A Spirit of Patience
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We have been looking the last few weeks at the fruit of the Spirit that is listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Let’s read those verses...
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
A few weeks ago, Aaron spoke on Love. Love is that which binds all the rest of these together. Love is the source of all of them. We’ll see today as we weave in a couple of other passages that without love, you can’t have any of the fruit of the Spirit.
Last week we talked about joy and peace. Both of these are the qualities of a Spirit filled believer. Joy and peace are both a quality on the inside of us and a quality that others can see outwardly displayed by us.
Today we are going to talk about the word patience.
Some pray for patience this way: Lord, I need you to bless me with patience right now.
I used to warn people to not pray for patience because God’s way of growing your patience is giving you a reason to need it. In fact, the original Greek word that is translated patience or forbearance gives a clear picture of what Paul was writing here.
The word in the Greek is makrothymia. There are two words in the Greek put together...makcro, meaning long...in particular to time...so long time and thymia which literally means to suffer. When we have patience, we have the ability to suffer for a long time.
When we look at this word throughout scripture, we can get a clearer picture of what the Bible is really referring to by the word patience. Let’s take a quick journey through a couple of instances of patience...
Let’s look at Exodus 34. While you’re turning there, let me paint a picture of what just happened before. Moses was up on Mt Sinai meeting with God and he left Aaron in charge. The people convinced Aaron to make an idol out of gold to worship, so he did. While God was meeting with Moses, this was going down and God was not pleased, but Moses asked for forgiveness. In chapter 34, Moses is abut to head back up Mt. Sinai to meet with God...look what it says...
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
God’s patience with the Israelites was definitely long-suffering...Notice though in verse 7. There is forgiveness, but for the guilty punishment is coming. Paul talks about this in Romans 9...Paul is using a potter as an analogy for God - Just as a potter creates things for various purposes, God has also created us, but look at Paul observation in verses 22-24
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
God’s patience was on display with the nation of Israel in Exodus 34 and God’s patience is on display with all of us and our neighbors and friends and coworkers that we might have the opportunity to hear about Jesus and accept his forgiveness...that is God’s patience to us. Paul talks about this in his letter to Timothy...
16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
Jesus was patient with Paul even when Paul was persecuting and killing Christians. That he might be a testimony of God’s patience.
As a great love story to people, God’s patience is on display throughout the Bible.
As God is our example of patience, I want to encourage you in three different ways that we are called to be patient.
With People
The Fruit of the Spirit is something that is a quality we have in the Spirit, but it is a quality that is primarily enjoyed by others. This is an area that challenges me...especially in the car. I’ve gotten much better than I was, but drivers can test my patience.
I am sure we can all think of a situation in which a person or two has really tested our patience...Jesus told a parable about this...This is in Matthew 18...There was a guy who owed the king money, the king brought him in and told him to pay up. The guy said this:
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
The king had mercy on him and freed him. The guy then went out and found someone who owe him money and he demanded his money. The guy owing money said something similar...
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
But the guy didn’t have mercy like the king did. He had the fellow servant thrown in jail.
When the king found out, he was not pleased and had the first guy thrown in jail....This is what Jesus said at the end of the parable...
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Through Jesus, God has been patient with us...we are to be patient with others.
Here is what Paul said in Ephesians:
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Be patient with People. Next, be patient...
In Waiting
There are times I can be good at waiting, but there other times I just want to get going.
Patient for what is to come:
Let’s turn to Romans 8...Possibly my favorite chapter in all the Bible.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Waiting patiently is part of our Christian walk. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a groaning, but in the Spirit, we have a patience that gets us through the waiting. Waiting doesn’t mean sitting idle though. In James, we see another analogy of patience...that of the farmer. James 5:7-8
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Farmers are the least idle people I know. They are constantly moving and doing things. They anticipate the next season all while being patient with the crops that are already growing. What are you waiting for? What can you do while you wait? There is a John Waller song “While I’m Waiting” It’s a prayer and commitment to God in the season of waiting. I want to read the two verses and the chorus:
Vs 1:
I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait
Vs 2:
I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it's not easy no, but faithfully I will wait
Chorus:
And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait
We are to be patient with people, Patient In Waiting and Patient...
While Suffering
This might be the hardest of the three. We don’t always have a great answer for why we are going through a particular suffering, or why someone else is going through a season of suffering. What we do see is that we are to be patient in suffering. Continuing in James 5 ...
10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Job is just one of many spoken of in God’s word who endured suffering patiently. Jesus himself is a model of that patience in suffering. He suffered on the road to the cross, and he did it with meekness. He was tried and accused falsely and he answered not one word in defense of himself. They beat him and made him carry the object that would be used to kill him. The nail him to that cross and hung him to die. And in that suffering, he prayed - Luke 23:34 “34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”
That is our example of patience in suffering.
InvitationClosing Prayer
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
