The Fruit of the Spirit: Peace and Patience

Galatians 5:22-23; John 16:33

The Necessity of Fruit

No Fruit - No Health

The Tree is known by its fruit

The Fruit of the Spirit are born from the Spirit at work in the life of the believer

This is one fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, etc…

Not many fruit to choose from, like a buffet

How many of us would choose patience?

But when Christ is living in us, and we are living in Him, we will bear fruit.

The Blessing of the fruit of peace and patience.

No Christ, No Peace or Patience!

Because of the Fall we are missing peace and patience.

No Peace

If the most important relationship in your life is not right, you are not right with the world, you are filled with anxiety, dread, and worry.

No peace with God.

We are at enmity with God in our sin, object of wrath.

Ro 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

Eph 2:3 “we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

No peace within.

Our anxieties, worries and fears are rooted in our broken relationship with God

Is 57:20–21 But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

No peace with each other.

Sin divides us, destroys the harmony of our life together.

Jas 4:1–2 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

No Patience

Because of the fall, we are not what we are meant to be, we let each other down, we fall short of our potential. There is a looming judgment over us, and unless we get right right now, we risk falling into it.

Impatient with each other.

We see others struggle, or refuse to do those things that would help them grow, and we get frustrated.

Dietary debates - Ro 14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Impatient with ourselves

Ro 7:18–19 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Impatient with God

We grow frustrated with God’s providence, looking for blessing in the midst of hardship, “How long, O God…”

The people of the Exodus, grumbled against God; false teachers in the New Testament said God’s return was long-delayed, live however you want.

Impatience and Frustration are forms idolatry, we are imposing our plan rather than trusting in God.

Know Christ, Know Peace and Patience

Knowing Christ’s Peace & Patience

Christ Has come for our Peace.

What is the Peace of Christ? Contentment, rest, wholeness in Him (shalom).

Isa 9:6 - He is the prince of peace

Luke 2 - He came bringing peace on earth, good will toward men

John 16:33 - I have said these things to you that you may have peace

What things: that he was going (death), to be with his father (resurrection), and would be with them forever (the giving of His Spirit).

Christ is the foundation of our Patience

John 16:33 - “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

Because Christ is victorious, because He is on the throne, we can be patient in the midst of trials and troubles; we can endure, persevere, unto the end.

The source of our patience is the victory that Christ has secured. Because He has risen, and ascended on high, and is coming again, we can live, trusting, waiting, and looking to that day!

The Peace that Christ Gives

We have peace with God

No longer to worry about trying to appease him, he proved God’s love

Eph 2:14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”

No longer trying to prove ourselves worthy before Him, we have been justified and are at peace with God

He came to reconcile us to God, bringing us peace We can be content in Christ, satisfied in Him, like finding water in the desert, food in the pantry

We have peace in ourselves

Ps 107:9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

My soul is satisfied in Him, I look to no other

We have peace with one another

Because you have peace with God, you are to be at peace with one another Forgiving one another, sharing the peace of Christ

The Patience of Christ in Us

We can be patient with one another

Col 3:13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. We can do this because God has done it for us.

We can be patient with ourselves

Php 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God brings the growth…

We can be patient in God

We can be patient as we await the working of God’s glorious, yet mysterious plan

We may not see it now, but we can trust in Him

Jas 5:7–8 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Patience is endurance, perseverance, until the end. Not stagnant - we are not preserved, or pickled, and put on a shelf, but because our salvation is secured in Christ, we are persevere in faith, living for him.

Rooted in Peace and Patience

Application Reminder

Applying the sermon is not always “do this and live…” Sometimes the instruction of the Word is, “apply this to your life three times a day…” Bask in the truth, the knowledge of the peace and patience shown to you in Christ, and live out the fruit in your life

Stay in the word

The more you fill yourself with the treasure of God’s Word, the more satisfied you will be in him, the more established you will be in the peace that only he can provide, the more patience you will show

Guard your heart and mind with the peace of Christ

Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Look to His Return with Patience

With an eye to His reign and return, live steadfast, patient, and enduring lives - persevering unto the very end.

James 5:8 - You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.