In this sermon, Shawna Boren calls us to live in the way of Jesus by embodying patience in the midst of strife and turmoil. We are to bear with one another, showing others patience even when our natural tendencies compel us to set them straight. 
In this passage, Paul is challenging the choices that have been made by the people in the Colossian church. They were embracing teachings that were undermining their faith. Paul wrote this letter to call the people back to the core of the Gospel, to remember their new life status in Christ, and to re-establish their distinct patterns of behavior. In this passage, he tells them to put off certain things and put on the kind of behaviors that reflect the life of Jesus.
One thing they are to put on is patience, the act of bearing with one another. This is to be like a set of clothes that they wear and thereby show forth their faith. Patience was a distinctive mark of the early church until the church and state became intertwined early in the third century. Up to that point, the church had experienced significant persecution, and as a result, many Christians were disheartened and losing hope. Some Christians wanted revenge and even engaged in violent retribution.
In response, various church leaders and theologians wrote about the high calling of patience. They proclaimed that they must not respond in like manner, but should actually embrace the patient heart of God as they engaged those who sought to do them harm. Cyprian wrote the following to make the point:
“God is generous to all people, he reliably blesses them all, just and unjust alike, with winds that blow, fountains that flow, harvests that are abundant. To be sure, people do things that grieve and anger God; they visit temples, engage in idolatrous rites, and worship images. God, in patience, endures all these things. Patiently, God waits for the time when humans will be converted from idolatry, malice, and crime to fullness of life.”
Because God is patient and we belong to God and reflect his image, we therefore, are to be patient. This is the kind of life that Jesus demonstrated. 1 John 2:6 says, “The one who claims to abide in him ought to live in the same way as he lived.”
What does this mean for us? First, it is important to consider the alternative. Impatient actions rarely produce what they promise. In fact, they often make things worse. When we behave in impatient ways, we are more than likely to bring harm. Alan Kreider writes, “The absence of patience is characteristic of a world in which there is not yet faith.” By contrast, patience makes space for new possibilities and opportunities to see God at work. We can entrust all things to God, who is diligently and patiently at work to restore all things to himself. Our words, our professions of faith, are hollow unless we live them out, patiently.
We are God’s choice, chosen to live in the way of Jesus, blessed to be in relationship with the God of all creation. No matter what we are facing, no matter how we might see others as absolutely deluded or evil, we can live in patience, knowing that God’s Spirit is moving in ways that we cannot see. This is the way of the Spirit, as patience is one of the Spirit’s fruits (Galatians 5:22). Patience enables us to continue to live in the way of Christ amid the crisis of life.
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