The Faithful and Wise Steward
James 5:7-12
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” -Matthew 24:45-51
James’ main point in this passage:
As stewards in Jesus’ kingdom, patience is our primary virtue and people are our primary responsibility.
As such, James is reminding his readers that Jesus and the gospel
Reshape our ideas of who we are in this world
Redefine what our priorities are in this world
Restructure how we interact with one another in this world
If you have been born again, if you are in Christ, then you are called to re-orient your entire understanding of who you are to Jesus and the gospel.
You are no longer who you were. Whatever your past circumstances, failures, or successes might have been, that person is over. “If anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”
Nor do you get the privilege of re-inventing yourself. Under Jesus and the gospel, it simply does not matter how you identify. The good news of the gospel is about more than tapping into some fantasy version of yourself, thinking that if you can just put on the costume of the superhero you imagine yourself to be that somehow you will become that superhero.
The good news is this: We are who Jesus and the gospel says we are. God’s children! Heirs of His vast kingdom! Future kings and queens of all that exists! But right now, we are most like tenant farmers.
The word for “patience” James uses here means “long-suffering” and it generally applies to the object and texture of our patience.
Situations generally try our steadfastness. People typically test our patience. We bear up under circumstances when we are steadfast, but we bear with people when we are patient.
This kind of patience is also kind and gentle. It is not the eye-rolling, “Fine!!”-declaring, “have-it-your-way” kind of patience that makes us out to be martyr-heroes while making the other person out to be selfish and childish.
In the same way that the words patient and brother appear three times in this passage, three times in this passage James refers to Jesus’ return. In those references James indicates:
- How long we are to be patient - until the coming of the Lord
- What we must focus on as tenant farmers and stewards - establish your heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
- Why we establish our hearts to be lovingly patient - “behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”
Jesus is dead serious about the charge He left us with, so serious that He intends to hold us accountable for how wise and how faithful we are in doing what we were told.
Bad habit #1: Grumbling about others - “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.” (5:9)
What James is addressing here is how we think about others in our hearts.
Bad habit #2: Powering up on others - “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” (5:12)
What James is addressing here is how we want others to think about us in their hearts.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” - Philippians 2:3-8
