Sermons
Hope - Tribulation - Prayer
Sun, Dec 16, 2018
Teacher: Tom Blackford Series: Sunday Sermons - 2018 Scripture: Romans 12:10-13
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Hope, Tribulation, Prayer
Romans 12:10-13
INTRO:
Good morning. We are continuing in our study in the book of Romans chapter 12. We looked at verse 9 and examined what love is and what hypocrisy is. We saw that love is biblically described in terms of activities, actions, unlike the common view in the world today as a feeling. We saw that hypocrisy was in direct opposition to love. I would like us to now read Romans 12:10-13 – “10. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11. not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12. rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13. distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”
In verse 10 Paul continues this thought and tells us “in honor preferring one another” or some translations say to “give preference to one another”. This carries the connotation of setting an example by taking the lead in the honoring of others. A Christian should desire to exalt fellow Christians. We must give each other priority in honor. I suspect a large part of trouble that arises in congregations comes from concerns about rights, privileges or prestige. Someone has not been given their place; someone has been neglected or un-thanked. The mark of the Christian though, is humility.
Paul also reminds us that we must not lack diligence and not be sluggish in our zeal to serve the Lord. There is intensity in the Christian life; there is no room for lethargy. The world this time of year exhibits intensity but that intensity is often misplaced and the rest of the year service to the Lord is rarely seen. The Christian cannot take things in an easy-going way, for the world is always a battleground between good and evil, the time is short, and life is our preparation for eternity.
Then the apostle says; “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.” Three phrases. These three phrases are part of a series of admonitions. These three phrases contain words that often occur in scripture, rejoice, hope, patience, tribulation, steadfastness, and prayer. There is a lesson in each one of these words; of what rejoicing means, what hope is and what patience is, what tribulation means to us, what it means to be steadfast and certainly there are a number of lessons we could consider on the aspects of prayer and how it applies to our lives.
In the larger context of Romans chapter 12 these three commands are vital ingredients to a spiritual life. To develop spirituality, we need to know how we obey these commandments and what they mean to us in our spiritual growth.
I suggest as we begin our study this morning that we should note what the apostle is calling for in these three specific phrases is not sporadic or occasional, activities, or attitudes. He's calling for the development of an approach to life, a lifestyle. This lifestyle comes through a renewed mind. Remember early in the chapter Paul said that we must not be conformed to this world but that we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
To understand what it means to rejoice, to have hope, to be patient, to endure tribulation, to be steadfast and pray on a continual basis; we must see these things through a renewed mind. A mind not conformed to the world around us. It’s being different, because these are things that are not found in the world, these are things that are found in Christ and among His people. These things are not stand alone either, from the text these apply to the situations of the Christians of that day and I believe today as well.
I. Rejoicing in Hope: We are to rejoice in hope. When Paul describes the Gentile world the Ephesians came from, he says in Ephesians 2:12 – “that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” I don't know how you paint a darker picture for them. Paul says they were without God, and therefore they had no hope. He says they were without Christ, and because they were separate from Christ they had no hope. It should be obvious to us that we are living in a world increasingly without Christ and that world has no hope.
A. Around us we see that generally people don’t live as if they are without hope. They live as though they have a handle on the future. They expect things to be the same today as they were yesterday and that they'll continue tomorrow. They feel that they are going to live on and their expectations will happen. We recognize that we live in a world which doesn't act like it has no hope. The reality spiritually however, is that those who do not have God, those who are separate from Christ have no hope.
B. Paul says we as Christians should rejoice in our hope. We have hope and we recognize that Jesus is our hope. Paul says we should rejoice because we recognize that we do have hope.
1. That concept is presented several times in scripture. There are a number of passages which tell us that the basis of our hope for salvation here and ultimately for heaven later on is Christ and Christ alone.
2. In 1 Peter 1:3-5 – “3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4. to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5. who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
3. Peter is obviously thinking about this aspect of heaven and what's to come. He tells us here that our hope is alive because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's a necessary and I think important play on words. Jesus is not dead and therefore our hope is not dead. He rose from the grave and therefore we have a living hope, an inheritance that is incorruptible and will not fade away, because Jesus rose from the dead. He is our hope.
4. Later on in that same chapter Peter says, talking about Christ, “20. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21. who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” Peter makes it clear in several different passages that Jesus is the one who provides us with the hope that we have. That if we believe in Him and we recognize the power in the resurrection and we give Him the glory for what He did for us, then we can have hope and our hope and faith will be in God.
C. Later on Paul writes to Timothy and refers to Christ as “our hope” in 1 Timothy chapter one. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 15:19 – “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” We are to be pitied if all we can put our hope in is what happens right here. Christianity is not to be advocated merely upon the premise that it is good psychology, or that it leads to a better life in the present world, however true these tangential benefits might be.
1. There is a resurrection from the dead. There is that which reaches beyond the grave and we have a hope that goes beyond this world. Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 that Jesus rose from the dead and that our hope is in Him.
2. Recognizing that we have a hope and that hope is in Christ, Paul says that our hope should bring us joy. Joy as used in Scripture has the literal translation of “gladness” or an “inner gladness of the heart” but doesn't mean to be gleeful all the time. The joyful person is not necessarily the person who's always smiling or always joking or always has happy stories to tell.
3. Joy goes beyond the aspect of circumstantial happiness. Joy is an inner peace that comes from recognizing that you are in a good position, that you have a good relationship with God. It goes beyond the present circumstance and therefore you can look beyond what's happening to you now to have a joy that transcends the present. Joy is mentioned in several different contexts in the writings of the Apostle Paul but joy is always based upon looking beyond this world and beyond these circumstances to what God is going to do for us in the future.
D. Our hope in Christ brings joy. Someone has said that for the Christian the best is always yet to come. I find that a profound and comforting thought. No matter where you are in life, no matter what the circumstances of life, whether things are good or bad; for the Christian something better is yet to come.
1. We certainly reach an age when we recognize that from the physical perspective the best may have already taken place—physically, and that we can't do what we used to do. We can't go where we used to go; we can't experience the things we used to experience. From a physical perspective the best is in the past.
2. Sometimes that can be rather a dismal and discouraging picture. There are times people look at this from a physical perspective and they lose the joy of life because what seems to have been the best—is behind. But for the Christian though the future is always better.
E. We read in 1 Peter Chapter 1:6-7 – “6. In this (that is the hope we are talking about) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7. that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” Peter says; in this hope you greatly rejoice, but not because everything is going right for you here physically.
1. In fact, he says in the face of trials you continue to rejoice because you recognize that God has something better that is yet to come. This is simply a test, a tribulation that will make your faith stronger and provide you the opportunity to praise, honor and glory in Jesus Christ even more.
2. Peter says these are temporary. Some things are endurable simply because they are temporary. It's not going to continue forever, we know that it will pass and so we can deal with it from the spiritual perspective of looking to the future.
3. Near the end of his life the Apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome. From what was no doubt a physically discouraging circumstance, he wrote to the Philippines of joy. From an environment of tribulation he spoke about Joy over and over and over again. He spoke of the joy he had in his life because he had a hope. If there had been no hope there would be no joy for the present circumstances certainly would not provide it.
F. In Philippines 1:19-21 – Paul writes some words very familiar to the Christian; “19. For I know that this will turn out for my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20. according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
1. I realize that what Paul describes may be the most difficult and challenging perfecting of the spirit we will ever attempt to acquire. To live in the physical world without fear of death, without viewing death as a finality. Recognizing that true joy comes from an earnest expectation and hope that in nothing will God cause me to be ashamed.
2. Paul is saying God is not going to let me down no matter what happens... he will not let me down. When others deserted him, Paul says Jesus has not forsaken me. God is still with me. That was his hope. That was his joy.
G. Sometimes we may find it difficult to find true joy in the life that we're living. We need to review our hope in Christ because it’s that hope that becomes the source of joy. Jesus promised peace in the tribulations of life. Before he went to the cross John Chapter 16 He said; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
1. Later on the apostle Paul in Romans Chapter 8 put it in a personal context when he said; “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” [Romans 8:18]
2. Paul was able to make that connection, that discernment. We also need to make that discernment every day as we face tribulation and trouble, knowing what to come is better.
II. Patience in Tribulation: Last Sunday evening we talked about “Withstanding the Pressure of being a Christian”. Paul says in this second admonition that we need to be patient in tribulation. This phrase brings us back to the present where hope looks to the future. We recognize that we live in tribulation today. How am I going to respond to the trials that surrounded me and that I'm a part of? How can I withstand them? Paul says patience. We must respond to the troubles we face with patience.
A. Interestingly, patience is listed as an element of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians chapter five. There are two separate words that are translated by the English word patience or patient in the New Testament. One of those is used in Galatians chapter five and the other one is used here. They are synonyms in their use in the New Testament. Patience is described in the Bible as waiting, as enduring, as perseverance.
1. The word here in Romans 12:12 (ὑπομένω hypoménō, hoop-om-en'-o) is a word meaning “needs to remain” or “to persevere” or “to endure”. The aspect of remaining seems to indicate that a person is in a place where they need to stay. They need to be patient and therefore need to persevere where they are at.
2. The synonym is mentioned in Galatians chapter 5:22 (μακροθυμία makrothymía, mak-roth-oo-mee'-ah) as an element of the fruit of the Spirit. It is defined as “longsuffering” or slowness in avenging”, or forbearance”, or “endurance”, or “steadfastness”. You have people that you've got to put up with, and endure, be patient with those people which is what Paul says is a fruit of the spirit.
B. There is a difference between the two words or there would be no need for two. One relates to patience with people, the other relates to patience with circumstances. In the context here that's certainly what Paul talking about. A Christian is placed in a world of tribulation where things don't go right, where people are persecuted for their faith, or individuals have to deal with afflictions and sicknesses and problems.
1. In the world in which we live, that's cursed by sin, there is a call for patience and a waiting. How long? That's a particular question that is asked many times of God in the Bible from the Old Testament to the New Testament. When God’s people faced difficult circumstances, when they were in exile because of their idolatry, they cried out to God, now long? How long will you allow this to go on? How long before you'll come and rescue your people?
2. In the very last book of the Bible, Revelation, there's a picture of the Saints who have been martyred for the sake of Christ crying out before the throne of God. How long before you’ll validate our sacrifice and punish evil?
3. How long does a person have to wait in order to fulfill the commandment of being patient in tribulation? God answered that question for Paul. Paul came to the Lord in prayer three times saying please take this thorn in the flesh away. Please take it away. All three times God said no. My grace is sufficient for you and it seems from what Paul relates here about his own personal struggle and prayer to God that whatever the thorn in the flesh was God's call was to wait, you wait your whole life. You wait your whole life because my grace is sufficient.
C. We look at our physical lives and we recognize that we can wait for a little while. What if we have to wait for our whole life for the end of the tribulation that is upon us? Well the long range view of our hope in Christ gives us the ability to wait our whole life if necessary. To recognize that what is yet to come is better than what we have now. Even in the perspective of a whole lifetime we are to have patience, for God will reward faithfulness. We must be patient.
1. The writer of Hebrews puts this in the context of the example of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 12 it is Jesus who is our example to follow in waiting. He's our hope in the end and will make things right. He is the reason for our hope and joy. He's also the one, as God, who came of this earth and lived it out for us, gave us a living example of what it means to be patient through tribulations, to wait on God and put faith in God. We must look to Jesus.
2. Patience is made clear to us in Hebrews 12:1-3 - “1. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2. looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (I ask you to note this next part) 3. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”
i. The word endure or endured is used several times in this passage and is from the same root word from which the word “patience” comes in our text. This makes it clear that if there was one who endured, if there was one who was patient in tribulation certainly it was Jesus Christ.
ii. What did He endure? The writer of Hebrews said that He endured the cross. Certainly we recognize that He did that. He could have come down off the cross. He stayed on the cross and He endured all the afflictions and suffering that were associated with His death.
iii. Why did He endure the cross? Why did Jesus see it through all the way to the end? The text here says that He endured this for the joy that was set before Him.
D. There is a lot of discussion about what is referred to here as the joy that was set before Christ. What was this joy? Some have suggested that it was the prospect of being exalted to the right hand of God. That's mentioned in the text; Jesus sat down at the right hand of God.
1. He received something that He had before and therefore there was joy in receiving what He had given up. Jesus desired this exultation to His previous glory, He prayed for that in John 17.
2. I believe that it's better to see the joy here that was set before Jesus, as the joy that comes of pleasing the Father. What He had to do to please the Father was to do the will of the One who sent Him, to see it all the way through to the end. In the garden that's what he prayed, “Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will” Jesus’ willingness to see this all the way to the end, to drink all of that bitter cup, was to please the Father, do the will of the Father. That was the joy that was set before him.
3. He would finish His mission, be approved of the Father and there would be a joy and a rejoicing in the fact that He had done everything that God had set before Him.
4. Burton Coffman says; “The joy that was set before him was the joy of reversing, at last, the tragic defeat of humanity in the Paradise of Eden; the joy of knowing that Satan's purpose of destroying man was foiled; the joy of "bringing many sons unto glory" (Hebrews 2:10); the joy of the saved entering heaven "with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads" (Isaiah 35:10); the joy of the herald angels' "tidings of great joy to all people" (Luke 2:10); and such marvelous joy that, in truth, no vocabulary may describe it, no rhetoric suggest it, or finite mind fully conceive of it. Placed in the balances of consideration, and weighed against the epic sufferings our Lord passed through, that unspeakable joy overwhelmingly prevailed.”
E. There was a joy set before Jesus Christ of finishing the course of saving men, of doing the will of the father - that could not be described to us in any language.
1. When Jesus contemplated what could be achieved by seeing it through to the end, He endured the cross. I can't possibly in my own language or thoughts, be able to conceive of what God has in store for me as a Christian later on.
2. What He will do and has done for me will be complete in every detail, if I persevere to the end, if I do not give up, if I’m patient in tribulation. There is a joy that is set before me of which I have no concept.
3. Considering such endurance he says you should not and cannot grow weary and discouraged. We must be patient. I wonder though, how do we find strength to be patient through all these tribulations and trials?
III. Continuing Steadfastly in Prayer: The phrase “continued steadfastly” is used several times in scripture and the original word that means to be “diligent” or “earnest towards the goal”. It means to have an end in mind and try with great effort and strength to see it through. Sometimes it's translated in the scriptures “to be devoted to” and carries the aspect of constancy in something.
A. In thinking about the use of this phrase I find it interesting how many times the aspect of constancy is related to prayer. If anything we are to earnestly continue in, that we are to be constantly engaged in, it is prayer.
1. Go to book of Acts chapter one before the coming of the Holy Spirit. In verse 13 we find the disciples together in the upper room. In Acts 1:14 it says; “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” They weren't just praying now and then. They weren’t just praying short, concise prayers. They were continuing in prayer before God.
2. A passage we are familiar with in Acts 2:42. After the church began Luke tells us of the early Christians; “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Some translations say they were religiously devoted to praying.
3. Acts chapter 6 Peter asked the church to appoint men to see to the care of widows because the apostles he says; are going to give ourselves continually to prayer and the Ministry of the word. When the New Testament describes the activity of the Apostles in the early church it mentions the constancy in prayer. What were they doing? They were praying all the time.
B. Later when Peter was arrested the young church seemed powerless before Herod and those who would persecute them.
1. In Acts 12:5 it says constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Colossians 4:2 Paul encouraged Christians to “continue earnestly in prayer being vigilant in it with Thanksgiving”. Then a familiar passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul says simply; “pray without ceasing”. Do not give up on prayer.
2. God wants us to be continually in prayer, because praying to God provides us the strength to endure the tribulations so that we can rejoice in the hope that God has provided for us as we persevere to the end.
3. Prayer is never described in the New Testament as a sporadic, stopgap measure. It's never whenever you think all other measures run out, then pray. It is not described as; when we get to the end of the road and there's no more rope to hold onto, then we'll pray. It is always the natural and constant activity of Christians who speak to God in a consistent daily manner.
4. It is as natural and constant as breathing. Prayer is our life source. I suspect one of the reasons the Lord allows His children to go through tribulations and trials and difficulties is to teach us to meet Him in prayer. Sadly sometimes that is the only thing that gets us to pray. God is the only source of true endurance and spirituality in the heat of life.
C. Look at the people who've gone through great spiritual struggles and survived. Those who have gone through great physical and emotional difficulties and spiritually survived. Particularly those who have gone through that and who have gotten stronger as a result. In those people you will find individuals who prayed not occasionally but prayed consistently before God. They recognized that God is the source of their strength.
1. One of the greatest examples of prayer in all the Bible is Daniel. The young man Daniel was called on the carpet for the consistency of his prayer. In the story of Daniel we should note the environment. Daniel as a Hebrew, as a child of God, was alone in a pagan culture being thrust even in terms of his occupation into a culture that called for compromise at every angle of his life.
2. He was tempted and tried, pressured to be like the people around him. To ward that off, to be patient in those tribulations, Daniel prayed consistently before God.
CONCLUSION:
Consider again the inter relationship between these phrases as we close our lesson. In hope rejoicing, in tribulation enduring, in prayer persevering.
It is certainly recognizable that each of these activities helps the other. They build one upon the other. Robert Jamieson says in his commentaries; “If our ‘hope’ of glory is so assured that it is a rejoicing hope, we shall find the spirit of ‘endurance in tribulation’ natural and easy; but since it is ‘prayer’ which strengthens the faith that begets hope and lifts it up into an assured and joyful expectancy, and since our patience in tribulation is fed by this, it will be seen that all depends on our ‘perseverance in prayer’.”
God has done everything to give us hope. He's provided us with the only way that we could possibly have a joyful expectancy for the future, and a way to deal with the problems that exist in the physical life. He calls upon us to depend upon Him in prayer and submission.
The call to Christian in dealing with the difficulties of life is a call to submission. To submit to the will of God in every aspect of our life, to be obedient, to submit to the authority of those around us, whether they’re secular authorities or whether they have the authority that comes inherent within our relationships. God always called upon the Christians to develop a submissive spirit so that we can endure the tribulations that are around us, because God will not overlook nor will He in anyway distain the submissive spirit.
If we fail to pray, to be submissive to God, we cannot expect to be joyful, nor can we ever expect to be hopeful, or successful in enduring our tribulations to the end.
I will conclude by pointing this out. All of these challenging phrases to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, to pray consistently constantly... point to Christ.
They point to our relationship to Jesus and how important that relationship is in every aspect of our desire to acquire heaven, to reach the goal, to get through the difficulties, the experiences of this life. It is in Jesus Christ that we are able to accomplish this. He's the source of our hope.
He's the reason for our joy.
He’s the strength in our tribulations.
He's the model for our patience.
He is the audience of our prayers.
It is in Christ and Christ alone that all of these things can happen.
It should not surprise us that the Apostle Paul could say; those who are without God and those separate from Christ, have no hope. One more reference and then we’ll close.
In Romans 5:1-4 notice how Paul brings all of these things together and from this shows the importance of what Christ has done for us. “1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2. through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4. and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Paul goes on to say in that hope we will not be disappointed because that hope is in Christ. It all hinges on our relationship with Jesus Christ, doesn’t it? Are you in Christ?
The hope you would have, the strength you would need, the patience you would desire, the audience of your prayers as you seek for the strength, all of that is dependent on whether or not you are in Christ.
A person gets into Christ through faith. Faith is enacted in the obedience to baptism.
So much so that Paul says “we are baptized into Christ and we are raised with him into a new life”.
Do you need to respond to the gospel invitation of Jesus Christ, to repent of you sins, to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, that you might be a Christian?
Those of us that are Christians, that have obeyed Christ and are in Him, need to recognize our responsibility to rejoice in the hope that God has placed before us.
In the context of the everyday trials and tribulations of life we need to be patient, waiting in the same way that Jesus did in order to bless us, and we need to pray and depend upon God for all that He provides. We will not in the end in any way be disappointed by our God.
If there is anyone that needs to respond to the invitation, we invite you to come forward while we stand and while we sing.
Invitation song: ???
Reference sermon: David Schmidt
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