Sermon Tone Analysis

1pa•tient \ˈpā-shənt\ adjective

[Middle English pacient, from Anglo-French, from Latin patient-, patiens, from present participle of pati to suffer; perhaps akin to Greek pēma suffering] 14th century

1: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint

That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity

ad•ver•si•ty \ad-ˈvər-sə-tē\ noun

plural -ties 13th century: a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune synonym see MISFORTUNE

thank•ful \ˈthaŋk-fəl\ adjective

before 12th century

1: conscious of benefit received 〈for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful〉

2: expressive of thanks 〈thankful service〉

3: well pleased: GLAD 〈was thankful that it didn’t rain〉—thank•ful•ness noun

pros•per•i•ty \prä-ˈsper-ə-tē\ noun

13th century: the condition of being successful or thriving especially: economic well-being

While I am not one to suggest that the description of the LD is wrong, I would perhaps challenge a basic understanding of it.

The first challenge is the common definitions of the words of the answer:

How do we define:

How do we define:

patience - bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint

adversity - a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune

thankfulness - conscious of benefit received; expressive of thanks

2: expressive of thanks

prosperity - the condition of being successful or thriving especially: economic well-being

There is a passage of Baha’u’llah where He says, ‘Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity”

The Christian is, and must be, “patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity.”

One surely would agree that we are to be thankful in prosperity.

Of course.

We enjoy health, prosperity, fruitful years, etc.  Often, however, that is not the case.

We can take these “good” things for granted.

We begin to reason that it was our wisdom, our great effort that made us prosperous.

We attribute our health to much exercise, to proper diet, to careful supervision over our health by a good doctor.

But however much these means are contributing to our welfare, the fact is that God, our Father, directs and governs all of this.

We must be thankful to God for it all.

Never are we to forget that.

But it might be more difficult to be “patient in adversity.”

This “patience” surely means that we don’t complain about what God has sent upon us.

We do not rebel against His way with us.

We do not conclude that God is punishing us for some specific sin.

Rather, we bear all of this patiently.

Have you not heard the Christian who is in great pain and in very difficult circumstances confess, “God is good”?

That’s patience!

We ought, however, to go even beyond this.

The Christian must also be thankful in adversity!

Is that too hard for us?

Is it not enough simply to “grit our teeth and bear it?”

Yet if affliction is for our profit (), if all these things work together for our good (), then we can be thankful even through our tears.

In ways we do not always understand, affliction “works for us a far more exceeding weight of glory.”

() 

Providence Teaches and Refines through Suffering

Deut.

8:5; Job 5:17–18; Job 36:8–10, 12; Ps. 94:12–13; Ps. 119:67, 71; Prov.

3:11–12; Isa.

26:8–9, 16; Isa.

48:10; Dan.

11:35; Hos.

5:14–15; Zech.

13:9; Mal.

3:2–3; Heb.

12:4–11

I. Patient in Adversity

1.

The knowledge that in every adversity God’s hand has a directing influence, is to be of this advantage to us, that we are to learn from it to be patient.

Heb.

10:36, James 1:2, 3.

2. Patience, the proper demeanor in adversity (i.e., in every sorrow and need), in view of the knowledge of the Providence of God, consists:

a) In humble submission to the will of God.

Dan.

4:35, 2 Sam.

15:25, 26; 16:10, 1 Tim.

6:7.

b) The calm resignation to the will of God.

Psalm 39:9; 73:24, 2 Cor.

12:8, 9.

3. The earthly life is for every child of God a school of suffering.

In it there are three classes.

The first say: This I must suffer; “but the right hand of the Most High can change it all.”

Ps. 77:10.

The second say: I will gladly suffer; for “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

Rom.

8:18.

The third say: I rejoice in suffering; for I have in it a seal of my sonship in Christ.

Heb.

12:5–9, Rom.

5:3, 2 Cor.

4:10.

Compare Heb.

12:8.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/adversity/

https://iblp.org/questions/what-are-gods-purposes-allowing-adversity-my-life

http://intersectproject.org/faith-and-culture/adversity-hard-adversity-gift/

7. God’s providence in prosperity*

The servant of God, strengthened both by these promises and by examples, will join thereto the testimonies which teach that all men are under his power, whether their minds are to be conciliated, or their malice to be restrained that it may not do harm.

For it is the Lord who gives us favor, not alone among those who wish us well, but even “in the eyes of the Egyptians” [Ex.

3:21]; indeed, he knows how to shatter the wickedness of our enemies in various ways.

For sometimes he takes away their understanding so that they are unable to comprehend anything sane or sober, as when he sends forth Satan to fill the mouths of all the prophets with falsehood in order to deceive Ahab [1 Kings 22:22].

He drives Rehoboam mad by the young men’s advice that through his own folly he may be despoiled of the kingdom [1 Kings 12:10, 15].

Sometimes when he grants them understanding, he so frightens and dispirits them that they do not wish, or plan, to carry out what they have conceived.

Sometimes, also, when he permits them to attempt what their lust and madness has prompted, he at the right moment breaks off their violence, and does not allow their purpose to be completed.

Thus Ahitophel’s advice, which would have been fatal for David, he destroyed before its time [2 Sam.

17:7, 14].

Thus, also, it is his care to govern all creatures for their own good and safety; and even the devil himself, who, we see, dared not attempt anything against Job without His permission and command [Job 1:12].

Gratitude of mind for the favorable outcome of things, patience in adversity, and also incredible freedom from worry about the future all necessarily follow upon this knowledge.

Therefore whatever shall happen prosperously and according to the desire of his heart, God’s servant will attribute wholly to God, whether he feels God’s beneficence through the ministry of men, or has been helped by inanimate creatures.

For thus he will reason in his mind: surely it is the Lord who has inclined their hearts to me, who has so bound them to me that they should become the instruments of his kindness toward me.

In abundance of fruits he will think: “It is the Lord who ‘hears’ the heaven, that the heaven may ‘hear’ the earth, that the earth also may ‘hear’ its offspring” [cf.

Hos.

2:21–22, Vg.; 2:22–23, EV].

In other things he will not doubt that it is the Lord’s blessing alone by which all things prosper.

Admonished by so many evidences, he will not continue to be ungrateful.

8. Certainty about God’s providence helps us in all adversities