March 3, 2011 Romans 5:3-5
We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
The writer to the Hebrews chastised the people he was writing to for being spiritual babies, only wanting the basics of faith and never wanting to grow and build on their foundations of faith. They liked doing all of the sucking and none of the feeding. So they remained weak in their faith when they should have been strong. That’s the way we usually think of weakness, in terms of doctrine and understanding of the Word. Today I want to talk to you about a different kind of weakness. It is weakness in opposition to toughness. God not only wants you to be strong in terms of your knowledge, but also in terms of your toughness. This will enable you to
Rejoice in Your Sufferings
I. They are to be expected
I don’t know of too many men and women who rejoice when their spouses and children drive them to the limits. I don’t see too many happy little Christian children who say, “Oh thank you father!” when their daddy makes them clean up after the dog or the cat. We don’t rejoice when we get a phone call from someone who is going to make us work or complain to us. We usually either grit our teeth and answer it don’t answer the phone at all.
This is a sign of weakness. A sign of a weakness is found in a Christian who is always trying to avoid suffering; someone who never wants to face any painful experiences. It’s found in the spouse who does everything possible to avoid time at home because he or she can’t get along with his or her wife. It’s found in the young adult who never can hold down a job or do well at school because it’s either boring or hard work. It’s found in the elderly who never want to ask for help because they don’t want their own pride to suffer.
Suffering, in this sense, is not just a bad back or an upset stomach. Suffering can be when you are being called to put up with somebody that drives you nuts. It can be enduring a hard day at work under tough conditions when you’re tired. It can be listening to your child cry all night because she is suffering from the flu. It can be saying something that needs to be said, even when you know you’re going to get crucified for it. Whenever you’re called on to do something that is uncomfortable; that could be defined as suffering. That’s the kind of suffering that we most often try to avoid.
That’s why the popular “Christian” advice on TV sounds so attractive. The basic motto is, “Stay away from people that drag you down. Don’t be around negative people.” Negative people are usually going through a hard time and sometimes due to their own foolish behavior; and they want someone to commiserate with and to help them through it. But the popular motto is, “Don’t let those kinds of people ruin your spirit and drag you down with them. Stay away from them. Find different friends. Find positive people that have their lives going in the right direction.” So we say, “Yeah! That sounds great to me! I like his advice. Slap a Bible verse or two on that baby and I’ll be good to go with it! If I can call that a sign of strength, then sign me up! I’m all for it.”
This is, in reality, Christianity gone soft. It is a pretty type of Christianity that looks good and sounds good and feels good; it’s good for you; but it doesn’t do anybody else a bit of good. It isn’t ready and willing to do the tough things that take work and patience. It isn’t willing to give a type of love that wears you out and makes you get dirty. It isn’t willing to do the boring and mundane things that drag you down for the good of the family or the other guy. It’s an easier type of Christianity that is only willing to do things that make us happy and comfortable.
Ironically, it’s because of this attitude that many Christians are seemingly unhappier than they’ve ever been. They have expectations and goals in life that are basically contrary to the very nature of the world they live in. They want to live pain-free and successful lives and they do all they can to make it that way. But the problem is that they’re living in a world of sin and decay; in a world of sinners that God’s Word says are under the control of the evil one! They forget that this world is under a curse! God never said it would be easy. In fact, He said the exact opposite. So when the devil does come calling; when sin does strike; when work is miserable or the marriage isn’t quite ticking the way it should; they easily give up. They get angry and sour with life; accusing God of giving them the short end of the stick because they expect things He never promised them.
What a contrast to hear Paul talk about “rejoicing in suffering”! In World War II Corrie ten Boom’s sister and her were locked in a concentration camp for helping Jews escape. While they were in one of the barracks they had fleas all over the place. Her sister told Corrie to “thank God for the fleas.” She thought her sister was crazy. That’s the way we might think of Paul’s actions. Paul and Silas managed to sing hymns in prison. When people found out Paul was going to be arrested by prophesy, they cried and begged him not to go. But Paul said, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13) Suffering was what Jesus predicted for Paul before he was even baptized, but that didn’t bother Paul. He almost seemed happy to suffer.
II. They produce perseverance
Paul had a good reason for himself and for us to rejoice in suffering. He wrote, “we know that suffering produces perseverance.” Perseverance means to have a “brave patience.” It is a noble word that suggests a type of manliness in a sense; the power to keep on standing up underneath something that is weighing you down.
It has been shown that children with the most athletic talent do not always end up to be professional athletes, even with the talent they have. Why not? Because when they were young everything flowed to them. They never had to work at anything. Then, when they get to the higher levels of competition they find out that they couldn’t score as easily. Since they were never really challenged in their youth, they give up right away. They didn’t know how to dig their heels in and develop their skills more. They didn’t know how to persevere.
God wants to produce perseverance in you. Do you have it? Or do you give up easily? Do you make yourself hard to find with people? Have you quit praying for someone or something after only a quick request or two? Did God kick you out of His grace because of your impatience? Did God tell you, “Quit your whining and suck it up?” Did God put you to death like He did with the Israelites in the desert by sending the poisonous snakes? No. He PERSEVERED through your complaints and kept forgiving you. When you ran away from others He kept running with you. Why? Because He’s different than you in a good way; because He paid for you and adopted you as His child; because He wants to see you in heaven. God perseveres with you because He is forgiving and patient; much more patient than any of us can imagine; so patient and forgiving that the prophets of old would get angry at Him for being that way.
He wants you to think about that. He wants you to cherish that. When our other relationships are failing we look to the one relationship that won’t fail us. When other people don’t love and forgive us, we know that God will. As God continues to persevere with you when you are going through a difficult stage in life, it makes you want to persevere with others who are giving you headaches. When you have to suffer in your relationship with other people, you are not bound to their every thought and their every second. God is. Yet He continues to persevere with you. So can’t you do the same? Can’t you persevere?
III. They lead to character and hope
When you persevere through a lot of suffering God eventually produces character in you. How do I describe that? Just think of the author of this letter. The prophet Agabus prophesied Paul’s imprisonment in Jerusalem. Many Christians tried to talk Paul out of going. But Paul wouldn’t do it? Why? Was it just because he was stubborn? No! He knew that was where the Lord wanted him to go. Spreading the Gospel was intertwined within him; they couldn’t talk him out of it any more than you could talk a frog into being a snake. That’s the same thing Jeremiah said when he himself tried to quit preaching. He said in Jeremiah 6:10-11,
To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in.
So also Paul went on to Jerusalem even though it was clearly predicted what would happen. After all that he had been through, being shipwrecked, nearly stoned to death; hunted and beaten time and again, he wasn’t about to let this threat scare him. He was a man of character. God had seen him through so many other dire circumstances, and God had also given him the hope of eternal life through the death and resurrection from the dead.
You might say to yourself, “I wish I had such character.” I wish I had more perseverance and strength to endure through pain and not try to evade it so much. What was it that ultimately gave Paul such perseverance and such a tough faith? It’s not really something you can cultivate in yourself. It has to come from God Himself; who works through – you guessed it – suffering.
Listen to the whole text once again. We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
It’s a strange way how it works. The worse things you go through and the longer they last, the more you look up to God. The more you ask “why?” The more questions you have and the more things you just can’t figure out. So you shout and you shout and you shout.
Throughout the whole process, when you turn to the Word the Holy Spirit just keeps pointing you to one place. The cross and the cross and the cross. This is the character of the Holy Spirit, to keep on pointing you to Christ. You see God’s Son dying there; and the Holy Spirit just keeps saying to you. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” “You’re forgiven. You’re forgiven. You’re forgiven.”
This is meant to generate hope. If God loves me so much to send His Son to die for me, and if God promises me heaven through His death and resurrection, then I can have hope. I will have hope. I will have hope that my suffering will not last forever. It was Paul who encouraged us with these words,
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
This kind of a tough faith doesn’t come from just having a stiff upper lip and by telling yourself to toughen up. It comes from the love of God that the Holy Spirit gives us in Christ. He doesn’t pour the love of Christ into your head to just think about or your hands to just do something about it. He pours it into your heart. He has His love and forgiveness beat through your head and your hands and your entire body.
When Corrie ten Boom’s sister told her to thank God for the fleas she thought she was almost crazy. But Corrie thanked God for the fleas. Those fleas ended up keeping the guards out of the barracks at a crucial time in their imprisonment. Corrie grew in faith through that trial as she rejoiced in her suffering. She was given character and hope that God could work through anything.
Where are Christians of character? Do you want to be one of them? Then go on and suffer. Suffer with those you love. Suffer with yourself. Persevere with the things that cause you pain and heartache. Throughout the process, cling to the love of God and the forgiveness of Christ that the Holy Spirit pours in you through the Gospel. Then He Himself will make you a Christian man or woman of character; a solid Christian and strong Christian who is willing to put up with anything out of love for Christ; who is willing to even rejoice in suffering. Amen.
