The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience
The Fruit of the Spirit • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
They say that confession is good for the soul. I am confessing to you that I am very impatient. In fact, I am most impatient in having to wait in a line. Can you imagine what I have gone through these last few months as we have had lines with social distancing? Let’s just say I have had to learn to exercise more patience recently than I can ever remember having to do so before. I know you are not supposed to pray for patience because inevitably, God will place in you in situations where you will indeed somehow learn to have more patience.
In full confession, I have never prayed for patience for that very reason. Yet, God is His wisdom is always teaching me and showing me areas in my life He wants to hone and sharpen. This is an area that always seems to come up. This series is a perfect example. God revealed to me that He wanted me to spend the course of several weeks preaching and teaching on the Fruit of the Spirit. I thought it was a great idea, until the attribute of patience popped up. There have been times when many folks have heard me speak and said, “You really stopped on my toes today!” The truth be known, I never speak or preach about God’s Word without first it stepping on my toes. Today’s topic is absolutely one of the toughest I deal with. It gets to me. It causes me great reflection and I must admit that I want to put on my steel toed boots. However, the attribute of patience is very important. It is listed after the first set of attributes, love, joy and peace which focus on how we as Christians should be towards God. The second set of attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit focus on how we deal with others. It begins with patience then rounds out with kindness and goodness. A sermon could be preached by just living out those three words day in and day out. My goal is to help you grow a bit more in your walk with Christ so that our world can be better impacted as a result. These attributes being fleshed out can helps us all do just that! Once again they are found in Galatians 5:22-23.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
As we look at patience, it maybe helpful to first look at the opposite of patience and that being impatience.
Impatience can be defined as “the inability to accept adversity without complaint and reduce the urge toward restlessness and anxiety when confronted with a delay in getting what we want. A greedy tendency to want things now and expect to get things fast.”
A person that is impatient will have several characteristics.
Some of these include.
Lack of endurance of pain, suffering, opposition, or delay
Eagerness for change,
for something expected
Restlessness
Chafing of spirit
Fretfulness/anxiety
Intolerance
Irritation
Anger
These characteristics are quite revealing aren’t they? Basically, one that is impatient is one that wants immediate gratification. How are those toes doing now? So if impatience reveals all of these things about one’s character, then what does it mean to fully be a patient person. Well, I am glad you asked. Today we are going to look at this further by focusing on patience as a virtue, patience as a value, patience at a validation and patience as a victory.
Patience is a Virtue
Patience is a Virtue
You have heard over and over that patience is a virtue. A virtue is something that helps promote moral excellence. The phrase “patience is a virtue” is not found in the Bible. In fact, it was derived from a Middle English work by William Langland. It was from his poem called the Vision of Piers Plowman which was an allegory of what it meant to be a true Christian. The poem named four cardinal virtues that were prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Patience was listed as one of the characteristics of fortitude, which is the ability to endure pain or hardship. Langland’s writings were translated what was originally stated as sufferance was a supreme virtue which over the years became shortened as patience is a virtue.
Even though the phrase patience is a virtue is not from the Bible, there are many verses in the Bible that declare the importance of having patience. First and foremost, we see examples of the patience of God.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
God exhibits patience by postponing the day of retribution.
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
Jesus was an example of unlimited patience.
But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
The prophets gave an example.
Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider 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.
God shows us that patience indeed is a virtue. Patience is also a value.
Patience is a Value
Patience is a Value
A value is that which is of worth. What is it worth to you that the Lord is patient? Well, the answer is that the Lord’s patience gives us salvation.
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
What value is salvation? It is the greatest gift of all! It is the most beautiful demonstration of love the world could ever experience. In fact, in Paul’s sermon on love, he says outright that love is patient.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
What a value that is for us! God demonstrated His patience by providing love for us in a way that reconciled us and made us at peace with Him. Thank you Lord! If God is patient with us that way, should not we be patient with others? By the way, what if God showed the amount of patience towards us that we showed towards others? That is a convicting thought, is it not?
Maybe you have heard the expression of someone having the patience of Job. Ever read any of that great book? Job should the value of exercising patience. He was patient in dealings with his self, his home, his business, his community, and even in his social life. Job endured to the very end, without giving up or giving in the trials he faced. He yielded to the instructions of the Holy Spirit and was upheld in righteousness.
Job understood the power and precepts of God. In the Book of Job, we see that before Job went through his trials, he trusted the Lord.
and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
At the end of that book, we see that Job placed a value on being patient and his patience was validated.
Patience is a Validation
Patience is a Validation
When something is validated, it is substantiated. It is verified. Whenever we go to the bank to cash a check, the teller will ask for something that will verify our identity. We will pull out a driver’s license with a photo on it to affirm our identity. If we go to a hotel and check into a room, we are given a card that has been validated or it will not open the door of the room. Patience is the ultimate example of love.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Patience becomes validated when we choose to put it on like a garment in which we wear.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Patience as something we wear becomes a lifestyle. We are known by what we wear. We are identified by our wardrobe. If patience is part of that wardrobe, then we will be validated as a person that represents Christ.
Years ago I was fly fishing over at Stone Mountain State Park. I had fished for hours and never saw another person. I had caught some fish and released them. I was thoroughly enjoying my day. As I stepped out of the stream, a wildlife officer came out of a rhodededran bush and scared me by asking to see my fishing license. He had been watching me for a long time. He was patient and waited for just the right time to validate me. I handed him my license and proved I was legal. He smiled and said thank you, and went on to terrorize someone else. I think I lost several years off my life that day, but I was validated by the patience of the wildlife officer. Thinking about this has shown me over the years another important part of this attribute of peace. When we practice patience with other people, we are providing opportunities for them to experience the importance of truth. I have always had great respect for law enforcement and in this case, wildlife officers. I have had my license checked many times fishing since that one time. This is what I have learned, if I know I can potentially be checked, I am going to be patient in carrying out the rules and regulations that govern me. I am going to be a person that represents who Jesus is what what He stands for.
My patience validated means that I will have respect for the law of the land. Jesus spoke of this in Mark 12:17.
Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.
So not only is patience a virtue, a value and a validation, patience is a victory.
Patience is a Victory
Patience is a Victory
And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
Paul gives a list of instructions in this great passage and then gives us a conditional response. If we do all of these things, Paul prays
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
By exhibiting patience, we gain sanctification. We are presented blameless. We are the recipients of the faithfulness of God.
Paul shows the ethics of our behavior with Christ’s final coming. We are sanctified from the inside out and the outside in. We see the fruit of the faithfulness of God.
Job saw it. Job 42:10-16 tell us that Job was blessed in his practice of patience. In fact, verse 17 sums it up:
And so he died, old and full of years.
Job saw the prosperity of his children and their children to the fourth generation.
Patience in some form in mentioned about one hundred times in the Bible. We know that the Bible has many instructions from Genesis to Revelation. Ultimately, we know that the instructions of this book provide a way of life that pulls us from the wretched state of sinfulness to the blessed hope of eternity with Christ. We will all be victorious if we practice the words of this book, including the words that tell us to practice patience.
“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.”
“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Every time I read these words I am reminded that God has been so patient with me. I also realize that every time I am impatient, I am really showing God my lack of trust in His purpose and plan in my life. Lord forgive me of my impatience. Help me remember that my ability to practice patience actually determines the amount of faith I have in you.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Even standing in line.