Patience in Christian Work
by Joe Mack Cherry
I. Body
A. What is Patience?
1. Definition
a. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay
b. quiet steady perseverance (patience is a work!)
c. Biblically, it is a fruit of the Spirit.
i. Col. 3:12-13 - Read
ii. We call patience a “virtue” which is indicative moral excellence.
iii. Jas. 1:4 – patience is evidence of maturity.
2. Examples
a. Job – epitome of patience; Chapt. 2 and following he doesn’t get much help from his wife or friends, does he?
b. Joseph – from Gen. 37:19 – Gen. 47:12
c. Look at the mothers who had to wait for children: Sarah, Rachel, Hannah
d. Paul-it takes patience to say – Read Phil. 4:11
e. Our God & Christ
i. God proclaims his longsuffering to Moses in the cleft of the rock – Ex. 34:6
ii. II Pet. 3:9
3. How Do We View About Patience?
a. Like a bad tasting medicine, miserable but necessary when dealing with family and friends?
b. How many times have you been told it is dangerous to pray for patience because God
might answer your prayer.
c. Patience can be an interesting journey or an unending trek; it will have its moments.
B. Patience is a Lost Virtue
1. Next to Satan the internet/Technology is patience’s biggest enemy.
a. At first, the computer was the greatest thing.
b. Now we all gripe when it takes a couple of extra nanoseconds to download.
c. God forbid that it starts buffering in the middle of a Netflix Movie.
d. Or cause you to get killed in a video game.
2. Patience is not like the Lottery, we don’t get to invest a small amount and reap absorbent amounts of gain.
It’s not a one-time ticket you purchase. It is the benefit of many days of hard work.
a. When someone gets down financially what do they usually say? “If only I could win the lottery!”
b. Nobody ever says, “Lord, I wish I could get a good job and work through this hard time.”
c. Patience is not always silent.
i. We can get angry sometime without sinning.
ii. We just can’t lose faith.
iii. Even Jesus got outdone with Peter, James, and John for going to sleep while he went up to pray prior to
His arrest.
d. It takes patience to learn patience.
C. What Good is Patience?
1. Patience is profit based but it ain’t free.
a. It costs us two of our most prized possessions – TIME & SELF
i. Lose your car keys or wallet. Look for them a long time and finally find them right under your nose.
You’re so glad you found them, you forget about the time you lost looking, unless you’re late for an IRS
audit or a Mother’s Day Dinner!
ii. Mark 9:35 – “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last and servant to all.” Life is NOT all about
us!
b. Good things come to those who wait.
i. How many times have we kicked ourselves for not waiting.
ii. Psa. 46 – the writer tells of all the wonderful things that God has done and will do. vs. 10 God says, “Be
still and know that I am God.”
iii. Isa. 40:31 – Read – they that wait upon the Lord…
iv. Back to Job – Job 42:12 – “Now God blessed Job in his latter days more than He did in the beginning.
* Job wasn’t a poor man to start with.
c. Do you see the profit? It did come at a price.
2. Patience can turn a simple laborer into a craftsman.
a. You can know a craft, but it doesn’t necessarily make you a craftsman.
b. Artists develop over time
c. Just because you can sit in a cockpit doesn’t mean you’re automatically a pilot.
d. Preachers develop over time-even God given talents must be honed.
* II Tim. 2:15 – Study to show thyself approved – study takes patience!
3. Patience Makes Us More Effective Christians
a. Already, we noted in Colossians that patience is a “Fruit” of the Spirit
b. Patience allows us to see the reason behind actions and words therefore allowing us to endure mistreatment
we may encounter from others. It allows us to perform our role as Christian and disregard what we might
call our rights.
c. Patience allows us to give God time to touch people and the Spirit time to convict.
d. Gal. 6:1-2 – “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit
of meekness… Bear ye one another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ.
i. Is it easy listening to other people’s problems?
* We have to learn how to listen.
* We can’t pretend to listen and be of service to those in need.
* We must remember that all things are relative; what bothers me may not bother you or vice versa.
ii. We have to call on our patience. It takes practice.
iii. This should apply to those outside the body of Christ.
e. Rom. 14 – This whole chapter is an admonition for the strong Christian to be considerate of the weaker
Christian.
i. It takes patience not to push personal beliefs/interpretations on others.
ii. This passage does not address matters of salvation other than it tells us not to judge others.
III. Closing
A. Christ showed patience with
1. Apostles when they did not understand His mission; even in the face of death.
2. The hungry-remember the disciples wanted to send the multitude away
3. The sick and those with dying loved ones.
4. He showed patience with the struggling sinner but not so much with religious leaders. Remember when He
overturned the money changer’s tables?
B. God is patient with us, but we must not take advantage.
1. Jo. 3:16
2. II Pet.3:9 – “God is not slack concerning His promises as some men count slackness but
He is longsuffering towards us not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
3. We can wait too long!
4. Patience is not reason for procrastination!
