8/3/08 Perseverance

Our study of II Peter 1 has brought us

to the 4th of the 7 qualities

that Peter calls us to add to our faith

in this process of growing

in our relationship with Christ.

It is the quality of PERSEVERANCE.

If you haven’t been with us in past weeks

let me take just a few minutes

to explain how we got where we are now.

Several months ago we started talking about

what it really means for us to grow

in our lives as Christians.

And through our study so far two major truthes have come out:

#1. The heart of all true spiritual growth

is very simply our developing a deeper personal friendship with our Lord Himself,

...getting to know HIM better.

All of the stuff we do as Christians,

all of our activities,

all of our church functions,

all our goals,

and causes,

and projects,

and learning and doing

are all of value

first of all, most of all to the degree that they contribute

to the goal of our growing in our personal friendship with Christ.

#2. And the second major principle

we have seen in our study so far

is realizing that our friendship with our Lord

grows primarily through our sharing with Him

certain projects that enable us to discover who He really is.

And that’s what we have going on here

in the first chapter of II Peter.

In the verses we have been studying

Peter is explaining to us

the progressive growth steps

our Lord leads us through

in that ongoing process

of discovering what He is really like -

that process of growing in a deeper and deeper friendship with our God.

So far in our study we have looked at the first four qualities:

Moral Excellence: Choosing to live within God’s moral framework because we are convinced it is the only way our needs can be met.

Knowledge: Discovering the basic operating principles of life within the Kingdom of God.

It is not simply the accumulation of facts.

It is not simply conquering the content of the Bible

as we would conquer the content of a text book

in preparation for a test.

The term Peter uses for knowledge

in the passage assumes a kind of learning

that grows out of hands-on experience,

knowledge that is the result of doing,

and being,

and seeing for ourselves.

It is that incredible, thrilling process

of discovering the principles

that govern a life lived as a child of the King.

For example, all true productivity in the kingdom of God

is not the result of effort and time invested,

but rather it is the by-product of character growth.

And, for example, our friendship with God

rests not upon our ability to maintain

an acceptable level of performance that justifies the friendship,

but rather upon His mercy and grace poured out on us through Christ.

And for example our greatest areas of strength always grow out of our deepest areas of weakness.

And for example absolute freedom can only be found

in our accepting the boundaries and limitations

that God has placed upon us.

In other words,

life within the family of God

operates differently than it does in any human system we’ve ever seen.

Then we looked at Self-control

which we defined as the ability to choose to do what is right

at those times when our emotions are lying to us.

And then last week we touched on Perseverance

which we defined as the ability to exercise self-control as long as God asks us to.

But before we move on to Godliness

it might be of value for us to say a little more about this perseverance thing.

The Greek word that Peter uses for perseverance

is used 31 times in the New Testament -

2 times in the gospels,

22 times in the epistles,

and 7 times in the book of Revelation.

It is translated as endurance, steadfastness, and patience

as well as perseverance.

It is repeatedly presented

as one of the essential qualities necessary for successful Christian living.

And one of the most fascinating aspects

of what the New Testament has to say about perseverance

is found in the link between perseverance and suffering,

or tribulation,

or hard times.

You’re probably not going to like what I’m going say here.

The truth is that I don’t like what I’m going to say here.

But the entire New Testament message to God’s people

seems to assume that suffering in some form

will be an inescapable aspect

of the lives of all true Christians.

Of course I know how our minds work -

I know the kind of expectations

we bring into our walk with the King.

Here we are,

among the very few in human history

who have joined our spirits

to the Spirit of God Himself -

living in perfect,

eternal unity with the Creator God

of all that is.

He has defeated sin for us,

and now literally lives His life through us.

He goes to great lengths to assure us

that nothing and no one can ever

or will ever separate us from His love,

that we are freed from His wrath forever,

and that there is now no condemnation

for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

With that kind of a package deal

it is just natural for us to assume

that this amazing union between us and our God

will get us out from under

a major part of the suffering

that surrounds us on ever side.

Surely living in union

with God Himself should be able to protect us from hurt

and pain

and suffering to a significant degree.

I mean really!

What Kind of God would allow His children to HURT!

And then we start reading the BOOK

and stumble across statements like:

2 Tim. 3:12 And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

And we hear Paul asking us in Rom 8:

Rom. 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom. 8:36 Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

And all of the sudden our assumptions

and expectations of life with the King

run into major problems.

Because, you see, our expectations

fail to take into account

two major factors:

first, the evil that continues to exist

in the world that surrounds us,

and second, the evil that continues to exist

within ourselves.

And evil always brings with it suffering.

And when the New Testament talks to us about suffering,

it make no apologies,

and no excuses,

and no explanations.

It is simply a given of our life on this planet.

But one huge change

does take place in our relationship to suffering,

once our life is placed into the hands of our Lord.

Once our Lord wraps His arms of love around us

our suffering, like every other aspect of our existence,

becomes a tool in His hands,

a tool that He uses to reshape us

into the image of His Son.

He does not bring suffering into our lives,

but He does use the suffering

that is an inescapable part of living in this world

to bring about changes within us

that could not be accomplished

in any other way.

Listen to this:

Rom. 5:3-5 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

...and not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope...

I don’t know where your own personal suffering comes from today.

Maybe it is physical suffering

resulting from a body that just is not performing the way a body should -

maybe illness,

maybe injury,

maybe disease.

Maybe it’s suffering growing out of physical circumstances

that are beyond your ability to change -

Where you live,

where you work.

Maybe you suffer from the consequences

of wrong choices that you made years ago,

choices you would now give anything to undo,

choices that have left you now with intense loneliness,

or regret,

or fear,

or shame.

Maybe your suffering grows out of

some physical,

emotional,

or psychological addiction

that has dug its hooks into you

and now yanks on those hooks

in a way that causes you intense pain.

Maybe you suffer from the actions of others

who for their own selfish reasons

are causing you pain.

Maybe its suffering that is a direct result

of your personal commitment

to live a life of moral integrity

in a world that hates to be reminded

that moral right and wrong

really do exist.

Maybe your suffering is the inescapable result

of having an eternal spirit

housed within a finite body -

the changes

and loses that always accompany

the process of growing up

or growing older.

The source of our suffering

is not the real issue.

The real issue is whether or not our God

has the ability to take those sufferings

and use them for good in our lives.

Let me read you the way J.B. Phillips translated the first few verses of the book of James:

When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots.

Both James and Paul offer us two clear messages about the suffering in our lives:

#1. Suffering in the life of the Christian can be used by God to build perseverance into our lives.

#2. When we understand the incredible value of perseverance we will actually find ourselves grateful for the process that brought it into our lives.

Our world is filled with an endless flood

of tacky little people

whose allegiance to their God,

or to their moral integrity,

or to their honesty,

or to kindness,

or compassion

lasts only as long as it feels good,

only as long as God comes through

with what they want,

or what they think they need,

or as long as their principles and convictions

don’t cause them any great pain

or discomfort.

Do you know what the Christian life really is?

It is simply our own personal battle

to discover and affirm

the absolute integrity of our God.

We have a God of absolute love

Whose commitment to us

and to our best is eternal and irreversible.

Our battle here and now

is the battle to see and affirm

His faithfulness and His love

in the midst of whatever circumstances

we may find ourselves in.

It is a battle to see Him as He really is

and rest in that vision

no matter what the voices around us may be saying.

It is a battle to affirm personally

with our attitude

and with our life

that God’s love and care for us

is boundless.

Our natural tendency,

no, more than a tendency,

our natural overwhelming drive

is to look at the world around us

and the forces at work on us

and cry out,

‟Where is God?

And how can He claim to love me?”

That’s where we start.

Then from there we begin our battle

to discover the truth.

I have an aspect of my life

that has taken on changing dimensions

during certain times in my life.

I have had back problems for years,

actually since I injured it in high school.

There have been times when it has totally immobilized me for several days or weeks at a time.

But I went through a time several years ago

when it took on a whole new attack on my well-being.

I went through several years

when I found that I could only sleep about seven hours

before the pain in my back

became so intense that it woke me up.

During that time

there was something about the pron position,

or relaxing those back muscles in sleep

that had a 7 hour limit to it

before the pain set in.

It was like having my own personal,

built-in alarm clock.

But it also meant that I started every single day of my life during that time

with substantial pain.

My early responses to this wake-up call

were to grumble and churn my way through the first hours of the day.

But then I began to see this built-in alarm clock

from a different point of view.

Do you know what I think our Lord gave me during that time?

I think that during that time of my life

He had provided me with

an absolutely perfect opportunity

to begin each day with a conscious affirmation of the truth about Him

in the face of an apparent contradiction.

In other words,

He provided me with an opportunity to choose to affirm His absolute integrity

in the face of a world,

that isn’t working at all like I would like it to work.

It was no big thing,

it was certainly a very small thing when compared with

the kind of battles many others have to fight when they start the day,

but for me there was something so healthy,

so valuable about waking up to pain,

and then working my way through

to the point where I could say,

“Thank you, Lord, for the privilege

of living this day with You,

thank you for Your love

that makes it so very worth living,

and thank You that I will once again

find You adequate

for whatever comes into my life this day.”

Many years ago,

long before I moved to Alaska,

I lived in the Seattle area.

During my last few years in the that city

there was a dynamic young pastor

who, first through his Sunday preaching,

and then through his daily radio program

was having a powerful impact on the community.

His church grew so fast

that soon they found it necessary to rent a large movie theater on Sunday mornings

to accommodate all of the people.

Then, suddenly this young preacher was diagnosed with potentially terminal cancer.

For a number of months he fought for his life,

and during the times when he was in the hospital

his father-in-law took over the radio broadcast.

He was a good man, with a good heart,

but not even remotely as gifted as his son-in-law.

He would begin each broadcast by saying, “Well, folks, God is good, isn’t He!”

And then he would fumble his way through

playing some Christian music

and offering Scripture and a few words in between.

For an extended period of time

thousands of Christians throughout the city were praying for that pastor’s healing.

There were several radio interviews done with him from his hospital bed,

and people tuned into the radio broadcast on a daily basis

to see how things were going.

I will never forget that broadcast the day after that pastor died.

His father-in-law played the introductory music,

and then fumbled for the mic and said, “Well, God is good, isn’t He!”

That was the real thing -

suffering producing perseverance, bringing hope,

the kind of hope that comes only when we know that, no matter what,

God is indeed GOOD and eternally GOOD to us.

If I would have written Peter’s steps of growth here in his second letter

and been able to make it read the way I wanted it to read,

I think I would have had it read more like this:

To your faith supply moral excellence,

and to your moral excellence knowledge,

and to your knowledge self-control,

and to your self-control.

At right about that point

where some measure of growth

and progress had been made

I would want the Lord to just cap it all off

with the glorious promise of victory -

victory from the suffering,

victory from the pain,

victory from the enemies of faith.

But at that point where I would have plugged in victory

Peter and Paul and James plug in perseverance.

It’s like they are saying,

“Good! You have grown to the point

where you have a better grasp

on who our God is and how He does His business with us, His people.

Now you’re finally ready for the long haul -

now you’re finally ready to plunge into real life,

and real warfare,

and real effectiveness for the kingdom.

Now at last you’re ready to grow in perseverance.”