Perseverance (4): The Results of Perseverance

The Results of Perseverance: Satisfaction in God’s Sovereignty


Perseverance is true submission to God’s sovereignty.  True submission to God’s sovereignty brings true shalom.  A word not often used outside of its Jewish context and culture, shalom is a word I am coming to understand more of…a word I am coming to pray for.  It stands for a concept I am wanting now more than anything else in this life.  More than a great income and wealth…more than a nicer and bigger house…more than solid and clear direction for the future…more than a bigger church family…more than a “successful” business…more than peace and quiet in my neighborhood…more than anything.


Shalom means peace, completeness, wholeness and a deep, abiding sense of well-being.  It is about more than just a state of mind or being, or a good state of affairs.  It is a deep, inner, abiding sense of calm and peace in spite of outward circumstances, because of the deep-rooted settling in the sovereignty of God.  Shalom encapsulates a reality of unimaginable peace, where enemies are reconciled, injustices are made right, hurts are healed, fears are calmed, and communities are prospering in righteousness.  It is the whole creation in harmony, peace with God, peace with each other, peace among the nations, peace with the planet.


To be sure, much if not most of this shalom will not and cannot occur in this broken world as long as broken people are living in it.  So the gospel of God’s grace goes out to the nations to heal and save broken people, who then heal and rescue a broken world, along with its cultures, art forms, music, governments, economies, etc.  This is what the prophets of the OT looked forward to.  And it has been initiated in the first coming of the person of Jesus Christ, is now carried out in the people called the church of Jesus Christ, and will be consummated one day by the second coming of Jesus.


Until then, the Bible gives us a picture of saints enjoying inner shalom, despite the outward chaos of non-shalom around the world.  That is a state of living which attracts people to Jesus Christ.  Most people live in drama and chaos, and peace is attractive.  Being introduced to it through the good news, and then being sanctified in it through perseverance in the good news, eventually leads to a harvest of peace, the fruit of shalom.


Repeated choices to submit to God’s sovereignty instead of to our own feelings of discouragement, depression, disparagement, discontentedness, and disrespectfulness is perseverance.  And perseverance grows the fruit of inner shalom we can call satisfaction.  It is an ever-deepening sense that all is well, that all will be well despite whatever is not well right now.  It is not turning a blind eye to injustice, unrighteousness, evil, wickedness, conflict, greed, and mankind’s ongoing lust for power and sex.  Inner shalom and satisfaction and peace do not ignore any of this.  Rather, they are the Spirit’s work of stabilization and security in God’s promises.  The saint deepens in his inner sense of satisfaction in being a part, however great or small, in God’s sovereign plan.  


Paul had this shalom, this deep, abiding, lasting sense of satisfaction.  We see it in his letter to the Philippians, to whom he was writing while he was sitting in Roman prison.  In chapter one, Paul demonstrates breath-taking shalom.  Here he is in prison and he’s joyful about the Philippians!  He’s praying for them, thinking of them, rejoicing over them (1:3-4).  He’s confident that no matter what condition he’s in that God will complete the work He’s started in them (v. 5).  He has a longing to be with them, the kind that is filled with tender compassion (v. 8).


Then his inner shalom comes out in his view of his own deplorable circumstances.  Unjustly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, just like his Master, he has an all-consuming joy about those very circumstances.  He has chosen to submit to God’s sovereignty in all of it realizing that, “everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News” (v. 12).  On the one hand, every lost person around him knows that Paul is in prison for Jesus Christ, so that the imprisonment is actually an evangelistic tool (v. 13).  On the other hand, believers everywhere are being strengthened in confidence as they “boldly speak God’s message without fear” (v. 14).


While he was in prison however, there were some pretty arrogant fellows taking advantage of Paul’s absence in the Philippian church.  Pointing more to themselves than to God, Paul didn’t get worked up about that!  


“It is true that some are preaching out of jealously and rivalry…Those others do not have pure motives about preaching Christ.  They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to my make my chains more painful to me.  But that doesn’t matter…the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.  And I will continue to rejoice” (vv. 15-18).


And as far as his own life goes, it hung in the balance.  Yet this too was just another opportunity to see this deep, abiding, lasting sense of inner peace, joy and shalom…a satisfying sense that God was in control of everything that everything was going to be okay, simply because God has promised the resurrection life of His Son, Jesus, to Paul…and to us.  


“And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.  For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.  But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ.  So really I don’t know which one is better.  I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.  But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live” (vv. 21-24).


This was a life that he wasn’t just living as an example to them from afar off.  You’ll recall that imprisonment was the very manner in which the gospel was introduced to the city of Philippi in the beginning! Luke tells the story in Acts 16.  In Paul’s second missionary journey he and Silas are preaching the gospel in Phillipi and are arrested and imprisoned for causing a riot after casting a demon out of a slave girl and crushing the dreams of wealth her master had.  


“A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods.  They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison.  The jailor was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape.  So the jailor put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in stocks.  Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening” (vv. 22-25).


So here these two guys are, severely beaten, bleeding, oozing sores and running wounds.  They may have had a concussion.  But they were singing.  They weren’t preaching to other prisoners.  They were worshiping.  Why?  Because deep within their souls was a powerful, abiding, unrelenting sense of peace and shalom.  If they died, then God would have used them as far as He desired, and He would continue the mission with someone else.  If they didn’t die, then they would go on to live and die another day.  This example he and Silas had set for them was rooted in a persevering submission to God’s sovereignty.  That’s why he closed his letter to them by writing these encouragements.  


“Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again, rejoice!  Let everyone see that you are considerate in all that you do.  Remember the Lord is coming soon.  Don’t worry about anything: instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  


“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me…Then the God of peace will be with you” (4:4-9).


True shalom brings true joy. 

About the Author: Rob is a entrepreneur in Statesboro, GA, where he envisions and pursues missional-shaped business for the kingdom. He and his wife Sherri have been married for 18 years and together have three sons and a daughter. Rob believes the mission of the gospel is summed up in four simple phrases: know God, obey Jesus, make disciples, and plant churches. This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.

Read more...

Perseverance (3): The Response of Perseverance

The Response of Perseverance: Submission to God’s Sovereignty

True success in following Jesus means signing up for and running the marathon of life of following Jesus.  You  know you’re one of hundreds, if not thousands, in the day’s race.  I will probably not “win” the race, or even place in the top ten, top fifty, or top hundred.  

I often envision men like the twelve disciples, Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Justin Martyr, the early church martyrs, Augustine, John Wycliffe, John Huss, Martin Luther, John Knox, Henry Martyn, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Charles Spurgeon coming in “first”; mostly guys who either burned themselves out for the kingdom, or were martyred while pursuing it.

But I’m in the race, for heaven’s sake!  I signed up!  I’m running it with all those other guys.  I had the guts, like they did, to put pen to paper, sign the commitment form, enter the race, and show up at the starting line!  I ran as fast as I could when the gunshot was fired.  I have the perseverance to continue to run through the cramps.  

I’m in the same “Hall of Faith” as the many saints listed in Hebrews 11.  I am “surrounded by such a huge cloud of witnesses to the life faith,” and am making efforts to “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that easily trips us up.”  I am trying to “run with endurance the race God has set before us.”  I am doing this “by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.  Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”  I must “think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people,” and then I “won’t become weary and give up” (Heb. 12:1-3).

And when I’m winded and need to sit down on the curb, I have the perseverance to get back up and continue running.  When I get so tired that I trip on the curb or over a manhole cover, I wipe the blood from my scraped hands and broken nose and keep on running.  When I happen to look away to pay attention to the restaurants along the way or the pretty lady waving on the sidewalk so that I run into another runner, making us both trip and fall, I shake my head in frustration with myself, help him up, get myself back up, and get back to running.  

Perseverance.  It’s what following Jesus is all about.  Perseverance means not feeling like I have to have all the answers.  It even means not feeling like I must look for all the answers.  It is driven by the clutches of God’s sovereignty in my life, which carry me like the wings of an eagle (Isa. 40:26-31); clutches which dig deeper than the clutches of culture, which seek to drag and weigh me down with tempting, seductive, false promises of success, wealth, perfection, answers, and a sense arrival.

The only proper response to God’s sovereignty in perseverance is submission, then.  It is submitting myself – my heart, mind, will, emotions, strength – to the promise that God wants to help, protect, remember, and bless me.  He is for me, and not against me.  He wants a “peaceful harvest” for me and wants to train me in this way, along this path (v. 11).  The right response is to submit to this truth and submit to God’s sovereignty, no matter how strange it may seem.  The right response is to

“take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but will become strong” (vv. 12, 13).

Submitting once more, each time you fall down, each time you’re frustrated, each time you don’t have answers, each time you’re confused, each time you sin again…submitting to God each and every time is in and of itself perseverance!  Choosing to believe His promises over you feelings…that’s submission to the sovereignty of God.  This act, in and of itself, is perseverance.  It is the very substance, the nucleus, the “nitty-gritty”, the ABC’s, the fundamentals, boot camp training, and the meat and potatoes of perseverance.  Getting back up…every time…and following Jesus…afresh…renewed in and by the sovereign goodness of God…choosing to believe His intentions of grace toward you…no matter what everything else in life seems to say…no matter how “bad” it seems to get.  That is what perseverance looks like.

“Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise Him again – my Savior and my God” (Psa. 42:5, 11; 43:5).  

“Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you…” (42:6).  

“I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.  But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to the God who gives me life” (vv. 7, 8).  

Persevering means submission which is exercised by getting up again and strengthening myself in the Lord, in the midst of all the noise, chaos, discontentment, frustration, and confusion surrounding me (1 Sam. 30:6).  

The American Dream has lied to us.  It is not biblical.  It is just another generational way of saying that we can find peace and our purpose in life through another idol.  This generation it is the American Dream.  It’s also democracy and conservatism and technology and anti-terrorism.  A generation before it was anti-communism.  A generation before that, industrialization.  Before that, the idol was scholarship and academia.  And before that, commerce and railroads.  Before that, independence.  And before that, colonization.  Before that Puritanism, and before that Reformation, and before that Renaissance.  And on and on it goes.  Every generation has idols it worships, idols which lie to us and tell us everything will be alright if we just achieve such-and-such, or pour our resources into this or that.  

Culture constantly lies to us and tells us that the way we are living is not the best way to live.  Subtly, slowly, and surely each generation swallows the marketing, advertisement, and oration until we come to believe more and more that the stuff about life that stinks shouldn’t be there and that we can all change it if we do A, B, or C.  

But the Spirit stands there, silently, convicting, convincing, persuading, and telling us that this world is broken, people are broken, and there is much about life that does stink.  But He also proclaims to us the promise that Jesus is Lord of all, that the Father loves us so much that no matter how back life stinks, the stink cannot separate us from His love.  The Spirit proclaims the absolute sovereignty of God over His world, and reminds us that our good God exercises His right to graciously rule His world in order to bring the world to know His goodness, grace and mercy.  Jesus-followers know this, and they choose each day to submit to God’s sovereignty and His rule in His world.  Making that choice, every single day, in light of the culture’s lies, and in spite of them, is perseverance.  



  About the Author: Rob is an entrepreneur in Statesboro, GA, and pursues business in a missional way for the kingdom.  He and his wife Sherri have been married for 18 years and together have three sons and a daughter. Rob believes the mission of the gospel is summed up in four simple phrases: know God, obey Jesus, make disciples, and plant churches. This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.

Read more...