The Power of Suffering
I've been reading a book by John MacArthur about the Power of Suffering. It's really very good and I wanted to share it with you guys. It's really a bible study so that will make it easier to share. He says many of the things we've already talked about in our other studies so much of this may be more of a review for you really. Even so, I felt it would be worthwhile to post it here for us.
WHY IS SUFFERING PART OF THE PLAN?
First we know that Jesus told us that we would be persecuted by the world and that the world would hate us as it hates Him. True Christians are not part of the "in group" in this world. Unbelievers, as nice as they may seem, have set themselves against Christ, against God and therefore are His enemies. That makes them our enemies too. They are going to react to the Holy Spirit that dwells inside us, whether or not we realize it. The Holy Spirit in us is either going to draw them to Christ or they will be repelled by Him, rejecting Him and us in the process. Consequently we can't have a close relationship with unbelievers in this world. We cannot be a friend of the world--of unbelievers. For us the world/unbelievers are our mission field, our patients, not our "friends". Many Christians are totally unaware of this as they don't read their bibles and it's not preached much today as it would be "upsetting" to many. But the bible is very clear about this and we need to remember the warnings it gives us:
1 John 2:15, NIV, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James 4:4–5, NIV, You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
MacArthur says:
Satan tempts us subtly to be comfortable in the world, to feel at home within the system, and to make the world around us feel at ease. We seek not to offend anyone, but that is not what Jesus had in mind. Nor was that Paul’s approach:
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:21–25).MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (c1995.). The Power of Suffering
God tells us that we will have trouble in this life. He doesn't say that we "might" have some, He says we "will" have troubles. (John 16:33) To understand "why" we will have troubles and suffering in this life, we need to understand about the sovereignty of God. Again let me share how MacArthur explains this:
That reality is the sovereignty of God which, when rightly understood and properly embraced, serves as the foundational lens through which Christians may see all truths in Scripture more clearly. Knowing about God’s sovereignty in all things does not mean we will have comprehensive understanding, but it gives us a proper hope in the midst of the more difficult and less clear aspects of His working in our lives (Gen. 18:25; Isa. 55:9).
The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is sovereign, we affirm His right to govern the universe, which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter over the clay, viz.: that He may mould that clay into whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any.
Sovereignty characterizes the whole Being of God. He is sovereign in all His attributes. He is sovereign in the exercise of His power. His power is exercised as He wills, when He wills, where He wills. This fact is evidenced on every page of Scripture.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (c1995.). The Power of Suffering
Although God is sovereign, His actions tend to seem unpredictable to us at times. God can and will do as He chooses in any situation and just because he did something one way one time, doesn't mean He's going to do the same thing in a similar situation. While God's character, His attributes, never change, how He does things can and does. For this reason it's also important for us to really know God--to know what His character is. We have to know and understand that He is loving, merciful, kind, slow to anger, etc and those things will always be true of Him, for He doesn't change. But we also need to know that He is perfect, holy, righteous, just, all knowing, and hates evil and sin too.
As humans, we tend to see things as though the world revolves around us. We tend to forget that we are only one person in a vast sea of humanity. Now the Lord loves us and guides us intimately and individually, but being God, He alone knows how the thread of our life is going to affect that vast sea of humanity. If we think of ourselves like a rock that's thrown into a pond we can see how the ripples of our life spiral out affecting many--people living now and people not yet born even. Look at the apostle Paul (or any of the Bible's hero's. I'm sure that they weren't always sure why some of the trials they went through happened and yet look how many millions of people have been helped and guided by them because of those very trials! We may never wind up in Holy Scripture, but then again, you never know! There may very well be a new "new testament" written for the Millennium! Be that as it may, what we can know is that whatever we go through IS being seen by all who know us, and even by strangers who see us on the street or in an doctor's office etc. So our lives ARE affecting many others as well. God says:
Isaiah 45:7, NIV, I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
He also said:
Romans 8:28–29, NIV, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Because of this we can know that everything that happens to us, good AND bad, are under God's sovereign control and that He will use every single bit of it, working it together for our good to conform us to the likeness of Jesus, making us more and more like Him. This is the destiny of all who have been saved.
Tomorrow we'll look at the Lessons learned from suffering.
I've been reading a book by John MacArthur about the Power of Suffering. It's really very good and I wanted to share it with you guys. It's really a bible study so that will make it easier to share. He says many of the things we've already talked about in our other studies so much of this may be more of a review for you really. Even so, I felt it would be worthwhile to post it here for us.
WHY IS SUFFERING PART OF THE PLAN?
First we know that Jesus told us that we would be persecuted by the world and that the world would hate us as it hates Him. True Christians are not part of the "in group" in this world. Unbelievers, as nice as they may seem, have set themselves against Christ, against God and therefore are His enemies. That makes them our enemies too. They are going to react to the Holy Spirit that dwells inside us, whether or not we realize it. The Holy Spirit in us is either going to draw them to Christ or they will be repelled by Him, rejecting Him and us in the process. Consequently we can't have a close relationship with unbelievers in this world. We cannot be a friend of the world--of unbelievers. For us the world/unbelievers are our mission field, our patients, not our "friends". Many Christians are totally unaware of this as they don't read their bibles and it's not preached much today as it would be "upsetting" to many. But the bible is very clear about this and we need to remember the warnings it gives us:
1 John 2:15, NIV, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James 4:4–5, NIV, You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
MacArthur says:
Satan tempts us subtly to be comfortable in the world, to feel at home within the system, and to make the world around us feel at ease. We seek not to offend anyone, but that is not what Jesus had in mind. Nor was that Paul’s approach:
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:21–25).MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (c1995.). The Power of Suffering
God tells us that we will have trouble in this life. He doesn't say that we "might" have some, He says we "will" have troubles. (John 16:33) To understand "why" we will have troubles and suffering in this life, we need to understand about the sovereignty of God. Again let me share how MacArthur explains this:
That reality is the sovereignty of God which, when rightly understood and properly embraced, serves as the foundational lens through which Christians may see all truths in Scripture more clearly. Knowing about God’s sovereignty in all things does not mean we will have comprehensive understanding, but it gives us a proper hope in the midst of the more difficult and less clear aspects of His working in our lives (Gen. 18:25; Isa. 55:9).
The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is sovereign, we affirm His right to govern the universe, which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter over the clay, viz.: that He may mould that clay into whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any.
Sovereignty characterizes the whole Being of God. He is sovereign in all His attributes. He is sovereign in the exercise of His power. His power is exercised as He wills, when He wills, where He wills. This fact is evidenced on every page of Scripture.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (c1995.). The Power of Suffering
Although God is sovereign, His actions tend to seem unpredictable to us at times. God can and will do as He chooses in any situation and just because he did something one way one time, doesn't mean He's going to do the same thing in a similar situation. While God's character, His attributes, never change, how He does things can and does. For this reason it's also important for us to really know God--to know what His character is. We have to know and understand that He is loving, merciful, kind, slow to anger, etc and those things will always be true of Him, for He doesn't change. But we also need to know that He is perfect, holy, righteous, just, all knowing, and hates evil and sin too.
As humans, we tend to see things as though the world revolves around us. We tend to forget that we are only one person in a vast sea of humanity. Now the Lord loves us and guides us intimately and individually, but being God, He alone knows how the thread of our life is going to affect that vast sea of humanity. If we think of ourselves like a rock that's thrown into a pond we can see how the ripples of our life spiral out affecting many--people living now and people not yet born even. Look at the apostle Paul (or any of the Bible's hero's. I'm sure that they weren't always sure why some of the trials they went through happened and yet look how many millions of people have been helped and guided by them because of those very trials! We may never wind up in Holy Scripture, but then again, you never know! There may very well be a new "new testament" written for the Millennium! Be that as it may, what we can know is that whatever we go through IS being seen by all who know us, and even by strangers who see us on the street or in an doctor's office etc. So our lives ARE affecting many others as well. God says:
Isaiah 45:7, NIV, I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
He also said:
Romans 8:28–29, NIV, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Because of this we can know that everything that happens to us, good AND bad, are under God's sovereign control and that He will use every single bit of it, working it together for our good to conform us to the likeness of Jesus, making us more and more like Him. This is the destiny of all who have been saved.
Tomorrow we'll look at the Lessons learned from suffering.
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