Greg Ford - Proactive Patience
I think I've probably gone years at a time without preaching on patience. Feels like a waste of time. Why would I preach on patience when I could do a good sermon about productivity? Why preach on patience when I could talk about being fruitful? Why would I want anybody to take their foot off the gas? I'd like you to have a sense of urgency, I tend to live that way, I have a bias toward action, and I tend to like people who think the same way. Bias towards action. We're not sitting around thinking about it, dreaming about it, hoping for it, we're making it happen. If there's not a door we'll make one, we're making stuff go, making stuff happen, quick action.
Why would I wanna talk about patience? I don't wanna do that. I've noticed over the years, you know, I've got a lot of mentors, I've reached out to older folks, wise, wise, sage-like people that I come to and stuff, when I'm overwhelmed, I've got to talk to somebody. You ever go to a wise person with life experience, who life has not hardened them and made them nasty, and, "Get off of my lawn," type of people. They are the type of people, they're actually, they're more humble over time, and you admire them, you admire them?
You know, I think there is a fear as we get older that we lose relevance as we're getting older, it's a little intimidating, but if you do it right, you're the most relevant person in the world. You ever get around one of these folks? I do. I'll get around them and I'll bring all my frustrations. You know, "I'm so frustrated. We can't get this done? And why are we there? And I wanna get it done fast. And how can we get to do it faster, bigger, more, quick, blah, blah, blah". And it's like clockwork , man.
Every last one of them, doesn't matter who they are, how old they are, what gender they are, all the wise ones go "Slow down, dude. Be patient my man. Big dog, calm down. Some things take time. You can have a wedding in 30 minutes, but it takes a lifetime to build a marriage. You can have a baby real quick, takes a lifetime to develop a person over time. You can get rich fast, takes a long time to learn how to use that resource and not let it use you".
Some things take time to develop, and there seems to be as the wiser people are, the more they value patience, and I've done a lousy job over the years. Some of it probably is youth, some of it is an evangelistic urgency. I don't wanna leave anybody hanging, I want people to find Jesus, now. Get these cameras on and let's get this to the ends of the earth, 'cause we can get, now we're in a day, we can get it out fast. But I think if the people, the hundred people that knew me best were to write down five words that best describes me, I don't think patience would show up, and because of that I think I've missed some things, and I've been quick to the productivity, and quick to the fruitfulness, and not been quick to talk about patience.
I think one of my misunderstandings on this has been that patience and proactivity are not antithetical. In other words, you can be proactive and still be patient. It's not that it's always about just stopping and waiting and doing nothing and then calling yourself patient. There are somethings you have to anticipate and you gotta be on it, and if you wait too long, it's too late, and you gotta be on it. So, this isn't about having no vision for the future, this isn't about working hard, this is, actually you can work hard, be proactive and be patient, simultaneously.
I wanna look at this, I'm gonna go into God's word, I wanna talk about what it means to be proactively patient. Eventually, I'm gonna get to Philippians 1, but I wanna actually start by talking about Jesus. And I wanna look at the Bible, but I also wanna look, not only at what the Bible says, but I wanna look at some circumstantial evidence of patience. I'm gonna start with this, okay Jesus, we have in the book Luke, well, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all the story of Jesus' life. They are what we would consider the holiest of the holy scriptures, the gospels, it's about Jesus.
In Luke, okay he documents well, the birth of Jesus when he was a little, little kid and then at age, he jumps right from little, little Jesus, to 12 year old Jesus, like right away, next paragraph. He's in the temple at 12 years old, and he's a brilliant 12 year old, he's a prodigy. He's standing among men who are teachers of the law. Their whole lives have been about trying to digest, and understand, and articulate, make the complex simple, and so, they are always turning the law over. And here's this kid, this 12 year old kid that's among all these genius older men, and he's blowing their mind with his depth of understanding at 12. They're like, whoa. I mean, this is the kid that you would think is gonna break the world record for productivity.
"Get this kid out in the field, we gotta get him, get him on TV, we gotta get him in front of people, we gotta get him writing books, we gotta get him making content, this kid's a genius". And so, we find him at 12 years old, and you would think that it would now, boom they would throw him, right, and he'd go right in. But Jesus in his wisdom, he waits 18 years to start his career, 18 years. And for 18 years, he's a carpenter and more like a contractor, he's building things, he's building homes.
In fact, later on when Jesus was trying to take things abstract or intangible, like the Kingdom of God, he's talking, he uses tangible terms like buildings. He's like, "I will build, I will build my church, there will be a foundation on this church, and I'll build". He uses the term build 'cause he was a builder. If Jesus had been a farmer he'd probably said, "I will grow my church". If he'd been a fisherman, he would've said, you know, I don't know, "Reel in my", I don't know what he would've said. You get the idea. He spent 18 years, building things. In fact, the people around Jesus were more urgent for him to start his ministry career than he was, even his own mom.
Think back to the story of Jesus turning water into wine, remember that? He's at the wedding, and they run out of wine, and his mom's like, "You can do something about this. Hey, do a miracle". And she's trying to get Jesus into his first miracle. And what does he says? "I don't want to do that, my time has not yet come. It's not time for me". What? You would think he'd be chomping at the bit. "I've been ready since I was 12, and now, I'm a man. I've been, you know, I've been treading water over here for 18 years, building houses when I should've been doing ministry. I should've been doing my real purpose". And yet his mom's trying to get him to jump the gun, and he's like, "Mom, chill out, I don't wanna do this". But he goes ahead and obeys, 'cause it's his mom, and you gotta obey mom.
That's a different sermon for a different day, come back Mother's Day, I was gonna talk to you about that. But his ma' has more of an urgency than he does. "My time is not yet come". You see in Jesus' three year ministry everybody's more urgent than him, everybody. His disciples are more urgent than him, the crowds are more urgent than him. Jesus has this cool, calm, and collected, even though it feels like he's trying to a lifetime worth of work in three years, somehow he never seems like he's in a big rush.
There's more to it, when he dies, resurrects, and gets ready to ascend in Acts 1, look at this, this famous verse, famous verse. I want us to look at what Jesus said, but what he didn't say, look at this. Acts 1:8, he says, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth". He's giving them a vision for where to go, okay. When we talk about destination addiction, we're talking about the belief that many people have that happiness is in the future. They keep deferring gratification to the future, right.
Dr. Robert holden in 2011, started to notice a pattern in people that they're always thinking that the next hill was going to be the hill that would bring them ultimate satisfaction. And wisdom over time you find the you look at that hill and you're like at the top of that hill is my happiness, at the top of that hill is my satisfaction. And you get there and it feels really good for a second, and then the new car smell wears off. And so, then you go, "Oh but, it's probably that hill". Then you try that hill. And you get like, I don't know, how many hills you gotta get, depends on how smart you are, but eventually you do enough hills and you're like, "Man, you know, new car smell always wears off".
So, it's not gonna be in a destination where I'm ultimately gonna find my happiness, and too many people, they defer their happiness always to the future. Well, I have to be able to find fulfillment in my present, I have to find contentment in my present, that's what we've been talking about. But here we see in Acts 1, Jesus gives them a vision. He says, "Hey here's what I want you to do, go into all the world, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth".
Notice what he didn't say, he didn't say, "I want you to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth, by the end the year". He doesn't give them a timeframe. Jesus said, "Go into all the world, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth," but he didn't say by the end of the year, he didn't seem like he was in that big of a hurry. It's kinda weird. I'll say this too, I'll just keep going 'cause you're looking at me concerned, but I don't care. I'm just here to preach and teach. I'mma tell you the truth, here's what happened, Jesus ascends to heaven.
Have you noticed, that nowhere in all the gospels is it documented that Jesus seemed to have a huge sense of urgency that they write his biography quickly? Like, you've got John, eyewitness, you don't see Jesus feed the 5,000 and go, "John, did you get that? Hey, John, I'm 'bout to do something, write this down". He goes, "Do it. Let me see what you got. No, gimme a second draft, that's not good, and you have it ready, 'cause I'm 'bout to ascend and we gotta get this thing out now. It's gotta be now". He's never, you don't him ever doing that. In fact, if we look around the scripture a little bit, you might go look up the date, when did the gospels, when did they drop? When did they come out?
The most aggressive timeline of the gospels, the first gospel written, the most aggressive timeline is 15 years after the resurrection. Most have 'em dated between 50 and 60 years after the resurrection of Jesus, that the gospels are written. And Jesus didn't say, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth, end of the year, and get the book out before the end of the year, it's a big deal. Get it out and get it distributed. Why aren't you guys thinking distribution? We gotta get it out".
In fact, think about this, if Jesus had done all the stuff he did in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John now, everything would've been faster, blog, boom! Ends of the earth, everybody can see it. The communication, the travel, everything's faster now, why wouldn't you do it now? But he did it in a time where travel was slow, distribution was slow, we got excited when they found the Dead Sea scrolls that were manuscripts, that were like slit down. Slow. "Pastor, what's your point"?
My point is, Jesus seemed to not be in this big a hurry as you and me. We tend to live frantic, Jesus was on mission, Jesus was absolutely on mission, but he was not frantic. Jesus was on mission, Jesus was not frantic, he was not in a hurry, he was on mission not in a hurry. Jesus was a patient guy, proactive, when I say patient I don't mean lazy, that's not code for lazy, that's not code for inaction. I'm talking at peace, was his demeanor, and the early church embodied that. And because of that, their whole ethos drew people to them, and ultimately caused them to find Jesus too.
I wanna talk about this proactive patience, I wanna give you three things to think about, and we're gonna take them out of Philippians 1. Philippians 1 is written, or Philippians, the whole book is written by the apostle Paul, who developed a relationship with the church in Philippi, and it's a pretty dramatic story, if you read it in the Book of Acts and the historical narrative of Acts. It's the story where Paul and Silas are in prison. They're in the inner dungeon, and yet in the inner dungeon, they're singing hymns and they're worshipping God and they're praying.
And then this miracle happens, the chains fall off, there's an earthquake, the chains fall off, the gates fling open and they're free as a bird. And it's in that moment that that actually is the beginning of the Philippian church. So, Paul has this amazing memory of God's miraculous provision, and the way he's now bonded. And now, these inmates became a church and began to spread through the community. So, now Paul leaves Philippi, but he stays in relationship. The way he stayed in relationship was through letters, back and forth.
And so, he's writing them now, Philippians, he's writing it from a different prison. This man ends up in prison all the time, he's in a different prison writing back to the Philippian church. And he says to 'em in verse 3. He said, "I thank my God every time I remember you. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you," in my prayers, "I always pray with joy". Three things I wanna give you, the first is this, proactive patience, you've got to pause and look back. You gotta pause and look back. He said, "I thank God every time I remember you, when I pray for you, when I think about you, it brings joy into my life".
Now, think about this, Paul's in prison, if there was any place in the world you could have destination addiction, right. "Once I'm outta here, then I'll be happy. Once I'm outta here, then I'll be productive, once I get outta here". In fact, when you're in something like that, it's very common to start bartering with God. "Lord, if you'll get me out of, if you'll get me to a better place with better people, I'll be a better man. Get me to a better place with better people, I'll have a positive attitude, I'll do some really great things". And yet, Paul teaches us something here just by simply, as he's writing to them, he's saying, you know, "Every time I remember you, and every time I think of you, I find joy in the moment".
I think this is one of the keys, although we have a vision for the future, to not getting stuck in deferring all of our joy to the future. "When I get with better people in a better place". My ability to actually stop, and remember, and to think back, by the way, we get together every weekend, every Saturday, Sunday, we come together and worship. Part of this discipline of coming together is to worship God, we sing, we look in his word, but we stop.
And with all the things on our plate, and all the things in our future, and the email that's waiting on you, and the phone call you got to make, and you've been putting it off, but you gotta do it, "I gotta do this, I gotta take this head on," all that stuffs waiting on you, in moments like this, you stop, and you remember, and you think back on what God has done, you think back on good memories, and you think back on his faithfulness. Paul says this later when he's helping folks deal with anxiety, he says, "Don't be anxious for anything, pray about everything, tell God what you need and thank him, thank him for what he's done". You gotta look back.
So, Paul looks back, while he's in his current prison, and he's going, "You know, I'm writing to these Philippians,6 and I met them in prison. Remember what God did in that prison, and the way God delivered me from that prison. And remember, how even before the chains came off, we were having church". And so, what is he doing? He's actually transcending the limitations of his current environment by looking back, and he's not waiting until I get out of here, till they get the exculpatory evidence, till it comes back not guilty, till they let me out. No, he's not waiting on any of that. "I'm gonna be joyful right now".
How do you do it? By looking back and remembering. So, part of being proactively patient is the ability to pause and to look back. Look what he says, he says in verse 6, "Being confident of this, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus". Okay, that's a famous verse. "He who began a good work will carry it through to completion". Don't read through it too quickly. Do you see what he's doing here? He's teaching us how to have a relationship with the past, present, and future. So, he says, "When I remember you, and I remember what happened, I remember with joy," and he goes, "And there is joy in my present".
And then he said, "Hey I have a vision, I believe God's gonna bring it to completion". He said, "But being confident of this, I'm confident here, now, in this moment, that he who began a good work in you in the past, is gonna carry it all the way on to completion in the future. So, I'm not so fixated on the future, I live there and I'm deferring my joy," but he said, "I know, I'm believing good things for the future". He said, "But just by thinking back", okay all of that, it's doing something for me right now.
Verse 7, he said, "It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me". Verse 8, "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus". You see, he loved them so much, he longed for them, but what he didn't do is allow his longing for them to cause him to defer his joy to when he was them. "I love you, I long for you, but I'm not gonna let that turn into destination addiction. I'm gonna think back on what God's done . I'm gonna be optimistic about the future, but I'm currently, I'm going to pour myself into the present".
Listen, if you're frustrated that you're not further along, you have to stop and think about how far you've come. When you're frustrated that you're not further along, and I'm sure there's people here right now, you go, "I should be further along. I'm this old, I'm still dealing with this? I thought at this point in my career I'd be there, I thought at this point in our marriage we'd be there. I thought at this point in my life I'd be more successful, things would be easier, I thought I'd be reaping and I'm not".
And in the moments that you're frustrated that you're not where you want to be, you have stop and thank God and remember who you used to be or where you used to be. And so, you gotta discipline yourself to do that, you have to be able, in the moment, when you feel that frustration, that you're not further along, that you've gotta stop and think about, and be thankful for how far you've come. The second thing is this, you have to produce what you can where you are. You have to produce what you can where you are.
Hey, listen, I know if you were somewhere else, you'd produce so much different, and so much more. And some of you aren't doing the work you really wanna do, and there's the work I really wanna do, but right now I gotta do this, but I wanna do that. And so, because you're not doing what you wanna do where you wanna do it, you're not doing anything well. You gotta do what you can where you are. Look what Paul says, this is so good, verse 12, same chapter, verse 12, he said, "I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear".
Paul's saying to them "Hey, I just want you guys to know, I'm not waiting to get out of here before I become productive, I'm not waiting till I get released before I do great things". And I mean, don't let this be lost on you, you notice here, some of the most famous verse in the Bible, "He who began a good work will carry it through", that's Paul incarcerated, encouraging people on the outside. You know, if I'm in prison I'm like, "When are the people on the outside gonna encourage me"? And Paul's in there going, "Write this down, write this down".
I just want these guys out in Philippi, who are free as a bird in Philippi, they got a guy in prison going, "Hey guys don't get discouraged out there now, don't get discouraged out there. He who began a good work is gonna carry it through to completion. I'm confident of this one thing. And don't worry about me by the way, I'm handling it up in cell block e. I'm holding it down. I'm taking care of business. My enemies, okay, the people who had me locked up, these people, I got 'em right, these guards, I got 'em right there man, I got 'em, ooh they're right there man. Just give me a few more minutes, I got, there's a movement happening here, God's doing something, he's doing something in cell block e, and I'm so fortunate, I get to be in the middle of it. And my fellow inmates, who were really discouraged, now have found boldness. And you know why? God's using me. I'm right here in the middle of this, I'm a part of this, and God's using even my imprisonment to stir up boldness and confidence among the people around me".
So, he's encouraging people on the outside, he's ministering to the guards, and he's stirring up his fellow inmates. I'm not gon' wait to get productive someday, I'mma do what I can, where I am, right here, right now. Have you ever gone to visit somebody in the hospital, and you left encouraged? You know what I'm talking about? One of these like, I mean, I've met folk on their death bed, they got tubes coming out their nose, they just came out of radiation, they're going through a hellacious situation and they're like encouraging the nurses.
"I'mma pray for you". Goes like, "We're here to pray for you". They end up praying for you, you go walking out, like, "How am I encouraged"? Paul said, "I'm not gon' wait till I get there some day, better place with better people, I'm right here, right now, I'm gonna do the work that God's given me to do right here, right now". The last thing is to prepare for what's next, prepare for what's next. Philippians 1:20-26, Paul says, "I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, and that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die".
Verse 21, "For me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better". Not trying to be morbid here, "But if I live, I can do fruitful work for Christ", "And that's great, that fun, that's awesome to be used in a fulfilling fruitful way. And so, if I do live, if I do have a bright future, if they do let me out of here, I'll just do more of that". He said, "But I don't really know which ones better because I'm torn between two desires. I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me," because then I wouldn't have to deal with this craziness.
But verse 24, "But for your sake actually, it is better if I continue to live". "Knowing this, I am sorta convinced, I have a hunch, that good things are gonna happen, I have a hunch that these doors are gonna open, I have a hunch that there's a new season for me, that I will remain alive, that I have a future".
"So, I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me". Paul in the middle of prison, of a prison sentence, he's able to say, "I believe that what's happening here is preparing me for what's next". But he said, "I'm realistic enough to say that I don't actually know what's gonna happen. I might die in here".
And he said, "You know, when I think about it if I die here now, I won't die unfulfilled, because I find joy now, I'm productive now, so, if I die here or out there, either way to live is Christ, to die is gain, but the funny thing is, the more I pray about it, the more I think about it, I actually think I've got a bright future, I actually think the doors are gonna open, I actually think I'm gonna get, but once I get there, I won't start living then, because I'm already living now".