| SUFFERING IS PART OF THE DEAL When people say we don’t have to suffer, they are speaking for Satan, not God. Peter told Jesus he didn’t need to suffer. “Jesus made it clear to his disciples that it was now necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and submit to an ordeal of suffering at the hands of the religious leaders, and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” [Matt. 1621,22] Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan!” Peter was speaking for Satan. Jesus said his advice was a hindrance and human reasoning, not from God. “You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” When we play Amateur Providence in the lives of others we get it all wrong. One segment of Christianity has preached a “health and wealth gospel.” If we believe right, things will turn out right and we don’t have to suffer. Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Jesus trusted his Father totally and spoke truth to the world and had to suffer and die. Another segment of Christianity preaches the gospel of Job’s friends. Bad things happen because we have sinned. Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Jesus never sinned and had to suffer and die. Politicians are justifying a trillion dollar bail out to avoid pain and suffering. It won’t work. Pain is inevitable bailout or not. Man’s attempts to escape suffering will fail. Being a follower of Jesus means picking up crosses. [Matt. 16:24] Suffering is part of the deal. To be God’s friend is to share the “fellowship of his sufferings.” [Phil. 3:10] If we try to protect ourselves we will lose ourselves. If we lose our lives we will find ourselves. [Matt. 16:25] Sometime we suffer from our own sin and stupidity. “The wages of sin is death.” Sometimes we suffer from other’s foolish decisions. Sin is not a one-man affair. Sometimes we suffer at the hands of judgmental religious people. “It was out of jealousy that the priests handed him over.” Sometimes we suffer because we are his friends. “If they hated Me they well hate you.” Sometimes we suffer just living on this planet. “In the world, you will have trouble (“pressure”).” Sometimes we suffer because we obey God. The disciples hit a storm rowing across the lake after Jesus told them to go. Storms hit the just and unjust. The wise and foolish both had winds rains and floods to test their structures. [Matt 7:24-27] Sometimes we can’t figure out where the pain came from. BUT suffering and pain are part of the deal. Athletes are told” “No pain, no gain,” and it’s true. Muscles have to be torn down to get bigger. I had to let the doctor saw off my leg to get a new knee. Jeremiah had to “pluck up, break down, destroy and overthrow” before he could “build and plant.” [Jer. 1:10] New life comes through the pain of labor. There can be no resurrection without death from which to rise. We find out who we are in crisis. But suffering is never the end. He has overcome the world. Resurrection is the end of every trial. Suffering is part of growing up. sp; “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, friends, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends. Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance if fully developed and you will find that you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots.” [James 1:2-4] FOOD FOR THE SUFFERING SOUL “The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’" [Gen 41:52] After job had suffered the loss of possessions, home and family, he said, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” [Job 42:5] “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” [Ps 119:50] “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” [Rom 5:3-5] “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” [1 Peter 2:19-21] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” [1 Peter 1:3-9] “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” [1 Peter 4:12-17] “For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.” [Lam 3:31-33] “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” [Rom 12:12-13] Paul who suffered shipwreck, imprisonment , and beatings for doing right said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” [Rom 8:18-19] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” [2 Cor 1:3-7] “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” [Heb 2:10-12] “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” [James 5:10-11] |