Observations From a Farm

Farmers work hard. They weed, they fertilize, but a farmer never sits on his hands and expects a crop. There's not a farmer alive who plants one crop and expects to have food for the rest of his life.

He has to do it all over again. So what a wonderful illustration of the Christian life. And of course, do the right thing. Work hard. Fertilize your spiritual walk with discipline. Plant in your heart the seeds of God's truth. Okay, Lord, I did it.

Do it again. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart, featuring the Bible teaching of Stephen Davey. Stephen is the president of Wisdom International. Today, Stephen begins a series called Endurance. When you think of the word endurance, what comes to your mind? Maybe you think about what it takes to run a marathon. Perhaps your mind goes to the discipline it takes to complete a tough job at work. When the Apostle James thought of endurance, he thought of a farm. Why a farm of all places?

Well, keep listening to find out. Today, Stephen has a lesson from James called Observations from a Farm. Came across this article written by a first grade teacher recently who had an interesting interaction on the very first day of her first grade class. A little boy in her class named Ryan had been accustomed, of course, to going home at noon, which he did in kindergarten. And so noon arrived the first day of first grade, and Ryan was getting his things together to leave for home.

That's what he was used to doing. And he was supposed to be getting ready to go with the class to lunch. And the teacher, whose name was Linda, said to him, what are you doing? He said, I'm going home. She said, I gently explained to him that he was now in the first grade and he would not have a longer school day. She said, you'll go to eat lunch now and then you'll come back to the room and do some more work before you go home. Ryan looked at her in disbelief, hoping she was kidding. Finally convinced she was serious, he looked up at her and said, who on earth signed me up for this program? Poor kid.

I don't want the agony to last past lunch. I didn't sign up for this. I can't help but think of these Jewish believers as James is writing to them. These are dispersed believers.

They are Christians who probably would say, you know, we didn't sign up for this. They've been exiled by the Roman Emperor Claudius. They've been unable to go home. It's lasted longer than they had hoped. And so James will begin to encourage them to be patient, to persevere, to endure, to stick it out, to stay in the race. In fact, as I got into this paragraph and read it and reread it and reread it and reread it, one word that came to my mind in a word was the word endurance. Slugging through it with commitment and character. When there's no shortcut in sight, when there's no alternate road running parallel, you've got to sit through the traffic jam of circumstances in life.

When life doesn't fit your plans, when you cannot manage the clock, maybe you're there right now and you're saying, Stephen, you're reading my mail. And you would agree like never before with the rather humorous but very, very profound statement by Wilson Meisner who wrote this about life. He said, life is a tough proposition.

The first hundred years are the hardest. Isn't that good? What a way to put the truth out there. One of my favorite commentators included the story as he wrote on this paragraph of the doctor who called this patient on the phone and said, listen, I've got some bad news and some really bad news for you. The man gulped and said, well, give me just the bad news first. The doctor said, you only have 24 hours to live. The man replied, that's terrible news. What could be worse than that? The doctor said, I was supposed to call you yesterday. Sometimes life is like that, isn't it?

One day is bad and the next day is even worse. Well, what kind of inspired advice would God deliver through James to those believers in the first century and to us in the 21st century who are living some of their worst days with no sign of letting up? Christians who would probably, I believe, be tempted to be saying, who in the world signed me up for this program? Well, to them and us, James will deliver in this next paragraph in chapter 5 a series of imperatives, some incentives, a couple of illustrations, and we'll get to just the first part of that, but let's pick it up at verse 7 where we left off in chapter 5. Therefore, James writes, be patient.

An exclamation point goes there because that's an imperative in the original language. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. Be patient. Now, you might recognize that word. We encountered that earlier in chapter 1. The Greek language is a little different. It's interesting to notice this word here is different than the word in chapter 1 where James wrote to let your trials have their perfecting work which produces patience. Different word here. The word James uses here in chapter 5 refers to refusing to retaliate when you're mistreated.

It's defined as a long holding out of the mind before giving way to action or reaction in protest. Now, if you were with us in our last study, we heard James describing the mistreatment of the poor by the rich. We talked about the rich controlling the courts and committing what historians refer to as judicial murder. That is, they withheld payment to these day laborers. They manipulated in the courts to whom the poor looked for defense, literally removing the ability of the poor to not only defend themselves but to then make a living. Now, no doubt, many in this audience here were day laborers.

They were saying, James, you're reading our mail. They had been brought to ruin. They were not the abusers. They were the abused.

They'd been exiled, mistreated, overlooked, and many of them, no doubt, ruined financially. So James follows up that paragraph with the words, therefore, be patient. In other words, don't lash out, don't strike back, but Lord, this is unjust. It's unfair.

Will you ever make things right? James anticipates that because the very next phrase, you notice he says, be patient until the coming of the Lord. In fact, if you look just quickly on your own at these three verses, you'll see exactly what I saw as I read the text. You'll see three times James refers to Jesus Christ's return.

It's interesting that that is the primary incentive for endurance. The last part of verse 8, the Lord is near. The last part of verse 9, the judge is standing right at the door. He's on the threshold. His hand's on the latch.

His foot's there. You see, the ultimate incentive for enduring through the mistreatments and sufferings of life is that Jesus Christ is coming, he says in this opening statement, the coming. The parousia is the Greek word. Theologians use that categorically to speak of that eschatological moment. The parousia of Jesus Christ is coming. The most important term used throughout the New Testament for the coming of Christ, we know that the parousia will be in two phases. The first phase will be to take away the church from the promised tribulation wrath which God will pour out upon the planet. The second phase of the parousia will be to return with the redeemed and establish that glorious millennial reign, that thousand-year kingdom reign where Christ will rule from Jerusalem and we will rule with him. Now, as the New Testament unfolds and James is the first letter in the canon, that coming, that parousia is expanded and explained and further defined. But what James does here as he speaks of the parousia, the first to do so, is he reveals a couple of prophetic truths. I want to do just a little... Let's take an alternate road.

We'll run parallel to the interstate, okay? We won't lose time, but let me give you a couple of prophetic truths. Number one, the coming of Christ is imminent.

In other words, it could happen at any moment. Don't be fooled by people who say, well, you see what's happening in the Middle East, now Jesus can come. Jesus could have come 500 years ago.

There's nothing in the way. In fact, the disciples believed he was coming back while they were alive. Paul says, we who are alive shall be caught up.

Rapturo snatched away, expected it. He writes to the Romans, Paul does in Romans 13, 12, the night is almost gone, the day is near. The writer of Hebrews says that he tells the believers not to skip church, literally, don't skip the assembly, but be encouraging one another by your presence, your fellowship, your ministry. And all the more as you see the day drawing near. Peter writes, the end of all things is near. The Apostle John writing in 1 John 2, 18 says, children, it is the final hour.

That was 1900 some years ago. So it's nearer than ever, is it not? Throughout the New Testament, you need to understand the believers are never told to prepare to experience the wrath of God through the tribulation, but to prepare to see Christ. The joyful incentive for the believer to endure mistreatment and suffering, to stay the course through this present church age, makes no sense if the coming of God's wrath is next. And James is telling them, stay the course, not because you are about to enter seven horrific years of enduring God's wrath, which will be unleashed upon you. No, persevere, endure, hold your course, because your king is coming to deliver you. And he could come at any moment.

In fact, right now, John says, or James says, his foot is on the threshold, his hands on the latch. What's next for the believer in this age? Paul writes this, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time, not the sufferings of the tribulation, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with what comes next.

What is that? The glory that will be revealed in us. In other words, this is all the suffering you're going to encounter, and it can't compare to the glory when Christ raptures you away, and it could happen today.

So how do we live in the meantime? Well, James will answer that question by taking us to a farm by way of illustration. Notice the middle part of verse seven.

Back up again. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. And James provides now this illustration. The farmer waits. The farmer is patient for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and late rains.

Many believe that James spent some years farming along with his brother Jude, who also wrote a letter in your New Testament. He references the patience of farmers and then immediately talks about the weather. Those early and late rains. If they don't come, if they're not timed just right, forget everything you do. Farmers work hard with things under their control. They plant, they weed, they fertilize, but a farmer never sits on his hands and expects a crop.

Farmers have to depend, however, on something outside their control like rain, and that develops patience. His patience does not come from doing nothing. His patience comes from understanding his limitations. We might say, I'm developing patience. What are you doing?

Nothing. I'm developing patience. No, not the farmer. Another observation that strikes me from that world is that even if it rains after doing everything he can possibly do, he goes for months without seeing any visible indication that anything's happening. Yet another observation that comes to my mind is even if it's a bumper crop, he has to do the same thing all over again.

There's not a farmer alive who plants one crop and expects to have food for the rest of his life. He has to do it all over again. Stay the course, do the right thing, and repeat it.

So what a wonderful illustration of the Christian life. Stay the course, do the right thing, work hard, fertilize your spiritual walk with discipline, plant in your heart the seeds of God's truth. Okay, Lord, I did it. Do it again.

Repeat everything you just did all over again. In fact, it's interesting to me that James emphasizes the responsibility of the believer even further. He says, you too, be patient, and he adds this. Strengthen your hearts. Again, the incentive for the coming of the Lord is near. Strengthen your hearts. Make firm your hearts. The Greek imperative can be rendered literally woodenly for us in this American culture. Prop up your hearts.

Prop them up. James is urging us to be decisive in our decisions, actions, to strengthen, to make firm the inner life. In a number of New Testament passages, and you're probably struck with that thought even now as I'm explaining this one, you know that that's described as the work of God, that he strengthens our hearts. 1 Peter 5, 10, 2 Thessalonians 2, 17.

James presents this as our due diligence. You prop up your heart. You put steel in your backbone, so to speak. He's telling the suffering believer to literally strengthen their heart with the promise that Christ is returning soon.

You see, nowhere are we ever given the idea that we're to put on a white robe, climb a hill, and wait for Jesus to come back or hide away in a cave. Endurance means there is a battle you're facing. It means there is a hill you are climbing.

It means there's a difficulty you're squaring off on. It's a challenge that you're willing to meet. We admire that in others, don't we?

Because we know how difficult it is to develop in our own lives. This is the counsel of God that balances what God does and what only God can do with what we must do. I like the way one person put it when he said, even God will not steer a parked car.

Let me read you some encouraging words from one author. I don't want to miss a word, so I'm actually going to read the paragraph who says this as you face your challenges of endurance. Did you ever notice that when the Lord told Peter and the other discouraged fishermen to cast their nets again into the water?

You remember that scene? That it was right in the same place where they had been working all night and had caught nothing. If we could only go off to some new place every time we get discouraged, trying again would be easier to do. If we could be somebody else or go somewhere else or do something else, it might not be so hard to have fresh resolve, but it is the same old net in the same old pond. The old temptations are to be battled. The old faults are to be faced. The old trials and discouragements before which we failed yesterday are to be faced yet again today. And Jesus Christ speaks the word, let down your nets again in the same place, do it again.

Isn't that good? While you're at it, don't take your frustration out on people who are in the boat with you. That's James' next point. Look at verse 9. Do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged. In other words, don't have this as unprofitable actions and deeds in your own life.

And the truth is very real. Impatience with God can lead us to being impatient with others, with God's people. James says stop grumbling against one another, brethren. And if you think back in the first century, at these times which were tough, their culture was cruel to them. Their feelings would be frayed.

And our tendency, just as theirs was, evidently, James uses the tense that lets us know they're doing this. He says stop doing that. Stop complaining with the brethren.

It's tough enough when somebody else in the boat is getting all over you for not catching the fish. Stop that. We do the same thing.

We come home from work, bark at the dog, cake at the cat, snap at the kids. The problem isn't them. It's maybe something that's happening.

They just happen to get in the line of fire. The problem is actually a little deeper than that. The word James uses for complain can be translated groan, to groan. It refers to feelings that are internal and may never be expressed.

It refers to carrying a grudge against someone, and it's kept within. James says don't do that. Just as their incentive, by the way, for staying the course is the coming of Christ. You notice here again the incentive for not harboring bitter judgments against other believers. Look at the end of verse 9 again.

Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. In other words, be gracious. All of life should be lived with the perspective of the parousia.

Jesus Christ is returning. That does a couple of things. One, it encourages us when we're beaten, mistreated, tired, misused, maligned, whatever. It's the reminder that all of that is temporary. That's just the first 100 years.

That's the tough part. It can't be compared to the glory of the next 100 billion years. It encourages us. It also reminds us to stay the course, to live right, to please Christ because one day in his grace he'll reward us and that will give us means to praise him. I found this interesting, the word coming back in verse 7, parousia, includes the idea of presence now. Coming, arrival, but now present.

In a way that's true, isn't it? During your toughest assignment, he's present. During your worst suffering, he is at hand.

During episodes of mistreatment or maligning, he's aware of it all. He is available to join you as you strengthen your heart. He strengthens your heart. He understands. Eugene Peterson paraphrased that classic text of Jesus Christ, our high priest, Hebrews 4.16, by saying, we don't have a high priest who is out of touch. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all, all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give, take his mercy, accept his help.

He is present now. One author wrote about an encounter he had with a blind student, a fellow student, his name was John. He wrote that I spent a couple of hours a week reading to him to help him in his studies. One day I asked him how he lost his sight. He told me of an accident that happened when he was a teenager and how at that point he had simply given up on life. When the accident happened, he said, and I knew I would never see again, I felt that life had ended as far as I was concerned. I was bitter and angry with God for letting it happen, and I took my anger out on everyone around me. I felt that since I had no future, I wouldn't lift a finger on my own behalf, let others serve me, let others wait on me.

I shut my bedroom door and refused to come out except for meals. The author interjects here, the young man I knew was an eager learner and earned a student along with me, so I had to ask what changed his spirit. He told me this story. Well, one day in exasperation, my father came into my room and began to give me a heated lecture. He said he was tired of my feeling sorry for myself. He said that winter was coming and it was still my job to put up the storm windows. He yelled at me, you get those windows up by suppertime tonight, and he slammed the door on his way out.

Well, John said that made me so angry that I resolved to do it, muttering, complaining to myself. I groped my way out to the garage. I found the windows. I found the step ladder. I found all the necessary tools and I went to work. I said to myself, they'll be sorry when I fall off this ladder and break my neck.

But little by little, groping my way around the house, I finally got the job done. And he stopped and his sightless eyes misted up as he told me, I would find out later that at no time during the day had my father ever been more than four or five feet away from my side. You might think that James is about as uncaring in his advice as that father was to his blind son. Here they are suffering. Here they are mistreated. They are exiled.

They can't go home. And he effectively says, buck up. Put some steel in your backbone. Strengthen your heart.

Get busy like a farmer with your inner life. But see, both this father and James want nothing more than for all of us to experience this bumper crop of spiritual fruit. It's the fruit of godly character. It's the fruit of godly conduct.

So do this and do it again and again and again. But keep in mind the Lord is near. Let me summarize James' opening words with two sentences.

So he opens this paragraph. First, develop endurance while you wait for the Lord who is coming to rapture you. It might be today. Secondly, refuse bitterness while you wait for the Lord to reward you.

And it could be today. So live a little more like a farmer lives who is at work with things under his control, who trusts God for things outside his control, and live with his final harvest in view when Jesus Christ comes. We have much more to learn about endurance and we'll continue through this series in the days ahead. This series comes from the book of James. If you'd like to take a deeper look into the book of James, Stephen has a book entitled James. It covers the entire epistle.

During this series, it's available at a deeply discounted price. It's available on our website, or we can give you information about this resource if you call us today. Our website is found at wisdomonline.org, and you can call us at 866-48-BIBLE. Give us a call today. We'll continue through this series next time, so join us here on Wisdom for the Heart. .