How to Wait Well | Faith IRL | Week 6

Redeemer Weekend Sermons

How to Wait Well
Faith IRL • October 8, 2023
Teacher: Adam Barnett

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How to Wait Well

James 5:1-3 NIV

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

Matthew 6:24-26 NIV

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

James 5:4-6 NIV

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Brian Rapske

“The murder here most likely is judicial. Whereby the wealthy landowners take smaller, poorer indebted farmers to court, stripping them of their land and thus of their source of income, and then hiring them back again to work their former property as sharecroppers. With dirt-poor wages, unpaid debts might then lead their new landlords to throw them into debtors’ prison, where they could rot for the rest of their lives. Once in prison, making money to pay one’s debts was not an option, so unless some better financially situated friends or relatives bailed one out, that person often died in jail.”

James 5:7-9 NIV

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judgeis standing at the door!

William Brosend

“Christ is coming back, he is coming back soon (at least from God’s perspective), and he will wreak vengeance on the wicked—with absolute justice and equity—something sinful mortals could never do and therefore should not try to do!”

1. Be patient
2. Stand firm
You must wait; strengthen your hearts [resolutely turn your thoughts and feelings in the direction of the Lord’s return].
3. Don't complain

Craig Blomberg

“Christians often act as though judgment remains far off, a distant future possibility. James argues, however, that Christ’s return lies close at hand, on the threshold of the door way. We ought to behave as people ready for a judgment that has already begun in this life and will culminate quickly at his return.”

To wait (for His return) well: be patient, stand firm, don’t complain.