The Long Work of a Good Harvest: Text: James 5:7-11
Introduction: The Disease of Impatience
We live in an age that has declared war on patience. We are the microwave generation, the instant download generation, the generation of same-day delivery and on-demand everything. We have been conditioned to believe that any delay between our desire and its fulfillment is an intolerable injustice. This spiritual malady, this disease of impatience, has seeped into the church like a fog. We want sanctification without suffering, glory without groaning, and the crown without the cross. We want the harvest without the seasons. When trials come, our first instinct is not to persevere, but to complain, to grumble, and to look for a quick exit.
But the Christian life is not a sprint; it is a marathon. More than that, it is agricultural. It is the long, slow, faithful work of cultivating a field. James, having just delivered a blistering prophetic lawsuit against the rich oppressors, now turns to the saints who are being oppressed. He has just told them that judgment is coming for their enemies, that their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. But that judgment has a timetable, and it is God's timetable, not ours. So what are they to do in the meantime, while the wicked seem to prosper and the righteous are afflicted? The answer is the central theme of this passage: they are to be patient. They are to wait with a long obedience in the same direction.
This is not the passive, limp-wristed patience of resignation. This is not grimly hanging on by your fingernails. The word James uses for patience here is related to long-suffering. It is an active, robust, and masculine virtue. It is the steadfastness of a soldier who holds his position under fire, the endurance of a farmer who works his field through drought and storm, and the faithfulness of a prophet who speaks the truth to a hostile generation. James is calling us to a rugged, God-centered perseverance, grounded in the certainty that history is going somewhere and that our Judge is not asleep.
The Text
Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not groan, brothers, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count those blessed who persevere. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
(James 5:7-11 LSB)
The Farmer's Faith (v. 7-8)
James begins with a direct command, followed by a glorious agricultural illustration.
"Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." (James 5:7-8)
The "therefore" links this command directly to the preceding verses. Because God is about to judge the wicked, you must be patient. Don't take matters into your own hands. Vengeance is His. The timeframe for this patience is defined: "until the coming of the Lord." Now, our dispensationalist friends get very excited here and immediately start looking for helicopters in the book of Revelation. But we must read this as the original audience would have. James is writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, likely before the cataclysmic events of AD 70. The "coming of the Lord" in the New Testament frequently refers to a coming in judgment within history, and the most significant such event on their immediate horizon was the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. This was the definitive end of the old covenant age. Jesus Himself used this language of "coming" to describe that very event (Matthew 24). So James is telling them to hold on, because the old world that is persecuting them is about to be dismantled by God Himself.
To illustrate this, he points to the farmer. The farmer is the epitome of practical, hardworking patience. He cannot microwave a harvest. He understands process. He does his work, he plants the seed, but then he must wait. He waits for things he cannot control, specifically the "early and late rains." The early rains in Palestine came in the autumn to soften the ground for plowing and germination. The late rains came in the spring to swell the grain before the harvest. Both were essential. The farmer works, and then he waits on God's providence. He is not idle; he is actively dependent.
This is a picture of the Christian life. We labor, we plant the seeds of the gospel, we disciple, we build, we obey. But the results, the growth, the "precious fruit," are in God's hands. We must trust the seasons of God. Sanctification is a slow growth. The growth of the church is a slow growth. We are called to be faithful in our plowing and planting, and to trust God for the rain. To "strengthen your hearts" is not a call to emotional self-pep-talks. It means to be established in the truth, to set your mind on the objective reality that God is sovereign and His promises are true. And why? "For the coming of the Lord is at hand." The end of their particular trial was near. The Judge was on His way to vindicate them.
The Prohibition on Grumbling (v. 9)
Next, James gives a sharp, practical prohibition that gets right into our business.
"Do not groan, brothers, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door." (James 5:9)
It is a profound insight into human nature that when we are under external pressure, our first temptation is to turn on each other. When the persecution from the outside world heats up, the church often becomes a pressure cooker of internal strife. We groan, we grumble, we complain against our brothers. We get short-tempered. We assign blame. We become irritable. James says to knock it off. This is a serious sin, so serious that it invites judgment.
Why? Because grumbling is the opposite of faith. It is the language of the Israelites in the wilderness. It is a practical denial of God's goodness and sovereignty. To grumble against your brother is to grumble against the God who placed that brother in your life. It is to complain about the providential circumstances you find yourself in. It is to act as though God has lost control of the situation.
And the reason to stop is urgent: "Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door." This is a vivid image of imminence. The verdict is about to be read. The owner of the house is about to walk in. For those persecuting the church, this was a threat. For the saints tempted to grumble, it is a sharp warning. The Lord who is coming to judge your enemies is also coming to inspect His own house. Do not be found squabbling with the other servants when the Master returns.
The Cloud of Witnesses (v. 10-11)
James then provides two Old Testament exhibits as evidence that this way of life is possible and blessed.
"As an example, brothers, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count those blessed who persevere. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful." (James 5:10-11)
First, he points to the prophets. The prophets were not popular motivational speakers. Their job was to speak God's word "in the name of the Lord," and this frequently got them mocked, imprisoned, beaten, and killed. Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern. Isaiah was, according to tradition, sawn in two. They suffered precisely because they were faithful. Their lives were a long battle against a rebellious people. Yet, they endured. They persevered. They are our example of what it looks like to suffer for righteousness' sake and not give up.
Second, he brings up Job. Now this is interesting, because if you read the book of Job, you find him doing a great deal of complaining. He questions God, he laments his birth, he argues fiercely. So in what sense is he an example of perseverance? Job's perseverance was not in his flawless emotional state. Job's perseverance was that he never abandoned God. Though he was hammered to within an inch of his life, though he lost everything, though his wife told him to curse God and die, and though his friends gave him terrible counsel, he clung to God. In his darkest moment, he said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15). That is the heart of perseverance. It's not the absence of struggle, but the refusal to let go of God in the struggle.
And James points us to the glorious conclusion: "and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings." With Job, the outcome was double restoration. God vindicated him and blessed his latter days more than his beginning. This is a pointer to the great reality that God is weaving all our trials into a story that ends in triumph. He is not a distant, stoic deity. He is "full of compassion and is merciful." The Greek here is wonderfully expressive. He is poly-splagchnos, literally "much-boweled." It speaks of a deep, gut-level compassion. He is not just forbearing our suffering; He is intimately and tenderly involved in it, working it for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory.
Conclusion: The Harvest is Coming
So what is the takeaway for us? We are not first-century believers awaiting the fall of Jerusalem. But we are still in the time between the seed and the harvest. We live in a world that is increasingly hostile to the claims of Christ. We face trials, persecutions, and the daily temptation to discouragement.
James calls us to be farmers. We are to do our work faithfully. Plow the hard ground. Plant the seed of the Word. Water it with prayer. And then we are to wait with active patience for the Lord to bring the growth. We are to strengthen our hearts by remembering that the Judge is at the door. History is not a random series of events; it is His story, and it is building to a climax where every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
We are to look to the prophets and to Job. They are not just historical figures; they are family members, part of that great cloud of witnesses cheering us on. They testify that it is possible to suffer and remain faithful, and that God's outcome is always compassionate and merciful.
Therefore, do not grumble against your brother. Do not grow weary in doing good. Strengthen your hearts. The Lord is near, His purposes are good, and the harvest is certain. Let us be found faithful in the field.