Cultivating Patience

Cultivating Patience

Ecclesiastes 7.8-9

Warren and Walker Brosi

June 15, 2025, Father’s Day

Dominant Thought:  Sticking it out is better than standing out (Ecclesiastes 7.8, The Message).

Objectives:

We want our listeners to understand the relationship between patience and humility.

We want our listeners to feel encouraged by Jesus Christ’s patience toward us.

We want our listeners to choose a way to cultivate patience this week.

Good morning, church.  My name is Warren and Brosi and this is my son, Walker.  Walker, you have finished your freshman year at Ozark Christian College to prepare for general ministry.  Would you take a moment and share a couple of memories from your first year of Bible college?

Walker:  My roommate, Travis, got a tandem bicycle.  He and I ride it around campus.  Another memory that stands out is dorm devotions.  Our dorm meets for a devotion each month.  At the end of the time, we sing the doxology.  It’s cool hearing all of the young men in our dorm sing praise to God.

Walker offered to help preach this summer while he’s home.  I thought a team sermon on Father’s Day would be fun.

Our text for today is Ecclesiastes 7.8-9.  We are continuing our series, looking at the fruit of the Spirit in the wisdom books of the Old Testament.  Wisdom is described as a tree of life in Proverbs.  The Apostle Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians.  We want to become Spirit-filled followers of Jesus, so that’s why we are studying these themes this summer.

Today, we come to the fourth description of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5.22-23, “patience.”  When I reached out to Walker to get a time to study and talk through what we should say, he suggested we go fishing and talk about it while we waited for the catfish to find our bait.

In a lot of ways, fishing is a practice in patience.  It takes time before you find the right spot and the right bait.

Let’s read our text for today from Ecclesiastes 7.8-9.

Solomon is writing these words later in his life.  In some ways, Ecclesiastes is his reflections on life when those Proverbs don’t always come true.  He comes back to the theme that everything is meaningless.  It’s like a mist, vapor, smoke.  It doesn’t last for a long time.

In our text today, he says, “the end of the matter is better than the beginning, and patience is better than pride” (Ecclesiastes 7.8).  Earlier in this chapter, Solomon gives several other comparisons of what is better.  It may surprise you what he thinks is better.

Here’s his list:

· “A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth” (Ecclesiastes 7.1).

· “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting” (Ecclesiastes 7.2).

· “Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart”(Ecclesiastes 7.3).

· “It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7.5).

Then, we come to our text, “the end of the matter is better than the beginning, and patience is better than pride” (Ecclesiastes 7.8).  In some ways, they go together.  In some ways, Solomon may be encouraging people to finish well.  We all will die some day.  How will you finish?  How will your heart and spirit respond when life doesn’t always go as planned.

Life in the ancient world was difficult.  Think about the daily task of eating food.  You would either grow your food, gather your food or hunt your food.  Any of those tasks would take time.  Then, you would clean it, prepare it, cook it over a fire that you had gathered wood.  Life in the ancient world was a lesson in patience.

Many of us have started projects that we have found difficult to finish.

Walker, what’s a time in your life where you have seen this wisdom at work?  The end of the matter is better than the beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Walker tell the story of the long stretch of the basketball season, and the reward of finishing well.

We found Euguene Peterson’s paraphrase captured the idea of this lesson well.  He paraphrased Ecclesiastes 7.8, “Sticking it out is better than standing out.”  We chose that line for our main idea today, “Sticking it out is better than standing out.”

Patience is better than pride.  Walker, as we talked over these verses you did say there is a healthy pride.  To have pride or confidence in yourself.  To take pride in your work.

However, when Scripture addresses pride it usually has in mind unhealthy pride, like arrogance or thinking too highly of yourself.

I think it is difficult for patience and pride to coexist.  I think many times when you find impatience you will find pride. 

A couple of weeks ago, I (Warren) was making a hospital call with Nic Babbs.  At the crosswalk in front of Memorial Medical Center, we had the stop signal.  I hit the button and it said, “Wait.”  A lady who seemed to be in a hurry walked passed us and through the crosswalk even thought the sign said to stop.  I hit the button a few more times as she walked by, “Wait…Wait…Wait.”

Our culture has conditioned us to think we have the right to instant everything everywhere all the time.  That is a condition of the heart that is called pride.

I’m thankful that the two people in my life that I call Dad—my dad and my father-in-law—are both patient men.  My dad is the most patient man I know.  He’s rarely in a hurry which can be a source of frustration for many of us in our family at times.  However, we could learn some lessons about patience from my dad.  I also think of my dad as a humble person.  Again, when you find patience, humility is not far away.

The Apostle Paul said it this way in Colossians 3.12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  The list of virtues is similar to fruit of the Spirit Paul shared with the Galatians.

I (Warren) was visiting with a young mean at the Nationwide Youth Roundup Work Week in Colorado this past week.  I told him about the sermon.  He reminded me how the Apostle Paul describes love in 1 Corinthians 13.  In 1 Corinthians 13.4, Paul writes, “Love is patient.”  It is the first description of love.  So, if you want to love someone, then be patient with them.

It is hard to be proud and patient at the same time.  It is also hard to be angry and patient at the same time.

The second verse of our text is Ecclesiastes 7.9, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”  We hear the encouragement relating to patience, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit.”  We are spiritual beings.  We want to cultivate the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  One of the ways we become better followers of Jesus is by becoming Spirit filled.

Solomon warns, to “not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”  Walker and I saw this proverb in real time when we went to get his driver’s license in Jacksonville.  Walker, do you want to tell the story?

We were waiting our time to come to the desk to get my picture taken and get my license.  A gentleman was at the computer taking his written part of the test.  In his lap, he had the study book.  He had it open and was looking for the answers.  The lady behind the counter called over to him and said, “Sir, you must put your book away.  This is a test.”  He put it away for a moment.  However, moments later he had it out again.  The lady reprimanded him again.  He started to raise his voice trying to justify his actions.  Then he stood up and began yelling at the lady.  He felt he was being mistreated and victimized.  Eventually, the lady called Jacksonville Police Department.  As we walked out that day with my new driver’s license, the Jacksonville Police Department arrived.

“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7.8).

Patience and pride do not get along well.  Patience and anger are equally not very compatible.

How does Jesus help us become Spirit filled and cultivate patience in our lives?

First, Jesus models healthy anger.  The most often quoted verse within the Old Testament is Exodus 34.6, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, Slow to anger abounding in love and faithfulness.”

There were a couple of times when Jesus was angry.  He was able to be patient and angry and not sin.  We are not always able to do that.  The two times that come to mind when Jesus was angry is when Jesus cleansed the temple by turning over tables and driving out the money changers (Matthew 21.12-17; Mark 11.5-18; Luke 19.45-48; John 2.13-24).  He was upset that the leaders were keeping people from true worship of God.  They had robbed people and moved the focus from worship to gaining wealth.

A second time we see Jesus angry is Mark 3.5.  Jesus meets a man with a shriveled hand in the synagogue.  The leaders were watching Jesus.  Jesus asks the leaders, “Which is it lawful on the Sabbath:  to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”  The leaders remained silent.  Then we read, “He [Jesus] looked at them in anger.”  Then, Jesus healed the man.  He was angry at them for their failure to have compassion toward people.

Second, Jesus finished what He started.  Jesus showed us the end of the matter is better than the beginning.  He was patient in suffering with the punishment, mocking, and death on a cross.  One of the final words Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.”  “The end of the matter is better than the beginning, and patience is better than pride.”  Jesus humbled Himself and died on the cross to take the wrath of God for us, sinners.

Third, Jesus is patient with sinners.  We serve a patient Savior.  The heart of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a patient heart.  Listen to 2 Peter 3.9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

The Lord is patient with us.  He does not want anyone to perish.  He wants all to come to repentance.  To realize impatient angry living is not living.  He wants us to change our allegiance from self to our Savior.  He’s patient with us.  Aren’t you glad He is.

The Apostle Paul knew the patience of Jesus firsthand.  He writes in 1 Timothy 1.15-16, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of all sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.”

Paul writes to his young apprentice how Christ has shown him mercy and immense patience.  Christ has shown patience to Paul as an example for us who would believe in Jesus and receive eternal life.

How does Jesus show His patience in our lives?  Many of us are extremely hard on ourselves.  Maybe you need to hear the words of Paul that Jesus is patient with you as an example to those who would believe and have eternal life.

So, how will we cultivate patience this week?

1-Begin with the end in mind.  Remember finishing is better than starting.  When the season gets long, the job uncomfortable, the kids unruly, think of the end goal.  Remember our suffering Savior’s words on the cross, “It is finished.”

2-When you feel your anger boiling inside of you, ask yourself the question, “Do I want to be a fool?”  “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”

3-Show patience to yourself and others as Christ shows to you.  Say to yourself and others, “Love is patient.”  Lean into his mercy.  His patience leads to our salvation.  Your patience toward others could help lead them to Jesus their Savior.

Remember, sticking it out is better than standing out.

After Paul, described to Timothy how Christ has shown him immense patience, he concludes with these words in 1 Timothy 1.17, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.”