Suffering Sacred, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Rejoicing in the face of suffering really seems counterintuitive. We might expect surprise, worry, fear, or anger in the face of hardship. But 1 Peter 4-13 calls us to rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.

But how do we do that? Today, Rich shares the confident expectation we can have that will lead to settled satisfaction in the midst of deep pain. Let's listen to this message titled, Suffering is Shared. This is part 3 of a sermon first preached January 22nd, 2023. I want you to think of something too, where we share in Christ's sufferings by presence. Let's think about this now, Christ suffers through our suffering.

Say, Rich, what are you talking about? This is a new theology. Do you remember when—what was Paul before he was Paul? He was Saul.

What did he do? He was persecuting the church. He was on fire and determined to get rid of this new sect that was a threat to Judaism. He was arresting people and dragging them to prison and endorsing their executions, because they were followers of Christ. And then he encountered Christ. And what did the Lord say to him? Someone want to say it? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Did you get that? We share with Christ, we share together in the sufferings. It's not like Christ is utterly unaffected by the things that we suffer. Presence. So let me just say this.

I really want you to take this with you. For those who are free, for those who are free, for those who have the capacity to perceive and engage suffering with grace, for those who are free, the presence of God is magnified through suffering. For those who are free, that is, those who are not in bondage to fear. And just as a matter of review, what does it mean to be free? As we've studied in 1 Peter, those who are free, those who are free from the penalty and the bondage of sin. So we've started off with you are free in Christ. You are free from and you are free to live for Christ in his power and his grace. That's what it means to be free.

And that's why we're called to live as people who are free. So we share in Christ's sufferings, number one, by identification, number two, demonstration, number three, presence, number four, honor, honor. 2 Corinthians 5, 9, so whether we are at home or away. What does Paul mean by at home or away? He's talking about whether I am at home in the body or away from the body. Or whether I am at home with the Lord and away from the body.

He talks about that in the verses leading up to that. Whether I am at home or away, we make it our aim to what? To please him, to please him. The very point of my existence is to honor God, to glorify him, to please him.

I've said this so many times before. We'll say it again, because I think this is a real Western Christianity problem. God is not a part of my life. Jesus didn't die for you to be a part of your life.

He didn't die for you so that he could be this additive to your life to help your life be better. That's not the gospel. But unfortunately, I think that represents the majority of American and Western Christianity and pulls back that up.

Heresy is rampant in the evangelical church. God is not interested in being a part. Jesus is not interested in being a part of my life. You know what happens when I make him a part of my life? A part of my life, then I judge his goodness by my circumstances. And if I'm having a really rotten day or I've been diagnosed with a terminal illness, I can't see he's worthy because I'm really questioning in myself whether he is or not. That's what happens when I only let him be a part of my life. And in that case, we preside over his worthiness, contemplate the arrogance of that. No, he is not a part of my life.

He is the point to my life. I don't know if you're there or not, and I can't stand before you and say, I am utterly entirely there. We battle the flesh, okay?

I get that. But we have to come to grips with that, folks. And I'm speaking to you as affluent American Christians. Is God, is Christ the point of your life, or are you content to just let him be a part of it?

Psalm 56, 13, Psalmist writes, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. And that's what life is, isn't it? And so Paul Miller says in his book J-Curve, which is one I highly recommend to you, he says, as you move outside your world to engage with a problem, some element of suffering, some element of things being out of order, some element of brokenness, as you move outside of your comfort zone and your little private world to engage with a problem, you embrace Jesus' suffering, which is the cost of love.

Why does he say that? Because it's about God's glory. Because Jesus said, love one another as what?

I have loved you. You see, the Old Testament says, love one another as you love yourself. Jesus raised the bar, love one another as I have loved you. And how did he love us?

It says a lot, doesn't it? All will know that you are my disciples by the love that you have for one another. So we share his suffering in those four ways, identification, demonstration, presence, and honor, we share his sufferings.

And that's for your contemplation. So I ask you, please take that and contemplate that because suffering is a part of our humanity. It is a part of the human condition. No one is exempt from it.

And yet it's a very American thing to try to do everything we can to pad ourselves and create safety nets and cushion ourselves against the harsh realities of life. That's not necessarily bad, but those things that we do, that we use to cushion ourselves can become idols. And to the degree that I avoid and stay away from and push back against suffering and risk and all of that, to that degree, I'm robbing myself of knowing the presence of God, of identifying with Christ, of honoring God through suffering. Not only will we share, do we share in Christ's sufferings, but you will share in his glory. You will share in his glory. He says, rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. What he's calling us to in our suffering, in the brokenness of our human condition, he is calling us to not the inward view, but what?

The forward view. In your suffering, Christ is calling you to the forward view. Look ahead, and God has given us the information that we need for that. And that information and those promises are anchored in history by what God has done.

That's what we need. And so we will share in his glory as we have that forward view. Sharing in his glory, a couple of things I want to point out there. First of all is the joy of discipline. The writer of Hebrews points this out well, that the suffering that we experience is a discipline, isn't it? And by discipline, I don't mean a chastisement or a correction necessarily, like we've done something bad, because it's not just the suffering that we experience, it's the joy that we experience. Like we've done something bad, because it's not a one-to-one correspondence with our sin and suffering. That's a false theology. That's paganism, in fact, is what that is.

People that believe in mythical gods, they believe everything that bad happens is because the god is angry at you, and so you've got to do something to appease that god to take that calamity away. I hope you don't worship Jehovah God that way, but we experience the joy of discipline. And by discipline, I am talking about deferred sanctification, deferred sanctification. I'm sorry, deferred satisfaction. Deferred satisfaction. Deferred satisfaction.

Remember what I said before? We were designed for satisfaction, but we will not, we will not experience complete and ultimate satisfaction on this side of eternity. Have you resigned yourself to that? Because there's so many people that are just putting everything they can into pursuing that satisfaction, all those cushions and safety nets and all that glory that rescues me from the sufferings of life.

And without fail, to date, every one of them has found it doesn't work. 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, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven 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.