4/25/26 Long Suffering: It is Not What You May Think

We begin our series Addressing a subject matter that is commonly not spoken from a biblical standpoint and there are those that question whether or not it’s even biblical. So today we are going to kick off our series on the proper understanding of long-suffering.

Matthew 18:26 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

The passage we have here is derived from Matthew 18: 21-35 Jesus teaching on the parable of the run merciful servant. This parable is often utilized for the purposes of relational and her course when there is a debt involved within a relationship. Our focus is not the parable itself you’re just arrived from the meeting of this parable in the ebbs and flows of relational discourse. Peter asked the question in verse 21 how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? But that is not what our focus will be here today the focus is upon the one who was in debt and his relationship to the one he was a debt to.

This verse it was obvious it does not contain the words long- suffering and so we may be curious just what the preacher’s talking about here and that’s where the misunderstanding lies.

The word longsuffering in the Bible is made up of two Greek words meaning “long” and “temper”; literally, “long-tempered.” To be longsuffering, then, is to have self-restraint when one is stirred to anger. A longsuffering person does not immediately retaliate or punish; rather, he
has a “long fuse” and patiently forbears. Longsuffering is associated with mercy (1 Peter 3:20) to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

Because of the derived understanding that long-suffering equates to patience there may be some awkwardness in our understanding as to the proper meaning of long- suffering simply because of the term suffering is used, yet I would encourage all of you to hang with me here because there is more not only do we have long-suffering in the Bible meaning long and temper with aspects of self-control as part of the definition the rest of the meaning includes not only long and temper but also, hope (1 Thessalonians 1:3). We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

it does not surrender to circumstances or succumb to trial. This is where the bridge you were expecting to cross actually has shown up because it involves a lengthy trial. Earlier this year we taught on the aspects of the refiners fire, and we also taught before that on trials here you see the interconnectedness of the series that preceded this.

The word is translated “patience” in the Bible. Longsuffering is to be exhibited by all believers (Ephesians 4:2; Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

This isn’t just mentioned once ohh no it’s mentioned multiple times.

Colossians 1:11; being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,

3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience

You may ask why is it that we’re meant to have this trait? Why is it that God almighty wants us to embrace patience as a character trait as to who we are as we represent who Jesus Christ is? For that turn to the book of psalms-

Psalm 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

This is not what a lot of people expect from the sovereign being but because we are handled in the manner that we are handled because of the blood of Christ being upon us we need to praise God that he is merciful and gracious slow to anger and abundant loving kindness and truth. Yet I must remind all of my brothers and sisters in Christ that when you decided to follow Jesus you did the exact same thing that the disciples did when he said follow me.

When the disciples got out of their boats or left their positions of authority in the secular world because Jesus uttered that phrase it meant what I want you to do is give up everything and emulate who I am and what I teach and show it off to the world. They knew this this was the highest calling that anybody in that culture could ever have given to them and guess what it is the exact same calling that you and I share. Because when you came to recognize your need
for Jesus you received the eternal life of Jesus and the very presence of Jesus and Holy Spirit within you.

The believer in Jesus Christ receives the very life of God, His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

So one thing seems like they’re taking a long time to get straightened out in your life it might just be the righteous hand of God producing something that you weren’t aware of for your own good in your life and we could say it’s good because it’s derived from the character of God himself.

That life produces certain characteristics (fruit) that are displayed in the believer as they obey the Holy Spirit who lives within him. One of those godly characteristics from Galatians 5:22–23 is “longsuffering.”

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Sometimes you gotta put up with what life deals you and do the best you can with what you’ve got. I’m not speaking to you just from the Bible I’m speaking to you from over 2 decades of experience and trying to conduct the ministry that he has called for us to conduct.

Let’s bring this around full circle in our introductory verse, Matthew 18: 26 we recognized that the one in debt was asking for patience. What he is exemplifying here is a character trait of Christ Jesus himself. We can see it again and again and again and many other verses we didn’t even use today (1 Co 13:4, 2 Co 6:6, 1 Th 5:14, 2 Ti 3:10).

As I’ve taught you in this ministry everything in your life everything in the Bible everything in God’s manifest design and systems is seed-time-harvest. Very very few things in life have a quick return. This is why the enemy works against every society on earth to push entitlement and a short attention span. Because he wants you to discount the godly trait of waiting. So when you are enduring you’re serving in patience and what that really means is you’re practicing the very long-suffering in Jesus.

When you’re in a trial that has opposition from people around you who are beaten down upon you with hostility and malice it is natural to want justice it is natural to want a fair shake and it is natural for it to end but sometimes in order for a character trait to emerge you gotta be refined and the fire of the trial and you’ve got to experience long-suffering, patience in the face of opposition. Just like the farmer has to practice long-suffering of an unproductive field that isn’t bearing crops until the rain comes down and the blessings of God nourished that soil.

So while you are practicing long-suffering you’re gaining a trait of God taught to you by the hand of the master himself that says just wait the rain is a coming.