Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Announcments
Grow Group - February 27th - 6pm girls 6:30 guys - Ephesians - location tbd
Student Life Camp - July 23rd-27th - fun time - sign up!
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
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 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
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
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
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
The next 36 chapters of the book of Job is Job with his friends.
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
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
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
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
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
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