Untitled Sermon

Philippians 1:27-29: The Gift of Suffering

Good morning, everyone. As you have probably heard, Darlene and I are leaving and moving to NC. I have attended New Life in Christ Church since Dec 1999 and Darlene came here in 2012. It has been a privilege to be able to serve as a ruling elder for four years and for the last three years as a teaching elder. I am thankful for the opportunity that Pastor Sean has given me to bring the message today.

When I became a Christian in 1972, it through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, now known as CRU. I was a sophomore at Arizona State University. I came to faith after when someone shared with me the four Spiritual Laws and gave me a Bible. The first law says God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And this is a true statement. But a wonderful life doesn’t mean a painless and trouble-free life. I remember going to several meetings they used to have on Friday nights, and usually two people would share their testimony. And usually, the testimony had a ring to it that sounded something like this. “when I became a Christian, God solved all my problems.” I am sure these people meant well when they said that. But it bothered me at the time because I didn’t think it was necessarily true. The Apostle Paul especially warns new Christians, in Acts 14:22, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

I don’t think any of us like to suffer, but suffering is important element in the Christian’s life that God uses to make us more like Jesus.

Our text this morning is from Philippians 1:12-30. The key verse is verse 29, but I want to read this text so we can get the context. When Paul writes to the Philippians, he is in prison in Rome awaiting trial. Paul is in chains, but as we read this text, I want us to notice his joyful tone. Pastor Sean preached about joy two weeks ago and he said scripture tells us can experience joy in suffering.

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. 27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

In verse 29, there are two gifts that God gives us. 1) Faith for salvation and 2) to suffer for his sake.

PRAY

This morning I would like to unpack this gift of suffering that God gives us. Now if you have received a gift from someone, maybe for your birthday or at Christmas. And it is a gift that you can’t really use or want, you re-gift this to someone else. Suffering is not one of those gifts you can re-gift. But if we really understood suffering and purpose for it in our lives, we would know to embrace it rather than disdain it.

Point 1 Suffering is a normal part of the Christian life.

The Puritan John Bunyan (who spent twelve years in prison) wrote: “Why then should we think that our innocent lives will exempt us from [our] sufferings, or that troubles shall do us such harm? For verily it is for our present and future good that our God doth send them upon us. I count therefore, that such things are necessary for the health of our souls, as bodily pains and labor are for [the health of] the body.”

You can’t read the Bible without seeing suffering from the murdered Abel in Genesis to the martyred souls in Revelation. When I say suffering, what does that mean. The Bible uses words like: persecution, tribulation, affliction, anguish, misery, pain and distress to describe it. But I think we all know what it is; we don’t need a dictionary to explain suffering. We either feel it physically in pain or emotionally as anguish. Sometimes the Bible describes as suffering for Christ’s sake:

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

The epistle of 1 Peter particular explains what it is to share Christ’s sufferings. Being persecuted for following Christ.

And sometimes the Bible describes suffering more general in nature like in:

James 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials

James deliberately casts his net widely, including the many kinds of suffering that Christians undergo in this fallen world: sickness, loneliness, bereavement, and disappointment.

Sometimes suffering has to do with old age and sickness:

2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

And then the Apostle Paul writes that all Christians will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. [to harass someone, esp. because of beliefs]

From scripture, it is apparent that Christians will suffer for various reasons. It is all part of the normal Christian life. And why it is important to realize all suffering all matters to the Christian is because suffering for the Christian always has an element of temptation in it. Because when the Christian is afflicted, that person may be tempted to choose sin over affliction. Affliction, suffering, and grief disorients us because of that, we may avoid dealing with our affliction, by medicating ourselves with drugs or alcohol. We may leave a suffering relationship instead of working through it. We might get the news that we have a debilitating illness and be tempted with ending our life instead of trusting God with the illness.

2. Choosing affliction over sin.

Jeremiah Burroughs [who wrote a whole book on that choosing affliction over sin called the Evil of Evils) wrote: “Better [to] be under the greatest affliction than be under the guilt or power of any sin.”

In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains about the seed that falls on the rocky ground.

Mark 4:16-17 They are the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have not root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

They initially received the word with joy, but as soon as adversity hit they fell away.

The Epistle of 1 Peter addresses this issue as the entire epistle is about keeping faith in the midst of suffering. Paul encourages Christians to be on the alert.

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Resisting the devil means that believers remain firm in their faith, that is, in their trust in God. Believers triumph over the devil as they continue to trust God, believing he truly cares for them and will sustain them to the end. This principle holds if you are persecuted for Christ at work or in the mission field, or you are suffering from Parkinson’s disease. In suffering there will always be a temptation to chose sin over affliction.

All suffering is ultimately traceable to Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden. Yet the Scriptures also teach that all affliction is sent to Christians by a wise, fatherly God. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” The “all things” of this verse includes “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (v. 35). Joel Beeke wrote: “The important thing is not the amount of suffering and affliction we receive, but how we respond to that affliction.”

We as Christians must remember that though we are redeemed and regenerated, we still live in a world cursed because of Adam’s sin (Gen. 3:17).

Pain tends to produce mental tunnel vision so that our awareness shrinks to our own sad situation, but we need to remember the bigger picture. Suffering and death characterize the whole world in this age (Rom. 5:12). Creation “was made subject to futility” and “the bondage of corruption,” so that “the creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (8:20–22). The Spirit of God does not remove this groaning, but accentuates it in believers through their sharp longing for the glorious realization of their redemption and adoption (vv. 21, 23).

Afflictions can be very heavy and difficult to bear. If you are a Christian, your faith can help you understand some of the rich benefits that affliction brings under the hand of the Father. Though bitter to body and soul, afflictions serve as strong medicine for you in the hands of your great physician.

God has a purpose for suffering in our lives that helps us to trust God more and our selves less.

First, through affliction, God humbles us deeply, showing us that, apart from Gods divine grace, we are nothing but sin and corruption. He teaches Christians the same lesson he taught Israel in the wilderness: “that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deut. 8:2–3). In the wilderness of our suffering, God reveals our inadequacy and his absolute sufficiency.

One of the most humbling aspects of trials is that we often do not understand the specific reasons why they come upon us. Yet it is precisely when we do not comprehend the Father’s ways that we can learn submissive trust in his will. When God revealed himself to Job, the Lord did not explain why the trials had come, but instead revealed his incomprehensible majesty. Job responded by praising God and repenting of questioning his ways (42:1–6). We learn in trials to trust God to do what is right and not to allow our finite outlook on life to challenge God’s holiness.

Second, through affliction, God exposes our sins. In the bright light of sorrow, Christians come to see that sin dishonors God, defiles the soul, and damns the unrepentant. When our hearts turn blind eyes to their sin, God’s hand comes heavily upon us until we recognize and acknowledge the evil that we have done (Ps. 32:3–4). Through affliction we learn, as Thomas Watson said, “Sin unrepented of, ends in a tragedy. It has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages. What is there in sin, then, that men should continue in it? Say not it is sweet. Who would desire the pleasure which kills?” This insight is not the natural effect of sorrow, for the blindness of man stupefies him to the evil of his sins even in affliction. However, God’s grace sharpens the edge of suffering to pierce the conscience and make the heart bleed wholesome drops of repentance.

In hard and fearful times, God brought the sons of Jacob to remember their sins against their brother Joseph. In affliction, the Holy Spirit searches our souls for sins, drags them out of their hiding places in the heart, and sets them in the light of God’s holy and all-searching eye (Ps. 90:8). Though we hide behind our fig leaves, God comes asking, “Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9). William Bridgesaid, “Suffering times are sin-discovering times.… You see how it is in winter, when the leaves are off the hedges, you can see where the birds’ nests were; when the leaves were on in summer time, you could not see those nests.” The sins we cannot see in the summer of prosperity are more visible in the winter of affliction.

Third, through affliction, God purges our corruption. “Before I was afflicted I went astray,” the psalmist confessed, “but now have I kept thy word” (Ps. 119:67). The Holy Spirit uses affliction as a medicine to destroy the deadly disease of sin in us so that we may bring forth healthy and godly fruit. When sin makes us backslide from our Savior, he, as the Good Shepherd, sends the rod of affliction to set us straight. Sanctified affliction cures sin.

It is as good for us to be chastised with affliction as it is for a tree to be pruned so that it bears more fruit (John 15:2).

God arranges the seasons of sorrow and prosperity in our lives according to his wise design to meet our spiritual needs.

Fourth, through affliction, God draws believers near to him. The Lord uses affliction to make us seek him, to bring us back into communion with himself, and to keep us close by his side. The Lord said of Israel, Hosea 5:15“I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.”

Affliction drove a dying thief to a dying Savior (Luke 23:42). Not Manasseh’s crown but his chains brought him to acknowledge that the Lord is God (2 Chron. 33:11–13).

The Church Father John Chrysostom said “Affliction, is the shepherd’s dog, which takes the lamb into its mouth when it goes astray; not to bite it, but to bring it home.”

Fifth, through affliction, God conforms believers to Christ. Christians are called to “put on the new man,” the “image” of God, in which “Christ is all” (Col. 3:10–11). The Lord uses afflictions to conform us to Christ, “that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Heb. 12:10). Thomas Watson said, “God’s rod is a pencil to draw Christ’s image more lively upon us.”

God’s Son had to suffer in order to perfect his obedience and save his people. If we would inherit God’s kingdom as sons, then we must suffer with the Son. Through the way of suffering, we become followers of the Lamb of God. All our paths of affliction have already been traveled, overcome, and sanctified by our Shepherd, whose substitutionary blood is our sure pledge that no affliction is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Sixth, through affliction, God expands our joy. Afflictions work for good because the Lord balances them with comfort and joy. David wrote in Psa 30:5:

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Resurrection follows crucifixion. Christ told his disciples in John 16:20:

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

The Lord brings his people into the wilderness to speak comfortably to them. Where godly suffering abounds, comfort also abounds.

The apostle Paul sang songs in prison, knowing that sweet would follow the bitter. In the cellar of affliction, we find the Lord’s choicest wines. Samuel Rutherfordexclaimed, “How blind are my adversaries, who sent me to a banqueting-house, to a house of wine, to the lovely feasts of my lovely Lord Jesus, and not to a prison, or place of exile!” In affliction, God’s pilgrim people sometimes experience sweet raptures of divine joy that lead them to the very borders of heavenly Canaan. They discover, as Watson said, “God’s rod hath honey at the end of it.” At such moments, they can confess, "Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. 18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal. 19 He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you.” (Job 5:17–19).

Seventh, through affliction, God increases believers’ faith. Affliction works for good by helping us walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). James 1:3 said, “The testing of your faith produces steadfastness. In prosperity, we talk about living by faith; but in adversity, we come experience of what it means to live and endure by faith. Here we see the great difference between the effect of affliction on the wicked and its effect on God’s children. Thomas Manton said, “The fruit of punishment [for the wicked] is despair and murmuring, but of trial [for the Christian], patience and sweet submission.”

Only in the fire does faith prove itself more precious than gold. The purest gold will not pass into the age to come, but John Brown of Edinburgh noted that faith is far superior: “Purified and strengthened by the trials it is exposed to under the influence of the Holy Spirit, faith, with all the graces which grow out of it, survives the wreck of all material things, and, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, is found to praise, and honor, and glory.”

Eighth, through affliction, God weans believers from this world. Christ told his disciples:

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

A dog does not usually bite those who live in its home, but only strangers. Likewise, the world’s bite reminds us that we are not at home, but “strangers and pilgrims on the earth”.

God’s temporal judgment teaches us to say,

Hab 3:17-18 “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” This enables us to hold the world loosely, but also encourages us to cling to Christ with all our might. Watson said, “God would have the world hang as a loose tooth which, being twitched away, doth not much trouble us.”

Ninth, through affliction, God prepares believers for their heavenly inheritance. Affliction elevates our soul heavenward, so that we do what Abraham did. Heb 11:10:

For he (Abraham) was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Affliction paves the way to glory. 2 Cor 4:17:

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”

Some of you are suffering greatly. You have a serious health condition, and you know that unless a miracle happens, you are not going to get better. Maybe you are the caregiver to that person. Maybe you have experienced a loss in your life and you are battling grief and it doesn’t seem like you are getting any better. I could list a lot of more these, but I think we all understand what those are. But here is the question I need to ask, can you trust God with it. Do you believe that affliction is for your spiritual good? Do you trust that God will provide everything necessary or good for you, both in this age and the age to come? Then do what Paul calls you to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thinggive thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” In giving thanks, we are tell ingtrusting God by faith he is going to conform us to the image.