Suffering is Not Strange, Part 4

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Bible explicitly teaches that suffering is to be expected in the Christian life. Today's text, 1 Peter 4-12, says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

So why are we so often blindsided when hardship and hurt come our way? Pastor Rich answers this question in today's message titled, Suffering is Not Strange. Listen as Rich contrasts our natural response to suffering to a response that is hinged on God's self-disclosure. This is the fourth part of a sermon first preached on January 15, 2023.

He wanted Jesus to focus on what? Me, Himself. And your adversary is bent on tempting you to do the same. Thinking what God has made known, who God is, and what is true about Him, and what is true about me. I want you to ask yourself a question. I'm asking myself this question. Are you ready for the question?

Here it is. What do I deserve? And when you're honest with that, then the truth of the mercy of God. Just ought to pour into your soul.

He has not left us. God has not left us to our own darkness and our own delusions. And we see even in this one verse that we're considering today, verse 12, that there is purpose in all the brokenness and unfairness of life. There is purpose. It's not random. It's not all left up to chance.

There is someone connecting the dots. Look what he says, verse 12. Read it again with me here. Beloved, do not be surprised at a fiery trial when it comes upon you, to test you as though something strange were happening to you. To test you. And some of you might be asking, okay, Rich, how long is this test going to last?

I have an answer for you until you see Jesus face to face. That's how long it will last. Test you. A test accomplishes two things. Number one, it is to examine you. To examine you. You have it memorized.

I know you do. But turn back to chapter one. Verses six and seven. So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The genuine, the tested genuineness of your faith. Listen to this, and this is from a writer in the New York Post, and the article is entitled, How People Learn to Become Resilient.

Her name is Maria Kanakova. To never experience any sort of adversity, you won't know how to become resilient. It's only when you are faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or lack of it, emerges. She quotes George Manano, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University's Teachers College, and says, I have a question for you. I have a question for you, and I'm going to ask you to tell me what you have to say. George is at Columbia University's Teachers College, and he says that one of the central elements of resilience is perception. Do you conceptualize an event as traumatic or as an opportunity to learn and grow?

These are not necessarily Christians writing this. Does the Bible have anything to say about our perception? Does it offer any insight for us?

Significant. Here's a couple more laws of our human condition. One progress is made only in resisting material. Which is funny, because the movement today that would call itself progressive is trying to remove all resistance, all boundaries. Progress is made only in resisting material. Here's a second law.

I would claim to be the author of it, but I'm sure I'm not. You don't drift in a positive direction, as if life should be this lazy river where you're floating, drinking some beverage of your choice. You don't drift in a positive direction, and progress is made only in resisting material. Let me just make a comment, if I may, today. For those of you who are young parents in here today, I really want you to listen to this. I think there's a whole generation that's learned and is paying for it dearly right now. The lack of resilience in today's younger generation is a result of constant rescue and overprotection. Almost everything has been done for them, and they have become self-focused and self-preoccupied.

They are damaged, and they are drifting, not in a positive direction. We have become bent on removing all sources of stress and risk. We are now raising up a generation that has no idea how to face either one, but they are a part of the human condition. This is something to think about, the concept of love and commitment. We know those words, don't we? Think of love as a concept. Commitment. Think of commitment as a concept. What does commitment look like?

You know it when you see it. When things get tough, someone hangs in there. When it turns out to be not what they expected, they're going to keep their word. That's commitment.

It's waning today, big time. But the very concepts of love and commitment are meaningless without challenge or resistance or stress. It's the human condition, which is what makes wedding vows so meaningful, right? If you're committing your love to each other, the reason why you have to express those vows is because you're expecting the challenge.

And some of you are thinking, I never thought of it that way before. It's because you're all rosy-eyed and expecting all this novelty and beauty. Oh, I just love you forever, right? All the love songs are written by people who've just met somebody. You know that's true. Oh, I love you forever. I never want you out of my life.

Yeah, you just met her. I get it. Okay. The second one, the first one, the first purpose, the test is to examine you. The second one is to refine you, to refine you, to purify your metal. Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine, we sang this morning.

Strength, purifying metal, produces value and strength. And the word produces is tied together with the word suffering in Scripture. Trials, temptations, suffering, they're tied together.

Romans 5, you're aware of that, right? Suffering produces what? Endurance. Endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

These virtues that are becoming so lacking in today's culture. James chapter 1, testing produces steadfastness. Suffering is not strange.

It's a part of the human condition. And Paul, the Apostle, wanting to be more effective, asked for relief from his suffering. Three times he asked the Lord, please take this away from me. What was God's answer? My strength is made perfect.

Where? In your weakness. Put that into your theology of suffering. Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. Let's bring this down to a conclusion here. One writer says, if the foundation of your happiness is your vocation, your relationships, or your money, and the list could go on, if that's where your foundation for happiness is, then suffering takes your source of joy away from you.

And that's why we can be so surprised by it. But if your ultimate value in life is God, then suffering drives you closer to your source of joy. There it is. That is a theology of suffering. Suffering drives you closer to your source of joy.

But it all depends on what the foundation of your joy is. Peter's focus throughout this letter is the big picture. God's calling people to live with the end in view. You cannot make sense out of suffering if you don't keep the end in view, and if you don't remember what God has done. God's calling people to live with the end in view, particularly in times of suffering. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.