The Sharpest Tool in the Shed
As part of helping people move toward enough, I’ve asked some pastors from around the country to write sermons based on various chapters of the book Enough. Over the next several weeks, I’ll publish the sermons. Please feel free to share them with your pastor!
Today’s message is based on Chapter Ten, World Class Christianity, and addresses the subject of suffering. It was written by my friend Jeremy Self. Jeremy is the Teaching Pastor at The Church at Lake Travis. To learn more about Jeremy, click here. To contact Jeremy email jself@churchlt.com.
Suffering: The Sharpest Tool in the Shed
1 Peter 4 and Philippians 3
Jeremy Self
Opening Question:
Will you suffer? Yes. You will suffer.
Introduction:
(Use a story from your life when you have suffered. Or, use a story from a close friend or family member that has suffered. I used the following story):
My wife and I are in the process of adopting a little girl from Haiti. We got to meet her last week. We spent the week bonding with her and then we had to put her in the arms of the orphanage director and get on a plane and come home. Suffer is what we have done since arriving home. And, suffer is what we will do until she comes home.
Develop Need and Identify with Audience:
We all will suffer. At some point in our lives we will suffer.
We will lose a job.
We will get passed over for a promotion.
We will be accused of something we are not guilty of.
We will lose a close friend or family member to something tragic.
Something will happen and we will look around and say something like, “Why am I going through this–Why am I suffering?”
Here’s a not-too-popular truth: You are suffering to become more like Christ.
That’s not a popular statement in an age of “Help me, Bless me, Protect me, Make me rich, skinny, and famous” prayers that most followers of Christ are quick to pray.
Transition Question:
Does God have anything to say about suffering in the Bible? What does God have to say to Christ followers today about suffering?
Let’s take a look together…
Intro Text:
Peter writes in 1 Peter to people who are being beat up on in life for their faith.
1. Don’t be surprised by suffering.
A. ILLUSTRATE: Tell a story about a Surprise Birthday Party.
B. Life isn’t a birthday party; Don’t be surprised.
(1 Peter 4:12)- Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
2. Suffering will draw you closer to Christ.
Paul was a guy who had suffered and succeeded. He recounts his successes in Philippians 3. But, when he gets to the end of his successes, he closes with a prayer. It’s a prayer that is powerful.
A. Paul’s Prayer: Phil. 3:10-11–“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
B. Power is popular.
C. Suffering is not.
3. Embrace suffering as a tool that is molding you to become more like Christ.
A. A confession of love for comfort: I have to say, I absolutely hate this idea, only because I love comfort so much. It sucks to suffer. And yet, if I will embrace it as a tool, I believe it will help me identify with Christ. Some of my own push back lies in the fact that I really do believe Jesus suffered and died so I didn’t have to. Yes, that is part of it. And, the Spirit of God was on to something when he prompted Paul to write these words.
B. You’re suffering can either make you bitter or it can make you better!
C. Paul recognized that suffering could actually serve him as a tool to make him more like Christ. Instead of rejecting the suffering, he prayed for it…and, ran to it.
Conclusion:
Jani Erickson Tada may have one of the best perspectives on suffering. If you’ve never heard of her, Jani Erickson Tada was an aspiring athlete and at a young age, she dove into a pool, broke her neck, and became a quadriplegic.
Several years later, she put her faith and trust in Jesus Christ. She has become a prolific speaker and writer through dictation. Here’s what she has said: “Heartache [Suffering] forces us to embrace God out of desperate, urgent need. God is never closer than when your heart is aching.”
Will you suffer? Yes. You will suffer. That’s not really the question that needs to be answered.
Here’s the question that needs to be answered by you:
Will you embrace suffering as a tool that is molding you to become more like Christ?
Yes or No.
Let’s pray.
Gracious God, Help me trust you in the midst of my pain. Help me run to you for comfort, joy, and peace. Help me know you better through the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in your sufferings. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
