The Secret to Enduring Injustice
James 5:7-11
February 8, 2015
Last time we met we talked about an exceptionally vile type of person.
It was a person that James said had
“fattened [their] hearts in a day of slaughter”
They were actually told to
“weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.”
They were the rich
But more than that, they were the corrupt rich.
While it is true that “rich” is a relative term,
And it is also true that having money is not a sin in and of itself…
James reminds us that riches are very dangerous.
Loving money (as Paul put it) is a root of all sorts of evil.
And it is definitely that lover of money
That James taught us about last week.
They loved money so much that they:
STORED IT NEEDLESSLY
• Their grain had actually rotted
• Their garments had actually become moth eaten
• Their gold had actually rusted
They loved money so much that they:
SUSTAINED IT UNRIGHTEOUSLY
• They actually saved money by not paying their workers.
• They cheated the people they owed to keep their money in their bank.
They loved money so much that they:
SPENT IT IMMORALLY
• To them money was a means of happiness and so they used it to live luxuriously on earth.
They loved money so much that they:
STOLE IT RUTHLESSLY
• They actually became rich by condemning righteous people.
• They took bribes
• They got rich by hurting the innocent
And James said they were in a world of trouble.
But tonight James moves to the other person in the scenario.
Tonight James addresses that righteous man who was condemned.
Tonight James addresses that worker whose wages were not given.
Tonight James addresses that hungry man who didn’t eat. (hoarded food)
We are dealing with those who have been wronged
And treated unjustly by the world.
Having addressed the culprit, James now addresses the victim.
And James has some very pointed reminders
To give to those who have been shafted.
Before we get into those words, it is probably wise to first examine
The natural fleshly response to such treatment.
Let’s say someone cheats you…
Let’s say someone wrongs you…
WHAT IS YOUR INITIAL RESPONSE?
I know what the world’s response is:
• It is to get even
• It is to fight back
• It is to complain or revolt
That is what the flesh wants – to get instant vindication and gratification for the wrong done.
AND THIS IS WRONG.
Paul said:
Romans 12:17-21 “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Paul emphatically told believers to be different from the world.
Anyone can resort to brutal tactics to earn justice for themselves,
But a believer refuses such behavior.
Instead of taking his own revenge
A believer leaves “room for the wrath of God”
In short, he entrusts his justice to God.
Perhaps now you see why James is addressing this issue with the church.
I’ve told you many times that James is holding the church up next to Christ,
And he is confronting the church on those areas
Where she does not look like her Savior.
And one of those areas was in regard to their revenge, or retaliation,
Or even their complaining.
Might I remind you that Jesus did NOT do these things.
1 Peter 2:21-23 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
No vengeance
No threats
No retaliation
Christ simply “kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
And that is precisely what James wants to see from the church.
He wants those who are suffering
To endure that suffering just like Jesus did.
And incidentally James wants to give you the key to doing so.
Jesus endured injustice by keeping an eye to the Father
And trusting that God would one day set all things straight.
James is going to ask you to do the same
When people take advantage of you.
Tonight James is going to give you
“THE SECRET TO ENDURING INJUSTICE”
We already know we are commanded to do it.
James will tell you how.
And you will know how
When you remember and believe three simple truths.
#1 THE LORD IS COMING: He will deal with your enemies
James 5:7-8
James (as he usually does) gets right to the point.
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.”
The word “Therefore” ties this passage back to the previous.
• James just said that the unrighteous rich have oppressed you.
• But he also said that they have “fattened [their] hearts in a day of slaughter.”
In other words James said that their punishment is coming.
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.”
They will be punished when the Lord comes, you “be patient” until then.
• Don’t take matters into your own hands
• Don’t deal with it yourself
• Don’t repay evil with evil
• Instead wait on the Lord.
HE IS COMING!
Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. “His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”
And because He is coming to judge sinners,
Then you must understand that in that judgment
He will deal with those who have persecuted His children.
Revelation 19:1-5 “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”
Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Christ will deal with them, so you “be patient”
But what does that mean?
“patient” is a Greek word that translates MAKROTHUMEO
“MAKRO” = long
“THUMEO” = anger
Be “long angered”
Exodus 34:6 “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;”
Psalms 86:15 “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.”
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
You get the idea.
It is the opposite of being “hot tempered” it is to be “slow to anger”
The KJV translates it “long-suffering”
Don’t take your own revenge, don’t be “hot tempered”,
Be slow to get angry, be patient “until the coming of the Lord.”
In short, let Him deal with it.
And James even gives you an example of patience.
“The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.”
Farmers are a wonderful illustration of both hope and patience.
They invest in seed, then bury it with nothing but hope that it will grow.
And they have NO CHOICE BUT TO BE PATIENT about it.
They can go out to those fields and scream at that seed
And yell at those plants and stomp on the dirt, but it won’t help.
They have to wait.
And James says, you should be like them.
In short, don’t let any other response even be an option.
Make patience your only option.
“You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
“strengthen” translates STERIZO
It means “to fix or make fast”
Luke 9:51 “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;”
There it is translated “determined”
In other words, make up your mind, set it stone,
That for you revenge or anger isn’t even an option.
Make up in your mind that you will walk like Jesus and not take your own revenge, but will most certainly wait for His coming.
For He is coming!
And He will deal with those who oppress the righteous.
Let me give you the second truth that you should remember,
As you seek to endure injustice.
#2 THE LORD IS JUST: He will punish your disobedience
James 5:9
Here is the flip-side.
• They may have wronged you, and He will punish them.
• But if you punish them first, then you have also been disobedient.
And the Lord will punish ALL disobedience.
(Even if you didn’t start it)
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Maybe that rich man did wrong you first, but if you retaliate,
You will only ensure that you will also be punished.
Sometimes one of my children (who shall remain unnamed)
Can antagonize the other three to a great extent.
Inevitably they will retaliate with physical force.
And they both get in trouble.
The first for antagonizing, and the second for physically hurting
And that is true here too.
Jesus doesn’t play favorites.
Romans 2:11 “For there is no partiality with God.”
And so if you blow it, you’ll be punished too,
For The Lord is coming and the Lord is JUST.
Now, please notice that James isn’t even talking about
Full blown retaliation here.
James says:
“Do not complain, brethren, against one another”
• James doesn’t even mention punching him in the nose.
• James merely says “do not complain”
“complain” translates STENAZO
“to groan or grieve” or “to inwardly express sorrow”
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
Mark 7:34 “and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
Now you could say, well Jesus did it, why can’t I?
Jesus groaned against the effects of sin,
Not against being treated unfairly.
And that is the difference.
Here James is referring to an inner grief or sorrow
That ultimately comes out of your mouth
In the form of a complaint against your brother.
You got mistreated and you didn’t punch him
BUT YOU DID verbally assault or malign him.
TIME OUT!
You mean I just have to take it and I can’t even complain about how unfair it was?
Let’s look back again at the example of Jesus:
1 Peter 2:21-23 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
When Jesus was suffering, He kept His mouth shut.
And James tells us to do the same.
WHY?
“so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.”
He can hear you, and He’ll be back soon.
Don’t cross the line and make His coming
A time for your punishment as well.
Live your life in a manner that is pleasing.
You will stand judgment when He comes,
Make sure you lived right to prepare for it.
Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
2 Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
Matthew 24:42-51 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Judgment is real on ALL people.
Don’t invite it by becoming like those who will be judged.
So if you desire to endure injustice in the right way,
• Then remember that the Lord is coming and He will deal with your enemies,
• And remember that the Lord is just; He will punish your disobedience too.
One third thing to remember:
#3 THE LORD IS MERCIFUL: He will reward your patience.
James 5:10-11
At this point James realizes that patience isn’t all that attractive.
We really like to get vindication.
We like to feel like those who wrong us pay for it.
And so far all James is offering us is a threat
That we better nor or we’ll also be judged.
That is why James continues.
There isn’t just a threat of punishment for retaliating,
But there is a promise of reward for obedience.
And to show that he offers up some EXAMPLES for you.
“As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured.”
Think about those prophets for a moment.
• Isaiah preached and the longer he preached the worse the people got.
• Ezekiel was told that he would preach to “hard-headed” people and God even told him that the people who did listen to him, only did so because they thought he was entertaining.
• Jeremiah had no converts, and only 1 friend, often mistreated and persecuted.
And yet, we honor those men.
We remember those men.
We call them men of God.
No one here honors Balaam, that false prophet who sold out for money.
No one would say he was blessed.
We know that the reward for Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel was great.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 11:32-40 “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
Those men may have been treated poorly on earth,
But they are now rewarded so much in heaven
That we actually consider them blessed.
So know that God rewards those well who patiently endure.
If you want another example:
“You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”
You are all aware of Job’s suffering.
In one day he lost all his livestock, all his children, and all his pride.
The next day he lost his health.
He suffered greatly.
But do you remember “the outcome of the Lord’s dealings”?
Job 42:10-17 “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days.”
God didn’t take anything from Job that He didn’t return in full.
And that is one of the promises that James wants you to remember.
When Jesus returns everything will be set straight.
Matthew 10:26 “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”
Jesus will bring to light all that they did to you,
And they will be punished, and you will be rewarded.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
God blesses those who patiently endure.
God blesses those who leave room for His wrath.
When you are in the middle of hardship and a period of injustice,
Don’t resort to your own revenge.
• Be patient (long-angered) determine that patience is your only option.
• Know that you must live right so as not to invite the Lord’s judgment,
• Know that God will cause the outcome of your pain to be well worth it all.
There is not a person in heaven
• Who regrets patiently waiting on God.
• Who regrets letting God handle everything.
• Who is dissatisfied with any reward God has given.
So when the rich oppress
And when the worldly persecute
Patiently endure it and know that Jesus will return
And will come to your aid and reward your suffering.
