Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray once informed a man who had appeared before him in a lower court and had escaped conviction on a technicality, "I know that you are guilty and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and that there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to law."
Some time later the same man was surprised while burgling a house in Antwerp, Belgium, the thief fled out the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall, dropped down the other side, and found himself in the city jail (Oops: The Book of Blunders, 1980).
Justice. A story like that makes you feel good. On the other hand stories of injustice make us angry. Today’s passage is about the coming day of justice. But what I want to key in to here is this interesting juxtaposition painful circumstances and their meaning in the lives of individuals.
The point that I think is illustrated here is that not all pain is created equal but all pain is purposefull.
What is God’s purpose for pain?
That depends on who it’s happening to. The first purpose is for:
Perseverence and Purification
3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
To place this in perspective, we needto understand that Paul was writing to people who understood what persecution really was. At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in 325 A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith Vance Havner.
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They’re the only ones who can take it."
What is the purpose of their suffering? James tells us that it develops perseverance which completes us.
A. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth." Our Daily Bread.
As we develop perseverance we are being purified, fit out for God’s kingdom. Learning that indeed a quiet answer turns away wrath. Learning that in a desert land the Lord himself satisfies. Now becoming fit for God’s kingdom should never be confused with becoming worthy of it.
Little Frank Salazar was called "Bopsy" by his family, but in 1981at 7 years old, he was dying of Leukemia. Bopsy’s dying wish was that he become a fireman. The Make-a wish foundation contacted the Phoenix fire department and arranged for the day of his life.
Bopsy was welcomed to a fire station where a custom-made uniform was waiting for him complete with a yellow helmet and coat. He got a ride in the fire truck and got to use a fire hose. The day ended with his being given a firefighter badge.
Having the uniform and badge didn’t mean that Bopsy was qualified to be a fireman—He got to play fireman because of the grace of the fire department. But they fitted him out with the uniform so that he would look the part.
Similarly even the harshest of trials will never qualify us for heaven, nevertheless God fits us for his kingdom
Pain develops perseverance and purifies us. But pain can also have a very different purpose
Payment and Punishment
6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
Oswald Chambers in Christian Discipline.Suffering is the heritage of the bad, of the penitent, and of the Son of God. Each one ends in the cross. The bad thief is crucified, the penitent thief is crucified, and the Son of God is crucified. By these signs we know the widespread heritage of suffering.
But its meaning is different in each case.
I Peter 3:18, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."
Through his sacrifice each one has the opportunity to escape the punishment our sin deserves. That is not justice—that is grace. Those who reject God’s grace get the punishment they, and we deserve.
ILLUSTRATION Sadaam getting what he deserves.
Our innermost beings cry out for justice and God is a just God. But his sense of justice is far more refined than ours. He’s leveled the playing field. The wages of sin is death
ILLUSTRATION Like an Everythings $1 Shop. The price of every sin is the same.
Still every sinner receives the same offer of Christ’s payment plan. But those who refuse god’s grace, refuse God’s presence and as our text says:
9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.
God is the source of life and outside him is existence without life. This is the definition of what hell is.
The punishment then is simply getting what those who rejected Him wanted—no God
CONCLUSION
Because of God’s gracious offer through Jesus, we have the choice today whether to Be God’s people who persevere and are purified through the trials of life or if we will experience thje ultimate pain in payment for our own sins.
I hope you’re chosing Jesus
