TRUTH ABOUT SUFFERING
If you were to walk down the aisles of any pharmacy in America you’d find that one of their most popular products is pain killers. They have shelves that are packed with bottles Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Tylenol etc. If you want, you can buy them in huge jars holding 250 pills. Other shelves contain tubes of "rub-on pain relief" like Ben Gay and Aspergel. Or, you might want to check out various types of chemical ice packs and heating pads. Pain relief is big business in America. We spend billions every year because none of us want to hurt. Everyone wants to live a comfortable life.
When Paul wrote the book of 2 Timothy, he was anything but comfortable. He was in prison. Paul was actually put in prison two times. The first time in prison was much like a house arrest where he was being tried with all of the rights of a Roman citizen. The second imprisonment was in a dungeon in the middle of the city of Rome called the Mamertine prison where he was tried like a condemned criminal. As Paul wrote this second letter, the church throughout the empire was facing severe persecution started by the Emperor Nero. Tradition tells us that Paul was beheaded about two weeks after the writing of second Timothy.
One thing that made it harder for Paul as he sat on death’s row waiting for his execution was the fact that no one supported him.
2 Timothy1:15, “You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.”
No one wanted to identify with this condemned man, and people who he thought to be friends were nowhere to be found. So he sits as a condemned man waiting to die in the worst conditions a Roman prison could offer.
Suffering has not gone away. I have been a pastor for long enough to know that a great part of ministry is in handling times of crisis. It would be a very rare thing to go through a week without someone having a crisis. But no matter how common they are, they are never easy to deal with.
TRUTH ABOUT SUFFERING
1. Suffering teaches us to depend on God
Psalm 119: 67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.”
Psalm 119:71, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. “
God created us to live in dependence on Him, but that is sometimes hard to do when everything is going great. Suffering brings us back to depend on God.
Marine Corps recruiter Randy Norfleet survived the Oklahoma City bombing despite losing 40 percent of his blood and needing 250 stitches to close his wounds. He never lost consciousness in the ambulance because he was too busy praying prayers of thanksgiving for his survival. When doctors said he would probably lose the sight in his right eye, Mr. Norfleet said, " Through all this I’ve been brought closer to God. I’ve become more dependent on Him and less on myself."
Suffering does the same for us. Sometimes it brings a "one day at a time-ness" to our survival. We get to the point where depend on the Lord for the next day or the next hour.
2. SUFFERING REVEALS THE LEVEL OF OUR FAITH
It is not hard to say God is good and to mean it when you have just gotten a big raise or have been promoted to the position that you wanted. It is not so easy, however, to really feel that God is good when everything around you seems to be crumbling to the ground. That is when your Christianity is on trial.
When you look at the book of 2 Timothy, you read the words of a true man of God. There are no regrets. There’s no poor me, only a triumphant message from a man who believed what he said that he believed.
2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
It has been said that there are three different kinds of believers: "if," "because," and "regardless."
An "if" believer follows God if he receives blessings and rewards. He waits to see what God will do first, then decides whether or not to respond in obedience.
A "because" believer follows God because God blesses and rewards him. He has seen the connection between his obedience and God’s blessing, and he wants to keep it going.
The third kind of believer is the "regardless" believer. A "regardless" believer loves God whether he ever receives any blessings or rewards in return. Paul was a "regardless" believer. It didn’t matter if he was on death’s row. He loved God, and he served Him. Are you an “if” believer, a “because” believer or a "regardless" believer? Suffering will reveal which one of those 3 you are.
3. SUFFERING SOMETIMES COMES BECAUSE YOU STAND FOR GOD
Theologian, J. I. PACKER writes, "The other day...as I sat in the hot tub savoring the warmth...adjusting to the feel of being bubbled over from all angles, ...it struck me that the hot tub is the perfect symbol of the modern route to religion. The hot tub experience is relaxing, floppy, laid-back: not in any way demanding...but very, very nice, even to the point of being great fun. Many today want Christianity to be like that and labor to make it so."
That is not the kind of Christianity the Bible tells us about. The Bible tells us that there will be times when you suffer for being a Christian.
Peter called this kind of suffering “suffering for righteousness sake.”
2 TIMOTHY, 1:8-12, “8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”
We somehow hope that our Christian values will be acceptable to the world we live in, and that we won’t have to suffer. That will never happen. Joe Stowell, President of Moody Bible Institute writes, "Jesus’ rejection, alienation, and ultimately His crucifixion...were the direct result of the fact that Christ came to do His work in alien territory that was dead set against His success."
If we pattern our lives after Him we will face suffering for the same reason He did. We are living in enemy territory. In John 15, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.....if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also."
History has shown just how true Jesus’ words are. During the years when Christianity was just getting started, Christians experienced unbelievable persecution for their faith. All but one of the first 12 disciples suffered a martyr’s death and the other, John, died of old age in exile on the Isle of Patmos because of his commitment to Jesus. And that kind of persecution continues even in our day and age. In fact more followers of Jesus Christ are dying for their faith during this season of church history than in all the other seasons combined.
About 150,000 each year are being martyred. About two million are being actively persecuted. And millions more are living with their religious freedoms severely restricted. In Peru Romulo Suane, a well-known Quechua Indian church leader was gunned down by a left-wing rebel group called "Shining Path." Suane had often suffered threats and attacks. He told one of his relatives, "My family never talk in terms of ‘What if I’m killed’ but rather ‘When will I be killed.’"
In 1994 in the southern region of Ethiopia, officials raided the area’s largest evangelical church and arrested most of its members. It is reported that many members died in jail. They were not allowed to be buried; rather their bodies were left out to be scavenged by animals. The pastor was tortured and his eyes plucked out. What does the gospel give us that is important enough to suffer for?
a) THE GOSPEL BRINGS POWER
2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power….”
God gives supernatural power to those who love Him and serve Him. There is power to do and be what we would never be in our own strength. The time that Paul lived in was a time of sin, suffering and suicide. The Stoics, who were the most disciplined group in their day, had a saying: "God gave men a life, but God gave men the still greater gift of being able to take their own lives away."
It’s no different today. People feel so burned out on life that they look for someway out. Many are either drugging their lives away, drinking their lives away or ending it all through suicide. The Holy Spirit who lives in the Christian gives us power to go on with joy and peace.
b) THE GOSPEL BRINGS SALVATION
What kind of price can you put on eternal life? How important is it to know that when you die you will spend forever in the presence of a loving God rather than to spend eternity in the place of absolute abandonment, suffering and pain?
2 Timothy 4:8, “8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day…”
For Paul, the important thing was not the suffering he was going through. For Paul, the important thing was his eternal future with his Lord. The words “that day” refer to the time when God, the righteous Judge, will judge all people. When you come to your last hours on this earth, when you have made your money, played your games and lived your life, “that day” will be the only thing that is really important. Suffering on earth makes us look forward to that great time.
C) THE GOSPEL BRINGS TRANSFORMATION
The gospel not only saves your soul from future punishment, it saves your life now from the power of present sins. Thousands of people could testify of the fact that Jesus Christ has changed their lives.
Is the Gospel important enough for us to suffer for being a Christian? It is far more than enough. It deals with the issues of life that are most important to us.
ACTION POINTS
1. TRUST IN GOD’S WISDOM
Psalm 147:5, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”
That verse is saying there are no boundaries to God’s wisdom. There is no point where it can be said that something is beyond God’s wisdom.
Corrie Ten Boom suffered intensely in German prison camp. She once said, "The older I get the less I question, and the more I trust."
Imagine you are looking down at a map. Imagine there is an ant on this map, right in the middle of the map. What does the ant see? It sees only that which is around it. The map is so large the ant cannot possibly see all that is on the map. What do you see? Because you are larger than the map, you can see all of the map, and even the ant that sits in the center of it. Which has the bigger and better perspective - the ant or you? You do. You and I live on a map. This map is the size of the world. We cannot see beyond what is around us. But we often think we know everything. We neglect to understand that God is high above us, and He sees the whole picture.
2. TRUST GOD TO BRING GOOD OUT OF BAD
God doesn’t promise to keep us from all suffering, but He does promise to use it for good in our lives.
3. RELY ON NOTHING BUT JESUS
As you work your way through the mountains and valleys of this life, remember that the only thing that will not fail you is God himself. As the old song says, "all may fail, but Jesus never. Glory to his name!"
4. TAKE THE LONG LOOK
If your life may seem as though it is filled with trials and suffering, you need to remember that the journey will not be long. As James tells us, life is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away, and when you leave this life, you will be done with suffering. God has planned a far better place where there is no suffering, sorrow, or pain. And at the border there is a sign that says, "Check your crosses here.
