The Lord is Full of Compassion and Mercy!

In one day, he lost five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, many servants and all his children, seven sons and three daughters. After that, he was afflicted with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. (Job 2:7) Seeing his suffering, his friends came to sit with him, but their words lacked value only adding to his suffering. Also, His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) Finally, the man said, 3 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’ 4 That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it. (Job 3:3, 4) A person in this situation needs compassion and mercy.

Being patient is not easy. In our New Testament reading from James 5, James offered an illustration of patience writing, 7 … “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” A farmer must be patient. It takes time for any crop to grow. An impatient farmer can rush getting his seed into the ground without leveling it, getting the rocks out or fertilizing, which is not recommended, but the crops will still take time to grow. An impatient farmer can yell at the clouds to pour down rain or at the sun to move faster making the days go faster to get to harvest time, but sun and clouds cannot hear. A farmer must be patient, and James wrote, 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. The Lord’s coming James referred to is Jesus’ return to judge all people at the end of time sending unbelievers to hell and taking believers to heaven. This day is near because already came to the world to save us from our sins. All Jesus has left to do is take those who trust in his forgiveness to heaven. This is the simple truth, but to be patent while we wait for Jesus is not easy. Like an impatient farmer who knows the value of his crops wants them to grow quickly, we want Jesus to return quickly so that we can enjoy heaven. But James wrote, 7 “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.”

James highlighted two struggles that threaten Christians patiently waiting for the Lord’s coming. First James wrote, 9 “Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” At any moment, Jesus could return to judge all people. James warns us not to grumble, meaning he warns us not to fall into bickering, gossiping, lying and criticizing one another, which shows a lack of love. Grumbling is sinful, destructive, unloving and can rob someone of their thankfulness for all God has done for them, even robbing them of faith and eternal life. Second, James wrote about suffering, 10 “Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” Suffering tests our patience. The prophets were tested: Moses wandered decades in the wilderness with his guilt and the guilt of stubborn Israel, David’s week-old son conceived outside of wedlock died, Jeremiah was lowered down into a cistern filled with mud, Ezekiel cooked his food over cow dung and Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den to name a few of the sufferings they endured. We want a quick and reliable cure to the flu, cancer, a nasty divorce, anxiety, depression, the loss of a loved one, job loss, inflation, persecution for our faith and anything else causing you deep mental, emotional, physical and spiritual pain.

The trouble we face as Christians is knowing the end results of God’s power. God has the power to stop our suffering in an instant, even remove the memories of our suffering. He has saved us through Jesus and prepared heaven, but we are still here suffering. Twice in the few verses we read today from James 5, we are told to be patient without grumbling and despite our suffering, and the deepest temptation we face in our hearts as Christians when we hear “Be patient” is to make it something we do. The devil, the sinful world and our own sinful nature put the pressure on ourselves to push through difficult times or they crush us by blinding us to seeing any help or good outcome. We get lost in the result of God’s power which is eternal life in heaven, but we forget it is also his power that keeps us patient while we wait for Jesus’ return.

God’s power makes us patient. James wrote, 11 … “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” Two Greek words form the word translated as ‘compassion’. The combination will sound odd at first. The words are ‘many’ and ‘bowel’, so loosely translated ‘all your guts’. It paints the picture of a deep inner feeling for someone. The Greek word translated for ‘mercy’ is different from another word translated as ‘mercy’ more focused on the action taken, while this word focuses again on the feeling or emotion coming from the heart for someone. It is God’s deep, powerful love for you that produces patience.

He has already shown you and the world how much he cares in many ways. One example is highlighted in Acts 14, 17 “Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Certainly, farmers plant crops, but far beyond their efforts is God who brings the rain to produce the crops he created that feed you and give you joy at their many flavors, the feeling of fullness and their allowing your body to live. Also, during this season of Advent, we focus on the compassion and mercy of God first sending Jesus to save the world as we heard in our Gospel reading from Matthew 11. John the Baptist was in a time of suffering having been put in prison, but he heard about all Jesus had been doing, so

2 … he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” To which, 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

Jesus cited these miracles to show he was the promised Messiah, meaning the ‘Chosen One’. Jesus was fulfilling what had been prophesied about him hundreds of years before by Isaiah, words we heard in our Old Testament reading today from Isaiah 35, 5 “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” Jesus’ miracles confirmed his arrival as the Savior who would do more than cure earthly ailments, as Isaiah 35 continued to prophesy, 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Jesus came with vengeance and retribution by destroying the power of sin by sacrificing himself on the cross in your place and the power of death by dying then rising from the dead. His great love for you and its results were revealed in his words to his disciples the night before he died in John 14 speaking of heaven, 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

The patience God produces in you is not like worldly patience. Worldly images of patience might be mindlessly scrolling while waiting for an oil change rather than grumbling about the time or staying in the stock market when prices are low then reaping the rewards years later when the market goes up because of lessons from past investors. Godly patience is as James wrote, 9 “Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters.” Instead of grumbling, we encourage and guide one another. Paul wrote in Colossians 4, 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Your conversations will be filled with gracious Christ focused encouragement and guidance by being in the Word of God. One of the best places to do that is here gathered together around the Word of God, which we are encouraged to do in Hebrews 10, 24 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Joining together for worship and Bible study encourages us to patiently wait for the Day when Jesus will return. We release God’s power to keep us patient when we gather around the Word of God following the model of the prophets of the past as James wrote, 10 “Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered.” The prophets and those who listened to them persevered by the power of God’s word to focus them on the promised Savior. When we face suffering, we must continue to speak in the name of the Lord, speaking his word, as we are encouraged in Colossians 3, 16 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” When your patience is tested run to, cling to and share the message of Christ.

The man described at the beginning of the sermon who lost so much was Job. James wrote about Job in our New Testament reading today from James 5, 11 … “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” A person who lost as much as Job could not rely on his own strength, the bad advice of his friends or his wife’s encouragement to “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) Job needed the Lord’s compassion and mercy, which we hear about in the last chapter of the Old Testament book of Job. In Job 42, we hear, 10 … the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 12 … He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The Lord doubled all Job had lost, but he still experienced all that loss, and it took a long time for all he had lost to be restored. So more than the restoration of his fortune, the Lord worked in Job’s heart to see his greatest treasure was the Lord as revealed in these words of Job from Job 42, 1 Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. Job struggled to be patient as God allowed him to suffer. He had questions, he grumbled, he thought he knew what God should or should not do for him, but God taught him patience. Just like crops do not spring up overnight, Job had to be patient before he saw all the wonderful things God would do for him. As you wait for the wonderful things God has planned for you, we will end with this encouragement from James 5, 7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. 11 … The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Amen.