surrendersacrifice has posted a new topic entitled "Why is suffering redemptive?" in forum "General Theology" on Bible Truth. Suffering is redemptive because Jesus redeemed us from sin through His suffering. Jesus invites us to join Him in His redemptive work by allowing us to enter into His suffering (which we encounter while doing His work) (Colossians 1:24). Therefore, to be worthy of Christ we must deny our self, take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 10:38 & 16:24; Mark 8:34; & Luke 9:23 and 14:27). Even the personal sufferings we encounter in life when suffered with faith in Christ (which means that we believe that God will bring out of our suffering) is redeeming because it produces endurance, character and hope (Romans 5:2-3); enables us to overcome sin; and enables us to share in His life (1Peter 4:1-2 and 1 Peter 2:19-21). Suffering makes us humble; humility teaches us to rely on God; and reliance God frees us of selfishness (which is the cause of all sins). Quite often we are afraid of suffering, however we must remember that Jesus will lighten our burden (if we trust Him) (Matthew 11:30); and that the sufferings of the present is nothing compared to the glory that awaits those who trust Him (Romans 8:18).
Friday 14 May 2010
Suffering redemptive because Jesus redeemed us from sin
Vreugde fundament voor positief leven
Wij hebben goede reden om ons te verheugen wegens onze beproevingen wanneer wij begrijpen hoe God die beproevingen gebruikt om ons te helpen om een goddelijk karakter op te bouwen. "En wij weten dat God alle dingen (zelfs strenge beproevingen) voor het goede bewerkt voor hen die van God houden, naar hen die geroepen zijn volgens Zijn doel" (Romeinen 8:28). Meer bepaald schreef Paul dat "wij ook in ons lijden er over verheugen, omdat wij weten dat lijden volharding, volharding karakter en karakter hoop produceert" (Romeinen 5:3, 4). Jakobus schreef, "Beschouw het pure vreugde…telkens als u opkijkt tegen beproevingen van vele soorten, omdat u weet dat de testen van uw geloof volharding ontwikkelt" in het trouw blijven naar God (Jakobus 1:2).
Zou u niet al te graag een diepe en blijvende vreugde willen ervaren? Zou u niet volledig van zulke vreugde houden?
Lees daarom hoe vreugde het fundament kan zijn voor een positief leven: Joy: Foundation for a Positive Life
Zou u niet al te graag een diepe en blijvende vreugde willen ervaren? Zou u niet volledig van zulke vreugde houden?
Lees daarom hoe vreugde het fundament kan zijn voor een positief leven: Joy: Foundation for a Positive Life
Joy: Foundation for a Positive Life
JOY: Foundation for a Positive Life
Wouldn’t you like to experience deep and enduring joy? Wouldn’t you like to be joy-full? Be assured ~ you can!
The world has a woeful shortage of joy and a surplus of fear, worry, discouragement and depression. Even the “pursuit of happiness” and obsessive pleasure-seeking do not bring deep and lasting joy.
Let’s first understand the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is an emotion, and God never intended for people to be in that emotional state all the time. There is “a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
Biblical joy ~ true joy ~ comes from filling the spiritual void with good relationships, primarily an intimate relationship with the One who is pure joy. Jesus put it this way: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (John 15:5). That fruit includes much joy!
The Bible speaks much more often of joy than of being happy. “Hap” means chance and is the root of several words ~ happen, haphazard (dependent on mere chance), hapless, happenstance (a chance circumstance) and happy.
Happiness is a glad feeling that depends on something good happening. God wants us to experience happy times (as long as God approves of what is happening). But His greater desire is that you have unconditional JOY. Jesus said His joy would “remain in you” and “your joy no one will take from you” (John 15:11; 16:22).
Think of joy as a strong foundation that supports a variety of healthy emotions, including happiness. The long-range evidence of joy is general gratitude, contentment, optimism, a sense of freedom and other positive attitudes.
Joy looks out and up, not inward ~ A common mistake is to think that getting something will make you happy. We tell ourselves, “If only…” But joy and happiness come much more from giving and serving than from getting.
The Apostle Paul reminded his listeners that Jesus Christ had taught this very thing: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35, TEV).
To grow in joy, we must resist not only self-pity but also being self-centered and self-absorbed. For joy to flourish, we must focus on loving others and especially on loving God.
Joy is largely composed of gratitude ~ gratitude for the wonderful things God has done for us and His “exceedingly great and precious promises” for our future (2 Peter 1:4). Gratitude produces joy (1 Thes. 5:16-18). And our gratitude should be for other people’s blessings as well as for our own (Romans 12:15).
Try to follow this biblical formula: Add to your life gratitude, humility, forgiveness, faith, hope, patience and love. Take away resentment, anger, fear, worry, materialism, greed, jealousy, complaining and pride. The result? JOY!
Joy is spiritual, supernatural and essential ~ God is joyful ~ far more than any human being ever was! It is tragic that many people think of God as somber and stern rather than cheerful and smiling. He is enjoying His creation and especially the delightful anticipation of many new “sons of God” (Rom. 8:14, 19).
True followers of Jesus Christ will be joyful also. Psalm 68:3 says, “Let the righteous be glad;…let them rejoice exceedingly.” God desires that we serve Him “with joy and gladness of heart” (Deuteronomy 28:47).
Paul spoke of the “joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). It is through His Spirit that God shares and communicates His joy. And when Paul lists the “fruit of the Spirit,” joy is second, preceded only by love (Galatians 5:22-23). If we are filled with godly love, won’t that produce joy? Of course it will!
Joy is a major topic in the Bible. In the KJV, “joy” appears 158 times and “rejoice” 198 times (not counting other variations such as joyful, joyfully, joyous, jubilant, happy and glad). Rejoice is the verb form of joy, meaning to feel or have joy! Clearly there is great emphasis in the Bible on expressing joy. That explains why the Bible also emphasizes prayers and songs that praise and celebrate God (James 5:13; Psalm 150; Colossians 3:16, 17).
Joy is not optional. The Bible repeatedly commands us to rejoice! The most emphatic exhortation is in Philippians 4:4, where Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice!”
Joy because of trials? God’s joy continues to flow through His people even during their suffering because of their rock-solid hope of future everlasting joy in His Presence. They know that all suffering is limited to this short life, and the time will soon come when “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4). They “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).
We also have good reason to rejoice because of our trials when we understand how God is using those trials to help us build godly character. “And we know that God works all things (even severe trials) for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). More specifically, Paul wrote that “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope” (Romans 5:3, 4 NIV). James wrote, “Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” in remaining faithful to God (James 1:2 NIV).
And because Christ suffered for each of us, we should have a special joy when we are persecuted for our faith. Jesus said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11, 12).
The number one key to Joy: God’s Spirit ~ Supreme joy is God’s nature and character! We see proof everywhere in God’s creation, i.e., birds singing, animals frolicking, flowers blooming, brooks babbling and the sun shining!
Our unique joy begins when Christ comes to live in us (Gal. 2:20). We then have an intimate relationship with the Lord God, through His Son ~ the One Psalm 43:4 calls “God, my exceeding joy!” God’s Spirit is a tree of life, producing life-giving fruit which includes great joy!
Jesus prayed for His followers “that they may have My joy fulfilled in them” (John 17:13). He taught, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full!” (John 16:24).
Don Hooser
Old and New Testament not discordant
"Lactantius, in Latin, in the 3rd century, in his Divine Institutes, book 4, chapter 20,[20] wrote:
"But all scripture is divided into two Testaments. That which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old; but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The Jews make use of the Old, we of the New: but yet they are not discordant, for the New is the fulfilling of the Old, and in both there is the same testator, even Christ, who, having suffered death for us, made us heirs of His everlasting kingdom, the people of the Jews being deprived and disinherited. As the prophet Jeremiah testifies when he speaks such things: [Jer 31:31–32] "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new testament to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the testament which I made to their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they continued not in my testament, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord." ... For that which He said above, that He would make a new testament to the house of Judah, shows that the old testament which was given by Moses was not perfect; but that which was to be given by Christ would be complete."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament#Language
"But all scripture is divided into two Testaments. That which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old; but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The Jews make use of the Old, we of the New: but yet they are not discordant, for the New is the fulfilling of the Old, and in both there is the same testator, even Christ, who, having suffered death for us, made us heirs of His everlasting kingdom, the people of the Jews being deprived and disinherited. As the prophet Jeremiah testifies when he speaks such things: [Jer 31:31–32] "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new testament to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the testament which I made to their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they continued not in my testament, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord." ... For that which He said above, that He would make a new testament to the house of Judah, shows that the old testament which was given by Moses was not perfect; but that which was to be given by Christ would be complete."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament#Language
Dutch translation / Nederlandse vertaling >
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Oud en Nieuw Testament Niet Dissonant
"Lactantius,schreef in de 3de eeuw,in Latijn, in zijn 'Goddelijke Instituten', boek 4, hoofdstuk 20,[20]:
"Maar geheel de Bijbel is in twee Testamenten verdeeld. Datgene die de aankomst en passie van Christus voorafging — dat wil zeggen de wet en de profeten — is genoemd het Oude, maar die dingen die werden geschreven na Zijn herrijzenis is genoemd het Nieuwe Testament.
De Joden maken gebruik van het Oude, wij van het Nieuwe, maar nog zij zijn ze niet dissonant, voor het Nieuwe is de volbrenging van het Oude en in beide is er dezelfde erflater, zelfs Christus, die,voor ons de dood heeft geleden, maakte ons erfgenamen van Zijn eeuwigdurend koninkrijk, waar de Joden mensen beroofd en onterfd leken te worden.
Als de profeet Jeremiah getuigt wanneer hij zulke dingen spreekt: [Jer 31:31–32] "Aanschouw zegt de Heer, er komen dagen, dat ik een nieuw testament naar het huis van Israël en het huis van Judah zal maken, niet volgens het testament dat ik maakte naar hun vaders, in de dag die ik hen bij de hand nam om hen uit het land van Egypte te brengen; omdat zij niet verder gingen in mijn testament en ik negeerde hen, zei de Heer".
... Voor dat bovenstaande dat Hij zei, dat Hij een nieuw testament naar het huis van Judah zou brengen, vertoont dat het oude testament dat door Mozes werd gegeven niet perfect was; maar dat hetgene dat door Christus gegeven zou worden volledig zou zijn".
"Maar geheel de Bijbel is in twee Testamenten verdeeld. Datgene die de aankomst en passie van Christus voorafging — dat wil zeggen de wet en de profeten — is genoemd het Oude, maar die dingen die werden geschreven na Zijn herrijzenis is genoemd het Nieuwe Testament.
De Joden maken gebruik van het Oude, wij van het Nieuwe, maar nog zij zijn ze niet dissonant, voor het Nieuwe is de volbrenging van het Oude en in beide is er dezelfde erflater, zelfs Christus, die,voor ons de dood heeft geleden, maakte ons erfgenamen van Zijn eeuwigdurend koninkrijk, waar de Joden mensen beroofd en onterfd leken te worden.
Als de profeet Jeremiah getuigt wanneer hij zulke dingen spreekt: [Jer 31:31–32] "Aanschouw zegt de Heer, er komen dagen, dat ik een nieuw testament naar het huis van Israël en het huis van Judah zal maken, niet volgens het testament dat ik maakte naar hun vaders, in de dag die ik hen bij de hand nam om hen uit het land van Egypte te brengen; omdat zij niet verder gingen in mijn testament en ik negeerde hen, zei de Heer".
... Voor dat bovenstaande dat Hij zei, dat Hij een nieuw testament naar het huis van Judah zou brengen, vertoont dat het oude testament dat door Mozes werd gegeven niet perfect was; maar dat hetgene dat door Christus gegeven zou worden volledig zou zijn".
Engelse vertaling / English translation > Old and New Testament not discordant
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