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Overcoming Unjust Suffering, Part 2

From the series Unstuck

There are four things, four principles, you must remember when you’re experiencing unjust suffering. Chip reassures us, by sharing how to apply those four principles, from Ephesians Chapter 3.

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Message Transcript

And now he’s going to say the purpose of the Church is education and access. What he’s going to say is this supernatural community of Jew and Gentile connected to Christ, the head and this Savior and he’s going to have this, this bride that he’s preparing and he’s going to come back and he’s going to say, “This Church has a purpose in this little time on the earth.”

And he says it’s going to educate a certain group, and it’s a very unusual group. And it’s also going to provide a new access that’s not going to be about bulls, or goats, or temples, or priests, or ritual, or rules. You’re going to have access.

Notice what he says here, the purpose of the Church. His intent, very interesting that translates one little word, it’s “hina.” It means a purpose clause, in other words, “For this purpose,” it’s very, very clear.

He says his intent was that now through the Church, “The manifold wisdom of God,” and the word “manifold” is like the variations of layer, upon layer, upon layer of the all-knowing, all-wise, how wonderful God is, “should be made known,” to whom? “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,” he’s speaking of angels, “according to His eternal purpose, which He accomplished in Christ our Lord, in Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom,” it means with courage, with boldness, with freedom of speech, “and with confidence.” And the word “confidence” there, means “right of access.”

And so he says, “Don’t be discouraged. I have the privilege,” listen to this, “the privilege of suffering for Christ that angels may learn things about God that they could never know without the Church and so that we, as His followers, could draw near with a level of intimacy and access like never before.”

When the apostle Paul thinks of this mystery that he’s a steward of, his role of preaching it and bringing it to light, and the ultimate purpose… I mean, can you imagine that it’s just a regular Joe trying to kill people one day, getting knocked down, meeting Jesus, taking seminary in Arabia somewhere, feeling like you were lost and getting humbled over here, getting picked up by Barnabas and saying, “You know what? I think you’re worth something, yeah, I think God’s got a plan,” and then you end up with this little church in Antioch where people are first called Christians, and you’re just praying and fasting with a handful of guys and God says, “Set apart for me! Paul and Barnabas!”

And he goes on this missionary journey and all of a sudden he goes on one, and two, and three [different trips], and he ends up in jail, and if we were in jail we would be telling God, “This is unfair and I stepped out and, I’m doing this for you and I don’t understand why you’re treating me like this and…”

And now two thousand years we look back, so we get thirteen books of the New Testament written by who? And where did he write the majority of them? Can I go on record to say I’m glad he was in prison?

Can I go on record to say that the gift of suffering for the sake of the Church and the gospel was to my benefit and yours, and to theirs, and that Paul is giving us a model of why not to be discouraged when injustice [happens], and life’s not fair in a fallen world, where there is spiritual opposition, if indeed there is an all-sovereign, all-knowing God whose purposes cannot be thwarted, and He will use suffering as a grace gift in your life, even when people do it with such evil intent, if you don’t bail out on the process.

And in the midst of your suffering He may produce an intimacy with Him that you could have never known, and He may produce a testimony and a conduit of grace through you, that others may have never seen.

Now, what we need to ask is, “What is the timeless application of that truth to us in the twenty-first century?"

There are four principles to remember when you’re suffering unjustly.

Number one, we are not victims. It’s so easy to get there, isn’t it? “How could this happen to me? This is so unfair.

Pull back the lens. Paul, does he say, “I’m a prisoner of Rome?” Does he say, “I’m a prisoner of Nero?” He says, “I’m a prisoner of Christ.” Isn’t that interesting? He said, “I’m in these chains because of Jesus.” It’s not the false accusations of the Judaizers, it’s not the Roman government, it’s not…

He said, “I’m here,” because here’s what Paul knew: God is absolutely sovereign. That means He’s in control. God is good; and God is loving; and God is all wise. And good means He always has your best in mind, sovereign means anything that comes into your life is either decreed or allowed by Him, wise means He brings about the best possible end by the best possible means for the most possible for the longest possible time.

So, if there was an easier, gentler, better way for His will to be worked out in your life you would be experiencing that kinder, gentler way than what you’re getting.

So, if He’s all wise, good, sovereign, faithful, and all-powerful and can do whatever, whatever you get in your life and whatever I get in my life, a sovereign God has either allowed or decreed for my good. It’s a faith issue.

And He wants you and me to remember when you have unjust suffering, when you’re a child of God, you may be going through a rough time, but you are not a victim. You’re not a victim. You’re His son, you’re His daughter. “For you have need of endurance,” the writer of Hebrews would say in chapter 10 verse 36, “for once you have done the will of God you might receive what He’s promised.”

And the word “for you have need of endurance,” that word “perseverance” or “endurance,” is hupomeno. “Hupo” means to be under, “meno” means under be stress or pressure.

And what happens, as we’ll see, under stress or pressure and difficulty that is so unfair, what do you do when you’re experiencing that? You either get bitter and mad and close your Bible and whine and become a victim or, in tears, you usually say, “I don’t know where I need to read right now but I think the only place I can really go is the Psalms.”

And you cry your way through the Psalms. And you recognize that other people have been here before and God understands.

And if you get around a place like this there are some people that have lived longer, and they have “hupomenoed” their way through losses and pain and injustice, and isn’t there a tenderness and a sweetness and a maturity and a love to their life that you’d really like to have. Can I tell you how they got it? It wasn’t because they had everything go right.

The second principle is that until we understand what God is up to in the world we will never understand what He’s up to in our world.

See, unconsciously what we have done to the gospel, by and large, is we’ve basically made God our self-help genie and said, “This is my world, this is my agenda, and I want these biblical principles and of course I love you, Jesus,” but the goal is, “make my life work and make it work well! I want to be happy! I want to upwardly mobile, I want to be healthy, want my kids to be great.”

All those desires are fine. But here’s the deal, unconsciously, I’m the center of the universe and God is my servant. What’s wrong with that picture? Everything.

There are a lot of people that are very upset with God because He’s not “fulfilling promises” and they’ve believed and done certain things and…

Guess what? It’s His world. It’s His story. I think you put those together you get “history.” It’s not your story. It’s not my story. You know what the apostle Paul realized? “I’m a murderer. You know what I deserve? I deserve to go to hell is what I deserve. And by the rich mercy of the Savior, He not only forgave me but allowed me to be a steward of the secret that’s been hidden in God before all generations, and I get to be a conduit and I’m going to whine about being in chains and, for this little time knowing that forever and ever and ever I’m going to be with Him?”

See, when you begin to understand what God is up to in the world, then you begin to reinterpret your world. So, what’s God up to in the world? I mean you can jot this down. He’s up to Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. That’s what He’s up to.

He’s up to lost people being found, He’s up to found people growing to maturity, and He’s up to mature people reproducing their life. That’s what God’s up to, for every single person on the face of the earth.

So, how does this suffering impact the Great Commission? How does this suffering impact my network and people who don’t know Christ? How does this suffering impact those who do know Christ and are watching me go through it? How does this impact God reproducing the life of Christ in me?

See, the apostle Paul is always asking, “What are you going to do with forever? And why are you here? And what’s your role in why you’re here?”

The third principle here is that until we understand our role in His plan, from verses 7 through 9, we’ll never, we’ll forever be frustrated with God’s failure to fulfill our plans.

Let me say that again. Until you understand your role, in other words, what are you supposed to do? What are you called to do? What are you gifted to do? What’s your mission? What’s your calling? Why did He put you on the earth?

I mean, more than just a generic, love people, share the gospel when I can, get a good job, raise a good family. Okay, yeah.

Now, specifically. What are you here for? What assignment has your name on it? What Paul was saying is, “I understood my role as a servant. Mine was very,” he said what? “I’m to preach and I’m to make plain this administration of this mystery.”

God’s agenda, not my personal peace, comfort, happiness, or prosperity is what I need to understand, and then I need to understand what’s my role in His plan rather than how do I convince God to fulfill my plan?

And, boy, that’s a game changing truth. And, by the way, I think it’s a journey. I think as you mature He shows you, shows you, shows you.

I can remember a really difficult, very, very difficult five or six years ago in my life trying to discover what my role is. And you know when you hit your late forties and fifties you think you’re supposed to have this figured out.

And I knew, in general, I knew I was supposed to teach God’s Word but what context, and where, and how did it work? And I found myself in a situation where I wasn’t teaching God’s Word anymore but I was in ministry, and I was in all these budget meetings, and my joy was gone but all the issues of reputation and what it would look like if I left, and my ego and insecurities, and fears, and I took a big step of faith but finding that big step of faith… it was dark. I mean it was just dark.

And all I knew was, “Okay, I’m supposed to teach your Word, but God, I don’t know exactly where. I don’t know exactly how.” And then it got real clear, “It needs to be, it needs to be in a local church.” And then, “It needs to be in a local church that’s hostile to the gospel. It needs to be in a local church…”

But it was a two-year journey. And part of that, I’ll never forget. And I won’t embarrass him, but there was a fellow in Atlanta who became a brother and a life coach. And you know how when you process everything you look at everything negatively and it just, parts of it seem very unfair and… I was learning to own my stuff. And I’ll never forget the whole paradigm shift.

We were sitting in a, it was a country club that he belongs to. And he said, “Well, Chip, did you ever just consider that God has given you the gift to suffer? Did you ever consider that maybe you’re trying to figure out why this, why that, and you’re supposed to do this. Did you ever just consider that maybe He just entrusted to you the grace-gift of suffering right now for Jesus’ sake?”

And I remember I didn’t have a good answer. But in my mind I’m thinking, “I will guarantee you, I’ve thought a lot, but that thought has never crossed my mind.” And then, thank God for Scripture memory, Philippians 1:27 comes to my mind, “For it has been granted to you not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake experiencing the same conflict, which you saw and now see to be in me.”

And I just remember thinking, “I don’t have to figure it all out, and I don’t have to figure out what blame is me, or I don’t have to find someone else, or some circumstance, and it was just like, “You know what? What if there are times where…” isn’t that what Paul said? “I got to suffer for Your glory. I went through this for You.”

I don’t see him saying, “Well, the Romans had seventy-six percent on this, and I think the Judaizers were about twenty-three point four percent a part of this. I probably had a bad attitude, I’ll take one or two percent of the problem and…”

I mean, that’s how [my mind] works. I’m always trying to figure out and control, and he just said, “I’m suffering.” What if that very thing that you’re begging God to take away is the very thing that’s the greatest gift for what you need right now?

And instead of resisting, and pulling away, and asking, and struggling, and blaming, and trying to figure it all out, you moved into it, and said, “I’m going to refuse to be a victim. And I’m going to get up today, I’m going to understand… so what’s Your role for me in this big world that would really honor You?” And you start asking those questions, it changes your whole perspective.

Finally, until we grasp the extraordinary privilege and the eternal impact of suffering for good, we will squander the greatest opportunities God will ever provide us to glorify His name and commune with His heart.

Sometimes these difficult times are this window where God could mold your heart, and allow you to hear His voice, and to build character and endurance, and a capacity that could never happen otherwise. You know, it’s that old picture of the piece of coal: that it takes all that time, and all that pressure, and that coal over time, becomes a diamond.

I wish there were an easy way. I wish I had six easy steps, four easy steps, something you could repeat nine times a day and you would just, poof! come out like Jesus. I’d sell it. And I want you to know I’d give at least ten percent of it away, maybe more. I’m teasing. It just ain’t so, people.

But there is part of us that is yearning somehow, and looking for some silver bullet, something that takes all the suffering away, or cleans it all up, rather than embracing it and saying, “Suffering is not a curse in a fallen world. It’s a stewardship and a privilege to reveal God’s love and power, and to experience intimacy with Him.”

His promise at the end of the Great Commission, do you remember what it is? “And I will be with you,” how long? “always.” Wouldn’t it be interesting if we recalibrated all of the issues and realized that’s actually the goal?

That you would actually recognize and experience Him with you, always. Because you become like who you hang with. And in your suffering, and when He’s with you, you become like Him.