Hold Your Head Up!

Herman Lange, a German Christian was to be executed by the Nazis during WWII. In his cell on the night before he was to be killed, Lange wrote a note to his parents. He said two feelings occupied his mind: "I am, first, in a joyous mood, and second filled with great anticipation." Then he made this beautiful affirmation: "In Christ I have put my faith, and precisely today have faith in Him more firmly than ever." Finally he urged his parents to read the New Testament for comfort: "Look where you will, everywhere you will find jubilation over the grace that makes us children of God. What can befall a child of God? Of what should I be afraid? On the contrary, rejoice!"

What do you think when you hear the word rejoice?

Friends, the title of this message is "Hold Your Head Up!" and it's much more than the title of an old rock and roll song! In fact, it's something the Bible tells us to do did you know that? Let's look at Romans 5:1?-?11 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

HOLD YOUR HEAD UP!

Notice our first response to receiving God's Salvation is to Rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The Greek word is kauxáomai ( (kow-khah'-om-ahee) which means "head up high," In the first half of the chapter, we are told to Rejoice in three things:

Rejoice in hope-v 2

Rejoice in suffering-v 3

Rejoice in Christ-v 11

Rejoice in hope-v 2

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1?-?2 ESV

The Sunday after a presidential election, a pastor stepped into the pulpit to address his congregation. He said "There are churches all over the country this morning where people are jumping and dancing in the aisles because of the results of this election. There are also churches where the people are mourning in sackcloth and ashes. Every one of them needs to repent because one group is putting too much faith in a man and the other group is not putting enough faith in God! "

If there is anything to be learned from our chaotic political climate, it's that can't afford for the source of our hope to change every election cycle.

The world gives us plenty of fear mongering, but now it's time for some "hope mongering! "

Hope is where faith begins. You have to have hope before you can have faith.

How do we get hope? We find the answer to that in the next step in verse 3

Rejoice in suffering-v 3

What did he say?

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3?-?5 ESV

Notice the progression:

Suffering produces endurance, which in tern, produces character, and character produces hope,

So learning to rejoice in suffering is a vital step in learning to rejoice in hope. Trust me, I don't like that any more than you do, but How many of you can say that God has used a very dark time in your life to help you to grow in ways that you wouldn't have otherwise?

Would anyone like to share anything?

Sometimes God uses suffering as a means of getting His people to a better place. Often, our most difficult times turn out to be the very things that God uses to bring us into our destiny. For example, Joseph endured being sold into slavery (Genesis 37:28), being falsely accused of a heinous crime (39:7-20), and many other horrible trials. However, he remained faithful to God, maintained his integrity and became one of the most powerful leaders in Egypt as a result (41:37-44). Similarly, Daniel’s faithfulness in the face of the lion’s den (Daniel 16:10-22) was the avenue for great blessing and promotion in his life as well (25-28). This gives us all the more reason to trust in the goodness of God in our suffering.