Patience – Hope in Action: Fruit of the Spirit/Advent #1
Gal 5:16-26 November 28, 2004
Intro:
I debated about beginning this message with the following prayer: “Dear Lord, I pray that you would give each person in our church, except for me and my family, many many opportunities to learn how to be patient…”
Background:
We have been looking at the fruit of the Spirit in Gal 5, and today, on the first Sunday of Advent, we consider the character quality of patience. It is not one we like, or we want to pursue. It doesn’t make us feel good, like kindness and gentleness and goodness. Patience is about how we deal with the things that are not good – how we handle delay, waiting, frustration, trying circumstances and thwarted opportunities. It is not a characteristic we want to have, but one we need to have in order to handle the challenging parts of life.
But perhaps we should back up even one step further. We’ve been in this one passage for several weeks, and so I took a step back and read the whole book of Galatians – sounds impressive, but it really only took about 15 minutes – and I want to pass along a little more of the context and background..
I’ve been reminding us all each week that this list of character qualities –or fruits – are about God producing and creating, not about our effort. It is about grace. That is a theme that is even more significant in the rest of Galatians. Paul was writing into a situation where the group of Christians were getting caught up in something that was way too familiar and close to home – image vs. substance. A group of people in the church had gotten diverted from caring about what God thought about them, and become fixated on what others thought of them.
Galatians 1 says, “6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ… (cont) 10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” In chapter 2, Paul tells the story about how even Peter, the impulsive disciple, had gotten sidetracked and started to worry about what certain people thought of his image (2:11-16) – Paul calls Peter a hypocrite and called him back to worrying about what God thought and not what man thought. He hits hard again in chapter 3: “3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
Paul’s point, in all of this and in the bulk of the rest of the letter, is simply this: the good news is that God has offered us grace and forgiveness, and has set us free. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, and to even think about doing something to make ourselves worthy is to make a mockery of God’s incredible gift. We are free in Jesus, God’s grace has been given, and all we can do is accept that grace, believe in that grace, and then live not to please men but to please God, live out of a love response to that gift, as we walk with the Spirit and live in the Spirit. It is not by human effort, but by God’s grace.
Since it is the first Sunday of Advent, we are starting to prepare for Christmas, let’s think about it this way. Imagine yourself as a parent, feeling a deep love for your child and wanting to express that. So you save, sacrifice deeply, and then splurge on a good gift which you know will be loved. Imagine then that Christmas morning comes, and your child opens this wonderful, meaningful, life-giving gift. They are deeply moved, deeply appreciative. They know the value, they know the cost, they know that you have sacrificed and given a great gift because of your love. So then this child looks at you and says this: “By my calculation, this gift is worth $100 000. I don’t think I can pay for it, but I am going to try. I can do 10 hours of chores a week, and if you will agree that each hour is worth $10, that is $100 a week. It will take me 1 000 weeks, almost 20 years, to pay off the principle – and if you want to charge me interest it will be a lot longer than that. But because I appreciate the gift, I promise to do my best to pay you back completely.”
That is exactly what we are doing when we take the grace of God and then try to earn it by our good works. That is what Paul is meaning when he asks, “3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
That is what brings us to chapter 5, where Paul reminds us that we are free. We do not attempt, in our own effort and strength, to live up to an external set of rules and laws which govern behaviour. That is not what grace, forgiveness, and Christianity are about. It is not about how others see us, not about what is on the outside, not about trying to look good in front of others. It is about being free – that is the great gift of the gospel – and then living out of a deep love for God and for others.
And that, my friends, is the heart of salvation. That is what it means to be saved – to be delivered from these external expectations and having a heart that is transformed by the love and grace of God, and that is set free to love God and love others. Which, phrased that way, leads to the question: have you received the grace of God? Are you free to love God and love others fully? When we have been saved, we are no longer bound by law but are free in Jesus. That is where our passage comes into play: (5:1ff)
“1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery… 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love… 13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
Free to be Patient:
So we are free, we are saved, we are children of the Living God, we are filled with the Spirit and can thus “live by the Spirit” and “keep in step with the Spirit”. But unfortunately, the world we live in now is not yet free like we are. There is still struggle, there is still conflict, there is still a battle.
And that is why we need today’s fruit of the Spirit: patience. We live in an instant world, where we do not tolerate having to wait. If we are in a store and have to wait, we wonder why on earth they don’t open more tills. If traffic is backed up on the Quesnell bridge, we sit in our cars getting angry and frustrated. If someone is late for a meeting, that can kill the deal.
The great New England preacher Phillips Brooks was noted for his poise and quiet manner. At times, however, even he suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him feverishly pacing the floor like a caged lion. "What’s the trouble, Mr. brooks?" he asked.
"The trouble is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!" Haven’t we felt the same way many times?”
How Does The Spirit Produce Patience?
As we live in the Spirit, God produces patience in us. How?
Last week we talked about how slowing down produces kindness. The same thing applies to patience. If God could slow down the frantic pace of our lives, I think it is pretty obvious that we would have greater patience. We wouldn’t be in such a rush, we wouldn’t be running constantly, and as a result, when something happens that gets in the way, we will be able to accept it and wait it out with patience.
So why are our lives so crazy and hectic? What is it that we are pursuing in all this busyness? I can’t answer that question for you, but if you are feeling that life is too chaotic maybe it is worth asking that question of yourself: what is it that you are pursuing in all the activity? If you know that you are an impatient person, step back and ask the big questions – what am I in such a hurry about, why am I doing all of these things, has the busyness in fact been leading me away from the things I need and want in life instead of towards them?
I don’t believe that God’s Kingdom is a hurried place. It will certainly be a place of activity – I completely reject the idea of heaven as a boring place where we sit on clouds and play harps – but I do not believe that God’s Kingdom to come will be a rush. And so I also do not believe that God’s Kingdom here should be a hectic, impatient place.
Instead, God’s Kingdom here is a place where people matter, not tasks. Where there is time for relationships, time for love, time to care, time to serve, and an attitude that all of these things are a privilege and a joy. An attitude that God has given us such an incredible, priceless gift and so we respond with a deep love for God and a corresponding desire to leave every other pursuit behind except for that of loving God and loving our neighbour.
As we live by the Spirit, that is how God shapes our lives. Loving God and loving others is not efficient. It cannot be compartmentalized, cannot be scheduled, cannot be programmed. It can only be grown inside of us as we let the Spirit lead and as we create space for Him to mold our character. Patience is the result, because we recognize that all the inconveniences and hassles of life, all of the shortcomings and failings of others, really are inconsequential to our goal: loving one another deeply.
Patience comes as the Holy Spirit shifts us from our agenda to God’s agenda. From our goals and purposes to God’s goals and purposes. From serving ourselves to serving God. From pursuing our own desires to pursuing the desires deep within the heart of God. God creates patience within us as we grow to trust that God is in control, that He alone has the power, and that there is great freedom in us letting go and allowing God to lead and guide and instruct and empower. We hang on through the battle because we know God has secured the victory. We hang on through the pain because we know that God will heal. We hang on through the dry, empty feelings because we know God has not abandoned us and will not abandon us. Patience comes as we learn the ways and the times of God.
Patience is Hope in Action:
This week’s advent theme is Hope. I think there is a direct link between hope and patience. It is hope that keeps us going through the times when patience is required – hope gives strength, hope holds out the promise of a time when things will change, and will be good again. We can be patient when hope is strong, because we have this firm conviction that things will be better. If you are struggling this week, I offer you hope. The Israelites waited 4000 years for their Messiah, and Jesus came. We’ve been waiting 2000 years for Jesus to return, He is on His way. In your struggle, be patient. God has not left you alone or forgotten. He is on His way. God is coming.
The thing that keeps us going is that we know it will be good. It is like buying a pineapple or a pomegranate. We patiently strip off the outer parts, because we know the fruit is good and will satisfy.
Conclusion:
I began by joking about praying for opportunities for us to grow in patience. Don’t worry – I’m not going to pray for more opportunities. I think most of us have more than enough opportunities.
What I am going to pray is this: that we would each surrender. We would yield control. We would have God lift our eyes off of ourselves, our kingdom, our goals; and onto God, onto God’s Kingdom, onto God’s goals. That is my prayer and my challenge to you: will you let God have control. Will you open your hands and give it to God.
Because as you do, the Spirit will come and walk with you, guide you into all the incredible things God desires for you. And He will even make you into a patient person as we let God be our Lord.
