Advent 2 (12/9/07): “The God of Steadfastness and Encouragement”

Text: Romans 15.4-13

On this second Sunday in Advent, our second lesson is from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul is one of those writers in whom we often find buried treasures. I found one of those this week. In this passage there are three descriptions of God—just phrases, really, that Paul uses to talk about God, but when but together, they have a powerful impact. Two of them are in verse 5, where he refers to the “God of steadfastness and encouragement”; and the other is in verse 13, where he talks about the “God of hope.” I’d like you to think with me about Paul’s descriptions. What do they tell us about this God for whom we wait in this Advent season?

He is first of all the “God of steadfastness.” “Steadfast” is not a word we use every day, so let’s see if we can understand what it means. Sometimes this Greek word is translated “patience,” sometimes “perseverance.” Each of those has a different nuance to it. “Patience” is usually thought of as a passive thing, a willingness to sit and wait for whatever is going to happen. “Perseverance” is more active; it implies sticking with something in spite of trouble and difficulty.

But “steadfastness” has some of the qualities of each. It suggests a kind of patience, but it is more active than simply waiting. It may involve perseverance, but it is a quality that applies all the time, not just when things are tough.

Hanging on our wall in our home is a painting that Lois and I bought when we were on our honeymoon. It is by Ray Shadis, a religious artist of some repute. It is entitled “Marriage.” It depicts a man and a woman sitting, side by side, a short distance apart but holding hands; and above them is the simple legend, “Steadfast.” It is a great word to apply to a marriage; anyone who has ever been in that state knows that it is not always easy. One hopes it is not always a struggle either, but it can be a struggle often enough. Yet the commitment that we try to make to our spouse is to be steadfast—to have a kind of steadiness that doesn’t get thrown off balance, a kind of patience that accepts life with grace, and a perseverance that keeps working at things. That’s a pretty good picture of what “steadfastness” means.

When we say that our Lord is the “God of steadfastness,” we are saying two things—first, that he himself is steadfast in his love for us. That is a mighty good thing! I don’t know about you, but my faithfulness and obedience to God is sometimes pretty strong, sometimes a little shaky. Yet our relationship, you see, doesn’t depend on my faithfulness to God, but on God’s faithfulness to me. And God is steadfast. “His steadfast love endures forever,” the Psalmist says. That is a good thing!

But to say he is the “God of steadfastness” also means something else. It means that he gives steadfastness to his people. It is a gift. It isn’t a character trait, something that we either have or don’t have, something that is innate with us. It is God’s gift to us. It is a gift which enables us, Paul says, to live in harmony with one another, to not give up on each other. When we open ourselves to that gift of steadfastness, we learn how to bear with one another and love one another—even when sometimes that isn’t so easy.

Then Paul talks about the “God of encouragement.” Now there’s a word we use a lot, but we sometimes don’t understand how powerful it can be. It really can make the difference in a person’s life.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a famous artist and poet. One day an elderly man approached him and asked him to look at some drawings he had made, to tell him if they were any good. Rossetti saw at once that they drawings were not very good at all, and being a kind but honest man, he gently told him that the drawings did not show much potential. The man seemed disappointed but not surprised. “If I may trouble you another moment,” he said, “would you look at these drawings which were done by a young art student?” This time Rossetti’s eyes lit up and he became enthusiastic. “These are very good!” he exclaimed. “This young student should be given every encouragement to continue; he has a great future if he will stick to it! Who is he? Is this young man your son?” “No,” replied the old man with sadness. “The young man is me forty years ago. If only I had heard your praise then! You see, I became discouraged and gave up—too soon!”

Encouragement is what helps us be steadfast! It is what keeps us sticking to it! Yet without encouragement, we quickly lose heart. Paul says that our God is a “God of encouragement.” By this he means that God continually says to us, “Keep on! You can do it!” God never gives up on us; and he does whatever he can to keep us from giving up on ourselves.

Let me give you an example. Sometimes I have had people who were wrestling with the problem of forgiveness say to me, “I have difficulty praying the Lord’s Prayer. I come to the line, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,’ and I cannot say that because I cannot forgive.” I sometimes share with them my own experience of that, which is that precisely by being forced to pray that prayer week by week and day by day, God encourages me to forgive. Encouragement, you see, is not always cheerleading and sweet words; sometimes it is holding one accountable and reminding one of the need to do certain things. But it is always done with love.

Our God is the God of encouragement. He offers that blessing to us constantly: “This is my body, given for you,” he says—and among all the dimensions of those words, there is this: that he gives himself to us so that we will be able to keep on, to keep trying to follow him, to keep working at serving him. And when we say, as Moses once did, “I just can’t do this,” he whispers in reply, “Ah, but I will be with you!”

Finally, Paul says, our God is the God of hope. Hope is a wonderful Christian word, and it, too, has many dimensions of meaning. But the one most relevant here, I think, is the idea that hope manages to face even disappointments with a positive outlook and a smiling spirit.

William Bausch tells about a friend of his who spoke of his wife, Helen. There was a window seat that she had treasured for years. It had become worn, and she had recovered it. On this day her husband was gloomy. Things were not going well at work, and it was a blustery, stormy day. He sat on the window seat staring out at the wind and the rain. He lit his pipe and accidentally spilled some hot ash which burned a hole right in the center of the window seat. His own words say best what happened next: “Seeing what had happened, Helen calmly threaded a needle and stitched a beautiful flower over the charred spot. When I looked at the finished work, I realized that it was a striking symbol of our long life together, and my spirits began to soar. I had married a repairer of broken spirits, a healer of wounds, a woman whose very presence was an antidote to fear. Moreover, I understood, perhaps for the first time, that it was Helen’s deep and abiding trust in God’s goodness that made it possible for her to be a source of light and a harbinger of hope in times of darkness and despair.” [William Bausch, A World of Stories for Preachers and Teachers (Twenty-third Publications, 1998)]

A beautiful tribute. But isn’t that what our God of hope is all about? Isn’t he the one who cheerfully accepts our failings and mistakes, and makes something beautiful come out of them? That is hope, you see—it is the conviction that even when life looks dark and terrible, we have confidence that this is not the end of things. “I trace the rainbow through the rain,” the hymn writer put it, “and know his promise is not vain.” When we know that our God is the God of hope, then we can take the bumps and the disappointments and the frustrations, even the griefs and the pains and the losses, and know that there is a deeper peace, a deeper joy, undisturbed by the ups and downs of life. It is the peace of God.

And so, Paul says, he is the God of steadfastness and encouragement, and the God of hope. May he, in this wonderful season, fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.