Are you new to the Celebration of God? Click here for your first steps.
Episode Notes
Click the link below to download the PDF.
TranscriptIntroduction
Welcome to Part 6 of our Gracious Life Series. If you’re just joining us, please start with Part 1 or listen to our Grace Series first.
The Year Long Celebration of God is a discipleship experience whereby you can learn to worship God better this year than you did the year before. Whether it’s during the excitement of the Holidays or the normalcy of the Everydays, we want to equip God’s people to better know Him, understand Him, and follow Him. So check out CelebrationOfGod.com as we expand the website and provide you with more and more ways to worship God. Among other things you can access today’s free episode notes, transcript, and grace resources. And now let’s talk about the 6th character trait necessary to live a truly gracious life. Topic
Up until now we’ve learned the vital importance of humility. Without it, we will never submit to God’s will for our lives or view people as more important than ourselves.
Then we talked about what it means to be truly kind. Biblical kindness is usefulness, and the most useful thing you can do for anyone is pursue God’s will for their lives. Then we talked about compassion. Compassion is the desire to minister to someone in their need and the accompanying emotional response that follows it. We’ve also studied the biblical concept of gentleness—power under control—the power to refrain from giving people what they deserve and the strength to be gracious. And last time we were reminded about the high biblical expectations for patience. Now, today we’re going to talk about a character trait that requires patience. In reality, it requires all of the traits we’ve discussed, but the relationship between patience and today’s topic is undeniable. Today we’re going to talk about endurance or perseverance. I like Merriam-Webster’s second definition of “to endure.” It reads, “to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding.” The connection between endurance and patience is—no doubt—abundantly clear. In fact, we started this discussion last time with the final passage we read. James 5:10-11 said, “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” When you take suffering and couple it with patience, you get endurance. Last time I sought to help us understand the basics concerning patience and grace. As we already observed, life requires patience because we are mortal beings tied to time. But the daily patience required to navigate this life is significantly less dramatic and robust than the patience that is endurance, and it is this steadfast perseverance that we need to understand if we are to be gracious as God is gracious. 1. Endurance is required to live a gracious life. There are a couple different applications I want to consider today. A. Endurance is required to be gracious to perpetually difficult people. We all have to be patient with our family members, coworkers, and peers. But sometimes that patience is measured less by the minutes or hours and more in days, months, and years. Those of us who pride ourselves on being able to overlook the milieu of inconvenient interruptions throughout the average day often break under the sustained stress of one individual who—despite our consistent patience and grace—continues to be a burden. And—again—I recognize that such people “deserve” a taste of their own medicine, but it’s God’s divine grace in us that will allow us to persevere under the sustained trial. And we must endure because we do not have the right to lash out, punish, or otherwise take revenge on the people who are the perpetual thorns in our sides. But there’s another side to this coin. Have you ever been short with someone who wasn’t the source of your discomfort. You were under a lot of stress and pressure, and this poor innocent soul just so happened to cross your path at your breaking point and you snap at them? I’m sure we’ve all experienced that. That’s why . . . B. Endurance is required to be gracious to people while we’re in difficult situations. Neither my wife nor my kids, my friends nor my enemies deserve to receive the ungracious brunt of my stress. It’s not their fault I’m sick. It’s not their fault my financial woes are weighing on my heart. Why do we ungraciously lash out at people who happen to enter our lives when we’re in pain? The answer is that we’re not being humble. We’re not being kind. We’re not being compassionate. We’re not being gentle. We’re not being patient, and we’re not enduring our current trial to the glory of God. And so we lash out at these people. Sometimes we attack them because they may have proverbially stepped on our toes—a simple, otherwise innocuous accident had we not recently broken our metaphorical foot. And sometimes the person has done nothing wrong at all. We merely pour onto them the angst we’re experiencing in our trial because we’re not faithfully acknowledging what God is trying to do. But sometimes we even lash out at people who are actually trying to help us—the people who have seen our struggle and want to be a blessing—and yet we punish them for their good deed. Well, all of that is unacceptable and inexcusable for the Christian. I get it. I’ve been there. It “makes sense” in the flesh, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s wrong. And so we have to accept that such behavior must be scrubbed from our lives and replaced with patience and gracious endurance. But in so accepting, we must realize . . . 2. Endurance is impossible in our own strength. My friend, if you are not enduring, it’s because you’re trying to do it in your own power. Period. You’re not casting your cares on Christ, you’re not leaning on His understanding, you’re not being filled with the Holy Spirit, you’re trying to manage the situation with your own muscle and for your own comfort. Just like we need God Himself to enable us to be humble, we need Him in order to endure through painful circumstances. Just like it takes an act of God for us to be kind to those who sin against us, we require the Lord’s grace to respond correctly to people when we’re under stress. Just like we cannot be compassionate in our flesh, we must root ourselves in Christ in order to be gracious when we’re experiencing trials. Just like it takes the power of God to be gentle, we absolutely require the infinite strength of the Lord to patiently endure hardship. Disillusion yourself right now—you, in your own power, simply cannot be who God wants you to be when people are refusing to be decent and when the constant pressure of the fiery crucible is unrelenting. You need God, and you will not rely on Him subconsciously. You must intentionally and premeditatedly pursue His providential help to be gracious to people when they are perpetually taxing and when the walls of our lives feel like they are closing in. So, the question resting on all of our weary hearts is, “How am I to do this? I recognize that I need God, but what will the exercise of His grace look like in my life? What can I expect?” So, now let’s grapple with the glorious fact that . . . 3. God gets to set the expectations for our endurance. And for this point we will proceed as we have previously by looking at the main Greek words that are interpreted “endure,” “endurance,” “persevere,” and “perseverance” in the New Testament. We’re primarily going to study two forms of one word today. We will consider a couple other passages at the end, but the majority of our time we’re going to look at a noun and it’s verb form, and we’re going to jump around between the two. So, for starters, this Greek word refers to remaining under or abiding under something. My mind immediately goes to the survivors of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. Most of those people were pinned under girders and cement, incapable of moving. They had to remain under the pressure until they were rescued. What’s interesting about that situation is that becoming impatient would’t have helped their situation at all. It would only have made it more unbearable. Impatience never fixes anything. Refusing to persevere doesn’t make the pressure go away, it only makes it more unbearable. Remember, sin multiples difficulty. So, let’s start with Luke 8:15, “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” The season of Grace is a celebration of Justification, but the truth we learn in this verse has to do with our Sanctification. After we are born again, God continues to pour His grace on us as He transforms us into the image of Christ. And since Sanctification is a process that lasts our entire earthly lives, we have to recognize that . . . Endurance is the very foundation of Sanctification. We cannot be Christians without endurance because to be a child of God is to persevere in maturity. In Luke 21:19 we read, “Yet not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.” This is a refrain repeated often by our Lord. We are not born again by being righteous, but if we are born again, we will be righteous. In the same way, we do not earn eternal salvation by enduring, but if we are truly saved, we will endure to the end. This is why in Matthew 10:22 Jesus says, “It is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” And again in Matthew 24:13 He observes, “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” In Romans 2:6-8 Paul writes, “Who will render to each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.” And the author of Hebrews write in chapter 10, verse 36, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” Is your sanctification steadfast and persevering? When you buckle under difficult people and circumstances, you are rejecting one of the most foundational realities of your relationship with God. Moving on . . . In Romans 5:3-4 Paul says, “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.” There are two very important implications from this verse. The first is that Endurance results in maturity. We see this same truth in II Peter 1:5-7, “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.” I Timothy 6:11 tells us, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” Titus 2:2 reveals that “Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.” Perseverance is one of the signs of maturity. James 1:2-4 is one of my go-to passages in my life and counseling. It reads, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” God allows hardship to enter your life so that you will be sanctified into the image of Christ. And James 5:11 tells us, “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” The process of maturing in Christ is the blessing in which we rejoice! When speaking to the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2:19 Jesus observed, “I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.” They weren’t perfect—the next verse would reveal that—but they were growing. II Thessalonians 1:4 teaches, “Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.” Their current faith in persecutions and afflictions was a result of their previous faith in former afflictions. Now, I want to look at Romans 12:9-13 to build out our practical understanding of how we are to be living as we mature. We know that we need to put off sin and focus on Christ as our example, but what does that practically look like? “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” Each of those line items needs to be a bullet point on our daily to-do list. Love genuinely. Hate evil. Embrace good. Devote yourself to God’s people. Prefer others over yourself. Be diligent. Be fervent for God. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Persevere in tribulation. Devote yourself to prayer. Give to the needy. Be hospitable. That is the sanctified, mature lifestyle of someone who possesses the gracious character traits that produce endurance. And if you think that list is just too hard, then remember Luke 16:10 where Jesus teaches, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.” As we persevere, we mature. It’s just like lifting weights. The more you strain and push and endure the pain, you will put on muscle. You’ll grow stronger. Are you maturing in Christ? If you are, then you will also be growing in your ability to persevere through trial. Now, let’s pause a moment to remember that this whole conversation about maturity sprang from Romans 5:3-4, and I mentioned that we have two lessons to learn from the passage. So, let’s refresh our minds. “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.” Endurance is a result of maturity, but this passage also teaches us that . . . Endurance is motivated by exultation in Christ. How do we stay strong in light of unrelenting pressure? Paul replies, “We also exult in our tribulations.” The word translated “exult” wasn’t merely a cry of excitement or joy. It has to do with boasting or taking pride in something. Paul is saying that he gloried, he took pride, he boasted in his tribulation. Well, how could he do that? That seems very counterintuitive. And it is. But here’s the thing, our exultation in trial has nothing to do with the circumstance or how it feels. It has everything to do with the truth of what God is doing. Paul said, “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.” He said that he knew, understood, and believed that tribulation had a point, and that point was that God intended to use the trial to make Paul more godly. Now, I’ve mentioned this concept in nearly every episode of this series. Our ability to be gracious, humble, kind, compassionate, gentle, patient, and enduring is directly tied to what we know, understand, and believe about God. It won’t come from how we feel. It won’t come from the superficial, fleshly observations about the situation. In fact, the world and our flesh will be convinced that the person and/or situation does not deserve any of those responses, and so we need to give them what they deserve. But, my friends, my professing followers of Christ, please grab onto this truth . . . you must intentionally meditate on God’s purposes for your life otherwise you’re engaged in idolatry. If all you think about is what you want and how you can accomplish what you want, then you are not attributing to God the value that He deserves. He needs to be your purpose, content, method, power, and motivation. Romans 8:24-25 reinforces this same truth, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” We cannot see with our natural, mortal eyes the will of God in our suffering, but when we hope in what we do not see, we will eagerly wait for it because we believe it’s true. But how can we hope in what we do not see? Where do we find this information? Romans 15:4-5 tells us, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus.” We must be of the same mind. Which mind? The one according to Jesus. If we are, then we will see the fleeting pressures of this world have a glorious hope that has been communicated to us in the Scriptures. Yes, the Scriptures are what tell us about the unseen hope. It fills in the blanks and helps our mortal eyes fix themselves on the eternal truths of the triune God. II Corinthians 1:6-7 beautifully illustrates this point: “But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.” Colossians 1:11-12 also teaches us the truth that we can exult in our trials. “Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” Praise God that we are experiencing this momentary affliction for a far greater, eternal purpose. I Thessalonians 1:3 clearly identifies the recipient of our hope, “Constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.” And II Thessalonians 3:5 reads, “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” Hebrews 12:1-3 illustrates this truth so specifically and practically, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” In order to endure in trial, we need to lay aside that which encumbers us. What encumbers us? Romans 13:12 reads, “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” And Ephesians 4:22 commands, “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.” Speaking to the church at Ephesus, in Revelation 2:2-3 Jesus said, “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.” We need to flee from sin. It encumbers us. It makes it impossible to please God, to be patient, to be gracious, and to thrive in our pressures. And not only are we to set aside our sin we need to fix our eyes on Jesus who is the goal toward which we run, the model for how we are to run, and the enabler to run as He does. Jesus endured the cross. Why? He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. He saw the divine purpose, and He exulted in the trials. And it’s because of His glorious example that we too can “not grow weary and lose heart.” Now consider with me Hebrews 10:32-39, “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.” Why were they able to joyfully endure injustice? They knew God’s promises. And then it continues with an admonishment. “35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in A very little while, HE who is coming will come, and will not delay. 38 But MY righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, MY soul has no pleasure in him.” My friend, do you exult in Christ in your stresses, pressures, trials, and testings? Is He your focus? Is His truth—His promises—your sustenance? Now, most of the usages of our Greek word all point to the same important truths. Endurance is the very foundation of Sanctification. Endurance results in maturity. And Endurance is motivated by exultation in Christ. And that’s why I love Revelation 14:12. It presents all of these realities in one verse. “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” Amen, and amen! Now, we’re going a little longer today, but that’s okay, because this character trait is so incredibly important. We only have three more lessons to learn about endurance, and the next grows from our lesson about maturity. Endurance is the epitome of love. I Corinthians 13:7 teaches that Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” This whole verse speaks to the persevering nature of love. It bears up under the weight, it gives the benefit of the doubt, and it waits around no matter what is thrown at it. Allow me to do something out of character and quote William Shakespeare. I say, “out of character,” but quoting Shakespeare is not unusual for me, it’s just unusual for this show. Anyway, in his 116 Sonnet, William wrote, “Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom.” Love is not love when it alters, bends, removes, is shaken, and gives up. If we are to graciously love as we have been graciously loved, we must have endurance. We must not use every stupid excuse to subtract ourselves from relationships. As a biblical counselor I have heard people try to justify their conflict, separations, and divorces over the stupidest things. Now, I recognize they are hurting and have been hurting for a long while by the time they reach me, and I never lead with, “That’s stupid.” But, the consistent reality threading itself through all of those instances is that the individuals involved no longer wanted to endure. They’re done persevering. They’re done loving. But that is not an option for a Christian. Now, I’m not saying that there is no biblical justification for separating in a friendship or divorcing in a marriage. There are justifications, but they’re not motivated by a failure to love. In fact, the most Christ-honoring separations are those that are rooted in Scripture for God’s glory and the good of others. However, in full transparency, I rarely encounter people who have stopped enduring for Christ-honoring reasons. Most of them don’t want to show grace any more. They don’t want to love. How about you? Does perseverance define your relationships? Do you lovingly endure despite the roadblocks? Moving on . . . because endurance loves . . . Endurance is redemptive. II Timothy 2:10-13 reads, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. 11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” Paul endured—in part—so that others may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus. Of course we will endure when we recognize that the eternal destiny of unbelievers is on the line. Of course we will endure when we recognize that the believer in front of us needs to be better conformed to the image of his Savior. What are you willing to endure so that others might know Christ better? And finally . . . Endurance will be rewarded. We’ve already seen this truth over and over in regard to our receiving the promises of God and being matured into the image of Christ. But James 1:12 gives us a glimpse of an even more future blessing: “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Do you remember what I said earlier? Those who have been given eternal life will endure in this temporal life. And those who have endured in this temporal life will receive rewards in eternal life. Now, I want to finish up today by taking note a very important theme in the New Testament that relates to our discussion. Persevering steadfastly in endurance is hard, it’s heartbreaking, it’s tiresome, and yet . . . 4. God commands us to not lose heart and grow weary. Listen carefully as I read the following passages. Luke 18:1, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” II Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart.” II Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Galatians 6:9, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Ephesians 3:13, “Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.” II Thessalonians 3:13, “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.” Let’s make some quick observations and then be done. A. God commands us not to lose heart. This means that we are not the victims. We are in control of whether or not we grow weary and faint. B. God gives us everything we need to endure. If we are not enduring, we must not blame the circumstances. It’s our fault. We’re not utilizing the multitudinous resources God has given us. C. God says that endurance is the result of right thinking. We’ve already seen this repeatedly today, but I mention it again because many of the passages I just read reiterated it. Focus on God in prayer and don’t lose heart! Look at the things which are not seen, the eternal things and be renewed! Revel in God’s mercy; don’t lose heart! Remember that you will reap blessings if you don’t grow weary! If you haven’t listened to our Grow Your Worship series, please, please listen to it. It’s linked in the description, and the truths discussed are seminal to your life in Christ. Everything we do, say, feel, and want is directly tied to what we think. We must think God’s thoughts after Him. When we do, our lives will be absolutely revolutionized. Conclusion
Endurance is the very foundation of Sanctification.
Endurance results in maturity. Endurance is motivated by exultation in Christ. Endurance is the epitome of love. Endurance is redemptive. Endurance will be rewarded. I greatly appreciate your patience today, and I pray the investment of time will result in your increased endurance in difficult situations and grace with difficult people. Please share this series on your favorite social media outlets and reach out to [email protected] if you’d like personalized help growing in your perseverance. And join us next time as we seek to better know, love, and worship God and help the people in our lives do the same. To that end, we’ll be discussing the importance and nature of forgiveness in a gracious life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The Year Long Celebration of God is a discipleship experience designed to equip followers of Christ to better know, love, and worship Him as they help others in their lives do the same. We exalt God, teach His people how to practically worship Him every day of the year, and train them to disciple others.
Whether it's a small group, church, classroom, one-on-one, or community relationship, this resource is guaranteed to draw people closer together as they draw closer to God. AMBrewster is the creator of The Year Long Celebration of God and host of its podcast. Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|
|||||||||||
RSS Feed