Rejoice in Tribulations
From Pastor Kevin King
In Romans 5:3-5 Paul makes the case for rejoicing through problems in our lives, also called tribulations. Rejoicing means to boast. Paul is instructing us to boast about problems. There better be a pretty enticing reason to boast in problems as this is not a natural response to such things in life. Rather, complaining is our default reaction. But Paul is being led by the Holy Spirit, and so if we keep reading, He will give us a reason to do the unthinkable, to boast in problems.
As usual let’s define tribulations. Tribulation means to be pressed together or pressure. Other meanings include affliction, oppression, distress, and straits. But let’s stick with pressure as this is something we can all relate to, plus the other definitions are just other forms of pressure. Let’s keep it simple, the intent of pressure is to get someone to do something they wouldn’t normally do otherwise. If I’m a prisoner of war, the enemy might threaten me with torture if I don’t tell them about our military plans. I would never, under normal circumstances, tell my enemy anything about my strategy, strengths, weaknesses, etc. But with the right kind of pressure, I might divulge whatever they want because I want to be left alone. Maybe that’s not totally realistic, but you get the point. So to reiterate, we are being instructed to boast about being pressured in life.
To make this boasting more palatable, Paul tells us we need to know something. James says the same thing in James 1:2-3 when he tells us that we are to "count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations, knowing this […]." He and Paul are telling us the same things, that to find a kind of joy in problems, we have to know something. Without this knowledge, they’re just problems, and I want nothing to do with them. We need to know that pressure works patience. Patience is cheerful or hopeful constancy or endurance. Constancy is unchanging or unwavering, and endurance is to stay the course on something and not get out. So pressure works, or accomplishes in us, the quality of being unchanging and the determination to stay the course, to see it to the end. Because pressure’s objective is to get us to do something we wouldn’t normally do, resisting pressure reinforces the correct behavior in us. It takes endurance because we can do things a few times because we feel like it, there’s some payback, it’s not that hard, etc. But we must resist over and over so that behavior is permanent. Permanent unchanging behavior is called character. This new behavior is your new norm.
Paul continues by saying that patience also accomplishes something in us, experience. Experience is character that has been tried and approved. It also means trustworthiness. So this new unchanging you is now challenged over and over again and accomplishes a you that is proven, tried, and shown to be the real deal. You’re genuine, authentic, and trustworthy. You’re trustworthy because the Lord now knows you’ll respond appropriately in any situation. Your wife will know how you’ll respond and that will bring her security. Your husband will know how you’ll respond and he will trust you. Your kids will know how you’ll respond and that you won’t be a hypocrite. You’re not a novice, or rookie, that is vulnerable and unstable, but a tried and true Christian that can be trusted.
But it doesn’t stop there. This new trustworthiness accomplishes hope, or anticipation and expectation. Paul says that hope maketh not ashamed, or you will not be disgraced or shamed down. This new you now expects God and His Word to win out no matter how long it takes or how improbable it is. You’ve been shaped and molded into the character of Christ. You love like Him, believe like Him, and walk like Him. You now expect God to keep His promises and anticipate them coming to pass. He will use you because He can trust your response to adversity. You trust Him that when problems arise, it’s not God humiliating you but molding you into a strong trustworthy follower of Christ.
This was the objective all along with pressure, to mold you, shape you, and develop you into who Jesus died for you to be. Free from sin and darkness, to resist the devil, and walk in the light as He is in the light. To be a light to those around you and not a hypocritical stumbling block. You look like Jesus now. Paul had to explain the chain of events that are ignited from pressure or we would be hard pressed to embrace them. Embrace pressure, not as much for what it is, but for what it does.
