Well, this morning were talking about when you suffer. How many of you today would admit publicly that from time to time you have a problem with patience? Let me see your hands. Come on! Get them up! I dont have all day! Lets go! (Congregation laughing.) Sure, all of us would say there are times we struggle with patience; and when life is difficult, we struggle all the more. We might get irritated on the way home in traffic when somebody pulls in front of us or we get in the wrong line at the grocery store or the bank. When were running late, it seems like we hit every traffic light. I understand those occasions of impatience. Were patient with our spouse, with our children, or with ourselves, but we know when life really gets difficult, when something happens and we are suffering emotionally, physically, in some other way, it just seems like relief doesnt come. Thats when we really struggle with patience. Lord, how long is this going to last? Lord, when will this end? When will I be delivered? When will I be justified? Whatever the question is, when the heat goes up and we are suffering in our lives, thats when we become increasingly impatient. We are waiting on God for an answer. Were waiting on God to keep His promise, and weve all been there. Maybe you are there right now. If I were to take another poll, which Im not going to do, and say how many of you are there right now, youd be surprised by the amount of hands that would go up. James is going to deal with that very subject today of patience and of suffering. We have found James to be intensely practical, havent we, as he deals with these life issues head-on? In Verse 7 of Chapter 5 (page 1199), he gives us this directive. He says, Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lords coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. Thank God for a wonderful crop this year for our farmers. He uses them as an example of Biblical patience. When a farmer is waiting for his crop, is he idle? No. There are things that he needs to do. He has to fertilize the crop, and he has to water the crop. There are all kinds of tasks that go on while he is waiting. That is Biblical patience. Its not just pacing the floor, being idle, and twiddling our thumbs and waiting for God to move in and act. It is a patience that involves steadfastness and working towards the goal while we wait. What is the valuable crop in this context that he wants us to wait for? We just talked about the people that were bullying. Remember this is written to Christians who were scattered abroad and who were persecuted. Many of them were poor; many of them were abused by their bosses. They were paid cheap labor. They were not receiving the wages that were due them. They were persecuted for their faith. The crop that they are to wait for is justice. Its deliverance. Its for life to become better, so hes going to give them the encouragement to say the Judge is at the door. Justice is coming. Be patient. The Lord is near. Dont take matters into your own hands. Dont take vengeance into your own hands. Last week, we talked about those who would exploit people, those who would bully people; and now hes talking to the bullied. Hes talking to the suffering. Hes saying, Listen, trust the Lord. Wait for Him. Dont take vengeance into your own hands. There was a truck driver I heard about. He went into a truck stop, and he was eating. These three bikers came in. Now they were mean bikers. There are good bikers; we have a lot of good bikers in our church. Im not knocking bikers, but these guys were the bad kind. They came in looking for trouble. They went and picked on this truck driver. They took his cheeseburger and started to eat it. They took his fries and started eating them. Another took his drink and started drinking it. They were making fun of him and were laughing. They were just bullying him. They ate all of his food, and he didnt say anything. He didnt do anything. He just got up, went to the waitress, paid his check, gave her a tip, and calmly walked out of the restaurant. She looked out the window as he got in his truck and drove away. She comes back to the bikers, and they said, That guy wasnt much of a man, was he? He didnt even stand up for himself. He let us eat all of his food. The waitress said, Well, I cant attest to what kind of a man he was, but he sure wasnt much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles in the parking lot on his way out. (Congregation laughing.) You like that one? I have another one. This guy was bitten by a rodent. He developed rabies. The doctor said, You have rabies, and you have a really bad case. I have to tell you straight up were going to treat this, but this could be fatal. You could die. Really? said the man. Wow, I didnt know rabies could be so deadly. Immediately he got out a paper and started writing. The doctor said, Oh, you must be writing a list of all the names of people you want to call and tell the news to, ha? He said, No, Im just making a list of people I want to bite. Im done. I have no more. Thats it. We need to get back [to the Word]. He said, You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lords coming is near. Gods going to come, and Hes going to deliver you. Dont grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! That is a reference not to them for judging one another. That is a reference back again to waiting for this valuable crop, this justice, this one who will come and deliver you from your suffering. That was what he meant by the Judge is at the door. God keeps books, and Hes aware, though delay does not mean denial. Deliverance is coming. Brothers, as an example of patience and suffering, take the Prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. In other words, you want to see what Im talking about. You want to see this patience thats active while it waits. Its the Chilean miners. Theyre underground. They hear the drills; they know rescue is coming, but they are patient to wait. In other words, there are things to do. While they are waiting for that drill to break through, they had to survive. They had to exercise; they had to organize. They had to ration. They had to live in a 500 square foot space for over two months-all those guys; so while they waited for that light to break through, while they waited for deliverance, they must be busy. They must be diligent. Thats the kind of waiting hes talking about. He said, You want to see an example of that? Consider the Prophets. He said, As you know, we consider blessed those who persevered. You have heard of Jobs perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. Look to Job 2. Were going to follow James advice. Were going to do that this morning, but the interesting thing is the Prophets-and Job was not a Prophet, but he was a man who suffered greatly-they are the poster boys for complaining. If you want to read some good complaining, read Job. If you want to read some good grumbling, read the Prophets. They grumble and complain a lot. They really do. They were very sensitive, emotional guys. Many times their words were not received, and they were persecuted because of their prophesies; and they grumble and complain. Its interesting that James says, Look at these. He says, Dont grumble and complain. Consider the Prophets, and consider Job. He is going to talk about how we are to vent our emotions and frustrations because if were going through suffering, we are going to have frustrations. Were going to be angry. Were going to be confused. Were going to be frustrated, and were going to need to release that. What is a healthy way [of doing so]? He says attacking one another and blaming one another is not the way to do it. He says, Be like the Prophets. So when you think of the Prophets, the two main Prophets that stand out are probably Isaiah and Jeremiah. They were two major Prophets in the Bible. Were going to first look at Jeremiah, so turn to Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah has been faithful to do what God has said to do. God said to Jeremiah, Go to the potters house, watch him make a pot, and buy one. Take it back to the Temple gate, and do what I say. Youre going to take this pot, raise it in the air, and youre going to throw it down on the ground and smash it into pieces that are beyond repair. Then youre going to say, This is what God will do to this nation unless they repent of their sins. He will break you and He will scatter you upon repair. Israel was involved in Pagan rituals. At this point, there were religions that used to practice child sacrifice. They were starting to get involved with those religions that have those practices. God was disgusted and appalled by their behavior. He said, You need to clean up your act. You need to turn from those gods, and you need to follow after Me. Otherwise judgment is going to come. So Jeremiah does exactly what God says to do. He breaks the pot, he delivers that message, and they say, Were not listening to you. Youre a nutcase. Youre not a man of God. What do you mean our nation is going to fall? Were the securest nation there is. We dont have an enemy. Were not a threat to be taken captive. What are you talking about? Youre a crazy man, and they beat Jeremiah. They put him in stocks, and they put him out in front of the gate so that everybody walking by Jeremiah looked at him and called him a fool. They beat him and they spit on him, so there he was-bloody, embarrassed and ashamed; and his only crime was he faithfully carried out what God called him to do. He was suffering. When he was finally let out of the stocks, he had some harsh words for his captures. Then he turns to God. Listen to what the Prophet-this man of God-says to the Lord in Verse 7 (page 770), O Lord, You deceived me, and I was deceived… Hes questioning the character of God. He is saying, You duped me. You scammed me. You set me up! I did exactly what You said, and look what happened to me! …You overpowered me and prevailed. You bullied me. You picked on me because you could. Youre stronger than I, and I fell for it. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the Word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. I did what You told me to do, and look what happened to me! Look at my reward. Maybe Id be better off not following you. Maybe Id be better off not listening to you or preaching Your Word. He considers that. He considers retiring from the Prophet business. It doesnt pay that well. The benefits arent that great. Maybe Ill bag it. Maybe Ill just do something different with my life. He said in Verse 9, But if I say, I will not mention him or speak any more in His name, His Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed I cannot. He said thats what Youve made me to be. So here he is suffering, and while he is suffering, while he is waiting for deliverance, he says, I have to still persevere. I have to keep on keeping on because my faith is still strong in my God. Look at Verse 14. It goes from bad to worse. I dont know if youve ever had a day this bad; maybe you have, but he says, Cursed be the day I was born. May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! He doesnt like his birthday anymore. Look how hard he is on the guy who brings the news to the family. This is just a family friend. He said, Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, A child is born to you-a son. May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. Wow. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? Tell us what youre really thinking, Jeremiah. Stop holding back. Take off the gloves and tell us what youre going through. Nowhere in this passage does God condemn Jeremiah for expressing his point of view. You see, James, when he says, Dont grumble and complain to one another, is not saying, Dont be real. Hes not saying, Be a robot. Be inauthentic. Keep all your feelings and stuff them inside. Jeremiah expressed his feelings to the Lord. He said, Heres what Im going through. His faith was real and authentic. God wants to have a relationship with you. In a relationship, if somebody is taking you to task, if somebody has dealt unfairly with you in your opinion, you have every right to say that! Heres what I think about what you did. Heres what Im feeling about how youve treated me. You have every right to do that in a healthy relationship. Jeremiah wants to have a healthy relationship with his God, and if hes going to continue to serve Him faithfully, [he would say], Here are some things I have to get off my chest. Im suffering right now, and he says, God, Im blaming You for the suffering that Im going through. Now you may not be blaming God for what youre going through; maybe you are, but the point is if your faith is to be real, then what you are feeling and thinking has to be expressed when you suffer. You have to do that. What about Job? Job is one of the most righteous men that ever walked the face of the earth. We know the story of Job. We know he was a righteous man upright, and yet he gets used-using that word poster boy again for suffering-thats Job. He loses his children; he loses his livestock; his servants; and his properties. Then he loses his health. All he is left with is a wife who nags and complains and friends who are nosey and judgmental. That becomes Jobs live. Of course, we know the famous verse. Its found in Job 13:15 (page 506) where he says, Though He slay me yet will I hope in Him… [Thats a] famous verse. Though He slay me, yet I will put my trust in Him, says Job. In other words, Im going to keep on keeping on; even though I suffer, Im going to continue to serve the Lord-an example of patience. But here is the rest of the Verse; heres the part thats not quoted nearly as much. Look what he says in the second part of Verse 15: Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him; I will surely defend my ways to His face. In other words, if Im going down, Im going down swinging. Gods going to know what Im thinking, what Im feeling, and what Im going through while I suffer; and boy, he did that. We could pick numerous passages, but Ive chosen Chapter 10. I want you to turn to Chapter 10. Remember, James told us to do this. James said, Consider Job when you suffer, so thats what were going to do. I want you to notice how parallel this is to Jeremiah. Lets be honest-you and I have had some of these days, right? These are doozies! But if were going through difficult suffering, we can have these days. Verse 1 of Job 10 (page 503), I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint… He said therefore, Im gonna let it fly. Im going to let it all hang out. …and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. Thats healthy friends. When youre suffering, its healthy to let it all hang out, but you want to do it to the one who is safe, the people who are safe, not to everybody. Not everybody needs to know your problems or your griefs and concerns, but your Lord does. The people who love and care about you the most should. He said, I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. In other words, what have I done thats so wrong that Im suffering so greatly? Does it please You to oppress me, to spurn the work of Your hands, while You smile on the schemes of the wicked? He said, I look around me, and evil men are prospering, and here I am a man who is trying to do right, and Im suffering. Again, like Jeremiah, he accuses God of being a bully. He accuses God of being sadistic, Does it please You to oppress me? You like picking on me? You like bullying me because You can? He tries to get God to see things from his point of view. He says in Verse 4, Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as a mortal sees? Are Your days like those of a mortal or Your years like those of a man… Put Yourself in my position, God. What would You be thinking and feeling if the roles were reversed, and I was God and You were me? Look at Verse 18. This sounds exactly like Jeremiah. Why then did You bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moments joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow, to the land of deepest night of deep shadow and disorder where even the light is like darkness. Remember in the Bible, there is progressive revelation. In the Old Testament, the afterlife is Sheol. Its a place of darkness and gloom. The Lord and the Prophets come on the scene, and they start telling us about what Heaven is and the presence of God and light; but that has not yet been revealed at this point. Remember Job is the oldest Book in the Bible chronologically. It was the oldest written book-just like James is the oldest written Book of the New Testament. This is the oldest Book written in the Old Testament. James understanding of the afterlife was not what we understand. You talk about a depressing point of view. He was like, Im going to die pretty soon anyway. Can you just stop tormenting me and just let me have a moments pleasure before I go into an eternity of darkness and gloom? Wow. I wish Id never been born. For Job, this is what hes thinking and feeling. You and I have never suffered loss like this man suffered, so we cannot judge him. Youve never lost all of your children, all of your possessions, and all of your health in one fell swoop. Everything was gone in a moments notice without warning. Until we face that-and God forbid we ever do-youll never know what this man was going through. His relationship to God was real, and yet he did not lose his faith, and he persevered. God eventually delivered Job and blessed his life. Thats what James reminds us of in this Passage in James 5. He reminds us of the end of the story. He says, The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Jeremiahs story didnt end there. Jobs story didnt end there. They didnt stay in that darkness and gloom. God brought about their deliverance from their suffering. Brighter days were ahead, and they finished their ministry and their lives strong for the Lord. He says remember that through these trials and through this suffering, God was able to teach them about life and about themselves. One of my favorite Verses in all the Bible is found in the Book of 1 Peter 5:10 (page 1203). Listen to what it says, And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will make sure that you, his child, never goes through a day of suffering. Oh, wait a second. Thats the I wish this is what I said translation. Heres what it really says, The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself personally restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen because you and I are never listening more intently than when were suffering. Were never more aware of His presence and what He needs to teach us than when were going through pain. There is a lesson to learn. Were going to be listening. Our ears are open; we want to hear because it hurts. We want it to end. My wife and I went to Hhffrrrggh recently, the Hhffrrrggh restaurant. I had ordered a dish called the Jambalaya Chicken pasta. It was very hot but very good. She has an aversion to hot things. In fact, things that are just mildly or remotely hot, she will think they are really hot; so when she actually eats something that is really hot, she has like a near-death experience. She is just really miserable and hates it. So were at the restaurant, and she asked, Is it good? I said, Yeah, its really good. She said, It looks good. Is it hot? I said, Yeah, its really good, but its really hot. Now I eat hot things more than she does, so Im a little bit acclimated to it, but it was hot. It was good. I was like, Yeah, its really good. We finished our meal; she was done first, and I was still working on mine. She spontaneously without any kind of forethought-or thought at all-reached out and grabbed a noodle and put it in her mouth. It happened so fast, I was like, Wait! That, thats hot!! Before I could even say that, she swallowed it. I was like oh, no. Then you just kinda sit back and watch the show (congregation laughing). You watch the face, and I cant even duplicate what I saw; but she was suffering. She was grabbing the water. She was sucking down the water and more and more water. After she had suffered for a little while, I said, What are you doing? Dont you remember I told you that this was hot and that you hate hot things? Why are you grabbing it after I told you? She has a love for pasta, and it looked really good. She couldnt resist it, so she grabbed it and ate it. She forgot my warning. She thought, Maybe it wont be that bad, so she was hurting for quite a while. After shed suffered for a little while, I had some things to say. She was in a state of mind, and she was ready to listen. I said, Before you grab something off my plate, make sure you ask me about it. Make sure you say, Is this hot? or Should I have some of this? because I eat different foods than you. If you would have just said something to me, I could have stopped you from doing that. So next time were at a restaurant and you want to grab something thats mine, you need to ask that first. Dont just spontaneously grab it like that. She was listening, right? Now sometimes suffering isnt our fault, but sometimes it is. We reach out and grab what we shouldnt, and we partake of it. We take it in, and it hurts. When we want it, thats not the time when God gets our attention because when we want it, we want it. We go for it. Its after we partake of it that we start to feel the effects of it. It starts to make us uncomfortable and starts hurting. After we suffer for a little while, God says, Now, can I have your attention? I warned you that would hurt. I warned you that would be hard, but you forgot. Before you make a decision like that, before you take a step like that, seek My Word, seek Counsel. In those times, friends, you and I learn and we grow. As Peter says, we become established and firm in our faith. There is a Verse Id like us to put up on the wall. Weve already read it. Its from Job 10. I want to draw your attention to Verse 4 of that chapter, if you would please. God has asked a question of Job, and Job says, Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as a mortal sees? Thats a very interesting question, isnt it? The answer at that point in time in history-God, if He were to audibly answer that question-would have to say, No. I dont have eyes of flesh. Im not a man, but there would come a day where if Job were to ask that question, the answer would change. There was a time when the Immortal took on flesh. There was a time when God became a Man and saw through eyes just like you and me. He walked this earth in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. If Job were to say, Do You have eyes like a man? Do you have eyes of flesh? Jesus would say, I do. I do, and I have seen the world through your eyes. He suffered like no one has ever suffered upon the cross. He suffered all the indignities-rejection, pain, and hardship that you and I could ever suffer. He was bearing the weight of the cross and bearing the sin on the cross. That is why the author of the Book of Hebrews says this in Chapter 4:15 (page 1186), For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, suffered in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. When we are suffering, when we are hurting, we have a God who understands because Hes been there before. Lets pray to Him: Father, the Word says we can come before Your throne with confidence, and the reason we can have that confidence is because You lived here. Youve had eyes of flesh. Youve seen the world literally through our eyes, and You know what its like to encounter hardship. You know what its like to have friends betray You, people misunderstand You. You know what its like to physically suffer, to hit Your thumb with a hammer. You know what its like to be tired, to go without sleep, or to be hungry. You know what its like to endure temptation. You know what its like to endure rejection. You know what its like to physically and spiritually suffer because You suffered more than well understand or know. So we cannot look at You and say, God, its unfair that I suffer because You dont know what its like, just like Job said-because You do. In fact, the truth of the matter is we will never understand the suffering that Youve endured, much less the suffering of a loving heart that continues to love a people who continue to spurn You and reject You. Father, we thank You that we can come to You with our pain, with our hurt and with our suffering. We can be real with what were thinking and going through. We can voice those frustrations. We can express that anger to You. We can be real with You about our suffering. That is the patience Your Word describes. Might that be the patience that we share this morning in Christ. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.