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Introduction:
We live in times of suffering. Hurricanes rack our coasts each
year. We hear about someone new diagnosed with cancer or heart
disease every week. Families struggle. Companies are faltering.
The news scares us each day with talk of economic instability and
financial failure throughout our country. Some fear religious
persecution may come back in full swing in the coming years. Yet,
despite all of this, verses like Philippians
4:4 say, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
Rejoice” (ESV). We then remember Paul wrote this letter from his
own suffering in prison. I don’t know about you but I can’t
help but wonder how. How are we supposed to actually rejoice in
the midst of suffering? How can we gain the joy and strength to
rejoice when we are enduring such pain physically, emotionally,
mentally and spiritually? I believe Paul actually gives us a three
step plan to rejoice while we are suffering in Romans
5:1-11. If you are suffering right now or think you will
in the future, examine this text with me to see the three steps
necessary to rejoice even while suffering.
Before we get into the meat of this lesson, I do want to
point out that the Scripture does not teach that the only emotion
we are allowed is joy and rejoicing. Clearly as Ecclesiastes
3:4 says, there is a time to weep and mourn. Even Romans
12:15 says we must learn to weep with those who weep. Yet,
even in times of weeping, there is a way for us to also have joy
and rejoicing in the Lord. Discussion: I.
Look up in faith to God’s plan. A.
The foundation for Paul’s rejoicing was faith. By faith
we are justified and have peace with God. By faith we have
obtained access to God’s grace in which we stand. B.
That first means we have to believe in God. As Hebrews
11:6 says, we must believe God exists. There is no reason
to rejoice in suffering if God is removed from the picture. And
this is interesting because many people assume God must not be in
the picture if they are suffering. The reality is, however,
without God, suffering is pointless and nothing but a cause of
despair. This goes beyond believing God exists; it means believing
in the nature of God presented in the Bible. For instance, Hebrews
11:6 says we must also believe God will reward those who
diligently seek Him. This ties in with Matthew
6:33. If I am going to be able to rejoice while suffering
I have to believe in the God who will provide for me and reward me
if I keep seeking Him, His kingdom and righteousness. We must also
have faith God will not allow us to go through more than we can
handle by His grace and will always provide the way of escape (I
Corinthians 10:13). I must believe in a God who
disciplines me for my own good (Hebrews
12:7-13). This does not mean every bit of suffering is a
punishment for something. However, every bit of suffering will
discipline us, train us and help us if we let it, but that leads
into our second point. Finally, we must believe in the God who is
with us, no matter what we suffer (Hebrews
13:5), but more than that He is actually working in us to
accomplish His will (Philippians
2:12-13) and therefore through Him we can do all things (Philippians
4:13). Do you believe in that God? If you don’t, you
will hardly be able to rejoice when things are good let alone when
bad. If you struggle believing in this God, read the stories of
Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Job, Daniel. As Hebrews
12:1-2 says, we are surrounded by a great cloud of
witnesses who suffered but they had faith in this God and they
survived. More than surviving they were rewarded. C.
This, however, means more than just believing in God. It
means believing God. It means so believing God that we surrender
our lives to Him and His way. Yes, we believe in the God who loves
us, saves us, works in us and delivers us. Faith is not just
headwork; it is also footwork. As Romans
4:12 says, faith means walking in the footsteps of faith.
God doesn’t want us merely to profess faith in words. He wants
us to live faith in our actions (James
2:18). This means we simply do what He says. We do that
not because we are trying to figure out His rules but because we
believe His way works. He teaches us to pray, we’ll pray because
we believe praying works. He teaches us not to forsake the
assembly, therefore we make it to the assemblies because we
believe that will work. He tells us to talk to those who have
sinned against us. He tells us to reconcile with those against
whom we have done something. He tells us to seek first His kingdom
and righteousness instead of seeking first financial peace. Do you
believe God’s way works? Think about David and the opportunities
he had to kill King Saul. That would have seemingly ended his
suffering as he constantly fled the King’s armies an outcast.
Yet, he chose to do things God’s way and God’s way worked. D.
If we want to rejoice while suffering, we must have faith.
We must believe in God; we must believe God. We must do this so
much we surrender our lives to Him as Galatians
2:20 presents. II.
Look forward in suffering to God’s goal. A.
Romans
5:3-5
explains the reason we can rejoice while suffering is because we
know suffering is not just done in a vacuum. Rather, suffering has
a very specific place in God’s plan. In fact, I will suggest
that without any suffering we cannot go to heaven. Take a look at Acts
14:22. I used to think this meant that along the way to
the kingdom we would endure tribulation. However, I now think Paul
was saying the tribulation itself actually gets us to the kingdom. B.
As we have learned in other lessons, God allows suffering
so we can learn to be merciful. In Romans
5:3-5, we learn God also allows suffering because
suffering produces endurance, patience, steadfastness or
perseverance. This is an interesting statement because we expect
endurance to help us make it through suffering. But this says it
is the suffering that produces endurance. In other words, without
suffering we cannot endure. Perhaps the perfect illustration is
weight training. How do we learn to lift the heavy weights? We do
so by building up to them. However, we have to challenge
ourselves. If we only ever lift weights that are easy, we will
never grow to lift the heavier weights. So we push ourselves. We
strain and struggle with heavier and heavier weights, increasing
the burden, pushing our muscles to their limits. When we do that,
we actually cause the fibers in our muscles to rip and tear. The
healing process is what builds the muscles and allows them to
handle more and more weight. So, what helps us endure the heavier
burdens? Other burdens. As we are pushed to our limits by our
sufferings, we are strengthened and learn endurance. This allows
us not only to be righteous, but to be righteous despite the
attempts of Satan to stop us. C.
However, the goal is not merely endurance. Endurance
produces proven character (NASB). A form of the same word
translated “character” in Romans
5:4 is also found in I
Peter 1:6-7 where Peter speaks of the “genuineness” of
our faith. Here he talks about how we rejoice even though we
suffer because we know the trials test and prove our faith. We can
easily misunderstand this picture. Today, we view testing as an
issue of pass or fail. We think testing is just trying to see if
we have enough faith. God does not let us suffer simply to see if
we have enough faith. Rather, the picture of suffering and trial
here is that of gold being tested. It is placed in the fire. Yes,
this testing sees how pure the gold is. However, it does it by
causing the slag and dross to rise to the top so it can be skimmed
off. Thus, the purpose of the testing is not to see if we pass or
fail. The purpose of the testing is to bring our dross to the top
so we can identify it and get rid of it. Without suffering and
tribulation, we might deceive ourselves to thinking we have
strength when we don’t. We gain strength by going through
suffering to see where our weaknesses are so we can work on them
and remove them. Do you see how without any suffering we cannot
actually enter the kingdom? We have discussed this before and
learned that most people take the hardship of suffering and act
like its extenuating circumstances provide an exception to godly
living. “Oh, God will understand, I was going through a really
hard time.” Actually, the suffering is given so we can see those
weaknesses and remove them. Therefore, as suffering strengthens
us, providing endurance, the increased endurance helps us remove
our weaknesses as the suffering brings them to the surface. D.
But again, that is not the end. Paul says the proven
character gives us hope. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking as
we might say we hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. Biblical hope is
an earnest expectation and in this context, our hope is the hope
of the glory of God (Romans
5:2). I believe this is reference to the same glory
mentioned in Romans
8:18-19. This is our hope for the glory of God that is
going to be revealed to us and in us in eternity. In fact, in Romans
8:24, Paul says it is in this hope we are saved. Because
we have endured suffering and therefore gained greater endurance
and that testing has helped us remove the dross from our lives we
have hope of glory through God in eternity. This is the end and
goal of our suffering—our salvation. E.
If you want to rejoice in the midst of your suffering, you
must begin with faith. Having established that foundation, then
use your faith to remember that the God who saved you, has plans
for you and is using your suffering to get you there. It is
through this suffering that you will enter the kingdom of heaven.
If you have trouble recognizing this, remember Paul in II
Corinthians 12:7-10. The suffering caused by his thorn in
the flesh brought to the top that Paul needed to rely on God and
His grace more. That discipline kept Paul from becoming conceited
and helped him on his path to heaven. God has the same plans for
us through our suffering. III.
Look back in memory to God’s love. A.
Many people have hope in things that disappoint or put them
to shame. Their hope is in some earthly thing and it doesn’t
come through for them. Paul says our hope will come through for us
and we are assured of that because of the love of God that has
been poured out in our hearts by the Spirit. I do not believe this
is a reference to some kind of miraculous operation of the Spirit
in our hearts. Rather, this love of God is poured out in our
hearts as the Spirit has revealed to us the love of God by telling
us about Jesus’ sacrifice. B.
Paul says in Romans
5:11 that we rejoice in God through Jesus who is our
reconciliation. When we are suffering in the present moment and
tempted to believe that God has abandoned us, we need to look back
to the love God has poured out in our hearts by letting us know
about His Son’s death for us. What amazing love it is. After
all, “one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though
perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die” (Romans
5:7, ESV). It is hard to recognize a difference between
the righteous man and the good man. However, I once heard Bill
Hall explain if there is a difference, the righteous person works
hard to give what is due in each situation, whereas the good man
will often go above and beyond the call of duty to do good to
others. For instance, at a restaurant, a righteous man gets out
his tip calculator to figure out what the exact right amount is
for a tip. The good man thinks about how the waiter/waitress
probably isn’t making much and just gives an abundance to help
out. Scarcely would anyone die for the man who gives to everyone
what is his due. Perhaps a few might die for the one who goes
above and beyond the call of duty in goodness. But we are neither
of these. We have neither been righteous or good. We have been
sinners, unrighteous, unholy and God loved us so much He sent
Jesus to die anyway. Wow! C.
The point to recognize here is that for all the trouble we
might be facing right now in whatever we are suffering, the number
one problem of our lives has already been resolved. God loved us
so much that He took our sins away through Jesus. With that faith
in our heart we recognize anything we are suffering now, whether
it is persecution for being a Christian, our own sickness or the
sickness of a loved one, financial ruin, national crisis or
whatever, we can walk through it knowing that wherever it leads,
in the end we are saved and going to heaven. This too shall pass,
but God’s love never will. D.
Additionally, note Romans
5:9-10. Paul’s point there is if God loved us enough to
reconcile us to Him by sacrificing His Son, then He loves us
enough to get us through whatever we are facing now with our
salvation intact if we will merely hang on in faith. This brings
us full circle to the faith we described at the beginning that
knows God provides the way of escape and will not allow us to
endure more than we are able (cf. I
Corinthians 10:13). What a great, loving God we have; what
greater cause could we look for to rejoice than His love for us
and the reconciliation and salvation He has worked in our lives? Conclusion: According to Paul, this is the plan for rejoicing even while we suffer. What are you going through? Do you have financial struggles? …family struggles? …religious persecution and oppression? …illness? …loss of a loved one? Look up in faith to God and His plans, look ahead to God’s goals for your suffering and look back in memory of God’s love. We serve an awesome God who loves us. His love is not cheap and easy like some kind of Santa Claus who removes every challenge and makes life a garden path. Oh no, our God loves us enough to let us face our challenges that we might grow and enter His kingdom. Praise God for that.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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