Persevere In Your Service Unto God

James 1: 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We are all called to a great work for God. We were not plucked out of the darkness the world walks in to sit in a pew and wait until Jesus comes. Why? Because there are other people still walking in that same darkness and it is not the will of God that any should perish (2Peter 3: 9). Sometimes we can overlook this in our walk and service to God. It is not about us. We are already saved. It is about the remaining humanity facing eternal separation from God and the role God has called us to in His kingdom. God has provided us with gifts to accomplish that which He has called us to do. We can run from the calling like Jonah or become discouraged but remember:

for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Romans 11: 29

Discouragement is often an enemy we must face in our service to God. Remember, Satan has already lost the battle for your soul so now his goal is to make you ineffectual for the service God has called you to. By doing so, he prevents more from coming to the foot of the cross. The attacks we come under can be from multiple sources. From the world certainly but more often than not, we can be attacked from within the church itself. Remember, not everyone who says "Lord Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven. As Paul was saying farewell to the leaders at Ephesus he had these warnings for them:

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Acts 20: 29-31

Even from within our own number. Still we must stand under the expected attacks. We must persevere. Our key verses today actually stress that we should consider it "pure joy" when we face the expected trials because such testing of our faith results in perseverance. The dictionary defines perseverance as:

Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

We have a course of action we have been called to by Almighty God Himself. We have a purpose and despite the difficulties, obstacles and discouragement the enemy sends our way, we still must stand up under it. We must persist. 1Peter teaches us:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 1Peter 1: 5-9

Perseverance is added to self control because discouragement is a choice. The world will always try to sell us on the victim mentality, that we have no control over how we feel. The truth is that no one can make you feel anyway that you do not allow them. Discouragement is not a reactionary feeling. It is a long term feeling. It is something that is chosen. Joseph spent 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit after he had been sold into slavery by his brothers. I am sure he had to deal with discouragement during the testing of his faith. But God had given Joseph a vision and he held onto it. He chose to not be discouraged. Note also from these verses from 1Peter that if we possess these qualities in increasing measure that they will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive which is the scheme of the enemy! You cannot be discouraged when you have an increasing faith and goodness. The enemy cannot get a foothold in your thinking if you have an increasing knowledge, self control and perseverance. He has no weapon to overcome an increasing brotherly kindness and love.

And how do we cultivate these qualities in our lives as we face the attacks designed to discourage us? Hebrews has the answer:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12: 1-3

There is a race marked out for us. Yours is different from mine. God has a race for all of us to run but we must run it with the perseverance we have been discussing today. The secret revealed here is to keep our eyes on Jesus. Sounds simple enough but when those attacks come against us we can easily find our eyes on our own situations instead of the author and perfecter of our faith. Look, it is hard. The Bible would not use words like perseverance if it were easy. We can work very hard and diligently in our ministry only to be betrayed or accused, or be unappreciated. These things grate against us as human beings. They are unfair. But these verses from Hebrews remind us what our Lord had to endure. The shame of the cross and opposition from sinful men. No matter how unfair we might feel we are being treated, it pales in comparison to what Christ had to suffer and according to these verses He suffered it so we would not grow weary or lose heart. God KNEW you would be going through these times of testing. He knew that the human leaning would be to become discouraged and He is saying today to remember the cross. Remember what Jesus endured so that our endurance could be easier.

The remainder of the key verse reminds us that perseverance is in the process of finishing a work in us. It is maturing us. It is completing us. God's plan was to use Joseph to deliver the nation of Israel and Egypt from a great famine but He could not use him as he was when he was first sold into slavery by his brothers. He was still the spoiled child then. He couldn't even use Him when he had prospered in Potiphar's house. No, Joseph's completion was to be earned in the dungeon. It was to be perfected in chains. The same can be said for us today. It is easy to persevere under easy circumstances. When everyone loves us and praises us. When all is well. But there is a work that transcends us. It requires the maturity God needs to accomplish the race He has set out before us. When God first chose Ananias to assist with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, Ananias objected. Here was the answer from God:

But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Acts 9: 15-16

Saul would become the great Apostle Paul and would indeed suffer for the name of the Lord. Within the suffering, Paul was made complete. The tasks that God had for him to accomplish in this life were all met. The race was run:

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store 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 longed for his appearing. 2Timothy 4: 6-8

As he was nearing the end, Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy and within his instructions, we find instructions for us as well:

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1Timothy 4: 14-16

Discouragement often leads people to leave their ministry. To step back from that which they have been called to. But we must not neglect the gift God has given us. We must be diligent in the matters God has entrusted to us. We must give ourselves wholly to them. In order to save both ourselves and those who would listen to us, we must persevere in two areas our lives and our doctrine.

Persevering on our lives has to do with our outer witness to the world. People should be able to see Christ in us. Too often we can allow ourselves to become polluted by the world in how we live our lives. We can talk the talk but not walk the walk. We must be transparent. Remember to the world, the things of God are foolishness (1Corinthians 2: 14), so your words will mean little to them. The Bible will mean little to them. Your actions however that will mean everything to them. They are looking for a reason to believe or a reason to not believe. We may be the only chance they have to see Christ.

Perseverance in doctrine means that we do not waver or compromise in what we believe, as Paul explained to the Church at Corinth:

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1Corinthians 2: 1-2

Oh, that we would return to Christ and Christ crucified! In latter day western Christianity we have seen a contamination of the Gospel. Everything from sugar coated gospels to barbed wire gospels without room for the grace of God. No love in the Christ preached. We have seen gem stones and gold dust. The usurpation of the office of Apostle for self-promotion and the notion of prosperity being equated with greed. The Gospel message of Jesus Christ must remain undefiled and unchanged. We must persevere in our doctrine. We must remain confident in the calling we have regardless of the trial we are under:

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Hebrews 10: 35-39

His righteous will live by faith and will not shrink back from the trial. In our doctrine and our lives we must persevere to carry out the call God has placed on our lives. Heaven awaits with the crown of life we will have earned:

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1: 12

Be encouraged today where this writing finds you. Wherever you may be and whatever trial you may be going through it did not surprise God. You are exactly where God wanted you to be today. Being tested; perseverance finishing its work in you to make you complete for the irrevocable call God has placed on your life. Amen.

Reverend Anthony Wade June 04, 2010