How To Deal With Oppression!

James 5:4-12

There is a story about a monastery in Europe perched high on a cliff several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery was to be suspended in a basket, which was pulled to the top by several monks who had to pull and tug with all their strength. Obviously, the ride up the steep cliff in that basket was terrifying. On his way up, one tourist noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old and frayed. With a trembling voice he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope. The monk thought for a moment, shrugged, and answered, "Whenever it breaks."

I’m wondering if the pressures of this world manage to get you close to breaking point. You know life is difficult enough without the pressures which come from being a Christian. But I’m wondering this morning, have you ever felt like someone was out to get you?
*Have you ever felt like someone was trying to take advantage of you?
*Have you ever felt oppressed?
You see some people ask the question what should we do as Christians when we’re being oppressed?
But I think the best way to answer that question is by asking this more important question, what should you not do?

James is going to share with us today in James 5:4-12, principles and instructions which guided the early Christians when they were being oppressed.
And please remember that these principles are just as applicable today when we are being oppressed by others. To help us deal with oppression James tells us not to resist.

James 5:4-6 “You have not paid any wages to those who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty. Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.”
Now these guys were being treated badly and treated unjustly especially by the rich, but James tells us that they did not resist. Now I don’t know about you... but this goes against everything which is inside of me. This goes against everything the world teaches about being oppressed.

But when you become a Christian, you’re not following the world’s ways anymore; you’re following the way of Christ. And so not only does your live dramatically change, your whole way of thinking is drastically changed.

Romans 12:19-21 “Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, "I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord."
Instead, as the scripture says: "If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame." Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.”

You see human nature pushes us to react like the rest of the world would react by lashing out on what we think is "justifiable anger." Human wisdom pushes us to react like the rest of the world would react by "standing up for our rights."

But the Christian is called upon to react differently; we are advised not to react that way. And the reason we don’t react that way is because of three things.

1) An awareness that the Lord is coming to judge.  James 5:8+9 “You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near. Do not complain against one another, my friends, so that God will not judge you. The Judge is near, ready to appear.”

You see if we know that the Lord is coming we’re more likely not to judge others because we know that the Lord will be the one doing the judging. We know that He is the one who will judge correctly, He is the one who knows all things and because He knows all things... we should leave all things in His hands.
And if we know all things are in His hands, then we shouldn’t need to justify our anger, we shouldn’t need to stand up for our rights. 

Because not only should we be aware that the Lord is coming, we also need to have 2) A willingness to let Him be our avenger.   Luke 18:7+8 “Now, will God not judge in favour of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will judge in their favour and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?"

Now I know and understand that this is not always easy to leave things in God’s hands. And I know and understand that resisting the temptation to lash out and stand up for your rights is not always easy. But when you were called upon to follow Christ, you were called upon to imitate Christ and His example.

1 Peter 2:21-23 “It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered; he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge”.

So not only should we be aware that the Lord is coming, and we need to have a willingness to let Him be our avenger,  3) we also need to Be patient. You know sometimes as Christians we want things sorted out as quickly as possible and on our timetable. But surely we should know by now that God doesn’t work according to our will and timetable, He works according to His will and His timetable.
And sometimes we get all frustrated and angry even when things are not working out quickly enough.

People oppress us and we say yes I will just leave it in God’s hands but after a few months of continuous oppression we lose patience because we think that God isn’t listening. These are the times that we need to be patient.

James is going to share with us three examples to encourage us to be patient.

A) The farmer: James 5:7 “Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains.”
B) The prophets: James 5:10 “My friends, remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as examples of patient endurance under suffering”.
C) Job: James 5:11 “We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion”.

Now we understand the patience that a farmer needs for his crops, we understand the patience the prophets had in the Old Testament especially when no one would listen to them. But I want to focus our attention on the patience of Job for a moment.

As someone once said to me, ‘so you think you have problems. Who doesn't?’ And friends, whatever trial you’re going through at the moment, no matter what personal trail you’re facing right now... I want to let you know that whatever is happening in your life at this moment is no reason for you to quit the church or abandon the faith.

Put yourself in the shoes of Job for a moment.

1) He lost his wealth. In rapid succession three messengers came telling Job of the destruction of his property and servants by bands of robbers and by lightning.
2) He lost his family. A fourth messenger came telling of the death of all of Job's children. Seven sons and three daughters were crushed in a moment when the house fell.
3) He lost his health. Job was smitten from head to foot with the most disgusting ulcers. He was constrained to sit down among the ashes and scrape himself with a potsherd.
4) He lost his friends. His servants turned their backs on him. The children in the streets despised Job and mocked him. His friends told him that his sufferings were because of his wickedness. And his wife nagged him to curse God and die.

Now when you look at Job and his trials I’m sure you will agree that he was going through a horrific time. Even if you were to break his trials down separately... they would be horrific, but when you view them collectively most of us would be overwhelmed just listening to him...
never mind actually going through them.
But friends, he didn’t lash out, he didn’t stand up for his rights, instead he did what James is trying to teach us all this morning.

Job 1:20 "Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped."
And friends, Job learned something which I’m hoping we can all learn this morning. Job learned that the Lord is very "compassionate and merciful." The farmers, the prophets and Job all teach us to place our trust in the Lord, that He will eventually reward us for our trust in Him.

But the only way to trust the Lord like this is to take these words off the pages of the Bible and establish them in our hearts. The word "establish" means
to "to fix, make fast, to set."
And the key to establishing our hearts is found in the word of God.

2 Peter 1:12 “And so I will always remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly grounded in the truth you have received”.
It’s through constant and careful study of God's Word that our faith in God and His eventual justice is made stronger. And if our hearts are rooted and established in God's Word, we are more likely to act as we should when being oppressed.

Now you can always tell the Christians who are struggling with oppression. You can always tell the Christians who struggle to leave things in God’s hands to deal with.
You can always tell the Christians who struggle with patience. Christians who struggle in these areas are normally the grumblers, especially against one another.

James 5:9 “Do not complain against one another, my friends, so that God will not judge you. The Judge is near, ready to appear.”
James says if you want to start trusting God then stop the grumbling. Now I don’t know about you but when we go through tough times... we very often take our frustrations out on those we love the most. Whether it is our wives or husbands, mothers or fathers, or our children.

If you’ve had a bad day at work for example the likelihood is that you will take out your frustrations on your family. And friends, we need to understand that sometimes this happens with our spiritual family. And we need to be on our guard against such times... because James told us that if we complain against each other then God will judge us.

So not only are we not to complain against each other, James also warns us not to swear.
James 5:12 “Above all, my friends, do not use an oath when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Say only "Yes" when you mean yes, and "No" when you mean no, and then you will not come under God's judgment.”

Now when times are tough and we’re going through difficult trials, it’s during those times more than any other that we may be tempted to swear. In other words, we’re more likely to make rash promises. And friends, we need to be aware that any promise whether big or small made to God is a promise which God will hold you to.
Ecclesiastes 5:1+2 “Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don't know right from wrong. Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to.”
So, we need to be careful about any oath we make, either to each other or to God. In fact, James tells us that the best way of avoiding making oaths like this is to stop making oaths altogether, stand by your word and let your ‘yes’ be a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ be a ‘no’.

Finally, in times of oppression, Christians need to know that they have a powerful weapon in their weaponry. It’s called Prayer.
James 5:13 “Are any among you in trouble? They should pray. Are any among you happy? They should sing praises.”

One of the things which frustrates us as Christians when were going through trials is that we often tend to think that God is not listening to us. Don’t allow Satan to whisper those things in your ear. When Christians pray, God hears!

Luke 18:7+8 “Now, will God not judge in favour of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will judge in their favour and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?"
That is a promise from God!!!
When you are being oppressed and you pray to God for help, He hears and He will take action.
Revelation 6:9-11 “Then the Lamb broke open the fifth seal. I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because they had proclaimed God's word and had been faithful in their witnessing. They shouted in a loud voice, "Almighty Lord, holy and true! How long will it be until you judge the people on earth and punish them for killing us?" Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer, until the complete number of other servants and believers were killed, as they had been.”

It may not come when we want it, but God will take action when the time is right, and the oppressed will be avenged. So friends, when we are being oppressed from anyone just remember not to retaliate but be kind.

Be patient and establish God’s word within your heart. Don't complain or swear but pray. Because when we as Christian react this way to oppression we’re actually following the example of Christ.

1 Peter 2:23 “When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered; he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge.”

With such a righteous God on our side, it should be a lot easier to endure anyone who oppresses us. And remember that any trial or oppression should always be seen as an opportunity to praise God.

CONCLUSION
Oppressed by the noonday heat, a tired farmer sat under a walnut tree to rest. Relaxing, he looked at his pumpkin vines and said to himself, "How strange it is that God puts such big heavy pumpkins on a frail vine that has so little strength that it has to trail on the ground!"

And then looking up into the cool branches of the tree above him, he added, "How strange it is that God puts small walnuts on such a big tree with branches so strong they could hold a man!" Just then a breeze dislodged a walnut from the tree. The tired farmer wondered no more, as he rubbed his head apologetically and said,
"It is a good thing there wasn't a pumpkin up there instead of a walnut."

So friends, when the breezes of life blow, please remember that God, Who is great and wise, makes no mistakes.
He deserves our praise under any circumstance, even when we’re being oppressed.

Sermon Contributor: Michael Glover