The Fruit Of The Spirit: Patience, Kindness

RUCKSACK ILLUSTRATION, EARLIER IN THE SERVICE.

Narrator: ‘Today, Sam, Gifty, Vanessa and Cyril are going camping. Vanessa and Cyril are very excited about it. Vanessa gets to work packing two rucksacks. She is very thoughtful; she doesn’t want Cyril’s rucksack to be too heavy for him. She chooses a small rucksack. Then she chooses some things to put in it. A whistle. A torch. A map. A box of matches. Vanessa lifts the rucksack and feels how heavy it is. ‘That isn’t too heavy’, she says to herself. ‘Cyril will be able to carry that.’

Cyril comes. Vanessa gives him the rucksack.

Narrator: ‘Is that OK for you?’ Vanessa asks. ‘Not too heavy?’

Cyril: ‘It’s fine.’

Narrator: 'Vanessa picks up the other rucksack. It’s really heavy! It’s difficult to lift.'

Along comes, Sam, Vanessa’s dad.

Sam, to Vanessa: ‘That looks like a heavy rucksack. Can I take it for you?’

Vanessa: ‘It’s not so bad.’

Vanessa collapses.

Sam: ‘Come on. Let me take it.’

Vanessa gives Sam the rucksack.

Cast walk off, then come back and bow.

VIDEO, EARLIER IN THE SERVICE

Random Acts of Kindness / Kindness Can be the Norm. It’s only about a minute long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYnWsAoGRPE

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TALK

Today we’re continuing our mini-series on the fruit of the Spirit. Two weeks ago, we looked at the first three fruit: love, joy and peace. This week, we’re looking at two more fruit: patience and kindness. I was going to look at three, but there’s more than enough to think about with just two.

Let’s remember at the outset that Paul calls these ‘the fruit of the SPIRIT.’ These qualities develop as the Holy Spirit works in us. We can’t produce them by ourselves. But we can work with the Holy Spirit!

PATIENCE

Our first word is patience. The word in Greek has the idea of enduring in the face of fierce or difficult circumstances.

How should we be patient? A great starting place is to think how God is patient.

God is VERY patient towards us. The apostle Paul was a leader of the early church. But before he became a Christian, he persecuted the church. Probably, when he looked back at the time before he accepted Jesus as his Lord, he thought, ‘How DID God put up with me? How was God so patient?’

But Paul saw a purpose in God’s patience with him. He wrote: ‘Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost [sinner] Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life [1 Timothy 1:16, NASB].

The fact that Paul was persecuting the church gave Jesus the opportunity to demonstrate his perfect patience. By being so patient with Paul, the foremost sinner, Jesus showed that his patience stretches to everyone. No one gets to the point where Jesus’ patience runs out. Jesus’ perfect patience means his door is always open to everyone.

Jesus’ patience is a tough act to follow! But God wants us to be like Jesus. God has predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son [Romans 8:29]. When we put our faith in Jesus, God gave us his Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit is seeking to develop Christlike patience in us.

There are lots of areas in which we need to be patient but I thought I’d mention three.

PATIENT IN LIFE

There’s a book with the title, ‘Lord, Give Me Patience, and Give It to Me Right Now!’ I’d like to quote a short section:

‘The things that matter most take time, effort, patience, sacrifice, discipline, and deep commitment. Too much, too soon, too easily – is the perfect formula for frustration, heartache, and mediocrity. When we get too easily and reach too quickly, we tend to appreciate too lightly. To be sure, some things you can get immediately by pushing buttons or paying money down or by pulling out a plastic card. But the great things, the real values, do not come that way; they have to be grown and cultivated. You can get a sports car or a flat-screen TV with a quick down payment, but character, morality, integrity, maturity, spiritual strength—these you have to wait for, work for, want intensely, commit to, and cultivate and grow slowly but surely.’

The author, James Moore, is spot on. Lots of things can be done very quickly. But really valuable things don’t come quickly. If you are parents of grown-up children, think how long they took to grow and mature into the people they are now. Things that are valuable take time. We have to be patient.

PATIENT IN MINISTRY

The same is true of Christian ministry. Paul wrote, ‘And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up’ [Galatians 6:9]. In Christian ministry we have to be patient.