Struggle:
a biblical perspective to Maturity in Christ
Matthew 8: 23 When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!" 26 He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. 27 The men were amazed, and said, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
Mark 1: 32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" 38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Life is full of struggle… suffering…
It is simply a part of life. But struggle is not always a bad thing… in fact it is the pressure of life that shows the true nature of what is inside each of us…
When the pressure of life comes… what comes out?
Anger? Frustration? Choice words? And in that moment where do you turn? Food… release… escape…
In the area of suffering our world doesn’t make sense… it does when the person playing with fire gets burned… or the terrorist is killed from his own bomb, or the wreckless driver gets in an accident… but what about the innocent ones… the young man hit by the drunk driver who now has brain damage, the innocent killed from the terrorists bomb… the 2 year old with lukemia… how do we deal with these inconsistencies…
This morning I wanted to talk about our ability to correctly view struggle, suffering… for without that focus we will be unable to remain driven by eternity. We will be sidetracked with pain, hurt, and confusion because we think God is indifferent.
Things to remember when dealing with struggle:
1. God is not indifferent: God is concerned about what is happening TO us, but He is more concerned what is happening IN us.
24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!" 26 He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?"
It’s like Jesus is asking… guys common – where is your faith? Why are you reacting this way… and in that moment maybe the guys think he is indifferent to their circumstance… He isn’t – but He is concerned with what is going on inside of them… Sometime we think God is indifferent or not there at all because of the hurt and hate in the world…
We have a tendancy to Misread God’s Signals
"We tend to look at the circumstances of life in terms of what they may do to our hopes and conveniences. When a problem threatens, we rush to God, not to seek His perspective, but to ask Him to deflect the trouble."
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Arthur Matthews was serving as a missionary in China when the Communists took control. He spent years in house arrest with his wife and daughter, and his writings show what it’s like to embrace the plan and purposes of God in suffering.
"An escapist generation reads security, prosperity, and physical well-being as evidences of God’s blessing. When He puts suffering and affliction into our hands, we misread His signals and misinterpret His intentions."
Nancy: The next time you face a trial, don’t resent, resist, or run from the cross—instead, embrace it and trust in the heart of the One who died for you.
DON’T MISS THE POINT OF JESUS: remember… God is not indifferent: God is concerned about what is happening TO us, but He is more concerned what is happening IN us.
In the first chapter of Mark… we find Jesus healing people —the diseased, the paralyzed—and hordes, crowds, were rushing to Him.
It says in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark that He retired, and early in the morning—the next morning, the next day—He got up and went to a solitary place to pray. When the sun rose, the crowds returned. The disciples came looking for Jesus: 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" You can picture this scene—the paralyzed, the blind, the lame down at the foot of the hill: “Jesus, come quickly” .
But Jesus says a most remarkable thing to His disciples in verse 38. 38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
JESUS CARED… BUT HIS FOCUS WAS NOT THIS… Jesus no doubt cared about the cancer-ridden and the paralyzed and the blind and the lame down there at the foot of the hill, their problems, their physical situations weren’t His focus. The gospel was His focus.
AS JONI EARICKSON TADA PUTS IT… The message He wanted to get across was that sin kills; Hell is real, but God is merciful, His kingdom can change you, and I am your passport. And anytime people missed that and started to come to Jesus simply to get their situations fixed, the Savior backed away.
I think sometimes in our own culture of comfort, we so despise suffering. We love to erase it out of the dictionary. We want to give it Ibuprofen; we want to anesthetize it; we want to cure it; we want to divorce it; we want to institutionalize it; we want to surgically enhance it. We want to do everything—escape it, avoid it—but live with it. And yet, God’s choicest tool in honing our character and polishing off the rough edges and ripping out this root of selfishness that often stands in the way of our intimacy with the Savior is affliction. It is suffering. It is the very life circumstances that we find so abhorrent.
Step one in dealing with suffering and struggle…
God is not indifferent: God is concerned about what is happening TO us, but He is more concerned what is happening IN us.
The message He wanted to get across was that sin kills; Hell is real, but God is merciful, His kingdom can change you, and I am your passport.
Step 2:
2. Suffering Alerts us about a bigger problem.
For in life, it’s not what happens to us that determines if we will win or loose: it’s how we REACT to what is happening to us.
Swindol: Life is 10% situation, 90% attitude.
James 1: 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
A survey was recently conducted on men and women over the age of 90. They wanted to find a common link to their longevity of life. To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t genetic or dietary. The thing they all had in common was their ability to adjust to severe troubles and trials. They were able to take something beneficial from their difficult circumstances!
French poet Paul Claudell said, "Jesus did not come to do away with suffering or remove it; He came to fill it with His presence.
But let’s talk about the purpose of pain and suffering – if it is beneficial… How?
To Alert us… It would be great to have no pain or suffering in the world. But the truth is that pain has a purpose. Pain lets us know that something is wrong.
As much as we dislike pain, it often serves a good purpose. It warns us that something is wrong – the cause of the misery, rather than the pain itself is the real problem. Pain is the syptom of something greater happening – a siren or alarm to warn us the body is under attack or in danger… suffering in our world shows us something is wrong… something has gone wrong – that something was sin that mutated God’s intention with humanity and our world. SUFFERING ALERTS US TO OUR NEED FOR GOD. Without it maybe we would selfishly disregard our creator and rely solely on ourself.
In the NT, paul describes the whole creation of God as groaning and eagerly waiting for th tiem when it will be freed from the curse of decay and be remade, free from the effects os sin Romans 8:19-22.
All of the pain and suffering in the world is a symptom of a greater problem… to alert us of that dark reality… the deeper problme is the human race that has rebelled against the creator. Every moment of grief, sorrow, and place of agony in our lives is there to remind us of our human problem – that reality is a message to the world that this world is not the way God created it to be.
Here is the good news… Jesus Christ came to take away the sin of the world. To provide a way back to freedom in Christ Jesus and know the right relationship with God.
1. God is not indifferent: God is concerned about what is happening TO us, but He is more concerned what is happening IN us.
2. Suffering Alerts us about a bigger problem.
Our need for a saviour.. .
Here is the 3rd step to understanding suffering. Jesus has overcome and so we can overcome through Him.
3. Jesus has overcome… God will never allow us to go anywhere He hasn’t been before us.
In John 16:33 Jesus said, 33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
How do we tap into what Jesus has already won for us?
Accept relationship! Accept Reality! Accept Christ’s hand of help! Accept community!
1. don’t pray to Jesus as though He was a spiritual vending machine: put in the dimes and quarters, pray the right prayers, live the right kind of life, pull the levers, and I’d experience the abundant Christian life. Accept relationship!
2. Realize that suffering reveals the real you. It squeezes you until all the impurities and self-centeredness come out-the very stuff that God wants to burn out of your character. Suffering is the textbook that teaches us about ourselves. Suffering shows us who we really are. Accept Reality!
3. Faith is not some nebulous, wistful thinking. It’s grabbing the Rock of Gibraltar-the solid, real promises of Scripture-and anchoring them into your heart. Accept Christ’s hand of help!
4. don’t be proud or prideful and try to do it on your own… accept community.
How do we overcome? Remember that this life is temporary…
The core of God’s plan is to rescue us from sin. That’s really God’s focus. Our pain and problems and comfort aren’t so much His focus. God is most heaven-bent on rescuing us from our sinful selves.
33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
Steps to handling suffering…
We don’t have all the answers…
It would be dangerous for us to pretend we have all the answers to why God allows suffering. All of the reasons are complex and sometimes beyond us in the moment. But, it is ok to bring God all of our questions… all of our pain.
We don’t have all the answers…
but God provides the tools for us to hear Him clearly, learn from the pain of life… and set people free with the power of the Gospel of Jesus. Not everyone is healed in body… but this is why jesus came…
Our two passages today…
Mark 1:37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" 38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
Matthew 8: 26 He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.
