Embracing Hope Amidst Pain and Suffering

 

Summary

In our journey through life, we often encounter pain and suffering, which can either draw us closer to God or push us away. C.S. Lewis insightfully noted that God uses pain as a megaphone to rouse a deaf world. This concept is vividly illustrated in the life of Admiral Jim Stockdale, a POW during the Vietnam War, who survived by never losing faith in the end of the story. He embraced what is now known as the Stockdale Paradox: maintaining unwavering faith in eventual victory while confronting the brutal facts of current reality. This paradox mirrors a similar tension in Christianity, where our future hope is intertwined with the brutal fact of sin and its consequences.

Christianity acknowledges a global relationship between sin and suffering, a reality that Jesus Himself assumed and addressed. Jesus demonstrated His power over the global consequences of sin, not by avoiding suffering, but by entering into it and ultimately overcoming it. This is exemplified in His interactions with those suffering from illness and sin, where He showed that the presence of sin in the world results in suffering, but also that He has the power to redeem and restore.

The Apostle Paul expands on this by personifying sin as an entity that affects everything and everyone. He emphasizes that while sin and death reign in this world, through Jesus Christ, we have the hope of reigning in life. This hope is not in the immediate resolution of all suffering but in the ultimate victory over sin and death. Our faith is anchored in the promise that one day, God will make all things new.

In the meantime, we are called to live in the tension of this paradox, embracing both the hope of redemption and the reality of suffering. We are invited to approach God with confidence, knowing that we will receive mercy and grace in our time of need. Our present sufferings are a reminder of the global consequences of sin and our need for a Savior. Yet, they also point us to the future hope that we were made for another world, where there will be no more sin, sorrow, or death.

Key Takeaways:

- Pain can be a divine megaphone, awakening us to the presence and reality of God. It can either draw us closer to Him or cause us to doubt His goodness. The choice lies in how we respond to the suffering we encounter. [00:09]

- The Stockdale Paradox teaches us to hold onto hope while facing the brutal facts of our reality. This mirrors the Christian experience of maintaining faith in God's promises while acknowledging the presence of sin and suffering in the world. [04:10]

- Jesus demonstrated His power over the global consequences of sin by healing and forgiving, showing that He is the ultimate solution to the world's greatest problem. Our hope is not in the absence of suffering but in the presence of a Savior who redeems. [09:52]

- The Apostle Paul reminds us that sin and death reign in this world, but through Jesus, we have the hope of reigning in life. This hope is not in immediate relief but in the ultimate victory over sin and death. [17:39]

- We are invited to approach God with confidence, receiving mercy and grace in our time of need. Our present sufferings remind us of our need for a Savior and point us to the future hope of a world made new. [21:50]

Youtube Chapters:

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:09] - C.S. Lewis on Pain
[00:23] - Pain as a Megaphone
[01:20] - Admiral Stockdale's Story
[02:22] - Faith in the End of the Story
[03:42] - The Stockdale Paradox
[04:45] - Christianity's Paradox
[05:34] - The Brutal Fact of Sin
[07:31] - Jesus and the Blind Man
[10:21] - Healing the Paralyzed Man
[12:21] - Paul's Explanation of Sin
[14:39] - The Reality of Sin and Death
[16:53] - Our Ultimate Hope
[19:18] - Jesus' Empathy and Sacrifice
[21:50] - Confidence in God's Grace
[23:47] - Living in Hope and Reality
[25:21] - The Promise of a New World

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:

1. John 9:1-3 - Jesus heals a man born blind.
2. Romans 5:12-17 - Sin and death through Adam, life through Christ.
3. Hebrews 4:14-16 - Jesus as our empathetic high priest.

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Observation Questions:

1. How does the story of Admiral Jim Stockdale illustrate the concept of maintaining hope while facing harsh realities? [03:42]

2. What was the disciples' initial assumption about the cause of the man's blindness in John 9, and how did Jesus correct their understanding? [07:31]

3. According to the sermon, how does the Apostle Paul personify sin in Romans, and what impact does it have on the world? [13:40]

4. What does the author of Hebrews say about Jesus' ability to empathize with our weaknesses? [20:20]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the Stockdale Paradox relate to the Christian experience of holding onto hope while acknowledging the presence of sin and suffering in the world? [04:10]

2. In what ways does Jesus' response to the blind man's situation in John 9 challenge common assumptions about the relationship between sin and suffering? [08:21]

3. How does the Apostle Paul's explanation in Romans 5 help believers understand the global impact of sin and the hope offered through Jesus Christ? [14:18]

4. What does the author of Hebrews suggest about the role of Jesus as our high priest in providing mercy and grace during times of need? [21:50]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a time when pain or suffering either drew you closer to God or caused you to doubt His goodness. How did you respond, and what might you do differently now? [00:52]

2. How can you apply the Stockdale Paradox in your own life by maintaining hope in God's promises while facing difficult realities? [04:20]

3. In what ways can you demonstrate faith in Jesus' power to redeem and restore, even when faced with the global consequences of sin? [09:52]

4. How can you approach God with confidence to receive mercy and grace in your current struggles? What specific steps can you take to deepen your trust in Him? [21:50]

5. Identify a situation in your life where you need to embrace the tension between hope and reality. How can you practically live out this paradox in your daily walk with God? [18:22]

6. Consider the role of Jesus as our empathetic high priest. How does knowing that He understands your weaknesses impact your prayer life and relationship with Him? [20:33]

7. Reflect on the future hope of a world made new. How does this hope influence your perspective on current challenges and your role in addressing suffering in the world? [25:21]

Devotional

Day 1: Pain as a Divine Megaphone
Pain can serve as a divine megaphone, awakening us to the presence and reality of God. C.S. Lewis insightfully noted that God uses pain to rouse a deaf world, and this concept challenges us to consider how we respond to suffering. Pain can either draw us closer to God or cause us to doubt His goodness. The choice lies in our response to the suffering we encounter. When we face trials, we are invited to see them as opportunities to deepen our relationship with God, recognizing that He is present with us in our struggles. [00:09]

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11, ESV)

Reflection: Think of a recent painful experience. How can you see God's presence in it, and how might it be drawing you closer to Him?


Day 2: The Stockdale Paradox and Christian Hope
The Stockdale Paradox teaches us to hold onto hope while facing the brutal facts of our reality. Admiral Jim Stockdale, a POW during the Vietnam War, survived by maintaining unwavering faith in eventual victory while confronting the harshness of his situation. This mirrors the Christian experience of maintaining faith in God's promises while acknowledging the presence of sin and suffering in the world. As Christians, we are called to live in this tension, holding onto the hope of redemption while facing the realities of our broken world. [04:10]

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life are you struggling to hold onto hope? How can you practice the Stockdale Paradox by acknowledging the reality of your situation while trusting in God's promises?


Day 3: Jesus as the Ultimate Solution
Jesus demonstrated His power over the global consequences of sin by healing and forgiving, showing that He is the ultimate solution to the world's greatest problem. Our hope is not in the absence of suffering but in the presence of a Savior who redeems. Jesus entered into suffering and overcame it, offering us a future hope that transcends our present circumstances. His interactions with those suffering from illness and sin reveal that while sin results in suffering, He has the power to redeem and restore. [09:52]

"And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction." (Matthew 9:35, ESV)

Reflection: How can you invite Jesus into a specific area of suffering in your life today, trusting Him to bring healing and redemption?


Day 4: Hope in the Midst of Sin and Death
The Apostle Paul reminds us that sin and death reign in this world, but through Jesus, we have the hope of reigning in life. This hope is not in immediate relief but in the ultimate victory over sin and death. While we live in a world affected by sin, we are assured of a future where God will make all things new. Our faith is anchored in this promise, and we are called to live in the light of this hope, even as we face the challenges of our current reality. [17:39]

"For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you need to shift your focus from immediate relief to the ultimate hope of victory in Christ?


Day 5: Confidence in God's Grace
We are invited to approach God with confidence, receiving mercy and grace in our time of need. Our present sufferings remind us of our need for a Savior and point us to the future hope of a world made new. In the midst of our struggles, we can come boldly to God, trusting that He will provide the grace and mercy we need. This confidence is rooted in the assurance that God is with us and that He is working all things for our good and His glory. [21:50]

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16, ESV)

Reflection: How can you approach God with confidence today, seeking His mercy and grace in a specific area of your life where you feel overwhelmed?

Quotes

Pain "is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." And maybe that's your story. You were goin' along, kinda minding your own business, you hadn't given God a thought in maybe many years, or maybe ever, and then you got that call, you felt that pain, you got that bad news, you realized your life would never be the same again. And you found yourself looking up and then you found yourself face to face with a God you'd never believed in before, that perhaps you had abandoned in childhood and you'd been believing ever since that pain was in fact the megaphone that got your attention. [00:19:19]

He said, "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose." You can never afford to lose that you are gonna prevail in the end. But you can't confuse that kind of confidence in faith with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever that might be." Now, this statement is sometimes referred to as the Stockdale Paradox. And you know what a paradox is, a paradox is a statement that, on the surface, doesn't seem to make any sense and then you explore it further and it actually proves to be true. [00:25:25]

There is a cause and effect relationship between sin and suffering. And we know this on a personal level because all of us have done things that we consider bad and we suffered because of it. We have all experienced the pain that is associated with certain behaviors. If you're a Jesus follower and you use the word "sin," you know that you have experienced the consequences, the personal consequences, of personal sin. So we all get that. But the brute fact, the fact that is so difficult for many people to get their mind and hearts around, is this. That the relationship, the cause-and-effect relationship, between sin and suffering, goes beyond personal behavior. It is a global reality. [00:48:04]

Jesus said, "The purpose for this blindness, that was caused by the global effects of sin, is gonna turn into an illustration of the fact that I, the son of God, have power over the global consequences of sin." Which infers that "I have power over sin." That "I am the solution to the world's greatest problem." The problem that plagues every single one of us every single day. That God would use His power over the global consequences of sin to draw attention to Himself. [00:52:71]

He said if death reigned through the one man Adam who brought sin into the world, how much more will those of us who have the ability to endure, and a relationship with our heavenly father that is secure, how much more then will we "reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." But we reign in life, this is huge, we reign in life by embracing this paradox. Embrace the paradox that sin will have its way today but not forever. [01:20:82]

He writes, "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, that we may," here it is, "receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." The New Testament authors had their feet firmly planted on the soil of suffering. They understood the world we live in. And the author of Hebrews says this: when you're going through the suffering and the pain, when you realize, "I'm caught in the messy middle, there is a hope but there is a brute fact that I cannot get around," he says you can come to your Heavenly Father with confidence and here is God's promise to you. You will receive mercy and you will receive grace. [01:31:31]

He says, "I consider that our present sufferings," no one avoids this, no one escapes this. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that," future tense, "will be revealed in us." Because we know that, we have confidence that, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Then he continues, he writes this: "Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit," in other words, even those of us who are Jesus followers, "we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies." [01:38:21]

But in the ultimate hope that Jesus came to Earth not only to die for our sins but to demonstrate He has the power over the global consequences of sin. And we live in the tension, we live in the messy middle, of a future hope that we can have confidence in, while at the same time embracing and acknowledging the type of world that we live in. We don't like this. But it's true. When sin entered the world, death was right on its heels. And this is the age when the consequences of sin run their course. [01:45:49]

He will use it as a wake-up call to rouse this world, to get us to look up and regain, or find for the first time, our hope. It's a wake-up call for anyone who has ears to hear. And one day, one day, the world will be as we know it should be. One day, the world will be as we know it should be. One day, there will be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more death. But not yet. Not you. And not me. [01:50:00]

Our present sufferings, our present sufferings are nothing to be compared with our future hope. Our present sufferings, they're just another reminder of the global consequences of sin. They're just another reminder of our need for a savior, of the world's need for a savior. Our current circumstances are just another reminder that one day God will, in fact, make all things new. [02:23:52]

If I find within myself a desire that no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. [02:49:58]

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Transcript
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