The Purpose of Obstacles

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ETS: Paul tells the Romans that since they have been justified by faith, they can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which is produced by their sufferings.

hope of the glory of God, which is produced by their sufferings.

ESS: Since Christians have been justified by faith, they can rejoice in their sufferings because they produce the hope of God’s glory.

they produce the hope of God’s glory.

OSS: Christians will rejoice in their sufferings because they know it leads to hope in the glory of God.

of God.

Introduction:

When I went to Lebanon, God allowed me to experience one of the most desired wishes of my life. I wanted more than anything to experience the persecuted Church. I had heard about them. I had read about them. But I wanted to meet them face to face and ask questions and witness the faith that had withstood beatings and martyrdom. When I went to Lebanon, God granted that wish of mine.

I had the honor and privilege to me Yasser. Yasser was a Syrian refugee that wasn’t even supposed to be in Lebanon, but he was (and is) a vital part of the ministry there in Lebanon. Yasser was a tall stout man that had a weathered face, a long Arabic nose, and sharp eyes. He was a man that radiated discipline and order and authority. And his heart was on fire for Jesus Christ.

We sat on buckets in the little fruit stand where he worked and sipped hot tea and coffee. Chris (the missionary I was with) and Yasser talked small talk about the day, the weather, and various other menial matters. But when everyone in the fruit stand left, Yasser lifted his head, looked around to see if anyone was listening, and began to tell his story.

Yasser was born and raised in Syria and had the privilege of being a very educated man. He held several degrees in educations and was a master teacher. He distinguished himself and became the president of education in his province of Syria. However, when the governmental structure of Syria began to crumble, they went after Yasser. They put a bag over his head, dragged him into a dark room, and strapped him to a chair. For 28 days straight they tortured Yasser in hopes of drawing information out of him since he was a high ranking official. They beat the bottoms of his feet until they were a bloody pulp and then made him walk on them for hours. Yasser thought he would never see his family again.

When Yasser was released, he and his family fled to Lebanon and resided as an illegal outcast of society. Yasser and his family still live in Lebanon today. The man who holds several college degrees and was once the president of education, now makes a measly little wage to support his family as a fruit stand salesman.

Why does God allow suffering like that to happen to us? Why does He subject His children to gruesome acts of violence and persecution?

Because it isn’t a matter of if we will experience persecution as Christians, it is a matter of when we will experience sufferings and persecution.

Jesus promised the disciples that they would experience persecution:

Matthew 10:16–18 ESV

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

Matthew 10:

Matthew 10:21–22 ESV

21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 10:

Matthew 10:24–25 ESV

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Matthew 10:

16“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles…

21Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved…

24“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. (, , )

Jesus never hid the fact that there would be suffering if you followed Him. In fact, He required it:

Luke 9:23–24 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

23And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

In fact, right now, in China, to be a minister in the underground church, you have to have been to prison for the faith - it is a requirement.

Every single one of the disciples experience unbearable persecution and sufferings:

Paul (though he wasn’t one of the twelve disciples) was beheaded in Rome

Peter was crucified upside down (at his request) in Rome

Andrew was crucified in what is now modern-day Turkey

Thomas was ran through with a spear in India

Philip was cruelly put to death in Asia Minor

Matthew was skinned alive in Ethiopia

Bartholomew was martyred in Southern Arabia

James (son of Alpheus) was stoned to death in Syria

Simon the Zealot was killed in Persia

Matthias was burned alive in Syria

John was exiled to the Island of Patmos

The Bible does not hide the fact that suffering and persecution will certainly come to those who call themselves Christians and follow Jesus

The crazy thing is that Scripture doesn’t treat this suffering business as a bad thing. Instead, it is regarded as a celebration:

Matthew 5:10–12 ESV

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

James 1:2–4 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Revelation 6:9–11 ESV

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ()

2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ()

9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. ()

But why? We have to ask the question of why?

Why is persecution good for me?

Why does God require that the Christian suffers?

Why am I blessed if I am persecuted?

Why is it a good thing, and not a bad thing, if I am beheaded for the sake of Jesus Christ?

Why do I suffer?

The short answer: We are exiles living in a foreign world that hates us and so God uses that to make His name look great.

Romans 5:1–5 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5

Main Scripture:

1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. 3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ()

What do we mean by sufferings? What are we talking about when it comes to suffering?

Biblical suffering is any pain, debilitating discomfort, or any hurtful or harmful circumstance you endure for the sake of Jesus Christ.

We are talking about pain and suffering from being imprisoned and beheaded for preaching Christ’s Gospel to having your heart ripped out by the death of papaw or memaw or momma or papa to the tears streaming down the face of the little sixth grader who has his/her heart crushed because his/her boyfriend/girlfriend isn’t the one God has in mind for marriage.

That is what the Bible has in mind for the sufferings of this world

Body:

God is Sovereign Over Your Obstacles

If we are going to believe that God is the God of the universe and that He holds all power in His hands, we have to believe that He is sovereign over our suffering.

I’m not saying He is the agent of sin that burst through the door and killed the entire family in their sleep. But I am saying that He holds the remote in His hand that has the button to abort the mission or the circumstance and to shut every persecution or suffering down and He chooses when and if to push it.

The problem with believing that God is not sovereign over your suffering is that if that is true, suffering becomes sovereign over God. Suffering calls the shots and God is left to react. And my God does not react to one iota of human history.

Luke 22:31 CSB

31 “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.

Luke 22:31

31“Simon, Simon, look out! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.” ( HCSB)

Satan has to ask permission from God to ravage us and test us to see how Godly we really are. He has to ask the Sovereign to allow him to do it.

Consider Job—arguably the most tested and trial-stricken man of all human history:

Job 1:8–12 ESV

8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Job 1

8And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. ()

Satan is not the one who first brought Job up; God brought Him up.

Satan says to God, “Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

Satan is not in charge of our suffering and our obstacles. The world is not in charge of our suffering and our obstacles. God is in charge of our suffering and our obstacles.

But God being in charge of our suffering is good news! Because without Him, rejoicing in our suffering would be impossible:

Romans 5:1–2 ESV

We can rejoice in our sufferings because we have been justified by faith and are now at peace with God.

If you are not justified by faith, you will not rejoice in your sufferings

But how and why? That still doesn’t answer the question of how and why we have to endure suffering.

Again, we get our answer in

I am going to give three reasons for the purpose of our suffering from . They are progressive—the second builds onto the first and third is the most important reason for the purpose for suffering:

Suffering is to Build Endurance

Romans 5:3 ESV

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

Romans 1:3 ESV

3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh

Romans 1:3

Suffering makes us strong

Suffering builds us so that we do not blow away when the storm comes

The Greek word for “Endurance” is “Hupomonay” and properly means “to remain under.”

The best illustration of this is Jesus praying to the Father in the Garden - not my will but your’s.

This is one of the beauties of suffering—the more I suffer, the more suffering I am able to remain under.

The more suffering I am able to remain under the more glory I give to God and the more blessing I receive in heaven.

It is like when you work out. When you work out, you are creating thousands of little microscopic tears in the muscle. And when that muscle begins to heal, it heals back stronger. And then you are able to life more weight. The more often I lift weights, and the heavier those weights are, the stronger I will be.

God sends us head first into suffering because it builds a strength in Him that gets stronger and stronger each time we come out of it.

This is why elderly people typically are, or at least should be, more wise than young people—they have lifted more weight than we have.

They have had their hearts broken more times

They have endured hotter flames that we have endured

The have felt the pain of dire circumstances on a more intimate level than we have

God permits and sends us into suffering to produces endurance

This is the same Greek word James uses in :

James 1:2–4 ESV

2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (

Suffering makes us steadfast

Steadfast: firm in belief, determination, or adherence, firmly established, firmly fixed in place or position, unwavering.

- You want to know how to keep yourself in line with the Bible and not be carried away by false teaching that is crafty and attractive? Learn how to suffer well for the Lord so you endure well and are steadfast

fixed in place or position, unwavering.- You want to know how to keep yourself in line with the Bible and not be carried away by false teaching that is crafty and attractive? Learn how to suffer well for the Lord so you endure well and are steadfast

You want to know how to keep yourself in line with the Bible and not be carried away by false teaching that is crafty and attractive? Learn how to suffer well for the Lord so you endure well and are steadfast

Steadfast Christians who endure are not blown around by the most popular unbiblical teachings

Endurance Produces Character

Romans 5:4

Romans 5:4 ESV

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, (vs. 3)

The Greek Word for “Character” is “Dokimay” and means the “proof of genuiness.”

It is through suffering that we truly see who we are as Christians.

We can say we are a Christian and that we love the Lord all we want, but our genuiness is put on display when we suffer

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

This is what Jesus was doing to Peter in :

Jesus is telling Peter that actions speak louder than words—you can say that you love me all you want, but the world will see that you truly love me when you do my ministry which will lead to your gruesome death.

That is why Jesus tells the disciples:

Matthew 24:13 ESV

13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

That is why Paul tells Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:3–5 ESV

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

2 Timothy 4:3-

God is not glorified in us when we declare ourselves Christians

God is glorified in us when we show the world that we are Christians

Similarly, the world is not impressed by Christians and by God when Christians strike it big and get rich.

The world is impressed by Christians and by God when our whole world caves in and we shine like lamps in darkness and hold rock solid in who we are and who we entrust ourselves to.

The only way to prove your genuiness is by enduring the fires of trials.

Character Produces Hope:

Character Produces Hope

Romans 5:4–5 ESV

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (vs. 4-5)

The Greek word for “Hope is “Elpis” and it properly means “expectation of what is sure.”

Suffering produces endurance, which enables us to prove ourselves genuine, which produces an expectation of what is sure to come—the glory of God.

This is the same word that is used in verse 2:

Romans 5:2 ESV

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

and we rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. (vs. 2)

Suffering produces the expectation what is sure—the glory of God

How do you know that this Jesus thing is true?

- How do you know that this Jesus thing is true? How do you know that God really is as wonderful as the Bible says He is?

How do you know that God really is as wonderful as the Bible says He is?

I know that my God is real and that He is the most majestic Being in all the universe because he made me endure tragedies and heartaches—He made me endure suffering.

Because it is in our sufferings where we experience God at the most intimate level.

Because He doesn’t just leave us to ourselves to figure all this out for ourselves—that would undermine His whole purpose in the suffering.

He is right there in our sufferings. Look what Peter said in his letter:

1 Peter 4:12–14 ESV

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (

Conclusion:

So why does God make us go through suffering?

God makes us go through suffering because we will think that we are going through the caverns of hell all alone, and it will cause us to look up to heaven and realize all over again that we are found. And He gets all the glory.

God makes us go through suffering to construct us into the perfect human beings He designed for us to be before the foundations of the world were laid.