Northside Church - Sydney
Brand New Year Same Old You? – Week 4: A More Patient Person
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. March 27, 1977, where were you living? How old were you? Don't answer that. Some of your young ones weren't even born then. I was a young man fresh out of college in my first ministry in Adelaide with a wife and a baby daughter who was not even one year old. But I remember this day, I don't know exactly what I was doing, it wasn't one of those sort of JFK moments, but this was the day when news shot around the world of an horrific airline disaster, Tenerife, the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. That's where it had taken place. Two fully laden jumbo jets smashing into each other, one a Pan American jumbo from America, the other a Dutch KLM jumbo. And on a foggy afternoon, these two jets collided ironically with either of them not having become fully airborne, 583 people died that foggy afternoon in Tenerife. To this day, the worst airline disaster in human history. And of course, they researched the reasons why this had taken place. There were inquiries by the Americans, inquiries by the Dutch, and there were many, many factors, many, many factors that led to this horrific crash. But one of them, and it's clearly documented, and I watched a documentary on this recently, one is clearly documented, it was due to the impatience on the part of the KLM captain, who had reached the end of the runway, and to the amazement of his crew, started to power on the engines in full take off mode without official clearance. Because as the records show and as the flight box recorder shows, he was just so keen to get off that island before they closed it. He had a belief that only a matter of minutes they closed the island, that they'd closed the airport. So he was wracked on the power, straight down the runway, believing that the Pan Am had gone off one of the exits, it was supposed to, but it missed the exit. It was still on the tarmac, and they say that he probably had about two seconds to see this Pan Am jet ahead of him, he pulled back on the controls, it just sheared the top off, the Pan Am flight, 583 people dead, the KLM plane crashed a couple of hundred metres down the runway, an horrific crash, due in part, in part to the impatience of one man. How embarrassing for his family, how embarrassing for his profession, yes, an extreme example, I'll grant you that, but who knows the number of deaths caused each year by impatience, particularly on our roads, but it's in the general run of everyday life where most of us struggle with impatience, waiting in lines, waiting in the traffic, waiting on the phone, by the way with driving, what do they say, patience is a quality we admire in the driver behind us, not in the driver ahead of us, we don't mind for the guy behind, you know, and then of course patience on the phone as you go through those endless options, waiting to speak to a real person, hello did I say real person, you don't get a real person at the end, and I hate it when they say now if you haven't understood these go back to the first one, well I don't want to talk to somebody, well I told you it was a struggle to prepare this message, or you're waiting for the tradesman, yeah, we're always waiting and we find ourselves becoming edgy and frustrated, and in some cases even a little angry, look I think one of the struggles is because patience is so against our nature, that's it, we're not born with patience, we're not born with patience, I mean there's not a baby in the world despite what you would be parents may be thinking, this is not going to happen, I can tell you there's not a baby in the world either by inclination or by capacity, wakes up and says, mom and dad are still sleeping, I'll just wait a while before I let him know I'm hungry, oh no, it's instant, it's automatic, it's just part of our nature, and then of course a little bit later when they start to talk, there's those sense numbing four words are we there yet, which you know, it's all ahead of you, parents who are getting ready for this, the idea of course is to find ways to control our impatience, a bit like the control of stress, I love the story of a gentleman, a gentleman who was in a supermarket, he noticed there was a young mum pushing her little baby around in a trolley, and the baby was out of control, a little child sitting up, just out of control, and he couldn't help but noticed away the mother was patiently coping, he caught at one point, he said Becky, it's halfway through, Becky we're halfway through, just be patient, it's okay, the kid's screaming going off her nut, and then he noticed them in the confectionery aisle, and she said Becky look, there's two more hours to go, you can make it, come on, you can make it, it's okay, get the check out, the girl's going nuts, the little kid's just going crazy, it's embarrassing, pulling stuff off the shelves, and the mother says look, this is the last point, Becky, this is it, this is the last point, then it's home for asleep, and the man was so impressed, he went across, he couldn't help, he went across the lane, he said look, I'm just so impressed with you know, the way you've patiently handled the stress of, of little Becky here, and the mother of the glaze looks said my daughter is Samantha, I'm Becky, you know, are we okay? So I mean you gotta, you gotta do whatever's necessary to just calm it all down, you know, you can try that, I can see mothers here, I'll just try that, well, we all have to work on ways to control our impatience, now of course many of us rationalize our impatience by saying things like, well, it might be impatient but at least I get the job done, I get the job done, well look friends, that's maybe okay on a certain certain, but that's a consistent pattern of life, that's just not where it's at, because look, the challenge this morning for you and for me, for all of us, is to overcome our impatience or at least to try to manage it more effectively, because you see, for Christians, this is an imperative thing, it's a must, because patience, patience is listed in Galatians 5 as being one of the indicators of a spirit filled life, you know the passage so well, we all know it, but the spirit says Paul produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, of control, for Christians it's not an option, we are compelled to work on this area of our life, I've said consistently over the years, from this pulpit, we don't impress the world so much with our spiritual gifts, as much as we do with our application of spiritual fruit, they're not so much interested in gifts, Christians can really hang out back gifts, if you want to make an impact on the world, we need to do it through the manifestation of the fruit of the spirit, one of which is patience, that's the point of distinction for the Christian, not that we have exclusive rights to patience, we don't, but by means of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, we do have a source of power to both develop, nurture and maintain a level of patience and tolerance that is noticeable, let me say that, we won't get it right every time, but we can develop a level of patience that is noticeable, Paul puts it this way in Ephesians, chapter four and verses one and two, look at this, he says, I urge you then, I who am a prisoner, because I serve the Lord, live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you, the standard God set when he called you, be humble, gentle, patient, show your love by being tolerant with one another, now as we discover with stress and worry last week, it's one thing to know we're meant to lift our game in this area, but because the big question is well how, I know I've got to be more patient, but this is just words, how can I do it, what are some practical tips now, friends I said right at the beginning of this series we'd have practical tips for you each week, now here's the thing, like the control of worry it comes down to a decision, the control of patience comes down to a decision, patience involves making a decision, well a decision to do many things, but I'm focusing on four of them today firstly become more realistic in our expectations, that's the first one, I'd like to think I'm a fairly optimistic guy, but there's a side of me that is in a way pessimistic in that I expect stuff to happen and it's a more realistic side of Graham Agnew which sometimes comes in, I'll give you an example, every morning, every morning within minutes of leaving home I am in a traffic situation where there is great stress and huge expressions of impatience, it's the corner of Blenham Road and Pitwater Road, North Ride, avoid that intersection at all costs, because that is one of those intersections where people are feeding in the Pitwater Road in an area that says keep this clear, so when the Pitwater Road people get the green arrow to go on to Epping Road, there are people coming out of Blenham who have a red light who are stuck in the middle of the intersection, there are horns, there are fists, there are other parts of the human hand, it is very very distressing, every couple of months they call the police down to kind of give a few tickets and they sort it out, but it's pretty stressful, some days it's not too bad, now friends I've got to tell you I've been doing this for over 12 years, right, now when I hit the top of that hill coming down into Pitwater I don't go oh no, oh God what's going on, I'm ready for it, I expect it, every month just you know slip another Whitney Houston CD in or oh check if 103.2 is on, oh Stephen and Kim absolutely, but you know like and during the holidays of course beautiful, there's no traveling and it's fantastic but every other week that's how it's going to be, it's just no good to fight, I know when I go to the crow's nest post on us, it is like the day before Christmas, the whole year, I don't know why that is, I do not know why, you've got great stuff, lots of stuff, that's the way it is, so you go there, you expect that, you just get the iPhone start doing some messages or checking the emails, just relax and because you know it's going to be like that, avoid it all cost going there, I'm going to grant you that, don't try and do that too often, and friends I expect as many of you do I know that when I travel there's going to be some delays, I expect that, so when there's no delays, well that's great, it's a bonus, but you say just from getting too upset and impatient when there are delays which is often the case, so it's under this heading of just you know modifying our expectations, another practical decision we can make to improve our level of patience, view setbacks as temporary, view setbacks is that but the chronically impatient person, the chronically impatient person sees every setback, every disappointment, every delay is like the end of the world, the world is going to crash, this is great, it's out of control, but what's needed in this situation, of course that plunges them into frustration and into despair, what's needed in these situations is that classic what I call that helicopter perspective, you know, where you can see beyond the setback, beyond the disappointment, beyond the delay, and it's that perspective that provides the impetus, the drive to keep pressing on despite the disappointment, can I ask you a question to all of those of you who journeyed with us in the six years, from the time we left the old building till the time we came back to the new building, I ask you a question, did we learn this lesson? Pretty well, amen? Can I get an amen to that? I mean, this is one lesson we learned really, really well, and the closer you were to the front line, the greater the lesson learned. Link to this point in the next practical choice that we can make when struggling with impatience, maintain the mentality of the problem solver, not the victim. Have you been in a situation where you're in the grip of impatience and your knuckles are going whiting, you're really, you're really upset and you say something like this, this always happens to me. Why am I the one who always gets behind the Sunday driver? Why am I the one? How come it's me who gets in the line with a checkout person who's obviously suffering from a hangover, you know, like a beep, beep, and you know, your line is just so slow and everyone else is going through. Why is it always me? You find yourself thinking like that, that's that's a victim mentality. If there's one New Testament character who could have adopted, he could have adopted a victim mentality, it was Paul. I mean, you think of his life, he was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was imprisoned, he had, he was deserted by friends, he was subjected to the criticism within the life of the church, the very church he was trying to grow. I mean, he could have easily said, here we go again. What's happening, Lord? I'm just trying to do my best for you. Here's another setback, here's another problem, here's another difficulty. Why is it always me? How come Peter and James, they're having a great time, but it's always me, I'll get the rough, he could have done that. But of course, we have so much evidence in Paul's writings that that was not his response at all. In fact, his writings are filled with positive assertions about his ability with God's strength to patiently push through anything that would hinder his mission objective. He makes direct reference to this in a very powerful reading from second Corinthians. He's right into his friends at Corinth and in chapter six verses four to seven, listen to this, he says, in everything, in everything we do, we show that we are God's servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships and difficulties. We've been beaten, jailed and mobbed, we've been overworked, but have gone without sleep or food by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness, we've shown ourselves to be God's servants, by the Holy Spirit, by our true love, by our message of truth and by the power of God. We have righteousness as our weapon both to attack and to defend ourselves. I mean, he's a man who's proactive, he's patiently enduring all the things that were going wrong in his life. He didn't seem so as a victim. He saw himself as a problem solver. Paul did not see himself as a victim, he saw himself as victorious. That's a perfect segue to the fourth way. We can strengthen our levels of patience, and here it is, remember our past victories. You see, patience is like any positive character tray. If you nurture it, if you develop it, if you consistently practice it, it can become increasingly a part of your nature. It's one of the advantages of getting older. I'm a lot more patient at 50-something than I was in my 20s. I mean, how many really cranky old people do you know? I mean, there are some, not here, but out there. But in the main, senior people are a lot more patient and a lot more relaxed about things, at least they can be. They can be. You know, we can't leave this subject of patience without acknowledging that to a certain extent, a certain extent, the kind of patience we've been talking about really represents only one aspect of this very big topic. It's only one aspect. And to be fair, we've probably been more at the superficial end of the theme. I mean, you can get counseling. You can go to courses that will help you tackle some of the areas of patience that I've mentioned so far. But there's a level of patience which is achieved only, only by the transforming power of God's love and grace. The kind of patience I'm referring to is that which is needed when God's voice appears to be silent. The level of patience needed when his ear appears to be closed. The, those times when we wonder why things aren't working out as we, as we'd hoped, why prayers apparently aren't being answered. You see, in our Christian journey, patience is a calm endurance based firmly in the belief that God is ultimately in control. Now, we've talked from this platform about, about industrial strength faith. Well, now we're talking about industrial strength patience and it requires trust and it requires surrender. It's the kind of patience that enabled Job to handle all the things that he had to endure. It's the kind of patience that enabled Abraham and Sarah to wait for the birth of Isaac. It's the sort of patience that enabled Paul to cope with the stark reality that he was not healed of his thorn in the flesh but would be given God's grace to handle it. Is that kind of heavy duty patience? Friends, have you had to draw on that sort of patience in your life? Have you had moments when you've had to draw on that sort of patience? Oh, I know many of you have. I know many of you have because I know from my pastoral involvement with you. I know exactly what some of you have had to endure. You faced your times of despair and uncertainty. You've spent time in sheer confusion and bewilderment. And I've had the honor of walking with some of you through those times. Your faith has been pushed to the limit, but you're still here. You're still here. You're still worshiping. You're still celebrating. You're still meeting around the Lord's table. Why? Because God's got you through. God has got you through. God's faithfulness has been put to the test. You're still here because of what he has done in your life. Oh, things may not have turned out as you would have liked. Things may not have turned out as you would have liked, but he's enabling you to cope even with your changed circumstances, even with your new reality. He's enabling you to cope and you're still here. Praise God, that's a victory, man. That's a victory. James highlights a beautiful analogy to illustrate this kind of patience. And it's found in the in the fifth chapter of his letter. It's a great verse. If you haven't read these two verses for a while and you're wanting to lift your patience levels, have a look at this. James chapter five verses seven and eight, he says this, see how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains. You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high. When you think about it, there are a lot of similarities between life on the land and life as we know it. I'm on the farmer. We wouldn't last five minutes on the land. But you think about it. There's uncertainty on the land. There's unpredictability. There are good seasons, bad seasons, and we could go on. But there's a rhythm to it all. There's a pattern to it all. And ultimately, the land does produce. The farmer does survive. All things being equal, not only going to all the economic variations, but yeah, that's the pattern. That's the rhythm of life on the land, good seasons, bad seasons. And so for us friends as Christians, it's not an optional thing. We must because patience is one of those evidences of the transformed life. Don't beat yourself up on it. None of us get perfect this side of heaven. But there's lots of scope with most of us, senior pastor, top of the list to develop increasing levels of patience. Somebody's put it this way. Patience is the fruit that is always in season. Show a bit of patience this week. Let's pray.