SUNDAY SERMON: Tribulation
By Rev. Stephen Baldwin
NT: Romans 5.1-5
Tribulation
Life is nothing if not unpredictable. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, life will throw you a curveball you never saw coming.
On Tuesday morning, I was working in the office at Ronceverte, listening to hymn options for this service. I heard some kind of bang off in the distance, and then a few seconds later it sounded like a bomb went off outside the window.
I jumped up and ran to the window, and all I could see was a truck crashed through our garage in the same spot where Harrison gets in Kerry’s car and right over top where the dogs sit whenever they’re in the back yard.
For a moment, I felt a terror I’ve never felt before…fearing the worst. But I quickly realized Kerry and Harrison had left about 15 minutes before, so they were safe and that meant the dogs were safe inside.
As I sprinted outside, I realized the truck tires were still spinning. Approaching the vehicle, I could see the driver was passed out in the front seat, with his foot on the accelerator. We found out later that he had heart trouble and experienced a medical emergency while driving.
That gentleman has been fighting for his life ever since in very serious condition. He needs our prayers today, and his family needs our prayers. We pray that his body would respond to the care being provided by his doctors and nurses after all he’s been through this week. He is in need of miraculous healing now.
You just never know what each day will bring. His family was supposed to meet him that day, and when he didn’t show up they realized something was very wrong. Life is so unpredictable.
The overwhelming emotion I’ve felt this week is gratitude. Gratitude that no one else was hurt. Gratitude that the driver’s little dog survived the crash without a scratch. Gratitude for the old trailer that sits in our parking lot, which Allan Clower has been politely reminding me to go dump for two months now, because it’s been filled to the brim with fallen branches. If the driver hadn’t hit that trailer, he would’ve run into the church and done so at an even higher speed. Thank the Lord for my procrastination and that old trailer.
Gratitude makes you hug your family a little longer each night. Makes you pray a little harder each night. Makes you experience the little joys of life a little more deeply each day. We all know this from the ups and downs of life.
Paul knew about it too. In Romans, he writes about boasting in his sufferings, which seems like an odd thing to say. Why would you boast of the bad things that happen to you? Especially Paul of all people, who says elsewhere in Romans that boasting about anything isn’t worthy of your time. So what does he mean?
He answers the question in the next line when he says, “Affliction produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Paul believes that tough times can teach us lessons we wouldn’t learn otherwise. Can you be grateful for what you have if you haven’t lost? Can you be hopeful if you haven’t experienced the agony of despair? Paul doesn’t think so.
The word translated as “affliction” literally means “tribulation.” So Paul says that tribulation leads to patience and patience leads to character and character leads to hope. Because the word “tribulation” in Paul’s day referred to the darkest hours of night which always fall right before the dawn.
In other words, tribulation is only temporary. Pain and grief are only temporary. Trials and tough times are only temporary. The dark night is working towards the dawn, if we can sustain hope. And hope does not disappoint.
Paul then says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” That sounds nice, doesn’t it? So nice and neat that we would never even question it. But if you look at that phrase, Paul writes it in the perfect tense. So he is describing something that is a present reality. God’s love is being poured out into our hearts and into this world.
I am going to repeat that and ask you to hear it in light of everything going on in the world around you. God’s love is being poured into our hearts and into this world. In the midst of war and conflict. In the midst of parades and protests. In the midst of assassinations. In the midst of car accidents. “Affliction produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
The more life we live, the more grateful we become…because we understand what a gift each and every moment is from God.
Our Heavenly Father does not shield us from all tribulation; that’s not how life works. But like a loving father, God is there with us throughout whatever tribulation comes our way, reminding us that the dawn will soon break.
Let us pray for all those experiencing tribulation today: Dear God, we pray for brothers and sisters who are struggling today. Be with our neighbor after his accident. We pray for his medical team and his family. Be with the people of the Middle East, as their conflicts escalate into war. Be with the people of Ukraine and Russia, as their war intensifies. Be with our own country, where political divisions have broken relationships and institutions. Be with the families of Representative Hortman and Senator Hoffman. Be with our friends who are struggling to fill their bellies and find purpose each day in life. Be with those missing their fathers on this Father’s Day. This world needs the power of your Spirit, O God. May we find hope in your presence with us, alongside us, as we experience trials and tribulation. Help us appreciate all those small moments that make up our lives. Give us hearts full of gratitude for the unpredictable nature of this wonderful world. We pray this in your holy name, Amen.
