Faith and Joyful Suffering
In today's Bible class, we covered the end of Romans chapter four and the beginning of chapter five. In chapter four, Paul comes to the point and then in chapter five he goes beyond it. His point is that anyone who believes in Jesus will be counted as righteous before God. What goes beyond this are the implications for our lives if we believe this. Being a Christian is easy. God does all the work. But it does have an effect on life. Jesus tells a parable about counting the cost of being his disciple. A man does not being building a tower before he is convinced that he has enough resources to complete the project. Likewise, those who would follow Jesus need to count the cost. Paul identifies this cost, or at least part of it, in chapter five.
Romans chapters one through four is perhaps the longest instance of Paul's description of the difference between an approach to God based on works verse faith. In these chapters, Paul argues that no one can be saved according to works. The only way to salvation is through faith in the gift we receive from God based on Jesus' death and resurrection. His primary example of this type of faith is Abraham.
Abraham was given a promise. He was promised a son and that he would be the father of many nations. Of course, this was absurd. He was an old man and his wife was not only barren but past the age of bearing children. Yet, he believed God. He trusted in this promise believing that God was powerful enough to accomplish what he said he would do. This is the faith we are called to have in God because of Jesus. That I could be forgiven is absurd. I deserve every punishment I receive from God and more. Yet, God has promised forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus. I trust this because I believe he has the power to accomplish what he says he will do. And so does every Christian.
So what comes after this. Paul talks about three things at the beginning of chapter five. First is peace. Because of what Jesus has done, we have peace with God. Later in the chapter, Paul is going to use the word reconciliation. We are no longer in a hostile relationship with God because of our sins. Instead, there is peace. The second is hope. While the promises of God are sure and we have what God has promised to us even now, there is more to come. There will be a new heaven and a new earth on the Last Day. The former will pass away. There is hope for what God will give us in the day he fulfills his promise.
Lastly, Paul says we rejoice in our suffering. This one seems a bit out of character with the others. It is a part of the example of Abraham though. Abraham suffered until old age wanting an heir. He and his wife went through much suffering on account of her barrenness. Even then, when they received God's promise, they had to wait years for God to fulfill his promise. According to Paul, this served only to increase their hope. The suffering gave way to endurance, endurance to character, and character to hope. Because we know that this suffering is good for us, we should rejoice in it. We rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer, just as the apostles suffered and rejoiced as the Book of Acts tells us.
In this way, we are children of Abraham. We share his faith. We share in his peace, We share in his hope. We share in his suffering. We rejoice because we are called by God and have received his promises. Being a Christian is easy, God does all the work. But there is a cost. We are now a part of God's house and are one of God's children. We are called to suffer, each in our own way. And we rejoice in our suffering knowing that through it, we increase in hope waiting for the day of Christ's return.
Romans chapters one through four is perhaps the longest instance of Paul's description of the difference between an approach to God based on works verse faith. In these chapters, Paul argues that no one can be saved according to works. The only way to salvation is through faith in the gift we receive from God based on Jesus' death and resurrection. His primary example of this type of faith is Abraham.
Abraham was given a promise. He was promised a son and that he would be the father of many nations. Of course, this was absurd. He was an old man and his wife was not only barren but past the age of bearing children. Yet, he believed God. He trusted in this promise believing that God was powerful enough to accomplish what he said he would do. This is the faith we are called to have in God because of Jesus. That I could be forgiven is absurd. I deserve every punishment I receive from God and more. Yet, God has promised forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus. I trust this because I believe he has the power to accomplish what he says he will do. And so does every Christian.
So what comes after this. Paul talks about three things at the beginning of chapter five. First is peace. Because of what Jesus has done, we have peace with God. Later in the chapter, Paul is going to use the word reconciliation. We are no longer in a hostile relationship with God because of our sins. Instead, there is peace. The second is hope. While the promises of God are sure and we have what God has promised to us even now, there is more to come. There will be a new heaven and a new earth on the Last Day. The former will pass away. There is hope for what God will give us in the day he fulfills his promise.
Lastly, Paul says we rejoice in our suffering. This one seems a bit out of character with the others. It is a part of the example of Abraham though. Abraham suffered until old age wanting an heir. He and his wife went through much suffering on account of her barrenness. Even then, when they received God's promise, they had to wait years for God to fulfill his promise. According to Paul, this served only to increase their hope. The suffering gave way to endurance, endurance to character, and character to hope. Because we know that this suffering is good for us, we should rejoice in it. We rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer, just as the apostles suffered and rejoiced as the Book of Acts tells us.
In this way, we are children of Abraham. We share his faith. We share in his peace, We share in his hope. We share in his suffering. We rejoice because we are called by God and have received his promises. Being a Christian is easy, God does all the work. But there is a cost. We are now a part of God's house and are one of God's children. We are called to suffer, each in our own way. And we rejoice in our suffering knowing that through it, we increase in hope waiting for the day of Christ's return.
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