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Bible Study- Lutz, Florida
Established
November 2008
Rightly
Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans
by the Book
Lesson 33
We paused our last Bible session at Romans chapter
5:3-4, after introducing and briefly studying this important message for
Believers.
“…we also exult
in our tribulations, (which beset us) knowing that tribulation brings
about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and
proven character, hope;
Please remember verses 3 and 4 build upon
the two Bible verses preceding them (Romans 5:1-2) which end with this
blessing, “…we exult in hope of
the glory of God.”
Below is the Apostle Paul’s communication
to the Believer’s in Corinth in which he refers to (“Thlipsis) tribulations as
“our light affliction.”
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet
the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do
not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:16-18)
The Apostle Paul wrote both of these
statements (as he was led by the Spirit of God) in part to encourage Believers (“Therefore we do not lose heart”) because Thlipsis or
tribulations will be an element of your everyday life. These pressures
are to include anything that burdens the
spirit.
I want to spend a bit more time with this
Bible teaching before we move on, and I’ll tell you why that is, of
course.
Everyone suffers on this planet. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Believer or an
atheist.
However, Believers are to become imitators
of Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 5:1-21). Therefore, how we act in response to
our sufferings matters to God the Father.
When the Lord Jesus Christ found us, not
only were we dead in our sins we all had many imperfections. You may label these character flaws if you
wish. They are the result of being born
with an Adamic Nature and living in a darkened world. God the Father intends for us all to be
conformed to the “image” of His Son once we are saved.
But what does the Scripture say?
1 Peter 2
21: For you have
been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you (watch
this) an example for you to follow
in His steps,
22: WHO COMMITTED NO SIN,
NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
23: and while being reviled,
He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept
entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
And
this one:
Isaiah 45
9: “Woe to the one who
quarrels with his Maker – An earthenware vessel among vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are
you doing?’ Or the thing you are
making say, ‘He has no hands’?
Therefore, we too will suffer many things
as we are being conformed to Christ’s image.
Precious gems, silver, and gold are all
created under extreme pressure. Some of
these take hundreds of years. Some have
to be heated and some have to be hammered, but all have to be put under great
stress in order to become what the good Lord intended them to be. God in His infinite wisdom puts each of us in
His furnace of affliction to create His image in us.
One pastor put it this way – “Suffering
under trial and the pressures of life, sickness, or any other affliction is to
ultimately iron out the wrinkles of the bride’s dress.”
Great heat and pressure is applied to the
garment (Believer) and the wrinkles (our imperfections) are ironed out. It’s a slow, tedious, and often times painful
process.
God the Father does not look upon pressure
as we do. Where we see stress He sees
opportunities. Where we view crisis, He
sees growth and betterment. Our trials are intended to “build us up”
and when we learn and grow spiritually from them God receives the glory.
I’m going to be honest with you. I did not enjoy these past two years.
There were plenty of times when I stopped
and cried
out to God to save the small business my wife and I started, to help me
find work, and to stop or ease the 24/7 pain I was suffering after an injury. These prayers went unanswered but this
doesn’t mean God is on vacation or that God isn’t listening. In the midst of all that and more, I never
forgot to give God thanks at the end
of the day for all that was in it and
with a sincere heart. For when all is
considered, what else can a sinner, saved by grace, offer the Sovereign
God?
If you are truly walking with Jesus Christ
in this life, you will experience pressures.
If you’re not suffering some kind of stress at this moment, one’s on the
way.
Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles
wrote: “For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen.”
Please remember, Paul wrote of “our light affliction” even when he was
heavily afflicted and when he acutely “felt” that affliction.
Being an ex-sailor I can honestly say you
quickly forget the storm at sea once you are safely ashore; just as you might
think less of the stomach virus you experienced when your health has been
restored.
But Paul was in the midst of “affliction” when he named it “light.”
To be sure, he also felt the “weight” of it (pressure) upon his spirit,
but it was his strong faith put
into action that enabled him at that time to call it, “our light affliction.”
Note the connection between the two
phrases. “…our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, “is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory,”
The (painful) present is influencing the
future.
It is not for us to question or philosophize
about this, but to take God at His Word and believe it. Here is what we are invited to do: you place on one scale the present pressure,
and on the other scale “the eternal glory.”
Are they worthy to be compared?
The answer is No. One minute of coming glory will
counterbalance a lifetime of suffering.
What are years of sickness, suffering, poverty, persecution, (pressures)
when weighed against the pleasures of being with the Lord Jesus Christ for
eternity?
To sum up: Our suffering and sickness do not bring
God glory.
It’s the way we “endure it in faith” that
brings Him glory.
This thought brings to mind the early
Christians who sang hymns in the Roman Coliseum as the lions circled them.
And the Apostle Paul and his companion
Silas who were in the Roman city of Philippi doing the Lord’s work, when a
crowd rose up against them, stripped them, beat them with rods, and threw them
into prison because Paul ordered an evil spirit out of a woman. Paul didn’t lament his situation and curse
the people of Philippi. He didn’t blame
God or consider that God had abandoned him.
Paul and Silas began praying and singing hymns to God around midnight
even as they were shackled to the prison floor (see Acts 16) and good things
came about because of their strong faith and witness.
God’s purpose and plan for us is higher
than anything we can imagine.
Scripture informs us His plans for us
include “pressures” which we have to endure and suffer through, hopefully in
Christ-like fashion.
“The Spirit is willing but the flesh is
weak.”
Our flesh doesn’t like to endure affliction even as Jesus Himself did
not want to suffer on the cross. Never
forget Jesus was both fully God and fully man.
In His humanness, the stress of the coming ordeal caused Him to sweat
blood in Gethsemane. His prayer to the
Father at that time was to remove this “cup from
Me.” However, Jesus knew the
outcome would ultimately give God the Father glory.
The Apostle Paul who suffered greatly in
the service of the Lord Jesus Christ wrote,
Romans 8:
18: For I consider
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed to us.
Food for thought…
(To be continued.)
© Copyright 2011
GJ Heitzman’s Ministry
All Rights Reserved
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man ; dthough perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified eby His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved fby His life. 11 And not only this, gbut we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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