As always, you can read the transcript of Pastor Lola’s sermon below.
Colossians 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
Colossians 3:12-17 PATIENCE IN THIS GROWING SEASON: Springford Baptist Church: May 24, 2020
Who is the most patient person you know? Is it you?
Patience is another of the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit and it is this fruit of patience that we want to give our attention to today. I have heard people say, “Oh I’m just not a patient person.” Does that realization then excuse us from allowing God’s Holy Spirit to cause us to grow in patience? No! The growth of all of these fruits of God’s Spirit are evidence of God and God’s patient work in us. Yes, God is eternally patient. He must be to continue to work with us! Often, we are inclined to want things to happen right away. Think of this prayer: “Lord, give me patience and I want it right now.” When we do bring things to God in prayer, we are placing each concern in his hands and then there is patience required to wait and to trust God, as we look for His answers.
Patience in this growing season is certainly challenging! As we continue to live each day with the countless changes in our lives caused by this covid pandemic, we need patience. None of us can know when the many restrictions will be lifted. We need patience. For those who do go out, there are more lines to wait in. We need patience. There is great uncertainty about what will have to be in place for reopening to occur. We need patience. For those spending extended time at home alone or with the same people day after day after day, it is not easy. We need patience. People are wondering about their jobs and businesses are wondering if they can survive. We need patience. Patience is a fruit of God’s Spirit and it is a fruit that we choose to have God grow in us. Do you really want patience to grow in you in this growing season? Are you willing for the changes that will require in your outlook and your behaviour?
Our Scripture for today speaks about clothing ourselves with, among other things, patience. (Colossians 3:12). Now, we have different clothes that we wear for different occasions, don’t we? If you are going out to work in the garden, you have different clothes than if you are going to a birthday or anniversary party (when we could go to birthday and anniversary parties). If you are going to sit outside, you must decide whether you need a jacket or sweater or not, depending on the temperature. Understand this, patience is always needed. Whether we are staying at home, or going out, whatever the temperature, we need this garment of patience. I have already said that God is patient and this is the consistent revelation of Scripture and of human history. With all of our mistakes and regrets and stubborn behaviour, God persistently keeps loving us and patiently waits for us to turn to Him. In the continued process of becoming more like God’s Son Jesus, developing patience/ growing patience is essential. We can visually see when fruit is growing can’t we?
Speaking of patience, I am really looking forward to the local strawberries being ready. It will be a while yet. From the time that you first see the strawberry blossoms and then the tiny green berries and then those green berries grow larger and larger there is anticipation. It is not until, under the right conditions, they ripen, that we can enjoy juicy red strawberries. YUM! What will be the evidence that patience is growing in us? Remember, this is God’s work and patience is to be expected in us as we are growing more and more like Jesus.
This Scripture tells us that there are other things that should accompany patience: compassion, kindness, humility and gentleness. (Col. 3:12). These all grow well together. Evidence that patience is growing in us will be forgiveness. The instruction is here, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (vs. 13) When with God’s help we choose to forgive and to let go of the hurts that we have been carrying, patience is growing and can keep on growing in us. We also need to forgive ourselves! Our rehearsing of all the times we have tried before to demonstrate patience and have failed, could prevent us from growing in patience now. Love is what brings this all together in perfect unity. (Col. 3:14) One of the descriptions of love from I Corinthians 13:4 is that, “Love is patient.” We cannot manage patience on our own, but when the kind of love that God has for us and that He grows in us is available, we can be patient!
Last week, we were looking at the fruit of the Spirit, peace. We begin to realize that all of these fruits are related. This week’s Scripture says that, “the peace of Christ should rule in our hearts since as members of one body we were called to peace.” (Colossians 3:15) When there is peace in our hearts that God provides, patience can grow there as well. One of the initiatives we can take to encourage the growth of patience in us and the way we live our lives is to, “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and as we sing psalms hymns and songs of the Spirit (spiritual songs) with gratitude in our hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16). We have a part to play in the growth of patience in our own lives and in each other’s lives. Others can learn the possibility of patience when they see patience growing in us. They will quickly know that it is God’s work, especially if we have not been inclined to be naturally patient.
The final insight around patience in this growing season comes in the last verse of today’s Scripture, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Our words and our actions must remind people of Jesus! When people do see patience in us, we will be reflecting the patient love of Jesus our Saviour. Patience is not meant to grow so that people will be impressed with us. Not at all! Patience is meant to grow in us so that people will experience the love of Jesus through us and be drawn to Him!
In what specific ways do we need to grow in patience this week, in this growing season that God has provided?