THE MOST EXCELENT WAY - I
“Impatience is not a virtue”
I Corinthians 13:1-13
Earlier this year I attend a gift
day for pastors organized by Barnabas Ministries. In that seminar the speaker and
the author of Broken and Whole, Stephen Macchia presented the following dichotomy
or contrast that exists in the life of a born again Christian. We are both a
saint and sinner or as Marin Luther noted long time ago, “righteous and sinner
at the same time.” That concept was very liberating for me. It has calmed my nagging
thoughts of why I am still so far from perfect. It is assuring to know yes we
have been sanctified by what Christ has done, but at times we may struggle with
our “internal and external brokenness.”
Macchia
defines these terms this way, “Internal brokenness (our own sinful choices and
painful misfortunes) and external brokenness (the effect of other’s sin on us and
the impact of our world’s large calamities). As born again Christians we live
with this tension of being a saint and sinner at the same time. Since attending
the seminar, myself and our leadership team have embarked on a journey to
understand our brokenness in the context of God’s love and His grace so that we
are healed and become dispensers of love and grace to those who are struggling.
For
me personally it has been very helpful in embracing my own blessed and broken
reality at the same time. I rest in the fact that my heavenly father sees me as
his dearly beloved child, gifted, doing his best to be an obedient follower of
his Son Jesus Christ and also sees my worst behaviors and subtle streaks of disobedience.
Steve Macchia invites all of us to discover strength in weakness by
highlighting the teaching of the Apostle Paul who said to the believers in Corinth,
“I will show you The Most Excellent Way.” I Corinthians 13:1-13.
I
will be using Steve Macchai’s “Broken & Whole” book as a base as we embark
on a journey together to discover “The Most Excellent Way.” The Apostle Paul
begins his letter to the Corinthian believers with these words, “to the church
of God at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by
calling,” What a positive way to start a letter.
THE
BACKGROUND:
What
do we know about the city of Corinth and the Church in Corinth? Corinth was an
important cosmopolitan Greek city located about fifty miles west of Athens. It
was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Corinth was on a major trade
route and had a thriving economy. Greeks, Romans, Jews, and a mixed multitude
of sailors and merchants flocked to this crossroads. Corinth was known for its
stylish architecture. By the end of the
second century Corinth had become one of the richest cities in the world.
Corinth
was a sin city. Degradation, immorality, and heathen customs abounded. There were many religions represented, even a
temple with a thousand sacred prostitutes.
Pleasure was worshipped more than principles. Yet God had a plan and
purpose for Corinth so He send the Apostle Paul to Corinth to plant a Church
among a large Jewish population. These Jews were expelled by the Roman emperor
Claudius around 50 AD, we read about it in Acts 18.
In
Acts 18:4, we read, “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to
persuade Jews and Greeks. Paul stayed in Corinth for eighteen months and a
congregation was established. After a
while Paul received disturbing news about the Corinthian church from the
household of Chloe (I Cor 1:11). They reported that there were divisions, gross
immorality, law suits between Christians in front of unbelievers, practical
problems in living the Christian life, and marriage problems. There was also confusion
about certain rituals of worship, and food offered to the idols .All these and
many more prompted Paul to write a letter to the Church in Corinth.
Paul
addresses specifically their brokenness. Paul brings everything into the open,
lovingly inviting them to acknowledge and embrace their brokenness at the same
time look into their state of redemption, renewal and restoration. He encourages them to live the most excellent
way, only then can they become healthy and whole. I Corinthians 13 is a passage
about love. It is most often read at marriages hoping that the couple will
somehow cultivate a lifestyle of love. Paul’s original intention for this
passage was for all believers not just for married couples.
You
might be wondering why we are to learn about the most excellent way. Our God is
the God of excellence so He wants his children to cultivate the most excellent
way of living. We will explore together the sixteen words or phrases Paul uses
to describe the most excellent way of love. He uses these word to explain what
love is, what it does and what it does not do. For today we will look into the
first phrase, “Love is Patient.”
After
establishing the fact that the ultimate Christian experience is the manifestation
of love, and not the speaking in tongues of men or of angels and not even all
the knowledge and sacrifices one would make. Paul goes on to explain what love
is all about. He starts by saying, “Love is Patient.” Let’s ponder on what that
means and how we can cultivate patience.
I.
LOVE IS PATIENT
Wilma
and my girls often tell me that I have a lot of patience sometimes maybe too
much especially when I am working with my laptop. I too tend to think that way,
but I am not always as patient as I should, let me share with you a moment where
I lost my patience and lost my temper, which costed me dearly. It was one of
those seemingly never ending train trips in India. I came home after being away
for a week of teaching in a Discipleship Training School in Calcutta. Soon
after I arrived my wife told me that one of the YWAM staff couple brought their
family members to live with them in the staff quarters which was meant for
staff only.
Upon
hearing that I lost my cool, rushed quickly to the staff quarters and blasted
the staff couple for doing such a thing without consulting me first. The
bewildered couple have apologized for not consulting me, in the process I
realized that I have hurt them badly so I too have apologized for my impatient,
and irrational behavior. We parted apologizing to each other, but that relationship
was never the same again. It made me realize that impatience is not a virtue.
All
it takes, a moment of impatience to destroy long built trust and ruin relationships.
Without exception we all at times become impatient and act immaturely and we
regret doing so. The apostle Paul is showing us the most excellent way of love.
For us Christians, especially ministry leaders, patience is a very important
trait that we should all aspire to reflect.
But how could we possibly learn to be patient in a world that is
becoming more and more impatient?
It
looks like these days everyone is running and no one has time to slow down. What
is contributing to this lack of patience? I would say, it is the effect of the
digital era and instant gratification. The generation of young people growing
up now has little patience to wait for anything. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life
Project sums up a recent study about people under the age of 35 and the dangers
of their hyper connected lives with what sounds like a prescription drug
warning: “Negative effects include a need for instant gratification and loss of
patience.”[1] “The culture of the beast” as Peter Scazzero
notes in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is affecting all sections of the
society. Unfortunately, we Christians too are influenced by our culture and
live like everyone else. How can we be different? How can we live the Most
Excellent Way of Love? Let’s look at the biblical perspective on Patience.
II WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT PATIENCE?
What is patience? “The quality of
being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain,
without complaint, loss of temper, irritation. It is an ability or willingness
to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay. It is to be
quiet, steady, persevere, even-tempered.”[2] How God manifests patience
in his word. One of the Characteristics of God is patience. In the OT it is
interchangeably used as, “slow to anger” For example: Numbers 14:18, ‘The Lord
is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and
transgression…” Psalm 86:15, “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Nehemiah 9:16-17 “But they and our
fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your
commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you
performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to
return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious
and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not
forsake them.”
Paul describing patience as the
evidence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a believer. Gal 5:22, “But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience..” He encourages the
believers, to “Be Joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12:12 Patience is compared to spiritual clothes, “Therefore, as God’s
chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12. The Apostle Paul begs the Ephesian believers
saying “As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of
the calling you have received. Be
completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Ephesians 4:1-2. If our God is patient,
and we are called to be patient how can we then cultivate patience in our daily
lives?
III. CULTIVATING PATIENCE
The process of cultivating patience
starts with embracing our brokenness of impatience. We too, just like anyone
else are prone to become impatient and mean spirited. Usually that kind of
response arises from a feeling of being slighted or taken for granted or, worse
yet, being disregarded, dismissed or ignored. An unkind response can come from
all sorts of places in our hearts and is often connected to a wound that’s yet
to be healed. So we humbly repent of our sin of impatience by which we have
hurt others and ask God to heal the wounds that have been caused by other’s
impatience towards us. By faith receive that necessary healing first.
A few suggestions for growing in
patience. It helps if we are honest
enough to acknowledge our own lack of patience and how that affects the way we
respond to people and circumstances in our life. Do we throw a fit when a
computer program doesn’t open in an instant?
Do we roll our eyes and groan at the check-out line in the store? Do we pretend we are listening to family
members by saying hmm hmm but don’t care to give them eye contact and really
hear what they are saying?
All this could be the result of our
own hearts not being in a place of rest and peace. One of the most practical
ways to spend time with God is by disconnecting from media and gadgets. Your
time with God could include prayer, worship and meditating on a passage of
Scripture. Let me leave you with a question and a challenge. What would it look
like for patience to reside in your heart and be restored in your life today?
The challenge is who would be interested in joining me in cultivating patience
by taking 30 minutes a day to pray, worship and meditate on Scripture for a
whole week starting from tomorrow? Amen
