The fruit of the Spirit is…

patience Matthew 18:21-35

We live in an instant culture. Fast food, fast cars, fast sex, quickie divorce. The Iraq and Afghan wars are subject to instant analysis by the media. Our culture encourages us not to wait for anything – credit is easy, debt acceptable.

But such impatience isn’t natural. Nature takes its time: a flower opens slowly, fruit ripens gradually. Think of how long it took to create the oil that we fight over and squander in our instant coffee culture. At the Fossil Museum in Los Angeles, California, there is an eighty-five foot ribbon representing the five billion year history of the earth. The history of the human race takes up the last half inch: what was God doing for the other eighty-four feet eleven and a half inches? Dinosaurs roamed the earth for one hundred million years and left before man arrived: Why? Only God knows.

Consider the history of God’s people. Abraham waited twenty years for the promised child to arrive; Israel waited in oppression in Egypt for years before the Exodus; the nation awaited the Messiah – Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) waited a lifetime! And we await the second coming. Patience is written into the genetic code of creation and the new creation in Christ: the fruit of the Spirit is patience.

1) God’s patience

It is part of his character: Ex 34:6; Ps 103:8. The Hebrew means literally that God has long nostrils – so you could say that nothing gets up his nose!

He waits for us to repent: Rom 2:4; 1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 3:15. Of course God is active while he waits: Jesus came to seek that which was lost, while we were still enemies Christ died (Luke 19:10; Rom 5:6-11).

God transforms us ‘from one degree of glory into another’ (2 Cor 3:18). He does not transform us instantly, though he could. His work in us is slow and certain (Phil 2:12f; 1:6). He is like a master craftsman painstakingly restoring an old painting of piece of furniture.

2) Our patience with ourselves

We are waiting: 1 Cor 1:7; Rom 8:23. For what?

ü Change in our lives. We don’t feel any different, still sin. God is patient and painstaking but we are impatient!

ü Answers to prayer: healing, guidance, conversion of family, friends, justice in society, freedom from oppression.

ü Answers to questions: e.g. why suffering? Why do things take so long?

3) Our patience with others: Forgiveness (Mt 18: 21-35)

i) An action: we’ve got to decide to do it, then do it!

ii) A lifestyle: 70 x 7, says Jesus. The going average in his day was 3x! Jesus says go on forgiving one another (see Eph 4:2; Col :12)

iii) Stickability: staying the course when we’ve been let down, upset, offended, taken for granted, abused, hurt, finding helping people painful: 1 Cor 13:4; I Thess 5:4; 2 Tim 4:2. God sticks with us, we should stick with others.

The fruit of the Spirit is patience: waiting in faith; living in forgiveness; learning to see things from God’s point of view.

Possible areas of discussion

· How do we feel when we’re forced to wait: in a checkout queue; at the doctor’s surgery; in a traffic jam?

· What are the things that really try our patience at home, at work, when we’re out and about?

· Jesus said ‘consider the lilies’: what lessons in patience has nature to teach us?

· Are we ever aware of God waiting for us?

(Some people in their testimony speak of being aware that God was waiting for them to make their mind up and commit to Jesus. Sometimes when we’re struggling with a decision we are aware of God waiting for us to choose the obvious right course of action.)

· Do we ever feel impatient with God? Do we ever wish that he’d work quicker in our life, transform us instantly into the people we’ll be one day?

· Do we get impatient with ourselves wishing we were ‘better’ Christians? Who do we blame for our perceived lack of progress: ourselves or God? How can we learn to be more patient with ourselves without becoming complacent?

(This is a question that requires a degree of honesty because many people who say they can’t see any difference that Jesus has made in them secretly think that God is to blame for that but will tend to blame themselves and feel very guilty as a consequence. As well as being honest, try to be practical: how can we help one another with these feelings, how can we encourage one another and help one another see how God is at work in each other’s lives? A toughy this one – but you can do it!)

· How do we cope with waiting for answers from God: answers to prayer about healing, guidance, conversion of family and friends, justice and righteousness in society? Answers to the big questions such as why suffering? Can we cope with not knowing, not having our prayers answered?

· How easy is it to forgive someone who has wronged us?

· Are there ever times when we should stop forgiving and pull out of the relationship? Isn’t there a danger in this teaching that we will become doormats?

· Does this teaching apply to the person who steals our car, vandalises our property, murders our child?

(Behind this question lies the issue of whether this morality is purely for our personal relationships, even our personal relationships within the church, or whether it applies to relationships in society.)

· Patience is about stickability: are we able to stay the course when we’re upset, let down, offended, taken for granted, find helping a person too painful for words? How?