Grace And Suffering

Ephesians 3:1-13.

Elisabeth Elliot was a missionary in the 1950’s in Ecuador.

She initially moved to Ecuador in the early 50s, and then got married to another missionary, Jim, and they continued to do missionary work together.

Eventually, they felt that God was calling them to work with the auca tribe, a tribe that was famous for killing any person that came near their village.

Elisabeth waited for Jim to make contact, because they had just had a baby a few months ago.

Jim and the missionary team that went to make contact first were speared to death.

Valerie, his daughter, never got to know her dad.

Elisabeth was faced with a choice. She could go back to the States and stop doing mission work, or she could stay in Ecuador.

She decided that the tribe that killed her husband still deserved to hear the gospel.

So, she eventually made it inside the tribe because of some women that she had connected with. They eventually let her start talking to the tribe, and in the course of just a few short years, almost the entire tribe became followers of Jesus.

But, what that meant is that Elisabeth had to move her and her 3 year old daughter to live with the people that killed her husband.

She wrote in her book, Love has a price tag, “To forgive is to die. It is to give up one’s right to self, which is precisely what Jesus requires of anyone who wants to be His disciple.”

That’s grace.

Grace

All throughout this text, there’s multiple references to a “mystery.”

What do you think this mystery is?

The mystery is that, by the grace of God, people who did nothing to deserve belonging to God are saved by Him.

It’s that Jews and Gentiles can be together all under the family of God.

We have received immeasurable grace.

What does grace mean?

“Ill-deserved favor”

We actively ignore and offend God, we constantly abandon Him, and yet still He sacrificially gives Himself over to us so that we can be saved and loved by Him.

There is nothing that you can do to earn the love of God, and there’s no way for you to make yourself “worthy” of God’s love.

THANK GOD!

God gives us grace because there’s no way that we could do this thing on our own!

Even if I could make God love me by trying hard enough, I’m always going to fail eventually and I could never have the confidence in knowing that I belong to God.

I would always have to question if I’ve done enough for God to really love me. Instead, I know that God loves me because it’s on His character, not on mine!

You and I get to receive grace that is mind blowing! It’s a grace that is beyond even Elisabeth Elliot’s, because we killed the Son of God and regularly go back to the same stuff that put Him on the cross in the first place!

It’s because of that grace that we have “boldness and access with confidence!” God is our Father, He is always with us!

And, if we’ve been so loved by God by the gift of His grace

We must give immense grace.

Notice that most of the time that “grace” comes up here, it’s a gift of God that’s to be used for others?

vs. 2

v.7: “a minister according to the gift of God’s grace

v. 8: “Grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles”

Grace is a gift of God that transforms us, but it must also change how we treat others.

If we get to receive divine grace…

We must share the grace we’ve been given.

If someone gave you the cure to a disease that you and all your friends had that was killing you, would you horde it to yourself and watch all your friends die?

PROBABLY NOT!

In the same way, the grace of God that was given to you is an immense gift that changes your eternity, how can we not share it with the people around us?!

We have to be willing to tell our friends about Jesus.

I know that it’s scary, I know that it will feel like they’re going to hate you, but I also know that grace is a gift that was given to us, and we’re not just supposed to keep it to ourselves.

That’s part of why we have a youth group! You can invite your friends, and then us weird adults can start the conversation on God that you then get to continue! And we’ve even got candy to bribe them with!

But we can never assume that your friends will just hear about God from someone else so you don’t need to worry about it. We don’t know that, and maybe God is using specifically you to bring them to Jesus!

Vs. 10 shows that this grace was given so that it can even shake authority and power all throughout the world. The Gospel has the power to change everything, but we have to let it work instead of being terrified all the time that we’re going to get judged if someone finds out we’re a Jesus follower.

Grace is an immeasurable gift that you and I have been given that can be used to change our lives and the lives around us, let’s not waste it.

Grace in Suffering

Another really big theme throughout this passage is that of suffering.

It’s not super out in the open, but it is a common theme in this passage.

Paul is writing this letter while in jail because he was preaching to Gentiles.

He was REGULARLY in jail.

He had friends and students leave him because he was in jail.

He was eventually murdered because of his faith

And yet, Paul is able to say that he is a “prisoner of Christ Jesus (v. 1)” and “not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. (v. 13)”

How can Paul, who is writing from a jail cell, be ok with suffering for the sake of God.

Suffering is a tool, used by God, for our growth.

That sounds really harsh and difficult, but let me explain.

All throughout the story of the Bible, people suffer.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers

Elijah dealt with severe depression

The people of Israel we’re constantly enslaved

And all throughout the Bible, that suffering was used by God to bring His people closer to Him.

Joseph told his brothers Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Genesis 50:20 ESV

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Elijah was caught up and brought to be with God without dying in a chariot of fire (is that not the most metal thing that you’ve ever heard in your life!)

God used the suffering of Israel to bring about their dependence on Him.

Suffering is awful and painful and can leave wounds that take a long time to heal, but they can also be the way God grows us.

Paul is in prison at the point of writing this, and he still says that it’s for the benefit of other Jesus followers.

God can use your suffering to grow something really impressive in you.

When I was in middle school and high school, I hated myself with a deep hate. I was certain that I was trash, and I was so frustrated at God as to why I couldn’t just be confident like people I saw at youth group at church. Now, though, I think that maybe God was using it to allow me to help you guys when you deal with the same stuff.

I’m not saying that that hasn’t left wounds that I’m still waiting for God to heal, but I am saying that I think that maybe my experience has helped a couple of you.

I’m sure that the loss of her husband was one of the deepest wounds that Elisabeth ever felt, but God used that to bring a supernatural compassion for people on her that allowed her to preach the Gospel to her husband’s killers.

You are in the grand story of God redeeming all of creation.

There’s pain and loss and difficulty, but also life and hope and joy. And by the grace of God, you are here and are in this story. God loves you so much that He placed you here, at this time, in this place, so that you could be in His story.

And in our suffering, we can look to God, who suffered with us.

Jesus suffered immensely. He was betrayed by one of His closest friends and felt the full punishment for all of our sin before He was totally abandoned by God the Father for our sin and then died.

His suffering was worse than anything that you or I could have come up with, and yet He faced it willingly because of His immense love for you!

Turn to Him, and let His grace and forgiveness wash over you, and allow even our suffering to be a tool for God’s glory and our flourishing.

Questions.

What is your second favorite candy?

What does grace mean to you?

What does it look like for you to share grace with others?

How can your suffering be used by God to grow you into something beautiful? OR (If that’s going to be too much) How did God use Paul’s suffering to help others?