Christmas Under Tension: Be Patient, the Judge Is at the Door

Introduction

"The most wonderful time of the year," says the song playing on loop in every café come December. Débora, closing out the "A Living Faith" series on James's letter to Church Like Home, isn't so sure. Some people spend the holidays with family, others spend them alone. The ones with family end up in arguments; the ones alone end up depressed. She's exaggerating a little, she admits, but you get the idea: the student coming home to her parents after months away, changed. The parents meeting an adult child who's now making decisions they don't approve of. Young parents cooped up for two weeks with the kids while it rains outside. Your first Christmas with in-laws from another culture. And then there are those who suffer from being alone: the student on the other side of the world, the newly retired woman no one will visit, the person whose loved one is no longer there. These things hurt more during the holidays.

Facing these tensions, Débora describes three human reactions. The humanist sees no meaning in suffering and runs from anything tense, risking ending up alone. The legalist judges everything and lectures at every meal, risking blowing up relationships. The relativist pulls the curtain over the problem and says "it's fine": by accepting injustice, all he gets is shallow relationships. She admits she can cycle through all three in a single day. But the Bible offers a radically different path. In James 5:7-11, she finds two paths and one driving force for a more harmonious Christmas.

Sermon Outline

1. First path: the farmer's patience (James 5:7-8)

• A Greek word about anger. "Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming." James uses the verb makrothumeo: makros means great, far, long; thumos means the soul, or anger. Patience is when anger takes a long time to arrive. Greek has two words for patience: toward circumstances (waiting for something) and toward people. Here, it's patience toward people. God loves it when we're slow to grow angry with others. Where the humanist runs, the Bible says: stay, wait, there's something good waiting for you.
• The sweet potato farmer. Débora wondered what she'd grow if she had to farm: sweet potatoes, because they're good and not too complicated. James's image carries three ideas. A precious goal: the harvest is worth waiting for, I'll get to enjoy it and share it with my guests. A certainty: the sweet potatoes are underground, I can't see them, but I act as though I'll really harvest them one day. Time: what's good and precious can take time; it needs the winter rains to work the soil, then the spring rains to make it grow. Being impatient changes nothing.
• The link to Jesus' return. Verse 8: "You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near." Christians have a hope that's uniquely theirs: they're waiting for their Lord to return. At Christmas, we look back at Jesus' coming, God made flesh in a baby; that's good. But James also invites us to remember what's still to come. If my sweet potatoes are worth waiting for, how much more can something glorious, immense, radically beautiful encourage me to be patient day to day.
• The certainty of a change to come. Débora quotes Jesus' promise in John 14: "There are many rooms in my Father's house... I'm going to prepare a place for you... I will come back and take you to be with me, so that where I am, you may be too." What does that have to do with my impatience toward my brothers and sisters at Christmas? In hard situations, what really encourages us isn't small surface-level things, but the certainty that change is coming. She got married not long ago, and her husband lives in Normandy; what helps her be patient is knowing it's going to change.
• A world where righteousness dwells. She reads 2 Peter 3: the heavens will disappear with a roar, the earth will be burned up, "but in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells." Perfect righteousness rules out all mistreatment, all suffering, every hurtful word or act, and promises a flourishing life in harmony with God, with others, with nature. That's the reason we can stand firm today and be patient for a little while, even through the everyday injustices in our relationships.
• A theological aside: it's been 2000 years. The farmer waits a few months; Jesus promised his return 2000 years ago. Even back then, scoffers were saying: "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning" (2 Peter 3:4). Peter gives two answers. First, "with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day": for a creature who lives a day or two, a year is dozens of generations; our sense of time isn't God's. Second, "the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise... he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." God isn't late: he's taking his time coming back to us so we have time to come back to him.

2. Second path: don't grumble against one another (James 5:9)

• Groaning together, yes; groaning against, no. "Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters." James's first readers knew conflict, just like we do at Christmas. Some things really are hard, and we have the right, we're even encouraged, to groan together and say "wow, this is hard." But God doesn't like it when we groan against each other.
• Stop the legalist. That's exactly what the legalist does: he judges, he snaps back. The Bible tells him: let it go, because when you judge you forget you're not perfect yourself. Débora points back to Romain's previous sermon on judgment, with the nuance that there are situations where we're called to correct someone, but that's a real art. Grumbling about others, talking behind their backs while exaggerating how "unbelievably negative" they are: that's exactly the behavior we're invited to drop, because it puts us above others.
• The Judge is standing at the door. How do you deal with unbearable people? James gives the same reason as at the start: "so that you will not be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!" He's near, he's coming. If Jesus is returning to establish a world where righteousness reigns, then he must be judge: he's the one with the power to remove all injustice.
• Two effects on me. First, if Jesus is judge, I don't need to judge. I know he'll judge justly one day, so I can bear unjust situations for a little while. Second, if Jesus is coming back as judge, that concerns me too: whatever we believe, the Bible says that one day we'll all give an account to God. That can be hard to hear, but it doesn't have to be, which brings us to the third part. In the meantime, this reality humbles us and pushes us to let God do the judging.

3. The driving force: Job's suffering and the Lord's compassion (James 5:10-11)

• A text that builds in intensity. "As an example of patience in the face of suffering, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord... You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." At the start, patience concerned somewhat tense situations; here, suffering is added. The prophets of the Old Covenant relayed God's words and suffered for it, physically and mentally, while remaining faithful.
• Job: total, unjust suffering. At the very peak of it all, James names Job, the Old Testament's perfect example of extreme, unjust suffering: a righteous man who suffers in ways that shouldn't be possible. Against the relativist who says there's no such thing as injustice, the Bible affirms: yes, there is unjust suffering, serious and terrible things. Job's story doesn't dress up suffering, doesn't seek it out for its own sake, doesn't deny it. Job lost everything: his family, his children, his possessions, his health. And where even his own capacity runs out, we discover our own smallness and fallibility: Job himself, at one point, accuses God and demands an answer.
• The solution always comes from God. At the very height of suffering and injustice, there is God. It's God who takes a step toward the man, who restores Job's health, a family, riches far greater than before. Thanks to whom? Thanks to Job? No. God shows grace to him because of who God himself is: because of his tenderness and compassion.
• A present tense that lasts. In Greek, "the Lord is full of compassion and mercy" is in the present tense, which is rare in this passage. It states a reality true for all time: he was, he is, he will be. Jesus will be full of tenderness and compassion when he returns.
• Judge and compassionate: the reason for Christmas. How can the judge of every injustice also be compassionate? That's exactly why Jesus was born at Christmas and died on the cross. At the cross, God acted as judge toward Jesus so he could be compassionate toward us. Every time we're called to be patient and we snap, every time we're called not to complain and we do anyway, every time in our suffering we turn against God instead of calling out to him for help: Jesus carried every one of those injustices. God already judged Jesus so that we could be shown grace.
• Two options when facing Jesus' return. Either rely on your own righteousness, ignore God's goodness, the cross, and the promises of his return, telling yourself "I'm good and just by my own effort"; but the Bible says that before God's righteousness, no human being is perfect. Or call on God's grace and trust what Jesus has done; then who God is becomes true for you too: full of compassion, tenderness, and goodness.
• Back to Christmas. Whether with family or alone, in tension or in suffering, we can remember Jesus' coming as a baby, but also his promise of a future coming that gives us hope. Remembering his promises and his compassion toward us is a powerful driving force, one that will make us more patient with the people around us and give us holidays that are far more harmonious and beautiful.

Key Takeaways

• Running away (humanist), judging (legalist), or minimizing (relativist): three reflexes in the face of Christmas tension that the Bible doesn't endorse.
• The patience of James 5:7 (makrothumeo) is anger that's slow to arrive toward people, not just waiting out circumstances.
• Like the farmer, the Christian has a precious goal, a certainty, and a sense of time: Jesus is coming back, and that certainty of coming change helps us hold on today.
• God isn't slow: he's taking his time coming back to us so we have time to come back to him (2 Peter 3:8-9).
• If Jesus is judge, I don't need to judge; and I myself am also subject to that judgment.
• Job shows that unjust suffering is real, and that the solution always comes from God, through his tenderness and compassion.
• The Judge is compassionate because at the cross God was judge toward Jesus so he could be good to us. Everything depends on what you're relying on: your own righteousness, or his grace.

Personal Application

1. Who will you be spending Christmas with? Is it easy to be patient with those people?
2. When do you find yourself grumbling about others, or talking behind their backs while exaggerating their flaws?
3. What about the promise of Jesus' return encourages you? Or why doesn't it?
4. In the tensions ahead, which reflex tends to win in you: running away, lecturing, or shrugging it off? What would change if you held onto the thought "the Judge is standing at the door"?
5. Are you depending on God's compassion, or relying on your own righteousness for the day you'll stand before him?

Scriptures Cited

• James 5:7-11 · the sermon text: patience, not grumbling, Job, the Lord's compassion.
• John 14:2-3 · "I am going to prepare a place for you... I will come again."
• 2 Peter 3:4 · the scoffers: "Where is this 'coming' he promised?"
• 2 Peter 3:8-9 · a day like a thousand years; the Lord is not slow, he is patient.
• 2 Peter 3:10-13 · a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
• Job 1-2 and Job 42:10-17 · Job's suffering and what the Lord finally brought about.

FAQ

What does "patience" mean in James 5:7?

The Greek word is makrothumeo: makros (long, far) and thumos (the soul, anger). Patience is when anger takes a long time to arrive. Greek distinguishes patience toward circumstances from patience toward people; here it's the latter. God loves it when we're slow to grow angry with others.

Why hasn't Jesus come back yet after 2000 years?

The question was already being asked in the apostles' day (2 Peter 3:4). Peter gives two answers: God's sense of time isn't ours, a day is like a thousand years to him (2 Peter 3:8); and the Lord isn't slow, he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). God is taking his time coming back to us so we have time to come back to him.

How can Jesus be both judge and full of compassion?

That's the whole point of Christmas and the cross. At the cross, God acted as judge toward Jesus so he could be compassionate toward us. Every one of our injustices, our impatience, our complaints: Jesus carried them. God already judged Jesus so we could be shown grace. Whoever relies on their own righteousness stands before the judge; whoever calls on God's grace meets his tenderness and compassion.