Until
Ripe!
(4-11-04)
2Tim.3:10-15
James 5:7-10 “….See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains…”
Does patience rest in idle foolishness? What I mean is, does the farmer sit on the porch in foolish expectation of a crop
without doing his part? No! The farmer knows that if the fruit is to be harvested he must work the ground in preparation for
the seed. He also must plant. He must also weed and cultivate. So where is the waiting in patience? The fruit to be born by
the power of life that God has placed in creation. It is in the hand of someone else but the expectation is sure. Why? Because
He who created all things is still upholding what was created.
James tells
us in verse 7 and 8 to be patient! More a command than a simple request. For what reason? Jesus is coming! “8
You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.” Is this an idle foolishness or do we too have
our part to play? We have a part in this great coming of our Lord. 2PE
3:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people
ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire,
and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven
and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
We are called to be actively patient. Look to the example
that God has left us. Did the event of the crucifixion just happen or was it planned?
We know this, before the creation of the world God planed Jesus death and his glorious resurrection. (Eph.1:4; 1Pet.1:20)
God planed to raise a harvest of souls. Like a good farmer He did his work until the time was ripe for Jesus step out of the
grave, the 1st born of the resurrection. (Rom.8:29; Col.1:15,18; Heb.1:6, 12:23;
Rev.1:5) God patiently labored for hundreds of years for the times to ripen. Jesus is Risen. He is not laying decayed in some
moldy tomb, He is Risen.
If God labored in patient expectation of Jesus endurance
unto death, what are we called to labor in patient expectation of? Joh 15:16 You have not chosen
Me, but I chose you out and planted you, that you should go and should bear fruit, and your fruit remain, that whatever you
should ask the Father in My name, He may give you.
Consider this, what is found in
fruit? The seed or the ability to produce more of the same fruit is found imbedded within. Jesus planted the Apostles so that
they would bear fruit. That Fruit then must bear fruit by the seed found within it. What is that seed. (Col.1:4-6; 1Cor.3:6)
“…All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day
you heard it..” (Col.1:6)
This Day called Easter is a day
for remembering that Jesus is no longer dead but is living even yet today, never again will He be dead. He is the 1st
of children of the Resurrection. Our reason for laboring in patience and in joy beyond measure is that we too have become
His brothers and sisters in that we too are children of the resurrection. We will rise again and will never again taste death.
Until that time which is determined only by the Father, we have a labor in patient endurance to accomplish. Until time’s
ripe. He is Risen and so shall we be, this is our strong resolve of endurance.
