Waiting Well in a Hurry Up World - Aaron McRae

What do you do while you’re waiting on God?

In James Week 7, Pastor Aaron walks through James 4–5 to uncover a counter-cultural wisdom for planning, handling wealth, and waiting on the Lord. James confronts arrogant assumptions about tomorrow, exposes the danger of wealth without surrender, and reminds us that our lives are like a mist—temporary, fragile, and fully dependent on God.

This message challenges us to ask:

• Are my plans shaped by God’s will—or my own gain?
• Am I storing up treasures on earth or in heaven?
• Am I waiting with patience—or anxiety?

James doesn’t condemn planning or wealth—he confronts pride, arrogance, and misplaced security. Instead of self-sufficiency, we are called to humility. Instead of hoarding, generosity. Instead of panic about the future, patient trust in the Lord’s coming.

Because real wisdom isn’t just about making plans—it’s about surrendering them.

If this message encouraged you, like, subscribe, and share with someone navigating uncertainty.

📚 Scripture References

• James 3:13–18
• James 4:13–17
• James 5:1–11 
• Colossians 3:1–4
• Matthew 6:19–21; 7:21; 16:24–26
• Luke 12:16–21
• Philippians 3:7–8
• 1 John 2:16–17

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In this series, we've been going through the New Testament letter of James. Every week in the journal and in our gatherings, we've provided a prayer. Um, we didn't write the prayer, it's straight from scripture. And we've said, sometimes there's moments in life when you don't know what to pray. And in those moments, scripture is given as words, as a language of what we can pray, to ask God to do in our lives what only God can do. So today's prayer is Colossians chapter 3. And I'm gonna invite you to say this out loud with me in just a moment, but as a prayer. It is reading scripture, but we're we're praying scripture as we lift this up. So I'm gonna ask you to lift up your voice and be loud and just to God make these words from the Apostle Paul a prayer. It's 2,000 years old. Um he, of course, didn't write it in English. Um, but make these words uh our prayer this morning. Would you pray with me? Let's put it on the screen. Let's lift up our voice. Say this with me. Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. The reading of God's word. Give us ears to hear your voice as you speak, as only you can. We are asking you to meet us in this place and set our minds on things that are above. Maybe we're here today full of joy. Some good things have just happened to us in life, and we want to turn those into a thanks to you because every good and perfect gift comes from you. But others of us may be here filled with anxiety. And would you meet us with your peace? Others of us may be filled with just some overwhelming burden that we're carrying. Would you meet us in that moment and let us know you are uh you love us, you are compassionate, you are merciful, and we can trust you. And so move as only you can move, speak as only you can speak. We pray all these things, Jesus, in your name. Everybody say with me. Amen. Amen. You can grab a seat. I just want to say thank you so much for being here, and I want to just give us a bit of a roadmap of where we're going this morning. Uh, first of all, I'm going to preach for the next 36 minutes and 49, 48, 47 seconds. After I do that, we're going to celebrate baptism. I don't know if you can see it in the back, but there's a baptistry over here, and we've got, I think it's nine or ten who have come to be baptized. We're so thrilled that you're here and excited to celebrate with you. I know some of you are guests and friends of these being baptized, and uh, we're just thankful that you're here as well. Um, and then after we baptize, we will sing a couple songs of worship and we will uh say uh not goodbye, but we're sending you out in the name of Jesus to go live for him. Amen. And that's what we're gonna do. If um, if you are here and and you would like more information on what I'm talking about, we've created a journal. Um, they're available in both of the uh vestibules. I don't know what you call them. I love those little things that don't have a name, but as you leave, they're right there on shelves. Um if you have$8, we would love for you to just help contribute to it. If you don't have$8, take it, it's yours. But in addition to this, we also have on our app, our web, and on a QR code on the back of seats all around you, a discussion guide that our team has created that you could individually go deeper into what we're talking about. Or if you want to have a conversation with friends over coffee, you can use a discussion guide, and almost everything I share will be in that discussion guide with questions then to go deeper around that. And we would love to just invite you to not just listen to uh what I have to say right now, but but go deeper, study for yourself to see what it is that God wants to say to you. Okay, so so today I got a couple questions for you. Has anybody ever been in a season of waiting? Okay, let me go more specific. Maybe you've been in a season of waiting because there's a decision to be made. You're trying to figure out what to do, or you're waiting on somebody's response to an opportunity, and you're waiting, and what do you do? Do you take matters into your own hands? Do you passively just say what will be will be? What do you do in those moments? Maybe you've been waiting on a door to open or close, and you're not so sure what to do. Anybody been in a season of waiting in something anything like that? Be honest, you're in church. It's 10 o'clock. No, um, so so a lot of us we understand what that's like. In the Bible, people wait. There's often an analogy of farmers who wait, and a farmer needs to know what season they're in. There are seasons to plant and there are seasons to harvest, and you got to know what season you're in of what's happening. I did some Googling this morning because I thought I always see farmers and soldiers side by side in scripture. And soldiers are known for fighting, but you know what soldiers really have to do a lot of? Wait. But waiting is not do nothing, waiting is preparing, waiting is training. I I in my Google search this morning, this is what I asked how much of a soldier's life is spent waiting versus in war? And they said it said 95 to 99% of a soldier's life is waiting. Very little war. Even in World War I, there's a stat that says uh soldiers were fighting about only 45% of the time, the rest of the time they're waiting. That means resting, training, preparing for what's to come. Here's what I want to say: waiting is part of life. How will you wait? How will you wait when you need to make a decision? And then how will you decide? And I want to talk about what wisdom to live out and decide looks like in light of the will of God. Here's what James tells us in chapter three that'll give you a context. There are different kinds of wisdom. James says there's earthly wisdom, it's worldly, and there is heavenly wisdom. There is earthly wisdom that comes up, it's sort of human-speaking, human-centered. There's heavenly wisdom that is God's, it's divine, and it comes down. James says, here's the distinction. And the longer James' letter goes on, the more in your face he gets. I'll say it that way. He says, earthly wisdom is worldly, sensual, unspiritual, and then he says this demonic. He says, heavenly wisdom is peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy, and good fruit. What kind of wisdom do you want for living? What kind of wisdom do you need in the decisions that you would make, the choices that you would make? What kind of wisdom do you need? So let's just jump in. James chapter 4, and then we'll get into a little bit of chapter 5. I'll start reading in verse 13. James starts with a really interesting phrase. It's a rhetorical device in the ancient world. He says, Now listen. Like uh with my sort of southern background, it means yell. Now listen! But that's not what he did. He leaned in and said, Now listen. Like this is really important. Now listen. You who say today or tomorrow, we will go to this city or that city, we'll spend a year there, we'll carry on business, and we'll make money. Get gain is the literal translation. We're gonna gain, we're gonna get ahead. Now, I just want to say this up front. James is not against planning at all. The Bible is not against planning at all. He's speaking about something unique. He's speaking about the kind of person that says, okay, I'm I'm going to go today or tomorrow. So you're choosing your own timeline. You're like, this is the timeline, the plan, my plan's gotta happen now. He says you choose your location. You go to this city, you go to that city. As you know, it's all about location, location. What's that third thing? Oh, location, yeah. So you pick that. You're the kind of person that you decide the duration. We'll spend a year there or so. Okay, here's my plan. I'll give it this long. If this doesn't come through, then I'm gonna make another plan. You're engaged in your own enterprise. I'm carrying on business, I'm doing my thing. And you're guided by your own game. Make money. The motivation was more, more, more. Now, although James is not against planning, here's what he's contrasting: the kind of planning like that that says, This is my plan, this is my timeline, this is what I'm gonna do, and completely ignores God in the process. And he's like, That's not heavenly wisdom. Because heavenly wisdom reminds us God has a will, God has a plan, God has a purpose. We're not on our own. Can can we just be honest since we're in church? How easy is it to make a plan on your own? And then be like, oops, I forgot to ask God. He's getting really practical, and we're all guilty. I'm the chief of sinners here. Contrasted with prayerfully seeking God, his will and his ways. James is showing there's a danger in planning without God's perspective in mind, and there's more to understand. We can be so fixated on gain like making money, we can miss what's truly gain. Where does James get his ideas? Often from Jesus himself. The Sermon on the Mount is a lot like what James sounds like, and James also sounds like the Proverbs. Let's let's take the Sermon on the Mount, or let's take Jesus, Matthew 16. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple, just a question. You don't have to raise your hand. Who wants to be a disciple of Jesus today? Jesus says, Whoever wants to be my disciple, here's the path, here's the plan, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to, what's the word? Gain. Same word James used, make money. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? So Jesus is saying there's a different kind of gain, there's a different kind of treasure, there's a different way to value what's truly valuable in this world. The apostle Paul picks up the same idea. Philippians 3, Paul says, Whatever were, same word, gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the, here it is, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For whose sake I have lost all things, I consider them garbage that I may, and here's our word, gain Christ. Paul is saying there's a different kind of perspective, there's a heavenly wisdom kind of perspective. He's not saying there's anything wrong with making money, he's not saying there's anything wrong with making plans. He's saying the danger is you can make money and you can make plans and you can seek gain, and God has nothing to do with it, and you can still be at church and call yourself a Christian. And it's subtle and it's seductive. And James is warning us there there's a different path. You don't have to go this way. But we got to understand the danger before we see the new path. Look at James again, chapter 4, verse 14. Why do you do this basically? Why do you do that? Plan without God. You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. Like tomorrow is uncertain. What is your life? That's a great question. Like, what's the nature of your life? What brings you life? What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a while and then it vanishes. James is giving this reminder that a person whose plans are all worldly, are all um earthly, it's temporary. It's passing away. So ask a question: what is your life? Like, what's the nature of life? What is real life? And maybe you're here today and you're like, life is all about being successful. It's about get ahead, get more, it's successful. Or maybe you're here and you're like, life is about being faithful to God. Maybe you're like, life is about living long and being healthy and having a lot of fun. Or you could say, life is about being obedient to the will of God because he knows better. There's a vast difference between what is described as heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom. So, how do we live this way? And how do we find our way when he's certainly not saying life will be easy. In fact, James says, you are a mist. And this isn't to say that you're not important. He's saying our life is temporary. And the things that we go after, we just have to know they're not going to last forever if they're not of God. But we're created to live for eternity, and Jesus invites us into this kind of life. And James is trying to help us to understand. You could do everything the person in verse 13 is doing. Today or tomorrow, we're going to that city, doing this business, making money, and you could be successful, but actually be losing. Is that what really matters? And James doesn't want us to waste our life like that. Jesus doesn't either. That's why Jesus says, Isn't life more than what you wear, what you eat, what you drink, what you do for a living? And then in John 10, 10, Jesus famously says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. And I have come, but I have come that they may have life, real life, abundant life, have it to the full. That there's there's a contest that is going on, and there's a thief. This passage doesn't specifically mean the devil, the evil one. It means the evil systems and the ways that others would try to pervert God's plan and make you live in their image, but that image is still, kill, and destroy. Where Jesus has come that you could have life and life to the fullest. Here's I don't know where you're at on this. I believe with everything in me, what Jesus wants for you, what the scripture promises that God desires for you, is to give you life, not to take it away, is to bless you, not to hurt you, is to give you joy, not anxiety. Life's filled with enough anxiety, right? But Jesus wants what is best for us, and he's inviting us into that. So James takes up this line of thinking. He says, Don't live that way. Look at verse 15. Instead, there's a contrast. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. If it is the Lord's will, we'll do this. Now, James isn't saying, be flippant with your words. He's not just talking about superficiality. I've known some people in life who take this verse literally and they go through life, they're just saying, well, if it's the Lord's will, I'll go to work tomorrow. If it's not the Lord's will, I won't. If it's the Lord's will, I'll have cream for my coffee. But if it's the Lord's will, I'll settle for a latte. I don't know. All kinds of crazy things. James isn't getting at lip service. He's getting at the faithfulness in our hearts at the deepest part of us. Will you and I trust God no matter what? That's what he's asking for. The kind of humility that says, God, I'm going to trust you even when it doesn't make sense. God, I'm going to I'm going to ask you to give me your plans, not say, God, here's my plans, bless them. And if it is your will, God, I am all in no matter what it is. And James is asking us for a radical kind of approach to living. Okay, I didn't even finish what I was supposed to be reading, sorry, on a tangent. He says, verse 16, as it is, this is like a current status. This is like a reality check. As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is a bad idea. No, he says it's worse. It's evil. And if anyone then knows the good that they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them. Let's just be honest for a second. Anybody read James and you're like, man, give me a break. Like two weeks ago we're talking about words. I'm like, I can't get my words right. Then we're talking about last week conflict, and Jaden comes out here and talks about it's not about the external, it's about the internal. I'm like, James, give us a break. And now he's talking about the decisions we make. How easy is it to make selfish decisions? Really easy. Really easy. And James says, there's gotta be another way. And there is. There's gotta be another way to live. And this is what I this is my words, a version of what he talks about. Point number one, wisdom for living today. How to plan in light of the Lord's will. How do we plan in the light of the Lord's will? What I mean is sort of like not in the darkness of the ways of the world, but in the light of the Lord's will. James says, as it is, reality check. He's saying to his audience, here's what a bunch of people are doing. He says, You're presuming to know better than God. Either out of ignorance or arrogance, you're presuming to know better than God. God, let me tell you my plan. He says, you've got a self-centered faith, not a God-centered faith. Everybody has faith. The question is, who is the object of your faith? Is it God or is it yourself? And then he's affirming God's existence and knowledge that he has a will. A lot of people do that. I believe there is a God. I believe he has a will. And then we go and live however we want to live. And James is saying, come on, come on pay attention. See where we lose this. And what James is saying in this passage, nothing wrong with making money, nothing wrong with having plans. But it is, it is wrong when we leave God completely out of all of that. And so how do we how do we think differently so that we don't boast, so that we don't have arrogant schemes, which means to be presumptuous, trusting in our own power, trusting in our own plans and not in God. John uh the apostle warns about this also in 1 John 2. He says, Everything in the world, I love that, everything in the world, then he gives three situations: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Pride of life is the same word arrogant schemes in James. It comes not from the Father, doesn't come down from the Father, it comes up from the world. And the world and its desires pass away. But whoever does the will of God lives forever. Whoever does lives out the will of God. There it is. John has it again that God has a will, a purpose, and a plan. The will of God lives forever. Pastor Woody and I were just talking backstage, and we're talking, he was talking to me about like the difference between as we read James, like, I want to do that. I want to do that. And maybe some of you are here and you're like, I want to do that. And others of you are like, I should want to do that. I want to, want to do that. You know what I mean? Like, I want my want to desires to be in the right place. Because what James is warning is what Jesus is warning. It's not enough just to give God lip service. James says, the Lord's will. That's interesting. We'll get there in just a moment. The Lord's will, but Jesus gives this warning in Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. And you're like, wait a minute, isn't that the past code? Just say the right thing and I get in? No. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. The will, the purpose, the plans of God. And James calls us, listen, look for the Lord's will. It's interesting because he doesn't say God's will. In that sense, God and his will could be generic. All the religions of the ancient world says, God's will, do God's will. James's specific and says, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, the Lord's will. The Lord means the one who is sovereign, the one who we bow down before, the one who we submit before. You can't say, You're my Lord of most things. You have to say you're the Lord of all things. Or he's not Lord at all. So that's why this is complicated. James is inviting us to trust God, his ways, his word, his will in all things, in every aspect. In his commentary, James Douglas Moo writes these words The will of the Lord is to be acknowledged as the condition under which Christians are to view both their lives and their specific plans. Their lives means the totality of who we are. The specific plans means this. Every single decision. Every single decision. And I get it. Some of us are like, I am really mindful of God on Sunday morning at 10 31. Monday morning at 7 02, it's a different story. I've got Real life. And James is saying, this is real life. This is how we are to live. Just a poll. Anybody in here want God's will for your life? Do you want to live for God's will? Anybody? You're like, I want God's will, and maybe there's like some decisions you need to make that you're trying to figure it out. What would you think if I told you I know God's will for your life? Would you be surprised? Would you be like, can we have coffee tomorrow? We don't need coffee. I'm getting ready to solve it in three minutes. I know God's will for your life because the Bible tells us. God has spoken very clearly. Now it may not be what you want, but I know God's will for your life. Put that slide up there. There are at least, at least six perfectly clear passages of scripture that say, here is God's will for your life. Number one, here's God's will, that you be saved. 1 Timothy 2, for it is God's will that all are saved and come to a knowledge of the truth in Jesus Christ. It is God's will that every single person be saved. Are you saved? Have you experienced the salvation of God? It is God's will. Second, it's God's will that you be spirit-filled. Ephesians 5, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit of God, that you can prove what God's will is, that you can live out, filled with the Spirit, not in your own strength, but in the strength that God provides. That's God's will. Not a one-time thing, an ongoing thing. It's God's will that you're sanctified. Big word that means holy. Holy's a big word that means you're being cleansed to be more like Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, it is God's will. This is God's will, your sanctification. And then the next phrase, if you really, really want to know how he applies it, that you abstain from sexual immorality. There's God's will. You don't have to pray about it. That's God's will. It's God's will that you're speaking thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5, this is the will of God. Like in everything with prayer with thanksgiving, it's the will of God you're speaking thanks. How often are you speaking gratitude? That's the will of God for your life. It's God's will that you're submissive. 1 Peter 2 13 talks about that we should submit to earthly authorities for the Lord's sake. This is God's will. And by doing this, we put we we silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Isn't that interesting? 1 Peter 3 says it's God's will that you suffer. You're like, wait, what about get gain? We're all about getting gain. Part about getting gain is lay down your life, lose it. Jesus says you'll find it. You'll find life. It's better if it's God's will to suffer for doing good rather than doing evil. This is God's will for our lives. And you're like, yeah, yeah, but I need to know how to decide this thing about my job or about my life or about who to date or who to marry or who not to date or who to unmarry. No, no, no. This is God's will for your life. And if we're becoming these kinds of people and we're walking with God, it's more about who are you becoming than what do you need to do. If we would begin to see God is more interested in who we are becoming as people as we follow Him, saved, spirit-filled, sanctified, speaking thanks, submissive, suffering, there's other things, but these passages are explicit. This is God's will for you. Okay, you can take the slide down. I asked him to leave it up for an uncomfortably long time. Because the point is, I spent so much of my college years. God, what is your will? God, what well, not that. God, what is your will? Not those six things. God. And God's like, start here. Stay here. And you begin to see maybe God's will. It's a day-by-day following. It's a simplicity of trusting Him. It's not just knowing about Him, it is, it's trusting in Him. And James says, if you know the good that you're supposed to do and you don't do it, it's sin. You're like, wait a minute, I thought sin was just when I did something wrong. No, no. James is saying it's when you don't do the thing that you are called to do, just as much. Because we're to be living in this ongoing intimate relationship with God and living for his glory and the good of other people. So as we move to the second section of wisdom, there's a transition. I want to be clear about this. It's a transition. And James, he gets pretty rough in calling out some people. Because often James sounds like the Proverbs, but here James sounds like an Old Testament prophet. So he's in a line and lineage of like Old Testament prophets saying, This is what God is doing. And these themes that James speaks about for wisdom come up again and again. And this will be like the fourth time, probably we've heard James talk about wealth and riches and a perspectum of godly wisdom on it. So verse uh one of chapter five, James gives this warning. Now listen, again, same word. He's not screaming, now listen, because that got your attention. He's saying, Lean in. Now, now listen. You rich people. Now, real quick, before you write off whoever those people are, it's all of us. Now, we're not the intended audience, so I'm not trying to say that, but before you say, those rich people, um, go and Google wealth global wealth calculator. I did this for our teaching team, and I said, if you are living in Southern California and you make$30,000 a year, you heard me write,$30,000 a year. You're loaded, right? You'd be like, How do you eat? How do you pay for housing? If you live in Southern California, make$30,000, you are among the 7% richest people in the world right now. It's all a matter of perspective, right? If you make$85,000, you're among the 1% of the richest people in the world right now. So, you rich people, listen up. Okay, you ready? I'm glad you laughed because this part's not laughable. Weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth is rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and your silver are corroded. It literally means rusted. Anybody have gold on right now? Like if you do a gold ring or a gold necklace, look at your finger. Is it rusted on you? I just want to tell you this gold doesn't rust. So, ladies, if you've got some rust around your gold finger, he didn't get it at Zell's. It's from somewhere else. What he's saying is trusting in false riches. Your wealth, your gold and silver, it's corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. That's the language of a courtroom. Your wealth testifies against you. You invested all of this, all this time and energy in me, wealth, gold. And what good is it doing for you now? That's what that's what he's saying. It's like a courtroom setting. James uses that a lot. Um, look at this. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Interesting language, in the last days. What are the last days? We'll talk about that. But you've hoarded it. The wages, 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. That's a lot that James is saying there. Here's the point, you rich people. He's not talking to us. Maybe a better translation of that passage is you unrighteous rich people. So maybe he is talking to some of us. You unrighteous rich people. James is addressing a group of people who in that day and age they were very well known. The Old Testament prophets even prophesied about them. There were wealthy landowners in those days, a class of people, they were a whole class of people, sort of aristocrats of that day, that they were often accused of economic exploitation of the poor and oppression from the earliest times. And James's audience would be really aware of who he's talking about. Those people that are wealthy, they're taking advantage of all the people. They're not paying the wages that are actually due to the people that are working for them. And in light of these things, what James is saying, if you're going to follow Christ, you're going to face injustice, you're going to face disadvantage. And they could, James's audience, easily be discouraged, easily be resentful, they could easily be jealous. Why do those rich people have so much? And we have to struggle. And James is saying there's a different attitude for God's people. Luke Timothy Johnson, in his commentary, gives these five sort of definitions of what was going on in this exploitation. Can you put those up, please? He says that you have to understand for the unrighteous rich. Wealth can offer a false security, alienating humans from themselves. Your wealth can distract you from what's really going in inside of you. Because you're so focused on what's external. Your corrosion testifies against you, you're trusting in the wrong place. I said that's the language of a courtroom. He says you are exploiting and taking advantage of others to get ahead. He gives a warning of an arrogant consumption and heedless pleasure seeking, as if the point of life is to get more, or the point of life is just have fun, the point of life is just have pleasure. You're like, wait, I thought the one who dies with the most toys wins. James is speaking to that. And then he's saying, you provided security for the last days, but he means the retirement years, not the last days that he's talking about. The last years doesn't refer to retirement. For those of us over 45 or 50 or 60, whatever, sorry. James is talking about a different kind of last days. Now I have a shameless plug that I want to make right now. For those of us over 45, yeah, those of us who are old, for the first three Thursday nights in March, Pastor Woody is really the one heading this up. Uh, we're going to have a series of conversations called Building a Faithful Future. Um, if you want to look, it's on a QR code on the chair back somewhere around you. You can take a picture of it, scroll down just a little bit. Building a faithful future. For those of us over 45, we're going to talk about health, we're going to talk about finances, we're going to talk about legacy. Look, we're not going to card you at the door. If you're 44, we'll let you sneak in. But you know what I'm saying. It's geared towards those of us who are a little bit older because by reminders like this, that James says, we could live so much of our time focused on the last days, meaning retirement years, and saying, I just need a little bit more. And miss the eternal perspective that God wants us to live for. And James and Jesus aren't talking about the last days being your retirement years, they're talking about eternity. So the second part of wisdom for living here is how to view wealth in light of the Lord Almighty. I don't know if you notice that, but that's what James said. The Lord Almighty hears the cries of his people. So how do you view wealth in light of the Lord Almighty? How many people have ever done rooted here at Hillside or at another church? Just raise your hand. Okay. A lot of us have done rooted. One of the weeks of rooted, we ask this question: how does God view money? Do you think that question matters? One of the things we often say is Jesus in the Gospels of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, talks about money than almost every other subject. Does that surprise you? Jesus talks about money, wealth, riches more than he does, salvation, more than he does heaven. He talks about money all the time. Does that surprise you? Why do you think Jesus would do that? Because money has a unique way of getting a hold of our hearts. Money has a unique way of blinding us to what's actually true and valuable in life. And so James gives this warning. This is the one word I want to pick on, hoarded. He says, you have hoarded. That means to gather up, but it also can mean to store or it can mean to save. Matthew 6, Jesus uses this word. And Jesus says, Do not, what's the two words? Do not store up. That's hoard. For yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But there it is again, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This isn't a matter of your money or your wallet. This is about your heart. And Jesus is warning about hoarding, just like James is. In another place, Luke 12, Jesus uses the example of a rich person. He's called the rich fool, Bible's words, not mine. And he says, When he's having surplus, this is what he says to himself. This is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns, I'll build bigger ones, and there I'll store, hoard my surplus grain. I'll have more and more and more and more for me. And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be married. And God said to him, You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you, and who will get what you have prepared for yourself the more and more and more and more and more. And this is how it will be with whoever stores up or hoards things for themselves but is not rich towards God. Again, Jesus, James, whoever, there's nothing wrong with being wealthy at all. There's nothing wrong with making plans at all. But in this context, there is a wrong approach to money that we're being warned about. There's nothing wrong with saving. I mean, Paul says in 1 Corinthians, on the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, storing, saving it up so that when I come, no collections will be have to be made. He's like, there's a value to saving, there's a value to storing. Savings accounts are biblical. Hoarding is not. So how do we find the wisdom to live? James says, well, part of it is in light of the Lord Almighty. The Lord Almighty is a term taken from the Old Testament, most famously taken from David and Goliath, when David is facing this monster Goliath, and David says to him, You come to me with a sword, and you come to me with a shield, and he seems to forget to say, and you're like eight feet tall. David says, But I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of angel armies. In light of the Lord Almighty, how do we handle resources? How do we long for what's to come? And David is, or James is saying, in light of who the Lord is, and he's coming again, let's live faithfully, let's listen up. This passage may not be addressed to Christians necessarily, but it may be addressed to Christians who look to worldly models of wealth and say, I want to be like that, or listen to worldly examples. This is what you should do, and completely ignore what God says in his word. This is my will, this is my way. Follow me. Got to keep moving. Verse 7. There's one more transition. James says this, be patient then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop. There's the idea of treasure, valuable crop. Patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You two be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. The Lord is coming. The Lord is coming. Don't grumble against one another, like be kind to one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The judges standing at the door. James is really clear over and over again that Jesus is returning. There is a judgment after our death. That's another sermon for another day, but there is this judgment all around. And the judgment, the coming of the Lord, should in Christians lead us to patience, not anxiety. Concern for others, not growing division. Here's my soapbox. It seems to me like a lot of the people who talk the most about Jesus' coming back are the most angry and divisive people. How is that to be? Should be the ones whose heart breaks for the things that break God's heart. James is inviting us to a new perspective because the people who were taken advantage of, these people James is writing to, you think they'd be outraged. You think maybe James was like, that's right, you should be mad. Fight. But instead he said, be patient. Stand firm. Trust God. Trust God. What? Because there's a wisdom for living, number three, that tells us how to wait in light of the Lord's return. James is reminding us, Jesus is coming. He's got judgment. He brings justice, but not us. Look at verse 10. It still continues Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They spoke, but then they had to wait for it to come true. They spoke and then they had to wait for it to come true. And sometimes it took a long time. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. There's a lot of talk about the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. That's why he's working, that's why he's saying these things. He's full of compassion and mercy. Look to Job, James says. If you know anything about Job, what you know is his story didn't make any sense until the end. Job was going through hard times, great prosperity, great loss, up and down roller coaster. His story didn't make any sense until the end. And when he came to a place where he says, God, I can't understand you. You're too great for me to understand. I just simply trust. And so James says, We're to wait. And just put this light up. Two two applications for this. We're to wait with patience, but that's about enduring difficult people. Anyone know any difficult people? Are they sitting beside of you right? No, no, no, no, no, I'm not that question. It's about enduring difficult people, full of compassion and mercy. But it's also about perseverance, enduring difficult circumstances. When we're in difficult circumstances, being patient, standing firm, eyes on Jesus, heavenly wisdom coming down, not giving in to what the world says we should do because it leads us astray all the time. And the story isn't over yet. And it is true, the best is yet to come. There is a heaven, there is an eternity, there are promises that would we just can't fully understand in Christ for us. And James is just calling us to trust and to live with wisdom, to be patient and stand firm and to keep our eyes. That's what we prayed earlier. Set your minds on things above, not on the earth. Set your hearts on things above. Your life is hidden with God in Christ. And to turn to Him. Would you pray with me? God help us today to not be distracted by the things of this world, to not be seduced by the things of the world. Would you deliver us from the things that uh seek to still kill and destroy what is actually life? And would you remind us that, Jesus, you give life and life abundantly. You provide like nothing in this world could, and you give us the wisdom to understand day by day, step by step, what that looks like. Your will is that we're saved, spirit-filled, and sanctified, and speaking things, and and and submissive and suffering. Your will for our lives in certain ways is really clear. Help us to hear and trust and follow you. For those who are here today and they're not even saved, they don't even know what it looks like to start a relationship. I pray today would be a day of salvation. I pray today before they leave that they would talk to somebody and maybe just simply say, I need Jesus to be my Lord. I need forgiveness, I need help, I need hope to be restored, I need Jesus to be my Lord. Others of us, we we need our lives back in alignment with your ways, so forgive us for the ways we've gone astray. And maybe we want to, or maybe we won't. to want to change our hearts, change our desires to be more like yours. In your name Jesus we pray. Amen.