Full Transcript

On these autumn evenings, we are reflecting, I think very fittingly on the fruits of the spirit, on love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and so on. But if you were to choose one of the fruits of the spirit, which is most out of tune with our modern world, most out of step with the way that we live in these days, I wonder which one you think it would be. You could argue many of them, but I think there’s a strong case to be made that it’s this one, the one that we are looking at this evening. The subject of patience. We might see the virtue of love and joy and peace but where would we be without our impatience?

Where would we be if we didn’t want everything sooner and cheaper and more conveniently? We are always connected, always wanting more, never settled. We are less patient than ever. People in wiser times used to talk about patience a lot. Did you have a grandparent who would say things like, all in good time. Or everything comes to those who wait. Or a stitch in time saves nine?

I have no idea what that one means, but I get the idea. Or slow and steady wins the race. I can’t think of the last time that I heard someone say that. So patience is a virtue. It is a fruit of the spirit and it might not sound very inspiring. If you want to see a child’s eyes glaze over, just try telling them to be patient.

And I don’t think it’s just children. I think it’s all of us. Sometimes you will hear people say I’m just not naturally a very patient person. I don’t think any of us are. I don’t think it comes naturally at all and it’s one of the most essential things to learn and to develop. Because the price of impatience is high.

Impatience damages our relationships. It makes us sharp and intolerant and angry with one another. Patience is essential in our relationships. It’s one of the most important aspects of what it means to love to bear with people. And impatience means that we’re constantly distracted. We seem to expect now to be always in touch, to be constantly entertained.

We have these devices in our pockets, which in all uncomfortable moments, we can just turn to and look for who knows what. Just something that will distract us. John Lennon famously once said, life is what happens while you are making other plans. Now, he might say, life is what happens when you weren’t looking and you were looking at your phone.

And the danger is we miss out on the most important ordinary details of life because we aren’t paying attention anymore. But patience also matters because it is the very character of God. Our reading painted the picture of a farmer. Who patiently waited for the land to yield its valuable harvest and makes the comparison that says, listen, God is doing the same with us.

He is patient because he longs for us to bear good fruit. He gives us the time we need to learn our lessons, maybe even to make our mistakes that we might in good time, bear a harvest of righteousness. There’s an interesting picture where it talks about waiting for the autumn rains and the spring rains, and in a very dry land those rains were essential. The autumn rains softened the ground so that the seed could take root and the spring rains swelled the grains so that you got a good harvest and an impatient farmer was in danger of planting seed on land that was too dry. Or harvesting before the spring rains helped the harvest to come to its fullness so that it would be scant.

And those storms, I think are a picture of the storms of life. We would never choose them. We would like to avoid them and yet it is often in those uncomfortable, in those difficult times that the seeds of God’s word can take root, and that the fruit of the spirit is something that is seen in our lives.

God is patient with us. We need to entrust ourselves to his good timing, even if that seems a lot longer than we would like it to be. Patience is at the heart of the story of the Bible. Verse 10 said, brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

And the Old Testament is full of these promises, just like we read from Isaiah. Promises of a God who would intervene in our world. Of A coming king, a Messiah who would bring in a new and different kingdom. But those prophets never saw the fulfilments of the things of which they spoke. They had to wait their whole lives.

And in fact, it was centuries. Those words of Isaiah didn’t begin to be fulfilled for half a millennia. And you and I may not see the fulfilment of our faith, of our hopes in this life. Just like those prophets, our experience may be one of praying for and working for and waiting for a kingdom of God, which we never get to see in our lifetimes.

The purposes of God are long. Patience is at the very heart of the story of the Bible and of our faith. And so it is something that we are going to have to learn. Because the purposes of God will almost always take a lot longer than we think that they should. Like the child waiting for Christmas. It might seem like it is taking forever but it will come and it will come at just the right time and it will be wonderful.

One of the reasons why I think we find patience so difficult is that patience means bearing with discomfort. In fact, the original old translation of the word patience is long suffering. And verse 10 speaks of patience in the face of hardship. We are not good at bearing with discomfort, we run away from it and we try and avoid it.

We often try and distract ourselves or numb the pain. We overeat or self-medicate or distract ourselves with too much Netflix. And if you always run away from discomfort, you will never learn endurance. Like an athlete training there will be hardship along the way, but the road to triumph is the road of discomfort.

In fact, look at verse 11. It says, indeed we call blessed those who show endurance. And that word blessed or happy as it was in the Bible reading we had is a really important word. It’s the equivalent of the Old Testament word, shalom. It means wholeness and the hardships that we face are an opportunity for us to learn endurance.

And the way of endurance is the way of blessedness. And so the writer James says, we need to strengthen our hearts. He’s suggesting that our hearts are a little bit flaky and they are not strong. We are easily swayed and distracted and easily fall into hopelessness or despair.

We cling to things which do not satisfy and do not comfort. Verse eight says, you also must be patient. Strengthen your heart. And there’s this sense that we have to train ourselves in patience, train as an athlete would train their body. In fact, there’s a lovely thing in the fact that the word courageous is from the Latin word for heart.

And to be courageous in this life is to strengthen our hearts, especially through the difficult days. Patience is essential in all our relationships, whether that’s our friendships or with others in church or in our communities or with a romantic relationship. Verse nine says, beloved, do not grumble against each other.

And of course, grumbling is an expression of impatience, isn’t it? It’s an unwillingness to bear with the difficulties there are in our relationships. And we are always in such a rush to tell people if they’ve done wrong, to justify our own position, and there is almost always wisdom in saying, let’s just give this some time.

Let’s sleep on this and talk tomorrow, or talk next week. In any real relationship, it is impossible to sustain that without forgiveness and without patience. So. Learn to bear with one another, to bear in the difficulties of relationships, to bear with the discomfort, to bear with one another in love and to be patient with one another.

Now, patience does not mean apathy. It does not mean not acting, especially if there’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed. But it does mean not acting out of frustration, or anger or impatience. It means that our actions are governed by what is right and that we do so prayerfully and thoughtfully and considerately, and we wait for the right moment and we act proportionately.

That’s how we deal with problems. The problem is all too often our impatience means we deal with problems really badly because we’re in a rush and we do it at the wrong time. And I think also we need to recognise that the results that we hope for will take longer than we imagine. Don’t in your impatience expect to see change right away.

People are complicated and if you’re ever struggling with impatience with somebody else, stop for a moment and remember how patient God has had to be with you. He gives us time. We need to be patient with others. So patience is a fruit of the spirit that needs to be cultivated. In your faith, in your relationship with God, in your relationships with one another, in your relationship with your very self.

This life is a long road and God is playing a long game. Patience isn’t something you can force or manufacture, it must be cultivated. It’s a fruit of the spirit and so you can’t make yourself be patient, but you can do the things which help you to be patient. And the best way to patience is to be rooted in God.

To spend time in his presence and in his word, to see his perspective on life and on the world and on ourselves. To allow who he is to shape who we are. Practise patience day by day. Put it to work. Sit with the discomfort. Be courageous in the face of our troubles. Find consolation in prayer and the presence of God and patience will grow in you.

And I think it’s also right to say we need to wrestle with our impatience. We need to resist our frustrations. We need to say no to the temptation to always distract ourself, to choose sometimes just to be still and to be quiet, to choose patience, to value it, to be courageous, to hold on hope, to strengthen our hearts.

This is not the easy road. It really isn’t. But as we learn to be patient, to find our consolation, our comfort in the right places in God and in one another, and to choose to trust in his purposes and his timescale, so that is the way to life as it should be, and to blessedness. Patience is the way to contentedness.

Impatience will never get you there. You will never be satisfied. But as we see patience grow in our hearts, we know something of what it means to be blessed. Blessed by God day by day to see his blessings, which are so easy to miss in all of the rush. But patience, endurance, this is the way to know what it means to be truly blessed.

This is the way to contentment. Amen.