A life without pain and suffering sounds fantastic. Who doesn't long for that? But today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl explores five biblical reasons as to why we suffer. It's part of his in-depth series called Steadfast Christianity. And then later in the message, he'll draw from 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 to share four practical ways that believers can encourage those who are suffering.
His overarching theme is simple. Listen to God in the days of your pain. He titled his message, Light for Dark Days. and Chuck begins with a striking illustration. Uh Approximately one out of every 400,000 babies is born with a rare genetic disease.
That disease is known as familial dysauternomia. This disease prevents a child from feeling pain. At first reflection, the inability to experience pain may seem to us like a blessing. Imagine the possibilities. A football player doesn't feel the pain of contact.
A a boxer can endure a terrible beating in the ring. and never feel the hurt. or a woman can bear children without the pain of childbirth. But the tragedy is that a child with this disease will never live long enough to know the glory of the gridiron or the joy of childbirth. Such a child will receive cuts, burns, and even broken bones, never feeling anything.
A cavity will rot the tooth without an ache. A broken bone will puncture the skin before anyone is aware of the fracture. Even an appendix could burst. without a sharp pain in the side.
So in some ways Pain can be good. It can be God's warning device that something is wrong. Like a red light on the dashboard that alerts you to the fact that the engine is hot or the battery is getting too low. or the oil pressure is dropping. Pain can also be a signal of something very, very right.
That's just in transition. Whether from youthful muscles exerted in play, or from a birth canal stretched to seemingly impossible limits, Pain signals change, growth. and development. the birth of something new. There are many different kinds of pain.
physical, emotional, spiritual, each with its own kind of intensity. Pain can be a chronic, dull discomfort, or it could be a sudden jolt, of such magnitude that it causes you to reel, even collapse. Pain often seems pointless, but God assures us that it is always purposeful. Paul tried to assure the Thessalonians that their pain had a purpose, that pain was a part of the curriculum. in God's course of life.
Let me read for you Paul's words of encouragement from our Father's Word in the second letter written to the Thessalonians. A section of Chapter one and then from the second chapter as well.
So I'll read Second Thessalonians chapter 1, beginning at verse 4. Therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions. and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment.
so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God. for which indeed you are suffering. For, after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction. Those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God. And to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Now chapter 2, verse 13. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. through sanctification by the Spirit. and faith in the truth. It was for this he called you, through our gospel, That you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So then, brethren, Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth. or by letter from us.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort. and good hope by grace. comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work. and word. Ooh.
You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into 2 Thessalonians on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to insight.org/slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, Light for Dark Days. Today I'm going to take the advice of Joseph Parker.
Now you probably don't know Joseph Parker. Did not live in our generation, and he never lived in these United States, as a matter of fact. He died at the very beginning of this century, 1902. Having lived all of his days in the land of England. And he wasn't some famous poet or politician.
He was a A humble minister of Jesus Christ. Gifted to be sure. But a man who served Christ in a busy and angry city The city of London during the latter half of the 19th century, and to make matters worse, he He ministered in the shadow of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Which is a little like playing center on a same basketball team as Abdul Jabbar, I suppose. Who could possibly hold the light of attention in the days of Spurgeon?
like Spurgeon. But I want you to know Joseph Parker did. I tend to agree with Warren Wearsby, who writes in a fine book entitled Walking with the Giants. If some homiletically inclined archangel were to permit me to select another time and place in which to live. I immediately would ask to be transported to Great Britain.
During the reign of Queen Victoria. What a paradise for preachers. But if I were in London on a Lord's Day, and had already heard Spurgeon preach. I would hasten to the city temple. And there Sit at the feet.
of Joseph Parker. Whose congregations were second in size only to those. of Spurgeon. In fact, for 33 years, Joseph Parker served that congregation. In the city of London, not at the mighty tabernacle.
the Metropolitan Tabernacle, but at the city temple. Serving faithfully the cause of Christ. But back to the advice that Parker left Many young ministers thinking about their future. He said to a group of them on one occasion, Yeah. Preach to broken hearts and you will never lack for a congregation.
Preach to the brokenhearted. There is one in every pew. That's the advice I want to take today. Preach to broken hearts. If your heart is broken, You are the one I'm talking to.
And if your heart has been broken, and whose hasn't? But now you are back on top of things. I also speak to you because someday.
Well, you will be the hope of someone. who is where you were. And my message can be stated in one simple sentence. Be sure you listen to God. in the days of your pain.
Be sure you listen to God. in the days of your pain. You know, as I worked my way through the New Testament recently, I came across one verse after another that didn't simply hint. At pain and suffering. I found a veritable theme of that.
woven through the fabric of the New Testament. Jesus our Lord said in John 16, 33, These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
In the middle of that statement, In the world, you will have tribulation. In fact, I found in Philippians 1:29, for you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer. For his name's sake. Did you know the Bible taught that? Not only are we exhorted in Scripture to believe in Jesus Christ, but we have been granted the assignment of suffering.
For his name's sake. If you're suffering, you're right on target. You are right on course. You are going through a terribly important time. Difficult though it may be, That God has ordained for you and your character development.
That's why Peter would say, Don't think it's strange concerning the fiery ordeal which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice. What you are going through is precisely what has been designed for you. Pain is A part of the curriculum in God's course of life. And there's no way you can just audit the course. You have to take it.
And you have to do the assignments. And someday you will get credit for it. I wondered how to begin a talk that was this broad and important, and it occurred to me that the Bible might have something to say about why we suffer. Before I talk about the Thessalonians and the things they went through and the things Paul said to them. I thought, well, I ought to share with the congregation three, four, five reasons we suffer.
And I want to do that. I don't usually ask you specifically to write something down, though some of you do have that habit. I'd like you to find a blank page in your Bible. either at the beginning or at the end, and put the title above what you write. Five reasons.
We suffer.
Now let me share them with you. All of them supported from the scriptures. Five reasons we suffer. And understand there may be. There may be 50 reasons, but these five are clearly set forth on several occasions in the scriptures.
First. personally to develop faith. Personally, to develop faith. No one can have a strong faith who does not go through periods of suffering. What the nautilus machines are to bodybuilders.
Suffering time is to the saint. whose life is being built with character. Toward maturity. Personally, to develop our faith. If you like to add verses in support of these things, why don't you choose James 1, verses 1.
2 through 4. Second, we go through suffering doctrinally. to expose wrong. There is nothing like some suffering to expose to us. and reveal to us wrong in our lives.
To expose wrong, that would be a doctrinal reason we suffer. Paul wrote the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:30, For this cause, many of you are weak and sickly, and some of you have died. And he had reference to a time of suffering and illness that had swept across the church because of wrongdoing. They were suffering. While you're at it, you might add along with 1 Corinthians 11, 30.
James 5, 13 to 16, where we are told to confess our faults to one another. and we will be healed. Suggesting in the context that we are going through a time of difficulty where healing is needed and there is wrong that needs to be confessed. Doctrinally to expose wrong, James 5:13 to 16. Let me add a word of caution.
People who go through suffering are often encountered or confronted by those not suffering. who feel that it's their calling to tell them the wrong. that has been going on in the person's life. And they Confront them with wrong. I am not suggesting that it's anyone's job to tell anyone else what's wrong in his or her life, unless it is obvious, there is evidence, and it is causing scandal in the church of Christ.
The exposing of wrong is a personal, doctrinal thing that occurs in one's life. No one is better able to To filter out the wrongdoing than the sufferer. herself or himself. We usually don't need a counselor to show us our wrong. Third, vertically, let's call this to learn obedience.
Vertically, we suffer. to learn obedience. Hebrews 5 and verse 8 states, though. He were a son, yet learned he obedience through the things that he suffered. Obedient people don't just emerge automatically.
And indifferently on the surface of the earth. They have learned through suffering. To obey. Our older son and his wife have purchased a little dog. It's a a beagle.
And along with two small children, they now have a small dog.
So they're busy people. It's interesting to watch the evolution of obedience in the life of this little dog when we visit with them. A couple of weeks ago, the little beagle, whose name is Mac, named after a character out of the cat's play. Maybe he's just angry because he's named after a cat. I don't know.
But Mac was all over the sofa, just growling and scratching and pulling and biting and nipping. And I'll tell you, our son was on that little creature. Get down, get down, don't, don't, walk, walk, don't, don't, get down. And finally, this little dog has learned to stay down. Interesting now when we go by and visit.
like last night. Little dog started to jump up on the sofa, and Kurt said, Get down. The little dog's ears laid way back, and he got right down. He's learned obedience through the things that he has suffered. That's what's happened.
It happens in our life as well. You finally learn that when God says, get down, you get down. You don't scratch and bite and nip and bark. You get down. You learn obedience.
Because you've been beaten up a little. It's called divine discipline. Divine discipline.
Now that brings me to the horizontal reason we suffer. horizontally to cultivate humility. To cultivate humility. To develop faith to expose wrong, to learn obedience. to cultivate a humble heart.
Let's use 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7 for this one. For the apostle says twice in the same verse, that I might not be exalted above measure. God sent Paul a thorn in the flesh. And he purposely left it. Unidentified.
It may have been a hunchback.
some physical deformity. It may have been migraine. It may have been a recurrence of malaria. It may have been some emotional battle he fought to the end of his day. We don't know.
But the term for thorn is a sharp pointed stake. And it pierced Paul. It punctured his pride. And it kept him from being arrogant.
Someone has written, Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart. I would rewrite it. Pain plants the flag of humility. in the fortress of an arrogant heart. You visit the hospitals today and you find the sickly.
Filling those rooms, you don't find much arrogance. You find humility. If I'm brokenness. Yes, horizontally to cultivate humility. Ultimately Fifth.
ultimately to glorify God. How easy to leave that one out. To glorify God. I quoted 1 Peter 4. Verses 12 and 13 earlier, let me quote verse 16: If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.
That's 1 Peter 4, verse 16.
So, let me encourage you over the next five or six days to commit to memory these five reasons we suffer. Tuck them away in one of the creases of your brain. You have a little room left up there. to put something important. Let's insert these thoughts.
in the next several days. We suffer to develop faith. to expose wrong, to learn obedience. to cultivate humility and to glorify God. Let me add this: I have never ever met a Christian.
whom I admired. whose life was deeply used by Christ. who was a stranger to suffering. Never. I don't think I ever will.
Tozer was right. It's doubtful God can use anyone greatly until he has hurt him. deeply. Listen. when God speaks in your pain.
Listen to him. C.S. Lewis in a work entitled The Problem of Pain. Wrote, we can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities. And Anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating will admit.
that we can ignore even in pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks to us in our conscience. He shouts. in our pain.
It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Listen when he speaks. You're on the other end of God's megaphone. And as it were, he is shouting at you. There is a reason you're going through this.
Now Having said all of those things about why we suffer, Let's spend a few minutes finding out four ways to encourage those who are suffering. In the little letter Paul wrote to Thessalonians for the second time. We find tucked away in the last five verses. Four ways to help people going through The fiery ordeal. I want to go through them one by one.
No need to make them sound more profound than they are. They stand. From God's word. As wonderful techniques in ministering to the suffering.
Some of you are better adept at this than others. And those of you who are ministering to the hurting. Remember the counsel from this passage.
Now, these Thessalonians were going through hard times. I just learned this week in my study that Pliny the Elder. During the days of the Roman Empire, stated the first place Gentile Christians were killed was Thessalonica. It may have been that the first Christian family among the Gentiles was killed between the two letters. Paul wrote the Thessalonians.
It may have been that just recently the congregation had buried one of its earliest members. May have been A widow that he had in mind, whose husband stood Unreservedly for the things of Christ and pay the maximum price and died a martyr. There may have been a sweeping anti-Semitism that Flowed from the throne of Nero right into the heart of this metropolitan city of Thessalonica. We don't have that spelled out. only that they were afflicted and persecuted and suffering.
And Paul's heart went out to them.
So we're not surprised when we come to verse 13 to discover that the first response. in encouraging the suffering is compassion. But we should always give thanks to God. For you. Brethren, Beloved By the Lord.
Have you gone through suffering lately, so much so that you've even begun to question your own dignity and importance? Your significance in a world that's moving rather rapidly along without you. Mm-hmm. Have you become the target of someone's rumor? Or the um The object of someone's exaggerated statement about ill character.
It's unfounded, but you can't seem to put it to bed. Have you been shunned by those who once embraced you? Have you been kicked while down, having made a bad mistake? Then you understand what it means to suffer. Is your name being tossed around, sort of like a racquetball from one wall to another?
And you can't seem to To get quiet and put it back together, you know what's happening? You're feeling isolated. You're questioning your own worth, you're wondering about your future, you're devastated and you're confused. And it may not be even from someone else. You may have gotten the bad news from your doctor.
and the prognosis is bleak. They had similar feelings as I just described, and it must have been wonderful to hear words like: I give thanks to God for you. And you are, brethren, beloved. By the Lord. Those two statements drip with compassion.
The first one upholds the dignity of each individual who is suffering. I give thanks to God for you. And the second Affirms their security in the family of God. If you're in that place today, isolated, confused, questioning your own worth. We want you to hear what Chuck Swindahl said just one more time.
I give thanks to God for you. You are beloved by the Lord. You see, your suffering hasn't disqualified you, it hasn't diminished you, and it hasn't escaped God's attention. He knows your name, he sees your pain, and he has not moved. Comforting words coming from 2 Thessalonians today on Insight for Living.
If you're ready to learn more, I want to suggest the brand new Spiral Bound Bible Study Workbook for 2 Thessalonians. This Searching the Scriptures resource is the perfect place for you to jot down your own personal thoughts and reflections. Think of it as your own journal for working through Paul's letter, the same way Chuck himself prepares to teach it. To purchase the Bible study workbook for Steadfast Christianity, call 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash offer. If you've been strengthened by Chuck's messages in your walk with God, perhaps this is the moment to come alongside Insight for Living with your financial support.
Every gift you send is channeled directly into placing the truth of God's Word in front of men and women all around the world.
So they can experience the same hope and grace that has carried you through your own dark days. As our way of saying thank you, we'd like to send you a classic from Chuck's library. It's called Hand Me Another Brick. If today's message stirred something in you about persevering through difficulty, this book will take that even deeper. Chuck draws from the remarkable story of Nehemiah, a man who faced overwhelming opposition to rebuilding Jerusalem's wall and built it anyway.
It's a master class in leadership, and it's written in the warm, accessible style you've come to love from Chuck Swindahl. To request your copy of Hand Me Another Brick, call 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/slash donate. Is someone you love suffering? I'm Bill Meyer. Chucks One Doll presents four practical ways to encourage your loved one.
Tuesday on Insight for Living. Yeah. The preceding message, Light for Dark Days, was copyrighted in 1986, 1991, 2002, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindahl Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
