My
scripture today is found in Galatians 5:22-23
For the next two more weeks I am going to be focusing on the
Fruits of the Spirit.
Our Vacation Bible School this week has focused on the
Fruits of the Spirit and so I thought I would continue with the lesson a bit
and discuss a few of the fruits of the Spirit that I need a refresher course on.
In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul lists nine fruits of the spirit
that are a result of allowing ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The
first three fruits of the spirit are: love,
joy and peace and I am pretty sure we all know what they mean….nope…. Today I
want to talk about patience, kindness and goodness. These fruits have to do
with our relationships with other people and three that we need some work
on….especially if we find ourselves being short-tempered, unkind or rude.
The first fruit Paul lists in this second cluster of fruit
is patience. We sometimes seem to gloat in our own impatience. Have you ever
prayed for patience….this way? – Lord Give Me Patience – Now! I know I have. Patience is not one of my strongest virtues.
Phillips Brooks was an outstanding preacher of the late 19th
century. Even though he was a great orator, he was well known for his moments
of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like
a caged lion. “What’s the trouble, Dr. Brooks?” asked the friend. “The trouble
is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!” Most of us can empathize with this
thought.
We have come to think of patience as the ability to wait for
some event or object to come our way in the future. Indeed this is an aspect of
patience, but this is not what Paul had in mind here. Paul had in mind being
patient with people, not so much as being patient with things. In this text
patience refers to tolerance. Here, patience is a gentle tolerance of others,
no matter how they may treat us.
Instead of the word patience the old King James Version uses
the word LONGSUFFERING. In many ways this word may be more appropriate for what
Paul is expressing. In other words, the Spirit enables a Christian to suffer
long. As Christians, we realize that God has been patient with us in our
shortcomings; therefore as a believer, we are to be patient with others. One
who is long-suffering, has his temper under control. Instead of losing our
temper when we are wronged, we are patient and full of endurance. In other
words, we are slow to take offense and we leave vengeance to God. Do you recall
the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus said:
You have heard that is was said, “Eye
for eye, tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If
someone strikes you in the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if
someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one
who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
I believe Jesus meant for us to take these words literally,
not figuratively. This is patience – having a tolerance for others, no matter
how they treat us.
Some years ago, in a manufacturing village in England, a
young lady spoke to the Sunday School superintendent about teaching a class. He
told her he had no vacant classes, but if she would like to go out into the
community and hunt up a class of boys for herself, he would be glad to have her
help. She did and gathered a class of poor ragged boys. Among these, the worst
and most unpromising boy was named Bob. The superintendent told these boys to
come to his house during the week, and he would get them each a new suit of
clothes. They came and got their clothes. After two or three Sundays, Bob was missing.
The teacher went after him. She found that his new clothes were torn and dirty.
She invited him back to school. He came and the superintendent gave him a
second suit. After attending once or twice Bob’s place was empty again. Once
more the teacher sought him out. She found that the second suit of clothes had
gone the same way as the first. She reported the case to the superintendent,
saying she was utterly discouraged about Bob, and must give him up. “Please
don’t do that,” said the superintendent, “I can’t help but hope that there is
something good in Bob. Try him once more. I’ll give him a third suit of
clothing if he’ll promise to attend regularly.” Bob did promise. He received
his third suit of clothes. He did attend regularly after that. He got
interested in the school. He became an earnest and persevering seeker after
Jesus and eventually found him. He joined the church and eventually became a
teacher. He began to study for the ministry, and the end of the story is that
that discouraging boy – that ragged, runaway Bob – became Rev. Robert Morrison,
a great missionary to China.
The same Dr. Morrison who translated the Bible into the
Chinese language. How did all this come about? Because a couple of Christians
were patient. They endured the frustration and let God’s spirit work through
them. The fruit of the Spirit is patience.
The second fruit Paul presents in this second cluster is KINDNESS. It has been said that
kindness is grace in action. Charles Hembree in this book, FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT
perhaps has caught the grim reality of our society. He writes:
“In our age of guided missiles and misguided men there is a
desperate need for us to learn how to share gentleness. It seems strange that
in an age when we can reach the moon, bounce signals off far planets, and
receive pictures from whirling satellites we have great difficulty
communicating tenderness to those about us.”
Every direction we turn we are constantly being bombarded
with unkindness. Seldom do we hear a kind word, a word of encouragement. The
words we often hear are cutting, backstabbing, ugly words. Sadly, this is true
in the home. Why do children often say ugly, disrespectful words to parents?
Most often it is because of the way parents speak to each other and to the
children themselves. And at work ….. it’s even worse. Instead of living by
Christ’s words, “Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you”; we live by the rule, “Do unto others before they do it to you!!!”
Paul says that a fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Does this
mean you are kind to those who are kind to you and unkind to those who are
unkind to you? No!!! In fact the opposite is the greatest truth. As Christians
we are to be kind to those who are the meanest of all. I can hear you now …
“Preacher, you just don’t know how it is out there. It’s a dog eat dog world
and if you are going to get ahead you got to walk on people. There is no room
for kindness.” First, let me say I have never figured out why so many people think
if you work in the Church life is different. Granted it should be. Yet some of
the meanest spirited people I know are in the church. So often a pastor’s time
is spent ministering to the causalities of a Christian who comes through
whirling a barrage of hurtful words. Friends, if we allow the Spirit to control
us, we will respect others, we will seek to be kind to others, if for no other
reason than because they are a creation of the most high God.
A story is told of a child who found a turtle and started to
examine it, but the turtle closed his shell like a vase. The little boy then
tried to pry open the turtle with a stick. Hid uncle nearby said, “No, no,
that’s not the way.” He took the creature inside and set him on the hearth. In
a few minutes he began to get warm, stick out his head and feet, and calmly
crawled toward the boy. “People are sort of like turtles,” his uncle said.
“Never try to force a fella into anything. Just warm him with human kindness
and more likely he will open up.” The fruit of the Spirit is Kindness.
The third fruit in this cluster is GOODNESS. Simply put, the Spirit controlled person will be a good
person. I pray this can be said of every Christian in this Church. That we have
the reputation of being a good person. What Paul is speaking of, is moral and
spiritual excellence. The idea expressed here is more than just “doing good”.
Goodness goes far deeper. Goodness is love in action. It carried with it not
only the idea of righteousness, righteousness demonstrated in everyday living.
In fact it goes beyond being righteous for righteousness sake.
One author has said: A
righteous person could evict a widow for not paying her rent. Righteousness is
following the standard. Goodness would pay the bill for her.
In whatever work we do or whatever schedule we keep if we
will allow the spirit to be in control we will find the opportunity to do good.
I want to close with this quote from Will Durant, ““A good
man who is not great is a hundred times more precious than a great man who is
not good.” Amen?
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