GLORY IN TRIBULATIONS?
"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience; and experience hope, and hope makes not ashamed" Romans 5v3.
This is now the fourth blessing to flow from justification. Paul is keen to leave no stone unturned as he expounds the many facets of the benefits available to the Christian believer. In doing this he uses superlative language to impress on them the fullness of God's provision. "Not only so," "much more," "moreover," "abundance," "super abundance"......these are the links with which he puts together the glorious truths.
He is going to speak of tribulations and the purpose of their introduction into our lives, but the essential message is that he wants us to boast in them, to exult in them since they have a Divine purpose. In this he follows the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the sermon on the mount and in the sermon in the upper room. In both those Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who react well to trials and says "in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." This is indeed a biblical principle "suffering before glory," "cross before crown." Between justification and glorification all Christians will go through tribulations, some more than others. The apostle Peter gave the same message in his letter "the salvation of your souls ....wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness in the midst of manifold trials; that the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried by fire, might be found unto praise and glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 1st Peter 1 v 6-7
Indeed Peter summarises the vast subject of Christian trials because of their faith in a sevenfold way. We cannot stay to expand on these but he talks of suffering for "conscience toward God," "for righteousness sake," "for well-doing," "in the flesh," "as a Christian," "according to the will of God," "from the devil." This suffering for our faith may come from human beings, it may come from the devil, it may even come from God!
The point here in Romans 5 is not to ennumerate the various trials that may come our way, but to change our attitude to them, in light of what has happened to us. From whatever source they come, and for whatever reason, we do not shirk them or complain about them but we glory in them, we rejoice in them. This is against all human nature. No human being could live like this without the massive input of Divine strength into our lives. Indeed the teaching here is that we could almost measure our spiritual state by this yardstick, by how we react to trouble in our lives.
How do I react? Do I blame God? Do I blame the people around me? Do I complain? Do I wish for the troubles to be over? Do I plan a way of getting rid of the troubles? All of these would be the natural response for those who do not have the blessing of salvation, but says Paul we glory in them. God has declared you to be righteous, you now have peace with God, you have an unlimited supply of Divine grace made available to you, your eternal future is glorious. How can any troubles we experience dim the glory of all that? It is a matter of perspective. Paul is arguing from the greater to the lesser, as he often does, and is saying to us, your past, your present, your future have all been sorted, so what are a few tribulations in the light of that?
We give some examples, first of all Paul himself described what it meant to be a minister of God. Read 2nd Corinthians 6 v 4-10; 1st Corinthians 4 v 11-13; 2nd Corinthians 11v23-27; to get an idea of his sufferings for the gospel. They were many and great, and almost daily, but it is his attitude to them that we should note. In prison at Philippi " Paul and Silas sang praises unto God." Writing to the Corinthians he said "most gladly therefore I will rather glory (same word as here) in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." A cursory reading of Hebrews chapter 11 will make clear what those of faith suffered because of their faith. The early apostles also suffered "they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." Acts 5 v 41 The story of the Macedonian Christians in 2nd Corinthians 8 reveal that because of the grace of God bestowed on these believers they went through a great trial of affliction experiencing deep poverty. In the midst of this great trial and suffering and loss of personal wealth they abounded in riches of grace that are an example to us all. Out of their affliction came abundance of joy within, and out of their poverty came the abundance of their liberality to those around them.
THIS IS THE HERITAGE OF ALL WHO ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH; if in practice we come far short of this standard, as most of us do, it is because we have not properly assessed the benefits of salvation and worked it properly into our lives. Next time we will see that God will do this for us as He uses problems in our lives to wean us away from this world and focus our hearts on the world to which we are heading. This is a marvellous, very real aspect of our salvation and the way to fully enjoy it, indeed glory in it, which is what Paul is saying here, is to change our attitude and expectations in the present world.
No comments:
Post a Comment