The life of a Christian is full of trials and tribulations. This is the inevitable result when the Christian lives for Christ as he ought to do after being born again by the Spirit of God. It is part and parcel of what it means to believe in Christ.
The Christian is in a constant battle for the Truth and for the souls of sinners. His enemies are all the followers of Satan, Satan's demons and Satan himself. This is the spiritual warfare that the Bible speaks of. Although victory has already been attained by Christ when He died on Calvary's cross, battles have yet to be fought. That the war has been won is never doubted, for the victory call will sound soon when Christ returns; but till that day comes many battles remain to be fought, which are called tribulations. Men and women and tactics of all kinds will be leveled against the Christian. These are real people and with real attacks trying their utmost to stop the Christian from doing God's will and work. False accusations, scare tactics, persecutions, verbal abuse and threats are some of the methods employed against the Christian. Some of these could even be life-threatening. We have read enough of these in the Book of Acts and the history of the church. The target is the body! These attacks affect the body. But Jesus encourages the Christian, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28 ). Do not flinch from tribulations. They cannot touch the soul.
Tribulations are necessary in the Christian's life because he needs to learn patience. Patience is the perseverance and endurance that the Christian manifests when he remains stedfast in the work and Word of God. The end result is victory. The tribulations he endures have to be because of Christ or the Bible. If it is because of his own sins that he is being punished, he cannot call them tribulations; he is not suffering for Christ's sake. There seems to be this false notion being bandied around that "as I call myself a Christian and am being persecuted I must be suffering for Christ". This is not true. A Christian who lives in sin or attacks the Bible or Christ will be punished for his sins - that is not to be seen as being persecuted for Christ's sake. This must be made clear. Therefore when the Christian goes through difficult times he must be honest with himself and ensure that he is really being persecuted for Christ's sake according to Scriptures! Once that is established, then he can safely rest in Christ's promise that with tribulation he will learn patience.
Patience will result in experience. This experiential knowledge of the sufficiency of God's grace in his life is priceless. The Christian learns to trust God more and more as his experiential knowledge of God deepens. What he learns from the Bible is head knowledge which is translated into experiential knowledge when he endures tribulations with patience. This journey of experiential knowledge is not meant to be the exception but the rule. Every Christian must have experiences of trials and tribulations in his Christian life. This is what Christian maturity is all about. The Christian's trust in God is deepened as he realizes experientially the faithfulness of the promises of God according to Holy Scriptures. Only a fool would believe that maturity comes with simply having white hair or doing nothing and that one becomes wise by merely growing old. It does not work that way. There are many who are called elders, pastors and professors of theology who are actually spiritual babes in Christ. They have not grown because they have not lived for Christ. They only live for self and the world whose lives are much likened to that of Lot. A life full of vexation of spirit, knowing what is right but not having the courage to do it. Some might not even be born again. This is the saddest part of every sinner who thinks he is saved but in reality he is not! By the time he finds out, which is when he dies, it will be too late!
Experience brings hope in God and in God's perfect Word. His trust in God and His perfect Word is strengthened and deepened. His hope never dies for it is based upon the promises of the God whom he knows experientially and very soon intimately. This enables the Christian to rejoice ever more even in the face of the greatest tribulation. The Christian knows that the end of the journey of tribulation is a strengthening of his hope in his God.
What Calvary Pandan B-P Church and FEBC are going through right now has been allowed by God to test the believer's faith in order to strengthen his hope. The end result is clear. It is not the properties or the bank accounts, for these are the temporal and tangible things that will soon pass away. It is the patience and experience and hope that the Christian gains that matters at the end of every tribulation. Therefore the call to every member of CPBPC and every Christian is to look up and never look down. The means as well as the ends of this battle for the faith and the perfect Bible are already known by Christ Jesus. But we need to walk by faith and to trust God to give us the victory. Every step we take must be in accordance to God's holy and perfect Word. We need courage to obey God's perfect Word. For ". . . we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans 5:3-5 ). AMEN.