Bearing the Fruit of Self-Control

by Paul Tautges

First Corinthians 9:24-27 is a fitting passage to consider when thinking about the fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

The context of these verses is Paul’s teaching about the exercise of Christian liberty. Specifically, he calls us to choose love over liberty, which requires the exercise of self-control. The illustration he chooses comes from the ancient competitions of Paul’s day. In addition to the Olympics and two other major events, the Corinthians would gather in their coliseum to watch what was known as the Isthmian games. They were called this because the location of the games was on the narrow on which the city of Corinth was built. The Isthmian games were

…ancient Greek competitions that formed part of a religious festival for Poseidon, god of the sea….The Isthmian Games were founded in 581 B.C. They were held every other year on the Isthmus of Corinth…the competitions included boat, chariot, and foot races as well as boxing and wrestling…All winners received palm boughs and crowns of celery leaves as prizes.

World Book Encyclopedia

Therefore, these races and the training required to win provided a perfect illustration of the intensity that is required to succeed in the race of the Christian life. That is the setting for Paul’s exhortation to run with self-control, which comes near the end of Paul’s lengthy explanation as to why it is better for a Christian to choose love over liberty, when it comes to areas of difference of conviction.

Incentive to Run with Self-Control

Paul’s commitment to discipleship, and his compulsion to preach the gospel to the lost were incentives that led him to choose love above liberty. He could have been so enamored with his Christian liberties that he chose them over love and, in the end, lost the race of evangelism. Instead he chose the way of self-denial, which he knew would eventually lead to the ultimate victory in the race that he was running for God—doing all things for the sake of the gospel. 

Definition of Self-Control

Self-control is the discipline of mind, heart, and life that grows when we increasingly choose to die to self and live for Christ and others.

Three Admonitions

The development of the passage is as follows: it begins with the exhortation to run with self-control followed by three examples of self-control, and concludes with a warning about the end result of failing to exercise self-control.

1. Listen to the present exhortation to self-control (v. 24).

2. Learn from the past examples of self-control (25-27a)

3. Look to the future examination of self-control (27b)

Success in the Christian life requires intense self-discipline and training. It’s the only way. If we are going to win the Christian race then we must ruthlessly lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us. We must take charge of our bodies and whip them into submission to the mind of Christ. We must, in the power of the Holy Spirit, grow in self-control by being governed by love, which includes habitually denying self, by living for Christ and others.

Watch this sermon.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/06/08/bearing-the-fruit-of-self-control/

Above all These, Put on Love Part 9 (Love is Not Irritable)

Love is Not Irritable

By Wendy Wood

Love is not irritable.  Other translations say, “love is not easily provoked”.  The Greek word is paroxynō which comes from the roots of “to” and “swift”.  This is translated throughout scripture as “arousing anger” and “to exasperate”.  Love is not quick to get angry or quick to show annoyance or impatience.  

Jerry Bridges describes irritability this way.  “While impatience is a strong sense of annoyance or exasperation, irritability, as I define it, describes the frequency of impatience, or the ease with which a person can become impatient over the slightest provocation.  The person who easily and frequently becomes impatient is an irritable person.  Most of us can become impatient at times, but the irritable person is impatient most of the time.  The irritable person is one whom you feel you have to tiptoe or ‘walk on eggshells’ around.”  Do others, maybe especially your immediate family members, feel like they are walking on eggshells around you? 

Proverbs 17:9 says, “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.”  Someone who is quick to anger and is impatient frequently does not cover over an offense.  An irritable person points out other people’s offensive or inconvenient behavior and shows their annoyance.  Genuine, godly love covers an offense by being patient and kind even when hurt by another person.  A person with mature love does not need to make it known that he has been offended or inconvenienced. 

This idea is repeated in 1 Peter 4:8.  “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins”.  When sinned against, a loving person can go on without making a big deal of it.  While it is true that love is willing to point out sin when someone is “caught” in the sin (Galatians 6:1), most of the time an irritable person responds to very small and insignificant sins.  “A multitude of sins” can be covered over.  These are the small ways family and friends sin against each other every single day.  We are sinners.  We sin.  A lot!  Are you typically irritated by those little sins and quick to point them out and be annoyed by them?  Or do you overlook sins and graciously respond with patience and kindness?

All of these facets of love come from the heart.  Out of the heart comes thoughts, words, and actions.  Irritability doesn’t have to be verbal or active to be seen.  Body language and facial expressions often are the first signs of being easily provoked.  Some irritable people will use looks or body language as a warning that they are becoming impatient and provoked as if to warn the offender to stop before explosive anger is displayed.  Because irritability is usually a quieter or smaller form of anger, it is often excused as a temperment rather than sin. But just as Jesus connected lust and adultery as the same heart issue, and anger and murder as the same heart issue, irritability and rage come from the same heart. Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 13:5 make it clear that being irritable is sin.  Love does not act that way and we are commanded to love others.  An irritable person says, “Don’t inconvenience me or sin against me or you will suffer consequences.”  

Proverbs 12:16 says, “The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult”.  A fool makes his annoyances known immediately. An irritable person is quick to get angry and is quick to show it.  This person has a “short fuse” and is easily offended.  An irritable person has strong preferences for how things should be done or the way they should be treated.  Any infringement on their preference is met with an impatient and rude response whether verbally or with body language.  Conversely, a prudent or careful person is able to ignore an insult.  A loving person allows others mistakes and sins with patience.  Proverbs 19:11puts it this way.  “Good sense makes one slow to anger,and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”  It is wise to be slow to anger.  There are times when it is right to be angry.  But it is wise to think carefully first and assess.  It is a good thing, a glory or display of greatness, to overlook an offense. 

Each of these facets of love have similarities, but also differences.  An irritable person is one who demands his own way, even in small things.  The irritable person is so consistently annoyed and displays their unhappiness that it forms a habitual response.  The friends and family of an irritable person suffer from the frequent and quick arousal to anger.

Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit [temper], but a wise man holds it back.”  This is the same fool as 12:16.  A fool voices his displeasure at the smallest provocation.  But, a wise man, or as 19:11 says, good sense, holds back his temper.  An irritable person responds out of emotions. The irritable person is so focused on their own comfort and ease that any person or circumstance that causes a loss of comfort or ease is on the receiving end of harsh, hasty words.  

Wayne Mack has a list of excuses that irritable people often use.  As  you read through this list, evaluate yourself.  Are you one to excuse your lack of love?

1. They justify their irritability by blaming it on their circumstances or on other people.

2. The excuse or minimize their irritability by saying that they get over it quickly.

3. They say “I just can’t help it. It’s just the way I am.”

4. They minimize the seriousness of their irritability by saying “What do you expect? That’s the way my parents were!”  In essence, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  “It was their fault”.

5. They justify their irritability by saying that other people ought to know that they don’t really mean it when they react badly, that they really do respect them and love them in spite of their anger and irritability.  Often I’ve heard, “Other people ought to remember all the good things I do and say and just ignore this aspect of my behavior.  Why do they focus only on the bad stuff?”

6. They excuse it by heaping insults upon themselves. “I’m just weak! I’m no good!  Others may be able to be uncontentious, gentle, considerate, meek and submissive, but I just can’t be those things!”

It is true we can only love this way because of what Christ has already done for us.  When we have His Spirit in us and also put effort forth, we can grow to love with patience and tolerance of others.  In Philippians 2 just after we see Jesus willing becoming a servant even to the point of death, and Jesus is now ascended and seated at the right hand of God and every knee will bow to Him,  we read, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  The word “therefore” refers back to what Christ has already done.  It is because of Him that we can obey.  We must work out our salvation, meaning we must continue to obey God’s command to love and grow in love, as God’s grace continues to work in us through His power. 

Application:

1. What stood out to you about “love is not irritable”?

2. How do you rate yourself on a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being “very irritable”?  Why?

3. How is irritability related to demanding your own way?  How is it different?

4. What scripture stood out to you in this reading?  How could meditating on this verse encourage you as you fight against being irritable?

5. What specific situations easily provoke you to anger?

6. Examine your list from #5.  Are these preferences or sin issues?

7. If preferences, are you willing to prefer the other person over yourself and just overlook it?  If it is a sin issue, is it a big enough issue in that person’s life that it needs to be addressed?  If so, how will you deal with the person regarding this sin so that you honor God with your attitude, words, and actions?

Above All These, Put on Love Part 2 (Love is Patient)

By Wendy Wood

Love is patient. Patient in the Greek is makrothyme . This is a verb meaning to suffer long and to bravely endure misfortunes and trouble. It also means slow to anger and slow to punish. Jonathan Edwards, a North American preacher in the 1700s, explains that having a love that is long-suffering means that a person will receive injuries with a soul filled with meekness, quietness, and goodness.

We tend to think of patience as having to wait in line at Costco for 5 minutes. We congratulate ourselves when we don’t use a sharp tone when one of our kids has to be asked twice to pick up their room. In other words, we have reduced this beautiful facet of love down to not exploding when something doesn’t go our way immediately. But God says that we should endure harsh, bitter words from others with quietness and meekness in our hearts. We should demonstrate gentleness and kindness when others sin against us and repeatedly hurt us. Long-suffering means that we should suffer for a long time while displaying the attitude, words, and actions of Christ.

Wayne Mack says “This word means we will bear not only a small injury, but also a great deal of injurious treatment from others without retaliation. We are to meekly bear these injuries without retaliation though they go on for a long time. We should be willing to suffer a great while in reference to our own interests before we defend ourselves... Even then we do it in such a way that we do not do unnecessary injury to the person who injured us.”

Consider how you typically respond in these situations:5

1. When others are unfair or dishonest in how they treat you.

2. When others make promises and then don’t keep them.

3. When others exaggerate or misrepresent your faults.

4. When you are treated without respect and honor and cooperation from people in

   authority over you.

5. When people over whom you have authority do not show respect, ,honor and

   cooperation to you.

6. When others will not admit they have wronged you.

7. When others blame you for something you didn’t do.

8. When others take longer to do something that shouldn’t take that long.

9. When others don’t listen and you have to repeat yourself.

5 Maximum Impact by Wayne Mack (I have taken the liberty to paraphrase his long list.)

10. When others are late for appointments with you.
11. When others use belittling or unkind words towards you.
12. When others spread unkind things about you and gossip about you.
13. When others borrow things and don’t return them, or don’t use the toothpaste

tube the way you do, or don’t turn off lights, or leave cupboards doors open.

Here are just thirteen examples of times when most of us are not long-suffering. These are times when we display whether or not we are truly patient in the way we love our fellow believers, neighbors, family, enemies, and everyone else or if we prefer ourselves and our own convenience and comfort. Scripture shows us some examples of living this out in a way that honors God.

Paul shows us in 1 Corinthians 4 how he and Apollos were long-suffering. “To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure, when slandered, we entreat” (verses 11-12). Rather than returning harsh words for harsh words or retaliating when they were mistreated, Paul and Apollos chose to endure patiently and display the love of Christ to those who were reviling and slandering them. Their ministry was marked by love (long suffering patience) and they saw people turn to Christ as they loved others well.

Again, in 2 Corinthians 6 Paul says they showed great endurance in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, and imprisonments, just to name a few. And they did this with purity, knowledge, patience, kindness and the weapons of righteousness so as to give no offense to anyone. Paul was so set on honoring Christ that he was compelled to love others no matter what they did to him. Long-suffering is displayed when you are able to be kind in the face of mistreatment and trials, even when they go on for years and years. Paul’s entire ministry was one of persecution, imprisonment, and suffering, yet he longed to love others with the love he had received from Christ.

Of course, Paul was only imitating the greatest example of love. God displays His patience with His people throughout the entire bible. In Exodus as God was responding to Moses in the midst of “stiff-necked” people He says of Himself, I am "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). “Slow to anger” is another way of saying long-suffering. When we don’t get what we want, we tend to be quick to anger and display a lack of patience with any inconvenience. This is not like God who patiently endures us sinning against Him many times every single day.. Again, Psalm 86:15 says, “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.”

Looking back at the thirteen examples given of times when we fail to show patience or long-suffering love, it is because we are quick to anger and frustration. God, on the other hand, is slow to anger, and endures the many, many ways He is wronged and sinned against by men. When we ignore God, deny His existence, act as though He were unfair or unkind to us, God does not destroy us as He rightfully could. He bears with us. Consider how God has been patient with you over the course of your life. Really, stop. Take some time to think about how often you sin against God. About how often you repent and ask for forgiveness only to do the same sin again. God is patient! When we are upset about repeating ourselves for the third time or frustrated that our spouse is doing that annoying thing again, think about how God has patiently endured your besetting sins and continues to forgive you.

Christ’s life is an example of glorious patience and long-suffering. Consider how Jesus was mistreated by his friends, family, enemies, and crowds. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return, when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:22-24). Jesus endured the worst possible case of injustice. He was perfectly sinless and holy. He endured all temptation without sin. Yet He was the one who suffered and bore our sins while being forsaken by God so that we, His enemies, would have life and righteousness. Jesus is the ultimate example of patience.

Consider when Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22). Jesus had forewarned Peter that he would deny Jesus three times and Peter assured Jesus that he would never abandon Him. Jesus, of course, was right and Peter pretended not to know Jesus. Jesus’ “turns and looks at Peter” when the rooster crows. Then, after Jesus’ resurrection, he demonstrates that patience with restoring Peter by asking him three times, “Peter do you love me?” What a beautiful picture of Jesus patiently showing Peter that he was forgiven and still counted among Jesus’ friends. Peter possibly remembers this when her writes ““The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. . . . Count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him. (2 Peter 3:9, 15)

Jesus again showed tremendous patience with Saul who was persecuting believers. On the road to Damascus, as Saul was heading to the city to get permission to arrest and jail more Christians, Jesus appears as a bright light and says, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 7) If there was ever a person who deserved a quick, angry response, it was Saul. Instead, Jesus waited and then showed tremendous mercy and compassion by transforming Saul into Paul, a deeply devoted servant of Christ. How would you or I have responded to someone who was stoning, beating, and arresting our friends?

We are called to Christlikeness. God’s desire for us is our sanctification
(1 Thessalonians 4:3). So putting long-suffering in practice means that we will endure with kindness the injuries inflicted by others whether the mistreatments are intentional or mistakes. It means that we will respond with kindness and not harbor unforgiveness or bitterness. It means that we will gladly bear with the weaknesses and sins of others without expressing sinful attitudes or actions in return.

We cannot love like this on our own. It is only through the power of Christ’s Spirit in us that we can love this way. In Christ, united to him by grace through faith, you can grow to love this way. It will require prayer and dependence on God. It will require trust that God’s promises and design for how to live are best and rewarding. It will require pursuit, the intentional effort of choosing to love in the face of mistreatment. We can only love because God loved us first (1 John 4:19). We must spend time reflecting on God’s patience and long-suffering and through his power seek to love others this way.

5 Maximum Impact by Wayne Mack (I have taken the liberty to paraphrase his long list.)

Three Ways to Grow While You Wait

Colin Smith

Waiting is not wasted time.

Often, though, it seems to be! I am waiting for the train. I am waiting for my appointment. I am waiting in a long queue. Sound familiar? Waiting can seem futile, so we look for something to do while we are waiting. This is why there are magazines in the doctor’s waiting room. We try to fill up the time with something useful while we are waiting.

Some of you are searching for a job, but what you are looking for has not opened up; you are waiting. Some of you are looking for that special person to be your life partner, but you haven’t found them; you are waiting. Couples long for a child, but nothing has happened; you are waiting. Others are longing to see a deep change in a person you love. You have prayed for it. But you are still waiting.

All of these instances can make waiting seem futile at best and frustratingly difficult at worst. But what if we were thinking about waiting in all the wrong ways? What if waiting was not wasted time, but valuable time in the life of the Christian?

We think of waiting as something we endure in order to get what we want. But God speaks about waiting as the way that we grow when we don’t have what we want. So waiting is not wasted time. In fact, waiting can be the greatest growth opportunity of your life.

I want to suggest three ways in which you can grow while you wait.

Grow in Patience

Patience is what you need when things have not worked out as you hoped.

Somewhere deep within every heart there is a dream of life as we would want it to be. Our culture is sold out in the pursuit of paradise now. I’ve been thinking about designing a sign that could be very useful for some of us. It would have just four words on it: “This is not paradise.”

There are a lot of places where you could put that sign. You might want to hang it over your front door at home.  It would help because some of us are so intent on a perfect family life that we are reaching for what cannot be attained in this world, and it becomes crushing for everybody.

Some couples ought to put that sign on the door to your bedroom. It would take a great deal of pressure off you. Perhaps you need to put that over your desk at work. Or what about in your car? It will help you when you are in a traffic jam.

I’d be very happy to have the sign over the entrance to the church. This is not paradise. If you came here looking for a perfect Christian community, you won’t find it.

Friends, if you give yourself to the pursuit of paradise now, you will be disappointed. When that happens you will be angry with God because he has seemingly let you down. But this life is not paradise. And the sooner you discover that, the sooner you will be able to break free from the pursuit of an advertiser’s dream that will always elude you.

When God does not give what you eagerly desire, a door opens for spiritual growth. Embrace the pain. Love God in the disappointment. Detach yourself from the pursuit of paradise in this world, and set yourself apart for the Lord. Paul says, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” (Rom 8:24).

Embrace the disappointments of life as opportunities for spiritual growth.

Grow in Hope

As you embrace disappointment, ask yourself this: Do you honestly anticipate heaven? All that you can experience in the Christian life is only a taste of what Christ has in store for you. There is much, much more to come! This is why we are to grow in hope while we wait.

The Bible speaks about the Holy Spirit being like a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Think about when you bought your first house. How much was the deposit? How much was the mortgage? Though it may have seemed large at the time, the deposit was only a tiny fraction of what you had to pay. Similarly, all that you experience of God in this life – every good gift, every blessing, every pleasure – is only a tiny advance on what God has in store for you in heaven.

As you wait for eternity with God, use both the disappointments and the joys of your life to cultivate a healthy anticipation of what God has promised. Are you in pain or alone? Have you shed tears? Does this life seem empty to you? Wait upon the Lord: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4).

Grow in Worship

Waiting on God is equally a wonderful expression of worship.

My calling is to wait on God. Your calling is to wait on God. The purpose of our lives is to make ourselves wholly available to Jesus Christ, who has come into this world to die for our sins. But often, we forget this wonderful truth and make ourselves the center of attention. We want God to wait on us!

Jesus gives us the perfect model of what waiting on God looks like. He delights in the will of the Father, and He is ready to do it even when it involves a cross. He tells us plainly that if we follow Him, we should not expect a trouble-free life. Jesus is not offering us paradise now.

Saying ‘yes’ to Jesus in the disappointments of life will be the highest worship you can offer. We learn this from the story of Job who lost everything, and in the middle of his pain he worshipped. We learn it from Jesus who, in the agony of the cross and with His “why” unanswered, committed Himself into the hands of His Father.

Worshipping God through disappointment will be the greatest evidence that you love God for Himself and not just for His gifts. If all your dreams were fulfilled, and if all your prayers were answered, there would be no way of knowing if you loved God for Himself.

So I want you to think of the great disappointments and the great joys of your life. I want you to think about all the waiting you are doing right now, and how you are perceiving that waiting. I want you to hear God saying to you, “I want to make this waiting useful. I want to use it to grow you in my likeness – in patience, hope, and worship.”

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2020/01/three-ways-to-grow-while-you-wait/

When Life is Hard.

Shepherd’s Press

Life is hard. Life brings pain. Moments of happiness and joy fade quickly when darkness comes. When life is hard God calls out to his people, his voice remains strong and sure.

It is in this setting that David writes Psalm 27. David has known joy and victory. But he has also known the despair of failure and agony. Some of this has come from the betrayal and manipulation of those closest to him. Some have been self-inflicted.

David hears the call to doubt God. He hears the taunts of his oppressors. He hears that he is mocked and his God is mocked. He is tempted to believe that God is unfair. There is a taunt — “God, are you for real?” This is the world of Psalm 27. It is David’s world. But even against this painful tapestry the voice of the Spirit remains.

David chooses to respond with courage, with bravery. Even as people have failed him, as he has failed himself and God, he hangs on to the clarion call of truth.

Read David’s words against this setting. He is not writing in an idyllic pasture on a perfect fall morning. He writes in the storms of life and he cries out for mercy and courage to believe it is a good thing to wait in patience.

Where is God when life is hard? He is there calling you to patience and courage.:

Hear me as I pray, O Lord.
Be merciful and answer me!

My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”

Do not turn your back on me.
Do not reject your servant in anger.

You have always been my helper.
Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me,
O God of my salvation!

Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close.

Teach me how to live, O Lord.
Lead me along the right path,
for my enemies are waiting for me.

Do not let me fall into their hands.
For they accuse me of things I’ve never done;
with every breath they threaten me with violence.

Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.

Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Posted at: https://www.shepherdpress.com/when-life-is-hard/?fbclid=IwAR2JiF_uUldovB2Mjoue7UCyHGg-n4K1vnu1f983Yls9HLW2dRSdgf3VZuk

Waiting Well in a World of Right Now

Matt Chandler

It seems that all the creativity of man and all the energy we possess is focused on one thing in our day and age: to eradicate from the face of the earth any need to be patient. We are bent on making sure we don’t have to wait for anything… ever. 

And yet the faster things get, the more perpetually impatient we actually are—precisely because we have lost the ability to wait well. I bet that in the last month there has been at least one moment when you were downloading a document, a picture, or something else, and then gave up or grew annoyed because it wasn’t moving fast enough: “This isn’t fast enough. This isn’t happening quickly enough. This is frustrating me.” We’re perpetually impatient these days.

Everything is built for speed, as our technological brilliance focuses in so many ways on us not having to wait. And that hasn’t been good for our souls—because the Christian life calls for patience. Not just the kind of patience that means that we don’t yell at our screen or scream at our spouse or snap at our children. God cares about those things, and he speaks into those things, but God is serious about patience because persevering faith and gladness in God requires it. We Christians are by definition a waiting people, and that requires patience—especially when life brings trials, hardships, or pain.

You Can Wait: Your Father is Coming 

Jesus’ brother James wrote to suffering Christians in the first century, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7). For two millennia, the church has been waiting for Christ to return and make all things new. For the Christian, history is linear. We are moving toward something—to the day Christ returns and consummates all he accomplished in his cross and his resurrection. Our Father is coming to get us.

I remember playing in the backyard with my youngest two, Reid and Norah, several years ago and throwing the football with Reid. Honestly, I was throwing it at him. It just bounced off. He couldn’t catch well quite yet. We’re tossing the ball in the back, and Norah had snuck off. I lost sight of her. Judge me if you want. It happens. She’s alive. 

So I heard this whimper and a cry of “Daaaaad…” I came around the side of the house, and she had climbed up our fence. After she got up there she had apparently enjoyed it for five or six minutes, and then thought, “I don’t know how to get down.”

Stuck on the fence, she began to cry out for me, and she was there until I got to grab her, kiss her, and put her down on the ground. She’d had to wait, but she’d known I would come. This is the Christian hope: “My Dad is coming. My Dad is coming, and I’m getting closer to him getting here.” 

You are closer to seeing Jesus than you were when you started reading this blog. This is a reality, not a vague hope. And that helps you wait patiently, as well as eagerly (Romans 8:23,25). That helps you wait with hope, even when life doesn’t go the route you’d planned or expected.

So be patient. Hold tight. The plan is not off-track. God didn’t take his eye off the ball. Just because he’s not here yet doesn’t mean he’s not coming. Every bit of difficulty, suffering, crawling, weariness, depression, anxiety, sin will be over one day, on that day. God will lift us off the fence. Hang in there. The Lord is coming. But you are going to need to wait.

Every bit of difficulty, suffering, crawling, weariness, depression, anxiety, sin will be over one day, on that day

You Can Wait: Your Father is Working

Not only that, be patient in suffering because God is accomplishing something in you. If you are a child of God, he is at work to make you like the Son of God. He is now sanctifying us, making us more and more like Jesus. And God uses both joys and sorrows to do that. 

If you’re a Christian, difficulty is not punitive. You’re not being punished for not having a long enough quiet time or for messing up again. That’s not how this works. If you trust Christ, you are a fully loved, fully accepted son or daughter of God. 

But that doesn’t mean the Lord doesn’t have work to do in you. He’s our Father.

I love my son. He’s a 13-year-old boy. There’s nothing he could do to make me not love him, but we have some work to do. Part of that work is rewarding what is good and right, and part of that is disciplining what is wrong. And that’s how God treats us: “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives … God is treating you as sons” (Hebrews 12:6-7). Our difficulties as we walk home to see Jesus is not God punishing his children, but God shaping and molding his children. 

God is producing in you “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (v 11). Be patient; the Lord is at work in your struggle. He is at work in your joy. He is at work in your losses. He is at work in your fight. He is at work as he tears some things in you down in order to build you back up. Don’t lose hope. Be patient. God is accomplishing things. 

Waiting in Your Struggles

You may be in a season of struggle right now. If you’re not, then you can know that, at some point between now and the day you see Jesus, you will be. And our world is telling you that when that suffering comes, you need to get it fixed right now. You should demand a solution—from God if you can’t find it in yourself—right now. But God doesn’t work like that. God’s got a longer gameplan than that. The Bible’s full of people who learned that God’s road is longer, and it has bumps in it, but it’s always better. Joseph, Ruth, David, Job, and supremely Jesus… all of them had struggles, and waited patiently through them, knowing that their Father was coming and their Father was working. 

So we need to learn to be patient. We need to learn to do the one thing our world won’t do: to wait. That’s how we can suffer well, with hope, with joy, with faith. Be patient; the Lord is at work in your struggles. Be patient; the Lord is coming and he will put an end to your struggles. Be patient; his return is closer now than it was when you got up this morning. 

Joy in the Sorrow is the moving story of Matt Chandler’s battle with a potentially fatal brain tumor. But it's also the stories of members of The Village Church, whose lives were marked by suffering of various kinds. How they taught Matt, and continue to teach him, how to walk with joy in sorrow.

Posted at: https://www.thegoodbook.com/blog/interestingthoughts/2019/10/04/waiting-well-in-a-world-of-right-now/

Battle the Unbelief of Impatience

Article by John Piper

Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of his guidance. It springs up in our hearts when the road to success gets muddy, or strewn with boulders, or blocked by some fallen tree. The battle with impatience can be a little skirmish over a long wait in a checkout lane. Or, it can be a major combat over a handicap, or disease, or circumstance that knocks out half your dreams.

The opposite of impatience is not a glib, superficial denial of frustration. The opposite of impatience is a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness either to wait for God where you are in the place of obedience, or to persevere at the pace he allows on the road of obedience — to wait in his place, or to go at his pace.

The Battle Against Unbelief

When the way you planned to run your day, or the way you planned to live your life is cut off or slowed down, the unbelief of impatience tempts you in two directions, depending partly on your personality, partly on circumstances:

1. On the one side, it tempts you to give up, bail out. If there’s going to be frustration, and opposition, and difficulty, then I’ll just forget it. I won’t keep this job, or take this challenge, rear this child, or stay in this marriage, or live this life. That’s one way the unbelief of impatience tempts you. Give up.

2. On the other side, impatience tempts you to make rash counter moves against the obstacles in your way. It tempts you to be impetuous, or hasty, or impulsive, or reckless. If you don’t turn your car around and go home, you rush into some ill-advised detour to try to beat the system.

Whichever way you have to battle impatience, the main point today is that it’s a battle against unbelief, and therefore it’s not merely a personality issue. It’s the issue of whether you live by faith and whether you inherit the promises of eternal life. Listen to these verses to sense how vital this battle is:

• Luke 21:19 — “By your endurance [patience] you will gain your lives.”

• Romans 2:7 — “To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, God will give eternal life.”

• Hebrews 6:12 — “Do not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Patience in doing the will of God is not an optional virtue in the Christian life. And the reason it’s not is because faith is not an optional virtue. Patience in well-doing is the fruit of faith. And impatience is the fruit of unbelief. And so, the battle against impatience is a battle against unbelief. And so, the chief weapon is the word of God, especially his promises.

How the Psalmist Battled Against Impatience

Before we look at Isaiah 30, I want you to see this relationship between the promises of God and the patience of the believer in Psalm 130:5. How does the psalmist battle against impatience in his heart?

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
   And in his word I hope.

“Waiting for the Lord” is an Old Testament way of describing the opposite of impatience. Waiting for the Lord is the opposite of running ahead of the Lord and it’s the opposite of bailing out on the Lord. It’s staying at your appointed place, while he says Stay, or it’s going at his appointed pace, while he says Go. It’s not impetuous, and it’s not despairing.

Now, how does the psalmist sustain his patience as he waits for the Lord to show him the next move? Verse 5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” The strength that sustains you in patience is hope, and the source of hope is the word of God. “In his word I hope.” And hope is just faith in the future tense. Hebrews says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”

So what we have in Psalm 130:5 is a clear illustration that the way to battle impatience is to buttress your hope (or faith) in God, and the way to buttress your hope in God is to listen to his word, especially his promises.

If you are tempted not to wait peacefully for God, to let him give you your next move — if you are tempted to give up on him or go ahead without him — please realize that this is a moment for great spiritual warfare. Take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God (Ephesians 6:17), and wield some wonderful promise against the enemy of impatience.

The Impetuous Side of Impatience

Now let’s look at an illustration of Israel when she did not do this.

During Isaiah’s day, Israel was threatened by enemies like Assyria. During those times, God sent the prophet with his word to tell Israel how he wanted them to respond to the threat. But one time, Israel became impatient with God’s timing. The danger was too close. The odds for success were too small. Isaiah 30:1–2 describes what Israel did in her impatience.

Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who carry out a plan, but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my counsel, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

This is the opposite of waiting on the Lord. Israel became impatient. God had not delivered them from their enemy in the time, or in the way that they had hoped, and patience ran out. They sent to Egypt for help. They made a plan and treaty, but they weren’t God’s. The key words are in verse 2: “They set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my counsel.”

This is a perfect illustration of the impetuous side of impatience. This is where many of us sin almost daily: charging ahead in our own plans without stopping to consult the Lord.

The Warning of the Lord

So the Lord gives a warning in verse 3: “Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh [the king of Egypt] turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.” In other words, your impatience is going to backfire on you. Egypt will not deliver you; it will be your shame. Your impatience will turn out to be your humiliation.

This is meant as a warning for all of us. When our way is blocked, and the Lord says wait, we better trust him and wait, because if we run ahead without consulting him, our plans will probably not be his plans and they will bring shame on us, rather than glory. (See Isaiah 50:10–11 and the case of Abraham and Hagar for the same point.)

What Should Be Done Instead?

What should Israel have done? What should we do when we feel boxed in by obstacles and frustrations? The answer is given in verse 15 and verse 18.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore, he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

“If you trust in God, he will give you all you need to be patient.”

Here are two great promises this morning that should give you strong incentive to overcome the unbelief of impatience.

Verse 15: “In quietness and trust shall be your strength.” In other words, if you rest in God, if you look to him instead of dashing down to Egypt, if you trust him, then he will give you all the strength you need to be patient, and to handle the stresses where you are.

Then verse 18: “Blessed are all those who wait for him.” God promises that if you wait patiently for his guidance and help, instead of plunging ahead “without asking for his counsel,” he will give you a great blessing.

Preach to Your Own Soul

This is the way you battle the unbelief of impatience. You preach to your soul with warnings and promises. You say, look what happened to Israel when they acted impatiently and went to Egypt for help instead of waiting for God. They were shamed and humiliated. And then you say to your soul: but look what God promises to us if we will rest in him and be quiet and trusting. He will make us strong and save us. He says he will bless us if we wait patiently for him.

Then you might use the promise in Isaiah 49:23: “Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” And then Isaiah 64:4: “No eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him. And finally, Isaiah 40:31:”Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

So, you battle the unbelief of impatience by using the promises of God to persuade your heart that God’s timing, and God’s guidance, and God’s sovereignty are going to take this frustrated, boxed-in, unproductive situation and make something eternally valuable out of it. There will come a blessing, a strength, a vindication, a mounting up with wings like eagles.

Charles Simeon’s Patient Endurance

Let me close with an illustration of a man who lived and died in successful warfare against the unbelief of impatience. His name was Charles Simeon. He was a pastor in the Church of England from 1782 to 1836 at Trinity Church in Cambridge. He was appointed to his church by a bishop against the will of the people. They opposed him, not because he was a bad preacher, but because he was an evangelical — he believed the Bible and called for conversion, and holiness, and world missions.

For twelve years the people refused to let him give the afternoon Sunday sermon. And during that time, they boycotted the Sunday morning service and locked their pews so that no one could sit in them. He preached to people in the aisles for twelve years. How did he last?

In this state of things, I saw no remedy but faith and patience. [Note the linking of faith and patience!] The passage of Scripture which subdued and controlled my mind was this, “The servant of the Lord must not strive.” [Note: The weapon in the fight for faith and patience was the word] It was painful indeed to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought that if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would on the whole be as much good done as if the congregation were doubled and the blessing limited to only half the amount. This comforted me many, many times, when without such a reflection, I should have sunk under my burthen. (Charles Simeon)

Where did he get the assurance that if he followed the way of patience, there would be a blessing on his work that would make up for frustrations of having all the pews locked? He got it, no doubt, from texts like Isaiah 30:18, “Blessed are all those who wait for the Lord.” The word conquered unbelief, and belief conquered impatience.

“Battle the unbelief of impatience by preaching to your soul with warnings and promises.

Fifty-four years later he was dying. It was October 1836. The weeks drug on, as they have for many of our dying saints at Bethlehem. I’ve learned that the battle with impatience can be very intense on the death bed. On October 21, those by his bed heard him say these words slowly and with long pauses:

Infinite wisdom has arranged the whole with infinite love; and infinite power enables me — to rest upon that love. I am in a dear Father’s hands — all is secure. When I look to Him, I see nothing but faithfulness — and immutability — and truth; and I have the sweetest peace — I cannot have more peace. (Charles Simeon)

The reason Simeon could die like that is because he had trained himself for 54 years to go to Scripture and to take hold of the infinite wisdom, and love, and power of God, and use them to conquer the unbelief of impatience.

And so I urge you in the words of Hebrews 6:12, “Be imitators of” Charles Simeon and of all “those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

For additional study, see the connection of faith/hope with patience in Romans 8:25; 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 6:12, 15; James 1:3; Revelation 13:10.

For other texts on patience see Psalm 37:9; Lamentations 3:25–27; Luke 8:15; Romans 5:3; 1 Corinthians 13:4; Galatians 5:5, 22; Ephesians 4:1–2; Colossians 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; James 5:7–11; Job 1:21; Luke 2:25, 38; 2 Timothy 3:10. For God’s patience, see 2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4; 9:22; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 3:20.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, and most recently Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship.

Perfect Timing

 

Phillips Brooks, the former New England pulpiteer, was known for his calm demeanor. So you can guess the surprise of his associates when they found him pacing up and down the floor of his study like a lion in a cage. One of the friends asked, “What is the trouble, Dr. Brooks?” He abruptly responded, “The trouble is that I am in a hurry, but God isn’t.” There have been times when we have all felt that heaven’s clock is off by a few days, a few months, or a few years. God seems to be taking His time in answering that prayer, meeting that need, changing that circumstance or bringing justice. There we sit in the waiting room unattended and anxious. When we feel that way, guess whose clock needs to be reset! 

One of the great paradoxes is that the eternal God is always on time (Eccles. 3:11). He who has sat upon His throne forever, and stands beyond the ordered sequence of temporal events nevertheless pays the strictest attention to the march of time. Our times are in His sovereign and secure hands (Psa. 31:15). All our days, and all that fill our days are written down in his book (Psa. 139:16). The fact is that God’s timing is perfect. 

Ask Abraham’s servant. He was on the road for weeks on the search for a bride for Isaac. He happened to arrive at a well at the exact time Isaac’s future wife was coming to water her sheep (Gen. 24:14-15). What a coincidence! No, what providence!

Ask the Shunnamite woman. Her son had been brought back to life by the prophet Elisha. Several years later she went to see the king about a property dispute. Low and behold Elisha’s servant was standing in the king’s presence at that very moment recounting the woman’s and son’s story (2 Kings 8:5). What a coincidence! No, what providence!

Ask Mary and Joseph. They were compelled to return to their place of birth for the purposes of a census under Caesar Augustus. There in the town of Bethlehem Jesus would be born at the right time and the right place (Gal. 4:4; Micah 5:2; Luke 2:1-6). What a coincidence! No, what providence!

The eternal God is always on time. In all these cases, God orchestrated the details that brought the pieces together at the right time so that His plan would unfold in the right way. God is not in a hurry.  He knows what He is doing in us and for us. God deserves our trust, God requires our patience. Don’t forget to set your watch to heaven’s time!

Article posted at: https://www.ktt.org/resources/truth-matters/perfect-timing