Love suffers long

Sermon in series on the fruit of Holy Spirit, “the school of neighbourly virtues”

Clevedon Baptist Church,  – May 5/2012

In this series we have been looking at the fruit of the Holy Spirit, listed in Paul’s letter to the Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22-23. As it says in the New Living Translation,

“²²But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self control”

Or if I read these verses from the New King James version

“²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control”.

It is always a good idea to have a few English translations at hand to get a feel for how different translators translate the original Greek and Hebrew text of the scriptures. And we are very blessed to have so many English translations.

In our series so far we have considered, Love, Joy and peace. So today we shall dwell on the “neighbourly virtue” of patience or the New King James version says longsuffering.

But before we consider longsuffering it would be good for us to go back to the beginning and consider the idea of fruit again. Why does the apostle Paul use this term fruit and not gift or blessing? The terms gift and blessing remind us of the things we have. But Paul uses to word fruit to talk more about who we are rather than what we have. The context of Galatians 5 is all about the way we live, our lifestyle, our choices, and manner of being. This work of the Holy Spirit is the processes of sanctification; that is becoming more like Jesus. There are many thoughts that come with this picture of fruit.

Firstly, think on this: good fruit is generally sweet, tasty and pleasant. And is this not what Paul is staying, one the one hand you have the way of the world that is listed in verse 19-21 and one the other the way of the Spirit listed in verse 22-23. The ways of the world could be summarised like this: not trusting God, serving yourself first and not caring about others.  Paul is saying this way is not the way to go; this life is not the life to have, this way leads to misery, death and judgement. It is like rotten fruit that is ultimately not sweet, not tasty and not pleasant even though it may appear pleasant for a while. However, God’s way will ultimately be sweet, satisfying and fulfilling.   

The second thing about fruit is that is takes time to grow. We do not see a tree with no fruit one day and then on the very next day full of ripened fruit. No, bearing, growing fruit is a process that takes time. The heart of the Christian life is this process. We must faithfully and patiently let the Holy Spirit grow the heart of Jesus within us and among us. So that we may be the love of Jesus to those we meet. And this growing is done through the up and downs of life. It is through all the seasons of life that this work of the Holy Spirit occurs. For there is a time for growing and there is a time for preparing to grow. Without the preparation of winter the growth of spring will not occur. God does much of His great work when it looks as if nothing is happening and all hope of new growth is lost.

Trust Him. Open your eyes of faith to see that God is always at work in your life. In every season and situation, in every struggle and trial our Father who is in Heaven will find some way to bring you good.

For “²⁸ we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”. [Romans 8:28]

The final thing about this picture of fruit is that it grows from another. Not from your own strength does this fruit grow, no. It grows by the strength of another. Without the tree the branch withers, and without the branch the fruit cannot grow. Jesus, reminded us of this is John’s Gospel chapter 15:5-8

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from me, Jesus says, you can do nothing. Jesus says to us we can, on our own, do nothing of eternal consequence, nothing to help the Church, nothing to grow the nature of Jesus in our hearts, nothing to change ourselves. He goes on to say

⁶Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ⁸When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. ⁹I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.  

The simple message of fruit is that it can only grow in our lives if we remain connected to God and His word. This is the gospel, the eternal and changeless gospel. The Apostle James encourages us to

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” [James 4:8, NKJV]

 

And be Paul reminds us that we should be

“confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” [Phil 1:6, NKJV]

So let us never lose heart and give up. God has done, is doing and will continue to do His part; for His love for us will never fail [1 Corinthians 13:8]. So we should do our part and remain connected to Him. Let His words remain in our hearts and minds: trust truly, hope truly and love truly.    

Now let us reflect and meditate on the fruit that is patience and longsuffering.

Longsuffering is the hallmark of Christian love. It distinguishes Christian love from the other kinds of love that found in the world. It is a shame that English only has one word for Love in all its different forms. New Testament Greek has four words for love.

The first Éros (ἔρως)  is the passionate love, with sexual desire and longing. This love has its place within marriage, between a man and woman. Philia (φιλία) is a mutually supportive love between friends. Storge (στοργή) is the affection felt by parents for their children.

While all these three can be good in the right setting, we get something back by this kind of loving, some pleasure, some affection, and some personal support. But a different word is used for Christian love in the New Testament - the Greek word for Christian love is Agápe (ἀγάπη). This is an unconditional love, a love that does not get anything back from the person whom you love! It is selfless; it considers first the needs of the other and not our own.

And this is the love is mostly mentioned by Jesus, read John 15

⁹I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.  …   ¹²“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Christian love is nonsensical, to the world. It is a love that does not get anything back. It is all about self sacrifice, laying down your life for the sake of others. Now is this not hard? And how can you learn to love this way without understanding the way of patience, humility and longsuffering? It is possible to circumvent this path, this way of the cross, to understand and practise Christian love truly?

You see the character of God, in the people of God, is grown through hard times, suffering and self sacrifice. Not only is Christian love the capstone virtue, it is the way by which we learn and grow all fruit, all the virtues listed in Galatians 5.

We are all called to acts of kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. This is costly; we are called to love those who do not care to love us.

This must be especially true in the church, for if we cannot love our brother and sisters in Christ how can we truly love those who are not Christians and those who may even be our enemies? If a suggestion is made for some change in our church what is our reaction? Do we first think about how it will affect us? Do we say to ourselves “I have a nice oasis away from the struggles of life here in the church and please don’t ask me to change what I am doing” Do we focus only on our own needs and wants or do we love, with Christian love? Do we seek the good of others first and foremost? This is the heart of the problem with our modern churches, with us. We accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross but we are reluctant to follow too closely the way of the cross, the way of Love.

Jesus told us that it is “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” [John 13:35]. Now this love that Jesus was talking about was not the love of friends, a love that gets something back! No, it was the self-sacrificial kind of love; Christian love. You see when people who are not believers see this kind of love in the Church they will notice something wonderfully nonsensical is happing among us. This is our true Christian witness. This is how some parts of the Church shine more brightly than others. It is not through sound doctrine or large congregations or even wonderfully worship services, but through sacrificial love expressed one to another in the fellowship. And I believe that this can only be done with the help of God.   

So, it is in laying aside our own agendas for the greater calling from above that the Spirit of God grows the fruit of God in us and among us. As a church are we prepared to do this? As individuals are we prepared and willing to do this? For as Paul says to us

⁴Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never fails. [NKJV, 1 Corithians 13:4-8]

Can you hear the words of the Spirit through Paul: Love suffers long, is not self seeking, bearing the failings of others, enduring the state of the church. This is not some fluffy, cuddly love. It is gritty and hard. It is steadfast, realistic and genuine. Is this not difficult? Does this not require some braking of our natural pride? May it not also result in heart ache and suffering? Who then is up to such a challenge? Who among us can live such a life? CS Lewis, in his wonderfully way, put the case to us

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

 ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

To love is to be vulnerable and so to love is being more open to the possibility of suffering because there is evil in this world. As Christians we must not shy away for this calling to love – for it is the only way that leads to life. Remember, we continue in this way because we trust God has a plan for Good here and His plan will not fail.

The scriptures are littered with examples of those who patiently suffered for the sake of trusting God. I could mention patriarch Job who was struck down for season with almost soul destroying set of circumstances. I could mention Joseph who was betrayed by his own brothers sold into slavery to eventual be thrown into a wretched dungeon for many years. I could mention the prophet Elijah who had to suffer a complete collapse of faith amongst the people of God when they started to follow false gods. I could mention the prophet Isaiah struggles with evil despotic kings, or the prophet Jeremiah who was cast into a cesspit by his own people for speaking out the word of God.

If you believe that the Christian life is easy open up your bibles and read. But God can use hard times help to focus our attention on our utter need for Him. The spiritual preacher Oswald Chambers remarked

Of course “we all know people who have been made much meaner and more irritable and more intolerable to live with by suffering: it is not right to say that all suffering perfects. It only perfects one type of person ...... the one who accepts the call of God in Christ Jesus.” - Oswald Chambers

The character of God, in the people of God, is grown through hard times and suffering if we do not turn away from Him. CS Lewis again put it like this

For it when a Christian has known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. Then they have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 

Beautiful people do not just happen they are grown through a life of trusting Jesus. The Apostle Paul summarised this process of growing the character of Jesus in our hearts in the book of Romans 5

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

The Apostle Paul knew a thing or two about longsuffering, just read the second letter to the Corinthians; He was beaten, flogged, thrown in prison, shipwrecked, betrayed by some of his closest friends, had people in his churches say he was not a good enough preacher, had people in his churches say he was not spiritual enough – and this is the Apostle Paul here! At one point he even despaired of live itself [2 Corinthians 1:8]. He was struck down with some affliction, we know not what, that he called a “thorn in the flesh”. He begged God, on three occasions, to remove it but the Lord said “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” [2 cor 12:9]. God’s power is most truly revealed in our lives when we understand that his presence, his grace is all we need.

The Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom, who lost her father and sister to the concentration camps, put it like this

You may never know that Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have. - Corrie Ten Boom 

Paul knew this, He knew that that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope.

This is sanctification: the process of growing more Christ-like. It is founded on trust in Jesus but it is a life long journey of remaining close to Jesus through all life’s ups and downs. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are the signs of a growing Christ-like heart and mind. And Paul reminds us also at the end of that passage in Romans 5

God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us  

This last verse is the key to what we must do. It’s not about effort, knuckling down to try and develop more patience. Impatiently saying to yourself ‘I really need to develop more patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control!’ I’m not sure it’s ever about effort and self will. You cannot make yourself holy or good. You cannot grow the fruit yourself. God grows the fruit when we remain connected and obedient. You see, you can let Him fill your heart with His overwhelming love. In doing so you will understand that He is all you need, that His grace is sufficient for you in every circumstance. For it is only when we allow God to fill us with his love, that we will understand what we must do, how we must live our lives.

I pray that we learn to do this more in this place. Let us welcome God’s love shed abroad in our Hearts by receiving afresh the Holy Spirit of God. Let us not fear suffering rather let us draw close to Him as he draws close to us. May the mercy and peace of God keep us safe during all life’s trials – I pray.