embrace the hill gain reasons for hardships: - you - them - life
TRANSCRIPT
Embrace the Hill
Gain
Reasons for Hardships:
- You- Them- Life
Reasons for Hardships:- You- Them- Life
What's missing?
It is impossible to Read the scriptures
And come away believingThat God doesn't love
His creation fervently
It is impossible to Read the scriptures
And come away believingThat God is never the Cause of hardship
Reasons for Hardships:
- You- Them- Life- God
Hardships can bringA desire for escape
Hardships can become aRationalization for choicesThat lead me away from God
God redeems
It's who he isAnd what our faith
Is all about
Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship
For our growth and blessingAnd his witness to our world
Choose focus+ Act in faith
= Discover GodAnd Redemption
James…
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing
James 1:2-4
Philippians 3:4…
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the
flesh, I have more:
…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
…as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness
under the law, blameless
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ
Bad deal…written off
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing
worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord
Set aside egoSet aside prideLost reasons to be “better than”
= Death to self To know Christ by experience
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them
as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…
To really know JesusInvolves a type of trial
In and of itselfA death to ego, pride
Preferences and desires
To the degree that put asideEgo, preferencesPersonal convenience, comfort
For the sake of following JesusI experience Christ
Well-worth it:Skubala compared to Jesus
…that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law…
…but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness
from God that depends on faith—
"One day I'm going to get right…Start doing the right things…
And become a Christian"
Great. But that's not Christianity
…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
Died to sin
…may share his sufferings
Pathema: "Under God, páthēma is redemptive, preparing us to know the Lord better now and forever in glory"- Word Studies
The more I seek God through Hardships, the more I'mIdentified with Christ and
The greater I know him By experience
…that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection
from the dead
Goal: Sinless and perfect
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect- Philippians 3:4-12
Why fellowship of sufferingsAnd like him in his death?
God can redeems hardshipsSo that I am sanctifiedAnd become more like Jesus
I closer to JesusAs I experience him
Through the suffering
Hardship brings clarityI focus on JesusTrust him through it
And seek him in itAnd see my own life differently
Until I see sin as God doesAnd hate the sin in my own life
I'll never fully experience JesusAnd all that he has for me
Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship
For your growth and blessingAnd his witness to your world
Romans 6:5…For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall
certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin
For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that
we will also live with him
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he
lives he lives to God
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you
obey its passions
Make no provision for the flesh
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness…
Worship language
…but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life, and your members to God as instruments
for righteousness
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace- Romans 6:5-14
Crucifixion= The pain of death
To self
Produces freedom to becomeA new creation in Christ
As you respond to suffering well,God is working throughYour sufferings
To produce freedom from theEnslavement to sin in your life
Hebrews 12:3…Consider him who endured from
sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood
Jesus did for us
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be
weary when reproved by him.For the Lord disciplines the one
he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives”
It is impossible to Read the scriptures
And come away believingThat God is never the Cause of hardship
Causes of Hardship:- You
- Them- Life
- God
Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship
For our growth and blessingAnd his witness to our world
It is for discipline that you have to endureFor the sake of growth
(Endure hardship as discipline- NIV)
God redeems ALL of itEven what he didn't cause
As we trust him through it
God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons
Hardships always Contain choices
How I miss the blessing:
- Excuses and Bitterness- Blame- Eyes on hardship- My own strength
How I gain the blessing:
- Deserving isn't the issue- Kills blame and bitterness- Eyes on Jesus- Rely on God for strength
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined
us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to
the Father of spirits and live?
For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holinessProduces set-apartness
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant…
…but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to
those who have been trained by it
- Heb. 12:3-11
Not a momentBut a process
If I know JesusPositional righteousness
Will be followed byExperiential righteousness
Endure hardship as discipline
God is using it for your blessingAnd growth
James…
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…
Trials- peirasmosTrial and temptation
Enemy uses it to see you failGod uses it to see you growAnd will redeem it if you fall
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness
Grows your ability to trust God And find his strength to endure
In all circumstances
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing
The full effect of learningTo really trust God andRely on his strength in trials
Is that you are finishedAnd complete in him
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God…
- James 1:2-6
Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship
For our growth and blessingAnd his witness to our world
God's stated desire:
Grow you through trialsSo that you know Jesus more
Walk closer and show the worldHow Jesus changes lives
Ball is in your court
The issue is either the hardshipOr it's what God is doingThrough the hardshipYour choice…
It's not about fairnessOr "Why me?"
It's about a God who longsTo redeem it for your growth
And others' blessing
Seek GodChoose to focus on ChristPray…really pray
Allow fellow believers To comfort
Not Pastor-centeredFor this very reason
Questions, CommentsDisagreements
Pray
Baptisms last week!
Next Sunday:Blessing of the Children