Life 101: Lessons for a Practical Christian Life  
A study in the book of James
lesson #8: Be patient, because Jesus is coming.
James 4:13-5:12

 
Scripture:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live and do this or that.” But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil. To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no;” so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.

James 4:13-5:12      (World English Bible)  

[.]

Life 101: Lessons for a Practical Christian Life  
A study in the book of James
lesson #8: Be patient, because Jesus is coming.
James 4:13-5:12

Bible Study:

When you read scripture, you can find clues that tell you when one paragraph belongs with the next one or when the topic changes and the writer begins to talk about something else.

Maybe that isn’t important to most people, but it can be useful at times, because one paragraph can help you understand the one before or the one after.

In this passage in James, we have clues. There is a repeated line, which tells us that two paragraphs are sort of the same, but with a different twist. It’s an Old Testament kind of clue. A lot of people wrote that way back then.

Right after those two paragraphs, James gives us the word therefore or then, depending on which translation you are reading. That word tells you that the previous paragraphs were like examples, and the lesson or the conclusion is the therefore.

This is like a throwback to English class. It’s fascinating stuff for a geek! Maybe not so much for everyone else. But let’s see if we can use it as we study this passage in James.

First of all, let’s get a title. And for this, we’ll cheat a little. We’ll look for the therefore, because that’s probably the point. It isn’t always this easy, but this time it is.

Be patient and wait for the coming of the Lord, because he is coming, and don’t forget that. Or to put in simpler terms, be patient, because the Lord is coming.

That’s our theme. And with that in mind, let’s start at the beginning.

We immediately bump into one of those repeated phrases.

Come now—in the World English Bible.

In the NIV—now listen!

Whatever is going on, it doesn’t sound good. It sounds vaguely like my mom when she was upset at the kids and was about to launch into a serious bit of scolding.

We all have our ways of signaling this kind of confrontational speech. I prefer a New York version, myself.

Wattaya-talkin-about? or Wattaya-doon?

It would sound like:

Hey! Wattaya-doon? You goin around, making plans, like you’re the king of tomorrow, or somthin’. But you don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, do ya? You think you can just snap your fingers and change the future? I mean, wattaya-talkin-bout?

It’s easy to get the tone of the paragraph, but not so easy to understand what all the fuss is about. It looks like James is upset because the people in the church are planning for the future.

You have to look ahead in life. You have to plan for your business or your family. When does a little advance planning become a problem?

Let’s pick up on one small word in this paragraph. Then maybe it will be clear.

The word is: boasting.

They glory in their boasting, James says. They take pride in their ability to do whatever they choose to do.

James offers another way to look at the future, and when you compare his recommendation to the formula that he is rejecting, there is only one small difference between the two.

James makes room for God.

Notice his argument.

Point one, life is like a vapor that disappears after a little while, leaving no trace. That sounds a little gloomy, but it’s true. And if we have such a short time on this earth, then we ought to invest it wisely.

Not necessarily in building up wealth. Better to have an investment that will pay off even after the vapor of this life has vanished.

So there is a question about making wise choices. Does your plan for tomorrow recognize the important things, the eternal things?

If not, then wattaya-doon?

Point two, you aren’t in charge of tomorrow. God is.

A fine distinction, perhaps, but an important one. So many times, our problems come back to the question of who is in charge of our life.

James is not against planning. He is against planning without including the God who should be directing our lives and providing for our needs.

There you are. Very simply, this is a pride thing.

And then James adds a statement about the sin of not doing the right thing. If I know that I should do something, but I don’t do it, I can’t claim that I didn’t do anything wrong.

I didn’t do anything, but that wasn’t right. I didn’t do anything right, and that is wrong.

Wait, I’m confused. Let’s put it all back together.

It would be wrong to plan tomorrow without including God in your plans.

That’s the point.

Make that one small correction, watch for what God would like to do with our tomorrow, and then plan whatever you like.

But there is another warning.

And this one sounds like it might be directed at the people outside the church. At least I hope so, because there are some difficult and serious charges here.

They have accumulated wealth, which is not bad in itself. They have cheated the people who worked with and for them, and that is never good.

They have even murdered people who were too weak or too righteous to stand up and fight back. It sounds like a mess, and that’s why I hope James is talking about what is happening in the world around the church.

The prophets would often make statements like this in the Old Testament. They would cry out against the injustice and the crime that was happening around them.

Sometime it was happening in their own community. Sometimes in a place more distant. Either way, the prophet would call it what it was. It was cruel. It was wrong. And it was going to be judged.

In this passage, James warns that punishment will come. The complaints of the laborers who have been cheated have come to God, and James calls him the Lord or the Leader of Armies, according to the World English Bible.

God is called by a number of titles and names, and each one says something about him. This is a picture of war, and it would be a sad thing to stand against the armies that God will lead one day to the earth.

Wattaya-doon? You stole anything you could get your hands on, but these are the last days! All the treasure you accumulate will be left behind! It’ll rust and corrode and become dust, and you’ll be left to face the anger of God!

It is not a pretty sight.

But that image of the armies of God is also comforting, in a way. Not for the people who are stealing wages, but for those who suffer.

Their answer will come.

They only have to wait.

It isn’t easy to wait. But sometimes that’s all we have. And one thing makes it easier.

God will come. That much is certain.

But why the delay?

Did you notice the farm reference here? Apparently, there is an actual plan to all of this waiting. There is a season for this earth, and God is waiting for a harvest.

A precious harvest.

Souls. Lives. Hearts.

They are so important—

Wait—let’s say that differently.

You are so important that God will wait the full season, just to give every heart a chance to grow, to develop, to turn to Jesus.

The full season. The early rains in the spring. The late rains when the corn is forming and the beans are filling out. God won’t cut the summer short, because he wants every niblet of corn.

Every soul.

So don’t lose heart. The season is long, but harvest comes.

God is coming, so wait for him.

In the meantime, don’t grumble. And I assume that James is saying don’t grumble about how long it takes for God to come back and straighten things out.

This is hard. This is really, really  hard sometimes.

When James offers examples, it doesn’t get any easier. The prophets had to endure awful abuse. They were ignored and forgotten. They were beaten and killed.

And then there is Job, who suffered terrible losses in his family. He must have felt awful. His children died around him, and he had no answers.

These are the examples that James offers. They suffered patiently, and we are supposed to do the same.

Knowing that others have suffered doesn’t make it easier, necessarily. It just makes it a little easier to understand.

And when you look at the examples, you know two things. You know that people have carried on a ministry for God in the midst of tough times. The prophets were faithful to their work, even when life was difficult.

That’s one thing.

And the other is that God is compassionate. He is kind. He wants the best. He comforts. He answers our prayers.

We’re not just waiting for things to get better. We’re waiting for God. That’s what we need. Things will be better. God will do it.

In the meantime, wait.

There is a little postscript here, and it may seem like it’s tacked on at the end of the passage for no reason.

Don’t swear. Not by things in heaven or things on earth.

The meaning, I think, is the same as everything else in this passage. It fits, if you look closely.

Here’s that tenth-grade English paying off, finally.

Don’t boast about your plans as if you were in charge, don’t steal and cheat to accumulate money as if that was enough, don’t grumble about your day as if God couldn’t hear, and don’t invoke heaven and earth to make your promise sound any more than what it is.

You aren’t in charge.

God is in charge. Don’t promise what God has not promised.

What is an oath?

Over my dead body!

Not if I have anything to say about it!

Here’s the classic.

I swear on my grandmother’s piano! May the strings all go out of tune if I’m lying!

Okay, that’s not really a classic, but I thought it was cute.

So back to the whole swearing and oath thing.

It sounds good to invoke something big to back up your promise, but sometimes you don’t have the right to promise something. How many people have promised to die before they would allow their neighbor to plan a tree on the lot line, and the tree got planted, and no one died?  

You can’t always promise, because you aren’t in charge.

And that’s it. It all goes back to who is in charge of your life. I talk big, because I don’t want to admit that much of what happens around me is bigger than me.

I’m not in charge.

This is difficult, this faith thing, this life that is connected to God.

It’s difficult.

But God will make sense of it all. And soon.

He’s coming. So wait for him.

Wait patiently for God.

[.]

Life 101: Lessons for a Practical Christian Life  
A study in the book of James
lesson #8: Be patient, because Jesus is coming.
James 4:13-5:12

Paraphrase:

So, you got plans for tomorrow? Cool. But what do you really know about tomorrow? What do you really control? Nothing. Life is like a wisp of fog that blows away in the slightest breeze. So keep tomorrow in perspective. Include God in your plans. “If God will allow me to be there, I’ll be there.” To make any other promise is presumptuous at best and downright rebellious at worst. You know this is the way you should make your plans, so if you ignore the truth, you are making a big mistake.  

And listen, you who have cheated and lied to gather up riches, you should be ashamed of yourselves! You are in so much trouble! If you are trusting your wealth, don’t count on it. Money rots and gold corrodes. But the complaints of the people you defrauded are recorded, and God will not forget them. You have lived in luxury, but the All-Mighty God is coming. He will remember your murders and lies, and you had better believe it! You are in so much trouble!

So brothers and sisters, if you have suffered, be patient until the Lord comes. A farmer will wait all through the growing season, through the early rains at planting and the late rains as the fruit is forming. A farmer waits for a harvest, and in the same way God waits for something precious from his field. So be patient and stand firm, because God is coming.

Don’t grumble. God will remember your grumbling just as he remembers any other injustice. So watch what you say. The Judge is standing at the door! Need an example? The prophets were faithful, even though they faced suffering. And because Job was patient, he experienced the mercy and compassion of God.

And get this, my brothers and sisters. Do not make big impressive oaths, not by anything in heaven or on earth. Just say yes or no, and don’t try to inflate your own ego by some silly words. God will not be pleased.

James 4:13-5:12             (paraphrased)

[.]

Life 101: Lessons for a Practical Christian Life  
A study in the book of James
lesson #8: Be patient, because Jesus is coming.
James 4:13-5:12

Story:

The Concrete Sky

by Bob Freye

They started the business for the children. They planned for a nice neighborhood and grandchildren working behind the counter and loyal customers who would keep the store going for generations.

But things changed.

Wilma stood at the old-fashioned glass storefront and stared out at the dark shadow that covered the sidewalk. The darkness was always there, in any weather, shrouding the entrance with inhospitable cold. 

Only the strongest souls would venture into the shop, and those did not buy much.

Yes, things had changed, and the changes were not good.

Andrea tinkered with the inventory, moving items to new displays and making notes to reorder. She was young and her ambition had not been beaten down by the difficult circumstances. Not yet.

Wilma remembered when she had enough youthful ambition to help her husband all day with the store and care for the children at the same time. He was a dynamo. Jack. The store was his dream at first. She had come to love it because she loved him.

And when he was taken from her, the store was her solace.

He had died too young. Far too young.

The phone rang, and Andrea took the call. The conversation started flat, but her voice quickly bristled.

Wilma recognized the tone. They had called again.   

They were supposed to direct any communication to her lawyer, but they didn’t recognize the rules, unless the rules leaned in their favor. They called whenever they wanted something.

They always wanted something.

Andrea bustled up to the front of the store and stood beside her mother.

“They’re coming,” she said.

She set her jaw and stared out at the sidewalk.

The members of the management team of Willis Pragmatics, Incorporated, looked like a street gang in suits. They moved through the city like a posse on the prowl, always clustered together, always glaring at anyone who might come too close or fail to pay the proper respect.

They needed a few tattoos, or maybe a ponytail or two, and big loud motorcycles. Something to break up that manicured image, the shined shoes, the carefully tailored line of their nearly identical suits. 

Because deep inside, they were bad boys. And they knew it.

They gathered outside the entrance to the store, staying at the edge of the sidewalk, just inches from the street, to honor the spirit of the restraining order. They took a moment to adopt an aggressive stance, as if they were posing for a group photo that might appear on the Bad Boys of Corporate America calendar. They crossed their arms or stuffed their hands in their pockets or simply optimized their corporate scowl, and they stared at Wilma through the window. 

She shuffled out to meet them, bent-over and frail after a lifetime of retail disappointment.

Battered, but not beaten.

She shivered in the shadow, and as she emerged from the doorway, she looked up instinctively at the canopy of concrete and steel that extended out over her shop. The blunt face of the Willis Pragmatics Tower had been pushed nearly to the edge of the street, well in excess of city zoning laws. Commissioners had looked the other way when money was exchanged by the bagful.

The offices of Willis Pragmatics were destined to become an icon on the city street. Massive and strong, just like the corporate image. You are your image, after all. End of story. So the corporation bought up every small shop on the street, bulldozed the whole lot of them, and put up this massive modern image in their place.

There was just one problem.

They could buy every shop on the entire city block—except one.

And so the tower had risen up around Wilma’s tiny shop. It even extended over the top, forming a dark cave around the store and casting a perpetual cold shadow. The whole weight of the tower seemed to lean in the direction of the street, as if it waited to crush the tiny shop beneath it.

The outside brick walls of Wilma’s store had been chipped back when the connecting buildings were demolished, leaving a jagged edge that made the store look derelict and condemned.

Now the management of Willis Pragmatics was possessed by one goal, to patch the gaping hole in their tower. They wanted Wilma’s property. They needed the tiny store. Their image was incomplete, and you know what they say about image.

“We’ve come with a generous offer,” the primary lawyer said. He was the lead dog of the pack today. “We’re prepared to offer you a fair price for a store of this size and condition.”

That would be a paltry amount, Wilma knew. They had cheapened the value of the store by destroying the neighborhood. They had robbed her.

“No thank you,” she said.

“I must inform you,” the lawyer continued, “that we are prepared to formalize our request for the city to annex your property, in which case you may end up with nothing.”  

She nodded. “Go ahead,” she said.

“That could mean years of legal proceedings,” the lawyer added quickly. His impatience suggested that he was backing away from a bluff.

Wilma straightened her shoulders. “I have time,” she told the men.

“Very expensive,” the lawyer warned.

He was transparent, she thought. And he was wrong. 

“If that’s what it takes, then let’s go to trial,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for the courts to stand up and put a stop to your heartless robbery. Perhaps we should let them decide this.”

“And the television stations, too,” Andrea added. Standing behind her mother, she was a formidable posse in her own right.  

If the gang of suits feared the old woman, with her misplaced sense of justice, they feared Andrea more.

“There are apartments in the city where you would both be happy,” the lawyer suggested. “Why do you hang on to this junk pile?”

It had taken time to build up the business, Wilma remembered. Time to learn the names of the people around them. Time to grow as a family in the quiet little neighborhood.

The important things in life took time.

The disasters came fast.

“I decline your offer,” Wilma said, “and I will wait for the courts to do their work, whatever it takes. In the meantime, I own this property, and you are not welcome here.”

They gritted their corporate teeth, endangering the expensive caps that formed their perfectly tailored smiles. The lawyer blustered and the posse shuddered, and then they walked away, glancing back occasionally to glare at the woman and her daughter.   

They didn’t hear the click of the camera from the other side of the street. The photo framed Wilma and Andrea perfectly, standing in front of the shop, their look of grim determination accented by shadows from the giant tower above them. 

The reporter for the Times tucked the camera away and headed across the street, straight for the little shop. He had put off this project for too long, but now he was ready.

As he dodged the traffic, he wondered what kind of story he might write about the two women who lived under the concrete sky.

[.]