November 9, 2003

I Corinthians 13: (p. 153)

This is read quite often at weddings, but keep in mind that it was not originally written for a bride & a groom. It was written to a church, to a group of Christians at Corinth. Let’s look at it together.

You’re in the check-out line at Hannafords. The person ahead of you did not know that an item he had picked up was “Buy 1 get 1 free.” So when the checkout person points this out, the man has to go back and get another of the item. The check-out person continues ringing up the sale, but suddenly the register runs out of tape. She’s says, “Ahhh, I thought I could make it!” It takes a while for the tape to be replaced. Then when the bill is totaled, the man doesn’t have enough money to pay for it all, so he must put something back, which, of course, is a decision that takes some time. When it’s finally your turn, you start putting your things on the counter and the check-out lady says, “How are you today?” How are you at that moment? I suspect most of us would be a little upset, a little hot under the collar.

Patience is difficult virtue. During the month of November we’re taking a Virtue a week - studying it from a biblical perspective and asking ourselves, how can we live this out? Last Week we looked at humility. - having a servant’s heart, realizing it’s not just about our story, & letting our words & our actions reflect humble hearts. Today - Patience.

We Americans are not a patient people. We invented instant coffee & fast food. We like micro-wave ovens & the latest generation computers because they are so fast. We like instant messaging. In conversation we finish each other’s sentences. We give instant, quick advice, without really taking the time to listen & connect.

My favorite example of being impatient is when I drive all over God’s kingdom, way out of my way, just to avoid sitting in a line of cars at a stop light for 5 minutes. I’ve got to keep moving. I can’t sit still. I don’t care if it takes longer. There’s progress in movement. But there’s love in patience. “Love is patient. Love is kind.”
I think I’ve mentioned before that the place to start in Bible Study is your initial reaction to a passage. You read it once or twice carefully & you monitor your reaction as you read.
-- what questions immediately pop into your mind?
-- and what within you responds or reacts to the text?
-- what jumped off the page at you?

In I Cor. 13, Paul sets the scene by talking about the supreme importance of love. If we have incredible faith, knowledge, understanding, but have not love we’re nothing. “Well, St. Paul, I want this love. Tell me how to do it.” Paul says, “OK . . . “Love is patient.” That’s not where I was hoping he’d start. “Love is patient.” My Initial reaction: “I’m in trouble.” “Love is patient.” I would have put that in the middle of the list. How about starting? “Love is dependable. Love is steady. Love is faithful. Love takes out the trash, & remembers birthdays & anniversaries.” All of these would have been better choices. But Paul doesn’t start out that way.

Love is patient -- start there. Again my reaction is: “Love is patient. But very often I am not.” What strikes me to the core in this passage is this - If love is patient and I am not, then in those moments when I am impatient, I am not being very loving.

There are sometimes when it’s OK to be impatient. Like when your house is on fire, and other sorts of emergencies. It’s not a loving thing to let someone seriously take advantage of you. It’s never a loving thing to put up with abuse of any kind -- verbal, physical, whatever. There are certainly things to be intolerant of & impatient about. But those are the exceptions to the rule. And the rule, the norm, is love is patient.

Impatience just isn’t loving. When we interrupt others & finish their sentences, we’re telling them, “Excuse me, you’re just not moving quick enough for me. Can you please pick up the pace. I’m getting bored.”

Bill Hybels - on sabbatical - knew how much he needed the time off, when early into it, he was coming out of a store. In front of Bill was a man in a wheelchair, - the door in & out of the store was not automatic, and so it took a while to navigate it. Someone stood & held the door, but the foot brace got caught on the other side. Bill Hybels, stood waiting & his blood pressure rising, and he said under his breath, “Come on, Man, let’s go. Let’s get this moving.” And then he caught himself and realized how burned out he was.

Impatience is often a great warning sign for us - like the “Engine” Light coming on - it’s a sign that we are tired, overworked, sleep deprived, and emotionally and spiritually depleted. So one of the most practical & important things we can do to gain more patience is get a good night’s sleep! Exercise also helps a lot. Those of us who are wired for impatience need to burn off that excess energy. I used to jog with a guy at 6:00 am. He said, “It’s the toughest thing I do all day.” The Annual Meeting is Wednesday Night, so I plan to get a good night’s sleep Tues. night and a 20 min. nap that afternoon. Please read the reports and come well rested!

But there’s some even better help from the scriptures for us. God wants to help us be more patient. God wants to give us the gift of strong & patient hearts. Patience is not weakness, lameness, or wimpiness.

Galatians 5:22 - “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The fruit of the Spirit is patience.

When we are rooted and grounded in God, and the Holy Spirit is giving us life from above, and the very life of God is pulsating through us -and fruit begins to appear - a very loving and beautiful fruit - patience. The fruit of the Spirit is patience. This is very good news. For it means we don’t have to do it all on our power. We don’t have to produce the fruit with our own raw material. God will help us. The warmth of the Son will shine down within our hearts and cause us to produce the fruit of patience. This is spiritual photosynthesis.

I have a friend who told me that one of the main reasons that he comes to worship is to help him be more patient with his family. He’s on to something - “The fruit of the Spirit is patience.” I was with a group of adults talking once about trying to have a daily time of prayer - a quiet time. One wife, who works with her husband, said that she could tell the days her husband had his times with God and the days he didn’t. The fruit of the Spirit is patience. Again - this is great news. This is not a guilt trip. God wants to empower us with divine love and energy. God wants to live and breathe in us and help produce strength and patience in the storms of life.

One of our members told me this story. One Sunday when this person was leaving church, driving around the village in his car, someone cut him off & came within two feet of hitting him. The person said, “On most days of the week & for most of my life, I would have been furious with the person in the other car. I probably would have gotten out of my car and given him a piece of my mind for driving so horribly.

But I felt different inside because I had just come from worship. And so I smiled, waved, and wished the person well.” That’s what it’s all about. Staying connected to God helps us be more patient because God, the God we are worshiping, is very patient.
I want to leave with great news-God is Patient!
I John 4 says, “Let us love one another, because God is love.
I Cor. 13 says, “Love is Patient.”

Well, put those two passages together & what do you get? If God is Love, and Love is Patient, then God must be patient. A=B, B=C, therefore A=C. And it is incredibly good news for us that God is patient. Thank God. For where would we be, if God were not patient with us? And what hope would we have for forgiveness, let alone eternal life, if God were not patient? And what chance would we have for having a friendship with God, after all the times we’ve let God down -- we’d have no chance if God were not patient.

According to a traditional Hebrew story, Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man’s feet, and gave him food and drink.

The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him, “Don’t you worship God?”

The old traveler replied, “I worship fire only and reverence no other god.”

When he heard this, Abraham became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out of his tent into the cold night air.

When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, “I forced him out because he did not worship you.”

God answered, “I have suffered him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?”

God is patient. More of God. Less of us. And the fruit of patience will grow. “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”-Rousseau

Think about it.

Let’s pray about it.
Gracious God, we’re so thankful that you’re a patient God, for without your patience we would be lost. Teach us & remind us this week to be gentle with others for love is patient. In your name we pray. Amen.