Patience (Part 2 of 2)

Advances in technology have accelerated the pace of daily life, travel is faster, communication, entertainment, everything is faster and easier than ever before.

So why does it seem like this has cultivated greater impatience? We're going to think through that today on Truth for Life as Alistair Begg continues our study on the fruit of the Spirit. We're looking at Galatians chapter 5. And part of the fruit that he creates in the lives of those he redeems reveals itself in that very characteristic. Now, from its definition, if you like, to its development.

Well, how does this develop? Well, it's not developed on a deck chair, that's for sure. Patience is not something where you get a little book or there's a chapter somewhere and it says, Seven Keys to the Production of Patience. Those books abound. You may find benefit in them, I'm not sure.

I'm sure there's helpful things in parts. But that is not how the New Testament treats it. Remember, this is not something that is external to us that we're trying to develop from the outside in, but rather it is that which is worked from the inside out. And if you turn with me to James, I'll use the opening verses of James to help us with this notion of development. James, the brother of Jesus, is writing a very, very practical letter, and he starts off very quickly in this realm of faith—faith in the Lord Jesus. When you are following him, when you are faced by challenges, count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds. Now, what James is actually saying here is very straightforward. Trials for the believer should not be regarded, first of all, as enemies or as intruders but as friends. That seems immediately paradoxical, doesn't it? That trials, we want to try and distance ourselves from them and difficulties and so on. We set up our lives to make sure that we've removed as much of that to the perimeter of our lives as we possibly can. James says, No, think about it differently.

You should view these trials in a very different way. You know that the testing of your faith produces patience, and that patience have its full effect. It's such a challenge, isn't it? Some of you are incredibly impatient.

Now, even as I speak, some of the boys and girls are going, turning to their mother. How long is it now? Are we well into it, or how long is it? Patience, impatience.

Now, some of you have grown impatience. Those little—those little—what do you call them?—busy lizzies? Because of the way they—when they germinate, with just a slight bit of encouragement, they go like that, and they don't waste any time at all, and just—it's a good name for them.

It's a Latin name, I suppose. Busy lizzies is a good name too. But that's by the way. The fact is, patience is tough. And if you think it's hard listening to it, you should try preaching it.

Right? Because you can go away in your own silent little world and determine how patient, loving, joyful, and everything you are, but I'm exposed up here. I'm exposed.

I'm exposed, first of all, to myself and to God. I take that as part of the challenge. So this week, as I got ready to come home, where I'd been in Prince Edward Island speaking for the Gospel Coalition, I got up at 4.30 in order that I might join the early-morning crowd to get on the plane in Charlottetown to fly to Toronto so that I could leave again from Toronto and be home in good old Cleveland by 9.39. That was going really well, until I looked at my boarding pass for the second flight, and it said, Boarding at 11.30. Well, I said, how can you board at 11.30 for a flight that leaves at 8.45?

The answer is, there's no flight going at 8.45, and the sign said it is leaving at 12. When we finally left, took off from the ground at twenty minutes to one, I was—I was, I really truly was— confronted by how much I need this aspect of the fruit in my life. And I had all kinds of loving thoughts for Air Canada, and the people around me were going, how joyful is this fellow, and how peaceful is he? See how desperately we are in need of the work of the Spirit of God? How desperately we require him to come to us again and again? How prone we are to our own agendas and our own sense of satisfaction? But James helps us here. He gives us a whole new perspective.

Look at what he says. "'Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet various trials.'" He doesn't say, if you meet various trials.

You can guarantee one thing in your life. You will meet trials. There's not a person in this room that is not confronted even now by things that are represented by that which is difficult and hard to handle. Three things to note. Number one, trials are inevitable. Number two, trials often come right out of the blue.

And number three, trials come in all shapes and sizes. And, says James, by means of this testing environment, patience is developed. Now, the thing that we have to understand is that the benefit that we receive from trials and difficulties is largely dependent upon how we look at them and the manner in which we handle them. Trials do not in and of themselves have the capacity to form patience in us. It is the Spirit of God who works patience in us, produces increasingly that fruit through us. Trials come, as one of the Puritans said, to prove us and to reprove us. But one person may respond to it in such a manner that they are increasingly bitter and angry and disengaged, while another, facing the exact same circumstance, finds that the shoots and evidences of a capacity that is clearly beyond this individual and beyond understanding in relationship to the circumstances points to the reality of God. You see, when we're mistreated—and we're all mistreated, whether it's at home or at work or in school—how do we handle that? When we're confronted by the fact that people don't actually meet our expectations and our standards. How do we handle that? We see, the exhortation of the New Testament is that we are to be patient. That's something that you do. That's James chapter 5.

Paul, in Colossians 3, says, Clothe yourselves with patience. So in other words, you say, Well, I thought you said it was internal and not external. No, it is external in its display. It is internal in its creation. The seed is planted in us by God, the seed is nurtured by God's grace and God's Spirit, but it is displayed. It's like people that say, Well, I won't be at the evening service, but I'll be there in spirit. To which I reply, That doesn't mean a lot to me. What matters is not that you're there in spirit but that you are physically there. I don't know if you're where you are in spirit.

No, the display gives evidence of the internal reality. And what James is saying is simply this—that by this means we become in practice what we know ourselves to be in principle. Spurgeon, who's always good on this kind of thing, in a sermon which he preached in 1883, uses the picture of a weather-beaten sailor.

It's a nice picture. Everybody likes a weather-beaten sailor. But he describes him in his sermon.

He says he has a bronze face, and he has mahogany-colored skin, and he looks as tough as an oak. So, someone that we aspire to, I suppose. And then he says to his congregation, And nobody reaches that condition by staying on the shore. Nobody reaches that condition by staying on the shore. So, we say, Now, I don't want to go out on the sea of life, because it's really bumpy and turbulent, and there's all kinds of things that could happen to me out there. Therefore, I think I'll just try and stay in the tranquility of the harbor. I'll just gather people around me here, and all will be well. Seek to do that with our children sometimes, and purposefully. Eventually, we're going to have to let them go.

They're going to have to become weather-beaten themselves. And so it is that when we reach the condition of that kind of picture provided there, it comes with the stormy seas. It comes with the howling winds.

And says Spurgeon to his congregation, When you reach that condition of endurance and patience, it is worth all the expense of all the heaped-up troubles that ever come upon us. Now, when you think about this, the purpose of God in our lives is often so mysterious, isn't it? It's so mysterious. Why does God disappoint our plans? Why does God cross our wishes?

Why don't we get everything that we ask for every time we ask for it and in the time frame that we want it? Oh, of course we don't know, because the purpose of God is mysterious. What do we know? Well, you have to take what we know that God is committed to conforming each of his children to the image of his son Jesus, our elder brother. So we don't understand, looking through the front window of the car, exactly why this is happening to us now. So we can rage against the machine if we choose, or we can take James at his word and say, Now, wait a minute, these trials come in various capacities and at different times, and often out of the blue, and we can actually rejoice in these trials when we begin to see it from the perspective of God. You see, we judge things by their present appearances. God judges things by their consequences. We are tempted to try and take every providence in our lives and see it as self-interpreting.

Well, this must have happened because of this, and this must have happened because of that. It was in my mind this morning when I was driving halfway here, and I realized I left my microphone behind. Okay, turn around. So I turned around, and then when I got home, I couldn't find it there.

And then, yeah, I couldn't find it anywhere. And as I was thinking these thoughts, I said to myself, Well, there must be some purpose in this. And then I said to myself, Yeah, the purpose is, don't lose your microphone. That's the purpose.

I mean, that's obvious. We don't need to turn this into some great theological discourse. Now, the fact is that it was also an opportunity for distinct impatience on my part just before I'm dealing with the issue of patience.

Or maybe God had a little purpose in that, just another little tweak on the way. Remember? Remember?

I don't know. But I do know that in some of the big things, some of the big things, as I judge them in their immediacy, it doesn't make sense to me. It didn't make sense to us, incidentally, when we were worshipping outdoors on the property at Ninety-One in Cannon—some of you have been around for a hundred years—and we would go up there, have the evening services, and claim this property for Parkside Church and for God. The fact that none of the community liked the idea was simply an opportunity for us to lay hold on the promise even more, and they would oppose us in the court, then we could go to the court, and then we could go to another court, and we could spend another amount of money, and so on and so on. And then finally we said to ourselves, you know, maybe God doesn't want us to be on the corner of Ninety-One in Cannon.

Took us a long time. But you can think of that in areas of your life, can't you? John Newton, writing to his congregation in this vain system, imagined being blind and seeking a guide, and then disputing with your guide every step that you take. He said the guide would soon tire of you and leave you to your own foolish choices. Why does God oppose us? To keep us from disappointment.

To keep us from our own foolish choices. Maggie Thatcher, in one occasion classically Thatcher, she says, I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. I like that. I like that honesty. I am extraordinarily patient, God, as long as it comes out the way I want it.

With the girl I want, with the job I want, with the this I want, the that I want, and anytime soon would be perfect for me. And here you are. You have unanswered prayers. You have children that do not yet believe.

And every night you say your prayers. And as yet, there is no answer. Where, then, does our confidence lie? What is God doing? Well, we know this—that as we learn to wait upon him, he's producing patience.

Finally, our time has gone. Just a word on the third one. Defined in terms of the character and revelation of God himself, he is a patient God. He makes patient children.

Developed in the experience of trials and difficulties, not on a deck chair at the beach. Therefore, be careful about asking God to increase your quota of patience. Get ready, okay? Lord, make me more peaceful. It'll be a rock-and-roll show. Make me more joyful.

Woo! That's the way it goes, okay? That's how he does it.

Count it all joy when you face these things because of this. He's dealing consequences. We're dealing appearances. And finally, how is it demonstrated? Well, this is not the only way in which it's demonstrated, but it is demonstrated definitely in this way—that the patience of God is revealed in his forgiveness of sin. Is revealed in his forgiveness of sin. And that is why some of you were saying to yourselves, Oh, dear, are we starting a series on Matthew now, when I read from Matthew chapter 18? No, I read from it, because I thought by the time we get to that point, I'll have run out of time to read it then.

Which was pretty good, because we have. And so, you can reread the parable for yourself. The parable there is an illustration of what Jesus says earlier on in Matthew, for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Well, what does that mean? Our forgiveness of others does not earn us the right to be forgiven. This is not a quid pro quo.

If you do this, I'll do that. So what is it? Well, what it means is that God forgives those who are truly penitent. God forgives those who acknowledge that we're on the wrong side of the equation, we're marching to the wrong drummer, we're up the broad road, we're not on the narrow road. God grants forgiveness to the insolent outlaw, the blasphemer, the one who has spurned his love, whatever it is, the arrogant religious snob.

God is patient, longing for them to turn to him. So God's forgiveness is granted to the penitent. And one of the evidences of being truly penitent is in a forgiving spirit towards those who have offended against us.

In fact, it is the great test, isn't it? Because, you see, when my eyes are open to the enormity of my offense against God, when I understand that when Ephesians says that I was once dead in my trespasses and my sins, I was on the wrong side of the aisle, I was just enslaved and embittered, that that was what I was by nature, then I say to myself, So why if God would be so good to forgive me all of that mess? Do I believe that I have the right to continue not to call my friend from whom I have been alienated for some time because of his offense against me?

My friend knows all of the principles that I espouse. Perhaps he or she is waiting to see some of the evidence of the fruit that would reveal itself, in that instance, in a call to say, I forgive you. Remember—and with this I close—that this fruit is not an artificial arrangement.

It is a live, growing reality. And if you would like a homework assignment, and even if you wouldn't, it is to reread Genesis 45 and the amazing description in there of the encounter between Joseph and his brothers. Remember, they hated his guts. They ripped his coat off his back, the one that his father had made for him, a special coat that they resented. They threw him in a pit, hoping to have him die.

Somebody said, No, bring him out. And so they sold him to the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites took him a little further. They stripped him up and stood on a block with the rest, and he was sold into slavery.

As a result of being sold into slavery, he's in the house of Potiphar. The wife tries to seduce him. He makes a run for it. She then lies about him. He ends up in the jail. He has to spend time in the jail, eventually gets out, and it's all building up to chapter 45, because he can't wait for his brothers to come so he can stick it to them after all this time.

It's a great story if you haven't read it. And he's just going, No! No! No! That's the amazing thing!

That's the amazing thing! His brothers had taken his clothes, taken his freedom, taken everything from him. When they show up and he finally reveals himself in Genesis 45, he gives them a cart, he gives them provision, he gives them clothes, he gives them cash, he gives them counsel. And he actually says to them, he says, Come close to me. Can you imagine being one of the brothers saying, I'm not going first? No, no, no, I know what he's gonna do right now.

He goes, Woo! I said, Thank you, number one. And another one, please. No, come close to me. Why? Because I want to kiss you. And he kissed all his brothers.

You see, it's a picture of Jesus, isn't it? We were as indebted as could ever be. We were as indebted as this guy who owed a million bucks, you know, to every ten thousand talents. He owed a fortune. He pleaded. He was forgiven.

He went out to strangle somebody who owed him fifty bucks. Jesus told the parable to say, Are you kidding? Do you understand what I have come to do for you? That I have come to pay your debt? That I have come to provide your pardon? Now, are you really gonna go out here and do this?

And if you do, you do not belong to me. You see, that's the kicker in the story. And this is how my Father will treat he or she who refuses to forgive his or her brother or sister from his heart. Patience. What an amazing God you are. How kind and forbearing.

You think about your people in the Old Testament, messing up again and again and again, and still knowing that they had turned their back on you, turned away from your voice. Therefore, I will wait for them. Oh, how we bless you that you are a seeking God and that you are a patient God. Help us not, Lord, to take your patience for granted. Help us not to presume upon tomorrow.

Help us not to leave to tomorrow what should be done today. First, turning to you in repentance and faith. And then, as you produce your fruit within our lives, bearing testimony not simply with lip but with life to the amazing difference that Jesus makes, to this end we seek you in Christ's name. Amen.

You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. As we're learning in our current series, the fruit of the Spirit is not something we manufacture. It's the result of God's Spirit at work within us to transform us. That's why here at Truth for Life, we teach the Bible every day.

We know that God works through the teaching of His Word to convert unbelievers and to produce fruit in those who already believe. That's been our mission for 30 years now. In fact, at the end of this month, February 27th, to be precise, we mark the anniversary of the very first radio broadcast of the Truth for Life daily program. And we are grateful to God for His unfailing providence over the last three decades. And we've had a number of ministry friends who have been reaching out to us to celebrate with us. Hi, friends. Rich Bott here. Congratulations to Alistair Begg and our friends at Truth for Life for 30 years of excellent broadcast ministry.

Thank you, Rich. We would love to hear from you as well. Let us know how God has worked in your life or in your family through the Bible teaching you here on Truth for Life. Email us, letters at truthforlife.org, or you can send a handwritten letter to Truth for Life at P.O.

Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio, 44139. Thanks for listening today. As we know, people can show kindness for a variety of reasons, some selfless, some with maybe different motives. Tomorrow, we'll learn how Christian kindness and goodness should be distinct from the world's expressions. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.