Love is Longsuffering

Very thankful for your presence today and for the good song service we had this morning. Appreciate Jim and the good work that he does. We’re thankful for you being here today and we invite you to open your Bibles now to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.We’re going to begin a series of lessons on what love is. There are in this world those who triumph and champion love and they want to place on love their own definitions of what love is. But you know the Bible talks about what love is. And 1 Corinthians 13 and verses 4 through 8 is the key passage where we have love being described and love being defined in a lot of ways. And so we want to know what the Bible says about love and what love is.

And so this morning we begin this series and we’re going to first of all look at this first part of 1 Corinthians 13, 4-8. Love is long-suffering. And so let’s just read together these verses, and then as we look at them and as we think about the context of what love is, we get a complete picture, but we will look at each one of these words and think about the meaning in relationship to love and in relationship to how we can make application of love within our lives. And maybe it doesn’t fit. In fact, I know it doesn’t fit with what the world says love is because in the world, love is defined in such a way so as to gratify fleshly desires. But in the Bible, the Bible teaches us that love is something that supports spirituality and that is going to uplift us and help us to grow relationships with other people.

So let’s talk about love. “Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

So if we work through this great list of what love is, then we’re going to find some wonderful spiritual teaching. Well, this morning, let’s focus on this idea of love is long-suffering. And the word for long-suffering here is this Greek word, makrothumia. And the idea is it means patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, and perseverance. And this is something that Paul begins with when he thinks about love. The first word that came to mind was long-suffering because love endures. Love keeps on. Love doesn’t quit. And that’s something we need in this life in a lot of situations that we face on a daily basis.

Well, let’s think about love being long-suffering this morning, and we’re going to look at three basic points. First of all, love is long-suffering because, number one, it is a quality of God. Second, love is long-suffering because it is key to relationships. And finally, love is long-suffering because it curtails selfishness.

So let’s think about these three points, starting with love is long-suffering because it is a quality of God.

You know, we think about long-suffering. And long-suffering is when we put up with things, you know, that we wouldn’t otherwise put up with. But we’re long-suffering. We put up with it. Maybe we talk to someone patiently, and over time, as we have conversations, we can work on that relationship. Maybe there’s behavior that needs to be changed, both in the other person and in ourselves, and maybe over a long period of time, maybe even as we’re thinking about our marriages, that that behavior changes slowly over a long time. I know that in my case that I’m not the same person that I used to be, and I try to be better every day in my marriage and in my relationship with my children and in my relationship with my church family and my relationship with everyone. But that’s a process that takes time, and we’ve got to be long-suffering, both with ourselves and with others. And that’s something that we need to work on.

And why is it? Because God is long-suffering, and he puts up with us, right? When I think about God putting up with me, well, that makes me think, you know, I need to be more willing to put up with others. Because God puts up with me and God is long-suffering.

Think about in Exodus 34 and verse 6 there, the beginning of the relationship that God is trying to form with the children of Israel. And God is giving Moses the Ten Commandments here, and the Lord passed before him. And as God was passing before Moses, he’s in the mountain there. And Moses said, show me your glory. And God said, no, you can’t stand that. So he covered him with his hand, and he passed by, and it was still too much for Moses. But as he passed by, he proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth.”

This is who God is. This is the definition of God. God is long-suffering. It’s one of his great qualities. And when we think about long-suffering, we should think about God because God puts up with humanity and he’s put up with humanity for so many years.

Paul calls on the longsuffering of God in Romans chapter 2 and verse 4 when he says, “Do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
So God’s longsuffering is there so that good can happen and so that people may repent of their sins.

We think about 2 Peter 3 and verse 15 where Peter writes, “And consider the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.”

The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. When God puts up with us, that leads us to be able to learn more, to be able to repent, and that, of course, contributes to our salvation. God’s long-suffering provides salvation for so many people because so many need time to work through so many things.

We think about the Apostle Paul himself who, for a long period of time, was opposed to Christianity and who persecuted Christians and God put up with him. And he wrote in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 16, “However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.”

And so Jesus Christ showed long suffering to Saul, who later became the apostle Paul. And then what happened as a result of that? He was saved and he did a tremendous great work for Jesus Christ.

And so long suffering, long suffering gives us time for change. 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

So God’s long-suffering is there for us to have time, to understand, to learn, to grow, and to repent. And it comes from his love. God is love, and therefore God is long-suffering. Love is long-suffering because it is a quality of God.

But secondly, love is long-suffering because it is key to relationships.

God puts up with us, as I said earlier, and we need to put up with one another. If you’re going to have a relationship with anyone, there’s going to be some amount of putting up with, you know, and we’re going to need to be long suffering with one another.

People don’t always do things the way I think they ought to be done. And I’m sure that I do things in ways that other people think that I shouldn’t do them. And so what happens when that’s the case? Either we’re going to be at odds constantly or we’re going to be long-suffering. And that is a response of love. When I love someone, I’m going to be long-suffering with them. You know, you’re not very long-suffering with someone you don’t love.

Think about driving down the road for just a few minutes. And what happens? Somebody cuts you off. And are you long-suffering with them? Well, no. Well, you’re going to tell that so-and-so just how bad a driver he is or she is, aren’t you? Yeah, because you don’t love that person. But at least… in your mind, you don’t because that’s your reaction. Now, you should love that person. We should love everyone. But of course, we think about that too late sometimes.
And so, but we need to be long-suffering because love is long-suffering. And it’s key to relationships. It helps us to grow relationships with one another.

Long-suffering is necessary to have unity within the body of Christ. Ephesians 4 verses 2 and 3 says, “With all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.”

Long-suffering is there so that we can have unity. And we need to have unity. Unity is so important. Long-suffering helps us to have unity.

Long-suffering also is there so that we can have patience and help one another. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 14 says, “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.”

Every single person deserves my patience. You know, it’s interesting that years ago I watched a video put out by Chick-fil-A and it was a training video for their employees. And as that training video was playing, they were instructing their employees to be kind, to be courteous, to be patient with every single person who comes in the door. Because you don’t know what a person is dealing with.

And in this video, they kind of showed, it was a reenactment, of course, but they kind of showed that idea because they focused in on this one woman and they were playing her thoughts. You know, she was sitting there thinking, I can’t believe that I’ve just been diagnosed with cancer, you know. And then there was another person, a man who was thinking, you know, it’s so sad that my son has just passed away. And then another person was having some other kind of serious thought. And their point is, let’s be kind and courteous and long-suffering and patient with everyone because what are people going through? Every single person is going through something and we need to be kind toward them as they’re going through that. And so long-suffering, patience toward all men at all times, is something that we need to display.

Long-suffering brings productivity as well. Colossians 1, verses 10 and 11 says, “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy.”

When we are patient, when we are long suffering, we bring forth fruit. It’s something that contributes to productivity. If we cease to be long-suffering, we cease to be patient, what happens? Our productivity ends, and we don’t accomplish the things that we hope to accomplish. But when we’re long-suffering, we can work through things. We can push forward. We can understand that, yeah, it’s difficult right now, but you know what? I can work through this. I can overcome this difficulty, and I can be better.

And when we’re productive, that helps our relationships with other people because then they can rely upon us. Then they can depend upon us. They can trust us to do the work that we need to do.

And so long-suffering helps with productivity. Long-suffering produces loyalty and it shows loyalty toward others as well. In Revelation 14, verse 12, we read, “Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

The patience of the saints is connected to being loyal to Jesus Christ. And we need to be loyal. Sometimes we talk about faithfulness and this idea of loyalty is within the idea of faithfulness because it’s keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ.

And long-suffering is enduring as well. “Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” James 5, verses 10 and 11.

Long-suffering helps us to endure and to endure afflictions, to endure trials, to endure difficulties. And when that happens, you know, when we look at people who endure, we count them happy or we count them blessed.

Have you ever seen a movie where the hero is, you know, it seems like every single time he turns around, something bad is happening to him. And you think, well, he’s going to get out of this scrape and he’s going to, you know, overcome the bad guy. And then he just gets into worse trouble. And it just goes on and on and on until the very end of the movie. And finally, at the end, somehow, some way, he finds a way to overcome. And then you see, oh, what a great ending. What a blessed ending. What a wonderful story that was. But he had to overcome so many obstacles. But then at the end, you think, what a great, wonderful movie that was.

Well, we’re talking about in real life now that when we are patient and long-suffering and endure, at the end, it will be a great blessing and it is a wonderful thing.

So let’s endure. Let’s be long-suffering. Let’s remember that long-suffering also affirms the truth. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 2. And that’s something sometimes I think we think, you know, if I’m long-suffering with someone, I can’t really talk to them about the gospel. I’ve just got to put up with, no, that’s not the case at all. We can talk to someone about the gospel and be long-suffering at the same time. “Preach the word, be ready in season, out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching.”

We’ve got to come back to the standard of the gospel and affirm that standard over and over again. That’s part of being long-suffering.

And so love grows relationships by being long-suffering. And in all of these things that we’ve been talking about, affirming the standard, affirming the truth, enduring, productivity, unity, all of the things we’ve discussed, they all contribute to better relationships with one another. And when we’re long-suffering, and love is long-suffering, when we’re long-suffering, that makes for better relationships.

And then finally this morning, long-suffering curtails selfishness.

As we’re thinking about love, you know, love, when we love other people, we’re not going to be selfish, right? We’re going to think about their needs before we think about our own needs. We’re going to be thinking about what we can do to follow and to obey God before we think about our own selfish needs. And so love curtails selfishness and long suffering helps us to curtail that selfishness as well.

You know, selfishness destroys love. And so anything that will curtail it is something that will help us to love one another. We don’t want to just pursue our own selfish desires every day, but you know, we’re kind of naturally impatient.

If you think about it, you think about… When you go through life, you know, a lot of things that we think about have to do with time and time management. And sometimes we think, well, my time is valuable. I don’t have time to put up with someone or something or in a situation. Or maybe someone might say, you’re not worth my time. Or maybe I don’t have time.

All of those things, all of those sayings are very selfish in nature because whose time is it? It’s not my time. It’s God’s time. Time belongs to him. And everyone belongs to God. And we have what God has given us. And so we need to use that to honor him.

And when we’re not long-suffering, when we’re not patient, it takes things away from us and away from God that rightly belong to him. And we need to recognize the role of long suffering in curtailing selfishness.

Think about that door keeper, that watchman, if you will, who stands in front of the door all day long. And Jesus actually compares our long suffering and our being able to wait on others and to be patient with a doorkeeper in Mark chapter 13 and verses 32 through 37.

He says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

Long-suffering helps us to watch. It helps us to wait. It helps us to understand that God, being patient with us, wants us to be patient with others and bring forth fruit and bring forth a great harvest.

2 Thessalonians 3 verse 5 says, “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and to the patient waiting for Christ.”

James 5, 7, “Be patient, therefore, brethren, for the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain.”

Long-suffering helps us to watch, it helps us to wait, and it helps us to work. It gives us strength so that we can endure. Isaiah 40 and verse 31, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

And so being long suffering leads us to work. It leads us into sowing the seed. Luke 8 and verse 15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.”

And all of these things that we’re focusing on, watching, waiting, working, leads us to win the victory. And that curtails selfishness because it gives us something to do besides just think about my own selfish needs and my own selfish thoughts.

And if we’re long-suffering, then we’re going to inherit the promises. Think about Hebrews 6 and verse 12, “that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Don’t be slothful, but be patient. Be long-suffering. Keep working, and we will win the victory. Hebrews 10 and verse 36, “For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.” And that patience will then lead us to eternal life. Romans 2 and verse 7. “To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.” Patient continuance and well-doing. That’s what love is. That’s what love does. Love is long-suffering. Love continues patiently with others, even when they may not give me what I want, even when things don’t necessarily go my way, even when… sometimes, yes, I may butt heads with somebody else, but yet I am long-suffering because it’s not about me. It’s about God. It’s about doing his holy will within my life.

And if I’m long-suffering, that will curtail my selfishness and help me to love other people as I ought. “Be you also patient. Stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James chapter 5 and verse 8. Love is long-suffering. That’s our first word in this great chapter of love that we have in the Bible. Love, it says at the end, never fails. And when it’s all said and done, what’s going to endure? What’s going to last? Faith, hope, and love. And you see, love is, first of all, long-suffering.

Do we love like God loves? Let’s resolve to be more long-suffering within our lives. You know, God is long-suffering with us. And as we mentioned earlier, he’s waiting for us to do the right thing. And maybe this morning, you’re one of those people who God is waiting for. He’s being long-suffering to you so that you might repent. Well, this morning, if you’ve made the choice to do that, you can hear that good word and believe it. Repent of your sins. Confess Jesus as Lord and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. And then take up the mantle of loving other people and take up the cross of Jesus Christ to show that you love and that as he was long-suffering, you can be long-suffering. And if this morning you need to respond to his invitation of being long-suffering with you, you can become more like him this morning while together we stand and while we sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!