Archive for the 'Bible Studies for Life' Category
Faith is the Victory
Over the past few weeks, we have considered the role of resilient faith in the believer’s life. We can grow in faith as we follow Christ, and such faith endures suffering. Such faith also sees us through to ultimate victory in Christ.
John and Peter call us to faith
Consider two apostles, John and Peter. John writes, “This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.”1
Peter gave words of blessing to those who were already undergoing suffering, “Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.”2 Why does our faith overcome the world and end in victory? Because the God of all grace will “restore, establish, strengthen, and support” us until the end. Peter concludes in verse 11, “The dominion belongs to Him forever. Amen.” God can strengthen and restore us because all authority and power belong to Him for all of eternity. There simply is nothing Satan can throw at us that can destroy our faith if our faith is constant and rooted firmly in Christ.
As a pastor for over three decades, I have watched people go through all kinds of challenges in life. Nothing is more devastating than losing something they love. Whether others look at their loss as severe or just part of life, it is severe to them, calling them to faith greater than what is in themselves. While no one can control their future, they can respond with faith in the Word, the Lord, and His plan for their lives. This does not relieve their pain, but helps them through their pain.
Victory is through Christ
Faith was never designed for us to demonstrate how strong we are or show how much we could accomplish. Faith depends upon and displays God’s strength, giving us assurance that victory will be ours. This victory is not a victory we earn; it’s a victory we enter. It is Christ’s victory. This is why victory is assured if we trust Christ. It’s His victory already won. This is why Paul could write, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”3
Trusting in the Lord
The victory of Christ is why our victory is in faith rather than our works. We do not enter the victory of Christ by our works, but by faith. God is not moved by what we can do, but He does respond to our trust in Him. When we trust God, we are victorious and He is glorified.
Faith never gives up, never dies, and through Christ, never loses
This summer’s sessions of Bible Studies for Life have encouraged us toward a faith that never gives up, never dies, and through Christ, never loses. As Mary Jo Sharp reminds us, “A resilient faith is one that is grounded in the person and work of Christ. Faith in anything else will prove unreliable. Jesus provides us the example of how we stand resolutely with God regardless of what difficulties or opposition we face.”4 May we ever stand with faith, in the victory Christ has won!
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
General Editor, Bible Studies for Life
1– 1 John 5:2-4, HCSB
2– 1 Peter 5:10, HCSB
3– 1 Corinthians 15:17, HCSB
4– Bible Studies for Life, Resilient Faith, Mary Jo Sharp
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Joyful Faith
One of the strange paradoxes of the Christian faith is that we can know pure, authentic joy even in the midst of trials. Far from crushing our faith, we can know joy when we understand why God allows us to endure trials. Mary Jo Sharp, writing in the Summer 2014 sessions of Bible Studies for Life, said, “We respond to difficulties and suffering in a variety of ways. Some of us respond with anger, dogged determination to fight it, or passive resignation. Others respond with introspection or by asking, ‘Why me?’ But who responds with joy? Yet joy is the very attitude the Bible calls us to embrace.”
What does the Bible say?
As we look in Scripture, we find joy in various places related to our suffering: during suffering and/or after suffering.
The Apostle Peter wrote, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory” (1 Peter 4:12-13, HCSB). Peter reminds us that suffering is a part of our lives as followers of Christ, and we should rejoice that we are sharing in the life of Christ. He also, however, indicates joy that will be at the end of our journey, “at the revelation of His glory.”
Joy and Suffering
Joy after suffering is often forgotten, and we sometimes feel guilty if we have not been “happy enough” while in trials. Most believers are familiar with the passage in the gospels in which Jesus asks the Father to deliver Him from the cup of suffering. In the end, He surrendered wholly to His Father’s will, saying, “Not my will, but yours be done.”1 What we do not always see is the attitude aligned with His obedience: future joy.
Remember the significance of the cup and the cross? The cup represented the sin of the world and the cross was the place where Jesus would become sin for us. Jesus was obedient, but the scripture never says He was joyful about being made sin. It was the opposite. His joy, in fact, was on the other side of the cross. There is an oft-missed phrase in Hebrews giving us insight into the attitude of Jesus as He faced this redemption providing sacrifice: “[K]eeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.”2 (Emphasis added.)
Joy is Coming
Note carefully His attitude in each part of the journey. The joy was on the other side of a cross He endured and shame He despised. Jesus found no joy in the cross, but He knew joy was coming.
This is how the psalmist expressed it, “Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.”3 In times of trial, there are two opportunities for joy. One is during the trial itself. But, even when we do not find joy in the trial, we can live with the hope of joy after it.
As you walk through life this week please remember these two things:
- Look for joy in your trials this week.
- Live with hope for joy after it.
Going through trials is never easy. Yet, through the trials, God teaches us and builds in us the future hope of joy forever.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church General Editor, Bible Studies for Life1– Luke 22:42
2– Hebrews 12:2, HCSB
3– Psalm 30:5b, HCSB
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.