Is it worth being a Christian?

Ted Turner, a cable television mogul in the United States, was given an award by the American Humanist Association for promoting world peace and for work on the environment. In his acceptance speech at a banquet, he said that he had been brought up in a strong Christian family and at one time had considered becoming a missionary. To laughter from the audience he said, “I was saved seven or eight times.” Then his sister died in spite of his prayers for her recovery and as a result he became disenchanted with Christianity. He then added that the more he strayed from the faith, the better he felt.

In the early church, as today, there were many who were tempted to give up living the Christian faith, saying to themselves,

“Is it worth it?”

Some might not have given up calling themselves Christians, but they have given up the struggle of living as Jesus wants. They have slipped up, fallen into a muddy puddle, and stay sitting.

Romans chapter 7 talks about Christians who are struggling with sin in their lives and are tempted to give up. Don’t all of us know the tensions that Paul talks about?

“I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am!” Romans 7:23

Paul clearly knew first hand of the temptation to sit in that muddy puddle feeling like a failure. However Romans chapter 8 is a great chapter on assurance and it begins,

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus . . .” Romans 8:1

Paul’s great lesson is that we have been set free and forgiven, so we should not sit there in the puddle. A sin offering has already been made. The ransom price has been paid. Jesus has dealt with every one of our failures that have happened both before we became Christians and afterwards.

Paul defines a Christian as a person who has God’s Spirit in them. If we belong to Christ then we are forgiven, new people.

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:14

That is how I know I am a Christian; there is evidence that the spirit of Jesus is now part of my life. This evidence includes:

I love Jesus.

I want to live to please Jesus by obeying him.

I love his word, the Bible and want to understand it more.

I love his people in the church.

I love to share the news about Jesus with others.

I love to pray.

I am looking forwards to being with the Lord in heaven.

I will fail him frequently, but deep down I do love the Lord Jesus for what he has done for me and I do want to please him. At times to live this way will be tough, we may be ridiculed, ostracised, lose friends and even jobs because of our commitment to Christ. Yet even such treatment, if it is for Christ, is evidence that we are going to “share in his glory” (Romans 8:17)

There are two major problems that Paul highlights. He then answers these with two magnificent solutions.

1. This Life is not Easy Romans 8:18-25

Here Paul focuses on the difficulties that Christians face. There are some people who give the impression that once we are in Christ everything will be plain sailing. Yet the Christian life is never easy. This is certainly not what Jesus and his apostles taught.

In the Christian magazine, ‘The Briefing’, Grant Retief, a minister working in South Africa, talked about problems they faced in that country. He said,

“I think the biggest problem that we have is the ‘Prosperity Gospel’. Guys like Benny Hinn and Joel Orsteen are main line Christianity here in South Africa. We have satellite TV that beams in Trinity Broadcasting Network from the United States which is all prosperity. Prosperity gospel has ravaged the church. It is a false gospel and it really has developed an almost parallel Christianity in South Africa.”

This new teaching offers people an easy path to holiness, healing and wealth - heaven on earth. However this is a false promise which can only lead to disillusionment.

My wife and I were talking with a student who was later to become President of his University Christian Union. He told us,

“In my church the dead are raised, the lame walk and the blind see.”

I asked him if he had personally witnessed these things. He was honest enough to say that he had not, but he then assured us that his church leaders had told them that this was happening!

There certainly is a real empowering from God and he is able to do miracles when he wants to, as he did through Jesus and his apostles, but there are no short cuts to becoming like Jesus – sanctification requires hard work. Paul writes,

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18

As a Christian you will get frustrated.

“. . . subjected to frustration . . .” Romans 8:20

There will inevitably be illness and physical decay both in us and our families. Death will occur.

“. . . its bondage to decay . . . “ Romans 8:21

There will be tooth decay, arthritis, cataracts, blocked arteries, varicose veins, piles, cancer and so on. To deny this is to add an even more serious problem, ‘truth decay’.

The entire world is crumbling around us.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning . . .” Romans 8:22

Paul then again emphasises that we Christians will certainly not be immune from such problems.

“. . . but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:23

There are undoubtedly some wonderful individual examples of what life should be like, but as a whole, we and all creation around us continue to groan.

I was invited by a friend to go to the Royal Albert Hall to listen to a ‘Prom’. The orchestra entered and settled down. Then they started. It was awful – just discordant noise with no rhythm and no tune. Instead of harmony it was cacophony. When I looked at my friend in disgust , he whispered that they we just tuning up their instruments. When the conductor came on and took control, then music flowed. In many ways we are in the discordant prelude that occurs before the conductor finally arrives.

So you can imagine a young Christian coming to Paul in his rented house and saying to him,

“I am finding that living the Christian life is tough. I had the impression it would be plain sailing with the Spirit in control. However, I am suffering more now than before I became a Christian.”

Paul would surely reply,

“In the Christian life we must learn to distinguish the ‘Here and Now’ from the ‘There and Then’.”

‘Here and Now’ there is frustration, decay and groaning, but if we hang in there with Jesus there will be a ‘There and Then’ – a glorious future. We will share his glory. Look at the verses that address this truth,

8:17 We share in his sufferings now that we may share in Jesus’ glory then

8:18 The present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.

8:20 in hope (now) we wait for the liberation (then)

Paul is saying that we have so much to look forward to. In glory we won’t be floating around on clouds, plucking harps, wearing thin negligees. God’s glorious life will be real living. It will be much more real than life now. So I look forwards to playing tennis or something even better in the new world. Think of what you enjoy now and multiply that joy a thousand times. Eternity will be so wonderful that it will take our breath away.

However, this is in the future. We will see something of this joy, such as in our friendships and the appreciation of beauty, now but this will only be a dim reflection of the real thing.

It is easy to see how cynicism can set in when people do not know the person who has made these promises. Jesus has promised that he will take his people to glory with him. He has gone to prepare a place for us.

An American wrote,

“We used to trust the Generals, but Vietnam changed all that.

We used to trust the politicians, but Watergate changed all that,

We used to trust the scientists, but Three Mile Island changed all that,

We used to trust the economists, but then there was the recession,

Now there is no-one to trust.”

How wrong this is. There is one person we can trust – the Lord Jesus Christ.

So if someone we know is drifting because of the pressures of life, careers, money issues or relationships, do encourage them to concentrate on Jesus. The biggest question in life is,

“Can Jesus be trusted”?

This leads us to the second issue that Paul deals with,

2. Prayer is not easy

Imagine the young Christian entering Paul’s study again. He has more doubts.

“You tell me that as a Christian I have direct access to my heavenly father and I can even call him ‘Dad’ or ‘Abba’. But this has not come as naturally to me as others seem to experience. I wonder if I am really a Christian as I find prayer so hard. If I am honest, I don’t enjoy prayer meetings. In fact I try to find excuses to stay away! I am not in a prayer triplet, and in my own quiet time the prayer bit gets skimped over. Even when I do pray my thoughts wander all over the place. I really am hopeless.”

I can imagine Paul smiling as he holds out his hand. “Join the club,” he would say.

John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s progress, who spent twelve years in Bedford prison because of his faith, had the same problem with prayer.

“I find that my heart is slow to go to God, and when it does go to him, it doesn’t want to stay with him; so that very often I am forced, in my prayer, first to beg of God that he would take my heart and set it on himself and then, when it is there, that he would keep it there.”

To such people Paul would say,

“May I remind you of the ministry of the Holy Spirit?”

This is a common problem. There are many people who not sure what to pray for and are simply not good at praying. Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit will help deliver our concerns to the Father. He does not however take over and make prayer easy for us. Paul writes,

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us . . .” Romans 8:26

The Greek word for ‘help’ used here is interesting. If you were having trouble moving some furniture, then this is the word you would use when asking for help. The helper would not take over completely so that you can have a rest. No, he helps by taking the other end from you. So, when you pray, the Holy Spirit helps at the other end.

I had a close friend who was terminally ill with motor neurone disease. What should I be praying for him? Should I keep praying for healing, for patience or even for death? He was a Christian and would love to be with his Lord as he was finding being completely dependent on others very difficult. Yet the way he was coping with his problems was a remarkable witness to all who knew him. The lesson here is that we don’t need to worry about what to pray. The Lord ‘knows our hearts’ and we can be sure that he will do what is best.

“He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:27

What a comfort it is to know that the Spirit with interpret our halting prayers for his ends.

Monica was the Christian mother of Augustine who, in his youth, was a real rebel. He was known as a womaniser and was in with an ungodly group of friends. Augustine thought he would like to go to Rome. Naturally Monica was very concerned as, even then, Rome was a very decadent, corrupt city and she feared for him in that environment. She prayed that God would not permit her son to go to Rome. However the Lord did allow Augustine to go there - but he had his reasons. It was in Rome that Augustine was relaxing in a garden when he heard some children playing next door and they were saying ‘Take up and read, take up and read.’ There was a copy of the book of Romans lying there so he did pick it up and what he read convicted him and he submitted to God’s rule in his life. God knew that this was what Monica really wanted.

This is the greatest joy and security anyone can have – the omnipotent Lord is in charge.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,” Romans 8:28

There can be no question that everything works out for good. ‘In all things’ must include the hardships and groaning that Christians, like everybody else, go through.

Paul, having discussed in detail these two major problems, now comes up with two magnificent solutions.

3. God is in control

This is one of the great teachings in the Bible – nothing happens without God’s consent. The question then arises, ‘What about my freewill?’ The Bible clearly teaches both doctrines together. We find it difficult to resolve this conflict but this does not mean that it should be rejected. In quantum physics the same logical irreconcilables (i.e. antinomies) exist yet scientists are happy to live with them as a harmonious tension!

The Bible itself gives a very good example of this paradox. In the very early days of the church, Peter and John were released after their arrest by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. They then met up with the local Christians and this was their prayer,

“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus . . . They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” Acts 4:27-28

God is in control of circumstances even though people think they are! Even more, this passage in Romans teaches us that all events are controlled for our good. At first sight this seems strange. Clearly not all things that happen are good; cancer, unemployment, divorce and the like are awful. God is saying here that all circumstances can bring good to us.

The death of Jesus was a horrendous, unjust crime. Little could be more despicable or unfair. They crucified the Son of God – but think of the good that God has brought through this.

So what is the good that Paul refers to? There are two.

a. ‘To be conformed to the image of his son.’ Romans 8:29

God sees this as the very best thing that can happen to anyone – to become like the Lord Jesus. This maturing of our character can only come through facing problems. Hardship trains us whereas easy living doesn’t. Difficulties will either blow us towards God or away from him.

One ship sails east, one ship sails west,

It is the self-same wind that blows.

It is the set of the sails and not the gales

That determines which way it goes.

b. ‘. . . that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers.’ Romans 8:29

The second ‘good’ is the spread of the gospel. The Lord wants many people to enter His kingdom. It is astonishing how the church has grown in spite of opposition. Many authorities hate the concept of dual nationality, where people are both subjects of the King of Kings as well as of their national authorities. If a nation is not committed to following the Lord of Lords, then inevitably conflicts will occur. Worldly religions and empires spread by force. The church grows by example. Islam grew by bloody conquest, Christianity grew by martyrdom.

In 1951, following the communist revolution, all missionaries were expelled from China. The Red Guard took over and made life very difficult for Christians. Prospects looked bleak for the church which was vigorously persecuted. However the hardships worked for the advantage of the gospel. Everyone was compelled to speak Mandarin instead of the many local dialects. The state broke the power of China’s numerous social and religious traditions such as Confucianism, so leaving a spiritual vacuum. Active Christians were shipped away from their home regions to new areas and prison camps where they could not be stopped from spreading the gospel to those who had never heard it before. When China re-established an open dialogue with the West it was found that there were not just 5 million Christians but 50 million. Now there are over 100 million christians in China. They are beginning to send out missionaries to other countries.

It is important to note that these benefits are only good ‘for those who love Him’. Such love for the Lord will only come when we understand how much God loves us individually. To those who are uncertain of their love for God, try this as a treatment. Put it the other way round. Every hour remember Jesus and all he has done for you, remember his care for those with problems, remember his teaching and his death on the cross. By the end of the week, all but the hardest people will be saying, “I love you Lord.”

This section in Romans is striking as it reminds us that even our coming to put our trust in the Lord Jesus is the Lord’s initiative.

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” Romans 8:29

That is why we have been chosen to be Christians – to think and behave like Jesus. God not only chose us, he also gives us everything else we need.

“And those he predestined, he also called; those he called he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:30

What can be better than this? He predestined us before the beginning of time to belong to him. He called us and we heard his voice saying ‘Follow me.’ He justified us and forgave all our sins. Then comes the strange phrase, ‘he glorified us’. Surely this is what happens when we die and join him in his heavenly kingdom so why is it in the past tense? Paul is emphasising that when God has promised something it is so certain to happen that it is as good as if it has happened.

The rest of this chapter reflects the glorious confidence that everyone who has put their trust in Jesus should have, whatever their problems and weaknesses.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” Romans 8:31-33

Who could ever be more secure than this?

4. God loves us

When a new grand-child is born, what does he or she need most of all to develop into a well adjusted adult? Surely it is to know that they are loved. This is just what God also wants his people to know. We really are loved and have been chosen for a purpose. The argument of verse 32 is that if God sent his Son to die for us, won’t he also give us everything else that we need? Your feelings may let you down. You may feel alone and afraid but there are stronger forces at work.

In 2 Kings 6 we are told the story of Elisha who was being hunted by the king of Aram. When Elisha was staying in the city of Dothan, the king sent a strong force to surround the city. Elisha’s servant was terrified but Elisha was able to reassure him,

“Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Elisha then prayed that his servant would see the bigger picture,

“ . . . and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

When Elisha’s enemy approached, Elisha again prayed and God blinded them. Elisha was then able to lead the soldiers into captivity in Samaria.

What a great lesson to learn. Our Lord lives, he is in control and he loves us.

Think again of the timid Christian entering Paul’s study. He is worried about all the possible problems he might face. Paul’s response is clear,

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Romans 8:35

Paul reassures his visitor. We win because the Lord Jesus loved us. Do note that the past tense is repeatedly used to remind us of the basis for our security now, whatever the problems facing us.

“He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all . .” 8:32

“Jesus Christ who died . .” 8:36

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Our confidence is not a wistful hope. It is based on the historical fact that Jesus entered this world and died.

There was a great Scottish minister in the seventeenth century called Robert Bruce. Just before he died he went down to have breakfast with his family even though he was feeling very weak. He sat there in silence. Suddenly he turned to his daughter sitting beside him and said,

“Hold, daughter, hold. My master calls me.”

He asked for his Bible but as his eyesight had failed him he said to his daughter,

“Cast me up on the eighth chapter of Romans.”

He repeated the words his daughter read to him,

“I am sure . . . that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Then he said,

“God be with you my children. I breakfasted with you and shall sup with my Lord Jesus this night.”

Then, putting his hand on the page of Romans chapter eight he concluded,

“I die believing these words.”

BVP

January 2010