three little babies at home, and I wanted to get home to my beautiful bride, and I didn't want to wait. And I did a lot of grumbling and complaining. And I waited, but I remember being angry. I don't know about you, but I'm not that good at waiting. Sometimes Amazon's two-day shipping is too long. James, in our text today, has a lot to say about waiting. As we read the text, I want you to keep this question in mind. How do we wait for Christ's imminent return? How do we wait for Christ to return? So today we're continuing in our series in James. We're nearing the end. We're in chapter 5. In fact, we only have two more Sundays in our series in James. And so let's look at this text together from James chapter 5 beginning at verse 7 through 11. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful." The word of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this, your word, and we ask that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, so that we may behold wonders therein. For we pray this in Christ's name, and amen. How do we wait? James says we wait patiently and we wait without complaining. Since God, since Christ will come again to judge the world, we must wait with patience without complaining. Now I want to do something a little different. So I want you to take your pencil out, your pen, put your seatbelt on because we're going to do a little bit of theology today. And I don't want you to get nervous, but we're going to use some $10 words. And I'm going to explain them, but I want you to have these in your toolbox, because I think they're important. So we're going to spend a considerable amount of time dealing with eschatology. Eschatology is that big theological word that just means the study of last things, the study of end times. And I don't like to use the word end times because it makes me think of left behind and all that end times madness. And that's not what I want you to think of when you think of eschatology. So we're gonna reshape what you think about eschatology in this study of last things as we look at our text today. We're going to hone in on this little section in verse seven where he says, be patient therefore brothers until the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord, that's a very pregnant statement. Literally in the Latin it means Advent, right? Coming. We know we think of Advent around Christmas time and the incarnation and the birth of our Savior. But it has such, it's just a simple word in Greek, but it's packed with so much meaning, the coming of the Lord. And it's developed a rich theological meaning over the years. So we're going to trace out how the New Testament develops that coming of the Lord so we can better understand what James is saying here. You see, in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there was a period of 450 years of silence. where God did not speak. There was no prophetic witness. But the people of God were not silent. They were busy. They were busy forming theological camps. They were formulating ideas concerning eschatology. That is, what would it be like when the Messiah came? What would He be like? What would He do? What would He accomplish? And they read through the prophets and they And because 450 years elapsed, they developed into schools of thought. Those who thought this way, the Messiah would come and do this. And others who thought he would be like this. And so by the time that Jesus or John the Baptist begins to proclaim the coming of the Lord is at hand, the Messiah is coming, preparing the way, he's preaching that into a context that is teeming with expectation. They're waiting for the Messiah to come. But they have all these preconceived notions of who the Messiah would be and what he would do and what these latter days these last things would be. And so when Jesus speaks into that, he frequently upsets their notions of both who he is as the Christ and what he would do. What we find if we trace this theme of eschatology, that is the study of last things, throughout the New Testament is that the world can be sectioned into two ages. two ages. We call this in our present day B.C. and A.D. Before Christ and Anno Domini, the year of our Lord. Now, I know that in our secular culture they're pushing to get rid of that structuring of history. But that's okay. They can say B.C.E., A.C.E. It's before Christ's empire, after Christ's empire. I'm fine if you want to change it. But the point is, our entire history, the way that we look at the world, is framed by the coming of Christ. But Christ didn't come at the end of the story. He came in the middle. So to understand this, we need to back up a little bit. We need to understand that the aspects of eschatology that the prophets predicted when they talked about what would it be when God restored Israel, what would it be like when the people of God were united, when the lion lied down with the lamb, when there was peace and harmony, when we beat our swords into plows. When the Messiah came, they expected these things to happen, because the Messiah was supposed to bring these latter days in. Well, we're scratching our heads because Christ did come, but yet we still deal with sin. There's still suffering in this world, and war, and pestilence, and animosity, and enmity between both God and man. How can it be said that the Messiah has come if these things have not taken place? This is why Jesus' teaching on the subject is so polarizing, so divisive, so stirring up of their animosity and hatred, enough for them to want to crucify him, because he's not a Messiah that they have created. He ruins their expectations. It's best for us to back up and view eschatology from the storyline of Scripture. And you'll notice I do this a lot. I zoom out because I want you guys to get the big picture. Sometimes we're so focused in on this little letter of James, this one little section in James, that we can lose the forest for the tree, and I don't want to do that. We need to back up and get the whole story. Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21 function as bookends for the whole Bible. And they show a beginning and then where it's ending, where it's going to end up at. We started with Adam in a garden. And Adam was like a priest's king, made in the image of God to rule on God's behalf all of his creation. He was tasked to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. But he failed in his task. He disobeyed God by being tempted by the serpent and giving in to sin. But we fast forward all the way to Revelation 21, and we find that we're again in a garden, but it's a garden city. And we again have an Adam. We have a second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have a lot of other Adams and Eves with him, fellow heirs, those who have all been brought in together as the family of God. And they're vice regents, they're ruling with him in this garden city. And there's no longer any sin or sickness or death, and only righteousness dwells there. So we have all of history is moving from this goal. We lost fellowship in the garden, and we're moving toward the goal of Revelation, which is renewed, renewed creation, fully functioning and accomplishing the goals for which Christ gave it. But Christ coming in the Incarnation was not at the end of the story. Christ didn't come in Revelation 21, but He comes in the middle. In the very middle of the story, He comes. What's with that? He came and He suffered and He died in the middle of the story to fulfill all those eschatological promises and predictions of the prophets. What we've noticed is that not all of them are complete. Beginning with Genesis 3.15, the prophets predicted that there would be someone to come to rescue us from this plight that sin has brought us into. And unlike the first Adam, Jesus was successful in his temptation against Satan. And in his death, he deals the death blow to sin and sin's curse. And in his resurrection, he inaugurates, that is, he begins, he starts the latter days. The giving of the Spirit is then an earnest or a down payment that these things are now ours. But even though he has decisively won, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, we do not yet see all his enemies put under his feet. We long for death, that last of enemy, to be defeated. But the power of death has been defeated. The sting of death is gone. But we still wrestle against sin, our own ongoing struggle with indwelling sin and the sinful systems of the world around us. We don't see the cataclysmic judgment on God's enemies or the eradication of sickness and death and the peace and harmony promised for that blessed latter-day state. So instead of one eschatological day of the Lord, we find the New Testament's teaching what theologians call an inaugurated eschatology. So we've learned two big words. Eschatology is just the study of last things. Inaugurated just means beginning, began. When Jesus came in the middle of history and died and rose again, He began the latter days. We are now in the latter days. There was that present evil age that Paul talks about under the Law and the Old Covenant, but that time has passed away. In the death of Christ, we are now living in a state that theologians call the already but not yet. Already we are ruling and reigning as kings and queens with Christ, but not yet fully, because we still wrestle with the ongoing effects of sin. Some theologians use this illustration of D-Day and V-E Day. D-Day was a decisive victory that we won against Germany and the Nazis when we invaded Normandy. But it didn't end the war until VE Day when we completely defeated Hitler's army. Now, like any illustration that breaks down a little bit, it pressed far. But because Jesus' death on the cross did decisively win a victory against Satan and sin and death. But we get a little illustration of it. It's complete. in the death of Christ, but not yet fully realized in the here and now, in the present. It's already done, but it's not yet a full reality. We still look for a coming of Jesus. That's why there's a second coming. The kingdom of God is already present in reality in Christ. But we don't see its reality manifest in our present situation. Then the other question we have comes from verse 8. He says, The coming of the Lord is at hand, and I use the word imminent, which we have used throughout history, to speak about Christ coming soon. Christ's coming is at hand. That means it's right there. It's there. It's so close. How can James and the New Testament authors be speaking about the coming of Jesus is close, it's at hand, when it's been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus left and he hasn't returned? And many generations. How do we not fall into saying what the audience of Peter said? Where is the promises of his appearing? How can it be eminent? Well, we have such a short view of everything because of our finitude. We cannot fathom eternity. But any space of time when measured against the expanse that is eternity is short. Anything! Christ could tarry for another 50,000 years, and that would still be short in comparison with eternity. Remember that the slowness of God is grace, so that more and more people will come to faith in Christ. God being slow to anger is His grace that leads to more and more repentance. So we wait. Now we can get back to our text. We've done a little bit. We've learned some terms. Eschatology, the study of last things. There'll be a quiz. Inaugurated. Beginning. Christ began the latter days. Already, but not yet. The kingdom of God is already, but not yet in full reality. These are important terms because as you'll find as you read scripture, it's all eschatological. It's all moving towards the goal of revelation where we are one with God and the veil of sin and death has been destroyed and we have perfect harmony, where we do beat our swords into plows and plowshares. James gives the example in verse 7 look he says be patient therefore brothers until the coming of our Lord then he gives an example see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains the farmer plants he doesn't get instant results it's not as if he puts the seed in the ground and It's there, the next moment. He has to wait. He has to be patient. He has to wait for the early and the late rains. And Palestine is an arid, dry country. And they rely on these rains that would come in off the Mediterranean. And they have to wait for them. They have to be patient. And they have to trust that God will bring the rain. How then should we be as we wait for Christ's second coming? James says we are to be patient. Patience is a virtue. The word is literally a compound in Greek, long and anger. It's usually translated in the Old Testament as long suffering, slow to anger, slow to get angry, patient. Here it means to persevere patiently and bravely enduring misfortunes and troubles. Six weeks before being shipped off to war, First Lieutenant Billy Harris married his sweetheart Peggy. He was a fighter pilot flying the P-51 Mustang on his last mission over Nazi-occupied Normandy, July 17th, 1944. But because of a series of unfortunate miscommunications, Billy was identified first as missing in action, then killed in action, and then other news was that it may not have been his body. And so the last news that poor Peggy received was that her husband was missing in action. She waited, and she waited. She waited for six decades patiently faithful to this one man she'd only been married to for six weeks. She waited patiently. How are you waiting for Christ's return? Are you patient? James tells us to take as our example in verse 10 the prophets. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. These are men who had a difficult job. They had to go and announce news that was very unpopular. You need to repent and be faithful to God or else. And often they were killed and persecuted and suffered because of that. And yet they endured patiently. They waited and they spoke and they did what God called them to do. How? How did they do that? And why is James using this as an example? Well, they did it because of the message. despite it being unpopular, there was hope always affixed. You see, judgment is not for the purpose just of judgment. Judgment is for the purpose of reconciliation and the hope that comes from reconciliation. And so they always keep in front of their mind the hope that is there for them. Like this in Isaiah 25, after just telling them about the destruction of Jerusalem and how devastating it would be, he then says this in verse 6, "...will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth. For the Lord has spoken, will be said on that day behold this is our God we have waited for him that he might save us this is the Lord we have waited for him let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation the prophets are examples because they knew the hope they knew the eschatological hope that one day A broken, destroyed Jerusalem would be restored and there would be no more pain. There would be no suffering. God would put all of that right. He would take away death forever. There would be no shame. And then they would say, we have waited for Him. We have waited for this deliverance. Now it is here. And with that, armed with that hope, they can endure any hardship. They can do anything. They know where the story ends. The reason I had to work us through a bit of theology and give us an expansive view of eschatology is precisely because eschatology is for ethics. It's not about speculation. It's not about speculating when these things are going to happen. Over and over again, Christ tells the disciples, it's not for you to know, just that it's coming soon. That's not the point. The point is, eschatology is for ethics, for how you live right now. How you put your faith to work. Essentially, I'm saying what Peter said in 2nd Peter 3 11 what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness Again, I ask how are you waiting? Or let me phrase it another way. What if Jesus were to come back right now today this very hour How would you be found? The adage, don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, sadly gets overlooked when it comes to our spiritual fitness. Sadly, some of us have left off patiently waiting and have adopted attitudes of indifference. Remember the context of what James gives this exhortation. The church is being persecuted. They're facing hardships. They're in the midst of a global pandemic. They can't even sit next to one another. They have to wear face masks to worship. The government is telling some of their churches they cannot meet or sing. And they're called to wait patiently. I read your Facebook posts and I hear the anxiety in your voices when you post about this or that topic that is dear to you. But I wonder if before you posted anything you said to yourself, Christ is coming. The judge is coming. Do I need to post this? the judge of the whole world who is going to put right every wrong and put an end to suffering. In light of that, do I need to post this? Does my virtue signaling, whether the left or the right, really prove that I'm patiently waiting? And I would argue that if you did that, if you examined before you posted, you would cut on average, an hour out of your day. Because on average, we spend 144 minutes on Facebook every day. And if you just cut that, just think of what you could do with one hour. It only takes 70 hours to read the whole Bible. Couple months, you could read the whole Bible. You could take that time to pray, to pray about that issue that you're so passionate about. And good, I'm glad you're passionate about those issues. But nobody on Facebook can do anything about them. But Christ can. Christ, the one who is coming, who can put everything that's wrong, right. You could invest in someone else's growth and discipleship in their faith. You could mentor somebody and lead them. There is collective wisdom here of ages and ages of walking with the Lord. And you could use that to build somebody up who's younger into faith. One hour every day. That's what you could save if you just thought about before you spent your time on Facebook. The farmer, in James' analogy, doesn't just plant and then go down to Mexico for vacation. He's tending to the crop, weeding, fertilizing, watering. He's on guard against predators. The patience James calls us to is not one of inaction. It's a militant patience. It knows that the judge is coming. But it's also a patience that recognizes that this life will have suffering. The time between Christ's ascension and his coming again is a time of tribulation. And while I consider myself what's called an optimistic amillennial, that is, I believe that Jesus wins in the end, and I don't believe that he comes back to a church that's just hanging on by a thread. But I'm not so optimistic like a post-millennial who thinks that the church will be the dominant force in the world when Christ comes. I think that at some times in history, the church will be on the ascendancy, and at other times, they will be retreating, and the enemy will seem to have the upper hand. And this tension between good and evil, which characterizes our spiritual warfare, will continue until the end. precisely because I believe that the Christian life is a life of suffering and the battle that characterizes that will rage on until Christ comes again. So don't lose hope. James says, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. In the midst of your pain due to sickness and disease to cancer and injuries, Jesus is coming. In the midst of trauma, broken relationships, abusive fathers and mothers, spouses who abandon their vows, and friends who are always calculating, Christ the judge is coming. In the rising tide of sexual immorality, the push for the continued normalcy of all manner of sexual perversions, Jesus is coming. in the face of secularism's open hostility to the Christian faith. Christ the judge is coming again. We don't lose hope. We're not the people that lose hope. But we wait patiently because we know Christ is coming again. But we don't just wait patiently. James exhorts us that while waiting, we're also not to complain, particularly against our brother or sister in Christ. Look at verse 9. He says, We've already dealt a lot in chapter 4, verse 11 and 12 with judging. And that when we judge or slander our brother, we hold ourselves above the law, even above God. For we make ourselves out to be the standard. But we're not the standard, God is. So when we grumble and complain against our brother, it's a way of venting some of our frustrations that we have against others. But James and scripture in general forbid this kind of complaining. We talked a lot in our Psalms of Lament study about the difference between lament, that is bringing a complaint before the Lord, and moving from that position of pain to a position of trust. There's difference between that and just grumbling and complaining. And often the difference is because those who grumble and complain are often doing it behind God's back. They're almost whispering like, I wish we were just back in Egypt where we had leeks and onions. At least then we had meat. I know we were slaves and the conditions were terrible, but we had onions and leeks. And they complain behind the Lord's back when God is feeding them with supernatural food from heaven and their sandals did not wear out for 40 years. grumbling and complaining. He gives us an example of Job. If anyone had plenty of reasons to complain, it was Job. Everything was taken from him, stripped from him in a moment. But he doesn't complain. He's charged with speaking about things that he could never understand. but not for complaining. Listen to what scripture says in Job 2, 9 and 10. Then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job is an example of steadfastness. If you'll remember from the beginning of our series, I said steadfastness is that stick-to-itiveness. It's faith's grip strength, where you hold on to the promises of God. No matter the trials or the suffering that you're going through, you keep the goal in mind. That's what prevents you from grumbling and complaining. Because what's the opposite? What's the opposite of complaining. Many of us wish that upon placing faith in Christ, we would have been immediately transported into glory, and wouldn't that have been nice? But that's not the way God ordained it. We walk through this valley of the shadow of death, and we learn dependence, and our faith is tested. So we learn endurance, and it produces character in us, and character leads to hope. But that's, it's just not the way God works. He brings us through this life. And in this life, we will both sin against and be sinned against our brother and sister in Christ. And I know being sinned against by a brother or sister in Christ hurts more. You feel it more acutely than somebody who's not in the faith. But it will happen. which makes us even more susceptible to complaining against them. Grumbling and complaining is really just a manifestation of our impatience. We want things to be differently than they are, and often we feel powerless to change them, so we complain. The reason that James gives as to why we should not complain or grumble against one another is the judge is coming. He's the only one that can judge perfectly. We might be complaining about something that is completely righteous. We're not good judges. The antidote to grumbling and complaining is godly contentment. One author says that contentment is a deep satisfaction with the will of God. A deep satisfaction with the will of God. Only when we are satisfied with God's providence, God's will in our lives, as it unfolds, can we prevent grumbling and complaining. We have to have that deep satisfaction, that trust in the will of God, that His kind providence is working all things together for our good. And of course, that satisfaction rests in the fact that we know God is sovereign. And nothing, nothing in our life takes place without His willing it. Peggy had only been married to Billy for six weeks, and she waited 60 years before she even discovered the truth that he had been killed in action. But she waited patiently, not even knowing the outcome of her waiting. But we know the outcome. We know that Christ has already won the victory. And what's more, we have the revelation that V-E Day will be won as well. We know that the battle is over. It's already been decided. It's already written in the inspired word of God. Christ comes and defeats Satan. and all his people, all those who dwell in the city of man, who have not bowed the knee and confessed Christ. We're not going to be caught off guard by some surprise ending, which is what makes our hope so solid and sure. It can't be shaken. Nothing can thwart God's plans. We know the end. It's a beautiful marriage supper of the Lamb, where the bride of Christ blameless and spotless, won't have to wait any longer. We won't have to be patient, and there'll be nothing to complain about. A band that I like called the Grey Havens has a song called She Waits. It's a song about the church waiting. I just want to read a few of the verses. It says, Dressed in chains, now she waits, looking back upon that day when the dawn first held its gaze upon the son and daughter's face. Speaking about the original creation, the church is looking back to the original creation. Verse two, but strange now it seems like some dark and distant dream. Still she hopes and longs to be once again and finally free. She's seen empires come and go, watched the kingdom's children grow. Sparks and embers far from home, born to shine and to behold. Because on her chain is a lock, and the key is the radiance she will see from the light that's going to be cast from the sons and the daughters free. So she waits, she waits, she waits. It's been a long time coming, but she hopes, and she hopes, and she waits. Our call is to wait patiently without complaining, because Christ is coming. And let us, brothers and sisters in Christ, be found on that great day ready, our boots on, ready to meet our Lord. Amen? Let's pray. Oh, Father, we would be found ready And we say, Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus, come. And yet, if you should tarry 1,000 more years or 50,000, we know that it would be for your glory and for your purposes that more and more would be drawn into the sphere of your love so that more and more of your creation would be glorifying you. Nevertheless, we wait patiently, longing for that day when our swords will be beat into plowshares and we will see the lion lie with the lamb. We will have no more sorrows, no more pain, and we will delight in the radiance of the sons of God forever. Hasten that day, Lord, and prepare us so that we would be ready. Teach us to be patient in this time as we wait and to keep and keep us from grumbling and complaining. And we pray this in Christ's strong name, the coming King and Judge and our Lord. Amen.