Suffering For Others

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Introduction

1) Everything up to this point has been me-centric.

A)   I suffer because of consequences for my sin.

B) I suffer because God is punishing me for my sin.

C) What do I get from suffering:

1) God disciplines ME (learning through pain).

2) God develops ME into (refining fire).

3) God tests ME to see if MY faith is truly what I say it is.

2) There is another kind of suffering in the Bible that is not me-centric, but outward focused.

What does suffering for others look like?

1) Absorbing pain so someone else doesn’t have to.

A)   Joseph

1) Joseph suffered severely for a long time:

(a)   He was hated and sold into slavery by his brothers when he was around 17 years old.

(b)   Potiphar’s wife lied about him, and he was put in jail for two years (Gen. 41:1).

(c)   Gen. 41:46 – “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

(d)   13 years is a long time to suffer.

2) But at the end of his story, after Joseph is able to see a more complete picture of what was happening, he explains the ultimate reason for all of this:

(a)   Gen. 45:5-8 – “God sent me before you to preserve life”

(b)   Ps. 105:16-22 (esp. v. 17)

3) Joseph was able to look back on his life and suffering and see that not only was it about him, it was ultimately for the benefit of other people, most of whom, he didn’t even know.

B) Paul

1) Col. 1:24 – There are two ways to see this:

(a)   Paul, at heavy costs to himself, suffered voluntarily to take the Gospel to the world, so they could have the option of not dying in their sin. He suffered, so they would ultimately not have to.

(b)   “He does not think thereby to save the Colossians from their sin and its consequences. That work is already done. But he may perhaps save them some present suffering. By drawing the enemy’s fire on to himself, he may allow the young church something of a respite from the fierce attacks they might otherwise be facing.”[1]

2) 2 Tim. 2:10

C) Marriage

1) Eph. 5:25 – “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…”

2) There is a death spiral in a marriage.

(a)   A husband, for whatever reason, is frustrated and is mean to his wife.

(b)   Surprise! The wife doesn’t feel like being intimate with her husband.

(c)   Now, the husband is even more frustrated and irritable.

(d)   Now, the wife feels even less like being intimate.

3) If we’re going to escape the death spiral, somebody needs to break the chain.

(a)   “You didn’t treat me the way you should, and I have every right to wait and expect an apology from you, and we’re not moving forward until I get it.”

(b)   Somebody has to be the one to say, “I’m going to absorb this pain, so others don’t have to.”

(c)   PS – I think this is part of what it means for a husband to be the head of a house. It is MY responsibility to fix this problem.

D)   Parenting

1) Story from Tim Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering: “A woman in his [not Keller] church had just given birth, and he went to the hospital to visit her. When he got there, the husband and wife were waiting for the doctor because they had received the ominous news that ‘there were problems with the birth.’ When the doctor arrived, he told the couple that the child had been born with Down syndrome, but he also had a minor and correctible respiratory condition. He said, ‘My recommendation is for you to consider just letting nature take its course, and then in a few days there shouldn’t be a problem.’ The child would die ‘naturally’ if they just left things as they were. The couple was confused and asked why they shouldn’t fix the problem. The doctor looked at them and said that raising a Down syndrome child would create enormous amounts of stress in the marriage, and that studies showed that many parents of Down syndrome children separated or divorced. He then said, ‘Is it fair of you to bring this sort of suffering upon your other two children?’”

2) I have known moms who lost a child. Some of them handled it badly and their kids suffered. Some of them absorbed it and carried on so their kids did not have to suffer.

E) Good elders

1) Good shepherds absorb the work, and pain, and hurt into themselves so the flock does not have to.

2) If you’re cruising along in your church and everything is great, then you can probably assume that someone is absorbing the pain so you don’t have to.

2) Suffering as an example to believers.

A)   Phil. 1:12-14. When Christians saw Paul suffering, they were motivated and encouraged by it.

3) Suffering to shine Jesus’ light to the world.

A)   2 Cor. 4:8-11 (esp. v. 10b – “SO THAT…”)

B) Keller – “Patient endurance of suffering, when onlookers know that the sufferers are Christians, can reveal the power of God…”

C) POINT: People can see us, and the sermon we live with our lives preaches harder than the one we preach with our mouths. There are such things as bad reactions / examples, and good reactions / examples.

1) When Rob and Linda found out about Kendis, they said to each other and their kids, “People are going to be watching how we respond to this, and we want to make sure to show them a positive picture of faith.”

D)   e.g. Stephen’s example

1) Acts 6:15 – In his trial, “all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

2) Acts 7:60 – He prayed and forgave as he was dying.

3) Acts 7:58 – Saul of Tarsus saw this. I can’t imagine it was something he ever forgot.

E) John Piper, Justin Taylor, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God – Paul’s “sufferings were the means God used to bring salvation to the Corinthian church. The Corinthians could see the suffering love of Christ in Paul. He was actually sharing in Christ’s sufferings and making them real for the church… Christ’s afflictions are not lacking in their atoning sufficiency. They are lacking in that they are not known and felt by people who were not at the cross. Paul dedicated himself not only to carry the message of those sufferings to the nations, but also to suffer with Christ and for Christ in such a way that what the people saw were ‘Christ’s sufferings.’”

4) Suffering to help another person who is suffering.

A)   2 Cor. 1:3-7

B) When you suffer, you are uniquely qualified to help someone in a similar situation.

[1] N. T. Wright, vol. 12, Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 93.