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WEEKLY
Volume 4 Number 8
19 July 2009
A Long-Suffering
Heart
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the
Worship Service, 2:00 pm, July 19, 09)
Text: Col 1:9-12
We have learnt about a loving heart, a
joyful heart and a peaceful heart, which is fruit of the Holy Spirit and
the gracious work of the Lord, transforming the heart of a sinner who
sincerely repents and wholeheartedly submits to the Lord and His Word.
Today, we are learning about a long-suffering heart. Do you and I have a
long-suffering heart? It should be noted that a true long-suffering
heart must be the transforming work of the Lord as well. Long-suffering
is part of a loving heart, “Charity suffereth long” (1 Cor 13:4).
Due to the totally depraved, corrupt and sinful nature of human beings,
they can never produce any true and lasting longsuffering; and
consequently, we can see that all the crimes and wicked things in this
world are due to a lack of love and longsuffering in the hearts of
mankind. In a heated argument, a person who cannot control himself and
bear with the other, he may kill the other. Then, there are domestic
violence, fighting, and wars because they cannot bear with one another,
but they want to retaliate against or hit back one another, first with
strong words and then with violence and crimes. May the Lord graciously
grant you and me a loving heart with joy, peace and longsuffering so
that we can live together in love, peace and joy.
Patience and Longsuffering
True and lasting longsuffering and
patience must come from a heart-knowledge of the Lord and by His power.
The Bible text today is Paul’s prayer for the believers in Colossae,
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray
for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his
will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience (hupomone)
and longsuffering (makrothumía) with joyfulness;
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:9-11). It is good
if you and I can discern the different meanings between patience
(hupomone) and longsuffering (makrothumía).
Hupomone
means persevere, remain under; a bearing up under, patience,
endurance, which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or
succumb under trial (Zodhiates). Hupomone has 32 occurrences;
and KJV translates as “patience” 29 times, “enduring” once, “patient
continuance” once, and “patient waiting” once.
Makrothumía
means long–suffering or endurance toward people. Forbearance,
long–suffering, self–restraint before proceeding to action. The quality
of a person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from doing so
(Zodhiates), the long endurance that does not retaliate (Trench).
Makrothumía has 14 occurrences; and the KJV translates as
“longsuffering” 12 times, and “patience” twice.
Dear friends, we do need a
heart-knowledge of God and His glorious power so that we may be able to
endure all things and bear with all people with joy and thanksgiving.
God’s Longsuffering
God is love (1 John 4:8) and full of
mercy, grace, goodness and longsuffering. God Himself proclaims, “The
LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the
children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation”
(Exod 34:6-7; cf. Num 14:18), and David echoed the same, “But thou, O
Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and
plenteous in mercy and truth” (Ps 86:15). Although God is full of
longsuffering, He cannot ignore sins due to His holiness and
righteousness, but surely He will judge and condemn sinners if they take
His longsuffering for granted and fail to repent, “Or despisest thou
the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering (makrothumía);
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
(Rom 2:4).
Let us meditate on God’s longsuffering
toward evil mankind in the days of Noah when “GOD saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). God
had let Noah preach a message of repentance to the people for 120 years
before He destroyed them by the Global Flood, “when once the
longsuffering (makrothumía) of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20). God had showed His
longsuffering toward His unfaithful and wicked people by sending His
prophets to warn them and to preach the message of repentance to them
before He let the Assyrians and Babylonians take them away in captivity.
God has showed His love and
longsuffering when He sent His only begotten Son to die for mankind and
to rise again to save those who believe in Him in repentance and
submission, and the reason why God does not judge this wicked world
right away is due to His longsuffering, “The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering (makrothumía) to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance…And account
that the longsuffering (makrothumía) of our Lord is
salvation” (2 Peter 3:9, 15).
Dear friends, let us appreciate God’s
love and long-suffering and then come back to Him in repentance and
submission as Paul did, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of
whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me
first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering (makrothumía),
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim
1:15-17).
An Illustration of Longsuffering
Our Lord Jesus taught His disciples,
“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee,
rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against
thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee,
saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4), and they
did not believe that they could do that, praying, “Increase our
faith” (v 6).
Then, when Peter asked the Lord Jesus
how often his brother sinned against him and he forgave him, and Peter
was even so generous to suggest seven times, but he must have been so
surprised and helpless when Jesus said, “I say not unto thee, Until
seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matt 18:22). And then
our Lord Jesus told them a parable that we have just read in our
responsive reading (Matt 18:21-35). Through this parable, we can see the
great longsuffering of God and the limited longsuffering of man: A slave
owed the King ten thousand talents, and because he could not pay his
unpayable debt, he “fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have
patience (makrothumía) with me, and I will pay thee all”
(v 26). Although this slave failed to see his unpayable debt, saying
to the King, “I will pay thee all,” the King was so good and kind
that he released the slave free. However, when this slave’s
fellow-servant owed him only 100 pence (or only 100 denarii), and fell
down at his feet and prayed, “Have patience with me (makrothumía),
and I will pay thee all” (v 29), this wicked slave refused the
request and cast him into prison. When the incident was reported to the
King, he was angry and said to the wicked slave, “O thou wicked
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even
as I had pity on thee?” and the king delivered him to the
tormentors until “he should pay all that was due unto him” (vv
32-34), and our Lord Jesus concluded, “So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one
his brother their trespasses” (v 35). Could the slave pay all his
debt? Never! He failed to see his unpayable debt and the King’s great
longsuffering and kindness toward him, so he could not show his
longsuffering and kindness toward his fellow-servant. Let us just
calculate the debt to see how much we owe our Lord, the King of kings:
According to Zodhiates, one talent equals 6,000 drachmai, and four
drachmai equals one denarius, which was the wage of one-day work (Matt
20:2). Then, if we owe the king ten thousand talents, which equals
15,000,000 denarii, and if a life span is 100 years or 36,500 days, then
we have to live up to 41,095 years or to spend 410 lives to pay our
debt. It is impossible! May God help you and me see our unpayable debt
(sins) and His great longsuffering and kindness toward us so that we may
be willing to forgive our brethren who only owe us 100 denarii, a
payable debt, which equals only 3-month wage.
How to Have a Long-suffering Heart
As our human longsuffering is limited,
what should we do to have a long-suffering heart?
Be Born Again:
We can never produce the fruit of the
Holy Spirit by ourselves. We must be born again by the Holy Spirit and
God’s Word (John 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23) and then humbly submit ourselves to
the Lord and His Word so that the Holy Spirit may produce His fruit of
love, joy, peace and longsuffering in our hearts.
Grow in God’s Grace and Knowledge
(2 Peter 3:18): The more we know our God and His love, His
grace, His mercy, His goodness and His longsuffering toward us, the more
we may be constrained by His love to bear with others and forgive them.
It is good for you and me to remember that we have owed our Lord so
much, an unpayable debt, and that we have been forgiven and saved by His
grace and mercy alone, or else we only deserve to be condemned to Hell
of fire for ever due to our sins, transgressions, unrighteousness and
iniquities.
Have Been Purchased to Follow the
Lord: God has
redeemed or bought us with His great price, with the precious blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ, so we are not our own but the Lord’s (Acts 20:28;
1 Cor 6:19-20; 1 Peter 1:18-19). It is good to remember that our lives,
our time, our bodies, our names, etc. belong to the Lord and even our
“self” has been crucified with the Lord (Gal 2:20) so that we may not be
upset or angry when others may offend us or damage our reputation. We
just follow our Lord Jesus Christ, “because Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he
was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but
committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter
2:20-23).
Rely on the Lord and Pray to Him
(John 15:5; Col 1:9-11): God expects you and me to have
“faith and patience (makrothumía)” to “inherit the
promises” (Heb 6:12) like Abraham, who had patiently waited for 25
years until God gave him Isaac. God even commands us to “Be patient
(makrothumía) therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the
Lord” (James 5:7). Acknowledging our limited longsuffering, we
should rely on our Lord for His glorious power to persevere (hupomone)
in all things and bear with (makrothumía) all men, “be patient
(makrothumía) toward all men” (1 Thess 5:14), even in
preaching God’s Word (2 Tim 4:2) and in suffering injustice and
unfairness, trusting in our God’s sovereignty and cry unto Him for help
and justice, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day
and night unto him, though he bear long with them (makrothumía)?”
(Luke 18:7).
Conclusion
Dear friends, living in this wicked
world, we do need God’s power to persevere in all things, to bear with
all men and to be faithful to Him and His Word until our Lord Jesus
Christ comes again. May God help you and me grow in His grace and
knowledge, follow our Lord Jesus Christ, and rely on Him with trust,
prayer, and submission so that we may have His power to endure all
things with joy and thanksgiving (Col 1:9-11). Amen.
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