Coro Baptist Church

As we come to the last of our 'Finishing Touches' this week, my hope and prayer is that by putting before us just one of the many images of our future hope found in the Scriptures we might be encouraged and equipped to persevere in faith, even with joy, as we face times of trial and affliction in this life. More than that, I pray the Lord might produce in us the good fruit that comes through suffering in faith – the fruit of perseverance, character and hope. This hope, and the confidence we have in it, does not come because of our perseverance, or lack thereof. It is not up to us to make our hope sure. Praise be to God! This hope does not disappoint or put us to shame because of God's love which has been poured into our hearts though the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

James exhorts us to be patient and not cave in when life throws us a curve ball. He provides some vivid examples of what it means to be steadfast in the light of Christ's coming, no matter what we face. We may struggle with the shock and despair that suffering brings and wonder what on earth God is doing. As with Job, the reason behind our suffering may be hidden from us, but we need not doubt the Lord's purpose nor His compassion and mercy even in the darkest of times. This is not an encouragement to passive resignation. It is an invitation to exercise active faith – a faith that is not closed off to the powerful action of believing prayer whereby even the sick may be healed.

1 Peter is a letter written to Christians spread across several regions. Folks who have been chosen, destined, and sanctified by the Father and Spirit to be obedient to Jesus. While many are aware of the blessing of such a calling from the Lord, the Apostle Peter knows that it comes with a cost. It is not for nothing that Peter refers to the church as Exiles, and spends a great deal of time in the letter addressing the suffering of the church. To call Jesus Lord and live accordingly results in the contempt of the world and various trials in life. How do we respond to such a foretelling of the future? It is easy for the believer to dwell on the difficulty and bleakness of such a hostile and isolating future. It is easy to be overcome with hopelessness, insecurity, and fear. It is also common not to know how to comfort brothers and sisters of the faith when they are faced with such bleak prospects. Peter addresses these very issues by offering believers a different way to look at their future. Not denying the seriousness of suffering, Peter would have the church set all their hope for the future on the grace of Jesus Christ, and the blessings he has bought and secured for us, to be revealed on the day of the Lord. Blessings that are a new birth to a living hope, an eternal inheritance of salvation kept for us in heaven, and a joy that endures every trial. Peter shows that on that final day when Christ appears, even our suffering will be revealed to have served a purpose, the testing and refining of faith, which results in the praise, glory, and honour of Christ.

Here the Apostle is giving a passage chock full of assurances for us the believers– assurances given under the backdrop of suffering in this life. We live in a sinful world, opposed to God, where the creation and we with it groan, even the Holy Spirit within us groans, as we await the final revealing of the glorified community. For this is not our home. We will be with God in the renewed creation, glorified like the Son. What is the way to glorification, it is suffering. As those who are joined to the Son, Jesus, we will all suffer too. And God will work all things out for good for those who love Him, a passage we know well and often quote. But do things always work out for "the best"? We know that they don't and know great pain in the midst of trial. To quote Ray "So what is the good that all things are working towards?" It is the being conformed to the image of the radiant Son of God, being prepared for an eternal weight of glory, of a type and manner that we cannot imagine. Is suffering the cost of glorification? No, but it is way.

After spending four months in our 'Lessons From Job' series, I wonder what we have learned. I do hope and pray we have learned something of God– his sovereignty, his justice, his love. What might we now say to a friend or loved one going through a difficult time? What comfort and counsel might we offer to those in deep anguish? I wonder what Job's three friends would tell their families when they return home after their time with Job? And especially after this final chapter in the story? They spoke wrongly of God, and yet still the Lord provides for them a path of restoration through sacrifice and intercession, just as he has for us in his Son. Even in this final 'lesson' there is much to learn.

This is the last of five studies on the topic Unstoppable Divine Blessings. Our primary focus is in the letter to the Ephesians 1:3-14 which begins, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. These blessings in Christ are revealed to have been planned before the foundation of the world and are many. These blessings are in Christ bring us to the place of seeking His kingdom over any other and cause us to praise Him for His glorious grace. The study concludes by highlighting the seven beatitudes contained in the Revelation of St John the Divine. The final beatitude describes those who have had their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb as blessed with the right to the tree of life and to enter the city by the gates where we joyful worship our triune God.

Behold Behemoth! Consider Leviathan! No matter how big and strong you might think you are; no matter how good and righteous, blameless and upright, or clever and wise you think you are, none of us are able to save ourselves. This is the lesson Job learns at the end of the Book of Job. The blameless and upright man repents, and puts himself in the dust and ashes. It is a lesson we all need to learn time and time again. We don't have an arm like God. He is God, and we are not. His arm alone is mighty and able to save. And in his love and his grace, he does just that! These things are "too wonderful for me, which I did not know." But now we do! What strength! What love! What grace! What a faithful covenant Father we have in the Lord God.

This is the fourth of five studies on the topic Unstoppable Divine Blessings, this time considering Jesus' teaching in the Beatitudes which appear to be in tension with Old Covenant (Mosaic) prosperity blessings. The approach is to begin with Mosaic promises of blessings in their homeland that were conditional on heart obedience. We need to see Jesus Christ as the only obedient Israelite and who is deserving of such blessing yet became curse for His redeemed people. We can then consider His teaching on blessing that rouses in us what is needed to renew our hearts to love God as He leads us to the everlasting homeland.

Where is wisdom found? Job has been looking for the wisdom needed to place his suffering in the world. His search for wisdom has been in seeking an answer to the question of "why?" Not alone, Job's friends have sought to help him out with their own answers. Yet, wisdom has eluded Job. This week, God makes Himself known. Speaking to Job from within a whirlwind, God will reveal to Job that the wisdom he is seeking isn't found in knowing the "why" of his suffering, but "who" is sovereign over it. Intent on revealing Himself as sovereign creator and sustainer, God asks Job question after question, leading him from the foundation of the world to the life of a majestic eagle. Thus, Job will begin to grow in his wisdom, through a deepening fear of the Lord, seeing his own life, the times of blessing and suffering, as in the hands of an awesome God. Pray that, like Job, we might all bear witness to the immeasurable greatness of God's power, and in that knowledge have wisdom for all seasons of life.

This is the third of five studies on the topic of Unstoppable Divine Blessings. It focuses in on the blessings contained in the Aaronic High Priestly prayer, a familiar and often recited benedictory blessing. Do we understand what it means for the Lord to bless you by keeping you, to graciously make His face shine upon you, and for you to know peace with Him when He lifts His countenance upon you? God's plan to bless Israel, His firstborn son, is revealed through their redemption and covenant. The blessings brought through sacrificial atonement are highlighted in the Aaronic high priestly blessing. It is a prayer, given by God, that points to the efficacious prayer of our High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us.