Romans 5:3 - 5 Part 6

Part 6. With this we conclude our thoughts on Romans 5:3-5.

How many times have you read this passage and simply noticed the flow of what produces what but never took the time to think of how you actually get from one characteristic to the next in the real world? Using the Scriptures, one can study to learn the process and as you do you begin to understand how it applies to your life. If, for example, when suffering you pray that your suffering would be removed so that you would again experience comfort, and if your prayer is answered you would miss the benefit of growing in endurance and thus in character. Therefore, we should not pray for our suffering to be removed, but that we would grow in endurance so that we can experience spiritual growth. Is it possible that the western Christian has been praying for comfort and not for the benefits of suffering? Consider the lack of Biblical application to our lives today as you form your answer. As a result the western church has become a cultural church and not a Biblical church in so many ways.

Romans 5:3 - 5 Part 5

Part 5. In the context of suffering, especially in the face of persecution, what is the benefit of love that is being poured into our hearts? The fruit of the Spirit is love and love has as its characteristics: "joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, [and] self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV). It is love that provides us with the ability to face even death at the hands of a persecutor with joy and peace and be able to forgive with kindness and gentleness. In this love God is present, causing us to be a powerful witness. Because of this, Christianity tends to grow in the face of persecution.

Romans 5:3 - 5 Part 4

Part 4. How does hope prevent us from shame? In the context of our text, shame would result if we were unable to endure our suffering and fall into sin. For example, "All who forsake the Lord will be put to shame" (Jeremiah 17:13). This forsaking the Lord could occur in the face of persecution. Before we connect hope to shame, we need to ask what we hope in. "According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3 - 5 ESV). This hope, in obtaining our inheritance that is through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, provides us with the strength and encouragement to endure and remain faithful, protecting us from shame.

We will continue next time.

Romans 5:3 - 5 Part 3

Part 3. If suffering produces endurance and if endurance produces character then how does character produce hope? Our growth in character stimulates our faithfulness to God and his promises, which results in a confident expectant certainty that what God has promised will happen. This is what a believer knows as hope. Thus character produces hope.

Romans 5:3 - 5 Part 2

Part 2. If suffering produces endurance then how does endurance produce character? Consider Hebrews 12:7: "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?" (ESV) God's discipline is not punishment but is training to produce righteousness in our lives, so that we may share in his holiness. The purpose of discipline is to produce a change of behavior; to stimulate a growth of character. Endurance provides the ability to endure the training period. So, it seems that endurance provides discipline the time needed to produce character, thus endurance produces character.

We will continue this next time.

Romans 5:3 - 5 Part 1

Part 1: There is so much that could be said about these verses. We might start by asking, "Do we rejoice in our suffering?" Probably the expected answer from a western Christian is "NO!" I will let you think of reasons why that might be so. Paul says, "We rejoice in our sufferings" and then gives a reason why. From experience he knows that "suffering produces endurance". Why is endurance so important, so valuable, to result in rejoicing? From a western context we might miss an important application here. Under persecution for ones faith there is always the chance one might not be able to endure the pain or be willing to pay the price required and deny their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and bring them great shame. Each time we endure suffering we gain more endurance for future suffering. Suffering through trials is God's way to produce endurance in his children to prepare them to be able to stand in the face of future persecution against their faith.

We will continue this next time.

Psalm 37:4

What do you delight in? Is it possibly wealth, status, material possessions or other temporary things of the world that never really satisfy? Does the desires of your heart relate to any of these things? The verse says we are to delight in the Lord, but what does that mean? It means that our hearts truly find peace an fulfillment in Him; we find our satisfaction and worth in Jesus Christ, but when we do we find that our desires will begin to parallel his. To desire in the Lord, results in our becoming more like him and as we do our desires will conform to his and please him. Therefore, this verse does not cover all desires as some would seen to think.

Colossians 1:15 - 19

This passage in Colossians is so rich in reflecting characteristics of Jesus Christ. As we study the life of Jesus, as we are doing in our study of the Gospel of John, we learn about the living God that loves us so dearly (15). As we see Jesus healing the sick, raising the dead, providing food for thousands on two occasions, and calming the storm we gain a small view of his power to create the universe (16). Before all these things he created he existed as the eternal Word, the Son of God (17). Through his death and resurrection he became the head of a great body of believers, the Church (18). In the Lord Jesus Christ all the fullness of God dwells (19). What an amazing person is our savior and our Lord. Please do not miss this subtle point; Jesus cannot be your savior if he is not also your Lord. It is not one or the other, as so many think today, but both or neither.