Can You Wait Patiently?

3rd Sunday in Advent, 12/15/19
James 5:7-11


Can You Wait Patiently?
I. You can, because of the Lord’s promise.
II. You can, because the Lord grants perseverance.


Are you familiar with the fruits of the Spirit? No, that’s not something new in the produce department at Kroger. It’s what the Holy Spirit produces in people who have faith in Jesus. Paul lists seven fruits of the Holy Spirit in his Letter to the Galatians. He writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control (Ga. 5:22).” Entire sermons have been written on each one of those seven virtues. But this morning I’d like to zero in on just one of them: patience.

Paul states that one of your Christian virtues Is patience. So, let me ask you: Are you a patient person? We like to think that we are. Sure, we’ll admit that there are times in our lives when we’re impatient over one matter or another, but we like to think that we’re patient people. We all have the ability to wait...it just matters how long you’re expected to do it.

We admit—our patience has limits. For example, some parents will be patient with misbehavior from their toddler until the count of three. Most of us have made Christmas wish lists and we’ll be patient to receive those gifts, but only until Christmas. The students among us endure their years of education knowing that a final graduation awaits them. Others of us will patiently endure our working days until we reach our target retirement date. We’re patient when we know how long we’ll have to wait.

But when it stretches on without end in sight, then we’re not so patient anymore.

Advent is a season of repentance in preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus. In the words of James before us this morning, we’re pointed to the second coming of Jesus on the Last Day. We know that day will certainly come, we just have no idea when, which militates against our patience. And yet James focuses our attention on exactly that. Waiting patiently.

So, I ask you, “Can you wait patiently?” Given all the difficulties and setbacks you face in life, maybe you’re not so sure. It’s my prayer that the Lord uses this portion of his word to strengthen your faith in him so that you can answer, “Yes! Yes, I can wait patiently!”

Part I.

I once heard someone giving a hard time to a farmer in a good-natured way. He said, “Yeah, you farmers have it so tough. You work hard for a couple weeks in the spring, planting your crops. Then you sit and do nothing for a few months. Then you work hard for a couple weeks in the fall harvesting your crops. Then you sit and do nothing for a few more months. It must be tough!”

I’m sure you know that’s not accurate. Farming life can be tough. In fact, I think it’s true that farmers are some of world biggest gamblers. They plant seed in the soil and have absolutely no guarantee what will happen. They might harvest an abundance. Then again, there might not be any crop to harvest at all.

James calls for us to consider farmers for a different reason—how patient they are. He says it like this: “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” A farmer can do as much as he can to plant his seeds correctly—the proper depth in the soil and width of rows, in the proper soil, at the proper time. But once that seed is in the soil, he is forced to sit back and wait. He can’t do a thing about the amount of sunshine, the temperature or the amount of rain he hopes to receive. Every one of those is an important factor which determines the size of the harvest, but he can’t do anything about it. And so, he waits patiently for the sun to shine and the rain to fall.

And he waits expectantly. He expects a crop. If he didn’t expect a crop, he never would have placed any seed into the ground. He expects the laws of nature to hold true. The seed, under the right conditions, will germinate and produce a plant, which will produce the fruit he’s expecting.

Your life, whether you farm or not, is a lot like the farmer’s. We all expect things to turn out a certain way. In fact, we work hard to ensure that it does. We try to make the right choices at the right time, and we have an expectation of how things will turn out. That’s life.

So, how’s that going for you? Is your life right now everything you’ve been working hard to “harvest”? Or, could things be a little better in your life? A lot better? The honest answer is that we all struggle. Life is disappointing at times, even painfully so. And we wait for it to get better. In fact, we get impatient doing so. We look at the lives of others (too often through rose-colored eyeglasses), and pine for our lives to be like theirs, and the sooner the better. We get impatient.

So, how can you wait patiently any longer? Notice again what James says. “You too, be patient and stand firm, because you know that the Lord’s coming is near.” James doesn’t tell us to hang in there because soon things will get better. He says hang in there because the Lord’s coming is near. There’s the answer to all of life’s problems. There’s the answer to all our deepest yearnings. That’s when we’ll finally and completely be satisfied and happy—when we stand side-by-side with our glorious Savior on the Last Day. And we’ll be standing there with glorified bodies. Part of that glorious life will be that we will never wait for a single problem to end or a single good thing to begin. Because it will be a perfect life. That’s your Lord’s promise to you and his promise cannot fail.

Can you wait patiently? Yes, you can, because of the Lord’s promise.

So, as you wait patiently for Jesus to return, what’s your outlook on life? Are you OK with the way things are, or do you find yourself always wanting something to get better, and to get better sooner rather than later? And when that doesn’t occur, do you find your solace in the multitude of promises your Savior has made to you, or do you easily become bitter? I think all of us can relate to that. We want things to get better and we easily become bitter when they don’t.

So how can we be patient? Well, this is a perfect time of year to ponder that question. In a little more than a week we’ll celebrate how our God fulfilled his promise to send a Savior after millennia of waiting. And he did it when the time was just right. That’s what our God always does. He fulfilled his promise to send you a Savior from sin at just the right time. Now why wouldn’t he do whatever else you need him to do for you at the right time?

What’s more, our Lord has promised to return, once again at just the right time. Until then, we may suffer some. The broken relationships. The smashed hopes and dreams. The chronic pain. The lingering sickness. The constant aging process. Jesus came the first time to redeem you—to pay the price for you to belong to him forever. That cost him his life, drained from him on the cross of Calvary. But this time he only made the world wait a portion of three calendar days and then he did exactly as he promised—he rose from the dead. And now he has promised to return to make everything perfect for you forever. Can you wait patiently? Yes, you can, because of the Lord’s promise.

Part II.

Do you ever wonder why your life as a Christian isn’t a little easier than it is? Do you get a little disillusioned with being a Christian because you seem to be getting a raw deal in life too much of the time? In such situations, it’s hard to be patient.

But James urges you to persevere. He says it like this, “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

Think about it. There isn’t a single account of the life of a prophet of God who didn’t suffer something. Imagine that! God had called them to do his work and they suffered for it. So, why should we expect anything different as we go about our Christian lives?

And as the most glaring example of suffering with patience, James cites the great hero of faith Job. None of us have suffered anywhere near as much as Job. He lost everything—his children, his massive flocks and herds, and his health. But he persevered with patience. How could he do it?

Listen again to the final eight words of our text, “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” In the case of Job, the Lord ended his suffering and then blessed Job. The Lord was compassionate and merciful. He will do the same for us with the problems and difficulties we face. It might happen soon. It might happen years down the road. It might not happen until he calls us home to heaven. But it will happen. Our sufferings will end and our unending glory and bliss in heaven will begin. And when Jesus returns on the Last Day, he will raise our bodies and glorify us, and we’ll never suffer again. And through that promise the Lord creates perseverance in us.

Can you wait patiently? Yes, you can because the Lord grants perseverance.

The Lord promised you a Savior from sin. Jesus came the first time to be your Savior. And now he promises to return and bring you with him into heaven for your soul and body. It will surely happen just as he said. So now, won’t he do for you whatever it takes to accomplish his plans for you? Certainly, he will! The Savior who died and rose again for you will certainly treat you with compassion and mercy just as he did with the prophets of old. Their problems and their sufferings ended. And now they wear the crown of life. And so will you by faith in Jesus. Can you wait patiently? With your risen Savior’s power and presence, you can. Yes, you can wait patiently for your Lord. Wait patiently and do it with joy! Amen.