07-25-2021 - Christmas in July

Jesus Came to Suffer

Our Text for Today

Matthew 16:21–23 ESV

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Matthew 20:17–19 ESV

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Jesus was as guilt free and innocent of sin the moment he breathed His last on the Cross of Calvary as he was the day he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary. Yet, He came to SUFFER in order that we might be SAVED

Isaiah 53:3 ESV

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

First Thing is We must be willing to Suffer

Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) spent fourteen years in prison for his role as a pastor in Romania.  He later founded Voice of the Martyrs to raise awareness and help for Christians suffering persecution.  During his imprisonment, a fellow believer was led away to a punishment cell where the conditions were horrible and many had died.  Wurmbrand had been to the same cell and knew of the anguish, but rather than expressing his hopes that his cellmate’s time in there would be brief, he gave a much stronger word of encouragement.  As the man walked by, the sturdy Romanian pastor said, “When you come back, tell us what you have learned.”  For many of us, we think of discipleship in terms of books and classes, but it is far more than study.  Some of the greatest truths come to us through pain and suffering.  May we embrace such trials with the same type of spiritual expectancy as those stalwarts from Romania, and grow in our understanding of discipleship as they did.

Luke 14:27 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Second, Our Suffering is to produce Perseverance

Romans 5:2–5 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. 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.

Third, No Suffering Can Separate us from the Love of God

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Fourth Suffering in Christ sets our Perspective in this World

Joni Eareckson Tada was a 17-year-old athletic young lady when a diving accident in the Chesapeake Bay stole the use of her arms and legs.  Since that day in 1967 she has known the constant confinement of being a quadriplegic.  Conventional thinking would prompt most people to believe she is eagerly anticipating the liberation of heaven.  Ms. Tada readily acknowledges it will indeed be nice to stand and stretch, but her greater interest lies in something else.  She’s said the freedom to walk and run pale in comparison to the opportunity of offering "praise that is pure."  Of heaven she writes, "I won't be crippled by distractions, or disabled by insincerity.  I won't be handicapped by a ho-hum half-heartedness.  My heart will join with yours and bubble over with effervescent adoration.  We will finally be able to fellowship fully with the Father and the Son.  For me, this will be the best part of heaven."  May every believer likewise see that as the best part of heaven.

1 Peter 2:21 ESV

21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

1 Peter 4:1–2 ESV

1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Colossians 1:24–29 ESV

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Lastly, Even in the Midst of Suffering, God is with us

Consider This: In always praying for peace, health and comfort, perhaps we are missing a great work of God in our lives… The God of all Comfort who COMFORTS us in our afflictions and suffering teaches us to COMFORT others...

Isaiah 43:2 ESV

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

John 16:33 ESV

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Matthew 11:28 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

2 Corinthians 1:3–7 ESV

3 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 may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.