Patience

I was just wondering, I got peace last week, so here we go with patience.

Probably the most unqualified person to speak on that one.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,

clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Last week, as we thought about that idea of peace,

I guess maybe that's our prayer for many of us.

Lord, give me patience.

I don't know whether you've screamed that in various situations,

maybe in the early hours of the morning if your child's waking every two hours,

maybe in various situations where peace seems elusive and patience follows and sadly could crack.

It's a familiar prayer in every part of my life.

And it's in the stuff of life where we're struggling not only to keep our cool,

to chill out, to chillax, as people say,

but we need the presence of God in our lives in extra measure to save us from overheating,

from boiling over, from losing our cool.

And our last hymn, Abide With Me, is so often asked for with those,

I love that chin, Julian, that's brilliant.

But maybe in a traditional hymn, it's often asked for at funerals,

to reassure us that he is there in every part of our life.

And it's based on Scripture in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

And in the King James Version, it says,

to abide, abide.

That idea to abide, to act or accept in accordance with.

Every branch of me, it says, that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes.

We'll come back to that later.

He prunes so that it may bear fruit.

And you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Abide in me.

Come close.

Come, abide with me.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,

unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine.

You are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

For without me, you can do nothing.

I think that certainly speaks for my patience.

I can do nothing in patience without the Lord.

We need to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit

because we know that patience can bring out the best of us

and can also bring out the very worst in us.

Lord, give me patience.

I would like you to imagine that it is a very hot day.

You are driving a car.

You are already late for an appointment.

In fact, you are very late for an appointment.

Perhaps you need to pick somebody up from the airport.

You need to pick somebody up from school.

Whatever it is.

And you are praying that every traffic light will be green.

On the way.

Lord, get me there on time.

When you encounter this lady with her grandchildren,

three cars in front of you at a busy junction.

This is a grandmother's tale.

The other day, I went to a local Christian bookstore

and I bought Sound Your Horn If You Love Jesus bumper sticker.

I was feeling particularly empowered that day

because I had been to a thrilling choir performance

followed by a thunderous prayer session

and I was feeling so close to God.

So I bought this sticker and I put it on the bumper of my car.

I was stopped at a red light at a busy junction

and I was just lost in thought about the Lord.

I was praying and giving thanks

and I didn't notice that the light had changed

from red to green.

It was good that someone else loved Jesus

because if they hadn't honked,

I would never have noticed.

In fact, I found that lots of people loved Jesus.

Why?

Everybody was sitting there.

Even the man behind me was honking like crazy

and he leaned out of the window and screamed,

for the love of God, go, go.

My goodness, what an exuberant cheerleader he was for the Lord.

Oh, do you know what?

Everybody just started honking

and I leaned out of my window

and started waving at them

and smiling at all these lovely Christian people.

I even honked my horn a few times myself

just to join in the joy and love.

I saw another man waving in a funny way

with only his middle finger stuck in the air

when my teenage grandson, who was in the back,

and I said, what does that mean?

And he said rather embarrassingly

that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign

or something like that.

Well, I'd never met anyone from Hawaii,

so I leaned out of the window

and gave him that good luck sign back again.

Well, isn't this wonderful?

My grandson burst out laughing

while even he was enjoying this religious experience.

Well, a couple of the people were so caught up

in the joy of the Lord

in the moment that they got out of their cars

and they started running towards me

with their arms in the air.

Oh, I bet they wanted to pray

or ask what church I went to.

Well, this was when that I noticed

the light had changed to green.

Well, so I waved to all my brothers and sisters,

grinning as I just drove through the junction.

Oh, I noticed that I was the only car

that managed to get through

before it changed back to red.

I was quite sad to leave them all behind.

with all the love that we had shared.

So I just slowed the car down.

I leaned out of the window

and I gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign again.

Oh, praise the Lord.

What wonderful people I'd shared my day with.

I don't know what you're like with patience.

Patience is a constant through the Bible.

Again and again,

God's people again and again

have had to understand and practice what patience is.

Moses in the desert,

waiting for 40 years.

40 years waiting on the Lord.

You know, most of us struggle with 40 minutes

for if a train or a bus is late.

Wait more than that

and we're demanding for compensation.

There's a lot we can learn in Scripture about patience.

The prophets take Isaiah and Jeremiah.

The ebb and flow,

Lord, do it now, do it now.

And they waited.

The psalmist,

when God,

when will you do this?

Job,

Job not happy,

tested,

but having to learn through the devastation

of his life

and what happened to him.

Hence,

we get the patience of Job.

Elizabeth,

wanting a child,

having to wait

till late,

late in life.

Jesus,

patient,

patient to the end

with his disciples.

in the Garden of Gethsemane,

the crunch time.

Couldn't you wait with me?

Couldn't you just wait with me

for one brief hour?

Did he come back

and did he lambast them for that?

No.

God's patience with us.

The patience in the early church,

the whole church,

would turn to God

and then,

sadly,

they would make up

all their own rules and regulations

and slowly drift away

from the core sense

of what it was

and reinvented what it was.

Patience is perhaps

one of the greatest fruits

to exercise,

but because it is so evident,

but it is so frail

in our human nature.

That's where

we need God

again and again.

Patience,

patience

in the power

of the Holy Spirit

to be more like Jesus

who just didn't

get to it

but would stick

and bear with us

and with them

through all sorts of things.

When you read the scripture

about Jesus

with his disciples,

for me,

it reflects so much

of our walk with God,

of him saying again

and again to us,

do you know what?

I'm so patient with you,

Clive,

but when are you going to get it?

When are you going to get this right?

When are you going to

actually connect

with this patience

and grace stuff?

It was that deep,

eternal sigh,

that pause

that says,

patience.

And knowing in our own lives

that we will let people down

because of our lack of patience

in our own discipling,

in our lack of love.

And Paul knows this

as he wrote this scripture

this morning

because he knows

people will be frustrated

with us

and distracted.

Yet we are called

as God's people.

We are called

as holy

and dearly loved.

We are called

to clothe ourselves

with compassion,

kindness,

humility,

gentleness

and patience.

And perhaps that starts

not only with each other

but with us

within our relationship

with God.

because when I think

about patience,

I think of myself

being patient

with one another,

being patient

and bearing

with people.

But how about

my relationship

with God

where we are urged

to keep on asking,

seeking,

keeping on knocking,

to have patience.

patience.

I've said a prayer,

Lord,

and you haven't

answered it

to my satisfaction.

Lord,

I've asked this prayer

and you haven't

answered it

in the last

half an hour

in the way

I expected it.

In fact,

I've prayed this

twice, Lord,

and you haven't

answered this.

I've had to learn

like you

again

and again

and again

that patience

works two ways

in a relationship.

In our relationship

with Jesus,

it works two ways.

And we often

put in our prayer

and we expect

an answer,

a bit like a vending machine.

We put it in

and we expect it

to just drop

into the tray

of life.

Yet often

in my experience,

the answer

to my prayer

isn't what I asked for.

And it's answered

in a totally

different way.

If you look

at your journals,

if you journal anybody,

look back

and think of the way

in which the Lord

has answered prayer

in an amazing

different way,

certainly not in the way

I ever expected

it to be.

Consider God's patience

with us.

Yeah,

I can hear you.

I hear you asking.

I know what you're

asking of me.

I am here.

I am always here.

I will never leave you

or forsake you.

But I am here.

But the answer

that you are asking

for is not for now.

And that takes patience.

I don't need

to tell people here

of that patience

of waiting.

My goodness,

is he a patient

God with me.

The times

when I fail

to listen

and wait on him.

The times

when I expect

instant results.

The time

I come up

with a solution

that doesn't reflect

his grace and love.

The times

that I bite back

rather than waiting

and reflect on grace.

The times

when I rush in

rather than

wait for wisdom.

The easy route

or so many of us

is often

filled with impatience.

And indeed,

isn't that

what our culture

says to us?

No wonder

we get impatient.

Our impatience says,

I remember that

credit card advert?

There was a

take the waiting

out of wanting.

It was a great

advert,

wasn't it?

We're all

encouraged to go out

and just

duck the card

and get it

there and then.

Do it now.

Take it now.

Why wait?

You deserve it.

You can pay for it

later.

And that reflects

the whole of society

to the spiritual

dynamic.

For waiting

isn't encouraging.

Wait,

said Jesus.

Wait

until the Holy

Spirit

comes upon you.

Wait.

Have patience.

It will come.

Wait.

I will send another,

the comforter.

Wait.

The Bible is

riven through

with wait,

wait and patience.

The old idea

of patience

as a virtue,

I'm sure maybe

many of us

said that to us.

Patience is a

virtue.

My goodness,

is it a virtue

that I need

time and time

again.

Yet often

in today's culture,

patience is seen

in some circles

as weakness.

certainly often

in leadership.

Do it now.

Drive it forward.

Get it done.

Go for it.

Yet let's not

underestimate

the power of God

when he does

and can

act immediately.

But be ready

to exercise

patience

when the time

is right

to listen to God.

To give

holy space.

To allow

space for us

to grow.

I don't know

about you,

I've grown

so many times

in my patience.

My character

grows

because I've

had to wait.

I've had to see it

from the other

person's point of view.

I've had to

still my soul.

I have had to

abide,

as it says.

Mandy will tell you

quite frankly

and you can,

Mandy will go to

the information desk

and you can stay there

until about six o'clock

where she'll tell you

about my instances

of impatience.

But I remember

when this dog

collar thing

came along

and God

was very fortunate.

I mean,

you know,

other than

going up a mountain

and bringing down,

he couldn't have

left me

in any doubt.

But I was

impatient.

And I was due

to go for a thing,

it was called

a bishop's advisory panel

and we were due

for the date

was in July.

Mandy,

who has the wisdom

as all women do

in life

as we know

that husbands

and partners,

we know

that our partners

has this great amount

of wisdom.

And I said,

I think I need

to bring it forward.

I think I need

to go for May.

I'm going to find out

if there's a cancellation.

Mandy said,

no,

no,

be patient.

That's the date

you've got in July.

Ah,

but if we do it in May,

that'll give us time

to put in my notice.

I can put in my resignation

in the police.

I can do all of this.

We can think about

the house.

We can get it.

No,

said Mandy.

Don't change it.

Did I change the date?

Yes,

I did.

And do you know,

from the moment

I got on that train,

I didn't feel

one sense of peace

in that bishop's

advisory panel

right the way through,

even right to the end.

Praise God

there's some good bishops

who have wisdom.

That's great.

You see,

I had to learn

a lesson,

a huge lesson

about patience,

about waiting on God

and listening.

But I'm certainly

not here

to preach to you

in any way

for those of you

who have

shown patience

in so many different ways.

things.

But sometimes

the Lord

gives us

the time

to do that.

As you know,

I love the film

Evan Almighty.

Like many of you,

I will be

very disappointed

when I get on

that great day

and find that God

doesn't look like

Morgan Freeman.

But it's,

it's just,

to me,

the character

in that film

embodies

the character

of God

in so many

different ways.

And if you don't

know the film

of Evan Almighty,

what happens

is that

Evan is

a congressman.

He's been towed

to build an ark

in the middle

of the desert.

And God

sends him

all these

things that happen.

First of all,

he starts

growing a beard.

And his hair grows.

And then all of a sudden

animals arrive

at his front door.

And then somebody

delivers all this wood

to him

with a plan

wherever he looks.

And I want you

to imagine

the patience

of his wife

with all of this

happening

in his children.

And it gets

to a point

where she

has almost

had enough.

Well,

she has had enough.

She bundles

the kids in the car

and she gets

to a diner

and she sits

there.

And she's

served by

a man

who is

God.

If you look

very closely,

it's almighty

on his badge.

And he gives

her these words

of wisdom.

Huh?

Excuse me,

can I get a

refill, please?

Come right up.

Thank you.

Excuse me.

Are you alright?

Yeah.

No.

This is a long story.

Well, I like stories.

I'm considered a bit

of a storyteller myself.

Huh?

My husband? You heard of New York's Noah?

The guy who's building the ark.

That's him.

I love that story. Noah and the ark.

You know, a lot of people miss the point of that story.

They think it's about God's wrath and anger.

They love it when God gets angry.

What is the story about, then, the ark?

Well, I think it's a love story.

About believing in each other.

You know, the hellos showed up in Paris.

They stood by each other, side by side.

Just like Noah and his family.

Everybody entered the ark side by side.

But my husband says God told him to do it.

What do you do with that?

Sounds like an opportunity.

Let me ask you something.

If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience?

Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?

If he prayed for courage, does God give them courage?

Or does he give them opportunities to be courageous?

If someone prayed for the family to be closer,

do you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings?

Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

Well, I got to run.

A lot of people to serve.

Enjoy.

What's the story about?

It's believing in one another.

It sounds like an opportunity.

If someone gives you patience, does he give them patience?

Or does he give them opportunities to be patient?

Does he give them opportunities?

If someone gives you patience, does he give them patience?

Or opportunities to be patient?

Does he give them opportunities?

Does he give them opportunities?

Does he give them opportunities?

If we don't respond in his gifting in power, how will we know?

If we're not grafted into the vine?

I'm not going to stand here because, and I can't preach because I know that many of you have

born with things for a very long time.

Maybe that's an illness.

Maybe that's with a situation.

Maybe a family situation.

That might be something in your own relationship.

It might be something that you have asked for patience and abundance and you are there at

that moment in time.

All I'm going to say this morning is, into that space, we ask the Holy Spirit to come.

And that's what we're going to do today.

In our patience and in this week, we're going to ask the Holy Spirit to come into that place to speak to us, to be with us, and to abide with us, and us with God.

I think that's what we're going to say.

I think that's what we're going to say.

I think that is so important.

And the psalmist in Psalm 40 said, I waited patiently for the Lord.

He turned to me and he heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit.

He lifted me out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on a rock, on a firm place.

And he gave me a firm place to stand.

It didn't say he took away the situation.

It just said he gave us a firm place in which to stand and wait.

He played a go to the perspend, where he condensed the iceulator and put his hand on his Saf线.

He protested me back in Australia with a strong Beautiful Ruthie.

Happy New 30's!