Sermon Tone Analysis

BRTP

Suffering is everywhere you turn your head.

It used to be that major crises happened only so often.

But now, these things happen seemingly every week, at the same time.

Just think of all that’s happened in just the last two years.

Unprecedented racial unrest just as widespread and violent as that of the 1960s if not more so.

Utter hatred between Republicans and Democrats, as opposed to just heated disagreement.

Economic problems - inflation being the highest now that it’s been in 40 years.

Gas prices higher than any of us have ever seen.

A ground war in Europe perpetrated by Russia the likes of which hasn’t been seen over there since WWII.

The biggest exodus of refugees, now over 2 million, since the 1940s.

Then there’s the suffering that hits closer to home.

Marriages are stressed to the breaking point.

Families are being torn about by the same political battles that divide Congress.

Churches declining.

Healthcare seems now to be hard to come by.

Home prices and rent prices absolutely out of control.

Mental health problems, as a result of all this, are now being called the next pandemic.

And here’s what makes this so much more fun — it’s mostly all related.

You can’t really tackle one of these crises without solving the others.

There may not be much any of us can do, but we can change the way we think.

We can change the way we look at this suffering.

We can rewire our brains and hearts to respond differently.

And all of that starts with this foundation: What is God doing as we suffer?

The point is this: suffering is all around us, and for may of us it has invaded our homes and families.

The good news it that God is here, He is active, He is involved, and He is doing something about it.

#1: Suffering intrudes upon the lives of Christians

Let me explain.

I don’t mean that the Christian life is not a joyful one.

I don’t mean that Christians are miserable and should be miserable.

I simply mean that Jesus promised us that we would have trouble.

He promised us joy, too, for sure.

But He also promised that joy and pain would mingle.

Like literally, those were his words.

“In the world you will have trouble,” Jesus said, “but take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 ESV).

We can have joy now, real joy!

But until heaven, that joy will be a mixed joy.

“Sorrowful yet always rejoicing”, said the apostle Paul.

This has been the experience of believers for thousands of years.

Virtually all of the letters in the NT were written to churches going through serious adversity.

And this was true of the church as far back as its earliest days here in the book of Acts.

Look with me at verse 1, the second part: “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions ofJudea and Samaria...”

Luke tells us in verse 1 that the persecution began “on that day”, on the day the Stephen was stoned to death.

Stephen’s stoning was the catalyst the started it; his martyrdom was the spark that triggered the explosion.

His death gave others the courage to do what perhaps they had been wanting to do for some time.

The fact is that there are still people today who would approve of this treatment of Christians.

More and more, the intellectuals in our society look at Christians not just as being misguided or wrong, but dangerous.

A prominent French magazine published an article awhile back about evangelical Christians, and his argument was basically that our real goal is to move society backwards.

This is what he said:

"[Christians are out to] perform a U-turn against the secular state, the autonomy of science, the importance of universities, free-thinking, women's status, gender issues, minority rights...They are medieval in the worst sense."

[https://albertmohler.com/2020/09/23/briefing-9-23-20

(accessed Sep. 23, 2020]

As our secular society marches on toward “progress”, we will increasingly be viewed as the main people who get in the way of that progress.

Now there are two ways we can look at this.

The first would be what we might call “positive thinking.”

My wife is an eternal optimist and I absolutely love that about her.

She says I’m a pessimist; I like to call myself a realist.

I sometimes say there’s a fine line between optimism and delusion.

In all seriousness, positive thinking can be a good tool, right?

Let’s not focus on the problem; let’s focus on the solution.

Let’s not assume everything will be horrible; God might turn things around.

Not bad, right?

There’s a better way to look at it, I think - one that’s more biblical.

And that is not positive thinking, but hopefulness.

Some forms of positive thinking are actually hopeless.

Positive thinking is ultimately hopeless - why? Positive thinking is ultimately hopeless because it does not face the reality of pain.

It denies the reality of pain.

“I’m not really suffering.

This isn’t really that bad.

Other people have it worse than I do.

I should have a better attitude.

If I just keep a good attitude, all this will go away.”

But that’s not true, is it?

Some things are bad no matter how you look at it.

But hopefulness looks horrific pain in the face and says “This is horrible – but God is good, wise, and sovereign, He has already met my deepest and most urgent need in Christ, and He is therefore worthy of my life, my service, and my obedience, whatever happens to me here.”

And who was at the center of this persecution?

Look with me at verse 3: “Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and commited them to prison” (Acts 8:2-3 ESV).

This is none other than Saul of Tarsus.

Now who was Saul of Tarsus?

Or better, who did Saul of Tarsus become?

Well that’s for a future sermon.

All Luke is doing here is introducing us to this man who will become the main character, the main protagonist in the book.

For now it’s enough for us to seal it into our minds that suffering does intrude upon the lives of Christians.

I know many of you here this morning have suffered greatly.

Some still are now.

Many of you have wounds and scars that are still raw and will be a for a long time.

Some of you e have not forgotten about you.

Forgive us if we have given you that impression.

Neither has Jesus forgotten about you.

Your suffering — your pain — is not a sign that God is upset with you; your hardship does not mean that God has turned his back on you; he’s not done with you.

Listen to this promise from Jesus Himself: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and” — notice this — “no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father,” Jesus says, “who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one will be able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-29 ESV).

You probably aren’t suffering from persecution today, but that does not mean that you aren’t truly suffering.

No matter what you’re going through, your pain matters to God.

He sees you.

He knows you.

He loves you.