1. I read about this monk that joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first ten years, his superior called him in and asked him if he had anything to say, but instructed him that he must limit himself to two words. The monk said, “Food bad.” Ten more years went by and the monk was once again called before his superior and asked if he had anything to say, once again reminding him that he must limit what he said to two words. The monk said, “Bed hard.” Another ten years went by and once again he was called before his superior and asked if he had anything to say. The monk said, “I quit.” His superior looked at him and said, “Well, it doesn’t surprise me. All you have done since you’ve been here is complain.”  

2. Someone has said that you will find as a rule, those who complain about the way the ball bounces, usually are the ones that dropped it.

3. A middle-aged man, known for his constant complaining, inherited a large sum of money. However, it was not as much as he thought it would be. He complained for weeks about the amount he had actually got. Finally, one day he told his wife that he was going to buy a farm for them to enjoy in their retirement. He asked his wife, “What do you think I should name it?” His wife replied, “Why don’t you call it ‘Belly-Acres’?”

4. In our present study of James we come to the second example of patience in chapter five. In verses 7-11, James gives us three examples of patience:

• (Vs.7-8) The patience of the farmer
• (Vs.9-10) The patience of the prophets
• (Vs.11) The patience of Job

5. In our last study (Vs.7-8), we saw that we are to patient as we look and await the Lord’s return. We saw the patience of the farmer as he waits for the early and latter rain.

6. In the second example (Vs.9-10) we see the patience of the prophets. James uses the patience of the prophets to teach us important lessons about complaining. Let’s notice these two verses and seek to learn further truths about patience as illustrated in the prophets.

1. THE BEHAVIOR THAT IS CONSIDERED!

1. In verse 9, we read, “Grudge not one against another, brethren.” The word “grudge” speaks of complaining and grumbling. The word literally speaks of “sighing” or “groaning” because of undesirable circumstances that the individual suffers. It describes an inner feeling of dissatisfaction that involves a feeling of criticism and faultfinding. In simple words, James is speaking of grumbling or complaining.

2. It would appear there were some who were complaining and grumbling about the things that were happening in their lives. What was happening in their lives? In verse 10, James spoke of the prophets as “suffering affliction.” The two words in our English Bible are actually one word that comes from a compound word that speaks of suffering that comes from hardship or misfortune.

3. As we saw in our last study and throughout the book of James, life was not easy for these believers. Being a Christian had thrust them into many different kinds of trials, hardships, and afflictions. Not all of these believers were taking these hardships patiently. There were some that were complaining and grumbling about what they were going through.

4. Understanding this, notice with me a couple of further details about their complaining.

A. How Their Complaining Was Directed

1. Notice carefully what James says in verse 9, “Grudge not (complain or grumble not) one against another, brethren.” They were venting their feelings against each other; against their brothers and sisters in the Lord.

2. James Blanchard in his commentary on James describes their conduct: “Here were Christians under sever pressure and beginning to fray at the edges. Soon they would begin to grumble at their circumstances and then, tragically, start directing their grumbling at each other.”1

3. I think we all easily relate to what was happening. How often when we are under pressure or going through a hard time, we vent our feelings in the direction of people that have nothing to do with what we are going through. A husband snaps his wife’s head off because he has had a hard day a work. The wife jumps down the husband’s throat because she has had a terrible day. You know what I am talking about!

4. I think of a husband that was talking with a co-worker at work who was telling him of how he was always taking his wife roses. This husband decided that he would surprise his wife and take her home a dozen roses. When he got home that afternoon, instead of just walking in, he decided that he would ring the doorbell. He thought, “She is really going to be surprise when she opens the door and finds me standing here with these roses.” When the wife opened the door, she went berserk. She screamed out, “This is the last straw. The washing machine broke down this morning; Johnny fell at school and broke his arm, I had to sit in the waiting room for three hours, and when I got home the dog had drug the trash out all over the house. And now, you come home drunk.”

5. The same idea is found in Hebrews 12:15, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” The writer of Hebrews not speaks of bitterness troubling the one that is bitter, but others are defiled as well. He is describing of how we are bitter, we often vent our bitterness toward others.

6. These believers were experiencing and encountering many difficult things. The problem was, some were venting their frustration and irritation towards those who were not responsible.

B. How Their Complaining Was Denounced

1. James says in verse 9, “Grudge not one against the another, brethren.” The grammatical structure of his words indicates that such grumbling was taking place and must be stopped. James fully understands what they are going through and is not unsympathetic toward their circumstances, but firmly states that venting their feelings toward their brethren cannot be tolerated or allowed. It has to be stopped. It is bad enough that people on the outside are trying to destroy them, but even worse when they engage in behavior that threatens to destroy their fellowship and relationship with one another.

2. Someone has written:

To walk in love with saints above
Will be a wondrous glory;
To walk below with saints we know—
Well, that’s another story!

3. To walk below with the saints we know is precisely what James is encouraging. He is seeking to develop their fellowship and protect it from anything that could cause division. He says, “Stop your grumbling against the brethren. They are not the source of your suffering.”

2. THE BEHAVIOR THAT IS CONDEMNED!

1. James not only denounces their behavior, but further states that it is a behavior that will be condemned. He tells them to stop their complaining, “lest ye be condemned.” What do we see in these words?

A. The Judgment That Is Awaiting

1. The word “condemned” means, “to sentence or judge.” James is reminding them that they are facing a day of judgment. He is referring to the hour when every believer will stand before God and give an account of him or herself.

2. The Bible says in Romans 14:12, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Also, we read in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

3. Each of us will one day stand before the Lord to give an account of our life. The words of James tell us that even our complaining, specifically; how we treat others, will be one of the subjects that will be judged.

4. I read about a little old lady that entered a department store and was startled when a band began to play and a dignified executive pinned an orchid on her dress and handed her a crisp hundred-dollar bill. She was the store’s millionth customer. Television cameras were focused on her and reporters began interviewing. “Tell me,” one asked, “just what did you come here for today?” The lady hesitated for a minute, and then answered, “I’m on my way to the Complaint Department.”

5. James reminds us that we are on our way, to place and time, when our complaints will be dealt with.

B. The Judgment That Is Approaching

1. We read in verse 9, “Behold, the Judge standeth before the door.” The Judge is of course the Lord Himself. He is the only rightful Judge and it is the Lord Himself, the One that knows everything about us, that will do the judging.

2. James describes the Lord as standing before the door. The picture is of someone standing before a door and getting ready to push open the door and come inside. James is speaking of the impending and imminent return of the Lord. He described the Lord as standing at the door and could come through the door at any moment.

3. As believers, we should live our lives in light of the Lord’s coming. We should view the nearness of our Lord’s return as if He were standing at the door, ready to come.

4. We read in Revelation 22:12, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” The Lord’s coming should be viewed as sure and soon. He will come and may come today. We should also consider the Lord’s coming as both a time of reward and review.

5. Why should we stop complaining? It is because we will one day be judged for complaining and any day we face that judgment.

3. THE BEHAVIOR THAT IS COMMENDED!

1. After speaking to these believers directly about their behavior, James draws their attention to the prophets and their behavior. James says in verse 10, “Take my brethren, the prophets…for an example.” The word “example” speaks of a model or a pattern. The word “Take” is emphatic, which calls for a definite act on their part. They are to hold before themselves the behavior of the Old Testament prophets as their model and example. What kind of example or model were they?

A. They Are A Model Of What To Expect

1. James speaks of these prophets as those, “who have spoken in the name of the LORD.”  These prophets were the communicators of God’s Word. They delivered “What Thus Saith The Lord.” They were men called by God and committed to God.

2. Yet, they were not immune from suffering. As we saw earlier, the words “suffering affliction” speaks of hardships and misfortune. These were men sold out to God, but their dedication to God did not shelter them from these hardships.

3. James, as he has done throughout the book, once again reminds them that being a Christian does not sheltered one from hardship. Do you remember how he began the book? Notice 1:2, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” It is not a case of “if” but “when.”

4. Just as the prophets suffered, we will suffer. Trials and hardships are to be expected in the life of the believer.

B. They Are A Model Of How To Endure

1. James tells us in verse 10 that these prophets faced their suffering with “patience.” We saw this word in our last study as we looked at verses 7-8. We saw that the word “patience” literally speaks of being longsuffering. It speaks of an attitude of self-restraint the enables one to refrain from retaliation in the face of provocation.

2. Here is the point that James is making. Did the prophets retaliate when persecuted? No! Did they vent out their bottled up frustrations and irritations at fellow prophets or other believers? No! They sailed many a stormy sea and faced many a dark storm, yet they endured them all with patience. Their patience is a model to how we are to face the trials and hardships of life.

3. A man was walking through a supermarket with a screaming baby in the shopping cart. A woman nearby noticed that time and again the man would calmly say: “Keep calm, Albert. Keep calm, Albert.” Finally, in admiration for the man’s patience as the child continued to wail, the woman walked up to him and said: “Sir, I must commend you for your patience with baby Albert.” To which the man replied, drawing himself up: “Madam, I am Albert!”

4. As believers we will experience and encounter situations that will test our patience, yet like the prophets we are to endure with patience.

5. There is ancient story that comes from China about a family famous for its happiness and its freedom from quarreling. For nine generations, no one had left the home. So the household of sons and sons’ sons and their families was very large. Yet they had no disagreements, no discourtesies, no jealousy or self-seeking.

6. At length, the emperor himself heard the fame of this enviable household, and he marveled. For the sake of other families in the land, he sent an imperial messenger to the home, bade him ask for the elder of the household, and say to him:

“His majesty the emperor wishes to know the secret of your family’s happiness. He bids you take this scroll, and on it write down the reasons for your household’s harmony.”

7. When the old man who was the head of the family saw the messenger, he knelt to receive his emperor’s orders, took the scroll, and sat down to write. For a long while he wrote, carefully and slowly. Then he rolled up the scroll and courteously handed it back to the royal messenger. Far away in the palace the emperor eagerly took the scroll, unrolled it, and gazed at its line after line of painstakingly written words. Each word was the same: “Patience.”

8. Like the prophets before us, may we be known for our patience.  

 1. Truth for Life, by James Blanchard