Being Patient and Steadfast

“Being Patient and Steadfast”

Scripture Reference: James 5:7-12　

Preacher: Rev. Tony Nofuente    

 Kobe Union Church  

February 9, 2025

Christian life is like a race. Many who profess Christ do not finish. They do not stay the course. Something happens along the way.  

And the Book of James is about being an authentic believer and living out our faith.

Today, we will focus on what it takes to be an authentic believer. And basically, it calls for   being patient and steadfast under all circumstances. We are to stay the course, be patient and remain steadfast no matter what.

James 5:7-12 – 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.

I. The characteristics of being steadfast

A.  Patience and hope

A key characteristic of being steadfast is patience and hope. James used the example of a farmer and I appreciate it a lot because I personally grew up a farmer with my Dad who was a farmer himself. The harvest doesn’t happen immediately after sowing the seed. On a day-to-day basis, nothing seems to happen. Patience is required.

God designed it so there is a time lapse between the work and the result. Through nature, God teaches us the principle of delayed gratification.

The modern world today says, “I want results and I want them NOW”.  But “God never intended things to be this way”. 

  - Moses had to wait forty years in the wilderness after he tried to save Israel for God’s timing. 

  - Joshua and his armies had to walk around the wall of Jericho 13 times waiting for the Lord. 

  - David had to wait around 15 years after he was anointed to become king.

God uses this “wait time” to teach His people patience and the importance of depending on Him.

We have faith in God. We believe in the good news of the gospel. We believe in eternal life and heaven. We believe that all of our sins will be wiped out, that we will be given perfect and glorified bodies, and we will never sin again.

Yet, the final fulfillment of these promises of God is still in the future. God doesn’t say He will do all of these things immediately for us when we place our faith in Him.

In addition to patience, we need hope. The farmer hopes for a good crop and patiently waits for it. We place our hope in God’s promises.

Paul described a group of people in 1 Timothy 6:5 that actually thought “godliness is a means of gain.” These are people who think that God will give them money or health or success immediately when they believe in Him.

And there are many who think so. I read stories of people saying they believe in Jesus expecting they would win a beautiful woman in marriage and immigrate to another country in return. Those who have this mentality will be disappointed. They are looking for instant gratification.

Notice what Paul wrote in his next verse, .....godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

We do gain in this world. Our lives, purpose, and attitude are all changed when we trust in Christ. We already experience many of the blessings, but not all of them. To receive the full promises, we need to be patient.

Patience was a problem 2000 years ago. It is much more of a problem today. The average attention spans of millennials is said to be around 15 seconds. And I read that many users will scroll away if a website takes longer than 5 seconds to load. 

God wants us to stay the course and finish the race. And James tells us that to do so, we must be patient and hope in His promises. Those who are steadfast are willing to wait for Him.

I imagine each one of us is facing a different challenge. But it is likely that each of us has been tempted to be impatient toward God and His promises.

  – Perhaps you are struggling with chronic pain or illness. Be patient. I have been suffering since Oct 19 from the effects of shingles, He has been healing me  one day at a time and I believe one day, I  will be totally healed from the effects of shingles -- I will walk without a limp.

  – Perhaps you are struggling in a difficult marriage or relationship. Be patient. One day you can be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 

 – Perhaps you keep praying for something and are waiting for an answer. Be patient. Perhaps He wants you to learn a lesson while you wait.

My Bros and Sis, impatience can cause us to lose our way.

  – Abraham and Sarah fell into sin because they weren’t patient to wait for God’s promise of a son. 

  – The Israelites were impatient when Moses was on the mountain for forty days. They fell away from God and created their own religion.

Being steadfast is to be willing to wait for Him. Do not let impatience for some earthly thing derail your faith.

B. Focus on you

 As James 5:9 teaches us, another key to being steadfast is to focus on yourself. I don’t mean that in a selfish way of putting yourself first. But if you are in a race, it will not help to look around at others. 

Now, some of our youth like to play sports in school.

  - Does it help you or your team when you complain about the bad calls of the refs?

  - Does it help your team if you stop playing and shout at the other team’s player, “It’s a foul?”

  - Does it help you or your team when you get upset at your teammates and shout out their mistakes?

All of these things distract you and give your opponent an advantage. We need to focus on us and our jobs. Do our best. Do what we should do and don’t worry about others.

James says, “the Judge is standing at the door.” What does that mean? First of all, we are not the judge! God is.  Every one of us will have to give an account to Him. We need to focus on our relationship to the Judge, not on everyone else. We need to do our job and let God do His.

My friends, you would never grumble against or compare yourself with others, right?

Well, even the disciples and Peter did this. We are not any better!

Remember when Peter and the other disciples all thought that Jesus promised John would live until the second coming. Remember this in John 21:21-22 where it says, “When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, (Referring to John) “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

Their preoccupation with John was distracting them from what they should do. To be steadfast means to focus on what you should do and do not be preoccupied with others.

  – Don’t spend time grumbling or questioning why someone else who is “worse” than you got the better deal.  – Don’t spend time grumbling or questioning why someone else less qualified got selected for the job or got the accolade.  – Don’t spend time grumbling about why others don’t do their share of the work.

These can all be distractions which can cause you to lose focus on what God is calling you to do. We answer to Him. Let’s keep our eyes on Him, not on those around us.

3. Trustworthy and reliable speech (v.12) 

James has made it clear in verse 12 that real believers live out their faith in everyday lives. One aspect of that is speech. One should not claim to be a believer and then copy the world’s patterns of speech.

You see, a faithful and steadfast believer should keep watch over his tongue.

James quotes Jesus’ words from Matthew 5:37, when He also warned against oaths. Oaths were not universally banned in the Old Testament as Psalm 76:11 will tell us. But they were considered to be serious and solemn and only to be used in special occasions.

The problem was that even in the time of Jesus, people had tried to find loopholes to exploit, workarounds if you will. For example, a person who swore by “heaven” could break the oath since they didn’t invoke the name of God. There were also other unwritten rules that swearing by the gold of the temple, or the throne of God, were not considered binding. People were leaving themselves an “out” clause. That is similar to a common practice of crossing your fingers while making a promise. Worse yet, make a pledge to give so much every week for tithe and then not do it saying, God will understand.

As we can see, based on the historical context, Jesus, and then James, are both prohibiting these types of oaths. He is reminding people that the Creator is always present. He hears what you say and He also sees your heart. Clever “word games” do not excuse lying.

The world uses a lot of oaths in routine communication. Liars say things like “I swear on my mother’s grave I am telling the truth this time.”

But there is a problem with oaths. If you are normally an honest person, why do you need to swear to convince someone that you are telling the truth? Swearing to convince people of the sincerity of your words actually makes you less believable in general.

A steadfast believer should be clear and honest in speech. Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.”

In other words:

• Be a person of integrity so that you don’t need to persuade people of the truth of your words.

• Think before you make a promise. As we learned in James 4, say if “God is willing” you will do this or that.

• Parents, keep your promises to your children. If you say you will do something for them, do it.

• Only use a vow in a very serious occasion such as a wedding and even then, simply make a straightforward and clear statement of commitment.

Let us pray.