Speaker 1: All right, good morning church family, good morning.
Speaker 1: Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: This morning's service is going to be pretty unique.
Speaker 1: We're not in the middle of the series.
Speaker 1: We're going to do a one-off sermon where we look at the problem of suffering and evil.
Speaker 1: Okay, where is God in the midst of suffering and evil?
Speaker 1: My notes are extensive and I did this a couple weeks ago to keep you from having to frantically take notes.
Speaker 1: There's a QR code.
Speaker 1: The entire sermon transcript is yours, available right there.
Speaker 1: You have it, every word I say.
Speaker 1: You'll realize how much I script out, even the jokes.
Speaker 1: They're canned jokes, right, everything is scripted out.
Speaker 1: You have that so that you don't have to frantically try and take notes and keep up.
Speaker 1: And in fact, there are sections of the scripture or the sections of what I'm walking through today, that.
Speaker 1: But, by the way, this is also on the QR code right in front of you in the pew.
Speaker 1: It's probably easier for you to scan that.
Speaker 1: Okay, but there are going to be sections where I simply say to you you can read this at home.
Speaker 1: We don't have time to cover that today, there's just too much.
Speaker 1: But I want to go ahead and have you some resources in your hand.
Speaker 1: Okay, captain Alexander had flown the exact same flight plan so many times that it suddenly became boring and mundane to him.
Speaker 1: This certainly isn't why he got involved in the adventure of being a pilot.
Speaker 1: He needed more.
Speaker 1: So two minutes before landing Aeroflite 6502, he got the crazy idea.
Speaker 1: This was the excitement that he longed for.
Speaker 1: Turning to his co-pilot, he bet that he could land the plane blind, with instruments only.
Speaker 1: And so they lower all the curtains, cover all the windows.
Speaker 1: As they approach, alarms begin to go off, but they are ignored.
Speaker 1: Air traffic comes over the controller, warning them your approach is far too steep.
Speaker 1: Abort, abort.
Speaker 1: The landing, all of it ignored.
Speaker 1: The plane came in way too fast, overshot the runway, flipping over and bursting into flames, killing 70 of the 94 passengers on board.
Speaker 1: For those 70 families devastated by the foolishness of it all, where was God?
Speaker 1: Less than two weeks ago, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, christians gathered in an all-night prayer service in order to pray for peace in their region and in their country, and at 1 am, islamic rebels broke into the church and brutally killed 49 with machetes, while kidnapping others.
Speaker 1: And I ask you, where was God, this last July 4th weekend in the Texas Hill Country, floods, okay, caused the Guadalupe River to rise some 25 to 30 feet in a matter of 45 minutes, and we know this, we live this.
Speaker 1: At least 135 dead, some of the most notable, the 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic, a Christian young girl's camp.
Speaker 1: Where was God this morning?
Speaker 1: As your pastor, my aim is to lay out before you a Christian worldview, a theological approach of how a Christian is to understand by the Bible.
Speaker 1: Where is God in the midst of suffering and evil?
Speaker 1: And my aim is to prepare you, to prepare you for the fact that suffering and evil will affect every one of us in this life.
Speaker 1: Now, the answers that I'm gonna give you, especially up front, are not the answers that I would give you if I were sitting in your living room and your loved one had just passed away.
Speaker 1: That moment calls for tenderness, for patience, for mercy, for just being present, present Candidly.
Speaker 1: Those are not the times to work out your theology and formulate a theology of suffering.
Speaker 1: I plead with you, christian, to deeply consider the difficult things in life before life punches you in the gut, Because death and suffering are coming to every one of us and it is no good to be naive about it Now with my time this morning, I have to be very brief.
Speaker 1: Okay, obviously there are volumes that you can read.
Speaker 1: There's a particular book.
Speaker 1: It's written in your notes there.
Speaker 1: Da Carson wrote a book how Long O Lord.
Speaker 1: Reflections on Suffering and Evil.
Speaker 1: I highly recommend that you pick up a deeper read and begin to think well about this subject.
Speaker 1: So this morning I'm going to try and lay out five theological pillars for a Christian worldview.
Speaker 1: Okay, in the understanding that must be in place to understand suffering and evil.
Speaker 1: Okay, then we're going to read 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, and it's going to turn much more practical and pastoral.
Speaker 1: Now, before we jump in, I need you to hear me say this Nothing that I say this morning is meant to minimize the reality of evil and suffering.
Speaker 1: Okay, play that on repeat.
Speaker 1: I may say look at it from this angle or look at it from that angle.
Speaker 1: I am not trying to minimize.
Speaker 1: Okay, evil is evil and Jesus weeps with those who mourn.
Speaker 1: Okay, now I want to start off.
Speaker 1: It's not the passage I had you turn to.
Speaker 1: You can read it on the screen.
Speaker 1: I want to start off reading Luke, chapter 13, the first five verses.
Speaker 1: Read it on the screen with me.
Speaker 1: You hold your spot in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: But listen as I read Luke 13, 1 through 5, then we'll pray Now.
Speaker 1: On the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him that's Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Speaker 1: So, the disciples, a crowd, comes to Jesus and says what about?
Speaker 1: Apparently there were some Galileans who had gone to the temple.
Speaker 1: Pilate was a cruel, cruel man.
Speaker 1: They are there offering sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem and Pilate has them killed and then their blood is mixed.
Speaker 1: Awful event.
Speaker 1: Okay, jesus responds.
Speaker 1: Jesus said to them do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
Speaker 1: I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Speaker 1: Or do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
Speaker 1: I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Speaker 1: Let me pray for us.
Speaker 1: You repent, you will all likewise perish.
Speaker 1: Let me pray for us, heavenly Father, as we tackle this incredible task this morning.
Speaker 1: Father, we pray for your Spirit and the truth of your Word to help us think clearly about you, about who you are as the sovereign, holy creator of all, that you are outside of time, that you are ruling all.
Speaker 1: Father, help us to think well and to understand also that you are a God who draws near in the midst of our suffering, confusion and chaos.
Speaker 1: Help us this day to think well of you and to be prepared for every trial that awaits us in our lives.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name we pray.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: All right, so, laying the Christian foundation worldview, I'm gonna give us five pillars.
Speaker 1: Pillar number one okay, how did we get here?
Speaker 1: Understanding that comes from Genesis 1 through 3.
Speaker 1: That framework sets up how the Christian thinks of the entire rest of the Bible and should how you think and interact with the world.
Speaker 1: So the Bible insists that God created everything good, perfect, because he is good.
Speaker 1: There was no sickness, no decay and certainly no death, and man was created in God's image.
Speaker 1: Now, this is very important because it means a heightened sense of dignity, that all of us have heightened dignity that we are not simply clumps of cells.
Speaker 1: No, in fact, this dignity forces us to ask the difficult questions.
Speaker 1: Next, the Bible insists that human beings, as morally responsible, rebelled, rejecting God's reign, making themselves God, that man exchanged a God-centered existence so that man could be self-seeking and self-centered, and that rebellion leads to the consequences of the world spinning into chaos and disaster.
Speaker 1: There are three notable, three consequences that fall from that.
Speaker 1: The first is that creation itself is subjected to death and corruption.
Speaker 1: Okay, the Bible says the entire cosmos has been subjected to decay and corruption because of our fall and sin.
Speaker 1: So this means that volcanoes erupt and destroy Pompeii, that hurricanes flood cities, that tornadoes knock down schools, that locusts swarm, that bears maul, droughts sparks famines and disease ravages man and beasts.
Speaker 1: The second consequence of our rebellion that man is not alone in his rebellion but has been caught up in a larger cosmic battle.
Speaker 1: There are angels and demons, powers.
Speaker 1: There are angels and demons, powers and spiritual forces that we cannot see, but we feel the effects and consequences.
Speaker 1: Of Satan, when the Bible opens, has already fallen and he comes in and tempts Adam and Eve and after the fall he becomes the prince of this fallen world.
Speaker 1: In many ways the Bible describes him as enslaving mankind to sin and death.
Speaker 1: Now it's important up front to introduce Satan as a major source of evil, but I will come back in a moment.
Speaker 1: The fact that God still reigns above it all.
Speaker 1: And the third consequence of our fall.
Speaker 1: As God said to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2.17, if you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die.
Speaker 1: You will surely die.
Speaker 1: It seems the last tabooed subject in American culture is death.
Speaker 1: We can talk about sex, we can talk about our mental health, we can air out all of our problems, but why don't you, at the next social gathering, why don't you mention death?
Speaker 1: See the way it sucks all the air out of the room.
Speaker 1: Did you know?
Speaker 1: The death rate is still 100% and yet so few Christians are willing to talk about dying.
Speaker 1: Well, it seems, the most difficult part of our culture is expectations.
Speaker 1: All of our technological advancements keep us so optimistic, so we expect medical cures and surgeries and safety and length of life.
Speaker 1: In ancient Rome, half of the children died before the age of 10.
Speaker 1: The Black Death killed maybe 60% of Europe's population.
Speaker 1: In many ancient societies, one out of five people made it to the age of 40.
Speaker 1: You see, our lack of suffering leads us to question the goodness of God whenever any suffering hits us.
Speaker 1: In Luke, chapter 13, the passage I read at the beginning, jesus highlights two tragic events, one of them right a tower falling and killing 18 people.
Speaker 1: But then Jesus presses his audience, not letting anyone duck the tragedy.
Speaker 1: Do you think that they were more evil than you?
Speaker 1: Is that why that happened to them?
Speaker 1: And he says no, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: In other words, death hangs over every one of us.
Speaker 1: Now, again, repeat that disclaimer in your mind.
Speaker 1: Okay, evil is evil and Jesus weeps with those who weep.
Speaker 1: Second foundation the end has not yet come.
Speaker 1: Understanding that we get from heaven and hell, from an eternal perspective.
Speaker 1: So, from the Bible's perspective, you and I sit in the middle of an action movie.
Speaker 1: Okay, evil has unleashed chaos.
Speaker 1: It's not always easy to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are, and we should expect intensity to keep building all the way until the end.
Speaker 1: In other words, the story hasn't finished yet.
Speaker 1: Don't stop reading in the middle.
Speaker 1: A jagged, confusing shape on a puzzle piece doesn't make a whole lot of sense apart from the picture of the whole.
Speaker 1: Doesn't make a whole lot of sense apart from the picture of the whole.
Speaker 1: And so, too, suffering and evil must be seen in light of how the story ends, because the Bible says one day, the final buzzer will sound and the sky will split apart like a scroll, and the holy, sovereign God will call everyone and everything to account.
Speaker 1: Most will receive complete justice in the sentence of eternal punishment for their deeds, while others, by the grace of Jesus Christ, will be gifted eternal life, the eternal lake of fire.
Speaker 1: One way, the other way, behold, I am making all things new a new heaven and a new earth.
Speaker 1: This is a stolen illustration from Francis Chan, but I want you to see it.
Speaker 1: This rope represents eternity.
Speaker 1: Please note that all illustrations break down.
Speaker 1: If you would like for me to just have Pastor Daniel just keep wrapping around and around and around.
Speaker 1: I hope you can see it.
Speaker 1: At the very end of my rope here is a little black piece of tape that represents your life, your lifespan here on earth.
Speaker 1: You were born and then you die.
Speaker 1: I want you to look visually at the span of your life in comparison to eternity.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that for those who are going to hell, that this life is the only heaven that they will ever experience, but for those of us that will spend eternity in heaven with King Jesus, that this life is the only hell we will ever experience.
Speaker 1: It is with this understanding that the Apostle Paul, who endured countless beatings, was shipwrecked, was stoned.
Speaker 1: Beatings was shipwrecked, was stoned, that he could say these light, momentary afflictions are nothing to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: All right, we're going to lay that down.
Speaker 1: So, 10,000 years from now, the difference between dying young, at 29, and living a long, full life to 102 will in many ways, seem insignificant.
Speaker 1: Now, foundation number three, and the reason I gave you your notes, foundation number three is the reality that the Bible talks about that there is innocent suffering within the Bible.
Speaker 1: Understanding from the book of Job we don't have time to go through this.
Speaker 1: You have the notes that are kind of written out, but here is my press with you for you and I to understand, okay, and that is.
Speaker 1: It is too simplistic for us to take the viewpoint of suffering that every suffering was deserved because of X, y and Z events.
Speaker 1: The book of Job presses that issue.
Speaker 1: Job's friends have a Deuteronomic view of suffering.
Speaker 1: Right, blessings and curses.
Speaker 1: Job, you had to do something wrong, okay.
Speaker 1: But what we know and understand from the book of Job is that Job was being tested for his faithfulness and that Job was being caught up in cosmic battle caught up in cosmic battle and that God had his purposes that were completely outside of Job's understanding and Job was considered a righteous man.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you have those notes.
Speaker 1: Pillar number three there is innocent suffering.
Speaker 1: Pillar number four God is sovereign and man is responsible.
Speaker 1: God is sovereign and man is responsible Again, a pillar that I'm just going to make a simple reference to.
Speaker 1: So remember, there are lots of causes.
Speaker 1: There is evil, man has evil choices.
Speaker 1: There's a cosmic battle, there's all of this that's going on, but the Bible insists that God reigns above it all, but that God's sovereignty never undermines human responsibility.
Speaker 1: We are free moral agents that are held responsible for our choices.
Speaker 1: This comes climatically together in the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: Okay, who killed Jesus?
Speaker 1: Was it according to evil deeds that man did?
Speaker 1: Yes, was it according to the sovereign plan of God?
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 1: If you corner me and you say how do those two things work out?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I know the Bible says they're both true, and I'm finite, I can't understand it.
Speaker 1: I finally got peace about this in thinking theologically, when I understood that the question of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility actually lies in the fact that God is sovereign and that God is personable, meaning God responds to and relates to us.
Speaker 1: So how could God be sovereign, meaning he controls all things, and God be personal, meaning he relates to us?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I'm happy with realizing.
Speaker 1: The problem is I don't understand God Himself.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm good with the problem lying there, all right, I've given you more to read and some scriptures to refer to.
Speaker 1: Now, moving on to foundation number five the God who enters into suffering understanding from the cross of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: In the last five years, john Lennox, a professor of mathematics at Oxford, has gained quite a bit of attention for his answer to the problem of evil.
Speaker 1: So for hundreds of years this problem has gone on and on, and the framework for the problem of evil usually goes like this God cannot be all-powerful and good because evil exists, okay.
Speaker 1: So he's either all-powerful and not good because there's evil, or he is good but he can't quite.
Speaker 1: You know, his powers are limited.
Speaker 1: He can't quite stop that evil, okay, but the Bible insists no, no, no, he is all powerful and he is good.
Speaker 1: The traditional answer for this has always been well, humans, you are not in perspective to see and to understand that God has answers for why he's working things out.
Speaker 1: You can't see it Doesn't mean the answers aren't there.
Speaker 1: But John Lennox comes along and he says listen, the problem for evil and suffering is a problem for everyone.
Speaker 1: Okay, every worldview has this problem, even the atheist.
Speaker 1: It does no good to call yourself an atheist because of the problem of suffering and evil, because it's actually.
Speaker 1: Cs Lewis has proved that's just sloppy thinking.
Speaker 1: The reality is is because you want to call something evil, because you want to say that is bad, you are pointing to moral truths, ultimate moral truth.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it does no good to do that.
Speaker 1: So Lennox says listen, everyone, every worldview, has the problem of suffering and evil.
Speaker 1: So he said in mathematics, there are a lot of times where you'll have a mathematical problem that will take thousands of years.
Speaker 1: They keep asking a question and getting nowhere with it, and sometimes it's very helpful if someone comes along and just asks the question slightly different.
Speaker 1: So John Lennox does exactly that.
Speaker 1: He says listen, let me reframe the issue, since evil and suffering exist and we know it exists.
Speaker 1: Okay, from everyone's point of view.
Speaker 1: Since it exists, is there a God who understands and cares about the problem more than any other problem, more than any other?
Speaker 1: And he says, from this perspective, there is no God like Jesus Christ, there is no God who enters into suffering and evil like Jesus right, there is no event that declares the holiness of God and the love of God like the cross of Christ.
Speaker 1: There is no hope of redemption over death and sin and judgment like the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: You see, the Christian has a hope that is anchored, unlike any other, for in the midst of suffering and evil, for in the midst of suffering and evil, god's love is not measured by circumstance, it is measured by the cross.
Speaker 1: Jesus loves me.
Speaker 1: This I know, for he died to save my soul.
Speaker 1: And the cross proves that if God can take the most evil event in all of human history and if he can make that the greatest event in all of human history and save a wretch like me, then God can equally take whatever circumstances I am in and turn them for good, as he promises.
Speaker 1: And turn them for good as he promises those five pillars for the Christian to understand the problem of suffering and evil.
Speaker 1: All right, now I want to transition with us.
Speaker 1: I want us to look at a scripture passage.
Speaker 1: It's going to be very practical and very pastoral.
Speaker 1: Now, before we jump in, I do want to say to us okay, when we suffer, it is very common for each of us to view it simply as an unfortunate accident, that we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Speaker 1: If I had stayed at that place five minutes longer, I wouldn't have hit that deer on the way home and totaled my car.
Speaker 1: Okay, All of these circumstances, okay, but I want you to understand that Paul believes and understands the framework from Scripture that I've just laid out.
Speaker 1: Okay, he trusts in the sovereignty of God, and I want you to see the way that he is able to work through incredibly difficult circumstances.
Speaker 1: Now also hear me, very important the Bible never asks the Christian to seek suffering.
Speaker 1: Okay, now it may tell you to choose God's will regardless of suffering, but never to seek suffering for suffering's sake.
Speaker 1: In fact, in 2 Corinthians, later in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, paul asks for his suffering to be removed.
Speaker 1: All right, so he's not in the ditch of fatalism With that.
Speaker 1: Listen as I read 2 Corinthians 1, 3-11.
Speaker 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Speaker 1: For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
Speaker 1: But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
Speaker 1: And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
Speaker 1: For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came upon us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.
Speaker 1: Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in the God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us, he on whom we have set our hope.
Speaker 1: And he will yet deliver us.
Speaker 1: You also joining and helping us through your prayers so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many.
Speaker 1: All right, I know that was a big reading, but I want to set the context for you.
Speaker 1: Okay, I want you to see.
Speaker 1: Beginning in I think it's verse 8, paul begins to unfold his current context of what he's dealing with, and Paul says that he despaired of even life itself.
Speaker 1: Paul, the missionary who loved to go to new places okay, and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Paul, the missionary who was beaten times without number, who was shipwrecked multiple times, who was stoned okay, who later has a thorn in the flesh.
Speaker 1: Many theologians think it was malaria or some chronic disease like that.
Speaker 1: Think it was malaria or some chronic disease like that, whatever it was.
Speaker 1: In this situation and context, paul said we were in Asia, we were missionaries, our whole team despaired of even life itself.
Speaker 1: All right, think of the darkness that they're enduring.
Speaker 1: Now I want you to see how, even in that context, the Christian believes that our suffering is not wasted.
Speaker 1: It's not wasted.
Speaker 1: God is moving.
Speaker 1: God is working.
Speaker 1: There are six things I'm going to pull out very quickly from this text.
Speaker 1: The first in verse 5, paul calls this the sufferings of Christ.
Speaker 1: He says the sufferings of Christ were ours.
Speaker 1: In other words, when you think about this I know this is heady, when you think about this, if you were at home and you were to meditate on this Paul is saying his sufferings are added to Christ's sufferings.
Speaker 1: In other words, I am like Christ, I am walking in Jesus's shoes.
Speaker 1: When I endure the suffering that I am walking through, it is an extension of being Jesus' disciple.
Speaker 1: Now there's a crazy passage of text in Colossians 1.24.
Speaker 1: And in Colossians 1.24, you have it in your notes Paul says listen, the sufferings that I'm going through, they're no big deal, because I understand, okay, that I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
Speaker 1: Now you read that and initially you say time out.
Speaker 1: Has Paul just committed heresy?
Speaker 1: He said Christ's afflictions were lacking.
Speaker 1: He doesn't mean in quality of Christ's sufferings.
Speaker 1: Christ, in quality, endured everything that Christ was supposed to endure and he did it perfectly.
Speaker 1: What he means by it is quantity.
Speaker 1: In other words, you have Christ's sufferings and then the church that you and I are walking in as Jesus' disciples are added to the entire picture of those who suffer in this lost, chaotic world.
Speaker 1: It is a calling into the gospel, because every single one of Jesus' sufferings had purpose Okay, to strengthen his faith, to show the glory of his Father and the ability to sustain him and to save us.
Speaker 1: Every one of Jesus' sufferings had purpose.
Speaker 1: Okay, and we are called to see our sufferings as an extension of Christ.
Speaker 1: Number two God's comfort is greater than our sufferings.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what he said in verse five that God promises to meet us in our sufferings, in the fire, in a supernatural way.
Speaker 1: Okay, with a peace and a comfort that is greater than our sufferings.
Speaker 1: This is to know God in the midst of the trial.
Speaker 1: Listen to me, these are his promises, not mine.
Speaker 1: God promises to meet you with a comfort that is greater than your circumstances.
Speaker 1: Paul calls this in Philippians 3.10, the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ.
Speaker 1: Number three Okay, our suffering and then comfort is also to turn it into ministry.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that we can minister to others with that comfort that God gives us.
Speaker 1: When you read this and study it, paul sees a direct tie between his circumstances and everything that God was causing him to go through and comfort him.
Speaker 1: Paul saw a direct tie between what he had gone through, his experiences, and the ministry that he was supposed to perform.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you ask questions, what ministry does God have for me, I would say, well, look at your past.
Speaker 1: What has God brought you through?
Speaker 1: Because you can identify and you can comfort, and you can take the comfort of God and point forward to in other people's lives.
Speaker 1: Okay, in other words, there's ministry and purpose.
Speaker 1: Point number four Suffering produces a trust in God and lessens our self-dependence.
Speaker 1: Look at verse 9.
Speaker 1: We walk through what we did so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God.
Speaker 1: Spiritual growth will not happen otherwise.
Speaker 1: Trials kill our flesh and shape us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I'm not minimizing the pain.
Speaker 1: It hurts, it is evil.
Speaker 1: I'm not minimizing it, but God promises to use it for our good.
Speaker 1: Point number five suffering causes you to realize the finite nature of our flesh and to hope in the promises of the resurrection.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Paul, in verse nine he says listen, I went through that.
Speaker 1: I realized I'm not going to trust in myself, I'm going to trust in God.
Speaker 1: But look at where he points that promise the God who raises the dead.
Speaker 1: Remember I told you he despaired of even life itself.
Speaker 1: His circumstances were so overwhelming, it was so dark.
Speaker 1: He wanted to tap out.
Speaker 1: He wanted to say stop the ride, I want off.
Speaker 1: But his hope was in the resurrection of the God who raises the dead.
Speaker 1: And he even in this.
Speaker 1: Look at what he says.
Speaker 1: He says God will deliver us.
Speaker 1: He will, yet deliver us.
Speaker 1: He's still looking forward to the resurrection and eternal life.
Speaker 1: And point number six to the resurrection and eternal life.
Speaker 1: And point number six suffering provided an opportunity for the church to build unity by praying for and caring for one another.
Speaker 1: Okay, the church proves to be the church by living out the one another's and carrying one another's burdens.
Speaker 1: And Paul saw that here.
Speaker 1: One of the most difficult things for me to walk through when my dad passed away is I felt completely exposed and vulnerable in a way like I'd never felt.
Speaker 1: You see, my entire life I'd had this safety net or this covering of my father.
Speaker 1: He was the protector, he was the provider, he was always there and when he passed away.
Speaker 1: I felt completely vulnerable.
Speaker 1: A couple weeks ago, my family and I, we went on vacation and when we were in Durango, Colorado, suddenly our car wouldn't start.
Speaker 1: It was a panic situation.
Speaker 1: We're almost a thousand miles from home and seemingly pretty helpless.
Speaker 1: We look up costs to fly the family back and all this stuff and it is going to drain me.
Speaker 1: Right, we've already overspent our vacation budget and now I'm looking at like $2,500 to fly everyone home and I'm just like freaking out.
Speaker 1: A church member found out where we were, borrowed another church member's vehicle and drove through the night to pick us up and then we drove back.
Speaker 1: Okay, I share that with you because in working through that exposure of a situation where and I would have called my dad, okay, and he would have figured something out, but it was an opportunity for the church to be the church In January of 2015, 27-year-old George Picking III was on life support and doctors called the family in to tell them that they were very sad but that he had no brain activity and it was time to say goodbye and take him off life support.
Speaker 1: George's father was so upset that he simply left the hospital.
Speaker 1: But George's father was so upset that he simply left the hospital.
Speaker 1: But George's mother and brother stayed there and gave consent for George to be taken off life support and so that his organs could be donated.
Speaker 1: When George's father came back and found out that they were taking him off life support, he was furious and he was frantic and he began to beg the doctors can't we just wait a few more hours?
Speaker 1: Can't we just wait another day?
Speaker 1: And he was frantic.
Speaker 1: But the doctor said listen, there's no hope in that.
Speaker 1: You're only jeopardizing the organs and the people that need those organs.
Speaker 1: It's time to say goodbye.
Speaker 1: George's father ran to his car and got a gun, came back to the room, pointed it at all the doctors ordered everyone out, locked the door.
Speaker 1: He would spend the next few hours praying over and hoping, begging, that his son would respond to him.
Speaker 1: Well, a couple hours later, the SWAT team is in place and they're ready to come in.
Speaker 1: As they kick open the door, george's father grabs his hand and in that very instant George squeezed his hand back.
Speaker 1: His father immediately surrenders to the SWAT team but yells to the doctors come and check my son.
Speaker 1: He just squeezed my hand and, wouldn't you know it, george suddenly began to move his extremities and would eventually make a full recovery.
Speaker 1: His father would spend 10 months in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Speaker 1: Now, no doubt every one of us who hear that story okay, it's a true story says that that is a small price to pay in order to save his son's life.
Speaker 1: Price to pay in order to save his son's life.
Speaker 1: And you and I being evil here's the point you and I, being evil, would sacrifice immensely to protect our children.
Speaker 1: How much more so our perfect heavenly Father.
Speaker 1: And yet, out of love and joy, jesus endured the greatest evil and suffering in the history of this world at his Father's will.
Speaker 1: And Jesus in the garden prayed not my will, but your will.
Speaker 1: Be done, father.
Speaker 1: And he went to the cross.
Speaker 1: Believer, not one ounce of your suffering is wasted.
Speaker 1: It is not meaningless.
Speaker 1: Not when you're bored or you're sick or you have a little head cold, not when you're fighting cancer or dementia, not when you're betrayed, lose your job or even persecuted for the name of Jesus, not even when you suffer as a result of the consequences of your own sin.
Speaker 1: Not one ounce of your suffering is wasted.
Speaker 1: It's not meaningless.
Speaker 1: The enemy wants you to believe that it is, but God has given his son for you.
Speaker 1: You are walking in his path and he has promised you that he is writing your story.
Speaker 1: Believe His promises above what you can see and feel.
Speaker 1: He's given His Son for you.
Speaker 1: Will you pray with me?
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, we love you, we love your word.
Speaker 1: Help us to think well, to think well about this complex issue, and help us to trust you, with the suffering and chaos of our own lives, that you are on your throne, that you are in control.
Speaker 1: We love you.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: We pray amen.