Faith in Adversity and Suffering

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Matthew 8:18-27

We are in our second sermon of the You Asked For It Series

We surveyed the church and of the responses, the most common ones was taken and so we are preaching through and answering these questions

Last week we talked about singleness and marriage

and this week we will be talking talking about Faith in Adversity and Suffering

And I can completely understand why this one was most asked for

In life it’s not about IF you have trials and suffering

But its about WHEN you have trials and suffering

Everyone will have a trial at some point and everyone will have suffering

And while this may already sound like a gloomy sermon,

We will be focused on the faith aspect of adversity and suffering because it is faith in Jesus that keeps us grounded

Last week we talked about singleness and marriage

And wether we are single or married, we are to stay devoted to Christ

Christ should never not be number one in our life

And then we talked about singleness and the search of finding someone to marry

To be patient, to find someone who is also devoted to Christ, and then not to make any decisions hastly

You see, it is my hope and prayer that before you say “I do” in marriage, that you think seriously about the covenant you are about to make

And what you do, what the married people in the room recommend you do, is count the cost of the marriage

Because in front of God almighty you will make a vow and it usually goes something like this

"I, _____, take you, _____, to be my wife/husband, and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful husband/wife in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live."

And we have to realize that this covenant is serious and we must fulfill it

And there are so many joyous and happy times in a marriage

There are times of prospering and great health

But at the same time, there are seasons of adversity and struggles in the marriage,

And all too often we hear, “I didnt realize how hard this was going to be”

In the same way, just like marriage is a relationship,

When we talk about being devoted to Jesus, we are talking about your relationship with Jesus

And in this relationship, we need to understand the cost, and what it means to follow Jesus

As we talk about faith in adversity and suffering, we must understand the faith part first

And so we will read our text today in Matthew 8:18-27

If you are able, I ask that you please stand and follow along as I read God’s Word

Matthew 8:18-27

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 8:18–27.

This is the word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Profession

Our text here today occurs after Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount and after that we find him healing many people publically

And so certainly there were many people following Jesus around, watching and listening

They can see and witness that Jesus is different

And word about Jesus is spreading

And now there is a crowd around him and Jesus tells his disciples hey get ready the boat, we have to go to the other side

And among this crowd we find a scribe and another person who is labled as a disciple

And they hear that Jesus is getting ready to leave and so first the scribe speaks up

And the scribe makes a profession

He professes that he will follow Jesus wherever he goes

Now this is odd because the scribes were usually on the side of the pharisees

And they didnt want to follow Jesus, but they wanted to prove that he is a liar

That he is a false teacher

The scribes know the Old Testament scriptures and teachings

They know the law inside and out

And yet this scribe is seeing and hearing things he cannot understand and so he makes his profession

But what the scribe is used to is teachers and men of stature with nice houses and nice libraries

And so an inference can be made that the scribe is saying this to follow Jesus to his palace

To follow Jesus to his Kingdom

But Jesus replies to him “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

In Jesus’ response he gives two insights to what it means to follow him

And the first is simply that following Jesus means that you are following God

When Jesus calls himself Son of Man he is not referring to anything earthly

Jesus referrs to himself as the Son of Man more than any other reference in scripture

And every time he uses it he is pointing to his diety and to his authority as King

He is referring to Daniel chapter 7 and I want to read verse 13-14

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Da 7:13–14.

Jesus is given dominion and glory and a kingdom - it is everlasting

Which means that following Jesus is not to follow him just in this life, but into the everlasting Kingdom

And don’t have your eyes fixed on this temporary world but have your eyes fixed on the everlasting Kingdom

And since our eyes are fixed on the everlasting, whatever happens in the present time is temporary and we should not cling to it, rather we cling to Jesus

After Jesus points to himself as the Son of Man he says that he has nowhere to lay his head

And yes, we know that literally and physically Jesus was a wonderer and a traveler

But he was a wonderer and a traveler with purpose

Everywhere he went was to proclaim and to point to himself as the Messiah

Everytime he laid his head in a different place was because he was doing spiritual work in that place

And church, we must recognize, that whatever our circumstance, whatever our place of residence, we have a purpose, a work to do prepared by God and we must do the work of ministry wherever he has us

And know that the place of which we are called to do ministry can change

Do not say that you will live in Pasadena for the rest of your life

You may, you may not!

But dont cling to your home, your current life, your wants, and desires

But following Jesus means that you will follow him wherever he leads you

Following Jesus is an enduring journey

And so as we apply this for us, we submit that Jesus is God and we are focused on the everlasting

And we are focused on building the everlasting knowing that everything we have, everything we own, everything we cling to aside form Jesus is temporary

Cost You Everything

Which brings to the second person who is described as a disciple

And his profession is more of a promise

I promise I will follow you but first let me first go burry my dad.

The Jewish religion is very strict and the dead must be burried within a certain timeframe

And it was the religious duty of every Jewish first born son to ensure that their fathers were burried properly

It can be inferred that his dad was still alive since he is with Jesus and not making arrangements for his dad

And so we can conclude he is telling Jesus to wait possible years until his dad passes

He is telling Jesus to wait

This person is telling God to wait

And as I say this, its like how dare he, how could any person tell God to wait

And yet, as I look on my own life, I am guilty of this very thing!

God let me build my real estate empire and then I will serve you

God let me make my millions and then I can give more to your church

And God has dealt with me the way only God can but I have to ask you church,

Is there anything in your life, any circumstance, any situation, where you are telling God to wait?

This man didnt ask Jesus to wait, he told him to wait

And Jesus’ answer is the same answer he gave to me and it will be the same answer he will give to you

22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Follow me, because I come first

This dead to burry their dead is a metaphore

Let the spiritually dead be concerened about the spiritually dead

But follow Jesus and he makes you spiritually alive

Follow Jesus and your concern will be to help others become spiritually alive

Follow Jesus and be concerned about spiritual things, not eathly things

Follow Jesus and be open handed to give up EVERYTHING this world has to offer

Why?

Because Jesus is first, you give up what you think is an appropriate way of living and you live how he tells you to live

Because Jesus is first, you give up your pride and put others first

Because Jesus is first, you give up your own desires and passions and fill it with God’s desires and passion for you

Brothers and sisters, there is a clear message here that following Jesus costs you everything

He wants complete devotion and dependence in him

And not everybody understands this cost

But this is not a cost that requires a profession of faith

It is a cost that requires the posession of faith

Only Jesus can change a heart that will be able to give up everything in faith and follow him

We see this with the 12 disciples

Their hearts were changed as Jesus was revealed to them as the true Messiah

And it is after this heart change that they then professed that they would follow Jesus

They gave up everything and didnt try to make an excuse or a promise

And so I exhort us as a church to understand that we must not lean on our profession of faith but know in our hearts that we have the posession of it

And we have to acknowledge that this faith will be excercised and will be tested as we are called to follow Jesus without reservation

We find shortly after this section that the disciples faith was exercised and tested

This next section is a continuation of what we just read and the lesson of faith within the story directly relates with what we just went over

Exercising Faith

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Have you ever had a near death experience or an experience where death was possible?

Rock Climbing in Las Vegas

I was with 2 special forces marines and another guy who works on oil rigs for a living

And they had this great and fun idea to climb up a mountain and repel from the top

Having never been to this mountain we started climbing and I am a chicken

I hate heights but I cant be a chump so the peer pressure got me to go

And we start climbing but it starts to get harder and harder and at one point we couldnt climb with our hands but had to use our ropes to climb up higher

And I just remember at some point that I could tell that the guys were getting nervous

They were waiting, scouting ahead, and finally I was just like, dude tell it to me straight

And so he confessed that we were in a pickle. There hasnt been a safe point to repel down from and that their training has taught them that they have already passed the point of no reutrn

It would be more dangerous to climb down than to climb up

And it was at theat point I wished they had lied to me, we kept climbing and at one point I had a meltdown.

I was leaning agaisnt this mountain, and my feet we on a narrow piece of rock and if I slip or if the rock gives way, I will fall to my death

And so my knees are shaking, and I start screaming to them to call for a helicopter I will pay for it I dont care how much it cost but I am not taking another step

And I was praying silently but honeslty I also used some bad language because I was mad at them

My heart was pounding - and my buddy - being trained for these things, calmed me down, had me follow him

he told me to follow his exact movements - where he steps I step, If he jumps I have to jump

But that I had to trust him and believe that as he suceeds forward I could suceed forward

And so I did, and finally we got to a point where we could repel down safely

And so here are the disciples in the midst of the storm and they think they are going to die

This storm is like a tempest storm and you can recall last year when we did our Jonah series, the tempest storm is what God brought upon Jonah and the sailors

So this was a great storm and the boat was under threat of collapsing

And they go to wake up Jesus because how could he be sleeping!?

In other words, do you not care that we are about to die!

And they say Save us! We are about to die!

But what I love is Jesus’ response “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

And when you read this, I hope you read this with a tender, loving tone

Jesus rebuke to his disciples is one of questioning but questioning so that they could get the right perspective

Just like my friend had to use his training skills to calm me down on the mountain so I could get the right perspective

Just like you comfort a child who has just had a nightmare that they are safe inside the home

Jesus is telling his disciples do not fear for I am with you

Dont you realize that I have power over this storm

Dont you realize that I am in control of this boat

Dont you realize that you are not in fact near death

Listen, Jesus is the one who lead them into the storm

He told them to get the boat ready and then he entered the boat and then the text said that the disciples followed him

And if he lead them into the storm, he was surely going to take care of them through it

He had everything under control so much so that he could sleep so peacefully

But since he was up, since its a good opportunity to teach a lesson

He rebukes the winds and the waves and all becomes calm

And the disciples they marvel at what he has done

Brothers and sisters, when we follow Jesus, we must know and submit that he is going to lead us into some storms

When we follow Jesus Christ, we already know the cost, so we know that we will be called into hard times

And what we are promised, is that no matter the situation or circumstance, no matter the adversity or suffering, Jesus is with us!

And when we have faith that he is still with us, when we have faith that he will not let us sink

We need not to fear and can actually throw the burden of our adversity and suffering onto him

And just like I had to follow my friend step by step, jump by jump, to get to safety

We need to trust and follow what Jesus says, step by step

Because we know that just as he has lead us into the storm, he will lead us out

Even though the disciples may have had little faith, they were right to turn to Jesus

And when they yelled out for Jesus to save them, they were praying out to him for help

So we, in the midst of adversity and suffering, should cling to Jesus

We should pray out to him daily and throw the burden onto him

Jesus WANTS TO LEAD YOU all the time!

And when we recognize this and read this other parts of scripture begin to make sense.

James 1:1-3 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

How in the world can you count trials of various kinds - joy?

Its because you have counted the cost, you know Jesus is going to lead you, and when the trials come, it’s your faith in Jesus that is going to get you through

Because of Jesus you can have joy in the midst of your adversity and suffering

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Because you have coutned the cost, because you know Jesus is going to lead you, even though you are in adversity and suffering, you can trust and have faith that it is working out for your good

It is for your betterment that you are going through what you are going through

And when Jesus leads you through it you will be able to look back at the trial and suffering and you will be able to marvel at how good Jesus is

At how well Jesus lead you

At how Jesus has taken care of you

You will marvel at his lordship and sovereignty

And - When you go through suffering and adversity again, I’m not going to say it is going to be easier adversity and suffering,

But because you have been through it once with Jesus, you know what to do in clinging to him and calling out to him

Your trust and your faith comes out so much stronger from the first trial and just like James said, the testing of your faith produces steadfastness

Steadfastness means unwaving - your faith becomes unwaivering

And so it makes sens that Jeus leads us into storms, so that we will trust him more, have a stronger faith, and learn that he is all we need!

Listen, we are humans, this is not to say that in the midst of our adversity and suffering that we will not complete break downs

You can weep at the current situation or circumstance

We talked about this in community group - that if you are mad at God and asking him why, pray out to him and tell him

And these moments of weeping and outrage, it doesn’t make you weak

It doesn’t make you a bad Christian

Rather, what it is doing is magnifying your humaness and also magnifying God’s Lordship

You submit your limited understanding

You submit how powerless you feel in the situation

And it causes you to rely on God’s understanding and God’s power

Brothers and sisters, it is for your benefit that Jesus leads you through adversity and suffering

Let’s be honest that with out it we have a tendency to rely on ourself or to have a false sense of control over our life

When, in fact, our heart has been changed and we have given our life to Jesus -

We trust Jesus with our life! We trust Jesus with our soul!

So don’t toubt him in your adversity and suffering, lean into him!

And maybe you are here today and you but John I dont think Jesus lead me into this storm

As a matter of fact I haven’t really been following him and so I actually created this storm!

And I would say the answer is the same for you, it’s not too late to course correct

It’s not too late to cry out and cling to Jesus

There is no situation or circumstance that you can possibly create that is too big for our God

He wants you to trust him and to lean on him

Give it to God and submit to him

And maybe you are here today and you are hearing about Jesus for the first time

Or maybe you have been at God from a distance

With skepticism or a promise to follow him later

And I exhort you that he does not want you to wait

He can change your heart today - He can soften your heart - He can do a mighty work in your life

The reason why Jesus was there in the first place - The reason why Jesus walked this earth

Was because we were dead burrying the dead

But in order to make us alive he had to walk this earth perfectly and wilingly die on a cross for our sins

He had to pay it all so that we could have it all

So that we could be reconciled to him

He paid the wrath for all of our mess ups, all of our sins

and he changes our hearts, wants us to trust in him, and to cling to him for all eternity

Say yes today to Jesus - Say yes today to make him number one in your life

To let go of all this world has to offer and trust that whereve Jesus leads you, he will take care of you