The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience This morning we ll continue our study of the fruit of the Spirit. We ve discussed love, joy, and peace. This morning we re going to consider the prospect of the Holy Spirit producing the fruit of patience in our lives. Let s begin by thinking about impatience vs. patience. An impatient person is quick to become angry, reacts quickly and negatively to people and circumstances. One of the things we ll see from Scripture is that impatience hinders or nullifies our ability to be used by God in others lives. Anger and knee-jerk negative reactions put distance between us and the people who could be helped by other virtues we might possess. Whether it s intended or not, impatience is often perceived as rejection and condemnation by other people. By contrast, a patient person is slow to anger. Patience is sometimes translated longsuffering. A patient person suffers a long time before getting angry. It s not that a patient person doesn t feel things deeply; it s just that the patient person channels his/ her emotions into things more profitable than anger. Instead of responding to people in anger, a patient person has a willingness to stick with people (The Message). Genuine patience doesn t mean being passive or permissive; a patient person might need to confront somebody else s attitudes, words, or actions, but s/he avoids doing so in anger. A patient person stays in relationship with others and therefore stays in a position to be used by God in another person s life. Patience is experienced as love because love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4). The Bible emphasizes the relational power and influence of patience. It s instructive to note that the Bible has as much to say about God s patience as the patience that we are supposed to exhibit. Actually, God s patience toward us can give us a vision for the type of patience we might demonstrate to others. We re going to begin by taking a good look at God s patience. If we appreciate the patience God has shown us, we re now in a position to show the same type of patience to others. Just to let you know: My hope is that you leave here this morning with a vision for how your patience might be healing and nourishing for the people around you. I have to confess that I have undervalued the power and beauty of patience for most of my life. But I m coming to see that if I want to be used by God in others lives (which I do), then I need to trust the Holy Spirit to reproduce in me the very patience of God. God s Patience. (Nehemiah 9, 1 Timothy 1) In Nehemiah 9 we find a classic statement about God s patience that is restated in numerous places in the OT (e.g., Psalm 103:8). The priests call the people to repentance by rehearsing all that God had done for them through the centuries. One of the things the priests mention is God s patience during the years they were in the wilderness (after God rescued them from Egypt). 16 But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly;
FoS#4 - Patience, 6/16/13! 2 They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments. 17 They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them. Even though the children of Israel had been arrogant, refused to listen to God, became stubborn and rejected their God-appointed leader (Moses), God was patient with them. He was slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He stayed in relationship with them! If you ve read the book of Exodus, you know that this doesn t mean that there weren t consequences for their rebellion. They experienced God s discipline in some rather catastrophic ways. Patient isn t the same as permissive or passive. God s patience meant, however, that He didn t give up on them and forsake them in anger. The next verse gives a great example of this: 18 Even when they made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt, And committed great blasphemies, 19 You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. If God were hotheaded He would have wiped them out completely. But because He was patient, He continued to woo them back to Himself. He continued to speak to them, lead them, provide for them, discipline them, and deliver them from dangers. God s patience was evident day and night. Throughout the OT we are told that God is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. When we come to the NT, one of the most striking examples of God s patience is found in the experience of the Apostle Paul. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul gives a synopsis of how he came to faith in Christ. One of the things he emphasizes is how his experience illustrates the patience of God in an extraordinary way. 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a
FoS#4 - Patience, 6/16/13! 3 trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. In verse 16 Paul explains one reason he had experienced such mercy: 16 Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Paul coming to faith in Christ was a demonstration of Jesus perfect patience. Before coming to Christ, Paul was a blasphemer (saying and doing all sorts of things that violated God s character) and a persecutor (trying to squash the infant church in Jerusalem) and a violent aggressor (he was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord - Acts 9:1). Given Paul s opposition, Jesus would have been fully justified in taking out Paul. The believers in Jerusalem were probably wondering why God hadn t judged Paul already. But Jesus wanted Paul to be a demonstration of His perfect patience. He wanted to showcase Paul as an example of how He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. Jesus patience was an example of the mercy that God would show to everyone who would believe in Him for eternal life. People - like you and me - should look at Paul s experience and conclude that if God was patient with him, surely God is patient with me too. This realization should encourage us to turn to Jesus in faith. There s a tendency for us to think that our sin is so bad that there s no way God would want me or forgive me. But God s patience suggests otherwise. God s patience is a strong, positive expression of His commitment to us. Whether we realize it or not, we have all (every single human) experienced the patience of God. Those who are believers in Jesus Christ have experienced God s patience as Paul described it. Instead of pouring out His wrath on us (which would have been fully justified), He has lavished His grace upon us in Christ Jesus. Our experience of God s patience should fuel our vision for showing patience to others. When we read in the NT that we should clothe ourselves with patience or that love is patient or that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, we now understand that God is only calling us (by the power of the Holy Spirit) to treat each other the way He has treated us. In the context of God s patience toward us, let s think about: Our Patience. (James 1:19-20, Colossians 3:12-13, 2 Timothy 4:2) A patient person embodies the conviction expressed in James 1:19-20. 19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. We almost always feel justified in getting angry, right? There are good, sound reasons why we are mad and annoyed and irritated with other people and with our
FoS#4 - Patience, 6/16/13! 4 circumstances. The anger of man may accomplish a lot of things: it may intimidate other people; it may shut people up; it may put people in their place. But one thing it does not do is achieve the righteousness of God. Anger does not further the work of God in the life of the angry person or in the lives of the people who experience that anger. A patient person is armed with the conviction that his/her anger is at odds with what God wants to do in any given situation. Anger may feel good at the time, but it s counterproductive to the purposes of God. In Colossians 3:12 13 patience is one of the virtues that Paul urges the Colossians to wear. Patience is one of the basic qualities that should characterize the relationships of people who have been chosen by God and who are holy and beloved : 12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Patience fits into a cluster of virtues that make the body of Christ a very inviting place to grow and serve. When there s a lack of patience, people are on edge and feel like they have to say and do everything just right. Church isn t a safe place when the threat of anger is just below the surface. In Paul s final challenge to Timothy, he encouraged him to be patient in the way he communicated the truth to people. In 2 Timothy 4:2 we read this: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. Paul wanted Timothy to understand that it s not enough to know and communicate the truth; you can communicate the truth in anger or arrogance with the result that nobody hears or accepts it. Since the goal was for people to receive and live out the truth, Timothy needed to reprove, rebuke, and exhort the church at Ephesus with great patience and instruction. Such patience mirrors the patience God has shown us. The Holy Spirit wants to give us the capacity to be slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness toward others. The Spirit wants to give us the capacity to have this type of commitment to each other: I m not going to reject you in anger/impatience; I m going to stick with you in love. Cultivating Patience: As with each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit produces patience as we pursue it. We are to be intentional about being patient toward others. But the Spirit provides the motivation and the capacity and the power to be patient. With that in mind, let s consider some things we can do to cultivate patience. Notice your impatience/anger. This suggestion flows from the observation we saw in Galatians 5 about the flesh and the Spirit. Remember that the flesh is that part of us that craves sin and that lives independent of God. In Galatians 5:17 Paul wrote that the
FoS#4 - Patience, 6/16/13! 5 flesh and the Spirit are in opposition to one another. Therefore it s important that we not be naive or ignorant about the ways that we re siding with the flesh (instead of the Spirit). If we want to cultivate patience, we need to notice how our flesh is tempted toward impatience. Impatience shows up in a various ways: angry words, punching someone or something, sarcasm, withdrawal, silence, etc. For example, you may notice that you get impatient or angry around certain people or in specific circumstances. Maybe you notice that in your marriage you have a knee-jerk reaction to the smallest of things. You know each other so well that you know what the other person is going to say before it s said; you might respond with impatience before you re even aware of what s happening. One of the things that can disarm anger (or any other negative emotion really) is to identify it and name it as soon as it rears its head. My dad died 23 years ago, and I only have a few vivid memories of him. One thing I ll always remember is how he dealt with himself when he started getting angry. When we would be out in the garage working on something and he began to get angry, he would start counting backwards. You could tell how angry he was by whether he started at ten (a little angry) or a hundred (really angry). I took comfort when when my dad counted backwards because he was implicitly acknowledging that even though he was angry he wanted to siphon it off instead of express it in rage. I came across a quote by Aristotle this past week. He likened anger/impatience to a dog who barks if there is but a knock at the door, before looking to see if it is a friend (Bazyn, p. 81). That s a great description of my dog: she barks every time the doorbell rings, but she always ends up wagging her tail in delight whenever the person comes inside. Sometimes we have a knee-jerk reaction to the people and circumstances. Begin noticing your anger/impatience. And begin to notice the impact of your anger/impatience on the people around you. I can think back to ways that my anger has shut people down and kept people at a distance. Confess/admit your sin to God (and possibly to others). There are probably a cluster of sins surrounding your impatience: anger, bitterness, selfishness, etc. As you bring your sin into the light in God s presence, you may realize, for example, that you have a real sense of entitlement; you may deep down believe that everyone around you should conform to what you want them to do. Maybe you d have to say you want to be served instead of serve (which is the opposite of Christlikeness). I used to dread confessing my sin to God; it was like being called into the principal s office because I d done something bad. But I ve come to see confession of sin as one of God s precious gifts to us as His children. We have this glorious freedom whereby we can come clean with God and experience a fresh cleansing from our sin. Instead of merely feeling crummy about yourself because of your impatience, bring it out into the open in the presence of God. And in certain circumstances it s fully appropriate to confess your sin to those who ve been affected by your impatience/anger.
FoS#4 - Patience, 6/16/13! 6 Meditate on God s patience toward you. The passage we read in 1 Timothy 1 suggests that Paul never got tired of remembering God s patience toward him. He never got over the generosity that God showed him when he was a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent aggressor. Thinking about God s patience toward you will soften your heart toward other people. Remembering the effect of God s patience toward you, might give you a vision for the effect of your patience toward others. Pray for patience. My entire Christian life I ve heard people say that You better be careful if you pray for patience... The implication was that God might put you in all sorts of terrible situations just to test your patience. But I really don t get the impression from Scripture that God is sitting in heaven waiting for us to ask Him for patience just so He can stick it to us. God is a patient heavenly Father who disciplines us in wise ways. I think that we re on safe ground if we humbly ask God to cultivate His patience within us. I think the more foundational issue is whether or not we really want patience enough to pray about it. My perception is that patience is one of those virtues that seems good but optional. It would be nice to be known as a patient person, but we re not passionate about putting away our anger and becoming patient. It s like humility in that everybody wants to be known as a humble person, but very few people whole-heartedly try to cultivate humility. Maybe you need to ask God for the desire to be patient. Consider making your growth in patience a matter of prayer. Conclusion. In closing, I d like you to imagine what your life would be like if you were a genuinely patient person - if your instinctive response were patience instead of anger. Your love, joy, and peace would be all the more winsome and inviting. Instead of pushing people away, you would be drawing them closer; your commitment to others would be obvious. And imagine what this church would be like if our relationships and our fellowship were marked by patience - instead of reacting with anger or impatience to each others sins and weaknesses we would stay in relationship with each other so we could help each other deal with sins and weaknesses. We would experience a type of unity that is rare in our day. Our fellowship would be safe both for believers and for those who are exploring the faith. Let s pray that that these things would be true of us (individually and corporately)!