07-04-10 Exult In WHAT?!

If you have been with us

during the past month or so

you know that we have been studying

the first 11 verses of Romans 5.

We saw last week

that this passage is positioned in Scripture in such a way

as to be the first words we hear from our God

following our introduction

to the incredible news

that our Creator has made it possible

for us to be reunited with Him

solely on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ.

It is a passage designed by God to be

our first personal introduction

to Him.

This is the passage that establishes the ground-rules

for this new faith-based relationship between us and our God.

This is where we discover

what He’s really like.

I have always known that the basic message God has given me to preach

is not complicated

or confusing,

it’s just extremely hard for us to hear

because of all the crud

and the confusion we bring with us

into our relationship with Him.

That basic message is simply this:

our Creator God is infinitely good,

and He loves each of us

more than we could even begin to imagine.

And if we can see this first half of Romans 5 correctly,

if we can really hear what our God is saying to us in this passage

it will go a long way toward our knowing the truth about our God.

Everything else that ever comes from our lives as Christians

depends upon the degree to which

we succeed in grasping the absolute goodness of our God

and the reality of His eternal/personal love for each of us.

It does us no good to talk about trusting God

or obeying Him

until we have first wrestled through

to an understanding of His goodness

and His infinite/personal love for us.

Only when we have seen His heart for us

will we have the courage

to trust His words to us

and follow His lead in our lives.

Attempting to build a response to our God

on the basis of fear,

or even on the basis of religious duty

will never bring us into the freedom

or the fulfillment our God longs for us to know.

But during the past few weeks

as we have been going through these first few verses of Romans 5

I believe some of you have begun to hear

the reality of God’s love

in a way that you have never heard it before.

When we began this passage

I told you that these 11 verses

contain 7 birthday presents

given to each of us by our God

the day we enter His family through faith in Jesus Christ.

There are no conditions placed upon these 7 gifts.

We do not earn them through ‟good behavior”.

We do not loose them through ‟bad behavior”.

We do not influence or control them at all

because they do not originate with us,

they originate with God Himself.

They are not something we are suppose to give to God,

they are gifts He has given to us.

And they are designed to provide us

with the ground-rules for our new life with Him.

Now, just to help get us back into this passage,

let me remind us

of those first 3 gifts.

#1. The first one was given to us

in Romans 5:1 where Paul said,

‟Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...”.

The first gift given to us by our Creator

the day we enter His family

is PEACE WITH GOD.

He does not accept us on probation,

He does not accept us grudgingly,

He does not ‟wait and see”whether or not we will measure up.

He rejoices at our homecoming,

thrilled that now at last

we have been reunited

with the One who loves us more deeply than any other ever will.

And as I courageously resist the urge

to re-teach this amazing truth one more time,

let me just say that,

if you are a Christian,

if you have come to understand

that the death of Christ

was God’s offer of His payment for your sins,

and if you have accepted that offer,

placing your life and your sins into His hands,

and yet you do not feel as if

you have peace with God,

it simply means

you have not yet understood

and allowed yourself to accept

the very first gift given to you by your God.

Stop trying to work for Him.

Stop trying to earn His approval.

Stop trying to put together

an approach to life that you think will allow you to feel as though

you can at last relax with your God

and be at peace with Him.

Those battles you are fighting

in your life right now

are not conditions upon which

your God will decide

whether He accepts or rejects you.

Those battles are projects

that He longs to share with you,

projects He longs for you to share with Him,

projects through which you will be able to discover His love for you,

and His ability to deliver you into freedom.

But the first step in that process

is your allowing yourself to receive

the very first gift handed to you by your God

in response to your faith in Christ -

PEACE with Him.

There is nothing more

He requires from you now,

or ever will require from you

in order for you to know

absolute,

unconditional,

unending peace with God

and acceptance by Him.

If you think that peace does not yet exist

then you simply have not yet understood

the very first truth

about life with God through Christ.

#2. And the second gift we received

followed right from the first.

Rom. 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand ...

We enter into our friendship with God

on the basis of the work of Christ for us,

and we continue to live in that friendship with God

on the basis of the work of Christ for us.

We do not earn our entrance into the family,

and we do not earn our right to remain in the family.

We stood holy before our God

and accepted by God

the first day we came to Him

because on that day

the death of Christ was total payment for all our sins

and our debt was removed from us forever.

And this day

we stand holy before our God

and accepted by Him

because this day, too,

the death Christ is a total payment for all our sins,

and our debt for our sins

has been removed from us forever.

The rules never change.

Having entered by faith in Christ alone,

we remain within the family

on the basis of faith in Christ alone.

#3. And then last week we looked at the 3rd gift given to us,

“...and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Every place,

in every way

that God will ever choose to reveal Himself to us,

or intervene in our world,

or in our lives,

will work for our greater good.

And when Paul says, “...and we exult in hope of the glory of God...”,

it is his way of saying

we don’t ever have to be afraid again

of anything our God will ever do.

Which brings us to the 4th gift

given to us by our God,

the gift that will cause some of you to say,

‟AHA! I knew there had to be a catch!

I knew there had to be a trick in this whole thing somewhere.”

The gift is revealed to us

in the first phrase or Romans 5:3:

‟And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,...”

Now, this first phrase is not the only thing Paul has to say about this 4th gift,

but I want us to move through this carefully

so that we don’t misunderstand what’s being said.

Learning to trust our God

is a fragile process in our lives.

It is our human nature

to want to bolt and run

at the slightest movement from God

that we don’t expect,

or don’t understand.

Sandee and I have rabbits.

We don’t raise rabbits,

we don’ keep rabbits,

but we have rabbits.

I have never seen as many rabbits around our house

as I’ve seen during the past year.

They hid under our deck during the winter,

and now they fly through our yard

like we’re living on some kind of major rabbit freeway.

Occasionally they’ll stop and sit on the lawn

and there have been a few times

when I’ve tried to see how close I can get.

They do fine with me as long as I remain motionless,

but if I start moving toward them,

even slowly,

they bolt and run.

That’s often the way we are

as we begin building a love relationship with our God.

Having feared Him for so long,

and knowing there are so many reasons

why He really may still not like us very much now,

we are highly skeptical of His voice,

always listening for anything that might justify our fears.

And when I shared with you that first phrase of Romans 5:3

some of you may have felt like heading back into the woods.

Rom. 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations...

It’s that one word ‟tribulations”, of course.

We instantly forgot about peace with God,

and this grace in which we stand,

and exulting in His glory,

and you may even have thought to yourself,

‟I knew it! All He’s really concerned about

is knocking us around

until we shape up.”

Now, I agree that that word ‟tribulations” is no easy word.

But if we are going to correctly understand

what our God is saying to us in this 4th gift,

we need to listen to Him carefully

until we hear what’s really being said.

And let me begin this listening process

by saying first of all

that the gift God is giving us

is NOT the tribulations.

The gift being given to us

is the ability to exult in those tribulations when they come

because of what God is able to accomplish in our lives through them.

I believe what our God gives us in this 4^th gift

gives us a greater insight

into the true nature of our God’s involvement with us as His creation

than any of the other gifts in this remarkable list.

You see, tribulations are a “given” of life in this world as it now exists.

They are the inescapable consequences

of the compounded corruption of the human race

since that first day when Adam and Eve turned their backs on their God.

The Greek word Paul uses in this verse for ‟tribulation”

appears more than 40 times in the New Testament.

Sometimes it is translated as ‟tribulation”,

sometimes as ‟distress”,

or ‟anguish”,

or ‟affliction”,

or ‟persecution”,

or ‟trouble”.

It is a word used to describe

the full range of events and circumstances that enter our lives

that cause us pain.

It is not a word that is used exclusively

to talk about persecution we receive

as a result of our faith in Christ.

It is used to describe everything from

the pain of childbirth,

to the loss of a marriage partner,

from the suffering brought by famine,

to the great tribulation that will devastate this world

in the months just preceding the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to this earth.

This world is not as our God originally created it.

We live in a world

that is now immersed

in the accumulated consequences

of 6000 years of man’s sin and rebellion against God.

And every sickness,

every evil,

every loss,

every isolation, and rejection, and hatred,

every physical and emotional pain we suffer

is included in this word ‟tribulation”.

Everyone of us

enters this world

with our highest life priority

being that of avoiding as much tribulation as we possibly can.

We do everything within our power

to avoid pain,

to avoid loneliness,

to avoid poverty,

to avoid the impact of evil upon us in any way we possibly can.

And yet, tribulation is the one great constant of life.

And because it is the great constant of life,

it should not surprise us

to discover it’s appearance

in these first words spoken to us by our God

following our introduction to Him though faith in Christ.

Now, I know that,

if we would have written this list,

if we would have been allowed

to select our own list of presents,

we would have wanted it to read,

“And our God will instantly remove

all tribulations from our lives forevermore.”

And isn’t it great to know that that time will come...

Rev. 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev. 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,

Rev. 21:4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

But that time is not yet,

and cannot be until the return of the King.

I know there are some folks trotting around the Christian world

peddling the message that,

if you just have enough faith

God will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise.

They’ll tell you that He’ll give you the good life as we want to define it, guaranteed.

They are either fools

or swindlers,

and somewhere along the line

most of them are going to want you to send them some money,

or buy their books and CD’s.

But look what our God does say to us

when He gives us this fourth gift.

He doesn’t say He will remove all our tribulations from us,

but he does say He will give us the ability

to exult in those tribulations

because of the way He takes them

and reshapes them into good in our lives.

Rom. 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

Rom. 5:4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

I started to say a few minutes ago

that I believe this 4th gift given to us by our God

reveals more about the true heart intent of our God toward us

than any of the other gifts on this list.

It reveals to us

what kind of God we have.

We have a God

who takes the evil that touches our lives

and transforms it into good,

a good so significant,

so precious,

so meaningful,

so valued by us

that we actually end up exulting in the tribulation itself

because of what God was able to reshape it into in our lives.

The fourth gift, then,

in our bundle of birthday presents

given to us by our God

the day we enter His family

is the ability to exult in those things

we once cursed in our lives.

And just two added thoughts

before we leave this...

well, maybe three.

The first is just the observation

that with most of us

most of the time

this ability to exult in our tribulations

comes at the end of the process,

not at the beginning.

Paul is not suggesting here

that we as Christians

will instantly burst into exultation

the instant pain hits our lives.

For most of us

the ability to exult

comes as we see how God transforms the evil into good.

The greatest example of this, of course,

is the greatest evil in the history of the world -

the execution of Christ

by His own creation.

At the time

none of God’s people were exulting in this great evil.

It was only as God took that great evil

and gave it back to us

as the greatest good ever to be received by the human race

that we were able to exult in it.

And our God is telling us

that we can expect that same type of reshaping process to take place on a smaller scale in our lives on a regular basis.

Our daughter’s first year in college

was in many ways

the most difficult year our family had ever gone through.

For a number of different reasons

there were long stretches of that year

when all three of us lived in constant emotional pain.

We talked on the phone every night for nearly the entire year

and those talks became an emotional anchor in all 3 of our lives.

It was during that year that Joni sent me a tiny wood container with the words “Tooth Fairy” printed on the outside.

When she was a little girl,

still losing her baby teeth

she got the idea of not just putting her tooth under her pillow

but also including a note to the tooth fairy.

She was thrilled to discover that the tooth fairy wrote back

and for a time she carried on quite a correspondence with the tooth fairy,

placing each new letter under her pillow

and looking for the response in the morning.

And that first year in college,

when she sent me that little container

inside she included a note that said,

“Dear Tooth Fairy,

I haven’t lost a tooth for a bit but I thought I’d say “Hi”. I’m giving you this little monogrammed box as a token of my appreciation for all your years of worthy service. I’m hoping you’ll visit college campuses. I love you. Joni Sue”

In response to that note

Joni received the following e-mail from the tooth fairy:

Dear Joni,

Thank you so very much for the wonderful wood tooth container. I am using it on my travels each night now to put children's teeth in as I collect them. It makes it so much easier to keep track of them,

especially the very small ones.

I have missed my visits to you very much, though I must confess sometimes I slip by and take a peak at you when you're sleeping and give you a little kiss on the forehead even though I know you no longer have

any teeth for me. I have such fond memories of our correspondence years ago.

You asked if I ever visit college campuses. Yes, I do sometimes visit college students when they have a tooth that is knocked out or pulled out and they remember to put it under their pillow. That doesn't

happen very often, though. When you had your wisdom teeth pulled I stopped by and checked to see if you might have saved them for me, but I guess the dentist must have beat me to them.

I must be honest, Joni - I have gotten into the habit of stopping by your room quite often at nights recently. On nights that are not extremely busy I will sometimes sit with you for several hours. I must say I do love the stars you have put up on your ceiling. They are so pretty and they give me just enough light so that I don't bump into things and wake you up.

I love you very much, my little one, and treasure my friendship with you more than you could ever imagine.

With much love,

The Tooth Fairy

There is something about those two notes

that captured for me

so much of the pain of that year in our lives.

But our Lord used that pain

to teach us things about ourselves,

things about Himself,

to rework some major areas of our lives,

and at the same time to build a quality of friendship between the three of us

that will forever cause us to exult in our tribulations.

Bringing good out of evil

is one of the things our God does best.

The second concluding comment I would make

is simply to put these third and fourth gifts together

so that we can see them as a whole.

They both use this word ‟exult”,

and when you put them together,

look what you get...

The 3rd gift tells us that we can exult

in the glory of God.

In other words,

we can exult in everything God brings into our lives.

The 4th gift tells us

that we can exult in our tribulations.

In other words,

we can exult in everything Satan brings into our lives.

Which means, of course,

that when seen correctly,

as we live in the presence of God through Christ,

His involvement in our lives

ultimately makes it possible

for us to exult in everything that comes into our lives,

because we know our God can and will use it for our good.

And then finally,

let me just say that I believe there is a definite order in the way we need to receive these gifts.

I have met more than a few

angry, bitter Christians in my life,

people who, if they dared,

not only would not exult in their tribulations,

but they would curse God for their existence in their lives.

I believe that happens

when we have not yet accepted

the first two gifts God has given us.

We do not believe we have peace with God through Christ.

We still see Him as out to get us,

angry with us,

fighting against us and what we really need.

And we have not yet allowed ourselves

to enter into the grace in which we stand.

We, like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son,

believe our heavenly Father

is daily demanding an exacting performance from us

in order to maintain our union with Him.

And until we understand and accept our true peace with God through Christ,

rather than running to Him with our tribulations,

and allowing Him to reshape them into good in our lives,

we will view them as evidences of His anger,

even His wrath,

and they will actually drive us away from Him,

rather than into His arms.