Called To Endurance – Part 2

How was becoming a Christian presented to you? Some people feel lonely or depressed and so they think that God dwelling with them will help fill the emptiness inside. Others hear about forgiveness for the bad things they’ve done and want to jump right in. For many of us, it was simply hearing that we were separated from God and that God had a better way for us to live. There’s nothing wrong with any of these presentations, but while they were talking did they ever mention the need for endurance as we follow Christ? I suspect that the answer to that question is no, at least not at the outset.

What does all this have to do with living a Christian (Christ-honoring) life? What does it even mean to be called to endurance, and how does it work out in our daily lives? To really appreciate what this means we need to get the bigger picture of what our life in Christ is all about. Many Christians have never been told of the importance of endurance, so let’s start with the basics and build from there.

Called To A New Life

When you first heard and accepted the gospel, there may have been someone sharing the Word with you. Maybe you heard something on radio or TV. Perhaps you read that message somewhere, like in a book or magazine. Regardless of the vehicle used, the gospel message was relayed to you ( your spirit) by the Holy Spirit. He called to you, and you answered that call by accepting Christ into your life;

John 3:5-8

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

In this passage, Jesus was talking to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus had come to Jesus because he knew He heard from God, and Nicodemus wanted to know how He did it! In the conversation which followed Jesus revealed a couple important points about being born again;

• God sent Jesus into the world so that, through faith in Him, they could share in His light and life (John 3:14-17), and,
• There would be those who hated what God offered, because they wanted to continue in darkness, doing the things which Jesus had come to save them from (John 3:19-21).

The picture Jesus painted for Nicodemus was pretty clear, and it was a picture of conflict. By preaching the gospel the whole world would, of necessity, be separated into two groups – those who wanted to hear from God and those who didn’t.

This isn’t the only instance where Jesus warned of conflict resulting from faith in Him. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’s life, He was speaking to the apostles just before He sent them out, and declared;

Matt 10:34-36

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;  and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’

Jewish families were very close, and the kind of conflict Christ warned of was just about as bad as they could imagine. For them, the only thing worse than that was to be cast out of the synagogue! Through that warning, Jesus gave them an indication of the endurance they would need if they truly wanted to continue following Him.

This is Part Two of a multi-part series. Keep watch for the next installment!