Israel Volau
Crossroads Full Gospel
Woodland, CA
August 18, 2000
REASONS FOR SUFFERING
TEXT: ROM. 8:28 “FOR I KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD, WHO ARE THE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE”
ALL THINGS:
a. the good and the bad
b. the favorable and the unfavorable
c. the joys and the pains
d. the hurts and the struggles
e. trials, temptations, tribulations
f. all that happens in lives
God knows them and he has a good reason for allowing them to happen: “……..for good them that love God, those who are called according to His purpose”
You see God has a plan for each of us in this sanctuary. Jer.1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and I before you were born I consecrated you, I have appointed you.” I don’t know where you have been and what you have been through. One thing I know is that God has a purpose and a plan for your life. Jer. 29:11 “For I know that plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”
BUT why the bad things?
I believe that most of us have asked this question one or another in their lives.
Why me?
Why is this happening to me Lord?
Why have I been mistreated? Etc….
And then we try to justify ourselves:
Regular attendance at church
Faithful in tithing and prayer and reading scriptures.
Job is a classic example of what I am talking about this morning…Read Job 1 for his background. Then he began to ask questions Job 3:11, 12, 16; 7:20.
This morning I would like to share with you some of the reasons why God would allow us to go through sufferings.
I. THAT WE MIGHT BE CHANGED INTO THE IMAGE OF JESUS CHRIST.
Do you realize that the ultimate goal of God in a believers life is that we become like Christ.
In humility, obedience, selflessness, love, forgiving one another, studying the word, prayer.
Some of us believe that his goal in life is to be happy…a very humanistic attitude. As long as it makes you happy!! Oh yes indeed, God wants us to be happy and have his peace, BUT IT IS NOT HIS ULTIMATE GOAL.
The bible says “…..when we shall see Him, we shall be like Him”. We will have the very image of Christ. And in order to get there, God needs to do some work in our lives. Through the circumstances in our lives, He is slowly changing us, transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. This process of transformation is described in IICor. 3:18 “And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the spirit”.
Changed/Transformed comes from the Greek word metamorpho, which means a complete change from one form to another. The English word metamorphosis describes the transformation in a more clearer picture. Scientists use the word to describe the caterpillars changing into a butterfly.
The process takes time and energy. We as Christians go through metamorphosis. And it takes time, energy, patience, consecration, commitment, prayer, getting into the word etc…… Yes, we are of a sinful and lower nature, BUT each day regardless of the struggles we go through, as we follow the Lord more and more and are obedient to His word, we are changed and transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, who is perfect in soul body and spirit.
“From glory to glory He’s changing me”
II. PURIFY
God’s purpose in his dealings with us is to purge away all dross from our lives.
“Purge”-to refine, to make pure, to change by heat. Through his dealings, the Lord puts heat on his people. He ordains this heat to purge His people as the preparations for precious metals. All of the filth and foreign matter is brought to the surface for disposal.
“Dross” –scum, that which is thrown off, waste matter, the useless part. God is removing all waste matter and scum from His people and particularly from His leaders as he wants to develop character in all of His children’s lives. Isa. 1:25 “I will turn my had against you. I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.”
Matt. 3:11, 12, John says “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire. And His winnowing fork is His hand, and HE will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and he will gather His wheat into the barn, But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”.
III. To Prepare Us as Vessels for Service
2 Tim. 2:20 Paul states that in a large house there are many vessels. Some are of gold or precious metals, while others are made of clay. Some reserved for more honorable tasks, but all vessels have a use. Jeremiah 8:1-20.
Making a vessel involve much work in every step of the formative process, from the shaping of the clay until it is pulled out of the oven.
At times, the potter’s hands upon the vessel are rough and firm. But the potter’s hand, the wheel and the furnace are all vital parts of the vessel preparation. This is true of God’s spiritual shaping in our lives as well. The purpose of all this work is to mold a vessel of honor, fit for its intended use by the Lord.
Illus: 700 Club TV show—The Potter
What struck me in that show was a statement made by one of the gentleman who said that while working on the clay to make a pot, he already has a picture of the finished product in his mind. I believe that is how God sees us when we are going through the trials and afflictions. He is already looking at what is going to become of us after the whole process.
IV. It Provokes Us to Seek Him
Another purpose of God’s dealing with us is to provoke us to seek Him in prayer and in the word. The Lord will bring pressures and heat upon His children at specific times to cause them to seek Him. He wants to arrest our attention. It is like a red light. The pressures are not intended to turn us away or against God but toward Him.
Sometimes we misinterpret hard circumstances and trials as a sign that God hates us. This is a wrong view of God. He is like a warden walking around with a stick ready to smack you when you do wrong. When God deals with us in this way, he is causing us to turn to Him as our only stronghold, refuge, strength, wisdom, provider healer, etc.
Illus: I was travelling in Manila on my way to College one morning and I was a victim of a pickpocket. I had a good amount of money in my wallet that was going to take care of my personal needs during that whole month. When I realized what had happened I was very angry and confused. I worried about how I was going to take care of my needs financially. There was nothing to do but to seek the Lord. During a regular prayer meeting with some of my colleagues on that particular morning, the Lord impressed upon my heart that as long as I had Him, I was all right. The amount of money was immaterial. He miraculously provided for me during that month; even much more than what I had lost.
We must learn how to find God in troublesome times so that we may help others do the same. We must know by experience how to respond to the person who comes and asks David’s request to God “lead me to the rock that is higher than I”. We can confidently hold their hand and direct them to God. Hosea 5:15-6-3 Read!!
V. Provides New Focus/Perspective
2 Cor. 4:16-18 “therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal”.
Let us not focus on the present dilemma, but on the eternal reward that it will produce in us. Character-God wants to build character in us. He wants to mature us. He wants to bring us to a new level of obedience and humility.
You see, gifts are freely given by God, but character is developed overtime. Character is of eternal value for it goes with us into eternity. What we develop in our character now is far more important than the afflictions of this life. So let us endure to produce it.
Paul says in Romans that our sufferings far more outweighs, cannot be compared; it is disproportionate to the glory that awaits us in heaven. Our afflictions are only temporal, but our reward, the glory that we will receive is eternal. Through our afflictions/sufferings, the Holy Spirit helps us with unutterable groaning when we do not know that to pray about.
AND WE KNOW THAT GOD CAUSES ALL THNGS TO WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.
