Fruit of the Spirit - Patience
Galatians 5:22-23
April 29, 2018
I would like to think I’m a really, really patient person. BUT, deep down, I really know I am not!! It takes me about 3 seconds trying to put something together, before I proclaim, this is impossible, or my best line is “there’s a part missing!”
I don’t like waiting in lines. The worst ones are in the grocery store. And if you’re like me, you look to see which line is the shortest with the least amount of items being purchased, then you rush over and get in that line. Yes, I’m anal. When I get in a line, I see who I would have been behind in another line and see if I chose wisely. Yes, I know . . . I have some issues!!
I read about a story in a New York Times article, Alex Stone told the story of how executives at a Houston airport faced and then solved a lot of passenger complaints about long waits at the baggage claim. So, they decided to hire more baggage handlers, which would reduce wait times to an industry-beating average of eight minutes. But the complaints persisted. This made no sense to the executives until they discovered something I can really relate to - - -
The real problem was this ~ ~ it only took passengers 1 minute to walk to the baggage claim. Now, they had 7 minutes to wait for the baggage, creating a hurry-up-and-wait situation. The walk time wasn’t a problem; the remaining 7 empty minutes of staring at the baggage carousel was.
So, what did these executives do? They moved the arrival gates farther away from the baggage claim area. Passengers now had to walk much farther, but their bags were often waiting for them when they arrived. The entire process took about 8-10 minutes. It took longer . . . but the complaints decreased!! Problem solved. *
Isn’t that amazing. The people were actually more inconvenienced because they had to walk further, but since they didn’t have to wait, they were fine with it. We truly are strange people!!
Well, we’re in week 4 of our study on the Fruit of the Spirit! You know what we’re looking at today . . . . PATIENCE. Once again, the Fruits of the Spirit as outlined by Paul in Galatians 5 are ~
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23
Why is it that we become so impatient, so quickly. How quickly can a great day turn ugly because we’ve lost our patience?
Patience has more to do with us, than with others. Nobody can control my patience thermometer. Only I can control it. I control my anger and my patience. Nobody else can. We usually lose our patience because we feel we’ve been inconvenienced.
The first 3 fruits we looked at are hard to see in others. We don’t always see another person’s love, joy or peace . . . but we certainly see another person’s lack of patience. So, what does it mean when Paul tells us to be patient?
In Greek, the word translated as patience is a compound word. It’s made up of two words. The first word literally means LONG and the second word means ANGER. You may want to put your hands up to your ears because you might not want to hear what the biblical definition of patience is - - - it means “long to get angry; long burning passion, refusing to retaliate with anger, or long-tempered.”
Someone who is patient has a long fuse. They are not quick or short - tempered. It takes a lot for them to get upset. Unfortunately I think most of us struggle with a short fuse. We are the opposite of what patience means, especially according to the KJV – called longsuffering. It means we suffer long - - we demonstrate self restraint when we become angry. We are to wait a sufficient amount of time before expressing anger. This avoids the quick loss of patience and improper anger.
We are to take a long time to burn up – and reach our boiling point. Think about how quickly it takes to lose your patience. How long it takes you to burn up with anger; your temperature and blood pressure - rising? Generally, it doesn’t take long
So, the goal is to learn to slow down in letting circumstances heat you up. You know what it’s like when we see someone snap. We think I’ll never do that, then we find ourselves in the same situation, reacting like those other people!
There’s another word in the New Testament for patience as well. And often times that word is translated PERSEVERANCE. The meaning with perseverance is that you don’t just take what’s happening in a passive manner. In some ways, perseverance takes action on our part. We kind of fight to persevere and endure whatever is happening in our lives.
But the more common and most used word, is the one found in the Fruit of the Spirit. And the call to be patient is passive. Not that you just roll over and become a doormat. That’s not the point. It’s helping us understand that we take inner action, and become slow to become angry and act out.
Bryan Wilkerson said, patience is “an unswerving willingness to await events rather than force them.” Sometimes, I’d like to force the changes - - because I think that would help my patience!
For some of us, it’s not easy to be patient. We live in a world of immediate gratification. We expect to receive what we want immediately, and if we don’t receive it, if we’re incovenienced more than we think we should be, we get really testy.
Proverbs 29:11 tells us ~
11 A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. – Proverbs 29:11
How often have you reacted to someone’s comments and exploded, when it would have been wiser to hold back. We do that verbally, but in our world we do that in email messages, text messages, facebook and instagram comments. And once we hit send, we’ve become the fool.
We can learn from God in the way He deals with us. We hear this promise a number of times in the Old Testament ~
6 The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed,
“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. – Exodus 34:6-7
Hold onto these words from God. This was God literally passing before Moses and God made this proclamation about Himself. This is God saying “people, take note of what I told Moses, because this is who I AM!”
We see God’s patience at work over and over and over again. God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger. If anyone deserves to be furious, it’s God. Think about how foolish we are. Yet, God is slow to anger, giving us chance after chance. He abounds in constant love and faithfulness for you and I. He forgives us! He died for us! That’s God demonstrating patience for you and I.
What is God like? Peter tells us more ~
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9
Again, we see more of the character of God. Some people may wish God would just zap those people we don’t like, those people we assume are anti-God, but God is slow to become angry, His desire is for every person to know Him in an intimate way which changes their lives . . . because they proclaim Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That’s what God wants, that’s God’s character.
The tough part is that’s how we are supposed to be with ourselves and the way we treat others as well. We are to be a people of grace and mercy. Slow to become angry, forgiving and faithful to one another. That’s part of the purpose of this list of 9 virtues, character traits we’re supposed to demonstrate to the world.
We can also say - - - God is a God of justice. The price for sin has to be paid in full. But because God loves us, Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross. He paid the penalty so we could be set free to live for Him.
Because God is patient with us, He wants us to be patient with others. But we don’t want to do that. We want to place limits on patience and forgiveness.
When we’re struggling with others . . . when we see the glaring sinfulness of others, can we step back and see their situation? Can we see what life has been like for them? Can we see why they are the way they are? It doesn’t make their behavior appropriate. It simply helps us to have compassion and let the power and strength of Christ flow a little more.
This past week I watched a video about a judge berating a woman who was on trial. I want to show you a snippet of the video. It’s not about berating the judge, but it’s to help us look at others in their situations and have compassion and patience.
HERE’S THE VIDEO
You can tell there were some obvious issues. Incidently, that woman died 3 days later and the judge has now resigned.
It’s easy to lose our patience. We do that in meetings, at stores, within families. Whenever there is human interaction, it happens . . . almost too easily. One scripture I use with all couples I do premarital counseling with comes from James. He tells us ~
19 Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. – James 1:19
What a great passage for us! Be quick to listen. That means turn off your desire to respond to the other person. Just listen. That takes patience. As you’re listening, you’re slow to speak . . . WHY? Because you’re listening. You’re not looking for a comeback, you’re intent on understanding . . . and that takes patience!!
Now, since you’re actively listening, you’re also not jumping to conclusions. Why? Because you are better understanding the other person. As a result, you will be slower to become angry because you understand the situation. And when you’ve understood the other person, and you haven’t become quickly angered, you’ve shown wonderful patience and that speaks for who Christ is within you. Because it often takes Christ in us, to help us not jump to conclusions!
Patience is a Christian virtue, the product of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
As we wrap up this morning. The greatest verse people want read at their weddings is 1 Corinthians 13. Paul tells us ~
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
What a great passage, not just for married life . . . but for all of life. Paul starts with the reminder that love is patient. Patience is an act of love. We can learn to be patient when we trust in the power and strength and encouragement which comes from God. On our own, it will be tough to be patient. But with Christ all things are possible.
Is it possible we can remember what it means to be patient? Can we be ~
“long or maybe . . . slow to get angry; refuse to retaliate with anger, or be long-tempered.”
Maybe in the midst of all that is happening . . . can you simply look at the other person, have compassion, have love, and even pray in the midst of your long-temperedness!
And slowly, demonstrate God’s grace and love. Be reminded He is slow to anger and abounds in love for you . . . As you seek to imitate Christ, demonstrate His patience to the world!!
