The theme for this study from the fifth chapter of Romans is how to handle Christian suffering. Suffering is something that all Christians are called to experience in one way or another. We are so used to thinking that love is something that blesses us and warms us and takes care of us that it is almost impossible for us to think we are being loved when we are hurting. James 1:2 says, "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various tribulation." It was while they were together in this season of joy that the following communication was received. (Although I am disappointed in that translation.) Ecclesiastes. Not only is this so, but there is something more, … If you have been justified by faith, then certain results will be obtained. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. It is a very significant verse because it is adding a thought that we have not had in this book up to now. According to Romans 5, the Christian response to suffering is to rejoice: "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings." The Prophet designated it a revelation on priesthood. He stopped her and said, "I don't think you should talk that way. We find ourselves lawless and selfish at times, and we know it was man's sin -- our sin, yours and mine -- that nailed Jesus to that cross. The great Hebrew prophets had spoken, and that didn't help. There is a hymn that I think expresses this idea beautifully. You stay under and let it work itself out. Right at the moment of hurt, you are not going to feel like rejoicing, but it should soon follow that you rejoice in your suffering. Here Paul tells us that God is in the process of building returned missionaries. We are not like God, we don't act like God. I met another man whose son is so mentally disturbed that he has to be kept in a very expensive hospital for treatment which costs $50,000 a year. It is not strange, it is normal. Philippians 3:10. Many people feel that if they do that, they are fulfilling the Word and "rejoicing in suffering." She was very upset. This man and his wife managed to survive that terrible time, but I heard him speak to a group of men about it, and he said that God had gotten his attention through that ordeal. That is what Paul is saying here. Their nostrils flare, their eyeballs roll, and they panic! The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” When I was in Virginia this past week, I met a number of wonderful Christians -- some of whom I had met before, others who were new to me. What is the purpose of there being rewards in heaven? You are even showing us how much we are able to bear, when we think we can't bear very much. You learn that he can handle events in ways that you couldn't dream of or anticipate. You can go through suffering as a Christian and be filled with anger and rage and resentment against God. You don't get quite so panicky. You wanted to bail out much sooner than you thought you would. Lack Of Rejoicing Good Friends. We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead. Our Father, it is encouraging to us to realize that you are a God of utter realism, that you know thoroughly and completely the raw hurt, the agony, the pain, the bleeding that we can go through. You learn something -- you learn about yourself, first. ...God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us. Your Eternal Reward: Triumph & Tears at the Judgment Seat of Christ by Erwin Lutzer. Delighting, Wrong Kinds Of Performing The Truth. WATCH: Amid crises that have shaken our world, the global Christian family was awakened to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and with each other during the ecumenical Season of Creation. There is that word again: joy, rejoicing. Even the Lord Jesus told us, in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are you when men persecute you for righteousness' sake, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. If you take their misery away from them, they are really wretched, because it is their misery that gives them a sense of contentment. I met others who were battling with cancer. That is not what Paul is saying. And the Lord did as he does with some of us. We feel broken, we feel worthless, we feel forgotten. Christianity is never phony. It is productive. He isn't saying, "It's all over." As Paul explains here, the difference is in seeing your suffering as evidence of God's love, and not his wrath. Suffering produces steadiness. Bible verses about Praying For The Lost. We can see that we are more thoughtful, more compassionate, more loving. [What does he say?] We see that we are sinners. The rejoicing comes immediately. Our Father's full giving is only begun. That must be a frightening experience to an animal. We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it. (Romans 5:3-5 NIV). We thank you for this in Jesus' name, Amen. We see ourselves changing. What do we know? You may not be able to rejoice right at the moment of trial. It is of value. Steady up, and people start counting on you. After the test is over, they hold the tire up and it looks like it's never been out of its wrapping! (2 Corinthians 1:8-10 Living Bible). But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, "the books") is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred to Christians, Jews, Samaritans, Rastafari and others. He was going through great physical trouble, and one of his legs was amputated. They don't know what in the world is happening to them. It is the idea of being shown to be reliable. And he loves you enough that he will not let you off, but will take you through it. We need to be very careful to see how Paul presents this concept here because the love of God is the subject he develops in Verses 6-10. The apostle's answer is, "We rejoice in suffering because we know..." We rejoice because we know something. Don't you know we're about to perish?" 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You have met people like that, who aren't happy unless they're miserable. In past weeks, we’ve covered the history of the candles and wreath as well as the candle of peace and the candle of hope.. For this week, we’ll cover the third candle known as the candle of joy. Suffering produces steadiness, steadiness produces reliability, and reliability produces hope. If there were any other way to get to God, then there never would have been a cross. Some think this passage is saying that when you are out in public, you should put on an artificial smile and act happy, when inside your heart is hurting like crazy. (Romans 5:5b-11 NIV). When I was a boy in Montana, I used to help a man break horses, working in a corral with 3-year-old horses that had never had saddles on their backs. The apostle says there are four things that suffering produces: First, suffering produces perseverance. It comes from the heart of a Father who is putting you through some development that you desperately need to grow into the kind of a person you desperately want to be. These are the sufferings that we might go through, the tribulations. To-day, though rejoicing in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis ‐ 18 ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of Christ. His power no boundary known unto men. Now, that's a veteran speaking. 2 Corinthians 1:24 ESV / 149 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. It steadies you. We are not merely expected to enjoy the pain. In Verse 2, Paul spoke of "rejoicing in hope," the hope of sharing the glory of God, a hope for the future beyond death. It is not simply a 'grin and bear it' attitude, or 'tough it out' and see how much you can take, or 'just hang in there until it's over' and 'don't let anything get you down,' or 'keep a stiff upper lip.' Chapter 5, as you remember, deals with the results that come in a Christian's life when he truly and genuinely believes that God has given him the gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ our Lord. Then you will experience that love in the midst of the suffering. They both managed to escape and called the police, who came and took their son to a mental hospital. They say, "I can't buy that! . Many people pride themselves on how much they can take. It is the cross. And that is what Paul plainly says: "We also rejoice in suffering.". What is that place? Now that is what this word character means. We have a hope for the future, a hope beyond death. That is a figure of speech called litotes, which is the use of a negative to express a positive idea. So those who think that becoming a Christian will remove them from suffering have been seriously misled and self-deceived, for the Scriptures themselves teach that we are to expect suffering. He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. The argument here is extremely important. Greek philosophers had taught, and that didn't help. Pressure is something we want to get out from under, but suffering teaches us to stay under, to stick in there and hang with it. But Paul goes on. They won't move, they're so afraid. In some versions the word may be patience. Now that is not it. It is easy to feel rejected, unloved. You don't panic, you don't bail out. I think we all easily reflect the attitude of the lady whose pastor went to see her when she was going through trouble. 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. He means he is proud; he is confident and bold. And as we understand that this is coming from your loving hand, you, by the Holy Spirit, will release in our hearts your love to us, to steady us and enfold us and keep us strong and rejoicing. Thank you that through the pressure and testing you give a deep sense of joy. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 7 A good name* is better than good oil,+ and the day of death is better than the day of birth. Just a few days before his death I visited him in the hospital and he said something to me that I never forgot because it so perfectly expresses what Christian rejoicing in suffering means. It is not fleeting or based on circumstances. Suffering produces something worthwhile. This is the official website of Swami Krishnananda, and contains ebooks and articles on yoga, meditation, philosophy, scriptures, bhagavadgita, upanishads, spiritual practice, and poetry. I'll never forget it. Let me read to you from the Living Bible a passage I have always loved, Second Corinthians 1:8-10: I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time that we went through in Asia. These are some of the expressions that we use today, and I think they are very valuable. Then he said to the storm, "Peace, be still," (Mark 4:39). There are many who feel this way. You learn that you don't have the 'stick with it' that you thought you had. I like the King James translation better. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. I know some Christians who are suffering, but are not being made steady and reliable and confident. Suffering produces steadiness. And two weeks later, there is another storm. But this time you've been through it once, so you steady up a bit. That is what this passage brings before us, and that is what we need to know. We have a hope for the future, a hope beyond death. That connection is important because these verses have been extracted from their context and used for evangelistic preaching so many times that we have forgotten what they originally meant. This is also the very first time in this book that the love of God is brought in. Watch a woman in labor; watch the expression on her face. It is clear from this that Christians are expected to experience suffering. When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
During the 2020 Season of Creation, from 1 September through 4 October, thousands of Christians on six continents united for a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee … If you have any empathy in you, you can't help but feel deeply hurt with her because she is going through such pain. does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; Leviticus 19:15. Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Fayette, New York, April 6, 1830. There we learn that we are enemies of God, enemies sabotaging God's plan to help us, wrecking everything he tries to do to reach us. So if some of you are going through difficulty or danger, you are not alone. As he spoke, it was evident that a man who previously had been ashamed to speak of Christ was now confident and bold. But nevertheless, Father, we thank you that you assure us and reassure us that we are being loved all through this time, that we are being tested and developed and made into something we need and want very badly, and that you know what you are doing. I think that when God sends us tribulation, he expects us to tribulate a little bit!". That's a great thing! And he did help us, and he saved us from a terrible death; yes, and we expect him to do it again and again. Website © 2021 by Ray Stedman Ministries. There are certain things it does not mean, though many people think it does: First, it is clear from Scripture that rejoicing in suffering is not simply stoicism. You go through a time like that and you're all panicky; then the Lord stills the storm and you think, "Thank God that's all over. That is why Paul brings in this description of God's love for us. I was always interested in watching the horses when they first felt a saddle thrown on their back. That is the initial and introductory phase of Christian growth. You see, as Paul puts it here, that you are helpless. There are non-Christians who can do that. Neither the apostles nor the Scriptures ever ask us to be unreal and phony. Third, we find that reliability produces something. Usually you get the standard answers, but I was amazed at his. We even want to at times, but we don't. It is something our faith enables us to know, a kind of inside information that others do not share. He said, "I never would have chosen one of the trials that I've gone through, but I wouldn't have missed any of them for the world!" Paul does this in Romans 1:16 when he says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God..." What does he mean? That is the initial and introductory phase of Christian growth. God is in the process of making veterans. The Greek word for suffering, basically, is translated as "tribulation, something that causes distress." It goes like this: When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise. It can range from minor annoyances that we go through every day, to major disasters that come sweeping down out of the blue and leave us stricken and smitten. God is building you up so he can hold you up and say, "He's approved, he's tested." It isn't just because it's such a great feeling to be hurt, it is because we know something about it. He didn't want to be just a missionary, but a returned one -- one that's been through it and it's all behind him. Saul, the King of Israel, had been trying to kill David. What makes the difference? Subject to permissions policy, all rights reserved. The Greek word for character carries with it the idea of being put to the test and approved. As we have already seen, these results come in various stages, or levels of maturity. Here is where many people balk. Second, not only does suffering produce steadiness, but steadiness, Paul says, produces character. If you didn't suffer you would never have that quality. She kept complaining and grousing and griping about it.