"Seeing God In Suffering"

24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

25of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

HOOK (Grab Attention)

Illustration

Safety First?

Most safety features in your car are not meant to prevent an accident, but instead are there to make sure you survive through the accident.

No matter how safe of a driver you are, there’s still a chance someone else is going to crash into you.

The Bible never says the life of a Christ follower is going to be free of tragedy.

Scripture can give us wisdom in how to handle situations in ways that can avoid pain, but the fact of the matter is that we will all face suffering in our lives eventually.

God doesn’t promise us we’ll get around them, but He will get us through them.

Hook

God did not come into our lives to SECURE our CONVENIENCE...He comes into our lives and His plan is often times disruptive...

The death of our idea of SAFETY in this world is the birthing place of God’s intended purpose in your life...which is...to be like Jesus.

As long as you "play it safe" in your walk with Christ, you will not see God's purpose clearly.

John Piper wrote a small book called, "Risk is Right"

Better to lose your life than to waste it.

You can sit on the sidelines or get in the game.

You can waste your life or you can live with risk.

BOOK

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:24 (ESV - English Standard Version)

24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

Explanation

"Rejoice in my suffering"

How does someone REJOICE in SUFFERING??

Nobody wants/likes to talk about the TRYING of your faith...

Western Christianity and Americans in general do EVERYTHING possible to AVOID the trying of your faith...

We somehow believe that we are going to end up in BETTER status in this life than what Jesus had...

ACCEPT THIS:

YOUR FAITH MUST STAND TRIAL...

Your faith MUST go through the fire to become the purest gold.

When we are going through trials/tests/suffering, our FAITH CANNOT BE CONDITIONAL

The strength of our FAITH should NOT depend upon the strength of our current CONTEXT.

Too many times, Christians today put ALL OF THEIR FAITH into what God DOES and not into WHO HE IS...

If you put ALL of your faith into what God DOES, then what are you going to do when He stops doing it??

What will you do when He brings us to:

Pain

Physical

Emotional

Spiritual

Death of friends and/or family

When you lose your job

Relationship issues

Money issues

PERSECUTION FOR YOUR FAITH

We don't know anything about that in America...

Jeremiah 12:5

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

We cannot allow ourselves to put our faith into what God DOES...but we need to put our faith into knowing His UNCHANGEABLECHARACTER...We need to know WHO HE IS.

Psalm 103:7 "He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.

We don't have to know what God is going to DO as long as we KNOW WHO HE IS!!

We don't have to know the PLACE we are going to as long as we know the PERSON who will be IN the PLACE when we GET THERE!!

When you KNOW God's UNCHANGABLE CHARACTER, your changing CONTEXT will not CONSUME you.

Illustration

Sometimes the “Crushing” feels like death...

What we don't realize is that if Jesus is the Vine and Our Father is the Vinedresser...

...If the Vine is going to bear MUCH FRUIT:

The soil has to be disrupted

It has to be tilled and turned over

You have to pull some weeds

You have to remove some plants that don't belong

It is messy and it is dirty, but it is right...it is NECESSARY.

Every time we are "crushed" in this life, the crushing feels like death, but if the crushing is in the hands of the Almighty, we are being made into LIFE...and what else??

We are in HIS HANDS.

Bible Passage

John 12:24 (ESV - English Standard Version)

24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Bible Passage

Isaiah 53:10 (ESV - English Standard Version)

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

LOOK

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:24 (ESV - English Standard Version)

24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

Application

A painful life, but a joyful life.

WHY??

Because we are being made into the image of Jesus Christ our LORD...

We are walking in His footsteps.

We are being JUST LIKE HIM.

"In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the Church"

Is there something "LACKING" in what Christ has done in His DEATH, BURIAL, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION??

Absolutely not!

His work is TOTALLY SUFFICIENT!

Those who hate Christ and put Him on the cross still hated the message and therefore hate the messengers...

The Gospel does not go forward into unreached places without suffering.

Jesus' suffering leading to the cross and on it, were His love being put on display.

The way that kind of love is being put on display is to be wrongfully abused for the gospel and still LOVE THE ABUSER

Christ is also AFFLICTED in our AFFLICTION.

Bible Passage

Isaiah 63:9 (ESV - English Standard Version)

9 In all their affliction he was afflicted,

and the angel of his presence saved them;

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Illustration

WINE cannot be MADE without CRUSHING...

Wine will not spoil...it lasts for years.

It actually gets BETTER with TIME

It can sit through the darkness with no problem

Down in your basement

Down in your cellar

HOW??

Because it has been through enough crushing to endure time.

You can tell those people who have been "crushed" by the LORD...

because they are survivors

They are NOT worried when hard times come

They are content.

They TRUST HIM.

If Christ is in you, CRUSHING does nothing but secrete CHRIST from you.

Bible Passage

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (KJV - King James Version)

8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

TOOK

Challenge Application

Whenever we find ourselves in a crushing season of life, let's remember Whose hands we are in.

Let's not put our faith in the DOINGS of God, but in the CHARACTER of God.

Which is:

He is Holy, Holy, Holy

He is Sovereignly in control

He is All Powerful

He is All Wise

He is Immutable (He never changes)

He is always everywhere

He is Faithful

He is Truth

He is Life

He is Just

He is Merciful

He is Gracious

He is Love

HE IS GOOD

Imagine how our live will be different if instead of looking for His DEEDS, we consider His CHARACTER.