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Intro Video - Explore God “Suffering”
The Experience, Cause, Purpose of Suffering
One of the most misunderstood doctrines in scripture
One of the most common arguments against God’s existence
Human suffering is pointless and proves God doesn’t exist
Or, if there is a God...
He is Powerful, but He is not good (mean/angry)
He is good, but He is not powerful (helpless)
The Bible has much to say about humanities suffering.
Our Goal this morning is NOT
to ignore suffering: pain, emotions, questions
to give specific answers for particular experiences
make it all better; this won’t take away the hurt
Our Goal IS
To gain a more Biblical framework (worldview)
To begin to be be better prepared to:
Reflect on our own past, present, future suffering
Walk with others through their suffering
Engage in conversation with our children about suffering
Be encouraged in our suffering of God’s power, goodness, purpose
We will not exhaust the topic, there may be unanswered questions, but hopefully we will at least begin moving in the right direction.
God has exposed all of creation to suffering for an intentional purpose.
We see creation subjected, placed under suffering…why?
Go back to the beginning....Originally good (Genesis 1)
It was broken and made vulnerable by sin (Gen 2 , The Fall)
Individual Broken
Physically - Pain, Sickness, Disease, Old Age, Death
Spiritually - Separated and Condemned
Separated: We search for Identity, Purpose, Joy
Condemned: Because we will turn over every rock and stone to find meaning, but we refuse to look up.
Society Broken
Family Conflict - Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel
Social Conflict - Anger, Hate, Division, War,
Environment Broken -
Ground Cursed - Thorns, Weeds, Labor, Sweat
Animals Cursed - Serpent “above all”…more than the other animals, but all were cursed
Nature moves from submission/provision to rebellion/struggle
All of creation shares a common groaning
We experience and observe: Futility , Bondage, Corruption
Frustrated by continual death, decay, ruin
The Anti-aging market is worth 192 billion (we desire eternity)
Each year 12.7 million people discover they have cancer, and 7.6 million will die from the disease
In 2015, there were 36 natural disasters killing close to 25,000 people.
New reports of violence, war, terrorism, horrific actions of humanity.
No one has to strain to see that the world is broken
But the Bible will say that suffering in not pointless
God is all powerful, (sovereign, control)
God is good, and even the suffering that we are subjected too is part of His grace in our lives trying to point us to Jesus.
1. Suffering reveals our brokenness.
God is using the physical to reveal the spiritual, He is using external pain to reveal an internal problem.
Not all pain, is bad…some pain is beneficial, it has a purpose
Hot Stove Top - Central Nervous System
Ruptured Appendix - Could die from bacteria poisoning
Because of an internal alert, we are spared an external loss.
Because of painful symptoms…we are aware of the greater disease
God uses this physical, external suffering to reveal a problem of HEART.
Because no one wakes up frustrated or furious:
About their own selfishness and pride
About their disregard of God’s authority and provision
About their lack of giving: time, money, resources for God’s glory
But if we wake up to: Disaster, Disease, Death
We are frustrated, discouraged, angry..this is horrible
We begin to see the destruction, the fallout of the fall, of sin, of trying to live independent of God’s authority.
God turns our attention to our problem of the heart.
God in His grace, is using suffering, to show us that we need restoration that He alone can provide.
Love does not mean “do no harm”, love means that God will allow suffering to alert us of our desperate need of redemption.
A physician will re-break an arm in order to allow it to heal properly allows momentary suffering to as a means to restore what was broken.
2. Suffering exposes our idolatry.
We have the first fruits of the Spirit, but we wait eagerly for redemption
We are waiting for freedom, a time when we will not kick against God’s will
This is more than just doing “bad things” that we call sin.
Tullian Tchividjian (Cha-vi-jin) Billy Graham’s Grandson writes:
“Sin isn’t only doing bad things, it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things.
Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God...
Our dreams are a window into our theology.
We are a proud people, the inheritors of the American Dream—the pursuit of happiness is our inalienable right.
Like bratty, self-involved little kids, we push past the Giver to grab for the gift.
Can you see it?
We use God for health, wealth, and emotional well-being, and in the process, we miss out on relationship with our heavenly Father...
What is that thing in your life that if God were to take it away, you’d feel like life was not worth living?
When we are able to answer that question, we will figure out what we are really worshipping, and what, by definition, might lie at the root of our suffering.
It could be our children, our spouse, an ambition, or a dream of financial success.
Those good gifts God gave us for our enjoyment that we have turned into idols.
Suffering is often the process of these things being stripped away.
Indeed, there is nothing like suffering to remind us how much we need God.
2. When we are prone to love our Spouse, Children, Wealth, our Stuff more that God, He may sometimes remove our idol…and it will hurt.
a.
How is taking someone I love God’s grace?
b.
It is God’s grace because He is showing you that He alone can satisfy.
c.
He will reveal when we find our joy, comfort, security, hope in something other than Him.
3. Think of the “Rich Young Ruler” in Matthew 19.
a.
He had obeyed the law, he could check that off the list
b.
Jesus says, go and sell all you have and you will have treasure in Heaven.
c.
He walked away sad, because He had great possessions..
In this man’s mind he already had great treasure...
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