Delayed Gratification
The Book of James • Sermon • Submitted
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Let’s pray:
Holy, Living, and ever present God, speak to us today. Speak to us your everlasting truth from your Word that we may hear and know; know and understand; understand and apply. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. We ask this through your Son Jesus who paid the price of our sins, and is the way of our salvation. AMEN.
In the 1960’s, an experiment was conducted. Children were brought into a room one at a time and sat at a table. On the table in front of them was a marshmallow. The researcher told the children he was going to leave the room and that if the child did not eat the marshmallow while he was away, then they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow when he returned. However, if the child decided to eat the first one before the researcher came back, then they would not get a second marshmallow.
The choice was simple: one treat now or two treats later.
The researcher left the room for 15 minutes.
If you’ve seen the footage they filmed of the children waiting it’s pretty funny. Some look so tortured as they do every thing they can think of not to eat the marshmallow. Others jump up immediately and eat the marshmallow. Those that waited got their second marshmallow, those that didn’t wait didn’t.
The really interesting part came later. The researchers followed these same children for 40 years. Over and over again the group of children that waited for the second marshmallow succeeded at a higher rate by every measure they tested than those who didn’t.
I share this story because I believe it applies to our passage today in profound ways. It shouldn’t be a surprise any longer, but still I am often struck by how the truth of Scripture is proven again and again by our human studies.
Our Scripture today comes from the Book of James, chapter 5, vss. 7-12
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 remained 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. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
This is a reading from God’s Holy Word
Thanks be to God.
Delayed Gratification
Delayed Gratification
How patient are you?
How patient is God with you?
Your answer to the first question is likely very different than your answer to the second.
James begins:
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.
Those dreaded words, “Be patient.” In our instant gratification culture it seems no more tortuous words can be uttered.
When our communities went into full lock-down mode during this pandemic I phoned my sister for an old recipe we had for Banana bread. I’m told this has been a staple for us during our lock-down, and just the smell of it baking brings a bit of heaven here to earth…but I digress.
As I dutifully followed the recipe, I pulled the bread from the oven, and mm, mmm, mm, mm, mmm - that heavenly aroma filled the kitchen. As I let it cool in the bread pan I read the final notes on the recipe. “Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan, cool thoroughly on a wire rack.”
I’m thinking, “Oh, this is going to be SOOOOOO good,” and then I read these words, and I quote: “Wrap and store overnight before slicing!”
Say What!?! Overnight!? Suddenly I turn into Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka, “I want it now!!!”
Now folks, this recipe is a great recipe for banana bread. And I don’t want to brag, but I make it pretty good. To wait feels like torture. And it makes a significant difference in how good the bread tastes. If you can wait a day, it pays dividends in flavor.
In verse 8, James says it again:
You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
In this short passage of 6 verses, three times James turns to the theme of patience. Be patient, v. 7; be patient, v. 8; and again “patience” in vs. 10. Perhaps we ought to be paying attention?
In vs. 8 James adds, “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Jesus’ return is imminent.
In vs. 9, James returns to the themes of grumbling or judging our brothers, and who is the actual judge that he spoke of in chapter 4. He emphasizes the return of Jesus as the Judge standing at the door.
Life does bring trials but no one is served by the cultivation of a spirit of complaining. Complaining, says James, leads not to peace but to disorder, and does nothing to alleviate the real problem.
Vs. 10 points the reader to the prophets - so there is some expectation of knowledge of the Old Testament.
Vss. 11-12 conclude the passage:
Behold, we consider those blessed who remained 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.
Oh, the patience of Job. That is one that I don’t want to have to live up to. And in reality, we have friends and relatives much like those of Job. Job’s friends and even his wife told him to abandon his faith in God, to simply curse God and die. And as you read it, you think, “Why would they give such horrible advise?”
Yet think of the advise we get in this world.
“You deserve better...”
“You should sue...”
“You have a right...”
Judgment is everywhere, patience is not. Forgiveness does not even seem to be in the playbook.
Thus we are thrown back again to the wisdom shared with us in chapter 4 of James,
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
James constantly points us back to Jesus. Jesus is the Judge, Jesus is the one we serve. Jesus is the one who will return.
In the context we also cannot miss the fact that James is writing to those who are in the Christian community. Our passage today immediately follows his warnings to the rich. The haves, who )whether intentionally or not) have oppressed the have-nots. And often these two groups are brothers and sisters in Christ.
How are we to behave towards one another? It’s easy to just assume that those our oppressors or even those we oppress are not in the family of God. As if that would make any difference. Is there forgiveness to be given?
In the book The River Beyond the World by Janet Peery, she touches on the theme of forgiveness in a very biblical way. The book is about Luisa, a young girl who lives with her mother and her Aunt Chavela. Her aunt is cold and often cruel to young Luisa.
Once, when her mother was grinding corn, Luisa asked why Chavelas was so mean. “Hearts are made two ways,” her mother said. “Some are full with what they’re given, no matter how small, and others can’t forget what they can’t have.”
“She’s mean,” Luisa insisted. “And that’s a sin.”
Her mother stopped to cool the mano, then sprinkled kernels onto the metate and blew on them to give them courage. She shook her head. “Forgive her.”
“She never asks.”
Her mother shook her arms, then resumed rolling. The corn crunched between the stones. “All the more reason.”
Peery, Janet, The River Beyond the World (New York: Picador, ©1996) p. 9.
Being patient and living a life offering forgiveness to others is a life of long suffering. Luisa justified her anger and condemnation of Chavela. It would be unnatural for Luisa to forgive her aunt, yet that is the counsel her mother wisely offers. And indeed it is the counsel offered by James.
When we grumble against one another, when we judge other people’s hearts it tends to do them less harm than it does us. We know what happens when we hold on to anger, could the same be said when we hold on to our judgments of others?
I think this points us back once again to our self-examination. and that brings us to vs. 12.
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
How often do we want to qualify our yeses and noes? Doesn’t that condemn us?
We want to cleverly weave around the absoluteness of those terms, but God knows the truth. And so do we. I’m reminded we judge ourselves by our intentions and everyone else by their actions.
Again, why do we insist on looking at the speck in our brother’s eye when all the time there is a log in our own eye. Jesus’ advice was clear, “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3 & 5).
We all need to be better whittlers. Whittling takes patience.
I am a work in progress, and so are you. Part of our progress is growing in patience with ourself as we work on our stuff, and part of it is growing in patience with others as we work on OUR stuff.
You cannot change another person, you can only work on yourself. May Christ continue to shine the light into our hearts and lead us in that work. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Delayed Gratification
Delayed Gratification
Sovereign God, Holy Judge, please have mercy on our judgmental and impatient souls. Thank you for your patience and long suffering with us in our wayward ways. Give us the courage to look in the mirror in the light of your grace to face the things in our lives we need to change, the strength to make those changes, and the wisdom to whittle on the logs that have blocked our vision for so long. We pray this in Jesus name. AMEN.