KINGDOM CHARACTER: Patience

Galatians 5:22 CSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

INTRO—

“Just a minute...” (Let that minute pass…)

A minute when you have to (patiently) wait is FORRRREVVVER! (compared to a minute when you need to list (& quote?) all ten of the Ten Commandments from memory)

Patience is another of the Fruit of the Spirit about which we joke… “Don’t pray for patience. God will put you in a place where you’ll have to show (exercise, use) it.” — LIFE is the laboratory in which we learn, and live, and learn some more…about what God expects from us and how he provides for and enables us to live according to his word, including the Fruit of the Spirit…

Have PATIENCE

SO…when someone says, “Have patience,” biblically what are we talking about?

Various translations use the following words for this aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit… Patience, Forbearance, Long-Suffering

The most basic definition of the word Paul uses here is: “Long-Tempered” (contrasts with ‘Short-Tempered’)

Which leads theologian Donald Campbell to write, “[Patience] entertains no thoughts of retaliation even when wrongfully treated.”

…& Martin Luther to write: “When the devil cannot by force overcome those which are tempted, then seeketh he to overcome them by long continuance. For he knoweth that we be earthen vessels, which cannot long endure and hold out many knocks and violent strokes; therefore with long continuance [of temptations] he overcometh many. To vanquish these his continual assaults we must use long-suffering, which patiently looketh not only for the amendment of those which do us wrong, but also for the end of those temptations, which the devil raiseth up against us.”

Patience is the opposite of anger & despondency (hopelessness).

It is both…

Waiting for the good — Philippians 3:20 “Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” [Don’t lose hope!]

And responding to the bad (persistent challenges) — 2 Timothy 3:10–11 “But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all.” [Don’t lose it!]

A PATIENCE Reminder [James 5.7-11]

James’ reminder that simply living life requires patience…

Awaiting the Lord’s return (5.7-8; like a farmer awaiting harvest; patient anticipation)

With each other in the church (5.9; Jesus will also return to judge; relational patience)

Living righteously amid a hostile culture (5.10-11; like Prophets and Job [understanding sometimes we invite hostility…and sometimes it just comes unexpectedly]; patient perseverance)

CONCL—

PATIENCE…

1 Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,”

Romans 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

1 Timothy 1:15–16 “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.”

Ephesians 4:1–3 “Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

INVITATION:

Salvation

Lamentation (for sin…wherever God puts it on your heart)

Patience (both in waiting for the good…and in responding to the bad)

Galatians 5:23 CSB

gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.