PREACHED:
“THE POWER OF
PATIENCE”
(James Series #1)
TEXT: Jas 1:1-11
INTRODUCTION:
1» SOMEONE WROTE ABOUT JAMES…
A. “James
was a compassionate church leader but he taught a no-nonsense approach to the
Christian faith. If you’re dealing with habitual sin,
believer, then you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. If you’re not
walking the talk, then you’re nothing but smoke with no fire. There’s a way out
of these ruts, but it takes concentration, diligence and moral sincerity.”
B. For this reason, there is no better way to
start
the year than with a
study of practical Christianity presented in the book of James.
2» WHO…JAMES?
A. Generally believed…brother of Jesus
B. Pillar in
1. Gal
1:18,19. “Then
after 3 years I went up to
C. Mediator…
1. Acts
3» THE RECIPIENTS, V 1
A. Christians of Jewish descent living
outside
1. 2:21.
“…Abraham, our father…”
a. Scattered because of persecution -
1) Acts
8:1. “And there arose a great persecution
against the church in
b. Another,
earlier, dispersion -
1) Deut
28:63,64. “…And
you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of
it. And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth
to the other…”
4» TWO IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF JAMES
A. Practicality and Balance
1. Profess & Do
2. Faith & Works
B. Paul S. Rees, James Speaks for Today:
1. “Blessed are the balanced—That is an
uncannonical
beatitude which serves well to describe this book and its author…The whole
Bible is timely and relevant to every generation of Christians, but James
particularly speaks for today—our day—as he has spoken to each successive era
of the church since apostolic times. Condition of life may be vastly different
from those of the first century; but human personality is very much the
same—and it is with basic questions of personal life, and corporate
relationships that the Lord’s brother is especially concerned.”
C. More than mere theory, James seems to
draw into focus how the mature
Christians are
to conduct themselves
and what should motivate them.
1. As Warren
Wiersbe so effectively put it:
a. “Not
everyone who grows old,
grows up.”
4» CHAPTER
ONE
A. Three
“P’s”
1.
Patience
– (Vs 1-11)
2.
Power
– (Vs 12-18)
3.
Practice-
(Vs 19-27)
B.
Tonight, Patience
, Vs 1-12
DISCUSSION:
1& OUR
ATTITUDE IN TRIALS -
A. James tells his readers:
1. V
2. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when
you meet trials of various kinds…”
B. Peter
also speaks of joy and trials:
1. I
Pet 1:6,7. “In
this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been
grieved by various trials…”
C. “Two men look out from prison bars;
One sees mud, the other sees stars.”
1. Why? Circumstances?
No! Attitude!
D. Once there was an irate woman who
was staying in a very expensive hotel:
1. She stormed down to the desk and shouted,
“I’m not staying in this place a minute longer.
That crazy piano player in the next room is driving me insane with all that
noise he’s making!”
2. The clerk informed her that the man next
door was the famous Paderewske
and he was practicing for his next concert.
a. “Paderewske!” She was so excited that she invited all her friends to
the room, “You don’t want to miss this. A
famous concert pianist is staying in the room next to mine, and I can hear
every wonderful note he plays!”
1) What had changed? Her
circumstances? No! Her Attitude!
E. Phil
2:5-8. “Have this mind among yourselves which
is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not consider
equality with God, a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the
form of a servant. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross…”
2& THE
VALUE OF TRIALS
A. V 3. “…for you know that the testing of your
faith produces steadfastness…”
B. Paul adds more light:
1. Rom
5:3,4a. “More than that, we rejoice
in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance
produces character…”
C. One evening at a church dinner, a
man sat
down next to a woman
with a sparkling personality and they
began to talk about her circumstances:
1. Her husband was an invalid, she had two
sick children, they were plagued with heavy expenses, they had only a small
income, and sometimes she didn’t know where the next day’s meals would come
from.
a. He responded, “You must really be
be
worried!”
b. “At
times…but then I’m always eager to see what the Lord will do with the problems. I know that he’s always seen me through. If my life were robbed of all difficulties,
it would lose nearly all its interest!”
D. II
Tim 4:16,17. “At
my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be
charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that
through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear
it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.”
3& THE
END RESULT OF TRIALS
A.
V 4. “And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you
may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
1. You
see, we’ve got to have trust in the end
result!
a.
But
why is being “complete, perfect,
lacking nothing” so important?
1). V 12. “Blessed is the man who
remains
steadfast under trial, for when
he has stood the test he will receive the
crown of life, which God has promised
to those who love him.”
b.
Notice
again what Peter says in the passage we noted earlier:
1)
I Peter 1:6b-9. “…you have been grieved by various trials, so that the
tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though
it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with the joy that
is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls.”
B.
This
patient steadfastness develops in us the
Image of the Master, and fits us for
heaven!
1. Again see the rest of what Paul says in Romans
5:1-5.
a.
“…and endurance
produces character, and
character
produces hope, and hope does not put
us to shame…”
2. He adds in Rom
creation, but we
also, who have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eager-
for adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen
is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not
see, we wait patiently for it.”
4& FOUR KEYS TO CONQUER TRIALS AND GAIN PATIENCE:
A. Vs
5-12.
1. Prayer – V 5.
2. Faith in God’s providence – Vs 6-8
3. Understanding the frailty of this life
- Vs
9 -11.
4. Focus on the crown – V 12.
“Unanswered
yet the prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father has no heard your
prayer;
You shall have your
desire… Sometime…somewhere
Unanswered
yet?—though when you first
presented
This
one petition at the Father’s throne,
It seemed you could not wait the time
for asking,
So urgent was your heart to make it known!
Though years have
passed since then, do not despair;
The Lord will answer you…Sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered
yet? Nay, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your work is not wholly done.
The work began when first your prayer
was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep
the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see…Sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be
unanswered,
Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands
undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest shock.
She know that Omnipotence has heard
her prayer,
And cries, ‘It
shall be done, Sometime… somewhere…”