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brothers and sisters in the Lord, you would think would you not that after holding forth as
eloquently as Paul has here in Romans chapter 8 on our privileges as the children of God that he
would continue then in the same vein to outline for us more of the joys of what it is to be a Christian.
Interestingly enough he doesn't do that. Interestingly enough here in verse 17 in the middle of the
verse he pulls an immediate switch on us and starts on an entirely different track as he reintroduces
to us the subject of Christian suffering. Listen again to how he puts it in verse 17 he says
if we're children then we're ears ears of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Now he pulls the
switch provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him provided we
suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. In other words if we want to
share the glory of Jesus we must also be willing to bear his shame and his suffering.
One of the very vivid memories that I have of my college life is a time when Pastor Dailin
I we were rooming together and we were lamenting together the difficulty of the Christian life.
We had both been brought by the Lord to a point of really surrendering our lives to the Lord.
We had thought and hoped that would mean things would go better instead things had gone
from bad to worse and as I recall that particular situation we were both lamenting the loss
of our love lives at that point and we were not very happy campers
and we were complaining that the Lord really wasn't treating us very well and we found
ourselves between a rock and a hard place. We had gone too far with God to be able to go back to
the world and we had and yet gone far enough with God to really enjoy the things that God was
allowing to come our way and I will remember very clearly that one of Pastor Dail's laments at
that particular moment was that the cross the Lord was giving us was a very heavy one to bear
and why couldn't it be made of balsa wood and then he caught himself in the middle of that and he
said well you know if it was made of balsa wood our crown would probably be made of tin.
Think about that. If we want to receive the glory we must also
be willing to receive and to pay the price to receive that glory that's what Paul is talking
about when he says provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him
and that's a theme that runs throughout the pages of the scriptures. Paul and 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 says this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison Peter and 1 Peter chapter 4 says do not be surprised at the fiery or
deal which comes upon you to prove you as though something strange were happening to you but rejoice
in so far as you share Christ sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory
is revealed. If we're children then we're airs as Paul airs of God and fellow airs with Christ
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him there is a direct
relationship between the glory that we receive and the sufferings that we go through in this life
and the question that we want to try to address in the time that we have together this morning
is why that relationship why do we need to suffer to experience his glory there are of course
many answers to that question one of the ones that we won't be pursuing in any detail this
morning is the fact that when we become the children of God we become the enemy of Satan
and he becomes our enemy and just as he did everything that he could to try to destroy the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ he will do everything that he can to destroy your life and my life as
I said we don't have time to pursue that track this morning instead we want to try to focus
together on the fact that from God's perspective one of the primary reasons for the need of pain
in the life of the believing community is that that is a necessary ingredient to prepare us
for glory listen again to what Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 the slight momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory let's review together for just
a few moments what is the glory that God is promising to his children Paul says if children
then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ we saw together last Sunday morning that
means that we if we're children of God are crowned princes and princesses of the whole universe
there is coming a day when with the Lord Jesus Christ we're going to sit down on his throne
God is going to impart to us an everlasting glory and an eternal authority to rule over all creation
we can't even begin to imagine but that will be lying furthermore we will share in the
immeasurable riches of God in Christ Jesus forever and ever and ever it's a little bit like taking
these children that were baptized this morning and saying one of these is going to be the prime
minister of canada and other is going to be president to the bank of canada maybe one of them
will attend a governor president of a major corporation these are people who are looking forward
to prestige and to power in the present world that is nothing compared with the glory that God
has prepared for those who are his children the least one of God's children will have more glory
than any earthly position or authority or power that we strive so hard to attain the thing is
of course if we're going to occupy that kind of authority and have that kind of prestigious
position we need to be very thoroughly prepared so that we can handle the responsibility of the
kingdom I mean no offense intended to any of your children but would we want your children right
now to be prime minister of canada I know some of you are saying well sometimes it feels like we
are being led by children but that's another story why not well because they're too immature
they don't know right from wrong don't understand economics don't understand politics if we give
them control of the whole country they would turn it into a big sandbox just like that turn all
the factories into a lot of pop manufacturing facilities and they would rule the country
according to their own childish understanding we wouldn't last very long and so long before
these children are going to be entrusted with authority and with responsibility the parents and
the broader community is going to spend considerable time effort and energy educating and training
and disciplining these children so that as they grow up to maturity they will have both the skills
and the wisdom and the capabilities of being entrusted with authority and with responsibility
and great is the joy of a parent when they see their children graduate from school or begin their
careers and and you know that they can leave home and they've got a built-in value system and
they have the equipment the wisdom and the training to be able to handle life as independent
individuals now if we spend that much time and energy training our children and equipping them
for the responsibilities of life realizing that those responsibilities are only temporary
then how much more will our father who was in heaven spare no effort and no energy
to equip all of his children to share his eternal glory if children than heirs heirs of God
and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him
that's the reason so that that whenever we become children of God my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
the Father enters us into a program of child raising he says all right you're my child
you are heir to the kingdom that I'm going to give to all those who love me
I have prepared for you a position and a prestige and an authority and a power that you can
possibly begin to imagine you're going to be sitting with me on my throne we're going to run the
universe forever and ever but long before you can do that you need to learn to know how I think
you need to learn what it is that I want you need to have all the childish foolishness taken out
of you you need to be equipped to manage the kingdom in a way that the kingdom is going to last
forever and ever and for that reason as I said a moment ago when we become the children of God
God enters us into a program of discipline he begins to control all the events and all the
affairs of your life and my life and they're all geared towards educating us for the position
for which God is preparing us and the mark of being a Christian is not unending superficial
gladness or happiness the mark of a Christian is that we receive the disciplining end of God within
our lives and we learn the kind of lessons that we need with the view to preparing us for glory
listen how the writer to Hebrews puts it in Hebrews chapter 12 quoting from the book of Proverbs
my son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor lose courage when you are punished by
him for the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son or daughter whom he receives
and he goes on to say 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 if you are left without discipline in
which all have participated then you are illegitimate children and not sons and he goes on to say that
God disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness 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 if children says Paul then heirs heirs of God and fellow
heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him Paul you see
was very pastoral in his approach to these Roman Christians to which he was writing these were
Christians living in a pagan world and in a pagan society they were persecuted every which way
they turned because they followed Jesus they didn't want to participate in the sins of their age
Paul comes along and he shares all these incredible blessings that God has for them he says
isn't it wonderful to be a child of God isn't it wonderful to be an heir of God isn't it wonderful to
be a joint heir with Christ and can't you just picture these people sitting back saying that's not
my experience my life's not like that at all I have trouble at home can't get along with my spouse
my kids won't listen to me heaven got money to make my payments my mother-in-law doesn't like me
you know goes on and on and on and Paul echoing the words of Peter says says in effect don't be
surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you which is to prove you and to test you but rejoice
in as much as you're sharing Christ sufferings God the Father is preparing for you an eternal weight
of glory and there is coming a day he says when you look back on all of the things that you've
gone through when you're going to say wow I didn't like it very much when it happened
but it's the best thing that ever happened to me because it changed my life it built into me
the kind of qualities that I needed to be ready for the things that God has for me in his life
has not been your own experience you look past over your Christian life you look at some of the
things that you've gone through and there are things that you've gone through you wouldn't want to
wish them when you're worst enemy there are some things I've gone through that I wouldn't want to
wish or buy worst enemy when you're going through them you say to yourself where's God you're
saying to yourself this is awful if this is what God does to his children what does he do to those
that aren't his children but you get through it just when you thought there was no place to go
God reaches down picks you up gives you vision gives you insight puts you back on your on your
feet and you discover you're the stronger and the better for it because God has imparted some of
his grace into your inner being and then you look back on all of those things that happened and
you say to yourself I wouldn't ever want to go through it again but boy I'm glad God took me
through that valley and that difficult time of my life because he is used it in my life
to build me up Paul goes on to say in verse 18 I consider the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us God uses the disciplines of our
lives to build in us the kind of qualities that we need as heirs of God and joined heirs with
Jesus to prepare us as crown princes and princesses of God's grand universe what are some of those
qualities what is it that God wants you and me to learn when we go through those difficult times
in our lives when he wants to build his character into the very court of our being let me quickly
share three of them with you number one is obedience now one of the first things that new parents
discover and some of them have discovered it already is that their little angels have a will of
their own as the kids get a little older parents start talking about the terrible twos you've
heard about the terrible twos sometimes they go on to the terrible threes and for some it was on
for a long time what happens when a kid has the terrible twos well the child is discovering
that he or she is a person in his or her own right has a mind and a will of its own and for many
many years to come now the will of the child is going to buck against the will of the parents
and the challenge of parroting is to know who's going to win so that the child makes the right
kinds of decisions as it goes to the course of life and the challenge of parenting I always say
is to build a fence around your children that's big enough for them to be able to learn to some degree
by trial and error what is right and what is not right but not so big that they will get destroyed
in the process why is this the parent who knows how to move that fence at just the right pace
so that the child is neither stifled in terms of its creativity and independence
and not left so loose that it destroys itself in its freedom
the joys of parenting as I said a moment ago are when those children grow up
and they have a built in value system that says I want to walk in God's way I want to live
the way that God wants me to live and I have the ability to make the right kind of decisions
and the greatest tragedy for a parent it's so many of us know sometimes by first-hand experience
is to see our children go the wrong way and make the kind of decisions that are going to ruin their
lives people have a will of their own and one of the reasons this world is such a mess
is that even as God's children we oftentimes pit our will against his will you know the scenario
God wants me to do this or God wants me to do that he says live your life this way
or don't live it that way you and I like eve of old we look at the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil God says don't eat from it it's going to kill you we look at it and we say it doesn't
look so bad we reach out to it and we sample it and we say well that's not so bad it looks beautiful
to the eyes it's good for food it'll make me wise and we are an independent people with mindset
in our own directions ready to pursue our own course of action can you imagine the disaster
that's going to be in God's eternal kingdom when every time God the Father makes a decision
as to how his empire ought to be ruled he's got all these millions of children standing there
arguing with him about how it ought to be done that's why this world is such a mess
and when God takes you and me through the valley of the shadow
and he calls us to take up our cross and his will butts against our will
what are the reasons for that is to lay bare the pride and the independence and the stubbornness
that lives with it all our hearts you have noticed have you not how easy it is to say Lord I
want to do what it is that you want me to do until he wants you to do something you don't want to do
I mean for Jesus to be in the garden of Gethsemane to say Father
take this cup from me but nevertheless not what I will but what you will and to be
ready to embrace the cross with all its shame and its humiliation and all of its pain
that was something you and I can never do in the natural
and so God in his program of child raising for your life and my life will often put us in a track
where we discover how strong our will is and how badly we want what it is that we want
and they butt against each other and we discover that one of us is going to have to be in
a lot of you have heard me share the story of how in my college years
I don't remember if it was before or after when Pastor Dela and I were lamenting our love lives
I decided I needed a car I was in my senior year in college all of a sudden all of my friends
were getting married my love life wasn't going anywhere I said Lord I needed a car
I saw an ad in the paper I decided I would get that the bells began going off in the back of my
mind as if the Holy Spirit was saying this is not the thing that I want you to do with this
particular time I'd love to be able to tell you I was so spiritual as I said Lord here it is
take it I don't need it I'll trust you I didn't make a long story short it became an embarrassing
financial situation where I discovered that God's will was bigger than my will
and I learned a little bit in that day of what it is to have to yield my will
that God's will still haven't learned it very well still need to continue to learn it almost
every day but when you and I are made mature and when we enter into the full joy in the authority
of God's kingdom we will have such a delight in the will of God that when God says jump we jump
when God says obey we obey not because we're afraid of him not because we're afraid of what's
going to happen if we disobey but because we've come to understand that God is all wise and all
powerful in eternal and his will is always the best God wants to teach us obedience
number two God wants to teach us faith and trust
why is it that children oftentimes have a difficult time agreeing to submit to their parents it's
because number one they don't always see life the way their parents see it and they're not at
all sure that they can trust that the way their parents see it is better than the way they see it
we all look at life through our own glasses and what we see is what makes sense to our limited
experience the challenge of growing up is learning that sometimes people who see things other than
the way that I see it they can even be right you've heard the story have you not a little kid who
as he grows up how his attitude towards his father changes when he's six years old he says
my father knows everything when he's 12 years old he says my father knows a lot when he's 16 years old
he says the old man doesn't know anything when he's 21 years old he says my my father has learned a
lot in the last five years and then when he's about 45 he says to himself I wish dad were here
he would have known what it is to do in this situation when God's eternal kingdom dorms
we are going to be so mature in our relationship with our God and father
that we trust him with everything that is within us we're going to trust and be convinced that
that everything that he says and does and wants to do is motivated by perfect love and that he
loves me completely imperfectly and that all his ways are truth and justice and wisdom
and so one of the reasons for difficulties in your life and my life
is to ween us away from this fair weather kind of Christianity this kind of Christianity that says well
I feel good and things are going well that's why I believe that God loves me but today things
are not going so well and things are really kind of tough and now I don't really believe the God
really loves me God loves me and God is committed to me as his child in Christ whether I see it whether
I feel it or whether I experience it or not and the Lord wants to impart in your life and in my life
that quiet confidence that says with Job even though I'm going to die I will still praise him
and I will love him because I understand the character and the nature of my God and father
a lot of people think faith is when you feel good a lot of people think faith is when God seems
real close why but the Bible says faith is the assurance of things hope for the conviction of things
not seen and for that reason there will be times in your life and my life as children of God
when the heavens seem like brass when all the things of scripture seem like they leave as cold
and when we can't enter into the joy of our salvation the tendency in that hour is to think
that God has forsaken me the tendency in that hour is to think that I must have committed some
terribly big sin and that's why God doesn't love me anymore well I may have seen
and I may need to repent of that sin because sin will cause their degree of break in God's
fellowship with myself but it doesn't necessarily follow God leads his people through the wilderness
it's in the wildernesses of life that you learn the character of God it's in the wilderness where
Israel learned many years ago that we shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God and when we understand that God is preparing us for glory
and he is teaching us faith and the valleys are not so hard to take
because we know that the suffering of this present age is not worthy to be compared with a glory
that will one day be revealed to the children of God we need to learn obedience
we need to learn faith and number three we need to learn
servanthood Jesus teaching his disciples and Mark chapter 10 on leadership he says you know
that those of us are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lorded over them and their great men
exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you for however would be great
among you must be your servant and however would be first among you must be slave
of all somebody has said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and it's so true
give somebody power give somebody authority and the very first thing they do is they use that
power and they use that authority in a sinful world to build up their own position and their
own condition and the history of the world is filled with men and women who have abused power
the power that God has for his children in the age to come is a power that is the very power
of God it's impossible for us as I've said so many times now to even begin to lay hold of that
God is going to say here's my kingdom rule it on my behalf I trust you to take care of that
even as he has learned to trust Jesus or Jesus has learned to be entrusted with that authority
could you imagine what would happen in God's kingdom
it would all are pride with it all are sinfulness all the garbage in our lives
God were to give us that kind of authority we would ruin his new creation just
assuredly as we are ruining this present creation God doesn't want that to happen
God wants us to understand that when he gives us power when he gives us authority it is for the
blessing for the well-being of those over whom we rule and so God will work in your life and in my
life and he'll get rid of that motivation deep within our hearts that says I want to be somebody
I want power I want glory I want recognition as long as we want glory power recognition we're not
ready for glory power or recognition and so many times the Lord will take you and me through the
valley of humiliation we need to learn to take up our cross and to follow Jesus feel what it's
like to be in the wrong end of power incorrectly use that'll bring out all the rebellion and all
the pride that lies deep within our hearts that that cry that says I don't want it to go that way
out of that will come an understanding that in God's kingdom power position and prestige
is not something that you clasp into your own hands or you try to hold onto it for yourself
it is a gift that God gives freely to his children because God gives it freely to his children
I can let go of every desire for ambition every desire for position every desire for recognition
knowing that God who is my father will lead me into that which he has for me and what he has for me
nobody can ever take away from me that's why Jesus you see when through the humiliation of the
cross that's why Philippians 2 says concerning the Lord Jesus Christ though he was in the form of God
he did not count equality with God a thing to be taken by force but he let it all go and he humbled
himself even unto death therefore God has given him the name that is above every name that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow wonder if we understand this warning the radicality of the
kingdom of God the radical transformations the Lord Jesus wants to produce in your life
and in my life to make us ready for that position of glory we need to learn to start thinking
as God thinks and one of the purposes of the disciplines of life is to make us ready for that day
that's why Paul here goes on that in that next verse to say I consider the sufferings of this
present time not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us these children that
were baptized this morning by the time they've gone to school for a little while the funnel
have worn off real fast by the time they've been disciplined a few times by their parents and by
the time they've gone through some of the difficulties of life that undoubtedly they like all of us
will encounter they're going to say to themselves I don't like this very much they'll do everything
they can to get away from the forces that are being imposed upon them in some cases to try to
shape their lives and to prepare them for responsible adulthood but by the time they grow up
and they grow up to be men and women of significance in God's kingdom
boys and girls who can exercise responsibility they look back over all the years and the
strictness that they have encountered in some of these experiences and they say to themselves
wow it's been a good thing that I went through the kinds of things that I went through because I
wouldn't be today who I am where I'm not for that training that's how it's going to be in the day
of glory and Paul's admonition for each one of us is that when things are tough
when sometimes we wonder how come God doesn't take away our pain our heartache or our brokenness
he's getting us ready for the day of glory and rather than complaining and lamenting and saying
God's not fair life's not fair people are in fear we need to learn to embrace that cross
we need to learn to know that because God is my father and He loves me He's not going to allow me
to suffer needlessly but He will take that suffering He will turn it into good and one day I'm going
to look back on this and say wow this has been the best thing that ever happened to me
because it's made me ready for God's glory and then when we've been there 10,000 years
bright shining as the sun we've no less days to sing God's praise
than when we first begun let's pray together
father your word talks about the depth of the wisdom and the unsearchable riches of our God
and how much we acknowledge Lord that even as our own children oftentimes don't understand
why we treat them in the way that we do
sometimes even wondering if we really love them because our actions cause them pain
so very often we don't understand who you are and why you do what you do
because Lord we're so immature and so far removed from your wisdom
thank you for for the wisdom of your word for the revelation of your spirit
and Lord it's our prayer this morning that regardless of our situation and life
that we can just trust you learn obedience and learn a servant heart
that we can embrace our cross and know that nothing but nothing can separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus our Lord help us Lord to know you and to know you fully
we ask it together in Jesus name Amen