“Pathways Through Grief” met tonight and we read about how suffering makes us more understanding to God’s will and more understanding of other people’s suffering so we become more empathetic. Becky not only made us chocolate chip cookie bars but we were also treated to pizza!! Coming To Grips With Suffering 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 In September of 1986, I was at work when my boss come to me and told me that I needed to go home. When I arrived at home, my mother met me at the door and told me that my dad was dead. He had been robbed and murdered. Three days later he would be laid to rest by a military color guard. All that was left of him was a folded flag and memories. It was at that point that I, a new Christian, was introduced to the reality that I am not exempt from the suffering of this world. In the years since my dads death, I have come to recognize that suffering and life are intertwined. As I get older, I have come to the conclusion that there is a relationship between the maturity of my faith and how I handle suffering. You see it is when we face suffering that the level our faith in God and our relationship with Him is revealed. Each of us knows someone whose faith has been devastated because of suffering in their life. If we are going to grow and mature, sooner or later we are going to have to come to grips with the issue of suffering. We are going to have to move from a level where we ask Why? to a level where we understand the realities of suffering. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 the apostle Paul shares how he came to grips with his suffering. What we are seeing the apostle reveal in this passage is not so much the reason for suffering but rather the realities of suffering. 1. GOD ALLOWS SUFFERING TO TAKE PLACE IN OUR LIVES Notice what the apostle writes about the nature of his suffering. Paul writes concerning a very painful experience that happened in his life. The event occurred sometime after he had the privilege of being caught up to the third heaven. An experience that was so wonderful that he humbly choose not to claim as his own. It was after this experience that God allowed a very painful experience to come into his life. My grandmother grew up in Nazi Germany. She witnessed the persecution of Jews. She saw her relatives go to concentration camps because they refused to work in ammunition factories. She had to flee from East Prussia to Berlin as a refugee. She saw people disappear from the streets because of the Nazis. She lived through the horror of the fall of Berlin. As I try to share my faith with her, she simply responds with the question, Why would God allow these things to happen? We do not have a satisfactory response to answer that question. We struggle with this issue. Our people struggle it. We try to explain. We look at theologically. We search the scriptures. It is hard for us to understand. But the reality is that God allows suffering to take place in our lives. II. GOD DOESNT MAKE SPECIAL DEALS There is this sense in which many of us operate with a faulty assumption that as long as I am a Christian or as long as 1 am faithfully serving God, I should be exempt from suffering. But notice, here is the apostle, a man that you and I cannot even hold a candle to in terms of spiritual maturity and ministry, yet God allows suffering to be a part of his life just as anyone else. The reality is that God doesnt make special deals with his people. III. ITS OKAY TO CRY OUT TO GOD The apostle responded to the suffering in his life like we would. He asked God to take it away. And he just didnt do it once. The text tells us that Paul on three different occasions cried out to God. The implication is that Paul pleaded with God to remove the source of his suffering. I think this is significant because many North American believers are operating under a lie that no matter the intensity of pain we are experiencing, we are to keep a stiff upper lip. We are told that our response to suffering is supposed to be a testimony to others. That is a lie and it is totally unrealistic. We damage ourselves and others by such thinking. The apostle did what any other human being would have done. He cried out to God. Its okay to cry out. Paul continues in his testimony by revealing the response of God to his request. It is in Gods response that we find the next two realities. IV. GOD NEVER PROMISES TO TAKE AWAY THE PROBLEM. Gods response is not what Paul had requested. Paul asked for the removal of the problem. The issue with God was not the taking away of pain but rather the endurance of it. We have to correct our thinking and come to realization that God at no time ever promises to remove suffering from our lives. On the contrary, throughout the scripture, we have testimonies and exhortations that suffering is an expected part of our lives. It is out of this reality that Paul reveals to us the next reality V. GOD WILL GIVE YOU GRACE TO SEE YOU THROUGH IT. Again the issue with God was not the taking away of pain but rather the endurance of it. The Lord tells Paul that His grace is sufficient for Him. His strength is made perfect in weakness. Must of us need to change the way we pray. We need to stop asking God to take it away the problem and begin to ask him for the grace to endure it. VI. WE NEED TO LOOK FOR GOD IN THE MIDST OF OUR SUFFERING Pauls final conclusion to his suffering brings us to the sixth and final reality. Paul states Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities.. It is not that Paul has a warp sense of reality where he enjoys pain, but rather Paul has arrive at a point where he recognized that it is in the midst of his suffering that he experiences God in a new way, For when I am weak, then I am strong. When I was studying for the ministry, I had the opportunity to spend the summer in Nairobi, Kenya. One evening as I was staying with the missionary, someone came to the door. It was a deacon from one of the churches. He was very frantic. His five-year-old daughter had been injured. She had been playing around the fire where supper was being prepared. She slipped and fell. Her arm landed in a pot of boiling water, which scalded her. The child was taken to Childrens Hospital in Nairobi. The doctors were able to save her arm. However, the deacon now had a medical bill that amounted to $1,500. To you and I that is a small amount, but this deacon only made $30 a month. As a young man, I could only think How was this guy going to pay off this debt? He must be devastated. To my shock, his response humbled me. He praised the Lord for saving his daughters arm. In their culture, children who lose their arms are reduced to begging or possibly prostitution. This deacon looked beyond the debt to the gracious God who saved his daughters arm. He found God in the midst of his suffering. You see suffering brings us to the place of seeking God like we have never sought him before. In fact if our lives were perfect, the chances are that we would not seek Him with the same intensity. You see when I think back to the time when my father was murdered, what sustained me through those times was not keeping a stiff upper lip, but rather those times alone with God. Each of us is going to have to come to grips with the reality of suffering. The question in your mind is what does this mean to me. Some of you right are in midst of difficulty. Some of you are still experiencing the pain from something that occurred in your life. The tendency is to draw away from God. You begin to feel that God has abandoned you. I know the feeling, I been there. You have to begin to come to grips with what is happening or what has happened in your life. Three things can help us deal with the suffering in our lives. 1. LET GO OF YOUR ANGER When we experience suffering, we response in one of two ways. We either turn to God or we turn from Him. Most of us respond in anger and turn from him. If that is where you are, you need to come to place of letting go of your anger. You need to turn back to the gracious God. 2. BE HONEST WITH GOD Let Him know how you are feeling. Cry out to him. Dont hold it in. Often times we will share with others and come away with the feeling that they truly dont understand what we are going through. But God does. Talk to Him. Vent to Him. Cry out to Him. Be honest. 3. SEEK GODs GRACE Only His grace will allow you to endure the pain. Seek His grace in the midst of your suffering. The Doctrine of Suffering Why me? Why now? What is God doing? Suffering is a tool God uses to get our attention and to accomplish His purposes in our lives. It is designed to build our trust in the Almighty, but suffering requires the right response if it is to be successful in accomplishing God’s purposes. Suffering forces us to turn from trust in our own resources to living by faith in God’s resources. Suffering is not in itself virtuous, nor is it a sign of holiness. It is also not a means of gaining points with God, nor of subduing the flesh (as in asceticism). When possible, suffering is to be avoided. Christ avoided suffering unless it meant acting in disobedience to the Father’s will. Ecclesiastes 7:14 In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider--God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not discover anything that will be after him. The following questions are designed to help us “consider” in the day of adversity: (1) How am I responding to it? (2) How should I respond to it? (3) Am I learning from it? (4) Does my response demonstrate faith, love for God and for others, Christ-like character, values, commitment, priorities, etc.? (5) How can God use it in my life? Suffering Defined What is suffering? What are these bends in the road that God puts in the path of life that we are to carefully consider? Simply stated, suffering is anything which hurts or irritates. In the design of God, it is also something to make us think. It is a tool God uses to get our attention and to accomplish His purposes in our lives in a way that would never occur without the trial or irritation. Illustrations of Suffering “It may be cancer or a sore throat. It may be the illness or loss of someone close to you. It may be a personal failure or disappointment in your job or school work. It may be a rumor that is circulating in your office or your church, damaging your reputation, bringing you grief and anxiety.”40 It can be anything that ranges from something as small and irritating as the bite of a mosquito or the nagging of a gnat to the charge of an elephant or having to face a lion in the lions’ den as with Daniel (Dan. 6). Suffering is Painful Suffering is hard. It is never easy. Regardless of what we know and how hard we apply the principles, it is going to hurt (cf. 1 Pet. 1:6--“distressed” is lupeo meaning “to cause pain, sorrow, grief”). Suffering is Perplexing Suffering is somewhat mysterious. We may know some of the theological reasons for suffering from Scripture, yet when it hits, there is still a certain mystery. Why now? What is God doing? In this, it is designed to build our trust in the Almighty. Suffering is Purposeful Suffering is not without meaning in spite of its mystery. It has as its chief purpose the formation of Christ-like character (Rom. 8:28-29). Suffering Proves, Tests Us “Trials” in James 1:2 is the Greek peirasmos and refers to that which examines, tests, and proves the character or integrity of something. “Testing” in this same verse is dokimion which has a similar idea. It refers to a test designed to prove or approve. Suffering is that which proves one’s character and integrity along with both the object and quality of one’s faith. Compare 1 Pet. 1:6-7 where the same Greek words are used along with the verb dokimazo which means, “put to the test,” “prove by testing as with gold.” Suffering is a Process “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, proven character; and . . .” (Rom. 5:3-4). “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jam. 1:3-4). As a process, it takes time. The results God seeks to accomplish with the trials of life requires time and thus also, endurance. Suffering is a Purifier No matter the reason, even if it is not God’s discipline for blatant carnality, it is a purifier for none of us will ever be perfect in this life (Phil. 3:12-14). Suffering Provides Opportunity Suffering provides opportunity for God’s glory, our transformation, testimony, and ministry, etc. (See reasons for suffering given below.) Suffering Requires Our Cooperation Suffering requires the right response if it is to be successful in accomplishing God’s purposes. “We all want the product, character; but we don’t want the process, suffering.”41 Because of our make up as human beings, we can’t have one without the other. Suffering is Predetermined and Inevitable 1 Thessalonians 3:3 so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. 1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. The question we must each face is not, “if” we are going to have trials in life, but how will we respond to them. Suffering is a Struggle It’s going to be a battle all the way. That’s why they are called “trials” and “testings.” Even when we understand the purposes and principles of suffering, and we know the promises of God’s love and concern given in the Word of God for handling suffering, dealing with the trials of life is never easy because suffering hurts. Trials simply give us the capacity to cooperate with the process (Jam. 1:4). They allow the process to work and allow us to experience inner peace and joy in the midst of the trials. In order to handle suffering with inner joy and tranquillity, we must be able to look ahead to God’s purposes and reasons for suffering. This requires faith in the eternal verities of God. We must understand God’s chief purpose for our lives is to be conformed to the image of Christ and He has determined in His plan to use suffering for our spiritual development. If we are going to endure suffering and the trials of life, however, we must also understand and believe in the other purposes and reasons for suffering as they are related to the chief purpose. Purposes and Reasons for Suffering We suffer as a testimony, as a witness (2 Tim 2:8-10; 2 Cor. 4:12-13; 1 Pet. 3:13-17). When believers handle suffering joyfully and with stability, it becomes a marvelous testimony to the power and life of Christ that we claim and name. Suffering provides key opportunities to manifest and magnify the power of God through His servants in order to verify and confirm the messenger and his message. It provides opportunities to reveal our credentials as ambassadors of Christ (1 Kings. 17:17-24; John 11:1-45). This includes the following areas: • To glorify God before the angelic world (Job 1-2; 1 Pet. 4:16). • To manifest the power of God to others (2 Cor. 12:9, 10; John 9:3). • To manifest the character of Christ in the midst of suffering as a testimony to win others to Christ (2 Cor. 4:8-12; 1 Pet. 3:14-17). We suffer to develop our capacity and sympathy in comforting others (2 Cor. 1:3-5) We suffer because it is a training tool. God lovingly and faithfully uses suffering to develop personal righteousness, maturity, and our walk with Him (Heb. 12:5f; 1 Pet. 1:6; Jam. 1:2-4). In this sense, suffering is designed: • As discipline for sin to bring us back to fellowship through genuine confession (Ps. 32:3-5; 119:67). • As a pruning tool to remove dead wood from our lives (weaknesses, sins of ignorance, immature attitudes and values, etc.). The desired goal is increased fruitfulness (John 15:1-7). Trials may become mirrors of reproof to reveal hidden areas of sin and weakness (Ps. 16:7; 119:67, 71). • As a tool for growth designed to cause us to rely on the Lord and His Word. Trials test our faith and cause us to use the promises and principles of the Word (Ps. 119:71, 92; 1 Pet. 1:6; Jam. 1:2-4; Ps. 4:1 [The Hebrew of this passage can mean, “You have enlarged, made me grow wide by my distress]). Suffering or trials teach us the truth of Psalm 62:1-8, the truth of learning to “wait on the Lord only.” • As a means of learning what obedience really means. It becomes a test of our loyalty (Heb. 5:8). Illustration: If a father tells his son to do something he likes to do (i.e., eat a bowl of ice cream) and he does it, the child has obeyed, but he hasn’t really learned anything about obedience. If his dad, however, asks him to mow the lawn, that becomes a test and teaches something about the meaning of obedience. The point is, obedience often costs us something and is hard. It can require sacrifice, courage, discipline, and faith in the belief that God is good and has our best interests at heart regardless of how things might appear to us. Regardless of the reason God allows suffering into our lives, rarely does it not reveal areas of need, weaknesses, wrong attitudes, etc., as it did in Job. Suffering itself is not the thing that produces faith or maturity. It is only a tool that God uses to bring us to Himself so we will respond to Him and His Word. It forces us to turn from trust in our own resources to living by faith in God’s resources. It causes us to put first things first. Ultimately, it is the Word and the Spirit of God that produces faith and mature Christ-like character (Ps. 119:67, 71). In James 1:2-4 and 1 Peter 1:6-7 the key word is “proof.” “Proof” is the word dokimion which looks at both the concept of testing which purifies, and the results, the proof that is left after the test. The Lord uses trials to test our faith in the sense of purifying it, to bring it to the surface, so we are forced to put our faith to work. We suffer to bring about continued dependence on the grace and power of God. Suffering is designed to cause us to walk by God’s ability, power and provision rather than by our own (2 Cor. 11:24-32; 12:7-10; Eph. 6:10f; Ex. 17:8f). It causes us to turn from our resources to His resources. We suffer to broaden our ministries (cf. Philippians 1:12-14 with 4:5-9). In the process of producing Christian character and enhancing our testimony to others, suffering often opens up doors for ministry we could never have imagined. Paul’s imprisonment (chained daily to Roman soldiers in his own house) resulted in the spread of the gospel within the elite imperial praetorian guard. The Apostle was undoubtedly continuing to rejoice in the Lord, but if he had been complaining, sulking, and bitter, his witness would have been zero.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 03:50:28 +0000
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