Room for Improvement (Part A)

Impatience creates big problems.

Sarah in the Scripture, her impatience brought forth Ishmael, and with Ishmael came problems that are with us to this very day. Verse 8, he continues, You also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. You also be patient, Impatience comes too easily, does it not?

We have a question about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, lets join Pastor Rick in the book of James chapter 5, as he begins his message, Room for Improvement. You also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.

Behold the judges standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment. Of all the sections of scripture we read, James has been one that has, at least on my side, provoked the desire to comment as I'm reading because there's so much there that requires comment.

You can easily come away with the wrong impression if you just read it and walk away if you're not familiar with the scripture. Well, this morning, we're going to consider room for improvement in the life of the believer. James wants Christians to do better.

He has been expressing this throughout his letter, and no one can blame him. To this day, Christians should want Christians to do better. In John's second letter, he writes, look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Well, there John wants the believers to do better also, and he's pointing them out. He says, look to yourselves.

You've got to do this. So we look now at verse 7 of James 5. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. Therefore, be patient, brethren. Well, in the first part of this chapter, verses 1 through 6, he was addressing the wealthy who were not believers, who were unscrupulous with their wealth. And so now he returns to the believers, and he says, therefore, and he's connecting that, therefore, with God is going to deal with them.

You may be subject to their cruelty now, to their unscrupulous ways now, but God is going to deal with them because he is just. Therefore, and as James has been doing throughout this letter, he softens his tone, and he says, brethren. It's so important that he does that because he's dealing with so many people that are guilty of the things that he is trying to address, to correct, because there again is room for improvement in all believers.

And so, reminding us again from Hebrews chapter 10, and remember we did Hebrews right before James, and there the writer of Hebrews was addressing the Judaism, legalism. He was talking to Jewish believers, and he was stressing to them that they cannot continue to go to the temple and offer blood sacrifices and then still believe in Jesus Christ because Christ has fulfilled what all those sacrifices spoke of. Hebrews 10, 36, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. You've got to hang in there and climb over those things you've been hanging in there. You know, don't just hang in there, hang there for a while, but climb up and get over onto the next level, and then you repeat the process again and again and again.

Well, that's what's required of us. And he says, Hebrews 10 again, verse 36, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. It is important to understand that God has a program, He has a plan, there's an end to this, and it is glorious.

And the believers know that. But it's so easy for desire to sink into impatience. Impatience does not serve God well. Some of you might be impatient about wanting this message to end right now.

That does not serve God well. And so when he says, therefore be patient, he's going to stress this throughout this section that we're in this morning. He says, until the coming of the Lord, as I just read from Hebrews 10, to receive the promise, the coming of the Lord. Or if He doesn't come here first, we'll go to Him.

But either way, we'll get to see Him. James refers to this coming of the Lord in verses 7, 8, and 9 of this morning's chapter 5 in James, because he's emphasizing to them that all that we do is in the presence of the Lord, is with the expectation of seeing Him, of being with Him, face to face. It had been a little over a dozen years since Christ was crucified and ascended to heaven when James writes this letter. And hopes were still very high that He was going to return. He promised them He would return. He just didn't say when. He did not say to which generation He would return.

It is one of the best kept secrets of the universe. When will Christ return for His church? After He was crucified, He rose again. He returned to His disciples. When the rapture comes, He will return for His disciples.

Then, after the great tribulation period, that seven-year span, He returns with His disciples. God has it together, even though we don't always see it because of the curse that is upon this life and this world. And so He says, until the coming of the Lord. How much time has passed since that promise? The church has had to use patience. We've had to wait and trust.

However, that the centuries have passed and God has delayed, the church has been patient because it really is not relevant. Whether He comes during my lifetime or not, what is relevant is that I serve Him. And that I serve Him well. That I'm always improving because of the Spirit in me.

I'm maturing. I'm developing in my faith. Not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of others. It is a responsibility that He has entrusted us with. What will we do with it?

What will we do with the responsibility that God has entrusted us with and empowered us to perform? And I bear witness often of how many believers I know, especially here in this assembly, that I admire. I admire watching them serve, how they serve. I think others do too. I know others do. And I hope more, even more do.

And I hope you are one of them. Well, not that you need my admiration, but what Christian does not want to have a testimony that is attractive to all believers, all other believers, in spite of our shortcomings? So the return of the Lord. It is really, at this point, in two stages. The rapture, when He pulls the church out. You know, the Jehovah's Witnesses will say, well, the word rapture is not in the Bible, but they're wrong. The Greek word for the catching away of the believers, harpazo, the Latin is raptus. By the time it makes its way into English, it is rapture.

You have to understand how language moves over the centuries, over the ages, through different cultures, how it retains its meaning. That word is in the scripture. God is going to call His church home one day, could be any day, maybe it's today. We're supposed to have this hope. My view is, I'm not as eager for the rapture now as I was when I first became a believer.

The reason why is because there's so much work to do. There are still so many lost souls that can benefit from the church still being here. Because the church is going to be gone after the rapture. Then the persecution is going to ramp up.

The church is going to be what we would say is underground. There are souls still to be saved, and I want to be part of that. Now, I won't object. I won't if the Lord decides the rapture. I say, could you send me back? I've just got more work to do.

But it is, I think, a bittersweet thought, and I hope that you've thought about it that way, at least thought about it that way. Well, anyway, when Christ comes for His church, He takes us home to the marriage feast of the Lamb, and there will be the judgment seat of Christ for believers, where our rewards will be measured out to us while the great tribulation takes place in this world. And then He returns with His believers to set up His millennial kingdom on earth. And we read from Luke chapter 12, Jesus said, blessed is that servant whom His master will find so doing when He comes.

So doing, improving, growing, and serving. He continues in verse 7, He says, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. Well, the farmer really doesn't have much choice. After he's laid out that seed, he's tilled the ground, he's laid the seed, he's done all he can do, he waits. It can be quite challenging in a time of drought. Mark's gospel, Jesus mentions this process.

We know of it, but I think it's good to read. He says, for the earth yields crops by itself, first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. Well, that's a process one has to wait for. Patience is a ripening process, and that's what we're still dealing with. We're talking about patience in the believer. Understanding Christ has got it together. He knows what He's doing. But it is a ripening process, and it is not pleasant.

It's never pleasant to the flesh at all. The Spirit rises above that. Faithful patience tolerates delay because of what it believes. And it tolerates delay in a manner worthy of the confession of Christ. It seeks to please Him while we wait. And often, very often, there is much suffering going on, many unpleasant things.

And that's why this is held up so high by the writers of the Bible. It is tested, patience is, when we really want something. You don't want something, it doesn't require much patience to wait, but when you really want it. Caleb waited over 40 years to receive his portion of the land that was promised to him. He was an old man by that time, but not by his calculation.

I'm 80, I can still fight. But he waited patiently. And perhaps the best way for us to be reminded of how important patience is in our life is by pointing out impatience, not a virtue. And when we suffer the impatience of others, we wish that other would go somewhere else and be impatient. So we are encouraged by that recognition to slow it down a little bit. We have all been impatient with someone else, and after our impatience have taken stock of ourselves and said, you know, I didn't handle that the right way.

If I'm given another chance, I'm going to improve, because there's room for that in all of us. Impatient people will not be patient with patient people, so expect that. Patience can sink into cowardice, it can become, you know, just inactive now, because you've sort of fallen asleep, lost sight of those important things. Impatience creates big problems.

Sarah in the scripture, her impatience brought forth Ishmael, and with Ishmael came problems that are with us to this very day. Verse 8, he continues, you also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. You also be patient. Impatience comes too easily, does it not? Just drive here when you go home. And if you're the passenger, find out how impatient you are with the driver.

Thus the side seat and back seat drivers were born. So he emphasizes this yet again, because we wait either in the spirit or in the flesh. That's how we do it. I don't know that there's anything else in between. The flesh is that thing in me that never likes or wants to listen to Jesus Christ. It is my fallen nature, and once I become a Christian, it's still there. It is the old man, that old nature, it is the flesh, and whenever a Christian stumbles, we stumble because we get into the flesh and out of the spirit. We move from behavior that matches what we claim to believe. We can say to someone, I love you in Christ, and really not love them. We can say to someone, I'll pray for you, and don't go and pray for them.

And in many other such things, the list is endless. So you also be patient, not letting that flesh get the controls. Establish your hearts.

Well, it's because without patience you won't establish much. Listen to Psalm 27 verse 13. I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.

You see, there he is with his eyes on eternity, because that's where God's eyes are also. I would have lost heart unless I believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. The land of the living is the land of disappointment. It is the land of sin. It is the place of death.

It's here. This is the land of the living that he's talking about here in Psalm 27. But then he goes on, wait on Yahweh. Be of good courage. That's the courage that is linked to our faith and not just humanity.

It's supposed to be something that's distinct in the believer from those who are not believers. Again, unbelievers, they can muster courage, no question about that. Let's not let them outdo us.

Let's not let them outgun us when it comes to behavior. And so he says, be of good courage. Wait on Yahweh.

Be of good courage. And he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. It is almost as though he knows his audience is impatient.

Wait, he has to repeat it to them. Well, the coming of the Lord, James says, chapter 5, verse 8, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. So he keeps this great expectation before the believers. He says, as we are serving Christ, he can come back at any time. The early church, again, this was a hot hope with them.

They really expected him to come back shortly. First John, John in his first letter in chapter 3, he says, for we shall see him as he is. John, who rested on the bosom of the Lord, walked with him, still did not see him as he truly was.

He understands this and he communicates it to us. That was Christ according to his humanity, but there's so much more to come and we'll get to see him as he is. He says, and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he, Christ, is pure.

There's a purification process that belongs with looking for, longing for, desiring to see Christ Jesus, the Christ Jesus of the New Testament, not our imagination, but of the revelation of Jesus Christ throughout the Scripture. Jesus asked this question, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Luke's Gospel, chapter 18, verse 8. Will he really find faith? Well, I look at that verse and I say, that is a call to arms. That is a call for me to arm myself so that when he comes, whenever he comes to me, he finds someone that is genuinely desiring to have faith and to please him. Even when I stumble, I know the mercy of God.

I know it is there. I don't doubt it. I don't question his mercy. I question my goodness, my abilities, yes, but I don't question his mercy. He says, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. This, again, is the second coming.

Parousia is the Greek word. The phrase, the second coming of Christ, really doesn't show up in the New Testament, but that word that the apostles chose was parousia, that is here, translated coming, in verse 8. It means the presence, the presence of Christ.

Now, it's not a wrong, translated as not wrong, it's an interpretive translation of the word, because maybe they felt if they said, well, because of the presence of Christ, you'd say, well, he's already here, he's always here. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. David Livingston's favorite verse, lo, I am with you always. And so, I suppose the translators of so many translations that we have chose the word, the coming of the Lord, as a translation of that word, parousia, which means the presence. James will keep it in context, he will then say, the presence is near, nearer, as in, he's coming, don't lose sight of that, each day brings us closer, even though we don't know the exact day. And, well, as a matter of fact, he says, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

There, the translators, at hand, is near in the Greek, wish they left it that way, but when we say the day it is at hand, we understand it is close by. And so, together, the promised presence of Christ is always with us, but his actual appearing could happen at any time. Verse 9, do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.

Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Well, he's not letting them get away from being mindful of Christ's presence, he's at the door. Oh, how does that factor into this? Well, let's go back to the beginning of verse 9, do not grumble against one another. Why not? It's fun. The Greek word for grumble is to sigh or to groan.

The operative thought is against one another. This guy. Can't you just go away?

When's this message going to end? If you think there are things in the church to groan about, you need to join the military. You really find out how much there is to groan about. Any of you veterans think it was just a cakewalk. You're lying if you say that. There are masters at causing you to grumble.

You know, the hurry up and wait. Colossians chapter 3 verse 13, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Even if you really don't like the other person, you must do it. It does not always mean that it restores the relationship to where it once was. But it does mean you cannot harbor a hatred, a hostility, a resentment in your heart. You cannot host it, you know, bring in hatred and serve it, hors d'oeuvres and coffee and make it very comfortable. If you struggle with this, it's much better to struggle against it than to make it feel comfortable. If you find that you, you know, are just having a hard time forgiving this person, it's better for you to struggle with that and just to be, I'm good, I don't like them and that's just the way it's going to stay.

That is not advised. Galatians chapter 5 verse 15, but if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. So Paul just says, just carry this out to its natural conclusion.

If everybody starts behaving this way, which retaliates biting and devouring, we will just consume each other. Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. When you visit the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James right here on Cross Reference Radio.