The Outcomes of Endurance

Well, good afternoon, everyone! Hope everyone's doing well today.

Well, fall is definitely coming. We've got a nice day out there today. We can definitely feel it in the air. And I would say, you know, sometimes, have you ever heard the saying that people say people's pets kind of tend to look like them? Well, as I've been reflecting on the fall, I think I'm kind of reflecting my pets, my cats.

One of the things I've gotten to really enjoy doing is sitting at the window like my cats do and watching the squirrels outside. Now, I know not everyone loves squirrels. My wife recently, well, a year or two ago, finally won the battle with our squirrels by getting a squirrel-proof bird feeder outside the house. So now we can watch the squirrels and not worry about them stealing all the bird food. But a week before last, as we had our last days into the 70s, working from home, I was sitting out often in the afternoons and enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather.

And I was sitting there. I must have been sitting pretty quietly because one afternoon a squirrel came up on the deck and it had a nut or something in its mouth. And it climbed into one of the planters on the deck where we have some flowers planted. And as I was sitting there, the squirrel just started digging in the planter, deposited the nut there, covered it up, and then I made a comment to the squirrel and it ran away. So the squirrels are busy and they're running all over the place. I see them in the lawn as well. They're digging holes in the lawn and burying things.

So we definitely know winter is on its way. And one of the ways we know that is by seeing nature around us as nature starts getting all the preparations done that God built into his creation. And you know, nature goes through the deprivations of winter and it does it because it was created to do that, doesn't it? The trees start to drop their leaves. The sap starts moving more slowly through those trees and they change. We see the birds migrate. Marine animals migrate.

We don't see that as much in our part of the world, but there's some fascinating stories out there about how sharks and whales and other mammals or animals in the oceans will migrate.

Bears fatten up before hibernating. My favorite pictures are the ones where the bears are standing there on the stream as the salmon start to jump and they're plucking the salmon out of the water and putting on all the weight that they need before they go to hibernate. And from what I read, even frogs, turtles, and many fish hide. I always wondered what they do in the water, but according to one of the articles I read, they'll go hide in the water and even bury in the mud. I read that cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, and so frogs and turtles, for example, can breathe by absorbing oxygen in their skin. So it's kind of interesting the different ways that God has created animals to be able to endure. His creation is made to endure even through the deprivations of winter.

And the point really is that endurance through the winter that animals and all of us go through is a result of specific actions, actions that they take. Now, animals have it built in through instinct.

We don't have it built in through instinct. God hasn't created as much instinct in human beings as he has in animals. We work rather by what's going on inside of our minds, and that is what complicates things, isn't it? All the stuff that goes on inside of our heads. And actually, one of the interesting contrasts that's out there, I think, is that as human beings, we tend to under-prepare for things, don't we? Animals have it built in instinctually. They know what's coming, and they prepare well ahead. And we even see proverbs about going to the ant. We tell stories about the ant and the grasshopper, because we recognize that in creation, God has built these things in to prepare for things that are coming. Whereas as human beings, we seem to be especially good at being oblivious to things that are coming, probably especially the males of our human species.

We ignore any bad thing that could happen. We hide from it, and then at the last minute, we decide that maybe it's time to prepare. And that's why we have things like runs on toilet paper, where you can't find toilet paper in the store when people get scared that something bad is going to happen, because we don't prepare ahead, and we tend to take things at the last minute. So today, as we kind of look towards winter and contemplate some of those things, and me sitting at the window with my cats looking at squirrels, I'd like to talk a little bit about endurance, about Christian endurance specifically, and a couple of elements of preparation, and a couple of outcomes that result from being properly prepared and to endure. So let's start with a couple of ways that we need to prepare spiritually in order to have Christian endurance. And these are things that we have to make sure we don't mix up as well as the preparation and the outcomes. Essentially, we need to release our inner squirrel, if you want to look at it that way. We need to prepare, and we need to think about what's going on. The first element that I'd like to talk about for a few minutes is focus. Focus.

As humans, our actions are dictated by where our focus is and where our minds dwell. As much as we like to think that we can multitask, the fact is that, you know, if we try it for long, especially if we've got our phone there, maybe we're at work and things are getting slow or we're on a video call and it's getting boring, we turn off the camera and people start scrolling the phone. Sometimes we see people doing that when they don't realize they left their camera on. But the mind wanders. It's hard to focus on more than one thing at once. And as an undisciplined human, our minds don't really tend to focus on the long term, as we talked about. What is it that we focus on? Often it's our physical situation that we're in at the time. If we're hungry, if we're tired, whenever you're really tired, it's hard to focus on much else other than, man, I just need to find some place that I can go and curl up and sleep, right? And we're kind of built like that as humans. Those immediate needs that we have tend to be a focus for our minds. Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews 12.

We'll read about our Christian focus and where that needs to be. And regardless of the things that are going on short term within our lives, we are required, as Christians, if we want to endure, if we want to have that ability to move forward, to really be able to focus on what it is that we are in this Christian life for. Hebrews 12, we'll read verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, this scripture is really packed with a lot of elements to it.

Let's take a few minutes and just take a look at what it is that's in this verse. First of all, it's what's not in the verse. The verse starts with, therefore, and what it's referring to, therefore, as a result of, means let's think about what was said right before that. And, of course, Hebrews 11, not surprisingly, comes before Hebrews 12. And Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter. And when we think about the faith chapter, it goes through this litany of all the people who have lived lives, lives of faith, and all the things that they've done, the outcomes that came, the way that they endured, the things that they had to do. And so this scripture is starting by saying, therefore, as a result of all of these heroes of faith that are laid out in chapter 11, what is it we have to do? And it is sort of a refocusing that it's talking about. Because, again, Hebrews 11 says, here are all the people who come before us. And what does it say in the end about them?

They didn't receive the promise. They're still waiting for the promise, just as we are.

Therefore, we need to, because we're surrounded by that cloud of witnesses, lay aside the weight, lay aside the sin that besets us so easily, and run with endurance the race that's set before us.

It's leading us to think back. It then talks about where our focus has to be, which is on Jesus Christ, and the fact that he endured, and he did it for a reason, and it was for the joy that was set before him. And so it's talking again here about the focus. And I find it an interesting comparison, because Hebrews 11 is talking about the heroes of faith, all the things that they did. They looked also to that promise that was ahead, but they didn't receive the promise. And then in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, we're being told we need to be focused. We need to run with endurance. And our example is Jesus Christ, and he is the one person who has received the promise. So we take this shift from all the people who lived and await the promise to Jesus Christ, who is the firstfruits, who lived that life of endurance, and he was fueled by that promise that he would receive, and he did receive it. And so our focus needs to be not only backwards on those people, but forwards, and through Jesus Christ and what he received, receiving eternal life, being resurrected, is a pattern for what we can receive. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And so what's happening here is we're being told that we have to have a focus. We have to have a focus every day on the promises that are made to us, why it is that we're living our lives, what the purposes of our Christian lives, the fact that we have been called by God, and we need to focus on the Christian lives that we need to live. Now, carrying on Paul's sports analogy, he talks about running a race, but we can think about sports teams and athletes and how they go about doing what they do. And if there's one thing you can say about athletes, especially world-class athletes, is the ability to focus. Athletes will often talk when you see interviews about them and they ask about the crowd and things, especially somebody who's running a race, for example, and they'll talk about how they tune out the crowd. They often don't even hear the crowd. They don't pay attention to it because when they're lining up on the finish line, they're focused on one specific thing.

Where's the finish line for the race? How do I get set up and waiting for the gun? And that focus, as they're getting ready to run the race, gets them into that zone that they need to be and able to perform what they need to do. They're not thinking about, did I leave the heat on in the house before I left? Does my cat have enough food to last through the end of the week? They're thinking about the race that they're about to run, and they're focused completely on it.

Another example, you know, we think about the football game that just took place on Thursday.

I don't know how many people watched the Browns game. For Browns fans, it was a great victory, and we probably didn't really expect that, did we? Second-string quarterback, both starting running backs were out. But, you know, we often see this in sports, don't we, especially in football, and that is when you've got several key players out of the game. A team will often perform better.

And one of the reasons for that is focus. Because athletes can take things for granted, especially if you're playing on a good team. You figure, hey, we've got this wired. That's why, late in the season, for example, in football, you always get worried when that team that hasn't won a game yet is playing against the team that's 12-1 or 13-1, because you know that that team that hasn't won yet is hungry, and there's nothing they would like to do better than to prove things by knocking off the team that's played so well through the season. And it's that element of focus and preparation being ready for the game. When you realize you've got to have your head in the game that way, and you don't take things for granted, there's a different level of focus that comes with it. And that's what Paul is talking about when he lays out these analogies of athletics.

You know, we can contrast the performance this past Thursday with things we've seen in the past.

We had a quarterback a few years ago who wore number two. Don't necessarily have to mention his name, but I think most of us know who he is. And he was notorious for what? He'd kind of show up at the game. You know, this was a guy who was a gifted athlete. He'd at every level that he'd ever played, he'd done so well. And he wasn't used to preparing. He wasn't used to having to be focused, because he could just kind of get by and rely on the physical gifts that he had, the athleticism that he had. But he didn't realize that to play at a level of professional football, he had to work hard and be prepared and be focused, or he wasn't going to be able to perform at the same level. Turn with me, if you will, to Philippians 3, so we think a little bit more about focus.

Philippians 3. Paul writes about this same topic to the Philippians, and we'll start in verse 12.

Philippians 3 verses 12 through 15. Here Paul writes, not that I've already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I don't count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us as many as are mature have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

So we focus often in these verses about the fact that Paul says press on, but there's something else that he's saying here which is very much about focus. There's something that powers this ability to press on that he talks about. He talks about laying hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. He talks about forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead. He talks about the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

And so that ability to press on, that ability to endure and continue, is a result of what Paul is saying here, where his focus was. His focus was on the call of God through Jesus Christ and what it was that was laid up for him in the future. And so that's what we need to do if we want to be able to endure. We need to think ahead. We need to know what it is that we're in the game for, and we need to focus on those elements and make that a critical part of our life.

Just like we heard in the sermon at time, how we spend that time that we have, how we allocate that so that we can focus our minds in the right way. So the first element of preparation that enables endurance is focus. Focus on the goal that we have in Jesus Christ.

And we need to do that through taking time to think about what it is that we're in. What is it we're about? Just as like we're an athlete preparing for a game or to run a race. Think of the time and energy that squirrels use to prepare for the winter. When you look at them this time of year, they're doing one thing. You don't really see squirrels. In fact, it's really unusual. We saw a squirrel once on our little gazebo that we have out in our backyard, and it was kind of just sprawled out in the sun. And you know what? It was the weirdest thing, because you don't usually see squirrels just lying around. They're not like cats or other animals like that that spend half their day just lazing around in the sun, are they? They're focused. They have something that they're going to do. God created them that way. And what do you think about squirrels doing? They're scurrying around. In the springtime, they're coming. We had one that would come on our deck and pull all of these fibers out of the planters and would stuff its cheeks full of this grass and hay sort of stuff and use it to build a nest. And you'd see it hours on end. I'd be in my office doing work, and I'd look out the door, and there's a squirrel again running back and forth, cheeks puffed full of this stuff and building its nest for hours. It's unusual to see the squirrel lying there in the sun. I didn't even know, honestly, that they did that. But that's what God wants from us. We need the focus, the focus on what it is that we're about. We have to hold that if we want to be able to endure, especially through the difficult times that will inevitably come in our Christian lives.

Sorry, I tapped oddly on my screen, and my notes disappeared there just for a moment.

Okay, so let's go to the second point, which is faith. Faith. The second element that we have to have in order for endurance is faith, believing that God has a purpose and a plan for us that he's working out. And this ties very closely to the idea of focus, because it's that future and that plan that we focus on. But we also have to have faith that we're going to be able to, that God is going to sustain that, and that the promises that he's made is real. We have to focus and have faith in God and his existence, in the purpose that he's working out in us, and his inherent care that he has for us. Because again, when we think about enduring, we think about wintertime, we all go through those different winters in our own lives, don't we? The times when things get difficult. And what we have to remember is, despite what it might be that's happening in our physical condition at any point in time, that shouldn't call into question whether God cares for us.

And in fact, he lays out very clearly for us that there's more at work in our lives than just our physical comfort. In fact, he's trying to work out something much bigger, which is to build his own mind, his own self within us, so that we're living his way. Let's turn to Romans 8. This is by far one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and it includes some incredible declarations of faith that Paul makes, Romans 8. It's a great chapter to sit back and read and to reflect on as Paul writes about how he views his life, his calling, and how he approaches things. We'll start down in verse 31, and we'll read through verse 39 of Romans 8. Romans 8 starting in verse 31.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?

It's Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who's even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long, and we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor death nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Listen to that expression of faith as Paul reflected on his life. When we read through the epistles we see some of the horrible things that he experienced. Commentators actually question whether Paul might have actually been raised from the dead, because it talks about one of the cities—I can't remember anymore which city it was. It might have been Lister or Derby—where he went and he was stoned. He was left for dead outside the city, and he ended up recovering from that. He was shipwrecked. He went through all kinds of incredible events. And despite all those things, he writes this. He's persuaded that nothing could separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's that depth of faith.

The one thing that he knew was no matter what adversity he was going to encounter, no matter what he was going to come across, he had that absolute faith in God because he was connected to him. He spent that time—he was convicted in his heart through the Holy Spirit within him. And his constant contact in that sense with God, he had that faith, and he knew that he would be sustained in doing God's work. True faith is rooted in understanding what it is that God is working out in our lives. And that's one of the things that we have to keep absolutely clear. Again, we think about the connectedness of focus and faith is what it is that God is trying to create within us. We know that what he's trying to create is his own mind—to live completely through us and to make us mature and complete in the image of his Son Jesus Christ. That's what God is trying to create. And sometimes we can get sidetracked thinking of the things that we'd like him to create in our lives, whether it's the way we look, whether it's the things we have, whether it's comfort, whether it's relationships that we want, whatever it is. We can focus on the things that we want to have, but we also have to ultimately focus on what it is that God is trying to do in our lives, what he's trying to work. And that's the thing that will help also to keep from shipwrecking our faith. Because the one thing that we can put our undying faith in is that God is working this work out within us so we can be in the image of his Son. That's what's at the core of what he's doing. Let's turn to Hebrews 12. We'll read a little farther in this passage that we started in Hebrews 12. And it goes a little further on this topic as well.

We'll read verses 3 through 13. And here the author of Hebrews writes in verse 3, For we consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, talking here about Jesus Christ, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

You have not resisted to bloodshed striving against sin, and you've forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you're rebuked by him, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons.

For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.

Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live?

For they, indeed, for a few days chastened us, as seemed best to them, but he, for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. But nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained for it. Therefore, strengthen the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. So what the writer of Hebrews is talking about here is that we need to put the things that we experience in our human lives into context.

And the context that he makes clear is what it is that God is trying to work out. In verse 10, it says that we might be partakers of his holiness. In verse 11, yielding the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And this passage is very clearly talking about the fact that just like a physical parent disciplines a child for a purpose, and that is that the child will grow up to be mature, to be responsible, to be a productive member of society. Likewise, God is working through us, sometimes in painful ways, in order to teach us and to mold us and to shape us into the shape of his son Jesus Christ. And having that understanding is what helps to build endurance within us. It's something that we need to build up and understand more and more as every day goes by. It's not something where we can wait until a tough time comes and then say, let me reflect in this difficult time what it is that God wants for me. Because if it's not deep within us, within our heart, if we haven't prepared ahead, if we haven't really spent that time to understand what it is that God is doing with us and building our connectedness to him and our faith in him, we're not going to have that reservoir to draw on when difficult times come.

So as we reflect on faith as the second element that powers endurance, in terms of action, we need to continue to reflect on the fact of what it is that God's working within us. Taking time, reflecting on his word, and building it into our lives. And both of these things, the idea of focus and the idea of faith, exactly like we heard in the sermonette, is a matter of time and concentration.

We need to build time in our lives. We need to take in God's word. We need to reflect on the life of his son, Jesus Christ, how he worked with people throughout the ages. All of these lessons that are in the Bible, as we see them, help to further help us understand and take into our hearts what it is that God is doing. And as we reflect on that, we pray for understanding about the things that are happening in our lives. That's how we build up that fuel. It's like the squirrel.

It goes out and just starts bearing the nuts all around the yards, that when the winter comes, there are places they can go to, and they can find that nourishment and that sustenance that they need to keep going. That's figuratively what it is that's happening in our lives, as we're burying more of these things inside of our heart to fuel us and sustain us when difficult times do come. So just like a squirrel is hard at work to be able to endure the winter, our critical elements of endurance help to prepare us to make it through our Christian lives.

So focus and faith are those two elements. And the good news is these elements don't only enable us to run the race, to endure, but they also work out very real fruit and benefit in our lives today. So let's look at a couple of the benefits that work out in our lives, two outcomes of Christian endurance, if you want, that we can and should expect in our lives. The first one is gratitude. Now, gratitude, when we hear it, usually we think about the fact, oh, I've got to look for ways to express more gratitude. I've got to force myself, you know, to find more things to appreciate others for, and to thank them.

And that's part of it. But gratitude also has inherent benefits. I was reading a few articles online and found an interesting one from a magazine called Greater Good Magazine. It's published by UC Berkeley, and this one is from 2017. It's titled, How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain.

How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain. And in 2017, they did a study of 300 adults, and most of them, rather than just taking people randomly off the street, they had students, and they were specifically students that were seeking mental health assistance while they were at university. So these were people who were already having some issues with anxiety or perhaps depression. And they divided these into two groups. One of those groups wrote gratitude letters. So they were told to take a certain amount of time.

They were supposed to write letters expressing gratitude to different people. The other group was to focus on the thoughts and feelings that they had when they were in negative experiences. So basically two groups. One group was going to express gratitude, write letters to people. The other group was going to talk about the negative experiences they'd had in their lives, and talk about their thoughts and feelings in those negative experiences.

And what this study found interesting was the group who wrote the gratitude letters reported better mental health both four and twelve weeks after the experiment took place. And there were four specific findings that this study came out with in the end after they were done with it. And the findings were as follows. The first one, that expressing gratitude unshackled people from toxic emotions.

So they talked about use of positive words versus negative words in how they were expressing themselves and dealing with other people, and found much more use of positive emotion words in the people who were writing the gratitude letters. It made them focus on something different, and even how they were approaching and speaking was different. Secondly, they found that gratitude helps even if not shared.

Now that might sound a little bit odd as a comment, but what they found was only 23 percent of the participants actually sent the letters that they wrote. But the fact that they sat down and they wrote these letters of gratitude started to cause changes in how they viewed life, how they viewed other people, and how they did things that still had a positive impact. Thirdly, they found that the benefits did not appear immediately, but they accrued over time. So it wasn't like every time they wrote a letter of gratitude, you know, there were unicorns and rainbows.

It took time. There was something developing as they began to write these letters. And then lastly, and I think most interestingly, is they found lasting effects actually on the brain, on the makeup of the brain. They noted different brain activity when they studied these people through MRIs, and they found that there was different activity in portions of their brain in the group that expressed gratitude on a regular basis.

And so it made a real difference over the course of time in their lives. How they approached things, how they did things, how they experienced life because they were expressing gratitude. And this is only one study. You can argue about, you know, the scientific background of it, but I think it stands for the proposition. It makes sense in terms of what it works out. But gratitude doesn't come out of thin air. We're not naturally grateful, especially for having to endure difficulty.

And actually, what I'm going to suggest is we shouldn't pray for gratitude. We shouldn't pray for being thankful. What we should think about is what are the conditions that cause gratitude, and how is it that we can work those into our lives? Let's turn to 1 Peter 4.

1 Peter 4. We'll read verses 12 and 13.

Here we read, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

Now again, there's a lot packed in here, and it's a difficult thing to say that when you're going through these hard times, you should rejoice. What I'd like to suggest is this is not a wave the magic wand kind of thing. It's not like we pray to God and say, next time I'm in a trial, help me just to be happy. Help me magically happy because I'm having a hard time. Because there's something else that's going on here. We see twice in verse 12 this word strange. Don't think it's strange concerning the trial, as though some strange thing happened to you. There's an understanding that lies behind that statement. Because again, we go back to focus, we go back on faith, as the grounding, the foundation for endurance. What that does is it builds something else into our minds, because we understand context. We understand why these things are happening to us. We understand that God has not abandoned us in the middle of these things. We understand that there's a purpose for the things that are going on, because God is working something out within us. And those things can allow us to rejoice and to give thanks even when we're in trials. Why is it? Not because we're going crazy because we love being in pain, but because we realize that God is working with us, that he's developing something in us. And even though it doesn't feel great at the time, we can be grateful for the fact that God is working with us and developing us and molding us into something different. So you see, it's not something that we just ask God, give me gratefulness. What we want to ask for is understanding, the ability to focus, to have faith in him, to know what it is that he's working out in our lives. And that's going to produce the gratitude coming out of it. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 15. We see a similar thought here in 1 Corinthians 15. We'll start in verse 55. This talks here about the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15. In verse 55, we read, O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Endure, in other words, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So again, there's an understanding there, understanding that the things that we're doing are not meaningless, knowing that there's meaning in the things that we go through in life that allows us to give thanks to God, as well as knowing that we have that victory through Jesus Christ. Just like we read in Romans 8, as Paul was writing, that we know that nothing can stand in the way of the plan that God is working out, not only broadly, but in our individual lives. And so even when we're going through difficult times, we can be grateful because through our faith and through our focus on God, we know that there is a plan that He is working out. So tying together this element of endurance, gratefulness with the things we've read about, again, if we go back to squirrels, squirrels don't magically find nuts in the winter, do they? You know, squirrels don't go out and say, you know, that's a good-looking front yard. I'm just going to start digging around. Who knows? I might stumble across a nut. God built it into them, and I'm sure at some point in the winter, we'll see some scratch marks in that planter that's on our deck, and the nut's going to be gone. Why is that? Because the squirrel planted it there. It's not magic. There was preparation that happened. God built that instinct into the squirrel, and it produced a result. Likewise, gratefulness is an outcome.

It's an outcome of an understanding. It's an outcome of the faith. It's an outcome of the focus.

That we have. You know, we tend to focus on results and not think about the things that come before the results. When we hear somebody perform a great piece of music, you know, Mark Graham gets up on stage. What do we often say to a musician when they're done performing a piece of music?

You're so talented. Isn't that an interesting thing that we say to somebody? We don't say, in coming from a family full of musicians, I'm kind of the musical runt of my family, we don't say, wow, you must have practiced for hours in order to do that. We don't say, how long did you have to study to get to that level of ability? We say, you're so talented.

Almost in a dismissive sort of a way. But what I'm going to put before you today that we need to think about is, the world is full of talented people. The world is full of talented people who have not developed their talents. And it has some people who have developed their talents.

Now, there are all kinds of reasons for that. And, you know, I'm not trying to say some people are good because they've developed talents, some are bad because they haven't. It's much more complex than that. But the fact is that we often focus on that outcome, and we almost excuse away the fact that somebody is good at something because they're talented. And we don't think about the fact that perhaps there was a lot of effort that went into that. A lot of preparation.

A lot of work. And luck sometimes comes in as well, without a doubt, and events that happen.

But it's not just that these things happen. And that's how it is with gratefulness as an outcome.

It's not something that just happens magically, where we can pray to God and say, hey, give me some gratefulness today and you'll be thankful. We need to build these things. We need to think about what are the conditions, precedent, that cause these things to happen? And how do we put those things in motion in our lives? The focus on God, the faith that we need to develop, and the time and the effort that it takes to get into His Word, to reflect on our lives, to talk with other people of faith and to understand what it is that's going on in hard times and in good times, and to edify each other. All of these things build in, and they build something different in our hearts that cause this outcome of gratefulness. Let's go to the last one, and similar thing applies here, and that's contentment. Contentment, the other outcome of endurance.

Now, we tend as human beings to confuse two different words that start with C. One of them is comfort, and the other one is contentment. And we tend to think as human beings, especially in our Western world, that the more we can fill our lives with physical comfort, the more contentment that we're going to feel. And we'll do things, we'll travel around the world, we'll pity those poor people in all kinds of different parts of the world who don't have the same things that we have.

And yes, to some extent, it is a pity that there are people in the world that live without basics like reliable food, clean water, and those things. I completely grant that. At the same time, we make a mistake, though. We'll hear people travel, and they'll say, you know, we were there, and the people, they just don't have anything. But what we often look past is, people in all kinds of different situations, and I've seen a lot in the different countries I've visited, can be incredibly happy with incredibly little comfort around them. And it's really amazing, and sometimes quite humbling, when you reflect on the fact that there are people in parts of this world who have a whole lot less than any of us have in terms of physical comforts, who have a great deal more contentment than we do.

And in fact, that many of us might even ever find in our lives. And we can go through why that might be. But somehow we've gotten this thing in our Western culture that comfort, physical things around us, are going to produce happiness and contentment, and we end up on this wrap wheel, where we just keep chasing after it, we never quite find it. Turn with me, if you will, to Philippians 4. And I'm going to suggest again that we don't pray for contentment, because God is not a magic genie who's going to wave a wand and say, I'm going to make you content today. Because what God wants us to learn and develop is his mind and his heart, which is going to produce contentment within us as we develop that understanding through his spirit. Philippians 4, starting in verse 11. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I've learned in whatever state I'm in to be content. I know how to be a based. I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I've learned, both to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer need, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now, when you read that passage, what do you focus on? What do you think about?

I'll admit to you that until I was reading it this morning, I never focused on the word learned.

Twice in this passage, Paul says, I have learned.

It took time. It was something that had to be developed within him. He didn't say, I prayed to God, and God finally bopped me on the head with the wand and I'm content.

He said, I learned. And then he talks about the things that he went through. And I think that's something that we have to reflect on. I know it's something I need to reflect on in my life.

Because building contentment, gaining contentment is something that we learn if we read this passage.

It's something that gets developed within us through the experiences that we go through, through God's Spirit working within us, through his word that we take in as we match all those things together. And through his Spirit, we start to learn. That's what it is. That's what God's trying to work out within me. And we can be content because we know over the long haul, even though we might be less comfortable in a certain point in time, we might go through whatever difficulties and pain and negative emotions and sorrow, that we can be content because we can see God's hand carrying us through these things and we know that he's taking us to a sure destination. I have learned, is what Paul says, and something I think we all should reflect on and consider how we're learning this. Again, it's not something that gets sort of just magically granted to us. Let's go to 2 Corinthians, another section where Paul writes, and he explains the same attitude in a slightly different way. I love these first couple verses. 1 Corinthians 4. We'll read verses 8 and 9, and then we'll jump down to verse 16. 2 Corinthians 4. Sorry if I said 1 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 4. We'll start in verse 8. Here Paul writes in 8 and 9, We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We're perplexed, but not in despair.

We're persecuted, but not forsaken. We're struck down, but not destroyed. Paul's expressing this resilience in the middle of all this. There's another way you might say he's expressing this contentment that he was writing about to the Philippians. And then in verse 16, he says, Therefore we don't lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we don't look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. And so what he's pointing to in these verses 16 through 18 is the fact that those unseen things, those things that we have faith in, the things that we know as we focus on God's way, and his plan, and what he's doing in us, is what carries us through these things. And as Paul learned, as he said to the Philippians, about everything that was going on and learned contentment, the same thing is what he's reflecting here. His inward man being renewed day by day.

He talks about afflictions here as being light afflictions. He talks about the things that are not seen, which are much more permanent than the things that are seen. If we're looking for things to pray about as we look to try to develop this attitude of contentment in ourselves, these passages to me are great ones to reflect on, to get on our knees and to pray to God about it as we try to understand this more, understand the point of view that Paul had here and how that was built in him through the Spirit. If we want contentment, I would recommend that praying about these words, thinking about them, internalizing them, is going to have a much different impact in our lives and simply asking God to magically grant us a feeling of contentment. Because it's something that needs to be built within us. It's a product of that depth, that endurance, that Christian life, God's Spirit, working inside of us. So drawing a couple points out of the outcome of contentment before we wrap up for today, it's something we learn, as Paul talks to the Philadelphians about. It's a result of deeper things at work in our minds and in our hearts.

And in part, it's the recognition that physical comfort does not produce spiritual contentment.

And so we have to look in the right places for that attitude of contentment that we're looking for.

So in conclusion, I love watching the squirrels run around, especially this time of year. If you remember nothing else, you can remember that, and hopefully some other thoughts will come to your mind as you think about squirrels burying nuts. But if we want to endure, like those squirrels do, as they see winter approaching, we've got to make preparation. Everywhere we look right now, God's creation is doing that. The trees are dropping their leaves, the birds are migrating, the squirrels are hiding their nuts, and you know what? We don't even think twice about it, do we? We expect the squirrels are going to be there next spring, the trees are going to bud, and the leaves are going to come out. We take it for granted because God's built it into creation to be that way.

These instinctual preparations are made, and there's not really a question of what's going to happen in the spring. Creation is going to come back alive because that's what it was made to do.

And the good news is that God's spiritual creation is exactly the same way.

You know, it might be difficult. Winter might be coming in our lives at different points in time, as we try to endure different things, but if we understand God's promises and we're focused on those things, we know we have faith just as sure as spring comes here in northeast Ohio, that God will work out in our lives the things that he's purposed to do, and he will bring us to full maturity as his children. So in conclusion, I urge you not to pray for a grateful heart or for contentment, but rather ask God to build the things inside of you that will produce those fruits.

It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be quick. Paul said he had to learn it, and he went through some tough stuff to learn it, didn't he? Unfortunately, we sometimes have to do the same things in our lives, but through that faith in God, we know that what's being built in us is something that lasts and something that will take us forward. As that understanding, as that knowledge grows deeper within us, and that conviction and that commitment to God, those fruits, those outcomes of gratitude and contentment will be built in our lives. And we will be more productive Christians, will reflect our elder brother Jesus Christ in greater ways as every day goes by. So as winter comes, I encourage you to enjoy watching the squirrels out there, and as you do, to think about the things that God is working in us as we work on continuing to develop Christian endurance and the fruits that come from it in our lives.