Romans 5:1-5

William F. Schnell

June 7, 2009

   The first of the “Four Noble Truths” which Buddha taught was “Life is suffering.”  Life involves suffering for everyone.  The popular kid at school with the good looks, the athletic ability, the grades—the whole package—that kid sufferers just like everybody else.  You would be surprised what some kids are suffering.  If you knew, you would count your blessings to have the problems you do and not theirs.  Everybody suffers to some extent all the time.

   Suffering expresses itself differently through the ages and stages of life.  Young people have very little responsibility to load them down, but they do not have any money to pay for the things and experiences they crave.  When they grow older they finally get some money, but they have no freedom to enjoy it because of the demands of work and family and various social obligations.  When they get older still they may have both money and freedom, but they do not have health.  Suffering is a part of life all the time.

    One has to wonder about the Creator of the Grand Scheme of Things for making suffering such a widespread component.  What was he thinking?  Couldn’t he have built a better mousetrap—a better creation without suffering?  Imagine how such a creation would look.  I have a picture of such a creation if that would help (show blank page).  This is a picture of life devoid of its dark moments.  It is a picture of nothingness.  Life is interplay between dark and light sort of like this picture of a black cat and a white cat entitled “Tragedy and Comedy.”  Without pain we would not know what pleasure is, and vice versa.

   So the Creator, by necessity, had to include suffering in his creation.  But we are going to find out that he included it in a redeeming way—a way that would bring the best out of his creation.  The title of our brief message for this morning is, “Finding Joy in Suffering.”  Normally we do not associate joy with suffering.  Typically we associate sadness or anguish with suffering, which is why we avoid it at all costs if we can.  But we have already seen that we can’t, which is why this approach is a lost cause.

   However if there was a way to find joy even in suffering, then nothing would remain to take away our joy in living.  How can we find joy in suffering?  Paul addresses that question in our text for this morning where he writes, we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Verses 3-5). 

   We can rejoice in our sufferings if we know that those sufferings are achieving something for us—something that so far surpasses our suffering that it is not worth comparing the two.  Let me paint a mental image of extreme suffering for you.  Imagine people groaning under a burden so heavy that sweat literally pours from them as they labor for each breath.  That is exactly what you will find at Aurora’s new Snap Fitness Center—people groaning, sweating and panting to lift weight, work out on stair climbers and jog on treadmills.  And they actually pay to do it.  Why?

   Because such strenuous physical exercise achieves something for them.  When they fit into their clothes, look buff like me and feel great it makes the effort worthwhile.  I think you would agree with me that taking exams at school is a real drag.  You have to suffer through lectures, taking notes and cramming at the last minute.  You have to suffer the expectations of teachers, parents and society.  You have to suffer being compared with your peers.   Making the grade at school involves a lot of suffering.

   But guess what?  You can read that bulletin you’ve been given.  You can read the words in your hymnals.  Imagine the illiterate person who cannot read—cannot read a street sign or map, who cannot read a job application, who cannot read a computer screen.  Imagine the humiliation that person experiences when observing some six year old reading a book.  Imagine trying to function in this world while hiding this humiliating secret from everyone else.  Talk about suffering! 

   Now imagine that deep dark secret being exposed as you walk into a literacy service because, as the majority of those who do, you want to learn how to read the Bible for yourself.  You want the privilege of learning as our confirmands have learned because it is bad enough being illiterate without being biblically illiterate.  That is why grammatically simple texts of scripture have been compiled into booklets so that new adult readers can experience the joy of reading the Bible as soon as possible.  That joy is a great motivator which makes the suffering of learning a small price to pay for the surpassing victory it achieves.

   When graduates walk across the stage to get their diplomas, they are not bemoaning the exams they have suffered over the years.  They are rejoicing in what the effort has achieved for them—a diploma that opens other doors of opportunities.  When a football team wins the state championship, players are not bemoaning the strength training suffered during the off season.  They are rejoicing in the glory of victory—a surpassing achievement that is beyond compare.

   Once we associate suffering with achievement, we can begin finding joy in suffering.  We can hit the weight machine with great anticipation of what it is achieving for us.  We can hit the books with great expectations of making the grade and getting ahead in life.  We can hit life’s problems head on because that is what brings the very best out of us.  Indeed the only time life’s problems bring us down is when we seek to escape from them through drug or alcohol abuse, or through various forms of denial.  That is how small problems grow into ever bigger problems which rob us of hope for a better day.