Farmer's Patience

Read James 5

It takes 1 woman 9 months to have a baby, but a government study has concluded that 9 women could have 1 baby in only a month.  A 9-month term is too long to wait.  We don’t like to wait.

The kid at the fast-food counter apologized that I had to wait.  My wait was almost 45 seconds.  He stilled messed up my order, but did apologize that the messed-up order took so long.

When I think about waiting when I am dining out, I can’t help but think about what Yogi Berra had to say on the subject.  Nobody goes there anymore.  It’s too crowded.

You want to understand waiting in the modern world, think FTP.  That’s File Transfer Protocol.  Back in the day, if I needed some information, I had to have my computer dial up the computer that had the information via a telephone line, connect, do the online handshake thing—protocol sounds way more official—and then get the down load.

The 10- or 20-page document that takes 15-20 seconds to download now, took half an hour.  During that entire time, you hoped and prayed that you didn’t lose the connection.

I have waited at our one and only traffic light as the light cycled through a couple times and I am still sitting in the left turn lane on Sooner Road.  There has been no traffic at all for over 2 minutes but I’m stuck at the light.  I must decide to just run the light, get out of my car and wave my arms so the sensor that has been asleep knows I am there, or just wait patiently.  Most of the time that I am stuck at that light are not days in which I have practicing patience on my to do list.

If the people in front of you on the golf course are playing slowly, you want to play through.  It only makes sense.  Why should you have to wait?

After my stroke, the doctor recommended that I limit myself to one cup of coffee per day.  I complied with his instructions on one cup per day.  I have fully complied with one cup per day.  Right now, I am up to January 24^th, 2029.  Why should I have to wait for the day to arrive?

We don’t like to wait.  We will pay extra not to wait.  We will complain when we have to wait.  Sometimes we even throw a tantrum when we have to wait.

Do you know who learns to wait better than most?  The farmer.  Unless you are growing radishes, there is usually a significant amount of time between seedtime and harvest.

You just don’t see a farmer sowing wheat on Monday and firing up his combine on Friday.   This whole business of a seed producing a plant that produces something to harvest is incredible, but not instantaneous. 

The farmer without patience is a frustrated farmer.  The immediate gratification mindset of this age doesn’t go well with the principles of the farm.

So the farmer plants his seed and then can binge watch Netflix for the next few months, right?  Not exactly.  The farmer always has something to do between seedtime and harvest.

We need to understand that patience is not procrastination.  Just because the harvest is some time away, does not mean that there are not things that need to be done now.

These things don’t bring the harvest any closer but are essential nonetheless. 

This is the season of Advent.  We prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus.  We celebrate God with us.  We remember what we generally call the Christmas story.  We sing of a babe in a manger, shepherds watching their flocks, a silent night, a holy night, and we even ask Mary if she knew when she kissed her baby that she kissed the face of God.

We get that part.  We celebrate with joy knowing with certainty that 25 December isn’t the date on our Lord’s birth certificate, but it’s when we celebrate his birth into this world.  He was the King of Kings as birth but lived the life of the suffering servant.  We celebrate that salvation had come.

We also look forward to our Lord’s second advent—to his return in which he will claim all of his children.  He is coming for us.  We won’t be looking for him in a cave or a barn or some twig hut—in mean estate as the vision we have of the first coming.  He will come as he left—from heaven above.

And some days, we cry out Maranatha—come Lord Jesus, come.  I am so ready now to leave this world.  We want him to come to get us now.   We understand that when we say these words we had better be loving the Lord with everything we have.

But other days, perhaps we are not calling out for his immediate return.  On those other days, we find ourselves doing his work, loving our neighbors, proclaiming the grace and favor of the Lord, bringing our kids up in the way they should go.

We still look forward to the time when the Lord will come and claim us but we are not anxious.  We are patient.

For the Lord is not slow in coming.  He is patient with us.  His desire is that none perish. 

The Lord is patient with us.  James tells us to be patient as we wait uponthe Lord.  But just how can we be patient?

Today, I challenge you to be patient by being purposeful in every moment of your life. 

When you go to work, work as if you are working for the Lord and not for men.  It is the Lord, Christ whom we serve.

When you go into the world, be the salt of the earth.  Be the God seasoning of the planet.  Let others taste the goodness of the Lord.

Be the light of the world.  Let people see what you are doing—not for your own edification—but to bring glory to God.

Give your whole life to God as your offering, your sacrifice, your gift to him. 

Purpose your days and your hours.  Lord, teach us to number our days.  Let people see through us how precious this gift of life is.  Why would anyone want eternal life if they can’t see the value of every moment of life?

I have mentioned on many occasions that today’s world has gravitated to the twin gods of apathy and ambivalence.  People are living without purpose.

Sure, people get up and go to their jobs.  They pay their bills.  They even get their kids to school, sometimes they even get them there on time.

But, life, time, work seem like punishments or at best, necessary evils to those living without purpose.  We who live purposeful lives consider these resources, gifts, blessings.  Our lives, our time, our enterprises are blessings of purpose.

How can we patiently wait upon the Lord?  We do so by living a life of purpose.  Jesus said that people will know that we follow him by our love. 

Some fool themselves that they have not found their purpose in life.  The fact is that it is not and was never hidden.  Love God and love each other are surely at the heart of our purpose.  How we work these things out will vary, but we share these common purposes.

Loving God and loving others are purposes that are not hidden.  Let me get Presbyterian on you, and add one.  Let us enjoy God very much.

How can I wait upon the Lord?  How can I be patient while I wait? 

Love!

Number your days.

Live with purpose.

Enjoy your relationship with God so very much!

You know the saying that time flies when you are having fun.  It may be true but it’s not all-inclusive.

Time flies when you are living with purpose.

Time flies when you are living a life of love.

Time flies when you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The tasks may be challenging.  The price paid may be high.  There may be some suffering involved but the wait itself is not debilitating. 

I used to dread a visit to the doctor or dentist.  It wasn’t the time with either that bothered me.  It was the time lost in the waiting room.  Well, I don’t mind those appointments so much anymore.

As I wait upon the doctor, I am writing a sermon, preparing a lesson, writing a book, listening to or counseling the person next to me, or sharing the gospel.  Time in the waiting room goes quickly.  I can wait patiently because my waiting time is purposed time.

But you think that all waiting can’t be purposeful.  Life happens.  Pain happens.  Suffering happens. 

James tells us that we are right.  Life happens.  Pain happens. Suffering happens.  Then he has the audacity to tell us to persevere and be blessed.  Perseverance without purpose is just stoicism.  James is telling us to continue in our purpose, to persevere in our purpose, to endure until the day of the Lord.  And while we are at it, be patient and know the Lord’s timing will be exactly right.

He has the boldness to say that waiting for the harvest is just the way it is supposed to be.  Look at the farmer.

James reminds us that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.  We are not waiting and wondering.  We wait with anticipation of the good things that the Lord has promised.

Some of you can hardly wait to celebrate Christmas day.  Immediate gratification is our nature, but we are to be excited and patient at the same time as we wait on the coming of our Lord on a day announced only by his coming.

It sounds like something impossible—be excited and patient.  It’s not impossible.  Our hearts can cry out Come Lord Jesus and we can listen to the Spirit that lives within us and be patient as we wait for the Lord’s return.

You know what I couldn’t stand in school.  It still gets under my skin.  What was it?  Busywork.  Just doing something for the sake of filling the time.  We don’t fill the time!

Waiting on the Lord seems excruciating when we are just filling the time.  Waiting on the Lord’s return while we are living this life to the full, living purposefully, living lives of love is just being patient.  If we are enjoying our relationship with God in the course of serving him, time flies.

Maybe, there’s a little farmer in all of us.

Let’s look forward with excitement and anticipation to our Lord’s return.  Let’s be patient and purposeful while we wait.

Excitement and anticipation.

Patience and purpose.

We can wait upon the Lord.

Amen.

Plans, passion, purpose, and palms

Read Matthew 26:36-46

For those that abide in some sort of lectionary discipline, there are usually two courses for this Sunday that precedes the First Sunday of Easter.  That liturgical dichotomy is the celebration of the palms or the passion of the Christ.

Palms or Passion?

Is it the triumphal entry as King or the Suffering Servant?

Do we focus on the palm lined highway or the painful road to the cross?

Maybe, sometimes, just every once in a while, we should consider both, and even more.  But let’s start with palms. 

This week that we now call Holy Week, begins with palms.

Palms

Palms come from trees without branches.

Palm leaves or fronds symbolize victory.

Palms are evergreen.

A road lined with palms would look like someone rolled out the green carpet.

The palm in the desert is the symbol of life.

Places such as Palm Springs make us think of resorts and retreats.

Palms denote status and comfort and even peace.

Purpose

In the world of life experience, purpose is often the cohesive, the organizing principle, and the multiplier.

A life expended with purpose is a life lived beyond its potential.

Purpose gets you out of bed in the morning.

Purpose causes you to say, Good Morning, Lord, instead of Good Lord, it’s morning.

Purpose gets you to school.

Purpose gets you to work.

Purpose gets you talking with God.

Purpose gets you up the hill.

Purpose lets the insult roll off while focus is maintained.

Purpose adjusts the sails when the wind changes.

Purpose cooks Ramen when the paycheck isn’t enough for the water bill.

Purpose crosses the minefield to save a friend.

Purpose gives insight into our Heavenly Father.

Purpose gives us insight into ourselves.

Purpose unlocks our gifts and talents.

Purpose gives us permission to say no to things we don’t need to do.

Purpose brings us to abundance—not in stuff or money—but in life.

Purpose purges poverty.

Those who live without purpose endure a cruel type of poverty.

This form of poverty just passes the time.

This form of poverty sees only immediate needs.

Character atrophies in those living in the poverty of purpose.

Commitment is foreign to anyone without purpose.

The power to effect desired change is irrelevant if there is no desire.

Fear rules.

Language sours.

Money is illusive.

There is no Sabbath to take in a life without purpose.

Passion

Passion detests apathy.

Passion abhors ambivalence.

Passion presses on when there is nothing left.

Passion suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Passion does not stop to question purpose.  It presses on knowing the purpose comes from God.

Passion gives up self.

Passion and purpose wed and become unstoppable.

From before man was placed upon this earth, Jesus knew what he must do to create the relationship between the crown of God’s creation and God himself. 

Our three-in-one God knew that a redeemed man was more valuable than one never tested, trialed, condemned, and rescued, but it would take both purpose and passion to bring about this special creature.

Humans couldn’t handle it.  We couldn’t be flesh and complete on our own.  You can spend your life trying to figure out why the two seem incompatible, but I doubt you will get the complete answer until the age to come.

Why does sacrifice require blood?

Why must life be sacrificed?

Why were we worth it?

Jesus was just hours away from what would be one of the most detestable and essential chapters of human history.

Jesus was still on an emotion high from the meal he had just enjoyed with his closest friends.

Jesus was exhausted.

Jesus was so close to accomplishing his mission.

Jesus knew human pain and agony.

Jesus knew he must do this thing.

Knowing all things, Jesus hoped he had missed something and there was another way.

Jesus was with the closest of his closest friends.

Jesus was alone as they fell asleep at the wheel.

Jesus knew that the time to glorify the Father was near.  His glory would be in fulfilling this mission.

Jesus knew that the time for his betrayal was even nearer.

Jesus would fulfill the plan made before the earth began, but a plan doesn’t get you to the cross.

A plan doesn’t endure false accusations.

A plan doesn’t turn the other cheek to a slap in the face.

A plan doesn’t surrender its own life as a sacrificial lamb.

A plan does not endure the scorn of leaders in place only by the will of the Planner himself.

A plan does not endure a crown of thorns.

A plan does not endure physical torture.

A plan does not suffer the cross when there is no crime.

A plan does not suffer the sins of the world upon innocent flesh.

A plan cannot utter, “Forgive them.  They know not what they do.”

But purpose with passion will cry tears of blood.

Purpose with passion will endure false accusations in order to get to the cross.

Purpose with passion will bleed from the thorns or the whip and not cry out for the Father to put an end to it all.

Purpose with passion will take the sins of the world upon the only innocent flesh that could bear them.

Purpose with passion will go to the cross.

Purpose with passion will forgive the executioners.

Purpose with passion took away the sin of the world.

Purpose with passion endured separation from the Father, if only for a short moment in eternity.

Purpose with passion is the only reason that we do not stand condemned today.

Jesus knew that he had to go to the cross.  There was no other way.  We cannot blame the disciples for falling asleep.  They were like travels in the passenger seat.  If you are not the driver, it is so easy to nod off. 

Jesus was the only one who knew what was next.

He was the only one who knew that his purpose and passion were required to fulfill the plan of God.

Jesus came to reveal the divine heart to us—God loved the world so much!  A walk down the primrose path would not suffice.  He must suffer.  He must die.  He must surrender his life as a sacrifice for undeserving humankind.

He knew that this was the plan all along but that did not make it any easier.  His passion and purpose were essential to our preservation.

We talk about the suffering of the Christ, but we are careful to do it only in an academic discussion.  It doesn’t make good dinner conversation.  It doesn’t go with the flow of the playoff game on television.  It’s not something that you throw in while looking at the pictures of the grandkids.

But it is at the heart of every ounce and breath and meter of life that we know.  Absent the passion and purpose that compelled Christ to continue to the cross, we would still be lost.

We would not know the joy that so many of us cherish.

We would stand condemned and far removed from our Creator when God’s heart desires us to enjoy him fully and be in his presence.

Jesus who is God and King and Messiah chose to continue to the cross and be Savior as well.  He chose to be an Unblemished Lamb for us.  He chose love but love required all of his purpose and passion to die for us on an old rugged cross.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suffering and shame;

And I love that old cross where the dearest and best,

For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

Has a wondrous attraction for me;

For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above,

To bear it to dark Calvary.

In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine

Such a wonderful beauty I see

For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died

To pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true,

It's shame and approach gladly bear;

Then He'll call me someday to my home far away,

Where His glory forever I'll share.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,

Till my trophies at last I lay down,

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it someday for a crown.

It was more than just God’s plan.  It was his purpose and passion for us that caused that plan to be one that took all of our sin and bore all of the suffering so we could live.

As we move towards a celebration of resurrection, consider this week just how much God loves you.  Consider that you have been at the heart of his purpose and fueling his passion since before humankind began.

This passion for you was always a part of his plan, but this plan was fulfilled in the sacrifice on the cross.  His purpose for us becomes known in his plans and passion.  They are good plans and his passion is intense.

God loves you.  He loves you very much.

Let’s spend this week—a week that begins with palms—trying to grasp just how great God’s love is.

Let’s spend this week—a week kicked off with a parade for a King, a path lined with palms, and shouts of Hosanna—just being overwhelmed by the plan, purpose, and passion that would take Jesus to the cross to die for our sins.

 

Let’s spend this week knowing that God’s plan for our salvation has been completed.  It is finished.  The work on the cross is done.

If we will do that this week; we will be ever so prepared to celebrate resurrection on the Sunday to come.

Amen.