Suffering: The Path to Glory
Transcript
Well, good evening. If you will open your Bibles to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5. We will be spending some time in this particular text in just a moment. And appreciate your being here tonight. Excited about where we're going to talk about. We have been dealing with the last uh few days about the nature of the kingdom of God and what the gospel of the kingdom is really about. what this good news is and uh one of our keys has been to note that uh we have limited that oftentimes to thinking of the gospel as just the plan of salvation. So the gospel of course as you have seen is far far beyond that that this gospel message includes a great kingdom that we are in now but not yet inheriting the fullness of that kingdom. And that's what we're looking forward to. So, we've talked a lot about that. Now, tonight we're going to talk about how uh what the path is to getting into that kingdom, how this gospel uh brings us to glory.
And uh this is this is really uh interesting and significant because it is a little un it's it's a little uneasy for us to to look at this is the path to glory and this is the path then to the kingdom of God. Now I just going to begin by asking you a question. Um how do you view suffering?
Fantastic, isn't it? How do you view when the Bible talks about we rejoice in suffering? You see that here in Romans chapter 5 in verse three. He says, "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings." Well, uh, how do you feel about suffering? I I would say just by my own life, I would imagine you'd be in the same situation that as you look at your own life, we have some of us have already talked about this. You look back at your life and you think of a lot of the hard times that you've been through and you think of suffering and many times we talk about how hard it was and difficult it was. And it was it was a tough tough periods in our life. And you may be at this point still dealing with some of those very difficult trials and some of that suffering. So the general reaction of Christians is a lot of times not much different than a non-Christian. Suffering in other words is not a positive to us. It's a negative.
In fact it's it's fairly obnoxious. what I'm going through is not fair. I didn't deserve this. This doesn't bring this on me. This is being brought on me. It shouldn't be this way. Appeal to God. Why don't you take this away? Uh how about Job? Did Job have that same reaction? Yes, he did. Job throughout his uh trial kept complaining to God that this ought not be and why don't you come and change this and why don't you do something about this? We oftenimes immediately go to prayer. We tell the whole congregation, "Please pray. This is a horrible time for me. Please pray that God will take this away and I don't have to deal with this." Suffering involves fear. I think that's one of the great problems with suffering. It involves fear. Afraid that well maybe this is it. My life my life is never going to be happy again. Uh, will I ever get my health back? Will I ever get my child back who's left and fallen away? What kind of tragedy is going on?
Why doesn't this end? Why won't this go away? The problem with all of that is that's not how the Lord handled it. That's not the right way the apostles handled it. It's not the way the Bible teaches us to handle suffering. And that really I think is something we need to consider very carefully. So I want you to see how suffering is critical for the gospel of the kingdom. In fact, it is embedded in the gospel. So, first think back about your
um this is really great because this is not my uh PowerPoint for tonight. I have no idea what this is. This is some other sermon. Oh, this is tomorrow's sermon. That's right. This is tomorrow's sermon. So, um let's just uh can we just turn this off? the way I turn this off. Just turn it off. That was uh probably my mistake. I probably hit the wrong thing when I sent it to Casey and uh and Casey looked at it and knew exactly what I was going to be preaching and put this up anyway. So there you
you got to you got to blame these youngsters
Now, I've got a series of of passages I want to read you, and you just notice it on the screen. No, you won't, but you want can imagine all you want. Okay? So, listen to some of the things Paul says about suffering. Philippians 2, verse 17 and 18. In order to do this in our time limit, I can't wait for you to turn to it. So you'll have to listen. Do the best you can. Philippians 2:17 and 18. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. Okay, listen carefully. Paul's in Philippians here. He is coming close to dealing with Neero. He is not positive whether he'll be killed or live. He thinks he's going to get through it, but he is not absolutely sure. And he says, "Listen, even if I'm poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of faith, what's Paul saying?
I'm about to be poured out as a sacrificial sacrifice, a sacrificial drinking for your faith.
And then he says this, "I am glad and rejoice." Now, here's what blow you away. He tells the Philippians, "And I expect you to rejoice with me." Now, the we know from reading the letter, these Philippians love Paul to death. I mean they just they they are so upset and concerned for him and they have sent Epapraditis and they're everything is just this is this is tough for them and he says look even if this happens I am being poured out as a sacrifice to God on the behalf of your faith and I am doing this and I am glad of it and I'm rejoicing in it and I expect you to be glad and rejoice along with me. That's a whole different view, isn't it, of how we look at suffering. And yet, that's what Paul says. Now, please note, why is the rejoicing? Because he says, I'm doing what Jesus did. I'm laying my life down. I'm making a sacrifice on behalf of the faith and life spiritually of other people. That's what I'm doing here.
When Paul in Colossians chapter 1, Paul in Coloss Colossians chapter 1 and verse and verse 24 here, this is all on the screen in my mind. Colossians 1 and verse 24, he says, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake." You see that? Why am we suffering? For your sake. and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ afflictions for the sake of his body that is the church. He is filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. What does that mean? Mean Christ sacrifice wasn't enough and you and I have to fill it up to make it complete. That's exactly what he's saying. It is sufficient obviously for what Jesus did. But we are his offspring and we continue the pattern of sacrifice in order to save other people. Let's stop and give a quick application. So how are you going to give yourself up as a sacrifice to save other people? Well, I could have a long list that we could talk about. You could make you could make a list too.
I'm going give you one thing.
Make a new friend.
Or take a friend you already have that's on an outer circle relationship with you and bring them into an inner circle
so that you can teach them the gospel. You can't throw verse grenades at them over the fence. You got to get close. You can't be salt and light to somebody who's too far away. Salt touches. You have to touch. Go from an outer relationship to an inner relationship. Had a situation number of years ago. I was invited to a church in the Pacific Northwest uh to do lessons on evangelism. And uh the preacher told me, he says, "On Thursday morning, we're going to be having breakfast with a whole pile of couples, old older couples in this congregation. There's a whole whole bunch of them. They get together in a big room and at Denny's or wherever and and we just have breakfast together." And he says, "Uh, so we we're going to go to that." So went to it. Everybody was great. fun, just beautiful people.
And uh at the end, one of the individuals, one of the men who was re leading it said, "Berry, why don't you just stand up and tell us something for a few minutes?" I said, "All right." And I said, "This is great what you guys are doing. This is absolutely great." And I'd like you to consider something. You all of you couples, what a beautiful situation. You all you couples, you do this breakfast every week. You know people in your neighborhood, you know others in your life. Invite some of these other people who aren't Christians to come to your breakfast. Say, "We get together." Invite him to come to your breakfast and get closer to so that you'll have an opportunity.
Everybody looked at me and I said, "That's my little thing." Not one person said a word to me afterwards. I walked out with the preacher and I said, "Did I say something wrong?" And he said, "No, they just don't want anybody messing up their nice little group," quote unquote. And I thought, just like all of us, you need any more friends? No. Got plenty of friends right here. Don't even have time for all my friends I've got right here in the church. You are a sacrifice
for the faith of other people. Now you want to lay your life down. You want to do what Jesus did. That's pretty simple. Make a new friend. Get them closer in your life. Bring them to inner circle. Invite them to Matthew parties like Matthew Levi did. do things like that. Draw them closer and you'll have an opportunity. Does it take sacrifice? Yes, it does. Had a fellow ask me not too long ago, uh said uh you know this this I introduced him to a guy that I I baptized and he said and he said, "Boy, how Berry, how long did you spend uh teaching this guy?" And I looked at him and it been about a year and I said, "How how long how how much how many hours you think I' I've spent with you in this past year?" He said, "400." I said, "No, it hasn't been that much, but it has been 300."
You know, if you've never spent trying time trying to teach somebody, you get in your head when you watch somebody else do it that it must have been easy and you must have just, you know, thrown some verses at them and lo and behold, they were baptized. And that is not usually true. It takes a lot of work and effort and tremendous sacrifice. That's what Paul's talking about here. So when we're dealing here with various ways we lay our life down, this is a critical position that Paul is getting us in. Listen to these words. We're now in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17 and 18. 1 Corinthians 1 17 and 18. Paul said,"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For the word of the cross, or some versions the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." Now notice these words at the last part of that when he says he preached the gospel not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross the message of the cross is foolishness. It's folly. Now why is the message of the cross folly to those who are perishing? The reason is it has to do with how Jesus died. You ever thought about why didn't Jesus die some other way? Why didn't do the who was that? Socrates. I think they had him drink some himlock and I his friend said to him just walk around the room a few when your legs get heavy then just lay down and you'll die. It's very easy death and know that's what he did. Why didn't Jesus choose to die that way?
Why why don't we have No, he chose crucifixion. Most horrendous thing you could think of in those days and even today. Why did he choose that? Because there's a message in it. Paul emphasized that. I'm crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. We follow the example of suffering. We would all agree we live way easy right now. But it doesn't matter whether we live easy or live hard. The problem is we need to make that sacrifice if the world is going to be saved. We are a light to the world. He's called upon us to be his offspring. He went back to heaven. He's not directly teaching anybody anymore. He's not going to send a band of angels to teach people. That's not the way it's going to work. He sent us to teach people. And you say, "Well, I'm not very good at." We are not talking about you using a talent you do not have.
Could make another long list. You know what? If I'm a teacher, which I am, I need somebody to help me invite. If I'm the teacher, I need somebody to take care of the kids that the woman I'm teaching has in the house and I need somebody with me because I'm not going in there and teaching her by myself. Can you be a helper? Yeah. Could you be a babysitter? Yeah. I need people all over the church to pray and God will answer those prayers. He promised he would. How much more do we need? I need somebody who will learn to teach by watching me teach. I need somebody that'll help me in teaching so he spots or she spots what I'm not doing or I have something I've missed when I'm teaching. I need people who will follow up after they become a Christian. I need people who will connect with them while I'm teaching them. Can I go on? You know, there's a billion things.
You don't necessarily have to be the teacher, but you can learn to answer questions and you can learn to love and be a part of that. Does that take sacrifice?
You ain't kidding. Hours and hours and hours of it. But it is a church that does this. And we do this together. And that's what Paul is is looking at here. Take a look over here in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I want you to notice what Paul says to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 4. And just take a look beginning there at verse 8. 1 Corinthians 4 beginning at verse 8. Now you might remember that the Corinthians are living the life of the gospel of health and wealth. That's basically what their preaching has been by their false teachers that everything should be easy. All right. Paul says this already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us you have become kings and would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you. For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour, we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless. Can you see Paul? Can you see his companion? Do you see him in what he's describing here? Verse 12. And we labor working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered we entreat, we have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refues of all things.
I do not write these things to make you ashamed. Good night, Paul. Of course you did. Nobody could read that and not be ashamed. I read it and I'm ashamed. What are you talking about, Paul? He's No, no, you don't understand. I'm not trying my primarily to make you feel ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Now you notice what he does here through the gospel. I became your father. You became like my children. And so if I am the father and you are the children, you are going to do what? Verse 16, I urge you then to be imitators of me.
Erik and I were talking about this today. How many times we've read this kind of passage and we've said, "Oh, yeah. Well, you see what he said, be imitators of me, that means, you know, you imitate the kind of worship he said you should have and the teachings he said you should have." And that that is not what he is saying. And it's true, but it's not what he's saying. He's saying, "You see my life. You see my companions life. You see how we live? Do you see how we sacrifice for the faith of others? Do you see it? I urge you to be imitators of me." He says it again in chapter 11:1, which should be part of chapter 10, where he talks about the sacrifices we make in order to bring somebody to Christ in order for a brother to be saved. He says, he said, "What whether Jew or Greek or to the church of God, we do all to the glory of God. And we do not leave any stumbling block to any of that.
You be imitators of me." I would like you to consider something. Can you imagine
any preacher standing up here and saying, "Here's my lifestyle. I'd like you to imitate me. [laughter]
Hey, preacher, get out of here. You're fired." None of us would do that.
Isn't it weird that God said to Paul, "You're going to write this letter and your life is so much like the life of Jesus. I'm going to let you tell them, "Imitate me." Wow. I mean, wow. That is a theme throughout both Corinthian letters, especially 2 Corinthians chapter 2:6. We die. He says in 2 Corinthians 4:e 10, we always carry about in our bodies. Hear this carefully. We carry about in our bodies the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may become visible in our mortal flesh.
So we die in order that you can live.
your life and my life is to die for others so they can live as Jesus died for us so that we can live.
Wow. And Paul says that's filling up the afflictions of Christ. That's completing it the way it ought to be. That gets you to glory. That is the path into the kingdom. Now, please don't make that a wait on you. Don't make that, oh my, I can't do that. Don't think in those terms because God will empower you to do this. Erik talks about talked about this in Ephesians 3 and verse 14- 21. He tells us plainly when he tells us to be filled with all of the uh of the fullness of Christ. He says God will do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you ask or think according to the power that is at work within you. God is going to help you do that. But bottom line is just start with what what you can do. Can you make a friend? Yeah. Can you take someone who visits for the first time from the community and say, "Hey, we always go out to eat on Sunday afternoon. I'd love you to be my guest.
Would you come with me?" Get connected. Sacrifice? Yeah. Take time. Yeah. Dying so that may live. Absolutely. And that's where it begins. That's where it starts. All right, let me tie this together. Nothing's organized here because it isn't on the screen, [laughter] but let me tie this together. We're two two two lessons here to conclusions. The apostles first and foremost were not suggesting that when you start suffering, you go around going, "Yay me, yay me, I'm suffering."
No, that's not what he's talking about. David indicates in the Psalms, it hurts. It's painful. We pray, we hurt, we're in pain. But listen carefully to what he says in Hebrews 12:1. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. That's the same point Paul is using in our text back here in Romans 5. In Romans 5, what does what does suffering do? Suffering produces endurance. Do you need endurance? You do and I do. How do you get it? By suffering. Can I get it another way? No, [laughter] you can't. You get it through suffering. And s endurance produces character and character produces hope. How are you going to get the character? Through suffering. How are you going to get the hope? Through suffering. That's how you get there. So we rejoice in suffering because it brings about a transformation in our lives. So how do we balance the pain of it with rejoicing in that?
Well, first and foremost, we refuse to allow suffering to defeat us because we know that through this we are going to overcome and come to glory. So, it's okay.
Do you know the world talks about how much time I have left? talked to my dentist the other day and he said, "You got a a a root on one of these teeth tooth teeth down here. It looks like it's getting a little weak. It could break and fracture." And I said, "Well," he says, "That wouldn't be good. You know, you send you to a specialist." And I said, "That'll cost too much money and I don't have insurance and I don't have that much money, so I'll let it break." And he go I said, "But wait a minute. Do you think it'll last the next 12 12 14 years or so?" I guess it could. I said, "Good. I'll be dead by then anyway. Who cares?" [laughter]
I mean, you got to start thinking concerning time. But people think concerning time sometimes depending on, well, do I am I going to have enough time to have this fun and this fun and this fun. Look here. You have more time than anybody ever could dream of.
You have the kingdom. awaiting you. And the path to glory is now and then. And now you rejoice that God has given you the opportunity to lay down your life for you. Final text. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Whoops, wrong. 2 Corinthians 12. So you recognize this Paul talking about boasting and various things. Really kind of making fun of the Corinthians there. And he says in verse two, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. And whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told. Which man may not. on behalf of this man, I will boast not on me on my own behalf. I will not bo I will not boast except in of my weaknesses.
Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool. For I am speaking the truth. But I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses. Now, here's his thorn, by the way. Content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. How is it that when you're weak, you are strong?
Because there's only one way you're going to get to the point
that you accept and have access to your to you the power that Paul is talking about and that's when I accept my weakness. If you don't have suffering and if you don't have trials and if you don't have a trial that is serious, it will not get you to the bottom. And it is not until you get to the bottom that you finally go, I've tried everything. I can't do anything else. I I just have to let the Lord do it. Well, whoopee. That's what he's been trying to get you to do your whole life.
Quit trying to control it. You have no control. You just think you do. And the Lord will put us, as he like you said in Job, through two or three whoppers of trials to get you to understand that it's only when you're weak, when you know you can't do anything that you're strong. Look at it this way. Does he know more be know better what you need than you do? Duh. Does he know how your life should be for the glory of him and the and your glory in the future? Duh. Then why don't you let it go? Be content with what's going on.
I'll conclude with this been one of the important stories. There was a marriage marriage seminar one time that I went to back in the 70s. This guy gave a great se cinema civ se seminar and he talked about how you might treat your wife and he says I'm going to tell you something. I always wanted a Chevy Suburban. He's a Texas guy. Y'all have not won a Chevy Suburban. It's a lousy car. But I just kidding. All right. So here you go. I always wanted a Chevy Suburban. He said I saved and saved and say I finally got a Chevy Suburban. I park in the garage. I dust it off every night. Kiss it. I just love my Chevy Suburban. It's just so great. And one morning, my wife said, "You got to take the car day. I need this.
I need the Chevy Suburban because I need to haul some stuff." And he went, "Okay, honey." [laughter] And he came home that night and lo and behold, parked in the driveway was a Chevy Suburban with a big dent in the back. She had backed it into a pole.
He looked at that and he went,
he goes, "Nope, nope. You can't go in there and talk to her that way. Nope, you can't do that. And he goes, "Okay, this is not my Chevy Suburban. This is the Lord's Chevy Suburban. And if he wants to ruin a perfectly good Chevy Suburban, that's his business."
That little story has helped me so much. This is not my life. It's his life. He bought it. He paid for it. And if he wants to ruin it, the way I'd look at it, it's perfectly acceptable to do because he'll ruin it for his glory and for my glory. Let's die for him. Take a break.