Rejoice In The Suffering

I actually wrote this about a month and a half ago for a small group session I was leading at church.  This message had been on my heart for months before, and when I was invited to lead the prayer time for the worship team, AV team, pastor, and church leaders before first service one Sunday, I knew this was the message.  And I knew I didn’t want to lead it.

“Rejoicing in the suffering” is something I’ve had to learn a lot about first hand, lately.  As someone who hates crying in general, let alone in front of people, I REALLY didn’t want this to be the topic.  But I wasn’t given a specific topic by the scheduler, and this was exactly what I knew the Lord wanted me to share.

Who knew it would apply so heavily a couple months later to many more people than just myself.

So I can be lazy and not rework the whole thing, I’m going to leave it mostly in note form.  I’m sure the same message will get across, haha!
(If it begins to look weird on your phone, turn your phone sideways.)

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March 8, 2020 Sunday morning pre service study:

Romans 5:1-5

“1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through 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.

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

5 and 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.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:1-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

• Vs 1 - “...we have peace with God...” 
• Based off of a footnote at the bottom of my Bible, some manuscripts say “let us” instead of “we”.  This tells me that it is a choice and this peace with God is not necessarily something that just naturally happens.  I know there are times I don’t naturally have peace with God.
• Vs 2 - “...we rejoice in the hope of the Glory of God.” 
• Another footnote at the bottom of the page in my Bible says that some manuscripts say “let us boast...”. This is another choice, this time to boast!
• Boast can be described as: an act of talking with excessive pride and satisfaction.
• We are called to choose to talk with excessive pride and satisfaction in the hope of the Glory of God!
• Vs 3 - “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,...”
• Not only should we choose peace with God, not only do we receive His grace through faith, not only should we choose to boast in the hope of the Glory of God, but we should choose to rejoice in our sufferings.
• Paul knew all about sufferings.  Before his conversion, he was handing out “sufferings” left and right to Christians.
• Acts 8:1-4 “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”
• Vs 1 - this execution Saul approved of was Steven, a Christian deacon in Jerusalem and the first Christian martyr.  That’s big.
• Vs 2-3 - major persecution!
• Vs 4 - Sneak peak at where I’m headed...  these people had been dragged from their homes and churches and scattered throughout.  Imagine the absolute fear and chaos that was experienced while being dragged; either from your home or place of worship, not knowing what the future held, or even where you were going.  And yet they used this unwanted scattering as a chance to share the Good News.  I think the kids these days would say “that’s heat”.
• Upon conversion, Paul then experienced many sufferings of his own.
• 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”
• This dude knew sufferings, through and through!  And he says we should rejoice in them.
• There are a few examples of sufferings currently active around me.
• A recent young widow, who shows up to church and praises every Sunday.  Really, truly praises.
• My dad - burying two siblings on the same day, and through tears and an incredibly shaky voice still inviting people to Christ.
• My wife’s deployment and the multiple levels of struggles that that brings.
• Leading youth worship without the main singer had been a STRUGGLE before a couple amazing singers and worship leaders stepped in and started helping me.
• But here’s what I love.  Nearly every time a struggle is mentioned in the Bible, there’s a promise that God will work all things to the good of those that love Him and are called according to his purpose! 
• The suffering is not the end of the story.
• The suffering is not the end of the story.
• The suffering is not the end of the story.

But how do we know that suffering isn’t the end of the story?

- Back to Romans 5 -

• Vs 3-4 - Suffering -> endurance -> character -> hope
• Endurance - Finishing a race strong.  Not giving up til the very end.  Even when everything hurts and all you feel like doing is giving up, muscle memory kicks in and you finish your race no matter how hard.
• Character - The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.
• When we have endurance through a hard time, we become mentally stronger.  We see that we can do this.  That God can do this.  God can use us for this!  Whatever your “this” is, it is absolutely NOT unattainable.  This stronger mental state and attitude towards your calling will likely bring a higher confidence in yourself and in God for whatever He has you working on.  It most certainly has for me!
• Hope - This is calling back to verse 2.  The hope of the Glory of God.  I have to believe this hope is referring to our hope we receive when we accept Christ.  The hope of an eternal life with God instead of in hell.  The hope of being accepted by the Almighty as a new creation, thanks to Jesus.  The best hope anyone could ask for.
• Vs 5 - rounds it off so beautifully.  This hope does not put us to shame.  Whatever you’re shameful of, whatever failures you’re holding on to, whatever failures you’re afraid you’ll have; give them to God.  Because this hope does not put us to shame.

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

The suffering is not the end of the story.