The
Call and Fruit of Perseverance
by Bernhard G. Stock
Note: This article is adapted
from a talk given a few years ago for
members from Sword
of the Spirit communities in Europe
and the Middle East who were on holiday
together in Exeter, UK. Bernhard's
exhortation on the Lord's call for
Christian communities, families, and
individuals to persevere together is a
timely and important message for
Christians today. - ed.
Perseverance
is essential for everyone who seeks to do
God’s will and receive his promises. The
author to the Letter to the Hebrews writes:
“You have need of
endurance, so that you may do the will of God
and receive what he has promised.”
– Hebrews 10:36
A long-distance race
Individuals, families, and communities must
learn to persevere, not just for a season, but
for a life-time and for generations to come.
Christianity is a long-distance-race, not a
sprint. In Germany we have a saying: “God’s
mills grind slowly.”
“Quick and easy” versus “real
and good”
Really good things don’t come effortlessly or
quickly. If you want a quick and easy meal you
can go to a “fast food” restaurant like
McDonald’s and be served instantly. But is fast
food the real thing – like the kind of delicious
meal made from fresh ingredients prepared at
home? A really good and healthy meal takes time,
effort, and preparation. My mother used to
regularly enjoy making potato dumplings for
Sunday lunch. She began the process of peeling
the potatoes on Saturday afternoon, and putting
them into a pan of water to sit overnight, and
then scraping them on Sunday morning. And then
shortly before lunch she would form them into
dumplings and cook them in some boiling water.
Now you can make quick and easy dumplings within
10 minutes out of an instant package, but they
can’t compare with the dumplings made from fresh
potatoes. If you ever tasted my mother's, you
would know the difference!
Several years ago, I climbed up the Zugspitze,
the highest mountain of Germany. It is about
three thousand meters high (9718 feet). After
walking for five hours we reached a hut where we
camped overnight. Then we got up very early at 4
a.m. because we knew it would take the whole day
to reach the top. We had to climb for another 8
hours to reach the top.
Now, for the person who doesn’t like to climb,
there is a quick and easy option of taking a
cable car ride to the top. When the car stops
near the top, the people enter a huge building
which looks like a crowded railway station. The
impression is similar to being in a packed
McDonalds restaurant at a shopping center. There
are lots of people walking around and standing
on the same mountain top where you are standing.
Joy and reward in persevering
Things which don't cost us are often experienced
as cheap or of little value or worth. There is a
joy in going through real effort and hardship,
and learning to not quit or give up but to
persevere and endure until the goal is achieved.
Konrad Lorenz, a German behavioral scientist
(not a Christian!), called the lack of
perseverance and the “instant-mentality” which
results from that (“I want it all – and I want
it now”) one of the “eight deadly sins of
mankind” (the title of a book he wrote).
Perseverance is something we can train our
children in as well. So don’t deprive your
children of this joy! Don't always make it too
easy for them! How can they learn to become
missionaries, saints, and martyrs if they have
not even learned to cope with washing the
dishes, or eating some strange food, or three
days of camping or hiking in the rain?
God is persevering
Let’s consider God's perspective on
perseverance. God himself is persevering! He has
unending patience with us and an enduring faith
in us! We realize this, if we look at his
history with humankind. How often did his people
fail and break covenant with him through their
disobedience and rebellion, and how often did he
renew his commitment to them!
Paul the Apostle writes In 2 Timothy 2:11-13:
“If we have died with him, we shall also live
with him;
if we
endure, we shall also reign with him;
if we deny
him, he will also deny us;
if we are
faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot
deny himself.
Note the change
in the last verse: he remains faithful, even if
we are faithless!
Avoid the quick and easy
mentality
There is a way of thinking in us that go against
God’s character, the way he thinks and acts: we
want everything to be easy, and we want to have
it quickly. Perseverance, by contrast, has to do
with things that do not come easily, such as
enduring adversities and difficulties to obtain
a goal, and with things that require time and
sustained effort or patient waiting.
Facing adversities with a
spiritual perspective
Perseverance has to do with adversities. There
is a famous character in the Bible who is an
example for that: Job. What we can see in his
story is: It doesn't always work like we would
like it to. It doesn't often even work according
to our ideas about justice! Job's friends had
their idea of God’s justice: If you behave well,
God will bless you in a visible way; if he
doesn't bless you, it is because you made
mistakes.
But it is not always our fault or even our sin
or our shortcomings when things don't look so
glorious! In Job's case, there was something
more important behind the scenes, which he
wasn’t aware of: a dispute going on between God
and Satan! Job's story was only the tip of the
iceberg! It is the same with Jesus: From a human
point of view, his life was a complete failure!
And yet he won the greatest victory in history
through his death and resurrection! If you are
experiencing trouble or affliction, it might
well be that there is something going on behind
the scenes which is much more important than you
can imagine. Job wasn’t aware of the bigger
picture behind his ordeal. It was invisible yet
spiritually real!
God very often uses ordinary men and woman to
change the course of world history. And very
often these people don't recognize how God is
using them to change the course of events. They
only know that they are going through a painful
and difficult struggle, or some kind of
ridiculous situation in which they have to
persevere with faith and patience. This has
happened time and again with whole communities,
nations, and groups of Christians.
The pilgrim
fathers who settled in Plymouth on the coast of
North America in the eighteenth century may have
had some inkling that they were laying the
foundations of a "new world,” but first and
foremost, they wanted a place for themselves and
for their families to settle down and live
peacefully as Christians.
Do you think the first Christians who left
Jerusalem for other cities and nations did that
with the intention of spreading the Gospel over
all the world? No - they did it because they
were fleeing persecution!
We will only know the full picture on the last
day of judgment when the Lord Jesus opens his
big book and reveals the deeds and hearts of all
who lived. Then will we have the definitive
answer that explains the times and struggles we
had to endure and the obstacles we had to
overcome through faith and perseverance. In this
present time we move forward with faith "looking
through" the curtain to catch a glimpse of the
great and wonderful things which God is
accomplishing. Then we can say like Job: "[Lord]
I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eyes can see!" (Job 42:5).
God’s timing is perfect
A second factor which has to do with God’s
purposes is time.
Time means that we cannot see everything that is
going on in a situation, especially what is
unfolding for the future. Again, this is a very
natural principle. "The farmer waits for the
precious fruit of the earth" (James 5:7). The
fruit takes time to grow. Oftentimes, it isn't
even the same person who does the sowing at
spring time and the reaping at harvest time.
Have you ever noticed that other people will
tell you how friendly and well-educated your
children behaved when they have been with them,
and you think, why can't they behave like that
at home? Now that becomes easy to explain: You
do the sowing business - others do the reaping!
Rejoice! There is fruit!
Many of the Old Testament prophets did not see
the fulfillment of their prophecies. And none of
them saw the fulfillment of the greatest
prophecy: the coming of the Messiah!
Before Jesus began his public ministry, he had
to live 30 years in an ordinary household in
Nazareth. Thirty years of preparation for only
three years of preaching the gospel, and for
three days in which he fulfilled the work of
salvation through his death and resurrection.
But his preaching was the most effective ever
heard!
It really takes time for us to be prepared and
to bear fruit for the task the Lord gives us,
and he has a perfect time table for each one of
us!
Forty years and three
generations
Years ago I had the opportunity to speak with a
famous theologian and Scripture scholar in
Germany. He had left his professorship at a
German University some 30 years previously to
join a Christian renewal group in Munich which
is pretty much like our own network of covenant
communities in the Sword of the Spirit. While we
were sharing about our experiences in building
Christian community, he shared the observation
that his Christian renewal group had still not
finished their most important and basic task.
Even though the group had been living and
serving together for some 30 years then, it
would take a full 40 years to complete a
foundation of community life – that is, when
three generations are living together: the
"founding generation" passing on their faith and
way of life to their children, and the first and
second generations together passing on their
faith and way of life to the third generation.
When three generations live together a truly
Christian way of life, helping and supporting
one another, then this becomes a sign of the
“messianic age” being fulfilled. The words of
Malachi in the last book of Old Testament
prophets speak for the Lord, saying: "Then I
will turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children and the hearts of the children to their
fathers" (Malachi 4:6).
Thanks be to God, we can already see at least
half of this prophecy fulfilled here in our
communities! It is a fact which astonishes many
people in this world, because they have never
seen something like that. In this age, children,
beginning even in their early years, will go
their own way, and parents will go their own way
- but it often leaves them with a deep feeling
of discontent.
I think it takes some forty years till there are
three generations living together in a common
way of life. This may be a key reason for the 40
years the people of Israel had to wander through
the wilderness. Starting with the covenant and
the Ten Commandments, God had to form a people
out of this group of Hebrew slaves from Egypt,
and he had to give them a common identity and
way of life as his own people.
God is restoring a vision of inter-generational
Christian community among us. And in order for
that vision to come to full fruition, we have to
stay together in community for at least forty
years – and for most of us that means for the
rest of our lives! And that is the simple reason
why we need a covenant - a commitment to stay.
(Of course you could chose another path or a 40
year walk through the desert like Israel!) I'm
clear which path the Lord has called me to take,
and I’m convinced it is easier and better,
despite all the challenges which community life
entails! But we can only reap the fruits - and
experience the promised land - which God offers
us, if we persevere and stay committed for a
lifetime!
Overcoming obstacles
Let me now give you some thoughts on obstacles,
misunderstandings, or traps that can keep us
from persevering and finishing well.
The “instant change”
mentality produces impatience
I think there are two obvious attitudes which
work against perseverance: the first one is the
"instant mentality." We want everything, even
success in our Christian life, and we want it
now: big signs and wonders, the great renewal,
people around us being convicted of sin and
converted, healing and great awakening. If it
doesn't happen, we get impatient. And we are in
danger of imposing our impatience on other
people, even on our brothers and sisters. We
then think we must change them, convince them.
Have you ever noticed that you cannot even
change yourself? How can you think of changing
someone else? It's only by the grace of God that
people change, and often God wants to change us
first.
Getting discouraged
or cynical leads to giving up
The second danger is getting tired and
discouraged, or even cynical. If you don't see
the great plans fulfilled, or the great promises
we believe God gave us, we can begin to be
content with what we have. And every time
someone comes up with a new and good plan or
even with some success, we are inclined to say:
wait till you are older, more experienced, wiser
- as I am. This is a really bad attitude! It is
a sign of unbelief and of spiritual pride, and
we should repent of it whenever we discover it
in us.
How do you gain the right attitude of
perseverance? Of course, through the practice of
persevering! But if we think God can form
perseverance in us quickly - "Lord, give me
patience - but do it right now!" - that doesn't
work. The Lord gives us perseverance through
putting us in situations where we have to learn
perseverance through patient determination to
stay the course and not quit. God works through
trials and testing to help us grow in patience
and perseverance. It is the Lord doing his work
of forming us! You should rejoice in it!
Some practical advice
And if you are in situations like that, there is
some simple advice I can give you:
1. Don't get out! If I am in a bedroom with only
one light switch at the door, before I go to
bed, I try to remember my path I take, then when
I put the light out, I go to bed in exactly the
same way. If you are in a situation in which you
have difficulties or problems knowing the way
forward, where things are dark, don't change
your direction: stay on the same path as you
remembered it when the Lord first directed you.
Persevere! Otherwise you will bump your head!
You can only rethink your way when there is
light!
There is another interesting example in
Scripture which tells us we should not give up
too soon: in 2 Kings 13, Elisha instructs King
Joash to perform a prophetic action: he is to
strike the ground with his arrows to achieve a
victory over Syria. He does it three times. Then
the prophet gets angry and says: “You should
have struck five or six times; then you would
have struck down Syria until you made an end of
it, but now you will strike down Syria only
three times.” This means we really should bring
things to their completion just as God has
instructed, even if it is hard work! Otherwise
we will not get God’s whole plan accomplished.
2. We need to temper our perseverance with the
right kind of humor. True perseverance has
nothing to do with grim determination,
harshness, or bitterness. There is joy in
knowing that you are on the right path, even if
it is difficult. You can laugh over the
difficulties, since you know that with the Lord
you will succeed and share in his victory!
Raising
children, for instance, takes perseverance.
But many parents can testify to the fact that
from time to time one can I really delight in
the fact that it is hard work, and it has to
do with struggling and keeping at it, and not
giving up. They sometimes even like those
struggles - and they like their kids too! At
least it was our experience as parents, and
even though I cannot say how this came about,
it was something the Lord did and can do with
you if you don't quit or grumble. It is a sign
of a true call of the Lord: it may look like
an impossible task, but you find that you have
faith and perseverance for it! And you can
even approach it with the fiery zeal of the
athlete who sets his sight on the crown of
victory. We can have that kind of godly zeal
for the call the Lord has given us! We are
walking with him, and that is more like a
dance - leaping and joyful!
3. We can only have this attitude of faith and
perseverance if we look to the Lord, and if we
have a close relationship with him - a
relationship which builds our trust in him so
that it becomes like Job’s. We may not see
what the Lord is doing, we may not even see
the fulfillment of the promises he gave us -
but "faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen"
(Hebrews 11:1). The Lord gives us the grace to
hold onto things not yet seen, to persevere,
to be patient like he is, to endure, and to
fulfill the great work he has given us!
Prayer for perseverance
I want to close with a prayer of St. Paul for
the grace of perseverance:
And so, from the
day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray
for you, asking that you may be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all spiritual
wisdom and understanding, to lead a life
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him,
bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be
strengthened with all power, according to his
glorious might, for all endurance and patience
with joy, giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified us to share in the
inheritance of the saints in light.
– Colossians 1:9-12
Bernhard Stock is a member of
the Regional Council for the Sword
of the Spirit communities in Europe
and the Middle East and a founding
coordinator of the Bread
of Life community (Brot des Lebens) in
Munich and Olching, Germany. Bernhard and
his wife Monika are the grateful parents of
three children and five grandchildren, who
along with their spouses are actively
involved in Sword of the Spirit communities.
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