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The Blessing of Tribulation

THE BLESSINGS OF TRIBULATION
Mike Cunningham
September 14, 2014

I hated every moment of the often-severe physical and emotional tribulations that I’ve suffered in my lifetime. It took a while, but I’ve come to have a deep appreciation for the positive effect they’ve made and continue to make on my character, and the wonderful hope that I’m presently experiencing. Here’s why. The Apostle Paul explained to the first Christians who were living in Rome that,

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation produces patience; and patience produces experience; and experience produces hope.” Romans 5:3-4

A modern version of the Bible explains these verses by saying,

3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)

New Testament scholar and commentator, William Barclay says in his translation of Romans 5:1-5 that, “Since, then, we have been put into a right relationship with God in consequence of faith, let us enjoy peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, by faith, we are in possession of an introduction to this grace in which we stand; and let us glory in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but let us find a cause of glorying in our troubles; for we know that trouble produces fortitude, and fortitude produces character; and character produces hope; and hope does not prove to be an illusion, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

It is only when we realize that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that there comes into our life that intimacy with him, that new relationship, which Paul calls justification.

Through Jesus, says Paul, we have an introduction to this grace in which we stand. The word he uses for introduction is prosagoge. It is a word with two great pictures in it.

(1) It is the regular word for introducing or ushering someone into the presence of royalty; and it is the regular word for the approach of the worshipper to God. It is as if Paul was saying, “Jesus ushers us into the very presence of God. He opens the door for us to the presence of the King of Kings; and when that door is opened what we find is grace; not condemnation, not judgment, not vengeance, but the sheer, undeserved, incredible kindness of God.”

(2) But prosagoge has another picture in it. In Late Greek it is the word for the place where ships come in, a harbor or a haven. If we take it that way, it means that so long as we tried to depend on our own efforts we were tempest-tossed, like mariners striving with a sea which threatened to overwhelm them completely, but now that we have heard the word of Christ, we have reached at last the haven of God’s grace, and we know the calm of depending, not on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us. Because of Jesus we have entry to the presence of the King of Kings and entry to the haven of God’s grace.

No sooner has Paul said this than the other side of the matter strikes him. All this is true, and it is glory; but the fact remains that in this life the Christians are up against it. It was hard to be a Christian in Rome. Remembering that, Paul produces a great climax. “Trouble,” he said, “produces fortitude.” The word he uses for trouble is thlipis, which literally means pressure. All kinds of things may press in upon a Christian’s needs—and difficult circumstances, sorrow, persecution, unpopularity and loneliness. All that pressure, says Paul, produces fortitude. The word he uses for fortitude is hupomone that means more than endurance. It means the spirit that can overcome the world; it means the spirit that does not passively endure but which actively overcomes the trials and tribulations of life.

When Beethoven was threatened with deafness, that most terrible of troubles for a musician, he said: “I will take life by the throat.” That is hupomone. When Scott was involved in ruin because of the bankruptcy of his publishers, he said: “No man will say ‘Poor fellow!’ to me; my own right hand will pay the debt.” That is hupomone. Someone once said to a gallant soul who was undergoing a great sorrow: “Sorrow colors life, doesn’t it?” Back came the reply: “Yes! And I propose to choose the color!” That is hupomone.

Hupomone is not the spirit that lies down and lets the floods go over it; it is the spirit that meets things straight on and overcomes them.

“Fortitude,” Paul goes on, “produces character.” The word he uses for character is dokime. Dokime is used of metal that has been passed through the fire so that everything base has been purged out of it. It is used of coinage as we use the word sterling. When affliction is met with fortitude, out of the battle a man emerges stronger, and purer, and better, and nearer God.

“Character,” Paul goes on, “produces hope.” Two men can meet the same situation. It can drive one of them to despair, and it can spur the other to triumphant action. To the one it can be the end of hope and to the other it can be a challenge to greatness. “I do not like crises,” said Lord Reith, “but I do like the opportunities they provide.” The difference corresponds to the difference between the men. If a man has let himself become weak and flabby, if he has allowed circumstances to beat him, if he has allowed himself to whine and grovel under affliction, he has made himself such that when the challenge of the crisis comes he cannot do other than despair. If, on the other hand, a man has insisted on meeting life with head up, if he has always faced and, by facing, conquered things, then when the challenge comes, he meets it with eyes aflame with hope. The character that has endured the test always emerges in hope.

Then Paul makes one last great statement: “The Christian hope never proves an illusion for it is founded on the love of God.”

When a man’s hope is in God, it cannot turn to dust and ashes. When a man’s hope is in God, it cannot be disappointed. When a man’s hope is in the love of God, it can never be an illusion, for God loves us with an everlasting love backed by an everlasting power. (1)

Providing equally excellent insight concerning Romans 5:3-4, R. Kent Hughes tells about the time when “Several years ago Lloyd Ogilvie wrote these heartening words, relevant to our present text:

“This past year has been the most difficult year of my life. My wife has been through five major surgeries, radiation treatment, and chemotherapy. I am thankful that I now know she is going to make it. During the same year, I suffered the loss of several key staff teammates whose moves were very guided for them, but a source of pressure and uncertainty in my work. Problems that I could have tackled with gusto under normal circumstances seemed to loom in all directions. Discouragement lurked around every corner, trying to capture my feelings. Prayer was no longer a contemplative luxury, but the only way to survive. My own intercessions were multiplied by the prayers of others. Friendships were deepened as I was forced to allow people to assure me with words I had preached for years. Not a day went by without a conversation, letter, or phone call giving me love and hope. The greatest discovery that I have made in the midst of all the difficulties is that I can have joy when I don’t feel like it—artesian joy.

I personally have found this affirmation not only heartening but challenging. It is encouraging to hear of a fellow Christian who has undergone severe trials speak triumphantly of the joy which his faith gave him during those dark times.

Unfortunately, this is not the experience of many believers. Their experience of faith has followed a course similar to many of the marriages we see. They begin with a boundless joy and promise that they never again attain. The buoyant optimism of the beginning fades to a dim memory.

That is not the way it is meant to be. Rather, our marriage to Christ is meant to begin on a high level and then go to even greater heights. The enviable joy that Ogilvie writes about can be the believer’s through “thick and thin.” I do not say this because of some sentimental idealism, but because that is the precise teaching of the Word in many, many passages, including Romans 5:1-11. This exultant section in Romans is the inevitable step for once hopelessly lost sinners who received through faith the righteousness of God and now stand justified before him. The true believer was once under wrath, but then was saved by faith, and now, as chapter 5 so powerfully maintains, he exults with great joy.

This passage is remarkable for several reasons. With its exalted language, it is hymn-like. There is also its air of confidence. Paul does not argue his case as he did in the preceding chapters. He simply states the facts in a marvelous chain of confident assertions. Our passage is also personal, as Paul switches to the first person plural—this is his experience along with all true believers. Lastly, the passage is remarkable because the joy of these verses is contagious. Every Christian can deepen his or her optimism and capacity for joy by understanding the benefits of justification as they are given by Paul in Romans 5:1-11.

The Ground of Exulting: Peace and Grace (V. 5:1-4)
Why does justification bring exultation? To begin with, through justification we receive the benefits of “peace” (Romans 5:1) and “grace” (Romans 5:2). Paul begins with a statement that many of us have committed to memory because of its importance: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Before we were Christians, we had not even the faintest chance for real peace because we were far from God. God had given us over to the destructive effects of our own sins and the sins of others (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). This resulted in profound alienation not only from God but from our fellow human beings, and also a constant tendency toward more depravity. To top it off, we stood under the ultimate wrath and judgment of God. No amount of personal bootstrap improvement could help us.

However, as Colossians 1:20 tells us, when we believed, God gave us peace with himself through the blood of the cross. The objective fact of that peace makes possible the inner subjective experience of peace with God. Whereas previously it was utterly impossible to experience true inner peace because God was not at peace with us, it is now ours because the Prince of Peace reigns in our hearts. That is why at the birth of Christ the angels chorused, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

I will never forget my first experience with peace. I was twelve and a half years old, and for about four months I had been sitting under the preaching of the gospel, hearing it clearly for the first time in my life. I came to a deep conviction of sin, and I met Jesus Christ. I can tell you without the slightest hyperbole or exaggeration that when I met him, the sky literally seemed to be bluer and the grass greener, and a great weight was lifted off my shoulders. For the first time in my life I knew the peace of God, and it was unlike any other peace I had ever known.

So as Paul begins this great chapter on exulting and boasting in God, he begins by stating the ground of the peace that God’s children experience. At the very root of our joy is the peace of God.

Equally at the root of joy is the grace of God. Reading Romans 5:1 and Romans 5:2 together makes this very clear. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Grace is God’s riches to us. Grace is the unsought, undeserved, and unconditional love of God. Grace is God pursuing us until he has found us and persevering with us ever afterwards. For Paul, grace and peace always go together. Even Paul’s greeting in the opening verses of Romans show this: “Grace and peace to you…” (Romans 1:7). To stand in grace is to stand also in peace.

The effect of grace and peace together is to produce an exultant approach to life. First, as verse 2b says, “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Christians look forward to the day when they will fully behold the outward shining of God’s inward being. The glory of God was seen in Jesus’ life, as John tells us: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father” (John 1:14). There was also a time when his radiance broke through on the Mount of Transfiguration, where “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). This is what all of us long for. Someday we will not only behold his glory, but will be glorified in him. Everything that now keeps us from being what God wants us to be will be gone forever!

Catch the force of Paul’s words—”we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” The word “rejoice” means to boast in the sense of jubilation—exultant rejoicing—to shout about it! We used to fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but now we boast in it! This sets us apart from the rest of the world. The Eastern religions offer no hope with their endless nightmare of reincarnations. Existentialists see the future as absurd. Evolutionists have no comfort. We Christians “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).

It seems quite natural to exult in something that is positive. But the rejoicing that comes next (Romans 5:3-4) is supernatural by anyone’s standards: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” As believers, we see our sufferings as potential for positive growth. Vance Havner in his book It Is Toward Evening tells the story about a small town that made its living entirely from growing cotton. It was not a great living, but it was a living. But calamity struck when the boll weevil invaded the community and threatened to ruin everyone. As it turns out, the farmers were forced to switch to peanuts and other crops that eventually brought them greater return than they would have made with cotton. Ultimately that which had seemed a disaster became the basis for undreamed prosperity. To register their appreciation, they erected a monument—to the boll weevil. To this very day in that little Southern town that monument stands. We all have boll-weevil experiences: financial reversals, professional failure, relational disappointments, and psychological or physical hurts. But these trials can bump us out of our old ways and force us to find new ways to live. Many tragedies can turn to triumphs through the Lord.

Verses 3 and 4 tell us that tribulation often becomes God’s means to bring us to maturity. Look at the process. “Suffering produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3b). The Greek word literally means “to abide under or stay under pressure.” We naturally want to escape pressure, but tribulation forces us to stay under it—and ultimately this produces perseverance or stability. Next, “perseverance [produces] character.” The word here derives from a group of words that have to do with the refining of metals, dross being burned away. Paul is speaking of sterling character—character without impurities. Hodge calls this “tried integrity.” This refined, pure character tends to confirm and strengthen our hope in the glory of God.

Are we experiencing this incredible exultation—this triumphant jubilation? Paul beautifully modeled it, as we see in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when he used exactly the same word saying, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We exult in suffering because it is the path to spiritual maturity and glory. The great saints of God all agree. Ask Abraham and he will direct your attention to the sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Ask Jacob and he will point you to his stone pillow. Ask Joseph and he will tell you about the dungeon. Ask Moses and he will remind you of his trials with Pharaoh. David will tell you that his songs came in the night. Peter will speak of his denial, and John will speak of Patmos, and Jesus of his cross. Blessings are poured out in bitter cups.” (2)

These are some of the reasons that I know I will be eternally grateful for “The Blessings of Tribulation!” It’s been one of the desires of my heart that each of you folks will also.

Lord willing, next week….

1. Barclays Daily Study Bible (N. T) p. 71-75
2. R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word–Romans: Righteousness from Heaven. P. 105-107.

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