Revolutionary joy in the face of suffering February 10, 2019

Revolutionary joy in the face of suffering

February 10, 2019

I have kind of a natural aversion to suffering.  I’m pretty sure you do too. None of us seeks out pain, or sorrow, or misery, or suffering. But none of us can avoid it either, can we?

We all suffer. Now it seems to me that some folks suffer more than others, I guess some of us are just more fortunate than others.

Others suffer cancer. Jessica Melore suffered a massive heart attack, heart transplant, and leg amputation by the time she was 16 years old. Then there was a lump on her neck and she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  She fought that to remission with chemotherapy and radiation.  6 years later another lump appeared and she found herself fighting for her life again.

Kechi Okwuchi is a Nigerian woman who at the age of 13 was one of two survivors out of 109 passengers in a plane crash, but she suffered massive burns over most of her body. She has undergone over 100 surgeries repairing the burn damage.

Rev. Richard Wurmbrand was jailed for 14 years for speaking out for his faith. He was beaten on the feet daily until his feet were permanently damaged.  He was tortured, beaten, starved, and his family was threatened. His wife was sent to a work camp where she hauled rock in the icy cold with no shoes. He and his wife both were taken away from their children and it was illegal to provide care for the children of prisoners. The whole family suffered because of their faith.

I am pretty sure that each of you has suffered in one way or another, to one degree or another, at one time or another in your life. Your suffering may exceed, or it may seem trivial compared to the suffering of these folks. But when you are the one in pain, or facing bankruptcy, or being abused, or addicted, or losing everything in a fire or tornado, or watching someone you love die, or experiencing chronic pain, or mental illness, or any other suffering… when it happens to you the pain is very real.

 Unfortunately, there has been a lot of bad teaching about suffering in the church.

Preachers have taught, “If you have enough faith you won’t suffer” WRONG! One preacher who taught this had the unfortunate experience of his wife being diagnosed with cancer. He had to choose between sticking with his “if you have faith you won’t get sick” teaching and supporting his wife.  He chose his teaching and publicly rebuked his wife for faithlessness.  Sometimes these bad teachings cause their own kind of unnecessary suffering.

Preachers have taught God causes suffering. NO. God doesn’t cause suffering. Some come as a consequence of our bad choices, other suffering – like tornadoes- is obviously completely random.

Others have taught that we suffer because God is powerless… or doesn’t care. NO. Suffering is not beyond God’s reach.  God will often redeem what is horrendous to bring something good from it, but God does not cause it. As Joseph said in Genesis, “What you intended for me was evil, but God used it for good and the saving of many lives.”

 So what is the Christian attitude toward suffering? There is a lot in the Bible about suffering.  1/3 of the Psalms are songs of lament where God’s people are groaning and languishing under suffering. There is a whole book of Laments we call surprisingly enough Lamentations. There is Jeremiah, and Jonah, and Job. 

This week, however, we are going to continue our study of Philippians and learn about suffering from the  Apostle Paul.

To understand Paul's credentials to speak about suffering let’s turn back to 2 Corinthians. Paul writes, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, fellow Christians of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.”  He goes on to say, “ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,   By great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger,… through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown, yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not yet killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

Later Paul writes “ 24 Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. 28 And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” 

On top of all that he talks about his thorn in the flesh that he has prayed 3 times for it to be relieved and it persists.

I don’t know about you, but I think Paul has some pretty good credentials to talk about suffering.

Now to the letter to the Philippians. Paul came to Philippi and started a church. It wasn’t easy. He was arrested and imprisoned and was miraculously released by an earthquake.

11 years later, 4 years after Paul had last been in Philippi, Paul now sits in a Roman jail awaiting execution. The Philippian church heard that their dear friend and pastor was facing the possibility of death So, they did what we do when someone needs help, they took a generous offering. They gave it to a trustworthy man, named Epaphroditus and they told him, “Go find Paul in prison. Tell him we love him, we care for him, we’re concerned for him. Give him this generous gift so that he can have food and whatever else that he needs, and bring back to us a report of how our pastor is doing.”

Along the way, Epaphroditus himself had become sick and was facing the possibility of his own death. God miraculously healed Epaphroditus. He was allowed to continue on his mission. He ended up finding Paul, giving him the generous gift from the Philippian Christians. And, in response, Paul sat down in his dirty jail cell and he wrote a letter with his own hand to the church at Philippi to his friends. That letter is Philippians.

Hearing all of that, is there anyone who can doubt that Philippians is written by a man who knew suffering?  He might not be the world’s foremost expert, but he is close.

So we read Paul’s words in chapter 1:12.“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel.” 

Paul explains that because of his imprisonment the gospel is now known through the whole imperial guard. Those are the emperor’s personal guards.  In other words, he has taken advantage of the opportunity afforded him by having an elite roman guard chained to him 24 hours a day. It was intended that Paul couldn’t escape, but from Paul’s perspective the guard couldn’t escape either. So he shared the gospel with them.   One by one they came to know the gospel of Jesus and many accepted it for themselves.

Secondly, he writes that “some brothers have been made confident and bold by his imprisonment.”  He  explains that his imprisonment has given others courage to stand up for their faith. Perhaps they want to continue Paul’s work in his absence.

You see, Jesus is being proclaimed in a lot of ways to a lot of people either because of or in spite of Pau’s suffering and in that he rejoices… he has joy.

Down in verse 25 he says “whether I live or die I will continue in the joy of the faith.”

What Paul is doing here is showing us that there is a way of suffering as Christians so that our suffering is purposeful. Not that we seek out suffering… that would be some sort of mental illness.  But that we can suffer for nothing, or we can suffer in a way that God is glorified. Three are three aspects of purposeful suffering.

 First. When we suffer… we never suffer alone. Jesus suffered terribly for our sake. Hebrews tells us that Jesu said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” In Matthew Jesus said  “ Lo I am with you unto the end of the age” and Romans 8:38 says “"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  You know that is a favorite of mine… but there is also Joshua 1 “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”  With the presence and power of Jesus our savior and our mighty God, we never suffer alone.

 Second, when we suffer, (not if but when) We can look inward and see ourselves as victims or we can look outward and ask “what is God  going to do in me” in this time of suffering. How will God change me? How will this suffering help me to be more compassionate? How could this suffering help me to be more patient? How can this suffering help me to trust in God more fully? How can this suffering help me to rely on God more completely.  We can be victims wallowing in our self-pity, or we can become victors by allowing God to perform a mini resurrection in our lives.   Job Is an example of this. Job may have suffered as much as any person in history.  He rails against God for 37 chapters.  God lectures Job for 4 chapters, and it ends with Job recognizing his pride and is becoming humble before God. When we suffer we will be changed… the question is will we be changed into victims or victors transformed by the redeeming power of God in the midst of suffering.

   Finally, when we suffer we have 2 options. We can  say “I am in pain.” We can let that become our identity and use that an excuse to do all kinds of unloving things. Or we can say “I am in Christ” and look for ways to live out that identity in whatever the circumstances of our lives might be.  We can ask “how can I be witness? How can I encourage or inspire or teach someone else?”  You may have access to people you would have never met. You may have a story that inspires someone to action. You may have a spirit that oozes love and grace as a witness to what God has done in your life.  We can chose to let the suffering define us, or we can chose victory over suffering in the name of Jesus Christ.

Yes, there is suffering but there is also great joy is knowing that we are never alone.

Yes, there is suffering but there is also great rejoicing at the opportunity to draw nearer to God. 

Yes, there is suffering, but there is a whoop and a holler that comes from heaven someone rises out of suffering to make a witness to for God’s goodness.

 Remember Jessica Melore from the beginning of the sermon. Heart attack, heart transplant, an amputation and two bouts with cancer. She is now an internationally traveled motivational speaker and vice president of the Lymphoma and leukemia society. Her suffering has taught her so much about herself that it has given her the opportunity to be an inspiration and mentor to millions.

Kechi Okwuchi the plane crash survivor, you may recognize her as the girl with the golden voice who got the golden buzzer on Americas Got Talent. She is now (besides a beautiful vocalist) an inspirational speaker telling millions about the image of Godinside each of us that has nothing to do with how our skin looks.

Rev. Richard Wumbrand jailed for his faith founded Voice of the Martyrs now ministering to millions of Christians around the world who live under persecution. NO one will ever know how many lives have been changed for Christ because Richard found a way to use what could have been personally life destroying to be life giving to so many others.

            You see joy is not a feeling. When I talk about Joy in the midst of suffering I am not talking about feeling happy. I am talking about a way of living, not for ourselves, but for Christ who “for the JOY set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” There is no feeling that can even begin to compare to the joy of life in Christ. And there is no suffering that can take the joy of Christ away from us.