Welcome! Have you been praying the secret prayer? I would remind you to continue to pray this prayer. If you don’t know what it is, talk to someone in church after the message today. Today, as we continue with our Hard Questions series, we are going to look at a number of questions. The first, a nice, easy question, is this: “Why do some people have easier lives than others?” And the flip side: “Why do some people suffer so much more than others?”What, that’s not a nice easy question? Actually, no – it certainly qualifies as a hard question. I think it is also a huge question; that is, the question can mean many different things, depending on the questions an individual has behind the question, and thus, there is not one answer, but many. And in general, regardless of the particular “flavor” of the question, the answers are not short and sweet, but complex. To be honest I only feel that I can go a short way towards an answer, but I will give you all that I can.
Now, as we tackle this difficult question, I also have a secondary goal. As we look at various Scriptures in our answer, notice which ones directly or indirectly talk about God’s love. This will relate to the second hard question we will look at today.
To start, I would first say that, on a practical level, I don’t see how it would even be possible for everyone to have the “same” amount of suffering. We all live different lives and have different experiences. I’m not even sure how one could quantify suffering anyway. It would have to be defined based on how we feel rather than on what the experience actually is, because some things that are great trials for some people are mere annoyances for others. But that seems awfully subjective, doesn’t it?
The engineer in me tries to imagine some kind of universal unit of suffering, say, the Woe. You know, we have as a measure of energy the Joule, so why can’t we have as a measure of how much you have suffered as the Woe? And just as we have a measure of the rate of energy use, the Watt, which is one Joule per second, why couldn’t we define, say, the Agony, to be rate of suffering, Woes per second? Of course this is all nonsense. We cannot really quantify suffering.
I should also say that I am going to restrict my discussion of suffering to suffering on this earth. It really is a completely different question to talk about the suffering of hell.
The first real point I would make is to remind you that there was a time on this Earth before there was suffering, a time where there was no sickness, no pain, no sorrow. But then...
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. – Gen. 3:6-7
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” – Gen. 3:8-10
What was the consequence? The immediate consequence was hiding from God. That’s really interesting, and could be a whole separate message. But the ultimate consequence was the world we have now. In God’s answer to Adam and Eve He specifically mentioned pain, the pain of childbirth and the pain of toiling, of working the ground, and He also specifically mentioned death; “for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Note that even in the Genesis passage, we see a separation of suffering; that is, as God describes the nature of suffering Adam and Even will experience, it is different for Eve than it is for Adam.
Anyway, we see that suffering is in this world because of sin, because of disobeying God. And as we know, not only Adam and Eve sinned, but everyone who has ever lived. (See Romans 5:12 and 3:23.) So suffering entered this world with sin, and because all sin, none are exempt from suffering.But the Bible also tells us that for believers, suffering is limited. It has an end.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – Rev. 21:3-4
And I have shared this before, but the suffering for believers, no matter how great, is limited to one lifetime, and this is followed by eternity – forever, as hard as it is to imagine, in which there is no more suffering. And I do not want to make light of the amount of suffering anyone is going through, but in view of eternity, it is small, dare I even say negligible.
Let me ask a related question: Does God enjoy seeing anyone suffer? No. In the Revelation verse we just looked at, what does it say? God personally will wipe away every tear. Do you understand what an expression of love this is? Yes, this is one of those passages that reveals God’s love. God cares intently about our suffering, whether great or small.
So God doesn’t enjoy seeing anyone suffer, but He does allow people to suffer. There are a wide variety of reasons He allows this. I will give just a few, and with each I will try to show how because of the uniqueness of people and the uniqueness of their life experiences, we should not be surprised to find a wide variance in the kinds and amounts of suffering people experience. So here are some reasons why God allows people to suffer uniquely and in different ways and amounts.
First, suffering causes some people to turn to God, ultimately for salvation. In the gospels I think of the lepers Jesus healed. Consider this passage:
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. – Matt. 8:2-3
Would this man have come if he did not have leprosy? Probably not. And this is true for many people even today – they would say that they avoided coming to Christ until they were finally desperate for Him; it was their suffering that drove them to Him. In fact, I would say that it is relatively rare that someone comes to Christ based solely on intellectual arguments. Usually there is something more, something deep in the heart, and often it is a trial or failure of some kind. And because people are all different, it takes different kinds and degrees of suffering to make people aware of their need for Christ.
By the way, did you notice any sign of God’s love here? Well, clearly the healing was motivated by love. But more than that, I am drawn to a detail. Jesus reached out His hand and touched this leper. Nobody touched lepers. They had to announce themselves in public, shouting something like “Leper, unclean,” and people would get out of the way. Talk about suffering! Can you imagine living this way? Can you imagine what it meant for this man when Jesus took his hand? This is a powerful expression of love.
Second, one person’s suffering may cause other people to turn to God. In the gospels Lazarus, one of the people Jesus raised from the dead, is a good example. Lazarus certainly suffered, even to the point of death. Here we specifically see that Jesus knew that Lazarus was sick, but He chose not to go and heal him (John 11:6). And as for the reason, part of it was undoubtedly that it caused others to turn to Christ.
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in Him. – John 12:9-11
The passage cannot be much clearer than that, can it? Lazarus’ past was so powerfully drawing other people to Christ that the priests added Lazarus to their hit list! (I guess they didn’t think about the fact that if Jesus raised him from the dead once, He could do it again. If it were me, the last thing I would want to do would be to kill Lazarus!)
I am sure you can think of many others whose suffering or even dying caused people to turn to Christ, people in the Bible as well as people in the more recent past. And of course Jesus Himself is the ultimate example of this, as He suffered more than anyone, so that we all could receive salvation.
To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about this. Am I eager to suffer intensely so that someone may come to Christ? Not in my natural self am I eager. All I can tell you is that we are no longer our own. To use an analogy, if we are a bus, part of becoming a Christian is allowing God to “drive the bus.” As bus driver, He may choose to drive the bus off a bridge and into a lake so as to rescue people who would otherwise drown. Again, the uniqueness of life experiences and God’s plans for using us as individuals means that some of us may experience this in an extreme way whereas others only to a much lesser extent.
And related to this, we need to remember that God may desire to use things we have suffered in the past so as to help others who are suffering these things now or in the future. I would say, even further, we need to be on the watch for God-given opportunities to share from our experiences of suffering in this way. We may not be comfortable naturally sharing such things, or we may be shy, but we really need to see these as God-given opportunities. Generally speaking, God is not going to force open our mouths and make us speak – it is up to us to be ready. And think of it as a way to “redeem” your suffering; it gives it a good purpose. If you grasp hold of this concept in your life, it can be very powerful, even life changing.
Third, some suffering causes the Christian sufferer to grow in obedience to God.
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by His father? – Hebrews 12:5-7
Before we go further, let me point out the centrality of God’s love, once again, in this passage. Here the suffering is happening specifically because of His love. It is a direct expression of His love. That is what this passage is saying.
Now let me say something about this practically speaking. Let’s suppose you have been sinning unrepentantly in an area of your life and when you go to the doctor, the doctor says you might have cancer and need to go in for further tests. Do you need to try to figure out what the cause of this suffering is; in particular, do you need to determine whether this is happening to you because of your sin area? No. I don’t think it is up to us to try to figure out which of the various reasons are for whatever suffering we are going through.
For one thing, there may not be a single reason, but many. And for another, what difference does it make? If this “wakes us up” and gets us repentant about our sin, great! But regardless, we need to “wake up” and get repentant about our sin. And also regardless, it is appropriate for us to pray about the trial. We shouldn’t just assume that it’s God’s discipline and then just accept it without talking to Him about it. We should tell God about our anxieties and ask Him to quiet our fears, to give wisdom to the doctors, to heal us if indeed we have cancer, and so on.
And it should go without saying that if it is not appropriate for us to try to “figure out” whether the cause of a particular trial is because God is disciplining us, it is even more inappropriate for us to try to figure out the cause of someone else’s trial. That’s just not our role. Our role is to focus on ourselves living for God, and not try to figure the causes of others’ problems or our own. That’s one of the big messages of the book of Job. And it’s the message of Luke 13:1-5.
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” – Luke 13:1-5
A fourth reason for the inequality of suffering is that causes us to grow in Christlikeness. What I mean that there is something about the suffering itself (as opposed to discipline) that causes us to grow to be more like Christ.
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. – Romans 5:2b-5
I have had a relatively suffer-free life compared to many people, but I know and have experienced the process of suffering producing perseverance. It’s not an easy process. Before suffering produces these good things, what it brings out is anger, impatience, frustration, and so on. But these things were already inside us. What suffering does is make us more aware of them so that we can bring them to the cross and learn to leave them there. I still have a lot to learn. But it is clear to me that suffering forces me to deal with deep things that would stay buried in me if it were not for the suffering. And I’m sure many of you can give similar testimonies of this.
By the way, why does hope not disappoint us? Because God poured out His love into us. God desires to make us mature believers, not lacking anything. And in love, He uses suffering because it works; it makes us grow to be more like Him. And again, because God has a unique personal relationship with each one of us, the kinds and levels of suffering we experience are going to be different from person to person.
A fifth reason for the inequality of suffering is that suffering comes with living for Jesus. Here is just one passage of many where Jesus talked about this.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” – John 15:18-20
And Paul says something similar:
You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. – 2 Tim. 3:10-12
But Scripture is also clear that this does not go without a future reward.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Again, this is an expression of love.
Finally, the sixth reason for suffering goes back to Genesis 3. We simply live in a fallen world, a world in which all of creation groans, in which suffering is part of existence. Sometimes believers and nonbelievers alike experience horrible things simply as a part of this existence. For the believer, even if we do not understand the reason for the suffering, we can trust that it will be redeemed. To summarize the sixth reason: we live in a broken world, but suffering will be used for good.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. – Rom. 8:28
Now you have seen me mention again and again how God’s love is interwoven with the answer to this hard question. I have made a point of bringing this out because I think often when this question about the inequality of suffering is asked, the real question is “Why me?” I have talked before how some questions really at the root are about us doubting God’s power or God’s goodness. Well, I think this question about the inequality of suffering sometimes is really about God’s love.
In the time that we have left, I want to go through two more hard questions. The first is a very practical question. “What can I do to have a greater heart for the lost?” I would call it a hard question, because I think that for those of us who have been believers for a while, we can start to feel like we have heard about all there is to hear, but our hearts just don’t seem to move. The question is hard in part because it is somewhat embarrassing that we even have to ask it.
And as for the second hard question, this one comes in the category of one that is hard not because it is hard to figure out the answer, but hard because the answer, although obvious, is hard for us to really accept. We know the right answer in our head, but our heart goes “la la la – I’m not listening” and sends the answer “back to sender.” This particular question has an answer so simple, the fact that I am asking it may shock you. Here it is: “Does God really love me?”
Can I let you in on a secret? If you are having trouble with this last hard question, it would explain why you are having trouble with the previous one. Doubting God’s personal love is certainly not the only reason we may not have a heart for the lost, but I think it is just about impossible to have a heart for the lost if we don’t “get” God’s love. After all, a big part of the gospel is the fact that God loves them. For God so loved the world…
And the plain truth is that the more you “get” God’s love, the more you will love God. And the more you love God, the more it will become your joy and your passion to do what He wants you to do. And the more you “get” God’s love, the more excited you will be about Him, so much so that it will be hard not to tell others. For us as a church, as we pray the secret prayer this year, I truly believe that our personal growing in awareness of God’s love will be the key to our fruitfulness; that is, it will be the key to how much or how little God can and will use us.
But apart from that, in case you didn’t notice, the New Testament is filled with reference after reference of God’s love for us. It came up all over the place today as we talked about the inequality of suffering, but that wasn’t something special. It’s everywhere! And yet it is so easy for us to gloss over these references. Why? Because we read with our head only. Our hearts have ADHD or something. They refuse to sit still and pay attention.
Is your heart paying attention now? Is your heart thinking through the question of “Does God really love me?” “Does God love me all that much?” Let me word it differently so that maybe it can get past your head and to your heart. “How can God love me despite the fact that I keep sinning?” “How can God love me despite the fact that I have really made some big mistakes, maybe a lifetime of bad decisions, and they have consequences that I still live with today and may live with for the rest of my life?” “I know God loves me positionally, because that is what God does. But deep down I think God doesn’t like me that much, because I’m not that likeable. Is God really excited when I wake up in the morning? Is He really constantly watching over me, thinking, there’s My son, there’s My daughter?”
I don’t know if I can make God’s personal love for you connect more deeply today or not, but I am going to try two ways, first with a passage the choice of which you may first be surprised at, and then, with a video.
The passage is from Matthew 9.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” – Matt. 9:35-38
Why these verses? Well, let’s look at it closely. Who were these people? Just regular folks. Were they extra good folks? No. These were crowds of regular folks. Were they religious? Not generally. Did they have problems? Yes. Some of them were alcoholics. Some were gamblers. Some were crooked businessmen. Some were people who had or were having affairs. Some were really mean, abusive, horrible people.
Now Jesus was busy. Doesn’t it sound like He was busy? Going from town to town, village to village, teaching, preaching, healing, constantly surrounded by crowds of people, many of whom were out there simply because they wanted to see something exciting happen. Was Jesus irritated by these people? Were they a distraction? No!
He had compassion on them. That word for “compassion” in Greek is splagchnizomai, which literally means to be moved in one’s bowels, in their gut. The Greeks viewed the gut as the seat of love, not the heart. And I think they are more correct than we are.
If you have ever loved so much that it hurt, it isn’t up at your heart, but down somewhat lower. (If it hurts up at your heart, please go see the doctor right away!) We talk about having butterflies in our stomachs, not our hearts. But the important thing is that this is an extreme emotion. Jesus, the Son of God and God Himself, was moved deeply, because He loved them deeply – while they were still sinners, unredeemed, unsaved. And this is not the only time this word is used.
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. – Matt. 14:14
Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion for these people… - Matt. 15:30-32a
There are many other passages like this. Aside from the repeats of these incidents in other gospels, other passages include Matt. 20:34, Mark 1:41, Luke 7:13, and Luke 15:20, which is from the parable of the prodigal son. If this is how Jesus feels about these people, then no matter what you have done, how do you think He feels about you?
One trap we can fall into is thinking that Jesus won’t really love us until we get our acts together. This is wrong on so many levels! We cannot get our acts together without Him. I’m not saying we shouldn’t repent; of course we should. But Jesus’ love is not contingent on this, and it doesn’t turn on and off like a light bulb between sins.
The more we “get” God’s love for us, the more we too will look on the crowds with compassion, with a deep longing that they too would discover God’s love and experience His forgiveness and salvation. And because perfect love casts out fear, we will be less and less afraid to speak.
And Jesus didn’t have this compassion, this deep gut-love for them because they had their acts together. What does Matt. 9:35-38 say? It says the opposite! He had compassion because they were a mess! They didn’t know God, they didn’t know truth, they were truly and completely lost. Just like sheep without a shepherd. And so, Jesus loves you. As you are. Yes, He desires that you grow. But He will help you to do that. And He doesn’t love you any less right now than He will later on.
Finally, when Jesus told His disciples to pray for workers, where do you think the disciples thought those workers would come from? Seminaries? Mission boards? Of course not. None of these things existed. It would be them. And it would be those new disciples who joined them. Where would those new disciples come from? The crowds! In the same way, I would challenge you this week, think and plan ahead to spend some time next week watching a group, watching a small crowd, at the mall, at the grocery store, on campus, or somewhere else, and remember this verse, remember God’s love for you, and remember God’s love for them. View them as God views them, love them as God loves them, and even ask God to begin to send you out as one of those workers into the harvest field. It’s OK if you are trembling a little as you do that last part.
Now, I’ve got one last arrow to shoot, one last chance to deepen your understanding of God’s love for you. This song is by J J Heller and is called “What Love Really Means.” Pay careful attention to all of the words of the song:
He cries in the corner where nobody sees
He’s the kid with the story no one would believe
He prays every night, “Dear God won’t you please
Could you send someone here who will love me?”
Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
‘Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means
Her office is shrinking a little each day
She’s the woman whose husband has run away
She’ll go to the gym after working today
Maybe if she was thinner
Then he would’ve stayed
And she says…
Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
‘Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means
He’s waiting to die as he sits all alone
He’s a man in a cell who regrets what he’s done
He utters a cry from the depths of his soul
“Oh Lord, forgive me, I want to go home”
Then he heard a voice somewhere deep inside
And it said
“I know you’ve murdered and I know you’ve lied
I have watched you suffer all of your life
And now that you’ll listen, I’ll tell you that I...”
I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew
Now in closing, I just want to say that focusing on the love of God, as we have today, does not in any way mean that we should minimize God’s justice or righteousness or holiness, or that we should minimize the consequences of these attributes of God, specifically, that people who do not turn to Christ as their savior are headed to an unimaginable eternity of suffering due to being separated forever from God. These truths should drive us even more to have godly compassion on the lost just as Jesus did and still does. But it is the love of God that explains Jesus’ compassion.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
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