this isn't just like a cute three-point sermon like these are biblical truths that we need to get into our hearts and Minds suffering number one is to be expected just like the cross was expected just like Jesus was fulfilling scripture they should have known this was coming he told them your suffering it's been predicted like in numerous ways first off you're told to take up your cross and follow Jesus a cross is a suffering type thing um of the highest degree it was like there was no example Jesus could have picked in the first century
that was a greater illustration of suffering than the cross there just wasn't one it was called the extreme penalty like the ultimate penalty by the people back in the time you're also told that persecution is something you're going to endure uh 2 Timothy 3:12 all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted so you'll suffer persecution and I think that in in the season that's coming our way in our world that that persecution is going to increase and this isn't to make us paranoid or make us think that everything's persecution when it's
not but yeah it's probably increasing and we need to set our face like Flint be ready to face it it's coming but then there's another aspect of our suffering and that is groanings and for this I want to give you a scripture because I I think some of the prosperity preaching that we've heard has really damaged our ability to understand this and then it messes us up creates false expectations but in Romans 8 I won't read through the whole thing but in Romans 8 uh Paul talks about how creation is groaning it's going through groanings
and so um the uh it's it's ens slavery to corruption creation itself and what he seems to be talking about in Romans 8 is things like tornadoes and um hurricanes and and animal suffering and animal pain and forest fires and those kinds of things earthquakes this sort of stuff that's like the suffering of creation where the world's beautiful but things aren't right things aren't quite right then so so this is not things like where you sined and you deserve this it's just stuff that happens that's part of the overall plan of God's Redemption he allows
this temporary time of pain and suffering then he says this after creation groans and suffers he says not only this but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves this is a powerful and profound idea and I hope I can help it sink in when you have pain that is beyond words you can only groan when you don't know how to express how you're feeling you can only groan Paul is saying that you y you even Christians even Spirit-filled Christians you will have groanings that are a result
of just living in a fallen world that are very hard to go through and you will just groan now he then goes on to say that we have the Holy Spirit who helps us right that we can we can we can pray as you read on I'm just scaming through it with my own eyes here but as you read on you can see that the spirit intercedes with groanings that is my very painful too much for words I'm going through and I just groan to the Lord he hears me he understands he's there for me
but here's my point this suffering is to be expected persecution suffering because you have to die to yourself you have to give up things as you're following Jesus Christ you take that strict path of discipleship True Discipleship in Christ as well as just groanings because the world hurts that's expected first important lesson second second point on suffering is that suffering is for our character your suffering that you're going through right now the suffering you'll experience next year 5 years 10 years from now things that you you you didn't have words for you don't even know
how to explain you never could have anticipated it that suffering is for your character James I got to read these verses to you James chapter 1: 2-4 and maybe you're thinking I know Mike I know this no you can't just know it as you nod your head and wash you you wave it away you got to know it when it comes into your heart and brings you comfort that's how you have to know it James 1 verse 2 consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith
produces endurance endurance or patience you're learning to endure this is causing character growth in you and let endurance have its perfect result or mature result so that you may be perfect or mature and complete lacking in nothing so the the goal that God is bringing out of my pain and suffering is my character growth that is he's not making you more wealthy he's not making you better looking he's not making you more capable of doing things in this world he's changing your actual character now if I can offer a Cheesy illustration which I will I
will do with or without your permission um I uh I I I've always enjoyed video games I I don't enjoy them as as you get older like I just don't enjoy them as much but I still like sometimes I'll play video games just to you know and have a good time relax and uh probably not as often as I should actually at any rate the games that I tend to like are the games where I have a character in the game and you can like level up the character whereas games where it's more about the
gear and you get better gear I just don't find those as interesting for some reason the idea that the um the leveling up is attached to the Gear instead of the character is just less appe feeling to me I don't know why this is maybe maybe you're the same way but thinking that the character themselves is growing stronger is somehow satisfying to me well when I go through suffering it is not giving me better gear in this life I'm not getting rich I'm not getting stronger physically I'm not getting whatever even stronger mentally in many
cases I am however getting more Godly character and that character growth is permanent that character growth is eternal I'm going to take this the the growth even brought through pain and I'm going to carry that with me into eternity into heaven and that is worth it it doesn't feel like it perhaps but I believe it's absolutely worth it that's why you should count it all joy another verse that gives us this is 1 Peter 1 verses 6 and 7 in this you greatly Rejoice that's talking about our we're rejoicing in our future glory and in
the Salvation we've received even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials and here's the so that Peter's telling you what your trials are for please let this sink in your heart that so that the proof of your faith being much more precious than gold which is perishable even though test tested by fire may be found to to excuse me I keep stumbling may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ that is there's going to be this character growth and
that your faith and your trust in God that shines when you go through hard times that will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ wow it's worth it it's for your character and finally I'll give you one last thing final point on suffering and we've got to get our head wrapped around this because otherwise we're like the disciples who when they saw the cross didn't see the resurrection and they despaired you see your suffering and you don't see the glory that's coming and you will despair in
light here's the third point in light of the glory that is coming our way the certain and guaranteed Glory that is coming the way of every True Believer in Christ Our suffering is nothing and for this we have an incredible passage in in 2 Corinthians incredible passage this is I don't know if you've ever seen how powerful this is what the incredible contrast is that he's trying to give us but if we can if we can let it hit our minds it might hit our hearts as well so insect Corinthians Paul gives us his account
of like how they go through all kinds of suffering and um he says they're Afflicted they're perplexed they're persecuted they're struck down and then this crazy one they're always being given over to death how extreme is that what if those terms described your life Afflicted perplexed meaning you don't really understand what's going on even the Apostle sometimes you went through suffering and was like I don't really understand what God's doing right he's perplexed right but he's not in despair he hasn't given up but he acknowledges he doesn't know what's going on so he's Afflicted perplexed
persecuted struck down always being given over to death does that describe you this is like the worst kind of thing you could have happening in your life you have physical Affliction you have confusion about the things going on in your life you have persecution coming from people outside you you are being struck down though not destroyed sure but you're being struck down you feel beat down and you're actually going to die you're being given over to death okay after saying all that 2 Corinthians chapter Chapter 4 verses 16 and 17 this is why You' you've
got to see how bad things were for Paul to catch what he says next therefore we do not lose heart but though our outer man is decaying is that describe you your outer man is decaying yet our inner man is being renewed day by day we have spiritual renewal even while we suffer then he says something even more extreme for momentary light Affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of Glory far beyond all comparison let me remind you now and here's here's here's where you've got to it's just got to hit you what Paul
describes as momentary and light Affliction is Afflicted perplexed persecuted struck down and always being given over to death they are carrying about the dying of the body of of Jesus this is this is worst case scenario and to him it's momentary it's temporary and it's light Affliction was it actually light Affliction absolutely not why does he call it light Affliction because he compares the lightness of that to the weight of the glory that is coming and even the suffering I'm going through is part of my path to Eternity and glory and joy and by comparison
and here's the key All the Troubles and overwhelming groanings that you go through when you compare that to the glory that's to come it's light by comparison it could weigh a ton but this weighs a billion tons it just doesn't compare and this to me is an incredible Christian hope that the suffering I'm going through now has no comparison no matter how bad it is to the glory that's coming let me give you an example of what I mean by this let's say that I put you in a slingshot and we'll pretend that you're a
kid so that you're not scared and think you can't die um so I put you in a slingshot a giant slingshot and suffering is like being pulled back in the slingshot and glory is like when you get released so as you're pulled back in the slingshot further and further that like represents your life is suffering you're getting pulled down further and further you feel the tension you feel the hardship you feel the pain but you know something in the slingshot you know the further back you get pulled the higher up you are going to soar
when this thing gets let go that is what we should think about with our suffering as bad as this is I know that if what's coming far outweighs it in glory then as bad as this is what's coming must be amazing the Comfort that's on its way must be so Grand I I I can't imagine being comforted through the things I'm going through now but how amazing must the glory be if it's incomparable to this that this is a huge and important point that we need to get our heads wrapped around raise your expectations for
the glory that's coming as much as you suffer realize there's like an inverted image from suffering to Glory except it's times a thousand or a million or whatever it's just way more I believe one day we will appreciate our suffering just like the disciples they they were in despair when they saw Jesus on the cross and not too long after they were rejoicing in the cross because of the Resurrection me when I am with you in heaven we are going to be able to look back at our suffering in this life and I can't do
it now I admit that I'm perplexed like Paul I don't understand it right now but there's a day where I'll look back and I'll say Lord I Rejoice even in the suffering because I see what it brought about in eternal life I see the glory that came even out of those hard things and those bad things and just knowing that that's coming means that I could I could try to practice my my uh my pride my my prideful thought that I wouldn't be like the disciples by exam ing my life and saying am I like
the disciples right now seeing the cross but not the resurrection seeing my suffering but not the glory that's to come I think that's the bottom line
