Before we begin
Today I am going to (sort of) jump over a stretch of verses we have not really covered. This is a judgment call, I suppose. Have patience with me! If you don’t now, you will wish you had after you read today’s study! You can ask forgiveness at the end, I suppose.
Now, the group of verses I am hopping over are by no means unworthy to be read or unworthy to be studied. They seem to me very straightforward. In brief, here is a summary of them.
James says,
- Don’t speak evil against your brother. (James 4:11)
- Who are you to judge your brother? (James 4:12) (We covered this topic, if not this verse pretty well on Day 9.0: Judging our Neighbor.)
- Don’t boast about the future. God is sovereign, not you. Say instead, “If the Lord wills…” (James 4:12-16)
- Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. – James 4:17
- The rich man is accursed who:
- Hoards worldly possessions for himself, sharing nothing. (James 5:2-3)
- Defrauded those he promised to pay. (James 5:4)
- Lived in luxury and self-indulgence. (James 5:5)
- Condemned and murdered the righteous. (James 5:6)
So, James gives some solid warnings as regards our behavior and our hearts. Again, not saying these are unworthy verses. Only, there doesn’t seem a lot of room for discussion here. The sin of omission in James 4:17, might make for a good study on its own, but I need to study that some more my own self before I try sharing with you, dear reader.
Maybe I am sinning by omitting study on the sin of omission? Well, don’t judge me. Have patience! The judge is at the door! Maybe you should do a study of James 4:12!
Hermitical interlude to the rescue!
A brother said to a hermit, ‘How does the fear of God come into the soul?’ He said, ‘If there is humility and poverty, and no judgment of others, the fear of God will be present there.’
The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, (6) Penguin Books, 2003
I think the warnings to the rich are highly applicable when we consider our situation in America. I think the powers that be, as they say, should take a lesson from these verses. But, I doubt any of them will ever read this (unless it becomes too controversial). I have to remember the 11th commandment: Thou shalt know thine audience.
The waiting is the hardest part
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. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 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.
James 5:7-11
Here, James echos his first sentiments in James 1:2-3. He commands patience. The image of the farmer is key. I think in 5:7-8, James is referring more plainly to fruit – that is, the outcome of our works brought forth because of our faith, and the fruit of our sanctification.
James says we are to establish our hearts. The real exhortation here is most akin to James 1:4, And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. We are to establish our hearts in waiting. And must have patience while waiting. There is a sense of expectation. This reminds me of what David, or possibly Ezra, wrote in the Psalms of Assents.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
Psalms 130:5-6
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
Suffering and patience
James calls to our remembrance the saints of old who endured through suffering and hardships with faith and perseverance. We know from Hebrews 11, that they were playing the long game. Their eyes were on a prize that they would never see in this world. Now that’s patience!
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:13-16
Grumblers
Note: this is not referring to the many fans of The Theology Pugcast (check your local listings, as they used to say). By the way, I am a huge fan of the Pugsters. I have listened to each and every episode, some of them twice – actually, some of them three times! I am also (not boasting, just flying my flag here) what they call a Rousseau’s Assassin. Sound intriguing? Check them out!
You will have to apply James’ command exhortation to patience, though. Especially once you have listened to every episode. The waiting part between new episodes really tries my patience. Just imagine if you weren’t going to get a new episode until after you die!
We have covered the judging part of James exhortations and admonitions, and I have actually listed this quote here before – way back on Day 1.0, but I think it’s appropriate to today’s discourse given the topic of patience. Plus, you can imagine being on the opposite end of some or other brother’s grumblings.
From time to time, it is good for us to encounter troubles and adversities, for troubles compel us to search our hearts. It reminds us that we are strangers here, and that we can have no hope of anything in this world. Also, we benefit when we face opposition, and when people think badly of us and misjudge us, even when we do and mean well. Such things assist our humility, and preserve us from pride and empty glory. When others despise us and think no good of us, we more readily turn to the inner judgment of God.
Therefore we should place such complete trust in God that we need no human comfort. When good people are troubled, tempted, or disturbed by evil thoughts, they come to realize more clearly than ever that they need God, without whom we can do nothing good.
Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, (20), Penguin Classics, 2013
Lewis gets the last word today
Short entry today, I know. But, I can’t survey every encouraging verse on every subject every day! I am choosing this day to let Lewis close us out.
C.S. Lewis has a curious thing to say, both about suffering, and about sanctification. This seems to me to apply directly to what James refers to as establishing our hearts as we wait on the Lord.
If pain sometimes shatters the creature’s false self-sufficiency, yet in supreme “Trial” or “Sacrifice” it teaches him the self-sufficiency which really ought to be his – the “strength, which, if Heaven gave it, may be called his own”: for then in the absence of all merely natural motives and supports, he acts in that strength, and that alone, which God confers upon him through his subjected will. Human will becomes truly creative and truly our own when it is wholly God’s, and this is one of the many senses in which he that loses his soul shall find it.
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (91), Touchstone, 1996
