Old Llantrisant Hill
Introduction
- Starting with 1 Cor 13
- A passage about love
- The world 'loves' love
- Paul speaking as an inspired poet - a love poem
- Context: Paul is writing to Christians who are failing to love each other in Church
- It is a practical passage
- Immensely challenging
- It is good to slow down and study this in details
- This morning: v4 - love is long suffering / patient - explanation
- Showing patience is a strength - example
- Patience is incredibly difficult to put into practice
- Looking at 4 truths
God is Patient
- This is where we start - patience is a Divine quality (Ex 34:6)
- However we see the people of Israel sin against Him
- Think about your conversion and how you lived before you came to know Christ
- Yet God responded in patience
- Example
- How many years did it take us to believe?
- If it were not for the patience of God you would not have come to believe
- Think about God's patience towards us since we were saved?
- Example
- We must continually seek forgiveness from God
- God has been patient with us
- However, there is a day when God's patience will stop
- This is why we need to come to Jesus today
We fail to be Patient
- We do not need to be persuaded of this
- We know our own impatience - examples
- Being patient means not reaching, lashing out or writing people off
- Situations can make us impatient
- We need to wait - examples
- How quickly and regularly do we fail - examples
Jesus is Patient
- 1 Cor 13 describes God but it also describes Jesus
- Jesus has perfect patience
- 1 Tim 1:16
- Yet Paul hated Christians and hated Jesus Christ
- His patience is seen throughout His life
- Coming as a baby
- Being completely reliant on others
- The growing years
- With His disciples
- They were very slow to understand
- At the cross
- 1 Pet 2:23 - He could have summoned the angels or taken all sorts of actions
Jesus teaches us to be Patient
- We are given the Holy Spirit when we believe
- The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love and patience / long suffering
- God promises that He will produce this in our life
- Some fruits only grow in certain locations
- Patience is a fruit that is grown in pressured situation
- God puts us in situations where patience can grow - John 11
- John 11 - the Example of Lazarus
- Jesus is teaching Mary and Martha
- There is great temptation to be impatient
- v21-22
- Martha puts great trust in Jesus
- Why does Jesus put us in these situations - He is teaching us patience
- He is making us more like Himself
Closing Remarks
- Ps 30:5 - There will come an end to these things
- There will be an end in heaven