“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5
First, Happy Father’s Day! As my family makes preparations to celebrate my Dad’s 90th birthday in July, I’m grateful that he is still with us and that he is very much in possession of his ornery playfulness and his abiding faith in the Lord. Dad taught me that being a minister is about being a servant of God, that the best sermons are not just spoken but lived, that listening well is a powerful blessing to others, and that persevering through hardships is a significant part of ministry. Thank you, Dad!
Second, as we wrap up our sermon series on finding deep and abiding joy, I’m mindful of Paul’s words in Romans 5 (see above), which outline what sounds like an unlikely itinerary on our faith journey. Paul describes a process in which we move from experiencing afflictions, to growing in endurance, to developing character, which leads to durable hope based on God’s love poured into our hearts.
How can affliction lead to hope? That doesn’t sound like Seven Easy Steps to Success! But it does tie in with a vital distinction we’ve been making between happiness and joy throughout this sermon series. If we’re pursuing happiness, affliction is the last thing we want. Happiness evaporates in the face of affliction, distress, or trouble. But since we’re living in the reality of being justified by faith in Christ, our peace and confidence are with God and are far more durable. Walter Wangerin Jr. describes it as follows:
“Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can’t stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope—and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must…) disappoint us.”
Paul’s understanding of how affliction leads to character, and ultimately hope, helps us appreciate how the practice of Christian love works. Love is not some life hack for getting what we want. In fact, real love can often impose more demands upon us. But the beauty of love is that it calls us to rise above mere self-interest so that we may care for and even sacrifice on behalf of others. In so doing, we follow in the way Jesus, loving as Jesus loved, and discovering the deepest source of true joy.
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