PEARLS OF PAUL
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT-PATIENCE
DR. JIM DIXON
GALATIANS 5:22-25
APRIL 30, 2000
The state of Alaska, in terms of land space, is of course the largest state in the United States. In fact, Alaska has one sixteenth of the land space in the entire United States of America. But in terms of population, Alaska is the second smallest state. Only Wyoming has a fewer number of people. This means that in Alaska there are a lot of open spaces. There are a lot of remote areas.
One of the remote areas in the state of Alaska is St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea. It is extremely remote. There’s a family that lives on that island. They are the Shane family, Walter Shane, his wife and their kids. They claim that whenever they order a pizza, it takes three days for the fast food to arrive. That’s if the weather is good. It CAN take as long as a week because, you see, the pizza must be flown in from Anchorage on Revolution Airlines. Of course, there is a cost that the Shane family must pay for shipping that accompanies every pizza they order. According to Walter Shane, it takes a lot of patience. This is the quote that I read a couple of weeks ago. “It takes a lot of patience to live in Alaska.” I suppose that is true. It would take a lot of patience, particularly to live on St. Paul Island in the midst of the Bering Sea.
But, you see, when the Bible speaks of patience, the Bible is really not referring to the concept of waiting for a pizza. In fact, when the Bible speaks of patience, it’s really not talking about waiting at all. To understand the biblical concept of patience, I want us, this morning, to examine the two primary Greek words used in the Bible for patience. The first is the word “hupomone.” The word hupomone is translated “patience” throughout the New Testament. This word really means perseverance. Hupomone refers to the patience of perseverance. As we look at this fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit, we are reminded of the fact that God wants us, as Christians, to persevere.
Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of Great Britain and one of the greatest leaders of the free world and the allied powers during the nightmare of the Nazi holocaust. Winston Churchill died in 1965 at the age of 90. At his death, a funeral took place. The funeral was conducted in St. Paul’s Cathedral in the city of London. The entire funeral had been scripted by Sir Winston Churchill himself. He knew that he was going to die. He chose the hymns. He chose the hymns, and they were great hymns of the faith. He even scripted the liturgy that was part of the funeral service and the time of worship.
At the conclusion of the funeral service, by the instructions of Winston Churchill, two bugles were sounded from the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The first bugle played Taps which, in the military context, is the signal for the end of the day. It’s a sign that the day has ended. But just a few minutes later, as Winston Churchill instructed, another bugler played Reveille. Reveille, in the military context, is the signal that a new day is beginning and a new day is dawning. It was like one bugler said “good night” and then the next bugler said, “good morning.” This was because, as Winston Churchill explained, he really believed that he was saying good night in terms of his life in this world, but he believed with all of his heart that he was going to wake up to a new day in a new world because he believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fact that he had placed his faith in Him.
You can look at the life of Winston Churchill. You can see many strengths and you can see many weaknesses. I think one of his greatest strengths was the characteristic of perseverance. Winston Churchill flunked 8th grade twice. I mean, he had to take 8th grade three times because it was difficult for him to master English grammar. But he persevered. Ultimately he DID master English grammar. So much so, that he became a skilled writer and one of the greatest orators in the world. He brought that same perseverance to everything he did. He brought perseverance to his life as a soldier. He brought perseverance to his life as a statesman. He rallied the nation in perseverance. In 1940, as he addressed the House of Parliament in a time of war, he said to the people of England, “I can only offer you blood, toil, tears and sweat. We will fight on the sea. We will fight in the air. We will fight on the beaches. We will fight on the hilltops, and we will fight in the valleys. We will NEVER surrender.” Indeed, the English persevered in a time of war. Along with the other allied powers, they won the victory.
Now, after the war, Winston Churchill was asked to speak to the graduating class of Oxford. He gave the commencement address. As he approached the podium, he came, as he typically did, with a cigar in one hand and his cane in the other, his top hat on his head. He arrived at the podium. He put the cigar on the podium. He took his top hat and put it on the podium. He steadied himself on his cane, and he shouted to those graduating students, “NEVER GIVE UP!” He waited a few seconds for that message to sink in, and then he rose to his tiptoes once again and shouted, “NEVER GIVE UP!” a second time. Then he picked up his cigar, put his top hot on his head, steadied himself on his cane and made his way off the stage. That was his commencement address.
Barb and I are going to our son’s commencement on May 13th We’re going back to Boston. Drew is graduating from Gordon and Barrington College. I noticed in the literature that the commencement service is two hours long. I’m sure there will be many talks, but there can’t be a more important message than this. Never Give Up! Those three words, never give up. This really summarizes the meaning of this Greek word used in the Bible, hupomone. I mean, that’s what it means. Never Give Up! When you think about it, not much is accomplished in this world when we give up. It takes perseverance to accomplish great things.
I was reading where Cicero practiced his public speaking every day in front of his friends for thirty years, that he might perfect his elocution. I must say, that’s perseverance not only for Cicero but also for his friends. Of course, Adam Clark took 40 years writing his famous commentary on the holy scriptures. He produced a theological masterpiece. Noah Webster took 36 years to compile his dictionary of the English language. Edward Gibbon, who wrote “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” took 26 years laboring on that literary masterpiece. Leonardo da Vinci spent 10 years painting The Last Supper, one of the greatest religious theme paintings in world history. Michelangelo took 8 years painting The Last Judgement. Upon his death, authorities found, in his home, 2,000 sketches of The last Judgement amongst the papers of Michelangelo.
You see, it’s all about perseverance. Plato rewrote the first sentence of the Republic nine times. He had a hard time even starting that great work, but, you see, Plato persevered. William Cullen Bryant rewrote one of his poetic masterpieces 49 times. Ernest Hemingway, working on The Old Man and the Sea, wrote the manuscript, and then he reworked it 80 times before he submitted it for publication. Milton rose every morning at 4:00 AM day after day, week after week, month after month, working on Paradise Lost. You see, it all takes perseverance. Thomas Edison said that his inventions were 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration. Perseverance.
Christians, believers in Jesus Christ desperately need perseverance. I want to read you a little quote from Calvin Coolidge. Calvin Coolidge, of course, was the 30th President of the United States, and he said this: “Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.” Well, you and I know that God alone is omnipotent, but it is true that God calls His people to perseverance. He calls all of us who believe in His name to perseverance. The fruit of the Holy Spirit in us is perseverance.
We see perseverance, of course, when we look at the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote to Timothy as recorded in 2 Timothy, chapter 3. Paul said, “You have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my perseverance, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings. What befell me at Iconium, at Antioch and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, and yet, from them all, the Lord rescued me. All who desire a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have received it. Now, from childhood, you’ve been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
When you turn to Acts, chapter 14, you see how Paul was in the city of Lystra. You see how people came from Antioch and Iconium, and they stoned him. After stoning him, they dragged him out of the city. They thought he was dead. He probably was nearly dead, but the Bible says “The next day he rose up, went back into the city, and he continued his ministry.” Of course, there’s that famous passage in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11 where Paul writes “Is anyone a servant of Jesus Christ? Well, I serve him more though I’m speaking like a fool, but I have had far greater labor with far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, oftentimes near death. Five times I received, at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten. Once I was stoned. Three times shipwrecked, a day and a night adrift at sea, in danger from rivers, danger on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger in the city, danger from false brethren, danger from the gentiles, danger from my own people, in toil and hunger through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, oftentimes without food, and cold and exposure. In addition to all of this, I have my anxiety for all of the churches. Who is weak and I don’t feel their weakness? Who has been made to fall and I am not enraged?” It was the life of an apostle.”
At the end of Paul’s life, Paul wrote “I have fought the good fight. I’ve kept the faith. I finished the race. Perseverance.” When he said, “I have fought the good fight,” in the Greek, the words fought and fight are rooted in the same Greek root word “agon,” from which we get the word “agony.” You could literally render that into English as “I’ve agonized the agony.” It’s all about perseverance. It was to the Apostle Paul. There’s no apostle in this room this morning. There’s no Apostle Paul in this worship center. But we who believe in Jesus Christ, we are all ministers. We’re all called to serve Christ, His church and His kingdom. We’ve all been called to perseverance in the faith.
I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know you’ve been called to persevere. You might be struggling in your marriage, but you’ve been called to perseverance, and this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in you. You might be struggling with your parenting. You might have a child that’s just driving you crazy, but you’ve been called to perseverance and love. You might be struggling with your health, but you’ve been called to perseverance and faith. Don’t give up the faith. You might be struggling with sin. You might be struggling with an addictive sin. You’ve been called to fight that sin and to persevere in the fight. If you fall, then get back up and persevere some more, because this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in you. You might be struggling in ministry. Maybe you’re teaching Sunday school. Maybe you’re tutoring in the inner city, but you’re called to ministry, some form of ministry, your whole life long, and you’ve been called to persevere.
I have here a book called “Disasters at Sea.” I’ve read this book. It’s really an amazing book. It tells about every ocean-going passenger ship catastrophe since the year 1900, every great passenger ship and ocean liner that has gone down since the year 1900. It has more than 200 ships from the Titanic to the Lusitania. Some of these ships hit icebergs. Some went down by fire. Some were destroyed by raging oceans and by the power of the sea itself, but they all went down. It’s kind of sad as you read these stories. Some of them went down close to port. Some of them went down with land in sight. They’d almost reached their goal. They’d almost completed their journey, and they went down. Don’t let that be true of you. Some of you have walked with Christ for ten years. Some of you have walked with Christ for twenty years. Some, thirty. Some, forty. Some, fifty. Some, sixty years. Don’t give up now. Keep the faith. Fight the good fight. Finish the race. Perseverance. Hupomone, the patient of perseverance. This is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
There is a second Greek word for patience in the Bible. This second Greek word is the word “makrothumia.” This word is the actual word used in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22 when Paul lists the fruit of the Holy Spirits. When he comes to patience, the word he chooses is not hupomone but this word, makrothumia. It’s very important that we understand the meaning of this Greek word. We can understand the meaning of this word when we look at the Septuagint. In the third century before Christ, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, King of the Ptolemaic Empire, King of Egypt, issued a decree that the Hebrew Torah, the Hebrew Bible which we would call the Old Testament, be translated from Hebrew into his language, into the language of the Ptolemaic Empire which was the Greek language. And so, 72 Hebrew scholars, who had been Hellenites, who had been educated in the Greek language and in the Greek culture, were brought from Jerusalem in Israel to Alexandria in Egypt. They were placed on the Island of Pharos, off the coast of Alexandria. Of course, the famous lighthouse that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, stood on the Island of Pharos. There, in quiet and in solitude, by the order of Ptolemy II, these 72 Hebrew scholars began to translate the Hebrew Torah, the Old Testament, into Greek.
When they were finished, that Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, circulated throughout the Greek and Roman world. That translation began to be called the Septuagint from the Roman or Latin word “septuaginta” which means “seventy.” In fact, today, sometimes the Septuagint is just called the LXX which, of course, represents the Roman Numerals for 70. The reason this translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek is called the Septuagint or the Seventy is because of the tradition that it took these 72 scholars exactly 70 days to translate the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, into Greek.
In any event, in the First century in the time of Christ, the Septuagint was the primary Bible used throughout the Greek-speaking world. Even the New Testament – many of the New Testament writers, when quoting the Old Testament, they quote the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. In fact, there are 350 quotes of the Old Testament in the New. It’s believe by Bible scholars that as many as 300 of them are quoting the Septuagint. The Septuagint is extremely valuable today because it helps us understand both Greek and Hebrew. As we see the Greek words that were equated with Hebrew words in the third century before Christ, our understanding of both Greek and Hebrew is enriched. We see this when we come to the Septuagint and its treatment of this word makrothumia which is the fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit.
When you look at Exodus, the 34th chapter and the 6th verse, we have this incredible scene where Moses is on Mt. Sinai. Once again, God appears to him. God reveals, unveils, for Moses the divine character. God describes His nature. As God describes Himself, He uses the Hebrew phrase, “erek appayim.” He speaks of Himself as “Erek Appayim.” These Hebrew words literally mean “long nosed.” God describes Himself as having a long nose. Now, in the Hebrew culture, the Jews had noticed that when people became angry, and particularly when they became enraged, oftentimes their nose would get red. When people were considered to be short tempered and they became angry quickly, they were called short nosed. But when people were slow of anger, when it took them a long time to become angry, they were called long nosed. So, when God describes Himself as Erek Appayim, He’s saying that he is long nosed. He is slow to anger. He’s patient with people.
The word that the authors of the Septuagint used to render this erek appayim is this word makrothumia, this fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit. The amazing thing is that at the time they chose this word in the third century before Christ, this word makrothumia was a hated word. It was a negative word throughout the Greek and Roman worlds. Makrothumia to be long suffering, to be forbearing, to suffer long with people, that was considered a weakness in the Roman world and in the Greek world. The patience of perseverance was considered to be a virtue, but the patience of forbearance, suffering long with someone was considered to be a weakness, and Bible scholars believe this is the first time, perhaps the first time ever, the word makrothumia was ever used in a positive light.
In Exodus 34, verse 6 in the Septuagint it describes the nature of God. It virtually changed the meaning of this word. When people understood that God is forbearing, God is long suffering, He suffers long with people. He bears with people. He has a long nose. He is slow to anger. The Bible tells us that all who belong to the people of God, all who call themselves by the name of Christ, all who have chosen to follow Christ, are called to forbearance, patience. They are called to suffer long with people. We’re called to have long noses. We’re supposed to be slow to anger.
It says in Romans 2 that if we’re not willing to forebear people, to suffer long with people, that we mock God and the nature of God because God forebears people. So, here is the fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit. Patience in the sense of perseverance but also patience in the sense of forbearance, willingness to suffer long with people. God wants to instill these qualities in us. Of course, we need forbearance to talk.. We need long noses when we drive. We need to be slow to anger. We need to suffer long with people.
I read recently the story of a woman who was driving her car. She pulled up to a red light in a major intersection, and her engine stalled. The light turned green, but she couldn’t restart the car. She kept trying to restart the car and couldn’t get it started. The guy in the car right behind her was honking and honking and just laying on the horn which made it all the more frustrating. She kept trying to start the car. It went all the way through the green light and was red again. The guy was still laying on the horn. She had had enough. She got out of the car and went back to the guy behind her and said, “Hey, I’m SO sorry. I can’t seem to get my car started. Perhaps you could go up there and give it a try, and I’ll stay here and honk your horn for you!”
Sometimes you wish you could think of things like that! But isn’t it true that we need forbearance when we’re in our car and when we’re driving? I know I do. I know I have a ways to go. Barb and I live south of the church. When I leave the church during the week, or, of course on Sunday… Since we live in Castle Pines North, we go straight down Daniels Park Road. You see all kinds of drivers on Daniels Park Road. There are a lot of construction vehicles and big trucks, and they’re kicking up clouds of dirt. You see some people who are heading to Castle Pines or Castle Rock. They’re kind of maybe in a hurry, and then there are a lot of people who are just looking around. They’re out there for a drive, you know? Just a relaxing drive. Maybe they want to see the buffalo down there or they’re looking for elk or deer, or maybe they just want to look at the view. I must confess, I am a goal-oriented person. I am a goal-oriented person, and that’s reflected in the way that I drive. When I come upon somebody whose just on a journey, I tend to want to pass them and I often do. I think God is convicting me that I need to be more of a journey-oriented person. I mean we all need to be, at times, goal oriented, but there are other times when we need to be more journey oriented.
I mean, you look at the life of Christ. You see that He was, at times, goal oriented as we all need to be, but there were other times when He just seemed to be more journey oriented. If you’re goal oriented, then sometimes people are just in your way. Do you notice that? I mean, when you’re goal oriented, cars are in your way. But, you see, if you’re journey oriented, the people you come upon… they’re all just part of a journey. If you’re journey oriented, you have time to talk to people, time to listen to people, time to minister to people. I think that’s part of what it means to be forbearing, long suffering, long nosed and slow to anger.
There is an old joke about a guy who was shopping in the grocery store. He was pushing the shopping cart. He had his little baby in the cart. The little baby was crying. He was in one of the aisles and the baby was crying. A woman there heard this dad say over and over again, “Calm down, Albert. Calm down, Albert. Calm down, Albert.” A little bit later in another aisle, the same lady heard this same dad, as the baby was still crying, say “Calm down, Albert. Calm down, Albert. Calm down, Albert.” This elderly lady went up to him and said, “Sir, I’ve just got to tell you. I really respect your patience with the baby Albert.” The man said, “You don’t understand. I’m Albert!”
If is not true, we need patience and forbearance in every situation in life. Not just in our cars but in our homes. We need to be patient with our children, forbearing and long suffering. Marriages can’t work unless husbands and wives are willing to forebear each other, suffer long with each other, be slow to anger. Of course, every situation of life requires patience and forbearance. Out in the world, if we do not have long noses, if our noses are short, we will not be useful to Christ. He won’t be able to use us to communicate His love, His gospel, His message to the world.
Years ago, at the old Stapleton Airport, I was standing in line. The line was long. Finally, I got up to the counter. The person behind the counter… I don’t remember exactly what the circumstance was. I think my seat assignment was somehow not in the computer, and the non-stop flight turned out to be not non-stop but had a couple of stops. I was frustrated and I was in a hurry. I don’t know what I said. It might not have been what I said, but maybe it was just the tone and how I was saying it, but I know that at some point, I felt a touch on my right shoulder. The voice of a woman was saying, “Please don’t get angry. You’re my pastor.”
I promise you, pastors get angry, and their anger is not always righteous indignation. We all need to work on this. We really need to work on this. We need to be more patience. We need to have longer noses. We need to be slower to anger. We need to suffer longer and forebear people. This is the will of Christ, and this is the will of Christ for me. This is the great truth of the Holy Spirit within us. So, as we close, we want to remember this fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit, patience. It’s the patience of forbearance, and it’s also the patience of perseverance. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.