Power of patience
Galatians 5:22-5:26
Introduction-
Galatians 5:22-5:26
We will be beginning a series looking at the Fruit of the Spirit.
The Spirit of God working in our lives will produce fruit.
It will produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I purposefully did not go in order because I know how much everyone loves patience.
Patience is not what we usually pray for, because God’s Word says: “knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.”
Trying of your faith is God testing your faith.
There is purpose and power in patience, but most of us will miss it because we approach God with “I want patience and I want it right now!
God make my life easy.
God make me comfortable.
Give me everything that I want.
God has taught me a few things in my lifetime.
God’s time-table and mine is almost always different.
You don’t specifically pray for patience and expect God not to test the waters a little in your life.
Illustration-
A man’s car broke down right in the middle of a busy street. The man desperately tried to start the car, but it would not start. If that was not bad enough, if the pressure was not enough, the guy behind him laid on the horn! After several attempts, the man got out of his car and went to the man behind him and said- my car won’t start, why don’t you try to start it and I will sit back here and blow the horn!
Maybe this is you- a man was shopping with his wife downtown. He waited patiently for 15 minutes. Then he waited impatiently for 15 more minutes. Then he became angry.
Is Patience difficult for you? A man in Los Angeles was arrested for shooting his toilet 5 times with a 38 caliber handgun. He claimed he got upset because his daughter clogged the toilet with a hairbrush.
Patience is a virtue
Possess it if you can
Found seldom in a women
Never in a man
We may not be praying for it, but I assure you all of us probably should be.
Patience is a fruit of the Spirit and it is a characteristic of a born again believer.
What is patience? Listen to some definitions.
Patience is self restraint which does not hastily retaliate against a wrong.
Patience is the ability to accept delay or disappointment graciously.
Patience is the powerful attribute that enables a man or women to remain steadfast under strain.
Last one, patience is a calm endurance based on the certain knowledge that God is in control.
If I was to be honest, if you were to be honest, sometimes we struggle with patience.
We would have to admit that some people irritate you.
We would have to admit that circumstances frustrate you.
The Greek word for patience is Makro-thumia: meaning long tempered.
We all know people who are short tempered and blow up easily and get angry.
You hear them talk and they’ll tell you that you should just not irritate them or disagree with them and then they would not get mad.
Paul tells us –
outside of Christ we find anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language. We find gossip, quarrels, strife and dissention.
We find marriages, friendships, churches fractured and destroyed by people with short fuses.
Paul tells us that “we need to get rid of such things.” Take off all those angry old clothes and put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
Take off the old you and get rid of them, get those things out of your life.
Put on, the new you. A new creation in Christ.
God has a sense of humor- that is why your preacher is teaching you about patience.
Kid at the airport kicking my seat- irritating!
Car this week not working right-irritating!
Heating company putting me on hold for 4 weeks and doing the work the week that my friends come in from Wisconsin-frustrating!
Proverbs 14:29- “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays folly.”
Okay, we know what patience looks like, but the next question to ask is where does it come from?
The Bible is clear that patience comes from God. It comes from the Holy Spirit.
Patience comes from the power of God working in our lives; does this mean that we will never stumble? Probably not, but it does mean that it should be a part of our Christian life.
Let’s review
Patience is evidence in our lives that God is in control.
We know that patience is the power of God working in our lives and that we cannot achieve it without God,
Patience does not come quickly, but is usually a process,
So let apply some of these things to our life
I. Maturity comes from patience (evidence that God is in control)
Isaiah 40:13
“But they that wait upon the Lord will find new strength; they will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.”
Satan sends temptation so that we stumble and sin.
God allows trials so that you can stand firm.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it’s work, so that you may be mature.”
Aren’t you glad that God is and was patient with you?
Illustration-
A little boy said to his dad- why is the sky blue? I don’t know son. Dad, why is the grass green? I don’t know son. He kept asking questions. The dad kept answering , I don’t know son. Finally, the boy asks, dad, do you mind me asking questions? Why no son, said the dad, if you don’t ask, you won’t learn anything.
Again, I ask you, aren’t you glad God is patient with you? And that He does not always answer I don’t know.
II. Patience and maturity helps us be who God wants us to be
“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.”
How many times should God have just cracked that lightning bolt from the sky and taken you out?
Patience of God
Patience of Job
Patience of ______________. Put your name there.
Or is God still helping you be who He wants you to be?
Here’s a tip- hang around people who are patient.
Watch them.
Listen to them.
Learn from them.
Through the lens of others, God can show you how to react to people that annoy you.
That tailgater, that pokey driver in the passing lane.
That loud-mouth that always has something to say, but nothing worth hearing.
That one that gets under your skin, they don’t even have to say anything. They are just irritating!
Once you realize how incredibly patient God has been with you, you don’t forget where God has brought you from, you are able with God’s help to look at others with the eyes of Christ and not your own condemning self.
III. Maturity helps us keep our eyes on Christ
It is not a 40 days to a perfect and patient you, but He will help us to be mature and keep our eyes on him.
We are talking about a fruit of the Spirit, a Christ-like character.
We are not focusing on ourselves, but on the Lord Jesus Christ
We live in an age of quick- microwaves, 10-minute oil changes, fast foods, and we approach God with that kind of mentality. Fix it now, and here’s how you should do it.
Each trial, each circumstance of discomfort, God is teaching us maturity, and patience. He desires the final result to be that we look to Him first and not to ourselves. The end result to be our eyes focused on Him.
He teaches us that when we have been seriously wronged, we have to stop and think about the right way to respond.
Closing:
How are you doing with anger?
How are you at being patient for God to accomplish what He needs to in your life?
How are you at seeing where God has brought you from and giving God time to do something in someone’s else’s live?
You will never come to maturity without getting these things under the control of the Lord.
Illustration- (Sermoncentral)
A fly was flying along one morning when he saw a lawn mower someone had left out in their front yard. He flew over and sat on the handle, watching the children going down the sidewalk on their way to school. One little boy tripped on a crack and fell, spilling his lunch on the sidewalk. He picked himself up, put his lunch back in the bag and went on. But he missed a piece of bologna. The fly had not eaten that morning and he was sure hungry. So he flew down and started eating the bologna. In fact, he ate so much that he could not fly, so he waddled across the sidewalk, across the lawn, up on the wheel of the lawn mower, up the handle, and sat there resting and watching the children. There was still some bologna laying there on the sidewalk. He was really stuffed, but that bologna sure did look good. Finally temptation got the best of him and he jumped off the handle of the lawn mower to fly over to the bologna, but he was too full to fly and went splat! Killing him instantly.
The moral of the story : don’t fly off the handle when you are full of bologney.
There is a reckless side of us- it doesn’t matter how much it costs us, we have to have it. Humanity is like that- full of bologney, they can’t see it, and they fly off the handle, get mad at the world, when the problem is us.
