Jesus Fruit: I Want It...Whenever - James 5:7-11 (Wednesday Night Reflection)


A child psychoanalyst relates the story of a young girl.  The little girl was banging her teaspoon while ceaselessly and shrilly demanding dessert. Annoyed by the noise, her mother, on her way into the basement to get her some ice cream from the freezer, said irritably, "Have a little patience."
On her return from the basement, the child’s mother found her little girl in what seemed to be the middle of a convulsion. Her face was bright red, her body was rigid, her fists were clenched, her eyes were fixed in a stare, in addition to which she didn't appear to be breathing. Letting the ice cream drop from her hands and screaming, "What's the matter?" the mother ran to her daughter's side; whereupon, the little girl unclenched her fists, stopped holding her breath, and replied, "I'm having patience."
In a different community, a man observed a woman in the grocery store with trying to shop with her children. As they passed the cookie section, her daughter asked for cookies and her mother told her "no." The little girl immediately began to whine and fuss, and the mother said quietly, "Now Ellen, we just have half of the aisles left to go through; don't be upset. It won't be long."
He passed the Mother again in the candy aisle. Of course, the little girl began to shout for candy. When she was told she couldn't have any, she began to cry. The mother said, "There, there, Ellen, don't cry. Only two more aisles to go, and then we'll be checking out."
The man again happened to be behind the pair at the check-out, where the little girl immediately began to clamor for gum and burst into a terrible tantrum upon discovering there would be no gum purchased today. The mother patiently said, "Ellen, we'll be through this checkout stand in five minutes, and then you can go home and have a nice nap."
The man followed them out to the parking lot and stopped the woman to compliment her. "I couldn't help noticing how patient you were with little Ellen..."
The mother broke in, "My little girl's name is Tammy... I'm Ellen."
If we abide in Christ, then Christ will abide in us and we will bear Jesus Fruit.  Jesus Fruit, or the Fruit of the Spirit, is composed of many different parts.  Galatians tells us Jesus Fruit is: “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control….”[i]
We began by considering the part of the fruit known as “Love” because 1) God is love, and 2) without love, as Paul relates to the Corinthians, anything else we do is worthless. 
Following love, we moved to Joy.  We are reminded that because of God’s love for us, because we know that nothing can separates us from the love of God, then folks should be able to look at us as Christians and see that we are full of joy…we ought to be doing the “Happy Dance.” 
Last week we considered “Peace.”  We came to understand that as far as we are concerned, that we are to be a people of peace.
Tonight, we visit that part of the Jesus Fruit known as “patience.”  Patience is a is essential to the Christian life but is a quality that is missing in most of the world, including most of our own lives.  We have been brought up in a “I Want It Now!” world.  We don’t like to wait.  We don’t want to have to wait until we get home to make a phone call, we use our cell phones.  We don’t want to have to wait until 6 pm to see the news, we can turn on a 24 hour news channel or scan the headlines with our smartphones.  We don’t want to wait until someone can talk, so we send a text message.    We think that five minutes to microwave something that would take 25-30 minutes on the stovetop is still too long.  If the mail is not in our mailbox when we go to check it, we grow frustrated.  If we are told to be patient, we become like the little girl, the longer we have to wait the redder our face becomes, the more we may clench and unclench our fists, and we may even hold our breath to keep from screaming.  We are not a patient people…the world has taught us to not be a patient people. A clear example…if you type—I want it now—into Google’s web search form, in less than a second you are suggested 5 trillion, 650 million web links…including this familiar video:
Show video
God, however, wants us to be a patient people.  James offers us that in the reading from his letter tonight.  In the brief five verses, patience is mentioned four times…and in one of the verses that does not mention patience, endurance is mentioned twice.  God expects us to be patient, to endure, and to persevere.
Who are we to have patience with?  According to James, our patience is to be with both God and one another.
“Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.  The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and late rains.  You must also be patient.”
The people were waiting for Christ to return.  They were expecting it to come soon…they were expecting it to have already come.  When was God going to act?  When was Christ going to return?  James says, “Just like the farmer who plants his crops and has to wait for them to ripen before harvesting, you need to be patient on waiting for Christ to return.”  The illustration makes perfect sense considering Jesus, as he taught the disciples, referred to the gathering in of God’s children, those who had been saved, as a gathering of the harvest.  James was telling the people, and telling us, to be patient, God will return when it is time.  What could God be waiting for?  Peter writes in his second letter about God’s patience: “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”[ii]  We are to be patient with God because God is patient with us, wanting all to come to a relationship with Him…God does not want to lose any when that day of Christ’s return comes.
That, then leads us to who else we are supposed to be patient with.  We are supposed to be patient with one another and with everyone that we might have contact with.  James says, “Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged.”  James knew exactly what he was talking about.  James knows that when we grow impatient with someone…when they are not doing like we want them to do, when they seem to keep going on their own way, or when they seem to reject whatever help we offer, we get frustrated and we start grumbling.  We get agitated and angry…we want them to do things our way and we want them to do it now.  When they don’t do what we want, or they don’t do it when we want it done, we begin grumbling…either to ourselves or to the individual or to others.
Why should we be patient with one another?  Why should we avoid grumbling against one another?  James tells us to avoid that grumbling because it is an act of judging that person and if we judge that person, then we are placing ourselves at the risk of being judged the same way by God…and considering we have all fallen short of the glory of God, we have all sinned…then we place ourselves in serious jeopardy, we ask God to hold us to the same standards that we are holding others to.  We also should be patient with one another because God is patient with us.  If we grow impatient with someone while God is being patient with them, then we are setting ourselves up with higher expectations than God…making gods of ourselves and once again placing ourselves in jeopardy with that Judge who stands at the doors!  If we are impatient, we may find ourselves on the scales and ruled a bad egg…
How do we have patience with others…it goes back to love…we are to love them.  If we love them, then we will desire good for them.  If we love them, we will want to see them succeed.  If we love them, then we will be as patient with them as God is with us out of His love for us.  If we find ourselves growing impatient with someone, then maybe we need to do like Ellen in the grocery store…however, rather than reminding ourselves how many aisles or how much time is left, we simply say, “Be patient self, God loves you and has been patient with you and God loves them and desires good for them, too.”
For when we have patience, we find that we have been abiding in the vine and are beginning to bear Jesus Fruit!
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.




[i] Galatians 5:22-23
[ii] 1st Peter

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