Endurance: Hallows Women Conference

This weekend our church hosted a women's conference "Better Together" focusing on Romans 5:1-5 for our church and others church plants in Seattle. I was asked to share on endurance. I agreed and prayed about it, prayed for conference, prayed for women attending, prayed for other speakers and my own words to be from the Lord. What I didn't see coming was the week prior to the conference. It was  a humbling experience with various circumstances each day. Sunday it started with giving Levi benadryl and an epipen shot after I fed him cashews unknowingly. I felt fear and guilt. Tuesday I forgot dinner for a neighbor who just had a baby I had sign up for. I felt like a failure. Other days were filled with tiredness, arguments with the kids and Wes which all seemed out of character. I heard you are not enough, insufficient, and inadequate as a mom, wife, friend, employee etc. I definitely heard "you should not be speaking on endurance, just tell them you can't" as you can't even make it day to day through this week. I am identifying it as spiritual warfare. And it is true I am not enough. But Christ is. Christ in me is enough.  So all that to say, it was  humbling week and a sweet reminder of what it is like to endure day to day  in this fallen world. And how enduring dependently on Christ is the only way. Below is the manuscript I used. If you are interested read and I pray the Lord encourages you. (Pictures were from a Saturday spent going to a pumpkin patch and  then our friends' wedding on Sept 30th)

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we^[c] rejoice^[d] in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ESV

Good morning. Last night Courtney shared on suffering with you all. Today we are going to pick up in verse 3 of Romans 5 “we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance”

First let’s define endurance to set the tone and make sure we are all on the same page. Webster dictionary says it is the ability to withstand hardships or trials.  Biblically, we see endurance interchanged in scripture in different translations with steadfastness, patience, or perseverance. For professing Christians, I believe endurance is remaining faithful during suffering because of hope in Christ. It is not “white knuckling it” to the end or worldly pull yourself up by the bootstraps type of grit. Biblical endurance has a faith that rest in God’s promises and thus full of hope that allows you to press on. Later we will unpack what it looks like to remain faithful to God in a fallen world.

We discussed suffering last night. And in the beginning of Romans 5:3, Paul says we rejoice in our sufferings, not we rejoice even though we suffer. We are not saying endure the hard ache with a smile and say everything is fine when its not. Being a Christian does not mean you do not let suffering get to you or I will rejoice in spite of suffering. This is not biblical because we know how Jesus suffered. He suffered with tears, agony and cries to our Lord. It would have minimized the Cross if Jesus walked up to Calvary and said “its fine.” No Jesus endured suffering for the joy set before Him. The hope of returning to His Father, for defeating death, and making us righteous before God. The best metaphor I can think of in my life is child birth. Something comes about in the end to make people keep having babies, right? So, there was suffering with intense pain as I gave birth three times. But I did it three times, each with more maturity (but same amount of intense pain or suffering) as I knew there was joy set before me. New life. The hope of a sweet baby. And just like child birth, in this world we will ache and suffering will be present but there is new life ahead, a new heavens and earth waiting for us. For the joy set before us we endure. Just as Christ, the joy set before Jesus he endured the cross.

Paul also does not say we rejoice for suffering. No glory is given for suffering much. Paul says we rejoice in suffering. See without hope we will try to flee sufferings. But Christians, possessing genuine faith or hope in the unseen, have this supernatural capacity for worldly sadness and the ability to grieve. Our joy is enhanced and the sufferings of Christ mean the most when we suffer. As James says “count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”. Just like Paul in Romans, James helps us answer why we have sufferings and trials. We know that suffering exist because we are in a fallen world and that when sin entered, the world and its people don’t function as God’s intentional perfect design. James also says out of this trial God can gives purpose. Trials and the testing of our faith produce endurance or steadfastness.  While enduring, we will still grieve our suffering but as a follower of Christ, it will not consume us. Our faith may be tested during trials, but Jesus can supply endurance.  Positivity or shear optimism stands no lasting chance in in the face of suffering’s reality. James’ book is all about living life of genuine faith and he begins his writings with suffering and endurance, like what we just read in James 1:2-4. Young believers are often taken back or surprised when they suffer under God’s sovereign will, thinking if I would have earned God’s favor then I would be spared. This is not the gospel. Suffering will occur. Unbelief may creep in.  Your faith can be tested by trials. But because of hope in Christ or the joy set before us…. the steadfast muscle is produced, endurance happens, you perservere and grow and experience true joy. The Lord is faithfully executing the work of growing us in maturity and endurance amongst hardships for our good and His glory. 

In Romans 8:25 Paul says here we eagerly wait for what we cannot see with perseverance …. The big question at hand…. how we can patiently wait and endure this fallen world with a faithful heart? First, we need to note that God is the giver of endurance. Romans 15:5 “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another” God is the God of endurance. The sustainer of all things - including our faith that is guarded by His power. (1 Peter 1:3-5) Peter says “we have 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. By God’s strength, He gives us the ability to endure. He is the source of power to endure in the path of obedience toward Him.  In fact, I think we are asked to persevere because our Heavenly Father perseveres toward us. His love doesn’t waiver but remains. This is a truth you and I can cling to.  We can endure because His power. And we can endure because His love. (1 Cor 13:7) The famous passage 1 Corinthians 13 tells us love endures all things. Again, God’s love endures for you, it never ends despite the sufferings of this world.

 So, is endurance toward Christ a condition we must meet to obtain salvation or is the inheritance of salvation a gift that enables us to endure? Alternatively, another way to ask this, is the message of the gospel – you must endure to be saved (Matt 24:12-13, 2 Tim 4:7, Romans 2:6-7, Gal 6:8-9) or is it you will endure to the end because you are saved (Eph 2:8)? I think this is why I sat on the word endurance so long because in the bible I saw two thoughts – endurance as a command and as a gift. See Matthews 24:13 says “But the one who endures to end will be saved.” Or 2 Timothy 4:7-8 says “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Hence forth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Or James says (1:12) “blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life” It is not an either /or but rather a both/and. Salvation is the reward of endurance and salvation is the gift of grace. We endure for God’s promises of eternal life because we know His promises are ours. John Piper says it as “we must (commands to) endure to the end for he is holy and we shall endure to the end for he is sovereign (His grace)” And it is a beautiful picture when you mesh these together. The gracious promises of scripture for endurance give us security, peace and stability. The instructions from scripture pertaining to endurance give us urgency, encouragement, how-to’s and mission. 

We are going to flip over a few books in the NT now to a rather famous passage on endurance. Turn with me to Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is a very mature and sober book when it comes to pain and stress of the Christian life. Hebrews discusses the endurance it takes to run the race at hand, with the race being this life. To fight the fight and finish well. It can be a hard to appreciate the spirituality taught in Hebrews if your life has been relatively “easy or pain free”. But if and when you suffer AND believe the truths Hebrews teaches, you will cling to them. I know personally, my life for 20 + years was relatively easy from my vantage point. Despite a hard break up with a boyfriend in college, most things seemed fine, including being oblivious to sin in my life like idols of school, career, perfectionism, family, vacations, etc. It was not until a nasty thing call post-partum anxiety after my second daughter and then subsequently a significant medical condition with my third child that I suffered much. I suffered but I have also been enduring by God’s grace. Thus, now, I personally have come to appreciate Hebrews and that was only when I trusted the gracious sovereignty of God over suffering.

So, a little background on Hebrews. The Christians in Hebrews were losing heart and growing weary, in great spiritual danger maybe like some of us. Christians will experience stress, suffering, etc. that threaten our faith…. and frankly, sufferings or sadness we believe last too long or are too intolerable.  The whole book of Hebrews is written to encourage Christians to keep the faith, or endure. This is for us too. What does God require of a missionary one, two, five years after being on the field and the excitement of going to a new place for God has “worn off”? What is needed to stay in a dependent posture of prayer or with your ministry to your neighbors? What is needed to stay in your marriage, your disability, or family burdens?  The author tells them in Hebrews 10:36 “you need endurance”. Trials, hardships, sickness, persecution, job loss, broken relationships, etc. may happen but those things cannot take your eternal life. The only eternally detrimental thing to any of us is not keeping the faith. During suffering, we can choose to endure, finish the race or keep the faith in Christ or we cannot. R.C. Sproul says “At times it may seem as if the darkness is winning, but God’s Word stands firm. People around the world are hungry for His truth, and by the Lord’s grace, His people are taking it to the nations. Our high calling is to remain faithful (stay steadfast) to the Lord in this struggle, to fight for the truth of God’s Word and not to compromise. If we remain faithful, we are promised a sure and great reward: “The one who conquers (finishes the race) will not be hurt by the second death” (Rev. 2:11b).

Let us see how Hebrews 12 will give us some instruction on how to endure when we grow weary, suffer much, become apathetic or disappointed in this life like the Hebrew’s audience of Jewish Christians. Moreover, see how Hebrews 12 points out our source of power to endure.

Read: Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

First, we endure with a “great cloud of witnesses”. Hebrews 12:1 says “Therefore, since we are surrounded by” a cloud of witnesses. Who are these witnesses? Well 12:1 starts with “therefore” and what is directly before chapter 12, chapter 11. Hebrews 11 lists many Old Testament prophets. It discusses their faith, for example Hebrews 11:27 says “By faith he (Moses) left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”  We have cheerleaders in this sports arena while we are running the race called life! The OT saints just described in chapter 11. Do they cheer us on with pom poms and chants? No they cheer us on by their example of faithful endurance, waiting expectantly for the unseen Christ. A few chapters prior Hebrews 6:11-12 says that we should not be sluggish but be imitators of those who through faith and patience (endurance) inherit the promises. Another example is in James 5, James says “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful”.  The Lord gives us their accounts for our encouragement.

This goes hand in hand with the second way we can endure. The scriptures. Studying and memorizing the scriptures. Romans 15:4 says for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” The scriptures are written for encouragement to give hope. God designed the Bible so that as you read from story to story or book to book the effect will be “encouragement”. Use them as you endure. Again, being a follower of Christ does not mean everything goes smoothly. We are at war here on earth against physical suffering and spiritual battles. The Lord gives us his Word to prepare, guard against and fight these attacks. Ephesians 6:17-18 encourages us to fight this battle with the sword or God’s word and persevere until the end. What are we reading that is helping us persevere besides the examples from the OT prophets? God’s promises. Early we said we endure for God’s promises because we know His promises are ours. Of few examples of what you would be reading…In Jeremiah (32:40) he says God puts a fear in our hearts that we will not turn from Him or in Philippians (1:6) it says he will begin a good work in us that will come to completion. And here in Hebrews 13:20-21 God says he will equip us to do His will and work in us through Jesus Christ. We fill our minds with His Word, His promises, His encouragement, His instruction because His design is best. I started reading Katie Davis Major’s new book “Daring to Hope” this week. You all might know her as the author of “kisses from Katie” a lady who by age 30 has adopted 13 Ugandan daughters and started the non-profit Amazima.  She discusses how a little 4 year old, Jane, she had fostered for 3 years and felt like her daughter was taken back by her biological mother. It caused Katie great suffering as she wanted to be the one to keep double knotting Jane’s shoes and tucking her in at night and telling her about Jesus and how she was loved. She was concerned for Jane and she felt this should not be Jane’s story.  She was also in the midst of watching all kinds of suffering to people she loved and worshiped with in Uganda, sickness, hunger and loss. She wrestled with God. Her faith was tested. I want you hear what she wrote during this struggle.  Katie says “ I was left with two explanations: either God is not actually who He says He is or He is and I needed to relearn how to know Him even in Hardship. I devoured scripture in new way, trying ot find the answers to my questions…. I read Romans 8:32 over and over –“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?”  Could I believe this? All things. Though God did not answers my prayer the way I wanted, He answered. He whispered, I will make this beautiful too. I have already blessed you. I was a work – at home mom with a tribe of little people running a growing Christian ministry serving hundreds but despite these superficial measures of suppose success, I was only just learning a complete and utter dependence on God…. Learning the beautifully tender side of him that would love in spite of me, relentlessly.”  Suffering struck Katie, Katie asked hard questions, and by God’s power Katie is faithfully enduring dependently on God by studying scripture and clinging to His truths.

We must combat lies, negative feelings, fears, and sadness with truth. John Piper said that his dad encouraged him with the promise of Isaiah 41:10 when he was younger and headed to Germany for 3 years.  Piper said he quoted it himself hundreds of times in those 3 years. Isaiah 41:10 says “Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Piper who has struggled with anxiety throughout his life went on to say “I have fought anxiety  with this promise so many times that when the motor of my mind is in neutral, the hum of the gears is the sound of Isaiah 41:10” It is key to have the scriptures written on our deceitful hearts and memorized on our minds or else we will only hear the emotions of ourselves. Piper endured with scripture memorization.   

Going back to Hebrews 12, let us see what else the author says in 12:1. “let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and run with endurance the race set before us”. Do they say we run in Nikes and go as fast Usain Bolt? No, they say you should “throw off everything that hinders and sin that entangles”. Rid ourselves of sin. Sin is heavy and it weighs you down. When I did not get the position, I applied for at work, I struggled with inadequacy and self-worth. I was suffering a disappointing circumstance but also suffering sinful pride. It weighed on me. I repented of desiring man’s empty praise and thinking I should have been chosen. The main aim of our wrestling in this world is to rest in God. The goal. We cannot rest in God if we are resting in money, position, looks, and achievements. We want to rest in the promises of God that we are reading, not the promises of sin. Repent.

You may say but what if sin is not what is causing your suffering Casey? What about the recent hurricanes or wild fires or that cancer diagnosis? When my son had a brain bleed, that was a suffering to his body and subsequently mental suffering to Wes and I. (and maybe physically too with sleep deprivation). We had no idea it was coming.  But my sins were still exposed. For example, I repented of control, wanting to know the future. I asked God to let me trust Him more than medical staff and resources (though they were wonderful graces to us). The Lord heard those cries, forgave me, and instilled peace. Not in one setting but over many months. We still practice repentance even when suffering happens not brought upon you by sin. 

But we can’t remove that heavy burden of sin on our own. In Hebrews 12:2 the author says “we will run endurance by looking to Jesus”. Fixing our eyes on Christ. The source of power and only through His strength enables us. We will only be able to endure if we repent and look to Christ. How do we look to Jesus to endure? Continuing on it says “he is the founder and perfecter of our faith who endured the cross”. Know who Jesus is (founder and perfecter of our faith) and what He has done for you (endured the cross to pay the penalty for your sins).  The amazing thing about enduring suffering, is if we look to Jesus we will always learn the most from God as we are desperate for Him. After post-partum anxiety struck, I was questioning, why am I uptight, crying often, and anxious. I have a husband, two healthy sweet girls, family, friends, church, and a job. In comparison to 99% of the world on the surface I should not be a basket case., I repeatedly asked, what is wrong with me?  The Lord ever so slowly taught me, yes Casey stop asking why its happening and remember who. Who do you have, you have Me the creator and Lord of all. This was the first time I ever cried tears of appreciation for my salvation. I encourage praying for an increase in faith, an increase in love for Jesus. Because at the root of all anxiety is unbelief. By the Lords grace, I acknowledged that, with the aim to continually repent and pursue Christ. After 9 years of marriage and three kids, you can image that Wes and I are far from the honeymoon stage. I regularly pray to love and appreciate him. I ask the Lord to strengthen our relationship. The same thing goes for other relationships, like your vertical relationship with God.  As you are enduring this fallen world, ask God to increase your love for Him and appreciation for Christ sufferings. That it will be meaningful to you. He is the giver of it, the God of Love. The perfecter of our faith. He will answer.  The bible tells us too that Jesus is at the “right hand of the Father”.  And a few chapters prior leading up to our passage, Hebrews 7:25 reminds us, Jesus is interceding for us. (1 John 2:1) Look to Jesus, pray and cry out to Him honestly when you are struggling. He always forgives.  My endurance muscle trained to battle my anxiety was also exercised when my one month old had a brain bleed a couple of years later. Just like our bodies, faith is strengthened by exercise. Though not pleasant at the time, trials produce stronger, gritty faith. I was as ready as I could be for this devastating experience of my newborn having a hemorrhagic stroke. God said the same thing again that He said when I had previously panicked, look to me. I got you. But I recognized it faster. It only took me < 1 hour to be on knees in faith crying out and asking everyone I knew to too. Hold us Lord and let me not lose faith in you, is what I continuously prayed for Levi and myself during those weeks in the hospital.  I knew that such a horrible event would make me susceptible to become angry at God, question my faith, and rest in discontentment and self-pity. I remember praying specifically in the NICU the night it happened “Lord don't let me lose faith. Through this increase my trust in you.” Unlike my response a couple years prior of asking why is this happening… what and why is this anxiety a thing now… this time I started with the Who. Who’s got me. The Lords got me. Lord I need you to hold me through this.

Then Hebrews 12:3 says “consider Him who endured”.  We are instructed to remember how Christ endured. How did Jesus endure through Gethsemane and Golgotha? He endured because of the hope set before him like we said from Hebrews 12:2. Christ suffering also gives perspective. The Cross bears more weight when we see how our suffering is small in compared to His act of Love. And we consider how Christ endured suffering with submission and use it too as hope, encouragement, and an example while we are enduring. Peter encourages the Christians who are suffering unjustly in 1 Peter chapter 2 to follow Jesus’ example of submission. “For what credit is it fi, when you sin and beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps” Jesus submitted to the Father during suffering “Not my will but yours” and we too should exercise that same dependency. Use Christ as the example. Endure dependently.

Now, I want to look at different place for our last “how –to-endure”. Hebrews 3:13 says, “Exhort (urge strongly) one another every day so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”. How do we help others and others help us to run the race, endure until the end, keep the faith? We point each other to Christ and guard each other from sin’s deceitful ways. We endure in community. Hebrews 10:24 instructs us to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together but encouraging one another in truth. So, important. And Hebrews knows we are prone to neglect to meet together or it wouldn't have giving the warning.  You know, we make an excuse for why we skipped Sunday worship or haven’t plugged into a small group. But Hebrews says meet together! Meet together in homes, work, coffee shops. And not just meet together and talk and call it Christian fellowship. But actually stir one another, encourage each other and speak truth outloud. It is good to read the bible, studying, or memorizing scripture in a quiet time but it is imperative to also hear it from others.  How else can we urge each other to hold fast to our confidence in Christ? How else can accountability to good works? Nowhere in the bible does it talk about faith being “private, alone” but rather our faith is best exercised with God and others. Endure with other believers. Bear their burdens and allow them to bear yours. Cry together during trials, share struggles, rejoice together and be vulnerable for the sake of the Gospel as we endure the world that is. Ask them to pray for you went you can’t. Other followers of Christ have been comforted by the God of all comfort so they can comfort you during your afflictions and vise versa (2 Cor 1:3-4) I did not walk through post-partum anxiety alone. Many people prayed but it was crucial that I had a regular weekly meeting with a friend. We studied the same scripture together and she listened.

 I recently learned who Dietrich Bonhoeffer is as my husband is enjoying his biography. Bonhoeffer is a German Theologian who was executed at the end of WWII for his opposition to the Nazis. Bonhoeffer had had it figured out in the 1930s, He wrote a book called  Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. In his book he writes:

“Secular education today is aware that often a person can be helped merely by having someone who will listen to him seriously, and upon this insight it has constructed its own soul therapy, which has attracted great numbers of people, including Christians. But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.”

I utilized a Christian counselor as well after Levi’s brain bleed. I was having a hard time transitioning back to life outside of the hospital following Levi’s bleed. And subsequently returning to work at that very same hospital was challenging. I needed someone to listen. I needed to hear truth, encouragement, and hope spoken out loud. Just like Bonhoeffer points out.

In the same book Bonhoeffer then writes

“If somebody asks [a Christian], Where is your salvation, your righteousness? he can never point to himself. He points to the Word of God in Jesus Christ, which assures him of salvation and righteousness. He is as alert as possible to this Word. Because he daily hungers and thirsts for righteousness, he daily desires the redeeming Word . . .

But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain; his brother’s is sure.”

To endure, we need others in Christ. Seek out community. Live in a way that we can receive and give the Word of God daily.

Lastly, we know God sovereignly designs suffering for His Glory. So, God receives glory as we endure sufferings. How? We get to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and reflect Him. Pain and suffering are opportunities to show the love that God has given. We have established that the ability to endure sufferings is only because of Christ in us. As we suffer and endure dependently on Christ we will glorify God. (Colossians 1:24) Now you must see it is not just “let Casey make it through this world. I want endure so I get called to heaven in the end.” Ultimately enduring is not just for our faith but for God’s glory and others. We also endure for the sake of others.  When a heart is softened to the gospel, the Christian now has the ability to see brokenness of the world without trying to rationalize it away. We can rejoice in suffering that produces endurance. We can endure alongside others to make His name known.  We run the race with our eyes fixed on Christ amongst sorrow, pain and joy for the crown of glory but also to encourage others to run with us and point them to the finish line. Interceding for their hearts not just ours. Studying our bible not just for ourselves but so we can give an account of it to others. Being in community not just so we have friends but so we can serve. Let us press on in faith as we wait for Jesus to return. Finish the race. Keep the faith and know you receive the gift of endurance along the way.  Endure for the sake of the gospel and His glory while running and as Luke says “by your endurance you will gain your eternal life” (Luke 21:9) Let’s pray.