Patience
Thesis: Patience is a necessary character trait if you want peace and perseverance for your life. Patience is a key to a fulfilling life.
Skit: By Covenant Drama team on patience
Opening Illustration:
Start by wasting time in the beginning of the sermon. Pretend your not ready-not focused move slowly. Point out after some impatience from the audience that patience is a valuable character trait to have.
Texts:
James 5:7-19
7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
10Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As 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.
12Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Proverbs 25:15:
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
Proverbs 15:18:
A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.
Romans 12:9-13
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
2 Peter 3:9:
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.
***There is a big difference between being slow or slothful and patient!
Illustration: When patience is required!
A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o’clock in the morning by a loud pounding on their door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger in the pouring rain is asking for a push. “Not a chance” says the husband- “It’s three o’clock in the morning!” He slams the door and returns to bed. “Who was it?” asks his wife. “Just a drunken stranger asking for a push” he answers. “Did you help him?” She asks. “No, I didn’t-it’s three in the morning and raining out.” ‘Well, you’ve got a short memory” says his wife. “Can’t you remember about three months ago when we broke down on vacation and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him.” The man does as he is told and gets dressed and goes out into the pouring rain and calls out into the dark. “Hello-are you still there?” “Yes,” comes the answer. “Do you still want a push?” calls out the husband. “Yes, please!” comes the reply from the dark. “Where are you?” asks the husband. “Over here on the swing” the drunk replies. (Illustration from Joe Bedy)
Introduction:
The art of patience is rare to find in our high paced go get it life. Many cry out to God and say God give me patience but I want it now! We live in the rat race of go for it. We have fast food, quick print shops, faster and faster computers, express oil changes, expressways, instant pictures (One hour photos), instant cocoa, instant coffee, microwaves, overnight delivery, express mail, instant messenger, and cell phones to talk now. We eat fast food and then want fast diet plans.
We see our society moving a mile a minute and thinking it’s good for us!
Melvin Newland even adds, “There is even a church in Florida that advertises 22 minute services. Go there and they promise that in 22 minutes it will all be over, and you’ll be out of there. The sermons are only 8 minutes long…”
Our society applauds the Type A personality as the way of success the person to be. It’s the right way to live. The go for it and get it done role model. We are to hit it hard and achieve more than ever before. Yet our society has the more heart attacks that kill in one year than in other countries. Why? We have the “Hurry up sickness” the “Busy as a bee mindset” and it’s killing us. We do not believe in a day of rest because we have been deceived into thinking we must do more!
I see this same pressure being put on the kids and the teens in school. Take more classes – do more –be in more sports. They think they need to be involved in everything in school. But there is a different attitude when it comes to church “Do less seems to be the motto!”
While I was in India another thing I noticed about the people of India was how laid back and relaxed they where. We start when we start was the mind set! Life moved slower with the nationals and they showed an attitude of peace. But I looked at us Americans and we where still running a mile a minute. They had peace we had rush.
They had joy we had frustration. They had sleep we had exhaustion. They could relax we became nervous. They had relationships we had acquaintances. They enjoyed the simple things of life we wanted the bigger and better things of life.
It’s sad to say but I believe America has lost the fruit of patience and we need to rediscover it with the help of the Lord.
I. The character trait of patience has distinct qualities and actions that we need to rediscover.
a. What does it look like – act like? This fruit called patience.
i. Patience:
1. Is the ability to sit back and wait for an expected outcome without experiencing anxiety, tension, or frustration.
2. Is the ability let go of your need for immediate gratification and be willing to wait.
3. Patience is the trait that displays tolerance, compassion, understanding, and acceptance toward those who are slower than you in developing maturity, emotional freedom, and coping abilities.
4. Patience is the ability to remain calm in the midst of turmoil because you know God is in control.
b. What patience does not look like or act like (impatience):
i. By being impatient you run the risk of always being dissatisfied, upset, and angry at yourself and with others.
ii. By being impatient you are always losing control and burst of anger ignite regularly ruining your day and others days.
iii. By being impatient you live in the mind set of blame it all on others its all their fault.
iv. By being impatient you enter the realm of the throw away generation. This means you discard relationships, people, jobs, churches, schools and the like whenever things are not working out the way you want them too or as quickly as you want them to.
v. By being impatient you take on the pessimistic attitude of looking at life through the lens of its “half empty” rather than “half full”.
c. When you are a person who lacks patience you deal with these types of feelings:
i. Irritated – at everyone or everything
ii. Agitated – with the slow people, the old people
iii. Ignored – by the world and by God
iv. Frustrated – at life in general
v. Resentful – that others have what you want
vi. Anxious – at every moment in the day
vii. Tense – because you have to do more
viii. Stressed – because your always under pressure
ix. nervous – that others are not doing enough
x. ill tempered – because like stinks
d. When you have patience you have the following types of feelings.
i. attitude of assurance that it will all work out
ii. comfortable – with your life and progress
iii. peaceful – that you could sit and relax on the highway for a while
iv. not rushed – it living life
v. calm – in the midst of the storm
vi. comfortable – with the way things are going
vii. content – that you are in the right place at the right time
viii. tranquil – in your sleep at night
ix. restful – in the morning light
x. confident – that its going to be a great day
xi. loved – by others and by God
T.S. - We have learned a little about patience and impatience and can see what it does and doesn’t do. But we need to understand why we need patience in our life.
II. So what does patience bring to a persons life? Why pursue it?
a. Scripture points out the benefits of patience in our lives:
i. Scripture tells us that patience brings us peace Galatians 5:22
ii. Scripture tells us that it will help us persevere James 5:7-11
iii. Scripture tells us that it will clarify purpose for our life Psalm 40:1; Romans 8:25
iv. Scripture tells us that patience will helps us develop lasting relationships Proverbs 15:18
v. Scripture tells us that patience will influence others Proverbs 25:15
vi. Scripture tells us that patience is the quality we need to face difficult situations James 5:7-11.
vii. Scripture tells us without patience we will miss God’s will for our lives because faith is connected to patience Hebrews 11:1.
b. The truth is we need to choose the path of patience today it we want to spiritually develop as God intended.
i. We need to learn the art of this fruit and practice it.
1. Colossians 1:11
2. I Corithians 13:4
ii. Patience is a good thing and brings eternal rewards.
iii. Patience is what makes us like we really want to be.
1. It gives us the life we always wanted.
c. But we have to choose to allow patience to develop in our lives.
T.S. - We not only have to choose patience we have to seek to develop it in or life.
III. How do we develop patience?
a. First we have to learn to recognize when we are impatient in our minds and hearts. Many today are unable to see their disease ridden minds and heart of impatience.
i. Patience is developed by understanding that impatience involves the inability of the mind to slow down and wait. It lacks trust in others.
1. It’s an attitude of rush-hurry- I want it now and not taking things in stride.
ii. What are some of the thoughts and beliefs of people with impatient mindsets (Taken from Coping.org)?
1. “I should be able to do this faster and better than what I am.”
a. “I’m just no good”
2. “They should understand me the first time and not need me to repeat myself.”
a. ‘They are so stupid!”
3. “Why should it take so long and so much effort to change and grow spiritually?”
4. “Why can’t they change quicker than what they are?”
a. ‘Losers!”
5. “I want this done yesterday.”
a. “Slow Pokes-lazy”
6. “I can’t stand such things as diets, college, counseling, physical therapy, and orthodontics; they all take to long before results are visible.”
a. “What a waste of time!”
7. “I could never accomplish my goal of growth and change, so there is no use in even getting started.”
a. “I will never succeed!”
iii. We need to recognize the disease of the “hurry up and achieve mindset” and reframe our mindset our perspective on life. It’s the only way we will be able to develop a patient Godly lifestyle.
1. We do this by living each day one moment at a time and not sweating the small things which we have no control over.
2. You see a lot of people are impatient with their surroundings because they cannot control it.
a. We need to choose to lose to God and to life uncertainties.
b. You see this with road construction –people get all upset because they cannot control the delay from the work and it makes them mad.
c. One wise counselor once said take book with you when you drive- enjoy the times in traffic by reading or praying or relaxing.
b. To become patient we must learn from the Spirit of God on how to control our impatient attitudes. Truth is we need his help!
i. Patience is not an easy fruit to develop. Why?
1. Because it does not come from our human fleshly nature? It comes from the Lord’s love!
2. The truth is we are not born with patience! Are we?
a. Melvin Newland states, “”When a baby wakes up in the middle of the night and is hungry, or its diaper is wet, it doesn’t lie there and think, “I know mom and dad are tired. So I’ll just wait until a more convenient time to let them know that I need something to eat or a diaper changed. No! That baby cries impatiently and continues to cry until it receives the attention it demands. Children aren’t very patient. Have you ever traveled with a child? That can be quite and experience. How about the little 4-year-old boy who was traveling with his mother and constantly asking the same question over and over again? ‘When are we going to get there? When are we going to get there?’ Finally, the mother got so irritated that she said, ‘We still have 90 more miles to go. So don’t ask me again when we’re going to get there.’ Well, the boy was silent for a long time. Then he timidly asked, ‘Mom, will I still be four when we get there?’”
b. I look at kids today and I see this lack of patience.
i. They fight and argue because they have no patience with each other.
1. They want things now-instant gratification is their focus for their lives.
2. They don’t want to sit at dinner tables because they have not been taught the value of patience.
a. To them waiting is boring and not fair!
b. He/she does not want to wait to eat because he is hungry now. He/she is done eating so they jump out of the chair because they cannot sit still.
i. Moms and Dads make the excuse “I can’t make him or her wait!”
ii. Problem is Mom/Dad have not learned the value of patience! And have failed to teach their young ones patience.
c. Truth is because parents are not patient their children become impatient.
i. Life is about teaching kids the value of patience. Because this will enable them to succeed in life.
ii. Patience must be modeled and taught for the benefit of the kids.
ii. Today less teens have patience because of parents and things like MTV, video games all these have breed short attention spans in people.
1. Teens have been taught to pursue instant gratification.
a. Results are harmful
2. Teens have a hard time sitting through extended teachings because they lack the discipline of patience.
a. I want to know and know it now.
b. They say they get bored – But the real reason is they have not developed the art of patience.
c. They don’t want to process information they want immediate information.
d. Result is they have a hard time learning because they want to know things now!
e. My nephew plays on his disability of ADHD and still tells my brother and mom at 18 “I can’t work I have no attention span, I can’t learn because I can’t sit still long enough. The truth is he has bought into the lie for so long he tells himself I cannot because I have no patience therefore I do nothing and am nothing in life.”
c. The flesh does not like the word patience-because it desires immediate gratification.
i. But patience can be developed by the Spirit of God if the person desires to give themselves to the Lord and learn from Him.
ii. Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”
1. You see Love – is the key which leads to patience. I John says God is love so we must start with God to get to patience.
2. Many commentators say the fruit of the Spirit is love and it’s manifested by the others in the list.
ii. The truth is we need the Lord to empower us to develop patience.
1. We need Jesus’ power to become patient so we ourselves we can then teach patience to our children.
2. John 15:5: 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
3. We need to learn to abide in the vine and allow the nutrients of the Lord to slowly develop fruit in our lives that will last. Especially the fruit of patience.
iii. Patience is developed by allowing the Holy Spirit to impact our life.
1. To teach us about the importance of waiting and learning about the ways of the Lord.
a. It takes time and effort. You see patience is actually seeing time in it’s right speed.
2. We need to let the Holy Spirit to be our counselor and teach us the art of patient waiting on the Lord.
a. So we can learn to manage time His way!
3. John 16:13: But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
iv. Patience is developed through the spirit by living a life of faith.
1. The Psalmist in Psalm 130:5 talks about how he battles against the disease of impatience. He says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and his word I put my hope.”
2. Piper notes this about the Old Testament phrase “Waiting for the Lord.” He states, “…is an Old Testament way of describing the opposite of impatience. Waiting for the Lord is the opposite of running ahead of the Lord and it’s the opposite of bailing out on the Lord. It is staying at your appointed place while he says stay, or it’s going at his appointed pace while he says go. It’s not impetuous and its not despairing.”
3. The lesson here is Psalm’s teaches us that patience comes from waiting on the Lord – allowing God to work out the details putting our trust in him to deal with the situation.
a. It adds “In his word do I hope.” The thought is patience is sustained by hope-faith in Jesus’ Word.
i. It’s the Word of God which produces faith and gives us patience because we learn about the power of the word to produce the assurance of faith-patience in our life.
b. Hebrew states, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”
i. When this verse is lived out in a person’s life patience is developed. Because they know it’s going to work out in the end.
4. Our faith in Jesus should make the difference.
a. We really need to focus on the fact that God’s patience spared our lives.
b. Remember 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is slow in keeping his promise, as some understands slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
i. This is why Saddam is still around causing problems.
ii. Why doesn’t the Lord just wipe him off the face of the earth?
iii. Why doesn’t God just come down and deal with this wicked world?
iv. Because God is patient. He wants all to come to repentance!
c. Really knowing this fact about God’s patience should help us to be patient with others.
i. James tells us this truth!
ii. Paul stressed it!
iii. Jesus demonstrated it!
iv. We should learn it!
d. If you have a hard time being patient with someone just recall how patient God is with you.
i. Just remember his sacrifice for you.
ii. He was patient enough to die for you.
iii. To give up his life for you!
iv. To suffer for you.
v. Remember---It’s all rooted in patient unending love for you and me. So we need to remember and decide to pursue and develop patience in our life with God’s help.
Communion – Is a time to remember how patient Jesus was with us and that should drive us to be more patient with others. It should compel us to be patient with others because none of us deserve the patience God has shown to us. Communion reminds us of the price of patience and love on our behalf and it should affect our hearts.
Read I Corinthians 11:23-32
Play Song by Mark Shultz “Remember Me” during Communion
Communion
