ENDURE HARDSHIPS

ENDURE HARDSHIPS “Endure hardships with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3)

Before sending a soldier into battle the U.S. military wants to make sure they can endure hardships. One particular phase of this training is so difficult that it is called “Hell Week”. In one branch of service Hell Week consists of 5 1/2 days of cold, wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer than four hours of sleep. Hell Week tests physical endurance, mental toughness, pain and cold tolerance, teamwork, attitude, and your ability to perform work under high physical and mental stress, and sleep deprivation. Above all, it tests determination and desire.

Paul wanted Timothy to endure hardship like a good soldier! Timothy knew all about Paul’s “teaching, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings” (2 Tim. 3:10). So Paul admonished Timothy to “endure hardships with us.” Paul’s Christian life proved that following Christ is not easy. It requires taking up your cross every day (Lk. 9:23). Enduring hardship has always been a part of obedience to God. In fact, it is hard to find any great person in the Bible who didn’t “endure hardship”!

NOAH

For example, God commanded Noah: “So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.” (Gen. 6:14-16) If you think this is easy then you build an ark of the same dimensions! Please remember that Noah had no power tools or electricity. Everything was done by hand and Noah had to do it right the first time for if he didn’t every creature on the ark would die!

Noah was in the ark for one year and 17 days. He entered the ark 7 days before it began to rain. (Gen. 7:1-4). The flood began on the l7th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s six hundredth year (Gen. 7:11). Noah came out of the ark one year and 17 days later (Gen. 7:13-14). During all this time Noah was responsible for feeding thousands of animals and birds and disposing of their waste. If you think this was easy just think how much trouble it can be to take care of only one dog in your house!

Someone said that if were not for the storm outside the ark, the stench within the ark would have been unbearable.

Certainly Noah endured hardships!

ABRAHAM

Abraham lived in Ur of Chaldea. This was one of the most cultured and developed cities of that time. The Christian Library states: “Ur was a prosperous bustling metropolis, home of the Sumerian kings, which along with its immediate environs had a population of about 250,000. This wealthy trading and manufacturing centre was renowned for its textile industry where wool and flax from the nearby fertile plains were woven into different types of cloth and shipped abroad. Other exports included grain, dates, fish and skins or leather. Imports from as far away as Asia Minor and southern India made their way into Ur by caravan and boat and included precious metals, ivory and pearls;

spices, exotic food, and fruit trees; lumber and aromatic woods. Good communications and an effective banking system helped make all this possible. Enough evidence exists to suggest that Abraham's Ur also had skilled engineers, architects, knowledgeable farmers and artisans, as well as celebrated jewelers. The achievements of the latter graced many a citizen. Indeed, royal graves of Ur from 500 years prior to Abraham's time have yielded a stunning array of art objects of gold and precious stones.”

As you know Abraham was called by God to leave the comforts of city life and dwell in tents (Heb. 11:8-10). As a pilgrim in a strange land he endured famine, heat and cold, hatred and war, and many other hardships. Even though God guided him to the Promised Land during his life he did not actually receive even a foot of ground (Acts 7:5).

If you think living for years in a tent in the wilderness is easy, then you have probably never lived in a tent!

Yes! Abraham also endured hardships!

DAVID

After David killed Goliath King Saul became jealous of him. He became so jealous that he wanted David dead. First Saul tried to kill David himself (1 Sam. 19:10). When this failed he sent men to David’s house to kill him (1 Sam. 19:11). Then Saul tried again to kill David by hurling a spear at him (1 Sam. 20:33). David therefore fled from the wrath of King Saul and became a fugitive. Soon about 400 men who were in distress, in debt, or discontented gathered around him and he became their leader. Later the number of David’s followers grew to about 600 men (1 Sam. 23:13). In order to survive these men were constantly on the move and enduring hardships.

Then wicked King Saul sent 3,000 chosen men to kill David (1 Sam. 24:2). Saul hunted for David like he was hunting for a partridge (1 Sam. 26:20). According to Acts 13:21 Saul ruled for 40 years. Thus David was a fugitive for an extended period of time and was constantly fleeing for his life.

After King Saul died in battle David became the king over Judah and reigned in Hebron for seven years and six months (2 Sam. 2:11). Then we are told: “The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker” (2 Sam. 3:1). Certainly these were times of enduring hardships. David finally became the king of all Israel when he was 30 years old and he also reigned for 40 years (2 Sam. 5:4).

During David’s violent life he shed so much blood that God did not allow him to build the temple. David himself explained this: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.” (1 Chron. 28:2-3)

The point is, David endured hardships like a good soldier!

ELIJAH

Ahab was a wicked king. The Scriptures say: “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him” (1 Ki. 16:30-32).

Then the Lord sent the prophet Elijah to Ahab and told him: “As the Lord lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Ki. 17:1). Then God told Elijah to hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and drink from the brook. God also told Elijah “I have ordered the ravens to feed you there” (1 Ki. 17:4).

This was not good news to Elijah for every kind of raven was unclean and detestable (Lev. 11:13-15). These are birds that feed on dead animals. It is doubtful that these scavengers brought to Elijah food that was delicious.

The next few years of Elijah’s life were filled with incredible difficulties. When the brook dried up he fled to Zarephath of Sidon where he was fed by a gentile widow for three years. Then he returned to Israel for his famous confrontation on Mt. Carmel with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (1 Ki. 18:19) Then he fled from the wrath of Jezebel to Beersheba where he was so tired and discouraged that he wanted to die (1 Ki. 19:3-5). Then God sent an angel to feed Elijah and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Ki. 19:8).

There is no doubt that Elijah endured hardships!

NEHEMIAH

Artaxerxes was the king of Persia and Nehemiah was his cup bearer. Nehemiah was a long way from Jerusalem. It took Ezra four months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8-10). As far as we know Nehemiah had no experience in construction and yet God called him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. It certainly was not convenient! Nor was it an easy task. In addition to building the wall Nehemiah had to contend with enemies who were constantly planning to attack and keep the wall from being built. Nehemiah wrote:

“When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work. From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!” So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor

the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.” (Neh. 4:15-23)

Surely Nehemiah endured hardships like a good soldier!

JOHN THE BAPTIST

This is the way Jesus spoke of John the Baptist: “After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (Luke 7:24-28)

Matthew explained: “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.” (Matt. 3:4)

Yes! John the Baptist was a rugged man who lived in the desert and endured hardships! He was beheaded in prison, as you know, for daring to tell wicked king Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother’s wife (Matt. 14:3-12).

Serving God is not easy!

JESUS

“As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Luke 9:57-58)

Yes! Jesus also endured hardships as a good soldier! He was often so busy that he didn’t even have time to eat (Mark 3:20; 6:31; 8:1-10; etc.) On various occasions he arose to pray while it was yet dark (Mk. 1:35), and on other occasions prayed all night long (Lk. 6:12). When Jesus healed the sick “power went out from him (Lk. 8:46). This helps us to understand why Jesus was so tired that he was sleeping in the midst of a storm so powerful that waves were breaking over the boat and threatening to sink it (Mk. 4:35-41). On the night of his betrayal it was so cold that Peter was warming himself by a fire (Mk. 14:67) Jesus, however, on that same night was in such agony that he was sweating, and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Lk. 22:44).

Thousands of people have died by crucifixion, but not one of them suffered like Jesus did! The finite mind is not capable of understanding infinite suffering. Therefore we will never be able to completely understand how “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

COUNT THE COST

Jesus never hid the high cost of following him and being his disciple. He constantly emphasized that “anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:27).

Jesus then explained: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:28-33)

Even though following Christ costs you everything, it is till a bargain. As Jim Elliot said: “He is no fool who gives up the things he cannot keep to gain the things he cannot lose”.

Giving up everything for Jesus is not a wasteful, it is an investment that pays eternal dividends. Jesus explained it like this: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matt. 13:44-46)

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Lk. 16:19-31_

The rich man had a life time of luxury and an eternity of hardship. Lazarus had a life time of hardship and an eternity of luxury. Which will you choose?

Jesus warned:“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Lk. 12:15-21)

Don’t be a fool! “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18)