Joyful Faith: Finding God's Kindness Through Suffering

So not only has God given us the opportunity to suffer for his name's sake, but his doing so is actually an act of kindness towards us. What? What? Like like, it's one thing to say, you can experience joy in the midst of suffering, and that's true, and you can. It's another thing altogether to say that when God allows us to suffer, he does it as a kindness to us. How can that possibly be true when we serve a good and loving God? [00:10:59] (39 seconds)  #GodsKindnessInSuffering

And it makes me sound like a crazy person, but I don't think you should sound totally sane when you have an eternal heavenly perspective. So allow me to give you some perspective today. To live is Christ. Your suffering in this life has a purpose. It has value. It has a meaning. To die is gain. Even if your suffering in this life means an end of this life, it means the beginning of your life with Jesus. You can't lose. We already know how the story ends. It's already been written. The devil is defeated. Jesus is victorious. And when we are in Christ, we win. [00:27:41] (45 seconds)  #EternalPerspective

God uses our suffering, and he he brings it all together for our good and for the benefit of the people around us. And what you thought was the end of your world could actually lead someone else to making a decision to the beginning of a life with Jesus forever. Your life has impact. Your life has legacy now. Your suffering has a purpose. You know what I call that? The kindness of God. That it doesn't have to be just suffering, but that there's a purpose to it, that he works something good through it. That's the kindness of God. [00:21:29] (37 seconds)  #SufferingWithPurpose

As I was studying for this message, I was reading through the first chapter of Philippians, and I came across this verse that just leapt off the page at me as though the Holy Spirit were saying to me, you're gonna hate this right now, but someday, you'll thank me. And I wanna read that verse for you because it it's gonna give us a little bit of a framework for the rest of this message. Philippians one twenty nine says, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. [00:09:59] (31 seconds)  #GrantedToSuffer

Meanwhile, Paul was suffering for Jesus, and everyone knew it. The palace guards knew it. All of the Christians in Rome knew it. And because he was suffering well and for the right purpose, all of the believers in Rome became more bold and more confident in their faith. So Paul, suffering well, suffering in alignment with the character of Christ and for the right purpose, is actively spreading the gospel throughout Rome while sitting in a prison cell. [00:19:53] (30 seconds)  #BoldInChains

They say, man, you just lost your dad, but I still see you with your bible and praying every single day. What is that about? And you just got stabbed in the back by your business partner, but you refuse to say anything bad about him? Wow. You you've got chronic pain that you've been dealing with for years and years, but you still come into work smiling, and I hear you in the break room talking about God and how he heals people. You really do believe this, don't you? Wow. Maybe there's something to all this Jesus stuff, and the Holy Spirit begins to do a work in their hearts that maybe simple conversation could have never got to. [00:20:53] (36 seconds)  #WitnessThroughSuffering

It's probably safe to say that most people don't suffer as much for their faith as the apostle Paul did. I mean, shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, assassination attempts, this guy saw everything. Right? And he marks all of it as light momentary affliction. When kept in the perspective of the glory that is awaiting us. Glory that he says is beyond all comparison. You can't even imagine something good enough to compare to the glory that's awaiting us when we finally shed this earthly suffering and we're present with the Lord. You can't even imagine it. Nothing compares. [00:23:33] (46 seconds)  #LightMomentaryAffliction

Isn't that just like God? Isn't that just like God to take what we thought was gonna be a step backwards? And he says, no. It's not a step backwards. I'm gonna take what you thought was the end. I'm gonna take what you thought was the limit, and I'm going to work something beautiful and exponential and impact people well beyond your natural reach and strength and ability. That's what God does. When we suffer well and in in alignment with the character of Christ, it impacts the people around us in a deep and profound way. [00:20:22] (31 seconds)  #GodTurnsSetbacksIntoImpact

Every chapter in the book of Philippians speaks directly to suffering for your faith. It speaks of Jesus' example of this, Paul's example of this, and Paul speaks directly to the Philippian church about how to stand strong in the midst of suffering for their faith. Now these are generally not the verses that are fun to clap and say amen to, and I understand that. We don't really like talking about suffering. But if we avoid the topic of suffering and suffering for our faith, we're gonna miss out on a crucial component of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. [00:05:02] (35 seconds)  #DiscipleshipIncludesSuffering

Your relationship with Jesus is the single most important thing in your life. And your whole mission as a Christ follower, as a disciple of Jesus, is to progressively become more and more like him as your life goes on. This is a process that the Holy Spirit works within us, and it's a process called sanctification. And suffering is one small piece in the greater work of sanctification that God does in our lives. God works together all things for our good. We know that. And he works our suffering for our good, and simultaneously, he works the character of Christ in and through us in our suffering. [00:11:38] (42 seconds)  #SufferingShapesUs

The truth is there are dimensions of your relationship with Jesus and your process of becoming more like him that you will never have access to apart from a context of suffering. What need do you have of the man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief if you never experience sorrow or grief? How can you truly and adequately thank the healer if you've never had to desperately reach for the hem of his garment? Well, how can you lean back on the shepherd who walks with you through the valley of the shadow of death if you've never had to walk through it? [00:12:20] (39 seconds)  #DepthThroughSuffering

The son of suffering, the one who knows how to suffer well and how to sit with us in our suffering, heal us, and lead us out of it. We welcome you into it. God, I pray for every person in this room who's going through suffering right now. That the healing power of the Holy Spirit would do a great work in our lives, That people who need their eyes to be lifted and their perspective to be changed, God, that you would do that in this moment. You would help us to have an eternal perspective. You would help us to have hope and to see that these are light momentary afflictions compared to the glory and the goodness that you have reserved for us. [00:31:55] (43 seconds)  #HealingAndHope

And so as I was focusing on the goodness and the victory and the power of God, atmosphere in my car went from trepidation to exaltation to celebration. And the presence of God filled my car with so much joy. I kid you not. I know I sound like I'm making this up. I'm not making this up. That drive took a good forty five minutes. And I pull into the parking lot of the emergency room here in Vacaville, and in my car, I am dancing and smiling and laughing because I had a change of perspective. [00:27:05] (36 seconds)  #WorshipTransforms

I probably looked like a psychopath, but it's okay because I needed to worship God. And as I was doing that, I was getting some perspective. As I was singing these songs about Jesus defeating the enemy and defeating death, I was reminded that the things that my daughter goes through in this life, they are temporary. They're temporary. I know what's gonna happen. I know where she's going. I know that she is going to be healed and whole someday. It's going to happen. [00:26:37] (29 seconds)  #TrialsAreTemporary

And the Lord in his goodness leads me in that moment to lift my eyes to him and to start to worship and to get a change of perspective. And so what I did was I found every single worship song I could think of, and I could think of a lot of them, where Jesus defeats the enemy and defeats death. And I cranked them, and I started worshiping like a madman in my parked car in traffic. [00:25:59] (26 seconds)  #WorshipOutLoud

I believe that if you will lean into what the Holy Spirit is saying through the word of God today, you are gonna experience a new level of fulfillment in your walk with Christ. You are gonna experience a new level of depth in your relationship with Jesus, and the fire of God is gonna fill your heart by the Holy Spirit, and you are going to experience some things in the Lord that you've never experienced before, maybe even through some unexpected methods. [00:06:24] (26 seconds)  #DeeperWalkWithGod

As Christians, our lives should look different than the people around us. We should not be suffering from hangovers like other people do. We should not be suffering from friendship issues because we gossip and lie and treat people poorly like other people do. We should not be suffering from legal troubles because we have dishonest business practices like other people do. As Christians, we should never be suffering from things that are well within our power to avoid, thanks to the blood of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit within us. [00:19:06] (35 seconds)  #LiveDifferent

I will turn this car around right now. And, buddy, once you've crossed that line, there is no going back. You might as well get the Velcro wallet. You might as well get the belt clip for your phone because you are officially a dad at that point, my guy. Welcome to the club. I will turn this car around right now. Or how about this one? I have had it up to here with you today. [00:09:13] (22 seconds)  #NoGoingBack