Understanding Suffering: A Christian Perspective on Trials
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"Many believers have a poor understanding about what God says regarding suffering. This is true both in general what God says about suffering for the world in general, and what God says about suffering in regard to believers. And I think it's really important for us to understand that there's a lot of bad ideas out there when it comes to understanding the Christian life and suffering." [00:02:41]
"Some people who think that becoming a Christian means hey, no more suffering. Friends, that's a very wrong idea. I hope you're not of that opinion that becoming a Christian means to have no more suffering. Friends, that's not what the Bible says. Jesus told those who wanted to become his disciples to count the cost." [00:03:21]
"The whole idea behind Christianity is not to have an easy life or a comfortable life. It's to have a life that matters, a life that matters both for now and for eternity. So that idea that becoming a Christian means no more suffering, that's wrong. Now we are promised that day when we get to heaven there's no more suffering, but not until then." [00:04:00]
"There are some also some people who have the wrong idea. They think that suffering in and of itself will make us better people. Let me tell you something, friend, it's not that way. Suffering in and of itself is not what makes us better people. It's God working in and through our suffering and our surrender to God in the midst of our suffering that really will make us better people." [00:05:26]
"Let me tell you, there is no one answer to that question. There's many different reasons why a Christian might suffer. I'm going to give you seven reasons, and let me say something about these seven reasons. They are not given in any particular order, so I'm not moving from most common to least common or anything like that." [00:06:33]
"We might suffer because we live in a fallen world. There is suffering in this world because we live in a fallen world. What Adam and Eve did through the fall of humanity back in the Garden of Eden not only had an effect on the guilt status of humanity before God, it had an effect on the created order on the world itself." [00:07:16]
"Sometimes we bring suffering in on our own life. You see a person who's dying from some disease that they brought upon themselves. Well, yes, it has something to do with living in a fallen world, but it's also because of the life choices that person made. And look, we just got to be real about this." [00:08:42]
"We might suffer because people have sinned against us. Let's be honest, this is the source of a lot of suffering in the world. We might suffer because people say, you know, every violent act, every act of abuse, every tragedy of every aspect of persecution, this is somebody sinning against somebody else." [00:11:24]
"We might suffer because God brings judgment upon a nation or upon a culture. Here's an example of this. We think about the sufferings of Jeremiah when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in Judah. You know, Jeremiah wasn't guilty of the sins that brought down Jerusalem and Judea when the Babylonians conquered them." [00:12:24]
"We might suffer because of some kind of demonic or satanic attack. Look, it's possible, of course, for Satan or demonic spirits to inflict suffering upon a person. Now we can say with great confidence, this is the kind of suffering that God would always want to deliver us from." [00:13:20]
"We can say that we might suffer because God is correcting his children. There are many Bible examples of this, many ways for us to think about how God may correct his children along these lines. For example, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 7 and 8 explains that God uses chastening or correction in the lives of his people." [00:14:13]
"We might suffer because God has a redemptive purpose in that suffering. Friends, I think this is a very important idea. There are times when God definitely has a redemptive purpose in the suffering he allows. Let me give you a couple of biblical examples of this, first of all having to do with Jesus himself." [00:16:03]
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"Some people who think that becoming a Christian means hey, no more suffering. Friends, that's a very wrong idea. I hope you're not of that opinion that becoming a Christian means to have no more suffering. Friends, that's not what the Bible says. Jesus told those who wanted to become his disciples to count the cost." [00:03:21]
"The whole idea behind Christianity is not to have an easy life or a comfortable life. It's to have a life that matters, a life that matters both for now and for eternity. So that idea that becoming a Christian means no more suffering, that's wrong. Now we are promised that day when we get to heaven there's no more suffering, but not until then." [00:04:00]
"There are some also some people who have the wrong idea. They think that suffering in and of itself will make us better people. Let me tell you something, friend, it's not that way. Suffering in and of itself is not what makes us better people. It's God working in and through our suffering and our surrender to God in the midst of our suffering that really will make us better people." [00:05:26]
"Let me tell you, there is no one answer to that question. There's many different reasons why a Christian might suffer. I'm going to give you seven reasons, and let me say something about these seven reasons. They are not given in any particular order, so I'm not moving from most common to least common or anything like that." [00:06:33]
"We might suffer because we live in a fallen world. There is suffering in this world because we live in a fallen world. What Adam and Eve did through the fall of humanity back in the Garden of Eden not only had an effect on the guilt status of humanity before God, it had an effect on the created order on the world itself." [00:07:16]
"Sometimes we bring suffering in on our own life. You see a person who's dying from some disease that they brought upon themselves. Well, yes, it has something to do with living in a fallen world, but it's also because of the life choices that person made. And look, we just got to be real about this." [00:08:42]
"We might suffer because people have sinned against us. Let's be honest, this is the source of a lot of suffering in the world. We might suffer because people say, you know, every violent act, every act of abuse, every tragedy of every aspect of persecution, this is somebody sinning against somebody else." [00:11:24]
"We might suffer because God brings judgment upon a nation or upon a culture. Here's an example of this. We think about the sufferings of Jeremiah when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in Judah. You know, Jeremiah wasn't guilty of the sins that brought down Jerusalem and Judea when the Babylonians conquered them." [00:12:24]
"We might suffer because of some kind of demonic or satanic attack. Look, it's possible, of course, for Satan or demonic spirits to inflict suffering upon a person. Now we can say with great confidence, this is the kind of suffering that God would always want to deliver us from." [00:13:20]
"We can say that we might suffer because God is correcting his children. There are many Bible examples of this, many ways for us to think about how God may correct his children along these lines. For example, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 7 and 8 explains that God uses chastening or correction in the lives of his people." [00:14:13]
"We might suffer because God has a redemptive purpose in that suffering. Friends, I think this is a very important idea. There are times when God definitely has a redemptive purpose in the suffering he allows. Let me give you a couple of biblical examples of this, first of all having to do with Jesus himself." [00:16:03]
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