“The Blessing of Suffering”
Romans 5:3
Objective
Statement: Every believer can rejoice
in sufferings when three things happen:
1)
We see suffering as the foundation for Christian character
2)
We see “blessings” in a new light
3)
God opens our spiritual eyes
Open: Open your Bibles this morning
to Romans 5.
Earlier
this spring we completed a series of messages entitled “
This
morning we’re going to be starting a series entitled, “Hard Knock Life”.
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore,
since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. 2Through 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. 3More than that, we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and
endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and
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.
“This
is God’s word and we believe it.”
The 2005 film, “Cinderella Man”, starring Russell Crowe, is a
story about James J. Braddock, a hard-nose Irish Catholic boxer from
Boxing
is a sport of hard knocks, and Braddock began taking a few, inside the ring and
out. Let’s watch this clip that portrays
Braddock at a period in his career when he began to wash up.
<Video
Clip>
This
was only the beginning of Braddock’s ‘Hard Knock Life’, as he had to move from
a lovely suburban home to a hovel of an apartment, working on sporadically on
the docks, food running in short supply in his home, the electricity being shut
off, the gets getting sick with the cold, and a reduction of Braddock from
boxing champ to beggar in the offices of the boxing promoters.
For
Braddock, it truly was a “Hard Knock Life”.
--------------------------------
Life
can knock us around pretty hard, too:
-
Auto
accidents
-
Unexpected
illness
-
Relational
difficulties
-
Financial
hardship
-
Job
applications that lead to denial
-
Houses
that are built and don’t sell
-
Depression
-
Anxiety
How many of you would agree with the sentiment that life’s been
throwing you some pretty hard punches?
(Nod head, raise hand.)
What are we supposed to do when we face “The Hard Knock Life” –
when we experience trials, suffering, or tribulation?
If we
look at the scripture we read today it says,
“We rejoice in our sufferings.”
What?! You’ve got to be kidding! What a crock!
“Rejoice in
sufferings!?”
-
“I
broke my ankle.” -- Woo Hoo!
-
“My
credit card was denied at Town and Country when I was in line at
-
“I
just got a D- in a required course for my major and the next time they offer it
is in the fall of ’09. Sweet!
-
“I
signed a one year lease on a $1200 per month house and all my roommates bailed
on me.” Snap!
“Rejoice in
sufferings!?”
Yes.
James 1:2 Count it all joy, my
brothers, when you meet trials of
How in the world can we “rejoice”, “count it all joy” or
otherwise “be happy” when life is knocking us around?
Three things have to happen
if we can begin to rejoice in our sufferings:
1) We view suffering as the foundation
for Christian character.
If
you follow this idea up in Romans 5 and James 1, you see that suffering
and trials are the starting blocks for a character building process that God
wants to begin in each of our lives.
Suffering
brings endurance, which brings character,
which brings hope.
We’re
looking at an idea that in Romans 5:3.
To
help us understand, it’s always good to get a little context…
Romans 1 – God
created the world to bring glory to himself.
We made the Terrible Exchange of worshipping the things that God made
instead of worshipping God.
Romans 2 – As a
result, God is very angry. He is full of
wrath and we are subject to His judgment.
Romans 3 – Any
attempt that we can make to get back in God’s good graces leave us falling
short of His glory.
Romans 4
– God provided a way back to His glory through the substitutionary death of
Jesus and we are justified (declared not guilty) through faith in the work of
Jesus Christ on our behalf.
Romans 5 – Paul
begins to count the benefits that we gain by being made right with God through
faith in Jesus Christ.
Benefits of Justification through
Faith:
Verse One: “Since we have been justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
Verse Two: “Through him we have also obtained access by
faith into this grace in which we
now stand.”
“And
we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Verse Three: More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.
Rejoicing in our sufferings is
listed as a benefit of justification
through faith!
Look at the benefits – only one
has to do with the after-life! (Hope of the glory of God).
The rest have to do with our current existence: peace with God, grace (favorable standing)
and rejoicing in sufferings.
The reason we can rejoice is
that we know that God is using the difficulty to build our character.
Eg: Cinderella Man - Joe pumping up Jim before
the fight:
- Who was it that beat Corn
Griffin?
- Who took down John Henry Lewis?
- Who tore up Lasky?
Each test builds our
character.
Suffering
is the foundation of solid character.
Think of many people running
for political office… how many of them will trumpet the fact they have
suffered…from poverty, financial hardship, military service or even being a
P.O.W.
You would never hear a campaign
speech: “Vote for me because I come from a family of privilege and I’ve had
everything handed to me!”
Eg: Bob Clemens and John Bonnell
Without
suffering, trial and tribulation, would there be any great stories?
- Lewis and Clark
- Helen Keller
- FDR
- Band of Brothers – Easy Company
of the 101st Airborne
- Martin Luther King
- Lance Armstrong
- James J. Braddock – The
Cinderella Man
These are all stories of men
and women of great character that was forged in the furnace of suffering.
If we are to rejoice in
our sufferings:
The first thing that has
to happen is…
1) We view suffering as the foundation
for Christian character.
The second thing
that has to happen is that
2) We begin to see “blessings”
in a new light
When you think of
the word “blessing”, what comes to your mind?
If you were to
“count your blessings” as the old gospel tune encourages, what would you begin
to number?
- Wins
- Comfort
- Security
- Financial windfall
- Safety
All of these things we would
view as “positive” – in the “plus” column…
Eg: College Student with Radio
bleed – “God was
really blessing me today, pastor! I got
to hear your sermon and the ball game at the same time!” J
Could it be that
some of the “negative” things that happen to us are blessings?
Could it be that
flat tires, drought, brain tumors and a receding economy are blessings?
- David Thompson’s dad
- Terry Syme’s garbonzo beans
- Mark Bradford’s tumor
- Renewed vigor in prayer and
renewal of correct priorities
Look who Jesus includes as
those who are blessed in
Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are
those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Matthew
Matthew
Most of the
time we associate God’s blessing with God’s
deposits in our life – God’s gifts.
Is it possible to
associate God’s withdrawals – God’s extractions as blessings?
Eg: “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord”
What do you think
of when we get to the part, “You give and take away”?
-
People?
-
Jobs?
-
Money?
-
Health?
-
Legs?
Folks, if we are to
rejoice in sufferings, we need a renewed definition of the word “blessing”.
Which
brings me to my final point…
How many eyes do
you have?
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may
behold wondrous things out of your law.
Psalm 121:1,2 I lift up my eyes to the
hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven
and earth.
Ephesians
How many eyes do
you have?
God gave us two eyes at birth
to see the physical / temporary
world in which we live.
And at spiritual birth, God gives us another set of eyes to see a the spiritual /
eternal realm.
It’s like He’s gives us access
to another channel!
If we are to rejoice in our
sufferings:
3) We need to have God open
our spiritual eyes.
Eg:
2
Kings 6 – Elisha and the Arameans
Eg:
“Preaching Wet”
Eg:
The airless sprayer at Bongolo
If we
want to rejoice in sufferings, we need to have God open the eyes of our heart
to receive what the message He’s transmitting on that other channel.
Close: If
you’ve lived any life at all, you know, “It’s a Hard Knock Life”. And if we’re to find any joy in the hard
times, we need to know:
-
God
is forging our character through trials
-
God
might have a different definition of “blessing”
-
God
wants to open our spiritual eyes to learn the lessons in life that might not be
quite so obvious.
If
you’re wrestling with trouble, trial, tribulation, suffering – “The Hard Knock
Life” and you don’t see any redemption in the difficulties you’re going
through, remember that God Himself is no stranger to suffering.
Suffering
came into the world because of our sin and we couldn’t do anything to remedy
the mess. But God sent his Son Jesus to
our fallen world to bring us the remedy by suffering and by dying on the cross,
so that our suffering could make sense and could be redeemed.
Closing Prayer
Invitation – The Praise Team is
going to lead us in singing “Blessed Be Your Name”. If you’d like to receive Jesus for the first
time and say “Blessed Be Your Name”, we invite you to the front. If the “Hard Knock Life” is getting the best
of you and you’d like someone to pray with you, please come. I would ask that members of our Prayer
Ministry Team would come forward to love on these people.
Benediction -
The Shema