Love is Patient

October 30, 2022

Preacher: Andrew Love

Series: 1 Corinthians

Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4

Service Type: Sunday Evening

Introduction

Looking at v4
Looking at love in practical terms: it suffers long
Would you say that patience is in short supply in Great Britain today?
- There is little room for failure in today’s society
- So often there is little concern for the individual
- The qualities of patience and kindness are so often missing
- We live in a ruthless world – less tolerant, more unforgiving, more judgmental, more vitriolic
This is an opportunity for the Church:
- To shine
- To be longsuffering in trials
- To be patient and kind to others
This is the first word he speaks on love - patience
- Not giving, not protecting – it suffers long
  - There are other definitions of love in Scripture (e.g. it is self-sacrificial)
- First of all - is patient
Overview:
- God’s Patience
- The Apostle’s Patience
- Our Patience

v1-3 Paul was speaking on a horizontal level
- In all this – if we do not have love, it is not profitable to us
Is it just horizontal?
- The love Paul is speaking about – must flow from God
- It is not just a human quality of love
- Love comes from God – though we must exercise its qualities
God’s patience
- Consider Noah
  - God must punish sin and wickedness
  - Noah was a preacher of righteousness
  - God gave the world time to repent (1 Peter 3:20)
  - His patience is a display of His mercy
- Consider Moses
  - He does not execute justice immediately
  - Numbers 14:17-19a
- Consider ourselves
  - How he bore with us before we were saved
  - How he has borne with us in all our failure since salvation
- Patience – an attribute and a title of God (Rom 15:5)
  - God does not have a short fuse or become impatient (unlike us)
- We are to be imitators of God
  - We are to imitate God’s patience
  - We are called to bear with one another in love
    - Examples
  - We are called to be like Jesus
    - Example of Jesus Christ
      - Mark 1:33
      - With His own disciples
      - Feeding the 5’000
      - The disciples not understanding
      - The general unbelief of the people
      - The Garden of Gethsemane
      - The false court of the Sanhedrin
      - Upon the cross
    - We must ask God to enable us
    - We must ask God for help to imitate Christ and Him

The Corinthians were called to imitate Paul
Was he patient with the Corinthians?
- He does not name and shame people - 1 Cor 9:1
- He was to bear with them many years and write a second letter – 2 Cor 6:11-13, 7:2
- He would continue to love them, even though their love for him decreased - 2 Cor 12:15
- He never gave up on the church but loved the people
Paul was not perfect
- There is an incident with the high priest – for which he apologised
- He was not a sinless saint
- He was an example - 1 Thess 5:14
- Do no render evil for evil, but pray without ceasing – 1 Thess 5:15-17
When our patience is often tested – God can give us great grace

What about ourselves?
- Do we say we do not have patience, we have a short fuse or that person gets under my skin?
- We have the Holy Spirit living within us
- We must pray for the fruit of the Holy Spirit
The patience of God
- One explanation: the power that God has to show self-restraint, not to judge men but to give them time
- There is an element of control in God
Are you patient in some situations but not others?
- Example of driving
- Maybe because others do not see – God sees
We want to exercise patience
- To love God
- To love others
- God will produce character in trials through patience – James 1:2-4
- To receive a crown of life - James 1:12