Patience
By John Romaine
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel,
and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto
him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then
partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” (James 2:1-4).
"Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you
in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12).
Introduction:
What the word “patience” means to most of us now is to quietly wait while the wife is getting ready as we are
sitting in the car. We’ve been ready for a long time, but it doesn’t bother us at all to wait for her; or
to be impatient means we are always in a hurry, in a frenzy to get something accomplished, and “haste makes waste”,
and we wind up wasting time because of our Impatience.
But
the original word used in New Testament times for patience is “hupomone,” and is loaded with more meaning.
It’s translation as “patience” captures only a part of its Biblical meaning. Most English translations use
the word “endurance,” which is better, because it requires deepness of character. The Scriptures tell us
that trials, tests of faith (if we let them), produce this virtue of hupomone in us. So hupomone is like when you are
starting a big project and it’s going to take time, and you’ll need to take many steps to get it done; but with
resolve, you persevere and finish the job. It takes endurance to finish school; or hang in there with a friend who is
struggling; or loving back when you are mistreated. Paul told the Corinthians, “though you mistreat me, my only
response is to love you back.” Like the old country song, “I can’t stop loving you; I’ve made up my
mind”. That is endurance when you are mistreated!
In
addition, the word hupomone means that it always had enough strength to not only endure, but to ALWAYS WIN! The Apostle
Paul said that the proof of this calling as an Apostle was hupomone. He went on to say that there were miracles and
mighty deeds, but the first proof of his Apostleship was his hupomone; his “hang-in-there” attitude that would
never give in or give up. Hupomone is like a tug-of-war, where inch by inch, you win by being stronger than the other
force against you. It’s like the little guy in a fight who keeps getting knocked down, but keeps getting back
up, until the bigger guy has no more strength to knock him down again, and just collapses under exhaustion. If you have
hupomone, YOU ALWAYS WIN! You may get knocked down, but never knocked out!
Another
point about this word is that it is part of faith. We know how important it is to have faith, but faith is almost always
linked to patience. It is said of the Saints of old, “through faith AND patience” they inherited the promises.
Jonathon Edwards, the mighty Christian Reformer and scholar, notes that many of our Christian words are part of other Christian
ideas (words are ideas). “Faith, hope and love” are a part of each other. In patience, we have the
combination of faith. One can’t be understood without including the other. Truth is not a lot of little
pieces; it is the blending together. To try to separate truth into little pieces to stand alone by themselves breaks
the bond and leaves us with half-truths. Someone once said, “There is no lie like a half-truth”. A
person can tell a half-truth to cover a lie. There is extra deceit in that kind of lying.
There
are many examples of hupomone in the Bible. Think about Abraham. He is the ‘Father of our Faith’.
The reason for his great faith was his great endurance. After God called him and he went out into the wilderness to
be shown a great country he would inherit and raise up a great nation, he spent years wandering and waiting for God to fulfill
His promise. Famine drove him down into Egypt and there he suffered personal failure before returning into the desert
to wait some more. But he endured. He outlasted all the barriers which came against him; even his personal
failure when he “collected rent” on Sarah his wife, whom he had talked into posing as his sister to Pharaoh; who
in turn, took her to be his wife. Yet in the end, his life was successful. Abraham persisted until he won the
victory he was called to achieve.
Think
of Moses. He was adopted into the wealth and the splendor of Egypt, but killed a man when Moses identified himself with his
true people; the Israelites. He ran into the desert and after many years God sent him back to deliver His people; and
he did deliver them, but after God gave His law to them through Moses, they rebelled and spent forty years wandering about
under the displeasure of God; but Moses endured and stayed with them and continued to represent God to them. When God
wanted to destroy them, Moses interceded. Moses’ character was braced with this endurance, hupomone, which we
read about in the New Testament. Moses was not allowed to bring Israel into the Promised Land, but he won the
approval of God for finishing what God had called him to do.
Think
about the Apostle Paul. Think of his persecution of both his countrymen and misunderstandings of his early Christian
brethren. Think about his beatings and imprisonments; his long missionary journeys and fight to keep his Gospel free
from heresy. Think about his place in Bible literature which he wrote under the constant stress of the life he lived.
Paul says that his undefeatable spirit of patience caused him to endure. It was hupomone that gave him his mighty strength
to bring the Church into the heights we enjoy today. His attitude was: “I can outlast anyone or anything for the
sake of the Gospel of Christ”. Paul’s testimony was that through the grace that is in Jesus Christ, he was
always a winner.
Then,
of course, we must look at Jesus to see our greatest example of hupomone. He waited thirty years to hear John the Baptist
prepare a way for Him as John brought Israel to repentance. John was like the Military’s heavy artillery that
softens up the enemy before the troops go in. John was mighty, but Jesus was even more so. His depth of character
was seen through His persistent commitment to His Fathers’ will that lead Him all the way to the cross and out of the
tomb. He is now before the Father interceding for us and will bring us to final victory because He has won and will
always go on winning.
Think
of His “rag-tag” group of Disciples who were slow to learn, full of common human weakness, and proved it when
they left Him to die His death alone. Yet, Jesus continued to love them and used them to carry on His work after He
left.
The
writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us to “consider Jesus.” The word for consider does not mean a “quick
glance” as we would glance at our watch; it means a “steady gaze” that studies every detail. If we
do that, we will see Jesus’ hupomone. That is what the writer was telling the Hebrews to be like in their Christian
faith instead of drifting back into their old ways. Jesus is our Pioneer and Captain of our salvation, who offers us
the winners place because He alone won it for us.
There’s
no short-cut to having hupomone in us. It can be built in us as we go through the tests of life which come to us, but
this understanding about the process of God working hupomone into us can give us the grace and confidence we need until “we
are mature and wanting nothing.”
