Text: James 5:7-12
"Be patient....until the Lord's coming" (James 5:7). As I read these words I immediately think of all the modern day prophets of doom who are trying to fit every imaginable world event into scripture, often causing panic and undue concern among the family of faith. As we enter the last few months of this century and approach the new millennium, more and more people are adopting the Chicken Little philosophy of believing "the sky is falling." Nothing has added to the millennial madness more than the Y2K computer issue.
This is not to say there are not events on the horizon which point to the fact that theses could well be the days that wee see "His glorious appearing." The Bible does indeed signal several conditions which will be prevalent when He returns. We are told to be watching for a polluted pulpit (2 Timothy 4:2-4), a particular place (Amos 9:14-15), a peculiar people (Deuteronomy 28:37, 65; Ezekiel 36:24), a powerful politic (Daniel 7:15-25), a popular politician 1 John 2:18), and a pluralistic philosophy of new age though which will seek to unite the world under one banner.
As the final months of the twentieth century unfold before us and as more and more "prophets" seek to warn us that "the sky is falling, " what should be the Christian response to these days as we await the coming of our Lord? It is the same as it was in the early church. James, the godly leader of the Jerusalem church, left us a word not only for his day but for ours also. Inspired, not by world events, but by the Holy Spirit Himself, he tells us what we should be doing until the Lord's coming.
I. LOOK UPWARD (James 5:7)
The upward look is the look of the patient person.
"patient"---3114 makrothumeo (mak-roth-oo-meh'-o);
from the same as 3116; to be
Long-spirited.
To me this means that as we focus our attention on
Jesus and to the blessed hope of his
appearing we can be calm and patient in the face
of what will surely be trying times ahead.
Hebrews 12:1ff
John 14:1-6
II. LOOK INWARD (James 5:8-9)
A. "Stablish your hearts"---stand firm. ;
Ephesians 4:14--- That we [henceforth] be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight
of me [and] cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive
B. Clear out the clutter of anger and malice---life
is too short and I feel that time is too short
for us to harbor anger
and to murmur against each other. Remember that out of the
abundance of the heard
doth the mouth speak (Matthew 12:34).
1 Corinthians 5:17ff
Matthew 5:23ff
III. LOOK BACKWARD (James 5:10-11)
The prophets are among those mentioned as the "cloud
of witnesses" in Hebrews 2. They
have gone on before us and it is as if they are
in the stands cheering us onward and upward
as we run the race set before us.
As we look back we will also find "Goodness" and
"Mercy" following closely at our heels
(Psalm 23).
A backward look can also serve to remind us of how
far we have come---not dwelling on
the past but just glancing over our shoulder to
see our progress. When we were in the
Rockies last summer we stopped at the Alpine Visitors
Center at the 12,000 foot point.
Rising up from the center is a hill that just invites
you to climb it (and we did). The trail is
deceptively long and it seemed the only
way we could gauge our progress was to look back.
We finally arrived at the top and the
trek was worth the effort because on the far side of the
hill was a herd of elk.
At the far side of the hill we are climbing I a wonderful
place called Heaven. We can't see it
with our mortal, finite eyes but that is where we
are headed. An occasional glance backward
serves to remind us that we have climbed just a
little higher today than we were yesterday.
IV. WALK STRAIGHT (James 5:12)
We seem to have very few these days who can be described
as "a man of his word". What a
shame that is. Described here is a very simple
principle:
A. Do not swear by heaven, by earth, or by
any other oath. In other words, our character and
reputation should be such
that an oath will not be required. How many times have you
heard people say, "I swear
on a stack of bibles" or some other such oath.
B. Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay.
Horses don't have any trouble with that so why
should we?
There is a warning here---"lest we fall into condemnation".
5272 hupokrisis
(hoop-ok'-ree-sis); from 5271; acting under a feigned part, i.e.
(figuratively) deceit ("hypocrisy"):
KJV-- condemnation, dissimulation, hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is one thing that
the lost will look at and use as an excuse to stay out of the
Kingdom of God. I
don't know about you but I don't want to be responsible for that.
It is
also something that children
can see a mile away.
But whoso shall offend
one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for
him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the
depth of the sea.
(Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2)
Conclusion: Look upward, look inward, look backward, walk straight. Those are some good instructions to put into practice until the coming of the Lord. Don't be overwhelmed, don't be paralyzed by fear, keep moving and serving and trusting in the One Who will see us through until the end.
(Basic outline produced by the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention)