10 Things only Christians Know About Suffering

What only the Christian can REALLY know about Suffering (10 Things)

Close with Romans passage on birth pains. To develop a mindset of counting all sorrows, pains, griefs and problems as getting ready to give way to the birthing of the new age in Christ.

Siddhartha Gautama – life is suffering.

Resisting the temptation to forget the depths of my own brokenness which allows me to feel equipped to judge God in His decisions, rather than humbly trusting the revelation of Himself in His Word, and supremely in Jesus.

1 – That the entrance of sin is at the root of suffering and so I need to learn a right hatred of it (Real Reality - ) / Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

So suffering isn’t a meaningless aspect of life without cause or rhyme or reason.

Perhaps the most common cry from our hearts whenever we entering a suffering event or season is “WHY?”

We want some sort of direct “cause and effect” answer. We somewhat instinctively know – or think – that if we can discern a specific reason behind our suffering, that somehow that will ease it.

It won’t.

But so that our suffering is not multiplied by this nagging need, God in His grace has given us His Word to give the most basic answer to it, even if we cannot make a direct or one-to-one correlation between our suffering at any one time, and a more specific cause.

The entire book of Job is a study in 4 men at first: Job, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar – then near the end Elihu – desperately trying to do this very thing.

All of which only further torments Job at every turn.

Unconfessed sin, secret sin, these become the stated absolutes.

And the most amazing thing is that God never gives Job and answer why either – after all 42 chapters and 10 accusatory speeches – Job is never given THE why.

But he is given THE WHO! Who to look to. Who to trust. Who is in control. Who is holy, and just and good and wise. And Who has Job’s best interest at heart. And WHO will bring everything to a final, glorious end.

Job’s friends were right in that sin was at the root, since sin is at the root of ALL human suffering since the Fall.

But they were so very wrong in assuming that meant Job’s specific circumstances were directly attributable to some specific sin of Job’s a that time.

2 – That if my suffering were really one-for-one corresponding punishment for sin, I’ve never received the full of what I am due – not even close (Justice & Mercy) / For the wages of sin is death

2 – That if suffering were really punishment for sin, I’ve never received the full of what I am due – not even close (Justice & Mercy) / For the wages of sin is death

None of deserves ease or freedom from pain and suffering due to our complicity in and union with Adam’s sin.

We have it in our minds that somehow we are due – ease.

While we know this intellectually and theologically, we seldom really grasp this concretely. We are just like Asaph in where he was bewailing his woes while the wicked prospered. He wrote: (CSB) “The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High know everything?” Look at them—the wicked! They are always at ease, and they increase their wealth. Did I purify my heart and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?”

What is the unspoken assumption behind those words? Where’s the payoff for serving God? Doesn’t buy me some sort of insurance against suffering in this life and some justice for those who are not serving Him? Have I come to Christ for nothing?

Most of us have probably never actually said that, but haven’t we felt in our hearts? Sure we have. I have!

3 – That a sovereign God is at the helm (An absolute comfort) / And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? 20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

4 – That the enemy may act, but not apart from permission which will eventually work for God’s glory (An eternal identity & a Cosmic Conflict) / Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." 8 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."

;31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

5 – That I am to sanctify and redeem it for the good of the brethren - To comfort others (A magnificent purpose) / Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

6 – That I am driven to know God by it in fleeing to Him (An unspeakable privilege) / - These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to i the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon...It said: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 1 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

7 – That for the saved, there is grace in everything (A governing grace) / He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. 14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

8 – That I am to learn to crave Heaven by it (A glorious end) / / 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature h is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight 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. Our Heavenly Dwelling 5 For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened––not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord..

9 – That I might have an increased gratitude for redemption (A sweet reminder) / how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

10 – That I might enter somewhat into the sweet sufferings of Christ (A mysterious union) / Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Sufferings which the world does not share with us, but are part and parcel of being linked together with God in Christ – These are over and above what suffering we and the world share in common