's not at peace. And this is what brings us back to what we studied last week about being at peace with God. So just work with me here for a minute. experiencing a lack of ease in the form of a disease, right, because of a lack of peace with God, just like we studied last week. And what did we study? Where does our lack of peace with God come from? The conflict of the world, the devil, and the flesh, right? And so an entanglement with the world on the side where now there's this kind of conflict with God because I keep wanting to do these other things and so I'm not at peace with God, I'm not at ease either. Or maybe the pride of our heart that is ruling our life, telling us what to do, or we have absorbed what the enemy has tempted us with, that we have a right to hold on to the hurts, we have a right to hold on to the bitterness, we have a right to hold on to those things. So we've got this person who's not submitted to the Lord, not ranked under him, and has not confessed her sins to the Lord, and so she's not able to draw near to God. Do you think it's possible? Do you even think it's possible for her to have a lack of ease, a dis-ease? Is that a possibility? Now, suppose that same person comes to that realization and gets kind of fed up, we like to say sick and tired of being sick and tired, right? And sort of gets fed up with what's been going on in life, and she comes to someone more mature, and she says, would you pray with me because I see what I've been doing. I see that I have allowed these things in my heart, my lack of submission to God, I see that I have allowed that to rule my life, and that's why I am XYZ. I hate to name things because I don't want to push any buttons, but that's why these things are going on my life. And she says, would you pray over me? Now turn in your Bible to verse 15, and the prayer of faith will save, will make whole the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise her up, and if she has committed sins, she will be forgiven. Why? Because God is always faithful when we approach him with what's going on, and we confess our sins, he is always faithful, and he will forgive our sins, but we must come and approach, right? So look at this, James says, therefore, and that's why I wanted to take us on this little trip, because why did he say therefore? I think he was making a connection between sickness, confessing sins, and in this passage. He goes, therefore, make it your practice, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. Now that's just a layer that I just want to present as something that I see in this, and really something I think as women who are in a relationship with one another, we have the opportunity to say to someone, hey, would you pray for me? I've been holding this bitterness toward my mother-in-law or whatever it is, and I think that this is maybe the root of my depression, and would you pray over me? And the sincere confessing of our sins, and saying, would you pray over me? What is James saying here? They'll be healed. They will be healed. Why? We got to the root. We got to the root of that. Just what I see in here. Why do we need to be healed? We need to be healed so that we can get back to bearing fruit for the kingdom. Remember, that is what our Bible study is about. It's about faith and works. It is about bearing fruit for the kingdom. So we got to get healed so that we can bear fruit, okay? And you know, he's not talking about the magic of the confessional booth here, if any of you have that background. It is simply, he says, the prayer of a righteous person that has great power in its working. And then he goes on in verse 17, the example, Elijah was a man with the 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. And then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. So Elijah is an example of someone who was at peace with God during those three years and six months, and prayed fervently, and God answered his prayers. But he was just like us. He was no different than us. And so it gives us the inspiration, yes, peace with God. I can be like that. Now before we go on, I just want to say one more time, did I say that all of our sicknesses are because of sin? Shake your heads no. I didn't say that. Did I say that some of our diseases can be caused by the sin in our life? We need discernment to know what's going on. All right, so let's go back to, let's finish this last passage. More people that need special attention beyond sick people, it's people who have wandered. And these people now are currently separated and lost, and they're gonna have a hard time calling for the elders to pray for them because they're not even around. They are lost. Look at verse 19, my brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and then someone brings him back, 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. So these verses are about people among us who then wander from the truth, and it's also about people who bring back the sinner from their wandering. That's who he's talking about here. In today's language, what do we call this? We call it backsliding. People who wander from the truth, right? Don't we often use that term, backsliding? Hebrews 2.1, look at this. It says, that's not the right one. There you go. It says, we must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. Okay, now Hebrews was written to the same kind of people that James was writing to. James wrote to the Jews who had begun to follow the way of Christ, turned into Christians, and the Hebrews, he says to them, we must pay more careful attention to what we heard so that we don't drift away. Does that lead you to think that drifting away is a possibility? Maybe a probability. If you need to pay careful attention to something, if somebody's feeding my cat while we're on, and I say, hey, pay careful attention that that cat dish is filled up because a stray might come in and eat the food, so pay attention to that. I'm drawing their attention to it like it needs, and so even for us that are sitting here, it's a good word, pay careful attention. So we understand the dynamics of Christian relationships. How easy it is for someone who was once among us, is a part of who we are, to wander away. That's what we're talking about, and so I hope you got to the final day in your study guide, day five, so that you got to go through Luke chapter 15. If you didn't, please do it after we're done, because it is just, there's so much beauty there with things that have been lost and restored, and the rejoicing that comes once they are restored, and so I'll just tell you about these three parables that Jesus told in a row. First, the sheep, the sheep that's part of the flock that has wandered off, and what does the shepherd do? He leaves the 99 to go and get it. Every generation for the last hundreds of years has made a song about leaving the 99, and we love that image, and we love to know that our shepherd will chase after us and bring us back, and when he brings it back, what was the result? Rejoicing. Then the very next parable is the woman who has the bag of silver coins, and one is lost, and she searches diligently for that lost coin, and she finds it, and what does she do? Rejoicing, and then the last one hits home. It's tender. It is a human being. It is the son who is part of the family that, for whatever reason, due to the pride of his life, that whatever, he leaves the family and goes off on his own, and the father, like the faithful farmer, waits patiently, waits patiently, waits patiently, and then one day he sees him coming, and he just charges down there to embrace him and to kiss him and bring him back, and what is the result? Rejoicing. I love these parables because it gives us that glimpse of God's heart, but James is telling us God will partner with us in the search-and-rescue mission of these things. He wants to partner with us. We have the privilege to be part of this, so if any of you, if anyone has wandered, he who brings back a sinner from his wandering is part of what I'm doing in this world, gets to rejoice with me, and is that not a fabulous place to finish up this study? Another good work that God has prepared for us, but we can't put it on the calendar and say on November 19th, I think what I'm going to do for the Lord is I'm going to bring back a sinner from his wandering. No, we have to just be patient and be in tune, be connected, be at peace with God, so that we can listen to the Holy Spirit, so that we know when he says, now it's your time. You know that person that was in your youth group? Go send them a Facebook message. See how they're doing. Start that conversation. Do whatever you can. You never know when the... The time is right to bring someone back because that's what God is all about. He's all about reaching out and bringing back the lost things. Great study, isn't it? Love it. Father, thank you for this whole book. Lord, we just feel sometimes overwhelmed with so much fullness as we go through these chapters. And there's so much to absorb, apply to our life, change in our hearts, Lord. And I just pray that you would be the one that would sort through all of it, Lord. You would sort through and just put in the front what you want us to hear and what you want us to act upon, Lord. And I pray that you would protect us from the voice of the enemy that would just steer us another direction. Lord, help us be smart about that enemy that comes and whispers things into us and sends us off a different direction. Help us to just exercise what you want us to see and hear so that we grow in you, Lord, so that we build upon our faith with the fruit that you want us to bear for your kingdom. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.