SON RIPENED FRUIT: PATIENCE
Colossians 3:12-18
Before I began my sermon,
I want you men to remember that something big is happening.
on Thursday next week: Valentines day.
Our wives have been thinking about how to bring it up.
So I decided to do it for them.
My wife was more subtle, she came up to me and
Handed me these adds she had clipped from the paper
Said they would be good starter for your sermon this week.
I began to look at them.
They are all from a Jewelry store.
1. Give your wife something that is FINGER looking good:
That’s not talking about chicken.
2. You can’t judge a woman by the size of the diamond she wears, but if
it’s a big one, at least you know she’s got her priorities in life straight.
3. The Only Diamond that’s too big is the one on another woman’s
hand.
4. Make up for all the years you gave her slippers.
Diamonds may be a good gift to give, but
Let me suggest you give her as well, the greatest gift you can.
The most expensive and costly to you.
Give her the gift of patience.
We have looked at "love, joy, peace,
Now we’re looking at the hard practical fruit of the Spirit: patience
I have never known a time when Christians have been Angry about more things than we are now…. We’re angry about values, politics, television, terrorist, movies, media, education, the violation of the unborn, condoms, criminals, and homosexuals.
We’re shouting more at our friends,
Were shooting more at doctors of abortion clinics.
Were shedding more of our morals and character.
Were running more red lights and tailgating more cars.
Publicly we are perceived to be long on madness and short on mercy,
We have the image of a warrior, and approachable as a skunk.
Were more committed to our consternation than we are to compassion.”
Joseph Stoell.
Patience is difficult because it goes against human nature.
How many of you have a problem with patience?
Come on now---- how many you of lost it just this past week?
This morning? Wow,
Maybe I should just give an alter call and we could all come forward and repent
JUST WHAT IS PATIENCE?
Let me give you 5 things I leaned about patience we need to know as Christians.
I. PATIENCE IS A LEARNED GIFT”
It is not something that we are born with.
It must be acquired through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Col 3:12-17 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Patience is something that must be put on .
Clothe yourselves:
None of you would go to work tomorrow without any clothes on?
Neither should you go to work tomorrow without any patience.
You don’t just wake up in the morning and find your fully dressed with patience.
You have to put it on.
Children aren’t born with patience.
In the cartoon the Family Circle:
The twins are praying:
Little boy says: “Hurry up Dolly. God’s waitin’ to hear MY prayer.”
When a baby wakes up in the middle of the night & his diaper is wet and he is hungry, it doesn’t lie there & think,
"I know Mom & Dad are tired.
I know that they have worked all day.
I know that they love me and have taken good care of me.
I’ll just wait until till morning to let them know that I need my diaper changed and something to eat." Smile and cooo and go back to sleep.
No! That baby cries impatiently & continues to cry until it receives the attention it demands. Children are not born with patient.
Have you ever traveled with a child? That’s always an experience.
What the question they always ask? “Are we there yet?”
Little 4-year-old boy who was traveling with his mother & constantly asking the same question over & over again? “Are we there yet!” “When are we going to get there? Are we there yet?” Finally, the mother got so irritated she lost it. "We still have 90 more miles to go. You ask me one more time and your going to get it. I’m going to stop this car, open the trunk and your going to get it.” Well, the boy was silent for a long time. Then he timidly asked, "Mom, will I still be four when we get there?"
I. PATIENCE IS A LEARNED GIFT”
II. PATIENCE IS A RESTRAINING GIFT.
IT DOES NOT REACT HASTILY AGAINST A WRONG
Col 3:13 “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
Patience does not react hastily against a wrong
God repeats this scripture 9 time throughout the bible.
Psalms 103:8 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Biblical root in the GREEK for patience is Macrosuma –
Macro: Long
Suma: Heat
means: Long on mercy, slow on anger
Patience means: We are to have a long fuse.
Do you have a long fuse?
When someone does you a wrong,
Are you on them like a tick in the woods?
Or can you go with them the second mile.
Turn the other cheek?
Prov 14:29 “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays folly.”
Prov 16:32 “Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.”
None of us like to be around impatient people.
They make us nervous.
How are you doing with this fruit of the Spirit called Patience?
In your home? In your business? In your church?
You know its not much of a disappointment when the world acts
its normal decadent way and retaliates with violence and vengeance.
Every day Last week while Donna and I were in McAllen, Texas.
We heard on the news or read in the paper that there was a stabbing, a gun shot wound, a rape, a murder. Most residents have bars on the doors, the windows, bars on the business, homes are gated and walled on all sides.
I even saw where one man had his new Pickup truck log-chained and padlocked to a big tree.
But what about the church?
What about the people of God?
A feisty 70 year-old woman had to call a furnace repairman.
After a quick inspection, the man put some oil into the motor and handed her
a bill. "Labor charges $70 for One hour?"
she exclaimed. "It only took you five minutes!"
The poor repairman explained that his company had a minimum one-hour charge on every house call. "Well” she said, “I want my remaining 55 minutes of labor," and she handed him a rake. The repairman spent the next 55 minutes in her yard bagging leaves.
But my question is?
Which of these two was showing the more Christian patience?
Are you quick to react to a wrong done to you?
Pr. 19:11 “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.”
Not only does patience give us restraint.
III. PATIENCE IS A SUSTAINER THAT HELPS US ACCEPT DELAY OR DISAPPOINTMENT GRACIOUSLY?
How do you deal with delay or disappointment?
James 5: 7-11 Be 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.
This is not a good sermon for me to preach.
I WANTED TO CHANGE WITH PASTOR DAVE
Who is preaching on kindness next week.
You remember how I struggle with waiting in a restaurant?
Well my other pet peeves is drive-up windows at banks:
They put them in so it’s more convenient for you,
And you can do your banking a lot faster and quicker.
And I appreciate that because I have a lot to do and
I schedule my appointments close together.
Just the other day I drove into the bank drive up window.
But all the lines were taken.
Double cars were parked at each line except one.
I pulled up behind a short line,
I’m next up.
I’m gonna make my appointment.
Guess what: soon all the other lines are moving.
Cars have come and gone.
I’ve even seen people come through twice.
Why do I always get the line where someone has to balance
Her checkbook or negotiate their second bank loan
from the front seat of a car?
Finally it my turn.
And I still have to wait.
Because the canister is too hot to touch
From sliding back and forth so many times.
How are you at handling delays and disappointments?
We get so impatient
Because we have to endure sickness.
We don’t have financial security yet,
Because were not married yet,
We don’t have a child yet,
We haven’t had sex yet,
We jump ahead of Gods plans.
And we deal with the price of regret and broken promises.
And impatience finds us divorced and alone.
I was reading in the Tuesday USA today
they have a new term for early divorce.
Its called Starter Marriage
Pamela Paul the author of the book says:
“We are a culture of impatience.
We want to download life quickly with one-click.”
When the young hit a pothole, they abandon the road.
When they hit a snag they just hit delete.
She said: “for young couple it felt easy to move on especially if they felt they were nipping something bad in the bud.
So they abandon their first marriage after only a few months.
And if we call them Starter Marriage we don’t have as much guilt.
Because nobody wants to see a marriage fail.
So starter marriages are just trial marriages until you work them through and you can then move on to a real one.
But our impatience shows our pain.
Reality shows that those who live together before marriage, their rate of marriage failure is 48% higher then those who have not cohabited.
Starter marriages are low commitment relationship
Which is exactly what most people do not want.
Impatience creates the place where we can be so vulnerable.
And we wound with unintentional repetition.
Those who are nearest and dearest to us, with
words and actions never intended and quickly regretted.
A teeball coach said to one of his young players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" Little Johnny nodded in the affirmative. "Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?" Again Little Johnny nodded yes. "So," the coach continued, "When a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?" Johnny nodded yes. "Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to your mother."
Are you the kind of father who after every game threatens your boy or girl with a punishment because of the way they played?
Patience gives you a sustaining ability.
That helps us accept delay or disappointment graciously.
IV. PATIENCE IS A REFINER TO HELP US UNDER STRAIN OR PRESSURE.
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
James 5:10 “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
All of us will go through suffering in our lifetime.
We will face the death of loved one.
The onset of disease.
The haunting of loneliness.
The pain of broken relationships.
The disappointment of dreams.
But by the power of the Holy spirit
we will be refined.
We will be polished.
Sharpened on the stone of affliction.
Israel waited 1000 years for the messiah.
Disciples waited 120 days for the Holy Spirit
Noah waited 100 years for the flood.
Moses waited 40 year to get to the wilderness.
And remember when moses Began he was just a Basket case.
You can’t get patience from a pill, a class, a commercial or even a sermon.
No magic formula, or biting our tongue, or counting to 100.
It is only a gift of the Holy Spirit.
That comes in the midst of suffering and difficulties of life.
Then we discover we are refined into his image.
We serve a loving God who has an unlimited patience for us even when we have been the worst of sinners.
I Tim 1: 1616But 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.
We all know people of this character.
David Ireland found out his wife was pregnant with their first child. But he also found out he had a fast growing crippling neurological disease. He knew that he would never see the child born.
So as a father he writes: “A letter to the Unborn child.”
“Your mother is very special. Few men know what its like to receive appreciation for taking their wives out to dinner when it entails what it does for us. It means that she has to dress me, shave me, brush my teeth, comb my hair, wheel me out of the house and down the steps, open the garage and put me in the car, take the pedals off the chair, stand me up, sit me in the seat of the car, twist me around so that I’m comfortable, fold the wheelchair, put it in the car, go around to the other side of the car, started it up, back it out, and drive to the restaurant.
Then it starts all over again: she gets out of the car, unfolds the wheelchair, opens the door, spins me around , stand me up, seats me in the wheel chair, pushes the pedals out, closes and locks the car, wheels me into the restaurant. Where we sit down to have dinner, and she feeds me though-out the entire meal.
And when it’s over she pays the bill, pushes the wheelchair out to the car again and reverses the same routine. When we finally arrive home, and it all finished and she has put me to bed. She comes and says with real warmth “Honey thank you for taking me out for dinner.”
David Ireland writes: I never know what to answer.
That is Unlimited patience.
That is self sacrificing love.
That is courageous giving.
Patience produces in us the character needed to face the storm
V. PATIENCE IS AN ASSURANCE THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL
I believe that this woman who took care of her husband
Knew in some way that if she remained faithful,
God would take care Of the rest of their lives.
That someday she would stand before him to hear the words
“Well done good and faithful servant.”
Romans 8: 28 “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.”
Do you love God today?
Are you following his call according to his purpose in your life?
Then ask God for this wonderful fruit of the Holy Spirit called Patience.
PATIENCE THAT
RESTRAINES
SUSTAINES
REFINES
AND ASSURES US THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL.
