James 5:7-9 Bible Teaching

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Alright we left off with James opening fire on the rich who were picking on the Saints scattered about the area.

We left off with two verses we still have to cover aimed at them – verses 5 and 6 which say:

James 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

Then, after having warned them over and over again about the approaching time when their riches would fail them, he seems to then, at verse seven, switch gears and begins to speak to the believers, saying:

James 5.9
Meat
May 24th 2015

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

Alright lets drop back to verses 5 where we left off last week with James laying three charges on the rich, saying:

Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, (we covered that at length)

and been wanton;

and ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

And have been wanton – they have been a deep fried piece of dough. A terrible thing to be before God – couldn’t resist.

To us wanton conveys lewd sexual depravity but formerly it was used to convey happy festivities – frivolities.

The Greek word used here again means to live luxuriously or voluptuously.

In 1st Timothy 5:6 we read the same word to describe widows who live in what is described as self-pleasure or luxury – not gross criminal pleasures but what we might call “high living.”

The connection is to the previous verses – its hard to indulge in high living and not let the attitude and actions that accompany such to flow over on the heads of those who are living like servants.

I’ve always believed you can learn a lot about the heart of others by the what they treat what we might call the help.

While I was trying to make ends meet after leaving the brokerage business and attending a school of ministry and writing Born Again Mormon I was exposed for several years to two entirely different worlds on a weekly basis.

On Monday nights through Wednesday mornings I was in Salt Lake City hosting a live television show.

Within six months I was recognized almost daily with autographs being requested and great compliments placed on my shoulders.

But on Wednesdays through till the following Mondays I would return home either to being a lowly parking attendant collecting parking fees from park visitors.
Or as a security guard at night so I could work on homework.

Pretty low positions on the social ladder.

On one occasion while working as a security guard I was notified that the business next door was throwing a party and the people attending were parking illegally in our lot – that I’d better go over and make an announcement.

So I go to the business next door – a small clothing company known as VOLCOM who was in the midst of their annual bash. They were being wanton to say the least.

Walking through the maze of mechanical bulls tossing surfers into pools of beer and models sauntering about in nearly nothing I could feel the mockery from any who caught a glimpse of my stylish polyester uniform.

I was directed to the guy in charge – a tall lean tan handsome 25 year old who, after learning of the situation, put his hand on my shoulder and asked me to make the announcement. He seemed to think it would be pretty funny.

The music screeched to a halt and the kid yells, “Hey, we have an announcement from the security guard from next door.”

Not well received. “Move your cars or get towed.” What made the situation most uncomfortable was the distain for my very person.

I wanted to scream, “Hey, in another land not far from here you might really accept me.” I didn’t. Instead I learned yet another lesson on the way we treat others who appear different, or less, than ourselves.

James adds:

“Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter” meaning, “you have nourished yourselves (with the word “hearts” here being equivalent to their own persons).

The imagery is fairly grotesque – James seems to intimate that the lives of luxury they have lived have amounted to them living like pampered animals who are being fattened up only so they can be killed or slaughtered.
Makes me think of Kobe beef, those special bovines of Japan that are pampered and fattened up (the fat percentage of Kobe is higher than other beef and it also melts at a lower temperature).

This appears to be James parallel – these rich folk living in pre-destroyed Jerusalem – were like fatted cattle who trusted in their riches and luxury (while picking on the believers) wholly unaware that the slaughter coming in the day of vengeance was going to fall on them fast and hard.

Verse 6
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

This is a fascinating verse because all of the literal translations that I consulted say that this should be read as:

“You have condemned and killed the Just One,” (or the Righteous One – both capitalized) “and he doth not resist you.”

In other words James is saying that these rich people of that day were the ones guilty of Killing Christ, not just the believers – but Christ Himself – and I personally believe that this is the best reading of the passage.

James adds:
“and he doth not resist you.”

We don’t really know what it means. If, when James says that they had condemned and killed the justified by Christ we might think that this added line means, “and they have not resisted you.”
If the translation should read, “You have condemned and killed the Righteous One,” then the added line could mean:

“And he (Jesus) did not resist you when you did it” OR it could also mean, “and He (meaning God) “has not poured His wrath out upon you . . . yet for doing so . . .but it’s a comin just around the bend!”

Whatever it means it is the last warning James gives to this crowd. At verse seven he appears to launch into encouraging the believers and he does in the context of what he has already said, saying:

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

We cannot help but notice that James absolutely was convinced that Jesus second coming was in view.

This would not be any other kind of coming UNLESS! (and I admit this could be a valid unless) but unless the coming of the Lord that James speaks of was not a second coming but a coming to bring vengeance on the House of Israel.

Admittedly, this could be true.

In any case the believers were growing weary of the treatment – and after warning the rich strongly in verses 1-6 its almost like he turns his face from the mocking crowd and looking at the believers says:

“Be patient therefore, brethren.”

Meaning in the face of the wrongs mentioned in the others verses.

Be patient in the face of what these others are doing to contribute to your suffering.

“be long-suffering, or let not your patience be exhausted.”

The Lord touched on these characteristics in the sermon on the mount which always go a long long way to convicting me.

Remember what He said?

Matthew 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

James began by warning the rich that their commupense was a heading their way, but at the same time he counsels the believers that in the face of their trials they need to be patient, and longsuffering and forgiving.

In other words, meshing in the words of Jesus, it’s easy to love and get along with people who we like and love and enjoy – even the publicans do that.

The trick, or the Christian – in and through the love and blood and power of the Spirit – ought to extend the same welcoming spirit and heart to the unloved, the difficult, even enemies.

Really, really tough to do because our flesh gets in the way. And so we will find that the most mature in Christ will have the greatest advances in these areas because they have better learned to walk by the Spirit and not the flesh than the babes.

Of course, as in the case of this teacher, the flesh has the ability to rise up and take charge at a moments notice if we are not vigilant in keeping it buried.

James tells them to “be patient unto the coming of the Lord.”

One commentary interprets this passage in the following manner:

“The coming of the Lord Jesus—

either to remove you by death, or
to destroy the city of Jerusalem and bring to an end the Jewish institutions, or
to judge the world and receive his people to himself.

Depending on your eschatology the verse will be understood in different ways.

Without question the coming must be seen as the Second Coming of the Lord to which James is referring.

Some rationalize this and suggest that this second coming is not THE second coming but is just His coming to bring judgement to the house of Israel.

If you believe this its fine. Not a hill.

But I teach this passage this way:

The physical economy of the nation of Israel was being wrapped up. James was promising the believers in that day that He was coming to save them in the same way futurist have promised the Christians that Jesus is coming to save us.

I would suggest that Jesus already came AND saved us and that we are all being commanded to patiently endure – with longsuffering and love – until He comes to take us again PERSONALLY and INDIVIDUALLY.

Agree or disagree we cannot argue that James was using the Second Advent of Jesus to encourage the suffering believers of relief and the believers of that day were taught to expect Him.

Then at this point James uses an illustration regarding the point he just made, saying:

“Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

A farmer waits patiently for the grain to grow. It requires time to mature the crop, and he does not become impatient – and imagine if he was – that’s a great short story, isn’t it? – “the impatient farmer.”

It’s the story about a man who buys a hundred thousand acres of choice Idaho farmland, huge machinery to plow the earth, mass quantities of soil treatment and additives and natural insecticides – and silos to hold his harvested crops.

And he plants. And after extensive irrigation he sees a half inch of growth sprouting from the soil.

He is so excited he runs and starts pulling the sprouts up and laying then in a trailer.

And at the end of an entire day of pulling he find himself holding a small pile of whithered roots and shoots.

James is reiterating the principle that says we should wait for things to develop themselves in their proper season, and should not be impatient before that season arrives.

Think about this.

In harvesting wheat or corn or asparagus – which takes years to grow there is NOTHING under the sun that a farmer can do to expedite the harvest.

He has to wait on the sun, the wind, the seasons and the like to do their work.

He has to wait for the seeds planted to respond.

He has to wait – patiently.

If this is the case of common agriculture what could we say about God working on us to ripen and ready and prepare us for his purposes?

After instructing his reader to be patient he says:

Like . . . “the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth (we are waiting for God to produce in us His precious fruits of love – remember, they are presumably not being loving), and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

In the climate of Palestine there are two rainy seasons, on which the harvest essentially depends–the autumnal and the spring rains–called here (and elsewhere in the Scripture) the early and the latter rains.

(Deuteronomy 11:14; Job 29:23; Jeremiah 5:24).

The autumnal (or early rains) typically begin in the latter half of October (or the beginning of November) and not out of the blue but in degrees giving a farmer
The opportunity to sow his fields.

According to those who farm in Israel the rains come mostly from the west or south-west, continuing for two or three days at a time, and stop especially during the nights.

The wind then rolls round to the north or east and they experience several days of nice weather.

Then during the months of November and December the rains continue to fall heavily; afterwards they return only at longer intervals, and are less heavy; but at no period during the winter do they entirely cease to occur.

Additionally, snow will fall in Jerusalem, in January and February, to the depth of a foot or more, but it does not last long.

Rain then continues to fall more or less through the month of March – known as the Latter-rain. And then rarely does it fall after that period until the early rains again appear.

Today the rainy season is pretty much one season. Maybe it was that way in ancient Israel too but it was referred to as the early and latter rain.

So James is telling them that God knows what He is doing. He knows when to harvest and when to wait.

Have patience, he repeats,

“For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”

James was not alone in this proclamation.

Paul said in Philippians 4:5 “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”

The writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:25

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Paul added in

2nd Thessalonians 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Peter said in 1st Peter 4:7

“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”

John the Beloved said in 1st John 2:18

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

It is perfectly clear that the apostles expected that “the coming of the Lord” was soon to occur and it was the way by which His followers would obtain deliverance from the trials which they then endured.

Again, the ramifications of this are highly subjective not because the facts are subjective but because we have trouble with interpreting them.

Again, because I am teaching, I personally believe He established His earthly Kingdom when He returned in 70 AD, that He has ruled and reigned over the hearts and lives and body of His true church ever since, and that every individual has their own second coming resulting in salvation or damnation when they die.

But whatever – let’s rejoice in the fact that He came in the first place and we are known of God as a result.

James continues saying to the believers:

9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

The word grudge used in the King James means in the Greek to “groan or grieve,” as if a person was in distress.

Stenadzo.

It’s used six times in the NT.

It does NOT mean to hold a grudge against each other though the context of the passage seems to infer this.
It means better to not groan or grumble over others.

Paul uses it to describe the believers heart in waiting for redemption and says in Romans 8:23

“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

In the case of Paul’s use of the word it seems the groaning was the result of growing tired of waiting for God to harvest them.

In James use of the word, however, they seem to be groaning against – muttering, murmuring, saying things against their enemies – who may have actually been part of the body at the time.

Paul says something interesting in 1st Corinthians 4:5

“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

This is a fantastic verse folks. If I were ever going to get a tattoo I’d get this. ?

The point is, listen – this is Christ’s church. He is over it and He takes everything into account – matters to which we, as human beings, are not privy.

We can’t say a person is saved or not.
We can’t ever say a person is going to hell, or that another human being is anything of the sort – to be honest, I’m not so sure we can even say another person is good or in good standing with God.

All we can do is take the promises – the assurances, and repeat and utter them to each other and wait in faith and hope and love for God to decide on every matter.

Years ago a noted pastor in southern California confessed of having had an affair and was released from his post with a great deal of public humiliation.

I remember people criticizing Chuck Smith for “restoring the man” back to his position in what many people believed was too soon – I think it was like after a six month period or something.

I found it odd this attitude many of the people around me had toward both pastors – the one who had committed the adultery and the one allowed him back to preach.

The pastor was contrite and humble and remorseful and yet people wanted payment, punishment, time to pass.

Just my opinion but aren’t we all sort of hoping for immediate forgiveness from the God of love? Don’t we teach and preach that He has forgiven us already nearly 2000 years ago?

So where Paul says:

“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

James says:

“Stop yer dammed moanin’ over the other dude” – that’s from the BWT – backwood translation.

We know that he was not happy with their response to whatever was happening because listen to the next line:

9 Groan and grovel not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

We have some key words here:

Groan not . . .
Lest you be condemned . . .
the judge is almost here.

The word condemned is katakrino with kata being down and krino being judged so he is saying:

“Don’t cast judgement against each other brethren less you have judgment cast down on you.”

I am continually perplexed by the paradoxical nature of scripture. In the end the whole thing is utterly humbling and the more I read it the more I am convinced that we do NOT know anything at all.

We preach and teach and make really solid points and stances but in the end I sometimes wonder if we all oughta just be like Job and just sit in the dust scrapping our boiley skin with a potsherd and saying nothing.

Which too would be out of harmony with scripture as well.

What makes me say such a thing.

We push and push grace – we are saved by grace – not of works, not of anything that man should boast.

In line with this we preach and teach that God keeps us, and because He saved us we cannot escape or fall from his grip.

But then we are constantly reading passages like this on in James – ones that make our security in Him conditional.

Drives me bonkers.

So here in verse nine we have one –

“Keep your mourning to yourselves or you will be condemned.”

Matthew 7:1-2

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Mark 11:25-26:

25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Matthew 10:32-33
Jesus is speaking to his 12 disciples

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”

Mark 8:34-38 – And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

John 12:24-26 – [Jesus said] “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

What about John 15 – Jesus and abiding in the vine.

John 15:1-6 – [Jesus is speaking to his 11 disciples minus Judas] “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Quite frankly the list goes on and on and on.

It’s not giving us a definitive theological certainty – it is giving us more to the paradox of being Christians – saved by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should boast.

I suppose all we can say in the face of these passages and the many more that are just like them is we are responsible.

We are responsible to Him.

We are responsible for our willingness to let Him lead, to let Him reign and rule, to allow Him to assume His throne or not.

He has saved – all of us. And we are now in a position to allow Him to reign as King of our lives of not.

Those who do prove? Show? Reveal their love and allegiance to Him?

And those who don’t? We will leave that up to God.

James reassures his reader that they have good cause to hold their tongues patiently by adding:

“Behold, the judge standeth before the door.”

Just another – another – another reiteration that Jesus was coming back and it was so close that James compared Him to standing right outside the door.

Q and A