Description
X-TRIALS: TAKIN’
LIFE TO THE X-TREME
M-Patience
Ed Young
November 4, 2001
We love to talk about the economy, don’t we? From interest rates to job rates, from Greenspan to C-span, from bear markets to bull markets…. We talk about the economy because we love to talk about money. Let’s think about that picture of money, of the economy, because I am going to talk to you about the economy in this talk. But I am going to talk about an economy in a different genre. I want to talk to you about God’s economy. I want to specifically hone in on one thing that causes us a lot of problems. In fact, if you are a Christian, this could lead to your spiritual bankruptcy. This problem I am referring to can really mess you up. It can put you into a faith funk. If you are not a believer, this can still keep you in a holding pattern from ever making a faith step to establish a personal relationship with Christ. What am I talking about? I am talking about pain and suffering in the economy of God.
What do you do with pain and suffering. Now and then, on the bottom of letters, we will see these two letters, P.S. Usually the P.S. in a letter has some stuff that is pretty important, like a little funny word, a comment, or I love you, or whatever. Instead of saying pain and suffering throughout the message, most of the time, I will refer to pain and suffering as P.S. So when I say P.S., that’s pain and suffering. You get it? P.S. is pain and suffering. I didn’t say PMS. I said P&S. That’s a whole other subject there.
We are talking about the issue of suffering, the issue of tragedy. Jesus did not shy away from it, did he? Some of the major world religions try to tell us that there is no such thing as pain and suffering. They try to tell us that pain and suffering are just illusions.
Yet, Jesus said these words, check them out in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.” Christ said it’s going to happen. You will have trouble. A lot of you are going through P&S right now. That’s pain and suffering. Some of you may have a daughter who is facing bulimia. Maybe you are involved in a chronic illness. Maybe you have lost your job. Maybe you have hit a financial setback. Maybe your marriage is on the rocks. Maybe a parent has Alzheimer’s. Many of us right now are facing pain and suffering in God’s economy.
I know what pain and suffering is about. I do. I know what it is like to lose a child through miscarriage. I know what it is like to bury a father-in-law at much too young of an age. I know what it is like to lose a mentor at the zenith of his life. I know those things. I have prayed with children who have lost their parents. Pain and suffering. These are major issues, issues that can rattle our faith.
Usually when you have pain and suffering, you have two questions. You have the when question, “When is it going to happen?” Also, you have the why questions, “Why did it happen?” We usually have a lot of different reasons for and thoughts about pain and suffering.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, and writes a section of his book about pain and suffering. James grew up with Jesus. Can you imagine growing up with Jesus? I am sure James would look at Mary and say, “Is Jesus always right?” You know? He was perfect. James didn’t even buy into Christ being the Son of God until after the resurrection. Jesus appeared to James, and then James spent the rest of his life trying to convince Jewish folk that his brother was the Messiah.
James was not a theologian. He didn’t have a doctorate degree. He just knew a lot about the topic. James is going to talk to us about pain and suffering, P&S. I will warn you right up front that James’ answer to P&S is going to seem very shallow. It’s going to seem superficial. It’s going to seem weak. It’s going to seem like he barely scratched the surface, but don’t judge our boy, James, too quickly because James’ answer has some real stuff to it.
Talking about pain and suffering, or P&S, how do most people respond? There is an author named Philip Yancey, and Yancey has written a classic book called DISAPPOINTMENT WITH GOD. Some people when they encounter pain and suffering say they don’t believe in God. Some say, “I don’t believe God exists, because I just don’t dig him, you know?” Yancey says that’s fine. You have a choice whether to believe in God or not. Yet, that has no bearing on whether or not God exists. What happens is that a lot of us run around and we have our own little snapshot of God. We keep trying to put God in a little frame, but he gets out of the frame every time. It freaks us out when he doesn’t meet our expectations, our preconceptions about him. And a lot of people get tripped up on this issue of P&S and say, “God does not exist because of pain and suffering.”
Some say, as I talked about a second ago, “Well, I believe in God. I believe in him, but I just don’t like him. I don’t like him because of the pain and suffering. I mean, Ed, come on. Look what happened on 9/11. Ed, how about the anthrax? How about the suffering and the poverty? I just can’t buy into God. I am going to take my faith and go home. I’m going to take my ball and go home because I just don’t like God.”
Yancey writes that you can say that but that doesn’t change the pain and suffering in the world. It doesn’t change whether or not God exists. He also says that there is only one thing worse than being disappointed with God, and that is being disappointed without God. God does not want us in that realm. He does not want us in that camp. We need to understand that God is sovereign, that God loves us and that God has some wonderful things to say through us and to us when we face P&S with him.
Having said that, let’s see what James says. James is going to give us a two-word answer to the dilemma of pain and suffering. So get ready. Here it is. Here is what James says regarding the most perplexing question in life, the thing that really trips us up in our faith, keeps us in a holding pattern more than anything else. Here is the answer, are you ready? In James 5:7, James says, “Be patient.”
I’m thinking, “James, come on. Be patient? That’s it?”
“Be patient.”
What does it mean to be patient? This word “patient” comes from two words. The first word is macro. It means long. The second word is therma. We get the word “thermometer” from it. James is saying when you are patient, you are long fused.
The title of today’s message is M-Patience. Think about a big capital M. M stands for maturity. Why maturity? Because the theme of the book of James is developing an authentic faith, a deep faith. James is writing to Christians dispersed throughout the Mediterranean world. James wanted them to move from dining on Gerber baby food to steak, lobster and sushi, the good stuff in life. James wanted them to progress. He wants you to progress and he wants me to progress. He says one of the ways we mature is by being patient, or M-Patience.
But here is where I mess up and you as well. We put an “I” before the “M” and whenever you do that, what happens? We are impatient. We think about what makes me look good, what makes me feel good, what gives me pleasure, what puts wind in my sail and we are not M-Patient, we are impatient. That’s where the problems arise.
James says, verse 7, chapter five, “Be patient, then brothers, until the Lord’s coming.”
Now throughout this little text, and we are talking about seven verses today, James says, “Until the Lord’s coming, until the Lord’s coming, until the Lord’s coming.” What is he talking about? Obviously, he is talking about the second coming of Christ. At any time, Christ could come back. James is encouraging his readers to have one eye on heaven and one eye on earth.
But also, something else is going on with James until the Lord’s coming. James is also referring to the invasion of Christ into our pain and suffering. When we are going through a tragedy or a difficulty in our lives, God is going to show up in a huge way if we do what he wants us to do.
Let’s now go back to our little economic illustration. Let’s think about that again, because patience relates a lot to God’s economy. I want you to know this one thing, patience requires an investment. Patience requires an investment. So if you are a believer, you are rich. Turn to your neighbor and say, “I’m rich, baby. I’m rich.” Because you are. You are really rich.
God sent Christ to die on the cross for our sins and rise again, the ultimate investment. God invested in all of us. He gives us a choice and the choice is we either make a faith investment, open up this trust fund, or we don’t. The great thing about this investment is that all we have to do is have a penny’s worth of faith, the faith of a mustard seed is what Christ said, just a penny’s worth of faith. Once we believe, to the best of our ability, and just throw a penny of faith Christ’s way, what happens? Jesus Christ infiltrates our lives, and this cosmic transaction takes place and, you have heard me talk about it many times before, all of the guilt, the junk, the baggage from our lives transfers over to Christ’s shoulders. And all of his grace, mercy and forgiveness transfers to our lives, allowing us to tap into this trust fund. As I said, we are all rich, baby, we are rich because we are in Christ.
Patience requires an investment. Every time I am patient, every time I am mature, my trust fund grows and grows, and I can live off the interest and the dividends. It’s going to have a huge pay off, and we will talk about that later.
Let’s talk about this investment of patience. Look at verse 7, the last part. Now James has said be patient. That is the first command. Then he brings up this illustration, the farmer and the dell. “The farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell, hi-ho the derry-o, the farmer in the dell.” I read that song on the Internet this week. That song will wear you out. It will whip you. It goes on and on. I think it illustrates the patience of a farmer. That’s what James says.
James says, “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land…” Farmers don’t just sip Diet Cokes and watch Oprah. They wait and they are patient, but it’s an active patience, not a passive one. A farmer is working the soil. A farmer is planting the seed. A farmer is always caring for his or her property. They’re working. And James says you have got to realize that patience is not passive. Patience, James says, is active. “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.”
God is plowing up your life and mine. Sometimes he plows it up, or allows it to be plowed up, and he plants trials here and there and yonder. We wait patiently as we pray, as we talk to him, as we involve ourselves in the body of Christ. Like a farmer, we can’t see what is going on subsurface, yet we serve a subsurface God. God is producing a valuable crop in your life and mine underneath the soil. We have got to get ready for the harvest, James says.
But it continues in verse 8, “You too, be patient and stand firm.” This word “stand” and this word “firm” literally means to stabilize, to prop up. I like that.
James first of all says, be patient. Then he says to stand firm. So, standing firm is all about being patient. We have got to stand firm. That’s why we have to be a part of a local church. When P&S strikes your life or mine, and it’s going to happen—Jesus says we will have troubles—who is going to support us? Who is going to help us? Who is going to prop us up? Who is going to stabilize us? The Lord? Yes. But also, people in the church will do so.
So, “Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” God is going to come back, but also he is waiting to invade your circumstances right now. Look in verse 9 at the third command: “Don’t grumble.” I love that word “grumble” because it sounds like the word, doesn’t it? It sounds like the meaning.
I’ve got to say that we have the most positive church that I have ever seen. Thankfully, by God’s grace, we have a lot of leaders come through Fellowship Church, and they talk to us about what is going on here. I always say this, “Fellowship Church is the most positive church around. Do you know why? It’s all in the name.” I tell these pastors, “We have got a bunch of fellows rowing the ship. These fellows, these men and women, are rowing the ship so strategically that they don’t have enough time to stand up and whine or rock the boat.” We have a whine-free church. That’s a cool thing.
Farmers don’t grumble against each other. They help one another. Farmers share. James says it’s tempting, isn’t it, when you are involved in P&S, it’s so tempting to be impatient. It’s so tempting not to stand firm but to wig. It’s so tempting to wig and to start grumbling. That’s what I want to do in my nature. That’s what you want to do, because I am a sinner and so are you. It’s a natural thing. It’s easy to do that. I’m not naturally patient. I don’t naturally stand firm. I don’t naturally say positive words. I naturally rip people apart and so do you. But we are talking about on a supernatural realm. We are talking about what can occur if you understand who you are in Christ, if you understand that you are rich, baby, rich. We are talking about M-patience.
Now look at James 5:12, he gives us another command. He says, “Above all, my brothers, do not swear.” Isn’t that interesting? P&S strikes. We are impatient, usually, right? We don’t stand firm. We wig out. We usually grumble. Then what do we do last? We swear. We just rare back and swear. We make all these promises to God.
“God, I will serve you for the rest of my days if you will get me out of this one. I’ll be a missionary.”
Or, we will say when we are talking to someone, “I swear to God,” or “I swear,” or we will take God’s name in vain.
What does it mean to swear? You might want to jot this down. To swear means to use some sacred term or something sacred to back up what you are saying.
James says, “Above all…do not swear—not by heaven or by earth…” Some people might say, “Well, I won’t swear by heaven. I’ll swear by earth.” Well, God made both heaven and earth so to swear by either one is equally bad. James continues, “Or by anything else. Let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No,’ no, or you will be condemned.”
If you are hanging out with someone and they swear all the time by saying, “I swear to God” or “I swear,” don’t trust them. Beware when people swear.
Or, don’t ever ask God to damn something. When you ask God to damn something, you are asking God to do something he does not do. God does not damn anyone or anything to hell. We have that option. We choose that course.
The other day this guy that I was talking to was asking God to damn everything in his conversation. I was thinking this guy does not get it. He does not understand it. Here, the creature is telling the Creator what to do. Don’t swear.
In verse 9, I skipped a line that I want to come back to, and I skipped it purposely. Don’t miss this one. Talking about grumbling and swearing during P&S, here is what James says, “Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” That’s Jesus. He is standing at the door listening. He is listening to what I say and what you say during P&S.
“Well, is that saying, Ed, that I should fake it? Is that saying that I should have this Alex-Trebek-fake-game-show-host type smile during pain and suffering, like it’s not bothering me, like everything is fine and dandy?”
No. The Bible says we should pour our hearts out to God, even express anger to God. Say, “God, what’s up? I don’t understand it.”
But at the end of the day, we have got to trust him and realize that God is listening. He is standing at the door. He is waiting to open the door and invade our P&S, our pain and suffering. God is listening.
Speaking of how God listens, a while back, Lisa and I were at a relative’s house. This relative had just had a brand new bouncing baby boy. After a big family meal, she was washing the dishes and I didn’t realize it, but she had one of those Fischer Price intercoms right by her sink. Lisa and I walked upstairs and we were touring the house. I didn’t realize it but there were monitors all over the house. The little baby was asleep up there and I am walking along saying, “Lisa, man, these relatives are rich, aren’t they? Look at this house, it’s humongous. Must be nice.”
You know, all the stuff you say just to your spouse. I didn’t realize it but everything was echoing throughout the house. She was washing dishes and listening. Then I said the worst thing. I love to look at pictures, and she had some pictures of her in her wedding dress. I said, “Oh, Lisa, has she packed on the weight. She could play for the Cowboys now.” I will not continue. God is listening. He has got some monitors that make those Fischer Price monitors look bad, brother. So be careful what you say.
Patience requires an investment. Also, check this out. Patience also produces a prophet. There is a payoff. This word “prophet” could be spelled a couple of ways: p-r-o-p-h-e-t, the mouthpiece of God, Daniel, Elijah, Noah-type prophets, and also p-r-o-f-i-t, a profit in God’s economy.
Let’s see what James says in verse 10, he says, “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of Lord.” I’ll say it once again, friends, obedience to God does not mean we live a cush life. Just because you are obedient or I am obedient, doesn’t mean that everything is hunky dory, pie in the sky, by and by type living. Yes, our lives are above and beyond the rest, but we will face P&S. Jesus was obedient and it led him to the cross.
Suddenly, when James brings up prophets, I am sure his Jewish audience was saying, “Yeah, man.” Because they understood the prophets. They understood what James was talking about. Think about the prophets and how they persevered. Think about how patient they were. Think about old Daniel. You remember the Dan Man, don’t you? Daniel had to spend the night with Simba because Daniel stood up for God. King Darius set forth an edict and because Daniel stood up for God, the edict expressed that Daniel would have to go to a slumber party with Simba. What happened? Did God leave Daniel? No, he didn’t. God showed up. He invaded the situation. He spent the night with Daniel. Daniel was patient and ultimately, Daniel became one of the greatest men of God ever.
How about Elijah? Elijah and King Ahab had that confrontation and Elijah went through a drought. Even though he was obedient to God, he went through a drought. What did God do? Did God leave him in the lurch? No. God had some ravens deliver Domino’s to Elijah. Not Domino’s, but the ravens did drop off a little food. That was a little joke there.
How about Noah? Remember Noah? God asked Noah to preach righteousness for 120 years. Noah preached his little heart out for 120 years and didn’t have one convert. You talk about patience. God delivered Noah because he spared him on the ark.
We see this over and over again, prophets were people who spoke on behalf of God.
Now look at verse 11, “As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.”
That is so paradoxical, in a way. But that’s true. I consider them blessed, those who have persevered. I know a family in this church who are going through a horrific time of P&S. Horrible. Yet, their faith is so deep and so rich, so entrenched here at Fellowship Church, and as you talk to them, you can see God all over them. They have days of questioning, days of doubt, days of tears yet, their faith is contagious. Every time I see them, I think, “God, what an inspiration.” I say to myself that I don’t think I could have that kind of faith if that happened to me. I really don’t. I pray, “God, if something like that happened, I pray I could.”
So patience requires an investment. It produces a big profit. Also, patience has a payoff. There is a payoff for patience. You have got to talk about the payoff.
James 5:11, “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
Let’s think about the payoff for patience. I love to fish. The patient fisherman catches the biggest fish. Have you ever watched the World Series? The patient batter gets the best hits. The patient investor makes the most money. Job was a patient man. What happened to Job? The Old Testament talks about it. Job was a man who was a major player, a heavy hitter, financially. In two days, he lost his companies, his children were killed, he got a horrible disease, and then his beautiful wife snuggled up next to him and said, “Hey, Job, curse God and commit suicide.”
The entire book of Job, for the most part, is Job’s running dialogue with God and some friends. These friends were just ripping on Job about God and ripping on God. Job remained patient. He had days of distress, days of the big why question that he lobbed at God, yet because of his patience, God gave Job a double portion of his blessings. And Job ended up in an amazing set of circumstances. Job was patient. He was macro therma, long fused and he had a deep and mature faith.
Now, here is how I know that Job had M-patience. In Job 42:5, Job said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” Job had known about God, but, because of his pain and suffering, he could truly see God for who he really was and experience his power.
So, we could shut the Bible right now and say, “This is a pipe dream because I can’t do it. I cannot do this in God’s economy. I’m going to be bankrupt, Ed. I cannot handle P&S on my own. I’ve tried to be patient. I can’t. I’ve tried to stand firm. I can’t. I’ve tried not to grumble. I can’t. I’ve tried not to swear. I can’t.”
That’s right, you can’t. I can’t either. We can’t do it on our own. We can’t do it in the natural. But the Bible says in the supernatural, we can.
1 Peter 2:19-20, “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience towards God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.” Turn to your neighbor and say, “Finds favor.” Look at verse 20, “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.” This phrase “finds favor” comes from the Greek, charis. Charis is grace. It’s something we receive. It’s a gift from God. The moment the cosmic transaction takes place, the moment we have a penny’s worth of faith, the moment we grow in our M-patience, what happens? We have this payoff, this supernatural infusion of patience that comes through our lives and exudes and bleeds out into every situation, even the tragedies and the pain and the suffering of life. That’s what happens.
To illustrate this, let me show you the payoff with this big blank check. There’s a payoff for patience. If I am a Christ-follower, I can tap into this phenomenal trust fund. Here’s the payoff during pain and suffering. [Looking at a prop of a big blank check] I like this, Jesus Christ, 777 Street of Gold, Cloud Nine, Heaven. Pay to the order of, let’s just write in “Christ-follower.” How much? Well, let me think, “unlimited.” We could put zeros everywhere, all over this, unlimited.
There is a payoff to pain and suffering. We have a blank check from God. Now, if you are outside the family of God, you don’t have this, but supernaturally, if you are in the family of God, you have the payoff.
“Okay, I’m living for Christ, Ed. I feel the this infusion of patience in my life. It’s exuding into all of my pain and suffering. But what kind of a payoff do I get with this blank check from God?”
Well, here is what it is. Take out a pen or a pencil and write the word “check” vertically, c-h-e-c-k. We are going to do an acrostic. You know, Fellowship Church is known as the church of the acrostic. That’s a little joke. Go ahead and write the word “CHECK.”
“C” stands for character. When I diesel through pain and suffering, it’s going to build huge character in my life. My “yes” will be yes, my “no” will be no, and I will be a person of big time integrity. When God plants trials in my life, when he allows them to happen, when he plows up the soil, I will develop character. I can’t have perseverance or patience unless I’m going through trials, right? Perseverance doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I will develop character. I hate to tell you this, it’s not fun, but looking back in the rearview mirror of my life, I’ve learned more about character during difficult times than in good times, and so have you. That’s “C.” “H” stands for heaven. Heaven is going to be an ultimate place, an awesome place. The pain and suffering we are enduring here, I don’t care how much it is, it’s not even a blimp on the radar screen compared to the joy in heaven. That’s how great it’s going to be.
“E” stands for empathy. This is huge. When you go through pain and suffering, it will give you the opportunity to empathize with others. Some close friends of Lisa and I are going through a tough time in a relationship. They have had someone they trusted totally knife them in the back, and take advantage of them. Years ago, as I have told you before, Lisa and I had someone we trusted, someone who was so close to us, do the same thing. While it was happening, I said to myself, “How can God use this?” I’ll tell you how he is using it now. I am able to help this person, and so is Lisa, through this time because we can empathize with them. I am so excited to see how people are empathizing with others here at Fellowship Church. There are parents who have lost children and you are empathizing with others who have lost children. There are people who have gone through chemo. You are empathizing with others. The list is limitless. Empathy is a big part of pain and suffering.
Also, “C”, we can become a commercial. I mean, when everything is going fine, when it’s a bull market, and we’re making money, and we’re healthy, wealthy and all that, that’s fine. But what happens when the roof caves in? What happens when we hit P&S? People are watching us. Is it real, this faith in Christ, or is it Memorex? Which one is it? I pray that we are real, because people would rather, I love this, would rather see a sermon than hear one. I know I would. Right now, you are probably saying, “Okay, Ed, I’m about ready for you to end this sermon.”
“K” stands for knit. Suffering knits my soul with Christ. It knits my soul with others. Jesus was a suffering servant and he was acquainted with sorrows. We can be acquainted with some of those same things. That’s the blank check that we have in Christ. It’s a pretty cool deal.
Let me show you something else about pain and suffering. This is a tube of Aquafresh Toothpaste. Hopefully, you use it regularly. What happens when I squeeze the tube of toothpaste? What comes out? Whatever is inside, the toothpaste comes out. I squeeze it and the toothpaste comes out. What happens Christ-follower, what happens believer, when God squeezes you? What comes out? God wants to see himself come out. He doesn’t want to see grumbling. He doesn’t want to hear swearing. He doesn’t want to see people who are impatient. He wants to see people who are not shaky but people who stand firm.
M-Patience, that’s God economy. In God’s economy, we are rich and we have what it takes to face P&S.