Weightless Afflictions: Rejoicing Through Suffering

Good morning

I again want to mention groupme as again it has caused some division this week

groupme is only for prayer requests, updates on those prayer requests so people know to keep praying or see what God did in that request, actual requests and needs, announcements that have gone through me as pastor or leadership and testimonies and encouragement

it is not for individual conversations

it is not a place to call people out on their sins

it is not a place to argue

all of that is to be done privately and groupme is for a group which means it is not private

The leadership is working on developing community standards or guidelines whatever you want to call them....in my classroom I call them rules of engagement so everyone is perfectly clear on what groupme is for and not for

in responding to those prayer requests it is appropriate to let the person know you are praying for them.....any advice or comments outside of something along the lines of I am praying for you is to be sent in a direct message on groupme, a text, a phone call or in person not on Groupme in the group chat

I love groupme and it is a great forum and venue for us to share prayer requests and other requests, testimonies and encouragement

it is not a place to share dirty laundry....if you are called by God to confess your sins on groupme please by all means do so but it is not a place to have private conversations and for sure not the place to argue or call people out

we are called to unity not division

we are called to die to ourselves which means our spirit of offense.....as a Christian you gave up your right to offense when you applied the blood of Jesus to your sin debt....it is Jesus’ place to be offended not yours

Happy Father’s day to all the men out there

whether you have kids or not as a man you will be a father at some point whether that be to your own children or adopted children or those God places in your sphere of influence to lead and guide as a man

Happy Father’s Day

Speaking of father’s day I want to address something that was well intentioned but false

there has been lots of talk lately among some in the church that God gets upset and the Bible teaches against using the word father for earthly fathers....the verse used was

Matthew 23:9 “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”

On face value that does appear to say that Jesus is telling us to not call anyone father however that is taking this verse out of context i am going to give you the scripture so you can go study it this week but in

Matthew 23:1–11

What Jesus is teaching is not to put anyone or anything above God

during this time disciples were putting their masters/teachers/rabbis ahead of God

putting them on a pedestal making them idols

that is what Jesus was teaching against not teaching us not to use the word father in terms of earthly fathers

we have to take scripture in context not just pluck a scripture out and make it say what we want it to say

how do we know that we are taking that scripture out of context

Matthew 10:37 “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Jesus Himself uses father in referring to earthly fathers so in Matthew 23 He cannot be referring to using the title father for earthly father but was referring to placing rabbi’s and teachers and masters ahead of God

Call this day whatever you want but please to not misapply and teach the Bible wrong

Matthew 18:6 “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Jesus takes leading people astray very seriously

make sure before you claim the Bible says something that it really says that

Let’s pray

last week i didn’t touch on something because I knew we would hit it this week

that something is

Suffering

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Romans 8:17-18

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Romans 8:17–18 “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

Suffering is the opposite of instant gratification as we saw last week

I want to spend our time together this morning making sure we understand that as a Christian life is not sunshine and rainbows

it doesn’t turn up roses

you will suffer if you die to the flesh and live in the Spirit

you can choose to run and deny Jesus but He is pretty clear what will happen if you deny Him

Matthew 10:33

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Matthew 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

Since I pray none of you wants to deny Jesus lets try to wrap our brains around suffering

thank you Holy Spirit for being here to teach us this morning

God wants us to understand this morning that we will face suffering

we will face trials

we will face tribulation

we will face persecution

He also wants us to know how to handle those things

the fact of the matter is everyone

saved or unsaved will face all of those things

what sets Christians apart is our focus

our perspective

how we choose to handle those things lets dive into that shall we

II Corinthians 4:17

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2 Corinthians 4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”

Light here in Greek means weightless trifle

trifle in Websters 1828 means a thing of very little value or importance

affection means intense pressure

In Jesus your intense pressure is a weightless thing of very little value or importance

Paul knew afflictions

Paul knew intense pressure

I want to make sure you know what Paul had experienced because when he says that your intense pressure...afflictions....are trifle weightless thing of very little value or importance it carries weight

II Corinthians 11:23-29

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2 Corinthians 11:23–29 “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?”

Lets look at this list of afflictions

labor....more abundant....Paul did not live an easy life he worked hard everyday of his life

stripes....if these were delivered by religious leaders then they would have been carried out with a braided scourge....this picture is similar but not exact......braided leather whips usually three that left stripes......if it were Roman they used a flagrum....you can see in the picture similar but the Romans tied pieces of bone and metal and glass to inflict much more damage and pain....neither sound fun to me...Paul endured above measure stripes for Jesus

prison we know Paul was often put in prison because he refused to stop preaching about Jesus

in fact Paul was left for dead on a few occasions

beaten with rods three times....this was a roman judicial punishment....show picture

he was stoned

he was shipwrecked...in fact after one ship wreck he was stranded at sea for a day and a night....just floating about in the ocean

he was snake bitten

was venerable to robbers, foreigners and even his own countrymen

in addition to all the physical stuff he endured he was also charged with all of the churches....the care of the churches

there is a lot of stuff going around today about how pastors are useless and not in the scripture.....i beg to differ with that but that is for another time and place

what I do want to say today is pastors are charged with the care of Christ’s church the congregation that God has given them to shepherd......i am charged with the care of this church....that is all of you and the community and all of the things that go with the church

i am also charged with your burdens.....i carry the burdens I know about in prayer and practicality as much as possible

i pray for each of you regularly...i love each of you

i think about you all a lot

my phone is rarely quite and i love it but it is a lot and so emotionally and spiritually draining

paul suffered in all of these things but says they are weightless things of little value or importance compared to Jesus

paul knew intense pressure and suffering

paul suffered yet he writes and declares they are weightless things of little value or importance compared to the coming glory

many of you have had hard lives....many still have a hard life

many are entering a season that will result in a hard life

many believe that when they come to salvation that the hard life is over

sorry but it is just the beginning

all of the things paul mentioned in ii corinthians were AFTER he was saved and began his ministry

you are saved the moment you repent and place your faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ

but you do not truly realize that salvation until you are promoted home to heaven or Jesus returns

what does that mean for you now

how you live matters

how you view sufferings matters

some say pastor it is just semantics.....words....but being rejected by the very people He came to save...the Jews....was much more than words

Jesus saying in

Matthew 8:20

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Matthew 8:20 “And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”

Jesus...the creator of all things had no where to lay His head in His creation....that is much more than words

the crown of thorns shoved into His skull was much more than words

the whips

the beatings

the being spat upon

the cross all were much more than words

if you are saved you will suffer

painful

hard

maybe even deadly suffering

but because of Jesus and what is to come it is nothing to you

weightless things of little value or importance

or at least it should be

the problem is your flesh

your flesh keeps score

your flesh demands vengeance

your flesh demands fairness as you perceive it .....always slanted towards you and your loved ones

your flesh demand justice except for you when it comes to your wrongs and sins

Romans 12:19

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Romans 12:19 “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

We will get much deeper into this when we get there in this series but look at what God just said

avenge not yourselves.....let it go

why

because as a Christian your sufferings are weightless things of little value or importance so why in the world would you demand vengeance for something of little value or importance

when you suffer for Christ do you see it as weightless or crushing????

how do we endure

first you don’t God through the Holy Spirit allows you to endure

He strengthens you

He gives you all you need to endure

2nd

I Peter 1:5-7

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1 Peter 1:5–7 “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”

I want to spend some time here this morning

actually the rest of our time together this morning will be spent here

this gives us wonderful Truth

this gives us wonderful perspective as we learn to see sufferings as weightless things of little value or importance instead of crushing issues

Let’s start with verse 5

1 Peter 1:5 “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Kept By The Power of God

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This is why it is super important to not try to do things on your own

you will fail

you are kept by the power of God

that is Truth

That is absolute Truth

however look at how you are kept by the power of God

Through Faith Unto Salvation

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Faith...that is where issues begin to arise

you lose sight of your faith

forgetting or maybe never even knowing because you aren’t in God’s Word truly studying

you forget or don’t know Truth

by the power of God

if it is done by power of God nothing can stop it

your faith is what keeps you focused on Jesus so that you can see your sufferings as weightless things of little or no value

we suffer well because of the power of God through our faith

I Peter 1:6

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1 Peter 1:6 “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:”

Greatly Rejoice Through Many Temptations

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The greek for greatly rejoice is a verb and means to jump for joy, be exceedingly glad, exceeding joy

When was the last time you jumped for joy for your manifold temptations

you jump for joy when Jr hits a home run

you jump for joy when the Chiefs win the superbowl

you jump for joy when your bills are less than you thought

when was the last time you jumped for joy in worship because of what Jesus has done for you???????

we jump for joy

are exceedingly glad

and have exceeding joy for many things but Jesus and worship and God’s Truth in His Word are usually never it

shame on us

i don’t care how you feel about it you were just told by God to jump for joy when you get the privilege of suffering with Christ and for Christ

the Greek for temptations is a masculine noun and means trial, proving, trial of man’s fidelity, integrity, virtue

part of why so many struggle with trials and temptations is you see them as a negative situation

something hard happens

something bad happens

and all you want is for it to stop

you see it as a negative

here scripture teaches differently

you are to jump for joy over trials and temptations because you realize they are trying you and growing you and building you up in Jesus Christ and Christian maturity

We have been going to summer scrambles for wrestling on Thursday nights and one thing...we always try to teach this....but in the summer the main thing we stress and teach is that it is never about the outcome but the journey

today so many people have their worth tied up in results

if I win then i am a winner

if i lose then i am a loser

nothing could be further from the truth

it is in the journey....the grind...that you learn the lessons

same here

it is not about getting through temptations and trials and sufferings and looking for a win or a loss

it is about rejoicing greatly during the suffering because God is growing you!!!

I Peter 1:7

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1 Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”

Faith More Precious Than Gold

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we all love the finished gold product

that shiny necklace

that fancy ring

that mirror finished gold bar.....never saw one of those in real life...but we can imagine

that is the finished product not the beginning product

the gold that comes out of the ground is anything but shiny and fancy and it for sure does not have a mirror finish

no it is encased in dirt and rocks and earth

it has to be processed

it must be refined

God loves you so much He refuses to leave you raw....right where you found Him

He refines you

God chose gold as an example here on purpose

you must put gold in a super hot fire to melt it

once it is molten, liquid, then the impurities come to the top and are easily removed

your sufferings and trials and temptations are the heat

taking you from where you are and forcing the impurities to the top

that is painful

it is hard work

it requires the correct perspective or it may seem you are being destroyed when in fact you are being purified

God is making you pure through sufferings

the question is not is that what God is doing but are you rejoicing in it

Romans 8:18

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Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

I want to finish and focus on the second part of this verse as we have looked at the first part this morning

Not Worthy To Be Compared With The Glory Which Shall Be Revealed in Us

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The Greek for worthy is an adjective and means weighting, have weight, befitting

the sufferings

the trials

the temptations

are not befitting of what is coming as a Christian

The Glory comes from Greek feminine noun meaning .....glory...a thing belonging to God.....splendor....brightness...thing belonging to Christ

Why do you greatly rejoice in temptations and trials and sufferings because you understand what is coming

next week we will look in more detail about the new heaven and new earth that is coming but for today I want us to look at the new that shall be revealed in us

you and me

Christians

the worship team is going to come as we look at

Hebrews 12:2

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Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

you are a co-heir with Jesus so you as a Christian greatly rejoice in sufferings with Him because you will be like Him when you get promoted home or Jesus returns

those sufferings are hard

those sufferings hurt

those sufferings may even physically kill you

that is not why we greatly rejoice

no we greatly rejoice because Spiritually we are protected and we know that in the end we will be glorified in Christ Jesus

you and I have nothing to glory about or in

the only good in you is Jesus

the only good in me is Jesus

it is His coming glory that we focus on that is how we understand and see afflictions

weightless things of little or no value in earthly terms

in spiritual terms they are priceless because if handled through faith and focus on the coming glory

the grow you

they mature you

they change you

they bring you closer to God and more like Jesus!!!!

this time is time to reflect

repent

confess

and respond to God’s call on your life this morning.