Luke 13:1-5 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." ESV
What you have here are both Jewish and Greek ideas of individual punishment for individual sin. If you suffer it’s because you deserved it.
The Jews thought that the worse your sin, the worse awful thing would happen to you. So to have Jewish blood mingled with pagan sacrifices would have been horrible.
In the Greek mind there was such as thing called Justice with a capital "J" that would not let you escape punishment if you did evil. So when a tragedy befell you, then you must have done something wrong to deserve it.
Does God use suffering as judgment? A lot of people think so. Commentators and ministers ponder if some of the recent natural disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the South Asia tsunami were God’s judgment on sinful man. For sure God used suffering as judgment in the Old Testament. God often used evil to judge evil. And God will use suffering to judge the earth during the final 7 years of earth’s history before the return of Christ. But I think that judgment is more of an attempted wake up call and a cleansing of the earth to prepare for Christ’s return.
But what about now? When someone suffers is it because God is actively judging them? I don’t think so. We don’t really see that anywhere in the pre-Tribulation times. I know that God judged Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, and that in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul hints that some have actually gotten sick or died around for completely misusing the Lord’s body and blood.
But I just don’t see that active judgment during the church age. We are in a special window where the door is open wide for people to experience God’s grace through Jesus. I think suffering takes on a different tone during this time and God uses it differently.
So why do we suffer, and why does tragedy befall us? There are three reasons:
a. Because of the fall
b. Because of the enemy
c. Because of our actions
And I’ll mention a fourth - because God wants to perfect us.
1. The Fall
Turn to Genesis 3. God put man in charge of an idyllic place called Eden. They could do anything they wanted and all their needs would be provided for. They chose to do the one thing God said not to do, which was to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In doing so they made themselves more important than God, rebelled against Him, and allied themselves with the serpent: Lucifer.
So God sent them out of the Garden of Eden. And when they went out God made some pronouncements on their environment.
- Pain in childrearing. Not just childbirth but raising children would be devastatingly difficult (borne out in Cain and Abel).
- Competition and strife between men and women
- Fruitlessness in labor
This is known as "The Fall." Even as God cursed Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, He also cursed the very creation that He had said was "very good."
The Apostle Paul talks about it in Romans 8:19-23
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation , but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ESV
The creation was never meant to fall apart. But today we see the results of the Fall all around us. We have genetic breakdown that causes disease, we have natural disasters, we have sting rays that kill people, and competition in the animal kingdom, competition in the human kingdom, and on and on.
Sometimes suffering happens to us as kind of an echo of that curse that God proclaimed so long ago. It doesn’t mean we do or don’t deserve it, it just happens.
So when there are victims of natural disasters: don’t blame God or think that He is judging. He judged in Eden. In fact, He also laid the seeds there to escape that judgment. When someone gets cancer, it isn’t God’s displeasure that has befallen them; it is just the natural result of our rebellion as a race against God.
2. The Enemy
Sometimes it is not from the Fall that we suffer, but from Lucifer. In Luke 13 we see the account of the woman whom Satan had bent over for 18 years. Satan is both very clever, and very powerful.
There are basically three ways that he attacks: persecution, temptation, and direct attack. Persecution is when a human force is used in the attack. Temptation is when you are used to attack yourself, and direct attack is just what it sounds like.
He is a master at deceit, and can fool you into thinking that you are doing something in your own self interest when in fact you are merely a pawn in his hands.
Persecution
2 Corinthians 2:5-11 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure - not to put it too severely - to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. ESV
We can be used as Satan’s pawns. We do that in several ways:
1. We look for things to make sense to us, rather than look for confirmation of them in the Word. How would Jesus act in this situation; am I acting in accordance with what I know of godly character or am I taking on the world’s values?
2. And we look for how things affect us, instead of what’s really going on around us in the spirit world. (see study in 2 Corinthians 2 for more detail)
Satan also regularly suggests to those who belong to him to persecute Christians.
2 Timothy 3:12-13 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived ESV
Jesus told us to be ready for persecution (John 15) but notice Paul’s response to persecution:
Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Direct Attack
Satan can also attack us directly. Paul in Ephesians told us to have on the armor of God to withstand those attacks. This doesn’t happen as often as we think it does. Satan has plenty of ways of attacking us without resorting to a frontal assault.
Temptation
Sometimes we suffer because we were tempted to do something out of the character of God. It’s not God’s fault, and we shouldn’t blame him for it.
James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. ESV
3. Our Actions
This goes right along with Satan using us through temptation. Sometimes we suffer because we were tempted and acted on it. Sometimes we simply make a decision to do something and that has a result-a result that’s tied in to the Fall, perhaps.
An example: you stay out late for 7 nights in a row, wearing yourself out, not eating right, and you get a cold. Is that persecution or the enemy or God’s judgment? No. You made a decision and that decision led to a consequence.
4. Transformation
There is actually a fourth reason we suffer, and I think this is the most important one. As we discuss this I want to frame it with this verse:
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose . 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. ESV
No matter what decisions you make, or how external factors affect your life, God will make them work together for good. What is that good? That you be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
God is in a renovation project. Sometimes to renovate you have to deconstruct. To build a new wall you have to knock down the old one. God is in the process of knocking down the walls of our flesh and building walls of His Spirit, His character.
Philippians 3:10-11 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. NIV
This suffering can come from any of the previous three sources. But God wants to use it all to shape us. So how should we respond in this suffering?
1 Peter 4:1-3 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. ESV
James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ESV
So there is both a reduction in sinful behavior through suffering, and an increase in godly character.
So how do we conclude then?
Suffering can come from our fallen environment, our fallen enemy, or our fallen nature. We can react by blaming others, blaming God, or feeling sorry for ourselves. Instead, try to minimize the times the enemy uses you or tempts you to sin - but know that no matter what the source, God will work it for His transformation of your character, if you will but look for that.
2 Corinthians 7:11 And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart.
THE MESSAGE
