The word hupomone occurs about 30 times in the New Testament, but is translated into English by a variety of different words, such as endurance, perseverance, steadfastness and patience. Peter tells us to ‘make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.’ (2 Pet 1: 5-7)

Perseverance and endurance are not particularly glamorous qualities, but are needed if we are to mature in Christ. One reason we shy away from them is that we tend to be able to learn them only through adversity: “Suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4) James tells us “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) Most of us shy away from suffering and try to avoid trials of any kind, but it’s only through the hard times that we learn to endure.

Nonetheless, endurance is not some Stoic attitude of grim resignation. Chrysostom, an early Church Father, says of hupomone that it is “the root of all goods, the mother of piety, the fruit that never withers, a fortress that is never taken, a harbour that knows no storms” and “the queen of virtues, the foundation of right actions, peace in war, calm in tempest, security in plots.” It is the courageous and triumphant ability to pass the breaking-point and not to break and always to greet the unseen with a cheer. It is the alchemy which transmutes tribulation into strength and glory.

If we feel God is asking too much of us in developing this quality in our lives, we need to remember that all good gifts actually come from God in the first place. We need to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12) All Scripture is given to teach us so that “through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) As we meditate on Jesus and on the heroes of the faith who learned perseverance, we can receive from God the strength and grace we need to persevere. Moreover, our God is one whose love endures for ever (a verse repeated 26 times in Psalm 136!), so He is able to carry us even through the trials and difficulties which are ‘light and momentary’ troubles in the light of the glory that He has in store for us (see 2 Cor 4.)

The Bible study looked at Ephesians 4 this week: as Stephen summarised it, ‘how to exercise so we walk the walk and live the life’.

Some of the thoughts from this study:
verse 1 “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
The word translated ‘live’ in the NIV is ‘peripateo’ in the Greek (from which the English word ‘peripatetic’ is derived), and means to walk at large, to tread around, figuratively, to live, deport oneself or to follow. The word ‘worthy’ is ‘axios’ which carries the idea of equal weight or balance. Thus, our conduct and calling should be in balance.

verse 2
Believers’ attitudes are important. In this verse, we are exhorted to be humble, gentle and patient. Humility is the opposite of pride; gentleness is the opposite of self-assertion and patience means an ability to endure to the end.

verses 3-6
The unity of the Spirit is characterised in these verses by seven different things:
1) one body
2) one Spirit
3) one hope
4) one Lord
5) one faith
6) one baptism
7) one God and Father of all

verses 7-16
The unity in the body of Christ is seen through a diversity of spiritual gifts, released to us through Jesus who left glory to walk on earth and has since ascended to glory. The gifts of apostles and prophets lay the foundation of the body; evangelists help with the building of the body and pastors and teachers continue the work of shepherding. These ministries prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

verses 17-32
Here, we look at two sides of the same coin, namely human nature without Christ and what our nature in Christ should look like. The list of how we used to act, and can still act if we allow our old natures to triumph, is long and depressing. If we allow God to work in us, however, we can have a ‘new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’, a nature that shows kindness, compassion, forgiveness and truth to all people. In this way, we have a new ‘attitude makeover’… one that will last a lifetime!

J. D. Walt, a theologian at Asbury Seminary in America, has written a blog post about ‘eyes to see and ears to hear’. I was particularly struck by his closing comments,

‘By learning to “hear” Scripture in a way that kindles sight, we will learn to “read” Scripture in a way that fosters hearing. In this way we may break free from our “I think, therefore I am” Cartesian worldview and into the “I behold, therefore I become” view of God, the world and worship.’

There is a proverb ‘You are what you eat’. It’s certainly important to think about what we look at… what we listen to… what we allow our minds and thoughts to dwell on.

Colossians 3 tells us: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

The consequences if we don’t are dangerous:

“Be careful, little eyes, what you see
It’s the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful, little feet, where you go
For it’s the little feet behind you that are sure to follow.

Be careful, little ears, what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful, little lips, what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray”

(Casting Crowns, ‘Slow Fade’)

Ralph preached on ‘The Courage of Faith’ last night, looking at the story of Gideon from Judges 6 and 7. I have to say that Gideon is one of the unlikely heroes of the Bible with whom I readily identify. He’s insecure, full of doubt and finds it hard to accept God’s assessment of him, all qualities I readily identify with!

When the angel of the Lord first appears to Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress to stop the Midianites from getting it. His response to being called a ‘mighty warrior’ with whom the Lord is present is:

“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6:3)

‘If, why, where, but?’ – these were the questions Gideon had and so often are the questions we have. We feel that God can’t be with us because of the things that are happening in our lives. We feel that we can’t see God working in our lives. We feel abandoned at times, as though we are left to struggle on on our own. It’s a lonely place to be.

But in God’s graciousness, three things happened to Gideon as a result of this encounter with God:
1) he became converted (he heard the call of God and responded to it; he built an altar of worship and sacrifice and drank from the well of salvation)

2) he became consecrated (he yielded his own will to the will of God, obeying God’s command to wreck Baal’s altar and rebuild an altar to God, acts of faith which clearly had repercussions for other people)

3) he became controlled by God (and as a result was able to become a leader and deliverer, drawing 32,000 men to follow him initially – though God reduced this number to 300 to prove that the victory belonged to Him and not to Gideon’s strategies or strengths)

God is working behind the scenes all the time (he was able to instil fear into the Midianites and bring about victory through the most unlikely of weapons, as Judges 7 clearly demonstrates.) Gideon started from a place of doubt, but ended in the place of victory through faith. We can be encouraged by God’s faithfulness (1 Thess 5:24) and by the fact that He is the Saviour of the world (John 4:42, Luke 2:11) Even more amazing is the fact that He can by MY Saviour (Luke 1:47)

Mark preached from John 15 this morning, verses which are both encouraging and mind-blowing!

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:12-17)

The fact that God not only chooses us but chooses to call us friends is amazing. Moreover, we demonstrate the fact that we are His friends by obeying His commands, the most important of which are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as ourselves.

Proverbs 17:17 tells us that ‘a friend loves at all times’. Let us learn to be true friends by loving God and by loving other people.

Stephen spoke on Isaiah 26:3 at the family service. This must be one of my all-time favourite Bible verses and one I constantly need reminding of!

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.” (Is 26:3-4)

We also looked at the same verses from the Amplified version:
“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].”

In Deuteronomy 6, we are exhorted to love God with all we have – which includes our minds! Inner tranquillity is available to those who will trust in God. The peace God offers is perfect and is so much more than simply a cessation of war: ‘Shalom’ means wholeness, health, preservation and completeness. In Philippians 4, Paul talks about the ‘peace of God which transcends all understanding’, a peace which can guard our hearts and our minds. We need to have stability of thought – rather like Tootles whose joy was returned when he got his marbles (his ‘happy thoughts’) back.

We can have joy and peace in God by fixing our minds on Him. We maintain our joy by giving Him our minds as well as everything we are and have. Trials and tribulations will still come, but God’s presence and peace are available for those who trust in Him.