Fathers, Don't Quit

James 5:7-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Father’s Day, June 21, 2020.

It is always my goal to encourage moms and dads in continuing the hard work of being a parent, whether you have young kids, or adult children who have their own.  So, my message to fathers today is simply, don’t quit.  Your family needs you whether it feels like it or not, and whether it looks like it or not.  Don’t quit!

Don’t quit on the Lord

In James 5:7-11, the section serves as a conclusion to a problem described in the earlier verses of this chapter, an unjust world.  James warns the rich, who are defrauding their workers of their wages, as well as condemning and murdering those who have no power to stand against them.  He tells them, “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”  (NKJV). 

It would be easy to be overwhelmed in such a case.  Christians typically were not from the rich class and were quite used to dealing with injustice.  Everyone can reach a point where they feel like quitting in any endeavor.  Now, quitting a bad thing is good and conforms to the biblical message of repentance.  However, quitting on the Lord, His commands and plan, only leaves us without hope.  The world talks a good game, but it always delivers injustice.

James is reminding us that the ultimate judge is coming, the Lord Jesus.  2 Timothy 4:1 says, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom…”  (NKJV).  Jesus came to earth, suffered and died as a human.  It is God the Father’s decree that the man Jesus is to judge all of humanity and all of the heavenly beings as well.  It is fitting that we be judge by one who has been where we have been, and by one who can identify with all that ails us as humans.  He is the perfect and righteous judge.

Don’t join the scoffers who laugh and deride the idea that Jesus will ever come back.  And, don’t join the scoffers, who mock our faith in Jesus, as a pipe dream that makes us fodder for those who aren’t restrained by God’s Word.  Yes, Jesus turned the other cheek and they killed him for it.  We are not promised justice in this life because this world is the result of the choices of humans and fallen spirits.  What we are promised is a day in which all the righteous of every generation will be vindicated and God will settle all accounts through Jesus.  This is not the time to lose your faith in Jesus.  There is no hope in this world that will actually survive the increasing chaos into which we are plummeting.  Only Jesus can help us.

James then gives us the image of a farmer.  The farmer does a lot of work in order to plant seeds, and then he must be patient.  WE don’t always see an immediate effect from our hard work.  This world is hard work:  making a living, becoming one with a spouse, raising your children, and growing old.  The encouragement is that it takes time for hard work that is good to bear fruit.

There is a proper season for all things.  When your kids are young, it is critical to plant good seeds in their life.  You can’t look at your kid in the terrible two’s and say, “I quit; it’s not working!”  I guess you can, but you really shouldn’t.  You shouldn’t look at that angry teenager and quit parenting, if you really care about them.  Yes, kids often do not listen to their parents, and it is easy for parents to become offended, perhaps retreat from the hard work.  This is called immaturity.  There is a whole world around us suffering and just one of the reasons is this.  People in their lives quit trusting the Lord and that the hard work of doing the right thing would eventually bear fruit.  There are many things that will bear fruit in this life, but ultimately, the greatest fruit of trusting the Lord will be reaped at the Second Coming of Jesus.

In verse 8, James tells us to establish, or strengthen, our hearts.  This speaks of fixing yourself internally upon a certain course.  In Luke 9:51, this same word is used of Jesus.  “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” (NKJV).

We need to have a firm resolve and we need to maintenance that resolve.  In a way, the whole book of the Psalms is a case study in righteous people maintaining their faith in God’s ways, even though they were tired of the injustice in the world.  We strengthen our hearts when we spend time in the Word of God and praying.  We strengthen our hearts when we encourage one another.  Anytime I talk with someone who has failed in this area, they confess that they were not maintaining their faith like they should have.  God help us to fix our eyes upon the task at hand and to simultaneously see the finish line where our reward truly lies.

The devil’s design is to wear you down in this world until you just surrender to the system.  You either go along in order to get yours, or you fight against the system in your flesh.  Both choices are a choice to surrender to him instead of God.  I would rather live surrendered to the plans and purposes of Jesus than anyone else on this planet, myself included.

It is God’s intention that fathers would have good fathers themselves, role models that would be a source of strength.  In this day, it is becoming scarcer and scarcer.  In verses 10 and 11, James reminds us about the examples we have in God’s Word.  If you didn’t have a good, earthly father then know this.  You have good, fatherly examples in God’s Word because your heavenly Father knew that you would need encouragement and a model to follow.  Whether Jesus himself, or the man Job, we look up to these men because they endured great hardship.  They were faithful to God when it didn’t seem to help them.

The concept of patience is used several times in this passage.  In verse 8, “Be patient,” the word is literally to be long fused, that is not easily angered.  It is the patience of keeping ourselves from exploding in anger.  However, in verse 10, patience is a Greek synonym that means to remain under the load, that is endurance or perseverance under pressure.  Both are important to patience.  The first is the temptation of our emotions to throw everything aside and protect ourselves.  It is a temptation to do something bad rather than the good you are doing.  In the second, patience is focused on continuing to do the good work, which is a long hard work of persevering things.  We can do so more easily because God has promised us good things on the other side of the hard work. 

So, what do you do if you have failed in this area?  Quit quitting!  When Jesus found Peter fishing after the resurrection, he told him, “Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”  (NKJV).  Yes, in this world you will have trouble, but fear not, Jesus has overcome the world!  May God strengthen us to get up each day and do the hard work of being a father to those whom God has placed in our life.

Don't Quit Audio

We Give Thanks To You, O Lord

We will take a break from 1 Peter today and focus upon this week’s topic of Thanksgiving.  It can be easy to lose hope, joy, and peace as things get difficult in our life and our nation.  However, for us in America, it is important to remember that the first century believers were in circumstances more difficult and under governance that was far more oppressive.  In other words God’s Word can take us through whatever is ahead of us.  Paul wrote the letter of Romans to the believers in Rome.  As he closed that letter he encourages them.  Let’s look at the passage in Romans 15:5-13,

May God Grant Us the Mind of Christ

When you boil verse 5 down you see that Paul is praying for them to not just be like-minded but “according to Christ Jesus.”  Thus the mind we need to share is not yours and neither is it mine.  Rather we are to share the mind of Christ.  Back in verse 3 he had reminded them of this mind that Jesus had.  He did not please himself but rather laid his life down that we might live.  Notice that it is God who “grants” or gives this to us.  How we ought to pray and seek God for the gift of having the mind of Christ with one another.  This very same God is the God of patience and comfort.  Both of these are necessary if we are to live out the mind of Christ.  When it says that he is the God of comfort, it doesn’t just mean that he has a lot of it in his kingdom.  Rather, his very nature is patience and comfort.  Let’s look at patience first.  To remain under a situation is to be patient.  We all will draw the line and say that we will not put up with anything beyond it.  However, the mind of Christ is willing to die in order that others might live.  Are my “lines” from God?  No, they are from my flesh.  As the God of patience, this is what he is building in us, helping us to see our need of patience and its value.  We also need comfort.  Literally the word means to come alongside.  So it can refer to help in any sense: instruction, aid, encouragement, help, defense, or correction.  His nature is to come alongside of others to help.  Thus we can trust God to come alongside of us and wait for his perfect timing in our lives.

The “like-mindedness” is defined by Christ’s words and his actions.  Unity is good, but not in a bad thing.  The Nazi party was unified, but we reject that it was a good thing.  Psalm 2 tells us that there is a global rebellion against God and his Messiah.  This is not a good thing.  Do not join it.  Rather, repent and turn back to God so that you may be saved.  Be patient and receive his help so that we can be the body of Christ in this world.  We need to be unified around Christ, his truth and his actions, so that we can speak with his voice to this world.  Then God will be glorified by us.  Ask yourself do you accept other believers in the same way that Jesus received us?  Think about what that really means.

Jesus Became a Servant

In verses 8-13 Paul reminds them of that mind of Christ.  He served.  First he served the nation of Israel.  Paul refers to them as the “circumcision” because they took great pride in this act of the flesh and how it separated them from the rest of the world.  They thought God accepted them merely because they had cut some flesh off their body (outward action).  Jesus served them by verifying and protecting the truth: God had always received them only because of the faith in their heart.  Jesus had come to confirm that the promises of God were real and would be completed.  Even today, there is recognition that God is raising up Israel, once again, so that he can draw her heart to him and save them.  Why? Because the life of Jesus confirmed God’s love for us all.  Jesus also was a servant to the Gentiles (the nations other than Israel).  Jesus teaches us the glorious mercy of God.  While we were yet sinners Christ Jesus died for us.  We didn’t deserve it.  Paul points this out in chapters 9-11 of Romans.  Romans 11:15 says that if Israel’s being cast away allowed the world to have peace with God then what will be their acceptance back, but life from the dead?  Why will God show his mercy to Israel in these last days?  He will do so, precisely because it is a metaphor of his Resurrection nature.  He is Life.  Outside of him there is no life.  He is not afraid of death and even incorporates it into his plan because he is life.

He has done all these things that we might abound in Hope.  Our hope is both behind us and ahead of us.  But let us never forget that our greatest hope is still ahead.  That hope is Jesus ruling over the world.

Paul prays that God will fill them with “all joy and peace” in their faith.  If you are not joyful and peaceful then ask yourself what exactly is robbing you of it?  Part of our joy is to fellowship with the Holy Spirit and to fellowship with fellow believers.  God wants us to have joy and peace as much as he wants us to serve the lost.  May we learn to find true joy and true peace in him.  Notice that it can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps we need to spend some time praying in an upper room until we know for sure that with the Holy Spirit we can have joy and peace in every circumstance.  Whether it is Paul and Silas in a jail cell singing praises to God, or believers singing while they are being burned and fed to the lions, we can boldly stand against the destroyer and refuse to give up our faith.  We can stand against the destroying lion and that destroying mountain and know that the God of the universe holds us up.  If he is for us then who can be against us?  None, for greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world.

Final Thoughts

When things get difficult we tend to lose our sense of hope.  This happens when we have pinned our hopes on things of this world.  We forget that the Scriptures promised us that this world will pass away.  We forget that we were told to not love the things of this world in a way that would compromise our faith.

Also, according to the Keep-It-Simple-Stupid principle (KISS), we should focus on the simple task our Lord has given us.  Keep your faith fully upon Jesus and fully love your Christian brothers and sisters.  Believe and Love as Jesus did.  Not in the way that others tell you or your flesh wants to believe.

Lastly, our greatest hope is ahead of us not behind.  Quit looking at the decay of society around us and giving up.  Start looking up for our redemption is drawing near.  Our leader is not of this world and the kingdom that we inherit is not one that we have built.  Trust God and love your brothers and sisters.

We Give Thanks Audio