By Mike Andrews

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 

2 Timothy 2:3-6.

There are some days when I say to myself “What’s the point in trying? Why do I put my family and myself through the pain of defeat? Nobody is listening anyways.” Do you feel this way some days? Or is this just me? Why do we try so hard when we know nine times out ten it only leads to frustration, pain, rejection or worse - being hurt by the people around you? I guess the big question is, ‘Why would a holy and perfect God allow me and you to go through such trying days?’ The answer is: why wouldn’t He? We are all sinners, accursed, haters of God. The only reason we are not put to death is because of what King Jesus did on the cross some 2000 years ago.So why does God allow us to go through hardships as we wait upon Him to call us home? The Bible is very clear and explicit when it says trials are for our [the Christian’s] benefit to strengthen and mould us into the image of the Son [Jesus Christ].  

The next word I want to look at that goes so easily under the radar with most Christians is the word “endure” which means: To bear; to sustain; to support without breaking or yielding to force or pressure. Metals are said to endure a certain degree of heat without melting; to bear with patience, to bear without opposition or sinking under the pressure; to bear up under hardship or persecution; to remain under; to be strong, firm, to persevere beneath a heavy burden. “And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved”. Matt 10:22. We all start as this square block of wood, if I can use this as an example. And God cuts away the dead bark and starts to mould and shape us with all His fine precision tools into the person He created us to be, a person created for His glory. We all need shaping and sanding. Paul says the Christian life is going to be hard with many heartbreaks and struggles but this is the course He has for every one of us, because in the end there is joy and reward. John says He will wipe away every tear and remove all our sin and shame. Why? That’s where He [Jesus] will be. This is where all Christians will be - with the Potter – with the Carpenter who was working in and through us each and every moment. As Paul wrote in Philippians “...He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” (1:6).

The Lord will continue the work He has begun in each and every one of us if you’re a child of the living God. But this doesn’t mean we will not face obstacles or road blocks until the day of Jesus Christ. Going back to what Paul said to Timothy as he was faced with his coming death, the Lord planned for him to die. We are to ENDURE, persevere as we continue to grow in our Christian walk. There are no easy ways out. Some might face greater challenges and some might go through smaller trials, but the Bible is abundantly clear that all children of God {Christians] are going to face trials and struggles at some point in their life. Why? So the Potter can continue to shape and sand us as we are faced with life’s decisions and having proper responses to what has been given to us by a loving and holy God. The Christian life is not about a life of ease and your best life now! It’s going to be hard work that requires us to endure as He continues this perfect work that He is doing in us.These trials are for us to give God the glory as he delivers us though them. Man loves to boast and get all puffed up with pride when they achieve something or get through a situation. We are to be completely dependent upon Him as good soldiers, athletes and hard working farmers. We must endure and press forward as we wait for the call home to where the Potter lives. He is the One who has taken my wretched life, which deserves Hell, and continues to shaped me, mold me, and sand me all for His glory and good pleasure.                               

 

When Adam first set his eyes on Eve, he knew that she was just what he needed. Today, Sinclair Ferguson conveys the Bible’s foundational teaching on the relationship between men and women as image-bearers of God.

Transcript

A number of years ago, I recorded the Westminster Shorter Catechism for Ligonier. The recording was done on a Saturday morning, but lying in bed on the Friday night, I realized I had a problem—not a theological problem but a rhetorical one. Most of us know the first question and answer of that catechism. My problem was, How am I supposed to ask the question? Is it, “What is the chief end of man?” Or, is it, “What is the chief end of man?” Or, “What is the chief end of man?” Or should it rather be, “What is the chief end of man?” In a sense, the answer to my question was surely all of the above. So, my musings underlined for me just how rich this question really is, and the answer is even richer: our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

These words are actually earthed in the opening chapters of the Bible. God, we are told in Genesis 2, made man from the dust of the earth. Incidentally, that’s why it shouldn’t surprise us that we humans have much in common with the other living creatures God brought forth from the earth. But that statement about our origin is set in a larger and more fundamental context.

What God did in the creation of man, as we’ve seen, was to make His image and likeness in a miniature form. And we saw yesterday how vital this truth is, not only for ourselves, but perhaps especially for our young Christians today. But not only does Genesis 2 explain that man was made from the dust, it tells us that God also created the woman—and the story is exquisitely told.

The only “not good” that God noticed in the original creation was that Adam, the man, was all on his own. Why was that a “not good”? Perhaps the reason has already been hinted at, in Genesis 1:26, when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” God does not dwell in solitude, but in the personal relationships of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The one God is a lone God, but not lonely as God. And so, God made companions for Adam.

First of all, He made wonderful animals. I wonder if you’ve ever played the game, “Name That Tune?” Well, God seems to have had a little fun with Adam in the garden. They had a game of “Name That Animal,” and Genesis 2:19 tells us how God brought the animals and the birds to Adam and asked him to name them. What fun that must have been. But as Genesis 2:20 says, none of them was really a perfect fit for Adam.

And so, God made a woman. The text actually says He built a woman for him. It wasn’t haphazard. She was carefully created, Genesis tells us, out of Adam’s rib. Bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, she was perfectly fitted for him. And when Adam saw her, he knew immediately she was different, but she was just what he needed. Unlike the animals, she was just like him, made, we might say, in his likeness—not identical to him, but like him.

I think that’s one of the things Paul meant when he said, you may remember, in 1 Corinthians 11:7, that man is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. Now, he’s not demeaning women here, as though only men were made as God’s image. No, Genesis teaches us that male and female are made as God’s image. But he’s saying that just as God made Adam to reflect Him as His image and likeness, and therefore to be an expression of His glory—although that is also true of woman—within the special relationship between Adam and Eve, she reflected him, just as, in Adam, God reflected His glory. God showed how marvelous He was by making this man as His image, so, as far as Adam was concerned, Eve was his glory. She was the one who showed his dignity to him.

And this is actually the foundation for all of the biblical teaching on the relationship between a man and a woman. In a way, it’s a description of the first romance, and all romance since then. The man saw the woman and he knew in this woman’s friendship, he would find glory.

I think I’ve mentioned before the Ewan MacColl song sung by Roberta Flack and others: “The first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes.” You maybe think that’s the only pop song I actually know. But that’s what Adam must have felt when he saw the woman who was to be his glory. No wonder he wanted to be with her and one with her.

Well, yes, there’s a lot more to say about this, but today, let’s just linger on the wonder of our creation as the image of God, male and female. That difference in unity is basic to our humanity. That’s part of what my friend Glenn Harrison has called our better story. And whether you’re married or not, it’s a difference we were all created to enjoy. That’s why the church, where male and female are one in Christ, is such a glorious place to be.

 




Our ultimate desire at Calvary Baptist Church is first and foremost to bring glory and praise to the Sovereign LORD [Father, Son, & Holy Spirit] and to raise up mature believers so that we can fulfill the Great Commission. We will seek to achieve this by following the guidelines that God has put in place for prayer, worship, communion, Christian fellowship, Bible Study, and most of all the expository teaching of God’s Word.  We desire to provide the proper teaching of God’s Word so that fellow believers can grow together and edify one another with love and compassion.  

Please come, and join us,
as we look into how God has composed a unique storyfor each of our lives.CBC is a place to call home as we ......Magnify the Lord, Mature the Believers, Make prayer a priority, Meet the lost with Christ

Our Church Service Time @ 9:30am.

Adult Bible Study Wednesday Nights @6:30pm

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We are located @
148 Queen Street,
Killaloe Ontario
613-757-1618 
 


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