Suffering
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Announcments
Announcments
Grow Group - February 27th - 6pm girls 6:30 guys - Ephesians - location tbd
Student Life Camp - July 23rd-27th - fun time - sign up!
Intro
Intro
Pain and suffering is a common theme when it comes to humanity
Everyone of us this week have in some way experienced some pain and suffering
In your life you have experienced pain and suffering
Rather that be:
A loved one dying
Your family getting a divorce
Pouring all your efforts into something you care about it, for it to not work
Or any other thing that can cause you pain or suffering
The sad reality of life is that even if you are a Christian you are promised suffering in some sense
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Jesus is telling His disciples, He is telling us, that following Him is taking up our cross
The cross is the very object of death, pain, and suffering
Don’t believe me, think back to Jesus being hung on the cross
The beating that He took to get there, the agony the Bible describes as He is up there
That is what Jesus is telling us following Him will be like
There will be pain, there will be suffering
It is rather the recognition that there is a divine rationale behind suffering. First, suffering is the one and only path to glory. It was so for Christ; it is so for Christians.
John Stott
John Stott one of the leaders during the evangelistic movement of the world knew that suffering was important
So I want to look today at suffering today, and see how we can cope with it
Job’s beginning
Job’s beginning
1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
Job was for all intensive purposes a good Godly man.
He would consistently make sacrifices for his kids, just in case they might have sinned
He was considered blameless and upright -> have you ever been considered blameless in the things you do? Job was
Job was said to always model turning from evil and following God
Is your life an example like that? Do you model consistently turning from evil and following God? Job’s was
We would look at Job and say that everything should go great for him
I mean after all he is following God, fleeing sin, making sacrifices
He is clearly smart with his business endeavors since he has a lot of cattle
Yet look at what happens with Job
13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
With Job doing everything right, everything was taken from him
He lost his kids, he lost his fortune, he lost everything that he had worked for
You want to talk about suffering, have you ever had everything in your entire life be taken away in a matter of minutes? Job has
Yet I love what Job does next
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Job doesn’t blame God, Job doesn’t leave God, Job doesn’t stop
The first thing we need to understand about suffering is the same thing Job understood
OUR CIRCUMSTANCES DON’T DICTATE WORSHIP
Job didn’t worship God because everything was going well.
Job worshipped God because Job is Job, and God is God
Job understood that God is love, that God is truth, that God cares for His people
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Job knew this truth before Paul was ever given this truth to write to us
Job’s circumstances didn’t dictate his worship
Though Job lost everything in his life, he still worshipped the Lord
He still cried out to God, celebrated with God,
“blessed be the name of the Lord”
Job’s Friends
Job’s Friends
The next 36 chapters of the book of Job is Job with his friends.
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
The next thing we need to understand about suffering
WE AREN’T MEANT TO SUFFER ALONE
Job had some of the worst things in life happen to him, and we see in chapter 2, right after this happened his friends came to help him
They heard of the the evil that came upon Job and came to him, they empathized with him “they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads”, and they stayed with Job for 7 days.
Two observations about not suffering alone
If you are the one suffering, don’t be ashamed of it or hide it. Instead call friends, family, the ones you love. You aren’t meant to carry the burden alone
If you know a friend or family member that is suffering, take a note from Job’s friends. Go to them, empathize with them, and stay with them
You aren’t meant to suffer alone
Job asks why
Job asks why
2 What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4 Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?
IT’S OKAY TO ASK WHY
Job is suffering, he lost everything, his wife, his kids, his fortune, his land, his health. It’s all gone
Job is obviously hurting and in pain
He then is asking why it is happening
He is calling out to God asking why
This isn’t a bad thing
If you are suffering it isn’t a bad thing to call out and ask why
Seeking answers isn’t a bad thing
The problem though is that you may not get the answer that you’re seeking
The Lord answers
The Lord answers
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
GOD ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
God then answered Job
He hears Job’s question of why and God answered Him
God does the same thing for us today
When we are suffering God always, always! answers our question
But it’s never how you expect it
God didn’t answer the why for Job, God instead showed Job the Who
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.
From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a land where no man is,
on the desert in which there is no man,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground sprout with grass?
“Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?
From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
God looks at Job and says you can have your questions Job, but let them lead you back to me
See Job is Job, but God is God
God is orchestrating it all out for good.
He is seeking to work everything out
It is hard for us when we go through things, but we can’t focus on the why, we must focus on the who
We must focus on God
It isn’t easy, but we must understand that God is in control, that it is His plan that will prevail, not ours
Conclusion
Conclusion
Suffering is inevitable
We will all face it and be forced to deal with it
But we need to learn these truths
Our circumstances can’t dictate our worship, God is good
We aren’t meant to suffer alone
It’s okay to ask why
God answers our questions, we just have to accept it
Suffering isn’t easy
Pain isn’t easy
But we must learn to accept that God has a plan even when we don’t see it