Pastor Pat McFall
November 6, 2016 - W1645

PASTOR WAYNE CORDEIRO (Video from City of Philippi):

I don’t believe anyone of us can escape suffering and pain because it is an inevitable part of life. The Apostle Paul couldn’t escape suffering and neither can we. It was in the city of Philippi, amidst suffering and imprisonment that something amazing took place—the church was birthed and the gospel was preached in Rome and beyond! Paul went through a series of hardships and pain. He was beaten, imprisoned, kicked out if the city, shipwrecked, and bitten by a snake; however, he chose to focus on what God had called him to do. If you focus on your suffering and your goal in life is one of convenience, then you will be deferred and stopped at every turn because suffering is inevitable. However, if you focus on what God has called you to do, then that will make all the difference in your life. 

PASTOR PAT MCFALL:

It’s great to be a part of this incredible New Hope Family, especially when you are dealing with things that you cannot resolve. Remember, you don’t have to suffer alone. Recently, my mom visited us from the mainland. Twelve years ago she remarried after my father passed away from colon cancer. Then her new husband told her that he had fallen out of love with her and left. A couple of years later when my wife and I were suffering and experiencing tension and pain within our relationship, I asked my mom how she got through her suffering from her past two marriages. She replied, “The degree to which you are willing to go there with God, is the degree to which He will get you there.” Some of us are contending for a breakthrough, but we have to go through and sift through the broken pieces of our hearts in order to get to the place of restoration.

Big Idea: We have to GO there to GET there.

This is particularly true when dealing with our own suffering, pain, challenges, or trials. I believe God wants to be the God of healing—performing many different miracles.

Paul, in the midst of his struggle, wrote: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power, and love, and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,” (2 Tim. 1:6-8).

1. There Is No Shame In Suffering.

Paul is talking to Timothy about suffering for the work of the gospel. When you are surrounded by a group of people who don’t believe in what you believe about Jesus, they may mock you and your reputation might suffer in the community. Suffering puts you in a place of confusion, weakness, and vulnerability and naturally causes feelings of shame. But if you are suffering because of a consequence of a silly mistake that you made, then you had better learn from it and move on. (For example, I might be suffering from an intimacy problem in our marriage because I was insensitive to my wife and I will continue to suffer, unless I humble myself and learn how to communicate and serve her.) Other times, we suffer from things that we cannot control, something unexpected, and we are afraid and ashamed. For instance, when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, his friends did not come around because they did not know how to deal with his suffering. My mom felt that shame more than anyone else. We can learn from consequences, but that ends up painful at times.

Paul is in prison in Philippi writing First and Second Timothy. Paul knows his life is about to end and he writes to challenge and encourage his young disciple Timothy, sharing his wisdom and he lets Timothy know that suffering is coming. Paul says there is no shame when suffering for the good news of Jesus and when your reputation suffers.

Paul mentioned power, love and self-control because they are instrumental in combating shame that is associated with suffering. Paul mentioned shame in two contexts:

The first results from the shame of sharing your gospel testimony. Maybe someone is trying to minimize your faith by not agreeing with your faith, or by discouraging you in it.

The second shame results from the work of the gospel. Paul was beaten and imprisoned and had a very specific and intense kind of suffering because of it. In the global church, more people than before have been imprisoned because of the gospel.

May I encourage you to lend your presence, rather than your answers? When Job had lost everything, his friends initially did not talk to him; instead, they sat down and wept with him. In hospital rooms where people are on the verge of death, sometimes the best ministry is one of presence and silence.

When my wife miscarried, it was a shameful experience for her, feeling that as a woman her body wasn’t doing what it was designed to do and thinking, “What is wrong with me?” My wife and I went to the place of shame in order to get to the place of love, restoration, wholeness, and hope. We did it together. Maybe you’re in a place fighting a chronic illness and people stop coming around. Sometimes people don’t know what to do or say when you are suffering or struggling. Sometimes the best thing to do or say is nothing; just be there for someone and share in their suffering. Job’s friends were awesome when they first came. Job 2:13 ESV says, “And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Then they started talking and the problems began!

One may feel the shame of solitude and loneliness. You may have been laid off from your job. You couldn’t control it, and you have no answers why. You’re in a new place. You have to trust Jesus and walk in faith.

God has a plan and a purpose for all things. Paul said to share in the suffering and embrace it when he wrote, “You then, my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to reach others also. SHARE IN THE SUFFERING as a good soldier of Christ Jesus,” (2 Tim. 2:1-3 ESV). He doesn’t ask for the suffering to disappear or to run from it; he says to “share in the suffering.”

2. Some Strength Is Only Discovered Through Suffering

In the second book of Timothy, Paul said to “patiently endure” the suffering and share in the suffering of those around you. At New Hope, it is imperative that we share in the sufferings around us, because we all need each other. We do not have everything to get successfully through life; however, we all have skills and tools to share.

Paul said when suffering increases, do not be distracted by youthful passions, but endure suffering like a “good soldier.” Be focused on your mission, on the work at hand, and share in the suffering because increasing evil is coming on earth. The way you endure evil can save or destroy you. How you suffer will either build up or tear down people. You can suffer wrongly and end up bitter and alone, or you can suffer according to the will of God and be released in power, love, and self-control. You Make Your Mark by how you suffer and what you suffer for. Your greatest treasure will come out of your hardest trial; your greatest strength is yet to be revealed in your greatest struggle. The part of your destiny that is waiting to be discovered will only come about while you are in the desert.

Two commonalities regarding suffering that apply to everyone are pain and suffering. When pain and suffering come, our initial tendency is to run as a reaction for survival. However, when things are going badly in our lives, we need to tap into the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we may not be able to get the vision from the mountaintop—we need to get in the valley and walk in the river. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows,” Psalm 23:4-5.

Your greatest treasure may come from your hardest trial. Sometimes strength can only be found in the suffering or struggle. An emperor moth’s wingspan can be as big as the size of my two hands put together. There was a story of a man who watched a baby emperor moth struggling to break out of its cocoon. Concerned and scared for the baby, he snips the cocoon to help it get out. This was not a good choice because the cocoon is shaped in a way to restrain movement. As the baby struggles to break out, it pushes fluid from its bloated body out of itself which helps its wings sustain the strength and movement needed to fly. So instead, the baby moth came out bloated and unable to fly and live. Analogous to this story, there are some things we must go through to find our desired freedoms.

A promise without a process is dangerous! Character is formed through process; process creates the integrity of heart that is able to correctly steward the promises of God.

You may have a promise of a being a CEO of a company but now you’re the janitor. That’s okay. God wants to know what you will do with the seven dollars in your pocket. You must steward the process in order to get to the promise. Maybe you’re dealing with a health crisis and the diagnosis is not looking good. We might have to go through the hard process of evaluating your health habits. Is the pace of your life conducive to health? Pray like crazy, contending for a now healing. Maybe you are contending for a godly wife. In your singleness you may have to contend with being sexually pure until marriage. This is the process. The struggle, the suffering, and the pressure yields kingdom results in our lives. In the Bible, Paul said, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. HENCEFORTH, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that DAY, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing,” (2 Tim. 4:6-8 ESV). “That Day” means a future and a hope.

3. Suffering Reveals A Greater Future And Hope.

Suffering has a way of getting our focus off ourselves and our pain, and enlarging our perspective to ask questions, such as, what is the significance in my life—especially since life is so short. My friends are battling breast cancer and other illnesses, not having the resources to fix these illnesses and other concerns. I have entrusted God with everything.

If we are only living for the success in this life, then we are very limited in experiencing all that God has for us. Paul said, “Everything I have dealt with, I count so small compared to the hope of the future glory.”

When I was in my twenties, I had a dream that my dad and I were driving in this red Ford truck down the road in my home town. Throughout this dream he is just driving and smiling at me, but does not say a word; however, I am talking to him about the cool things that had happened. When the dream was over, I woke up startled and disappointed. Two days later I described my dream to my mom and told her that I was sad because I did not understand it. Mom said, “The next time you have a dream like this, don’t say a word. Just be with your dad. I wonder if you will wake up a little more complete and content because you know that he is waiting for you.”

I have to be willing to endure in order to receive. I have to go there to get there.

How do we walk in victory? There are ways to pray impossible prayers to heal cancer, and there is a way for us to mourn and to suffer when the results are not what we wanted.

Keys to Training for Hardship from Jeremiah 29:

1. Get Desperate for God. This will cause you to depend on Jesus and He will fill areas where you are weak.

2. Turn to Prayer. But don’t confuse complaining for praying. “Pray to me, and I will hear you and you will find Me.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

3. Trust God. Trust that you will find God. Trust so that you can commit to God on something that you have no control over.

4. Pursue with all your heart. Commit to what you are contending for.

In the Old Testament, depicting the Old World, there were pictures of refiners breaking up rough ore, and pieces of rock that contained valuable metals. These pieces would then be placed into a fireproof container called a crucible, and the heat was turned up so that the type of metals inside the rocks would be revealed, and the impurities would surface. This is analogous to our life. For example, I used to think that I was over anger in a particular area of my life; however, the anger surfaced when God turned up the heat to get that impurity out at a deeper level. When the impurities surfaced, the refiner would skim off the impurities and turn up the heat again.   He knew that only certain impurities came out at certain temperatures. So selfishness may come out at a certain temperature.

Our sufferings happen as we get molded and shaped into the image of God. Then when people look at us, they see the face of Jesus – the future and the hope.

Questions:

• Why and how do we have to go there to get there?

• How has suffering paved your way to a future and a hope?

• How will you endure the suffering to accomplish what God has called you to do?