Review:
We are continuing our series called Faith Supplements. We are going through the 7 spiritual ingredients listed out in 2 Peter 1 that help form a godly life. Whether it be vitamins, minerals, herbs, etc, supplements are so important. They help maintain and even increase our overall nutrition in areas we might be lacking.Supplements help provide a boost to our overall health.
Similarly, our spiritual health is just as important. Like vitamins, there are spiritual supplements that we can take everyday to help boost our faith, spiritual walk. In part one, we discussed the responsibility we have to maintain our relationship with God.
Virtue
Knowledge
Self-Control
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That brings us to our spiritual supplement for today.
Did you know that there are 21 million American adults that struggle with depression in some way, form or fashion. That is approximately 8.3% of the total adult population. Depression is often characterized with a feeling of hopelessness. It can leave you feeling like there is no purpose, making you want to quit in many areas of life.
Did you also know that there are supplements available to help with depression? There are specific vitamins that are needed for the production of neurotransmitters, which are brain chemicals that control mood and brain function. Being deficient in any of these vitamins can disrupt serotonin and dopamine, which promote feelings of calmness and happiness. Deficiency in vitamins can also disrupt melatonin which are needed for sleep. Deficiencies in vitamins B, C, and D can increase the risk of depression.
Just as there are supplements for the feeling of wanting to give up, there is also a spiritual supplement for a similar reality when it comes to our faith.
There are times in our spiritual walk when we feel like giving up. There are times when we get tired of standing strong through trials, gathering together with other believers, or fighting the good fight of faith.
The good news is that there is a spiritual supplement for that; it is called perseverance.
2 Peter 1:5-6
“5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance…”
We all like shortcuts. We live in a society that sells and promotes making things easier; especially my generation.
We like things that make life easier. We are willing to pay money to skip the things we don’t have time or just don’t want to do. We love shortcuts. We love convenience. We love life hacks.
However, in the Christian life, there are no shortcuts. There is no convenience when it comes to our Christian walk. There are no life hacks that can make walking out faith easier. There is only one road when it comes to the christian faith and it requires perseverance.
At the end of the day, we have to choose between convenience and the cross. The Christian life is not convenient. Jesus did not promise us that things will be easy.
Much of our lives are dominated by convenience. The mantra of my generation is “easy is good, easiest is best.”
We are willing to pay more money for more convenience. However, the problem with convenience that it cuts out the hard work and struggle that is necessary to make one battle-tested.
Someone who is battle-tested is someone who is proven. Someone who is battle-tested is someone who knows what it takes to be victorious, to overcome.
You don’t become a champion by merely reading books. You don’t become successful by simply watching Youtube videos. You don’t become an overcomer by asking Google. You don’t become great by doing something just a couple of times.
There is only one road you can take in order to be successful, and that road involves struggle, hardship, and difficulty. You have to go through hardship, you have to work though struggle, you have walk through difficulty.
There is a spiritual supplement needed to get through hardship; perseverance.
Perseverance = Steady persistence in a course of action, especially in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement.
This is the idea of staying straight and not swerving to the left or to the right. It is to not change your mind, but to continue forward. It means to be steady; to be consistent.
Perseverance = Hupomone = to remain under
It means to remain under discipline; to continue to be disciplined. Last week we talked about self-control. Perseverance is literally the continuance of self-control.
That makes a lot of sense when we apply it to hardship. It takes a lot of discipline to remain consistent and to not give up.
Synonyms for perseverance:
There are 3 areas the Bible encourages us to be steadfast in:
James 1:2-4 NIV
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We are called to persevere through trials. In fact, James tells us that the testing of our faith produces perseverance in us. It is this perseverance in us that makes us mature and helps us to become more complete as believers. It makes us more like Christ. Jesus Himself suffered…
Verse 2 of James chapter 1 tells us to consider it pure joy when you face trials. Now that is an odd statement. Who would consider it exciting to go through hardship? Not very many of us would say that they are excited about what they are having to endure. However, when I think about it from another angle, it kind of makes sense.
I played basketball for much of my life. I considered myself a high level basketball player at that. When I played, I never wanted to play if it was easy. That was not fun to me. There was no value in playing if it was going to be easy. Instead, I was always looking for a challenge. I got excited when there was a challenge. I loved the struggle of working through a hard fought matchup. Mainly because it was a test. I lived for these moments. I knew that was the only way that I would improve and mature as a player. Starting the game was easy, fighting through it was the hard part. Sticking the game out was always the most difficult.
Looking at it from that angle, it helps me to see things from God’s perspective in a clearer light. It helps me to understand a little more why God allows us to go through hardship. Doing so allows the Holy Spirit to produce the perseverance in us needed to grow as believers. When we lean on the Holy Spirit through difficulty, He produces in us patience, steadfastness, endurance, and a determination to trust God and to keep going.
I remember being in the kitchen when we got the news our daughter Malaya would have down syndrome. I remember the shock of that news. I remember being in the hospital, not really knowing what to do with having a child with special needs. I remember being in the hospital hearing the news that she would need open heart surgery. I remember watching my little baby girl go back to the OR at the hospital with the surgical staff down what seemed to be an endless hallway. I still remember walking through the difficult and hardship of it all. While going through this is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to face, I can say that it has matured me through the process.
While we may not want hardship to come our way, while God does not cause trials in our life, He has called us to endure through them. He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him.
Romans 15:5-7
“5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
We are called to persevere with people. That word “endurance” is the same word for “perseverance” (hupomone). With perseverance, we are called to
- Live in harmony with others
- Be unified under Christ
- Accept others as Christ has accepted us
This is completely different from simply tolerating people. We are not called to just tolerate others. To tolerate is to endure with distaste. It is that, “I will allow you around but I don’t like you” attitude.
Instead, we are to live harmonious with one another, to be in agreement. That is to embrace others despite how they differ from us. We do this by being unified under Christ. We keep him the main thing. He is what unites us all together. Finally, the reason we can/should accept one another is because Christ has accepted us.
Galatians 6:9
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
We are also called to persevere in the faith; to fight the good fight of faith. Let us not give up. Let us not get give up on sowing seeds of
- Obeying God and pleasing Him
- Growing in the Word
- Sharing the gospel with others
- Gathering together for church
- Living right before God and before others
- Being a light to the people around us
For in due season, at the right time, we will reap a harvest. What is that harvest? Eternal life.
Romans 2:7
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
Philippians 3:13-14
“13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
If we do not give up…
Let us not give up. Let us press on. Let us keep going. Let us persevere.
TAKEAWAYS FROM PERSEVERANCE:
The struggle of hardship is making you stronger
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