God Has To Bruise You, To Use You

GOD HAS TO BRUISE YOU, TO USE YOU

2 Cor. 1:3-7

INTRODUCTION

A. WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED TO ME?

1. M. Night Shyamalan's film “Unbreakable” begins with a train wreck. Everyone on board is killed—over a hundred people—except for one. David Dunn not only survives the wreck, he walks away without a scratch.

2. Instead of being relieved by his good fortune, he's troubled by this remarkable outcome. Why was he unharmed, and what does it mean?

3. Into Dunn's life comes an eccentric comic book collector named Elijah, who seems equally intrigued by Dunn's survival. Elijah has reason to be interested; he was born with a genetic disorder that leaves his bones especially brittle—so brittle, in fact, that he is known as Mr. Glass.

4. Dunn, on the other hand, has never broken a bone, even after years of playing football. He's never had stitches; never pulled a muscle; never been bruised; never even been sick. Elijah tells David that he's not like other people; he's been given an extraordinary gift that he cannot keep to himself, but must employ in the service and protection of others.

5. For the rest of the film, Dunn struggles to understand and accept his remarkable abilities and the destiny that goes with them. He's “unbreakable.”

6. The film is fiction, of course, a comic book fantasy. There are no superheroes walking our streets. We are all quite breakable. We're fragile and susceptible to disease, accident, injury, violence, germs, and natural disaster.

7. These problems can lead to all sorts of questions, “Why did this happen to me or to my loved ones? How am I supposed to handle it? [Bryan Wilkerson]

B. IDEA

1. Into this mix comes A.W. Tozer, who said, “It’s doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly, until He has hurt him deeply.” He was of the opinion that suffering is necessary to usefulness to God.

2. I think we all agree that God has to work on us a lot to improve us. We’re shallow. We’re selfish. We don’t think about how other people are effected. We often don’t have a burden for others. So God has to put us into all kinds of varying situations to make us who He wants us to be.

3. So tonight’s message is “God has to Bruise You, to Use You.”

I. WHY GOD ALLOWS CHRISTIANS TO SUFFER

A. REASONS HE ALLOWS US TO SUFFER

1. TRIED & TESTED. God will have a tried & tested people. We must go through fire and water. The extreme tests demonstrate the true “metal” of the person. Even Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered, Heb. 5:8.

2. SYMPATHY. We can’t comfort others unless we’ve experienced what they are experiencing. When God wanted Ezekiel to prophesy to the Israelite captives, He placed him among them, in their despair, for seven days (3:15). Only then did he get God’s word for them, because only then did he understand their suffering.

3. AS A WITNESS. We Christians must face the same afflictions as the lost, but instead of responding with despair, anger, hopelessness, etc. that others do, we are to respond as the nature of Jesus Christ would. We should respond by the fruit of the Spirit. The different spirit we present will be a witness to them of Jesus’ reality. The sweetest music comes from the violin string that has been stretched to the limits.

B. THERE IS VALUE FROM SUFFERING

1. FRUIT TREES BRUISED. In the natural, certain types of fruit trees bear more fruit if the trunks are struck with sticks. It may be because a stressed tree may be jolted into returning to its original purpose (like a computer when restarted). A man on the internet said he noticed this “when a backhoe bumped into our mango tree several times while spreading dirt. The fruit that year was 3 or 4x the normal amount. I've since used this on other fruit trees.” https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1622277/beating-trees-with-a-bat

2. WHAT MAKES SWEET ORANGES

One lady said, “I live in Florida, a citrus capital. Most Floridians know that the colder the winter is for the trees, the sweeter the oranges.”

3. TEA BAGS & GOLF BALLS. A tea bag never gives off its flavor or aroma without being put in hot water. The hot water brings out the hidden quality of the tea. Why do golf balls have dimples? The original golf balls were smooth. But players noticed that a “roughed-up” golf ball would travel further than a smooth one. Investigation proved it, thus the dimpled golf ball.

4. Paul & James said “the trying (trial) of your faith works patience” which leads to maturity. Rom. 5:3; James 1:3-4.

II. YOUR PAIN IS NOT IN VAIN

A. ILLUSTRATION

1. Thomas Chisholm (1866-1960) was sickly, a failure. He tried selling insurance, farming, tried to start a Christian magazine – and every thing he tried failed. He went into the ministry as a Methodist pastor and lasted only one year. But he did see that God was faithful to take care of the needs of his family.