Suffering under His Soveriegnty

Introduction

Introduce self

Dismiss children

Thankful for Jason and his message on forgiveness last week.

This week getting back to our series in Acts, the thriving church. We are in the middle of Stephen’s defense to the sanhedreien, the religious elites of the day, and he isn’t talking about himself or attacking those who are falsely accusing him. He is preaching God to them based on the history of the nation of Israel.

Our first message in his response looked at God’s faithfulness to Abraham and how Abraham experienced that faithfulness by living by faith.

He didn’t live by faith becuase he had no doubt, he lived by faith through his doubt.

After this, Stephen then begins to describe the life of Joseph and remind the people listening of the soverignty of God through suffering.

Character-Followers of Jesus experiencing difficulty

An unfortunate idea that some may have about following Jesus is that there is no difficulties being a follower of Jesus. There is no problems with people, no prblems with aything in life. It’s abed of tulips, everything is all sunshine and rainbows, and there is never a problem because God is love and how could a loving God allowing suffering?

Now that’s a good question right? It’s one we often see atheists and others present as a means of not believing in God. And while today I am not going into answering that, what I will tell you is from the fall of man we have evidence of bad things happenign to good people and there being a loving God. The two are not unable to exist in reality.

How many of you have experienced trials, suffering, or difficulties since being a follower of Jesus?

And yet, God is still good, God is still love, and he is in still in control.

How are we to respond when we encounter these situations? How do we as followers of Jesus respond when these things happen? What is the godly way to handle suffering under His sovereignty.

Problem-Take things on yourself during a trial

When we experience suffering we have options of how to respond. When we face unjust circumstances like Joseph does, we have a chioce to make. Do we make the problems all about us, or do we make them about the one who can actually solve them.

Do we choose to let the one who can change things change them or do we take the problems on our shoulders adn find ourselves crushed under the weight of the issues?

I’m guilty, more times than not, of taking it on myself and trying to solve the problems.

THe truth of the matter is, they aren’t my problems to solve. The problems Joseph faced weren’t his problems to solve.

Stephen’s problem that he was facing, wasn’t his problem to solve.

That’s why he doesn’t defend himself, he preaches about God. He seeks to help the people around him remember and better understand God so that they will see the Lord and not himself.

Agitated-Hurts you, your testimony, and those around you

When you have taken those problems on your shoulders and tried to solve them yourself, how has that worked for you?

What did it look like? You probably started attacking and name calling. You probably started going in and defending all that your being accused of while telling those causing you problems how bad they are.

What does that do for someone? It hurts them, it hurts their testimoy, and it hurts the people around them. It impacts everyones view of you and of those around you.

Is there a time to call people out? Absolutely. How can I say that?

Because Jesus did it. He would often call the religious elite hyppocrites, and he also called thema brood of vipers. he did not speak highly of them in public. He called them out for their misunderstanding of scripture, he spoke against their sin, he corrected their understanding of the bible.

What about when the difficulties or situation aren’t about an understanding of scripture, what about when their personal?

Stephen’s was personal because he is abotu to lose his life. Joseph’s problems were personal because his life was on the line as well.

How do you respond to the sovereignty of God when your suffering so that He is glorified?

Solution-Surrender control to Jesus

You have to surrender. You have to let them talk. You have to let the difficulty go. You have to accept your finite ability to and lack of ability to change hearts. You have to accept that sometimes the best thing you can do is to do nothing and let God do everything.

Do you know why there is tension in our hearts when we go through suffering to take control?

We use the phrase “Jesus take the wheel” or “ give God control” Those ideas don’t actually convey the turth though.

Illustration: Someone driving and you grabbing the wheel.

Jesus already has the wheel. God already has control. He is in the drivers seat, he is the captain of the ship. So it’s bnotu about giving him control, its about accepting he has control.

Guide- Stephen, Joseph

STephen is exemplifying this in his response to what he faces.

Joseph exemplifies this in his response to the various thigns he went through. If you don’t know about Joseph’s story, I’ll tell you more about it here in a minute.

These men show us how to respond because of who God is rather than because of who we are.

Journey-Acts 7:9-16

Had joseph responded because of who he was he could have responded as a spoiled child and the favorite of his father. The siblings know he is the favorite, not the best parenting technique by Jacob but hey, it happened.

Stephen in an effort to help the people respond to the Holy Spirit of God reminds them of his fiathfulness, and now his sovereignty through the life of Joseph.

If you don’t know Josephs sotry, he was 1 of the 12 patriarchs of Israel. all the tribes of Israel are named after the sons of Jacob who had his name changed to Israel by God.

Throughout Joseph’s life he shows us how to suffer in the sovereignty of God. How do you respond t the suffering that’s part of God’s sovereignty?

1. Patiently Endure Suffering

Exegesis:

Acts 7:9–10 “9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.”

In Genesis we see Joseph identfied as the favorite and he doesn’t help himself. He has these dreams or visions from God about his brothers bowing down to him, He goes and shares these with them and they make fun of him and mock him.

Genesis 37:5–8 “5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.”

How would you feel if your sibling came and told you that?

THey hated him. So what did they do? What did they do to this man that God would use to preserve his people?

Genesis 37:18–20 “18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”

THey wanted to kill him. THankfully one of his brothers, Rueben, speaks some sense and says let’s not kill him le’ts just thrown him in a well.

I mean…better than death I guessbut still..not a good day.

So that’s wha thtey do. Rueben plans to secretely rescue him after they do it however before he can get back to do that…

Genesis 37:26–28 “26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.”

His brothers, his family, people close to him, people who loved him, sold him into slavery…how do you think he felt in that well? When the slave traders were paying for him? When he realized those who were closest to him were turning their back on him?

He is a normal man, he had emotions like you and I do. And often when we are betrayed, we can become bitter, vindicative, and hateful.

Illustrate:

Have any of you ever seen or heard about this monument in Saratoga new york? It’s the boot monument.

On it, it reads: In memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army who was desperately wounded on this spot, the sally port of Burgoyne’s great [western] redoubt 7th October 1777 winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of Major General.

Did you notice what’s missing from it? The name of the soldier.

In 1780 this same soldier would become the most famous traitor in American History and his name would be synonmous with betrayl for centuries to come.

Know his name? Benedict Arnold.

They wanted him to be recognized for his early bravery but they couldn’t use his name. This is what happens when you betray someone. or if they percieve betrayal. You forget any or all good that they did in your life.

Is that what followers of Jesus are called to do though?

Hold sin over someones head or percieved offense?

Apply:

Jason preached a message last week on this. We forgive. God chooses to cast our sin as far as the weast is from the west, the omniscient God chooses to not remember our sin.

You will most likely not have the capability of doing that. So how do you proceed.

Having patience in the suffering means not rushing to respond in your flesh but waiting to respond in the Spirit.

It’s choosing to forgive even though you are angry. It’s understanding forgivensss doesn’t mean you won’t feel an emotion, it means releases your right to act on your emotion. It’s releasing your right to react in your flesh.

It also doesn’t mean your going back to full trust immediately or respect. DO you think God trusted and respected the israelites in their back adn forth journey of following Him and false Gods? Did he receive them and go “ O good…i forgive them and now they will never do anything wrong again.” No.

He was patient with them and forgave knowing they wouldn’t be perfect.

Joseph exercised patience being sold into slavery and then his story goes even crazier.

AFter being sold he is taken to Egypt and put in the house of a man named Potipher. He was then trusted to rule over Potiphers household. Whiel there, potiphers wife tries to seduce him, the husband believes his wife, and he gets thrown in fail. Again, he doesn’t attack the wife, he doesn’t defend himself, he doesn’t speak poorly about her, he goes to prison.

Sold to slavery, betrayed, and now in prison. He meets two men that share dreams with him, he tells them their dreams, and asks them to remember them when they get out into pharaohs house…2 years later he finally gets to pharoah to tell him about his dream.

Then he becomes number 2 in the nation.

sold to slavery, betrayed by his owners wife, betrayed by menwho would have been friends in prison, and then finally in pharaos house.

During all of this, the Lord was with Him. The Lord was still good. The Lord was still love. The Lord was still sovereign over all things.

What does Stepehn remind these men of that he is preaching to and this crowd of people that have turned dtheir backs on him, ready to stone him? He reminds them that God is Sovereign and we see how to respond to suffering in His soveriengty.

He reminds them of the patience of Joseph and then the humility of joseph

2. Humbly Respond to Antagonist

Acts 7:11–13 “11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.”

Exegete:

Joseph is now the VP of Egypt and his brothers are coming to him for food.

It’s been 22 years since he has seen his brothers. His life has not been a field of dreams and he could look back and blame it all on the brothers.

Imagine what was going through hsi mind as they walked into his presence and he recognizes them.

This si a guy that went from being sold to slaver to now having the power to have them killed with one word. Maybe even a wave of his hand.

he had vengeance in the palm of his hand.

and he chose humility.

He chose humility just like he did against potiphers wife, just like he did against the two men in prison, and now he is chosing it against his brothers.

Illustrate:

When you have had an antagonist in your life…how have you responded?

Sir John Templeton, the 92-year-old founder of the Templeton Prize in science and religion, said, “What I am financing is humility. I want people to realize you shouldn’t think you know it all.”

Perhaps admitting we don’t know it all—that God is God and we’re not—is Step One toward humility. When God spoke to Israel about its future, He said, “If my people…will humble themselves…I will hear from heaven.” Humility is saying, “I need God. There is much I do not know and cannot do on my own. I’m not ashamed to admit I am inadequate to save myself now or for eternity.” Grace fuels humility, and grace comes from God. In fact, James wrote that God “gives grace to the humble.” More grace, more humility. More humility, more grace. Tell God what you don’t know, and let His grace lead you to a greater dependence on Him.

What Sir John describes is what humility is. An acceptance of not knowing.

When joseph was arrested, he could have assumed “My brothers did this becuase they want my position in my fathers eyes. My brothers did this because rueben told them to. My brothers did this…”

He could have said “Potiphers wife did this because…” “Those men in prison didn’t mentioned me to pharaoh becuase”

did Joseph truly know the motives of the individuals hurting him?

Wheny ou got hurt, did you triuly know the motives? YOu may say “well yea i did.” how though…did you ask? did you seek understanding?

Or did you assume a narrative and live inside of that? Most of the time we do that and it leads to us painting the other person as satan himself.

You see…Joseph may have understood that his brothers were angry as a result of the hurt they felt from their father who made it known they didn’t like him as much. It doesn’t justify their actions by any means. But if you can see the actions coming from the hurt of someone else, then it helps with your response.

This is hard right? WHen your in the middle of what feels like a battle or fight for something against another person.

Humility is accepting you don’t know, God does, and is a result of surrender.

Apply:

Now, let’s talk about the harder question.

Have you ever recognized yoursefl as an antogonist in someon else’s life and been ablet o humble yourself to resolve that as best you can?

Not easy, I’m not perfect at it, but that is the ultimate realization. Can I tell you, there may be people in your life that are not good for you and there may be people in your life, your not good for. Doesn’t mean your bad people, just means your not at a place to where a healthy relationship can exist in the moment.

Joseph exhibits patient, humility, and now we look at what I beleive truly got him through it all and leads to patience and humility:

3. Express Gratitude through and after the suffering

Acts 7:14–16 “14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. 15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, 16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.”

Exegete:

After he messes with his brothers a bit to see if theyw ere different than the men who had him thrown into slavery 22 years ago, Joseph invites his father and 75 people to egypt to be safe during the famine and leads to the 400 years of bondage.

Notrice how he responded ot his father when they met:

Genesis 46:29 “29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.”

Joseph was so grateful to be with his father, and he was also like his brothers when he confessed who he was.

He was grateful for who they had become, he was grateful for who he had become. Joseph was able to say to them

Genesis 50:20 “20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

illustrate:

Now this is a simple illustration but I think you can relate to it.

Ever been rushing around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to get somewhere and while your driving like crazy to get there you get cut off, you find yourself stuck in traffic, theres construction, etc?

How do we respond to this stuff? With anger right.

However, if we had josephs perspective, we can look at that guy on 72 cutting us off and be thankful to God becuase what that dude meant for evil, what he meant to hurt you, what he meant to disrupt your life, God will use for good. You could have missed an accident, you could have missed something else or worse.

Now that’s a simplified thing you can get over easily right?

But can you be gratefeul when people are hurting you and doing things that impact your life or the lives of thsoe around you?

Joseph did this and Stephend does this.

Normal men, like you and me. Normal men that chose God’s perspective over their own.

Apply:

WHy though? How? How could they do this? Were they super siants, did they wear capes? Did they change in phone booths in moments when the strength was needed most? Was there a ring of power humility they used to embue them with this speacial talent?

No…no none of that. I believe they knew God in such a way they were able to trust Him and His process.

Isaiah 55:8 “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”

They believed this principles. They knew God has got this.

STephen is trying to remind the sanhedrien and those gainst him what I want to remind you of today:

God is sovereign, that doesn’t mean you won’t suffer, but it does mean you can choose to suffer in his soveriengty well.

Resolution-Control the one you can, surrender the ones you can’t

Patience, humility, and gratitude.

Impact: NEgative-fighting, bitterniss, blame. Positive: God honoring, loving