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All right, everybody, let's take our Bibles and go to Colossians chapter one. We are going to continue in our study through the Bible. We are presently in the book of Colossians. So I'm going to read out of chapter one to close out chapter one. I'll start at verse 24, reading down through verse 29. Colossians chapter one, verse 24. Paul writes, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints and to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory him we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. Let's ask the Lord to bless our time in his word. Father, we thank you for this time we can gather here in your house. I thank you for those also watching online. We just commit the Bible study to you, Father, that you would use your word now to speak to our hearts as we draw near to you. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts that we might see and understand what you would speak to us today. We give you thanks and glory and praise and honor and it's in Jesus name we pray. And everyone said Amen. Well, when I am studying and praying about what God would have me to share on any given Sunday, I read the section that is before us since we go straight through the Bible. And then I pray over you know what words or phrases or themes stand out and then I dig down further and prepare a Sunday teaching for you. And there are several great words or themes from this passage that I just read that are worth teaching on. For example, the word mystery appears twice in verse 26 and in verse 27. The Greek word for mystery is musterion. We get our English word from that Greek word, but it doesn't mean what it means in English. In English, when we talk about a mystery, we talk about a riddle that needs to be solved. But in Greek, in biblical language, it means mystery means something that was hidden that God has now revealed. And so that was an idea of a theme to possibly teach on. You also see phrases about glory that appear twice in verse 27 mentions the riches of the glory and the hope of glory. Or verse 28 is also interesting. Verse 28 caught my eye where it talks about how Paul was warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Any of those words, all of those words or themes would have made for a decent sermon, but the Lord didn't move my heart in any of those directions. I kept going there and the Lord kept pulling me back to one word in verse 24. And it's the word sufferings. It's the word sufferings. Let me read verse 24 again, where Paul writes, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, which by itself is a hard thing to grasp, right? Who rejoices in sufferings? But Paul does. He says, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church of which I became a minister. So my first question is, what does Paul mean by this when he talks about his sufferings? And then attached to that, what can we learn from it? I've entitled Today's Teaching Surviving Suffering. Surviving Suffering. And I think this is meant for somebody because of perhaps what you might be going through. Now. Paul certainly had his share of suffering. He was a man, when you read his different letters throughout the New Testament, who expresses a lot about his personal sufferings for the cause of Christ. And as he writes this letter here in Colossians, he is in a prison in Rome awaiting trial before Emperor Nero. For what crime? For having preached the Gospel. That's why he was arrested. That's why he is about to stand trial. So he is held in prison, likely under house arrest in Rome. And during this time, which is about AD 60 to 62, Paul writes four different epistles. He writes Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and this letter, Colossians. And so when he says here that he is suffering, it's because he's been imprisoned for his faith. And he adds in verse 24 to fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church. Now, when he writes this, he doesn't mean that Christ didn't suffer enough. What he meant was, comparatively speaking, since Christ suffered as much as he did for the sake of the whole Church. Paul is saying, the least I can do is Suffer a little bit in a Roman prison for. For your sake. And that's the way he sees this. The subject of suffering is all throughout the Bible, and for good reason. Because at some point or another, we will all be touched by it. We will all experience, to some degree or another, at some time or another, suffering in our lives. According to a national survey conducted by George Barna on a scientifically selected cross section of adults, people were asked this question. Here it is. If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask for? The number one response people had, their question would be, why is there pain and suffering in the world? Why is there pain and suffering in the world? Should it surprise us that a majority of Americans want to know the answer to that question? It shouldn't. It shouldn't because it's a very common thing that many of us wrestle with. Why is there pain? Why is there suffering? Why do we have to go through trials and difficulties? Why are there things that we have to manage in the course of our lives? And because this is an unanswered question, we have a lot of whys. It will sometimes cause people to have two objections to God in terms of their skepticism of him. Because people can't always process why is there pain? Why is there suffering? Two questions. Here's the first one. They begin to question the existence of God. Because, you see, to some it's incompatible to think that a world filled with suffering and pain could not possibly be managed by a loving, beneficent God. And therefore it must mean that God himself does not exist. To quote Lee Strobel from a book that he wrote called the Case for Faith, I recommend it. It's a good book. He wrote it many years ago. Lee Strobel described this kind of struggle that people have. This idea that because there's pain and suffering in the world, our lives must be then in evidence for the absence of God, because a true God would not allow such suffering to exist. And therefore God must not exist. And in his book, the Case for Faith, he wrote this. I'll read a short excerpt. Quote, we read stories about the horrible evils like the Holocaust and the killing fields of Cambodia and the genocide of Rwanda. And we can't help but wonder, where is God? We watch television coverage of earthquakes and hurricanes in which thousands perish, and we wonder, why didn't God stop it? We read the statistic that 1 billion people in the world lack the basic necessities of life. And we wonder why God, God doesn't care. We may suffer ourselves with persistent pain or aching loss or seemingly hopeless circumstances. And we wonder, why doesn't God help? If he is loving and if he is all powerful and if he is good, then surely all of this suffering should not exist. And yet it does. End quote. Now, folks, here's what we need to understand. For those of you especially who wrestle with this question. Could God possibly exist when you see all the suffering and pain in the world that maybe you yourself are experiencing? We must understand a few things. Number one, the truth is that evil exists apart from God. Evil exists apart from God. God does exist. But the perfect world that he intended was spoiled a long time ago when Satan rebelled against God. And then mankind joined in Satan's rebellion and sinned against God. And when sin entered the world, paradise was lost. And things like death and disease and abuse and murder and betrayal and every other form of evil under the sun, including suffering, now affects all of us to some degree, even if we were not part of that original rebellion against God. Now, that isn't to say that we are innocent, because we are not. But it is to say that the world is no longer innocent. And we have all been exposed to the side effects of living in a sinful, fallen world, corrupted by sin. But you see this God, who does exist, knows all this. And so he put in motion a plan to rescue us from this messy world and to help us manage our painful experiences while we live in this world through a relationship with Him. That's the first question. People often wonder if there's pain and suffering in the world. Then I wonder if God even exists. The other question that some people wrestle with because of pain and suffering in the world is they begin to question the goodness of God. If they don't question the existence of God, they question the goodness of God. They ask, why would a good, loving God allow pain and suffering? But you see, we understand this from a different perspective, especially if you're in a particular field where you have to sometimes inflict pain in order to accomplish a greater good. If, for example, you're a surgeon or you're a physical therapist, or you're an athletic trainer, if you're a dentist, if you're a parent, for goodness sakes, you know how this works. Sometimes being good, doing good will sometimes be perceived as not being very kind. If you've ever needed physical therapy for anything, your therapist is there to help you. But it sure does feel painful. And it's not that the therapist isn't kind. The therapist is doing what he or she is supposed to do. But in the moment, it seems like what they, what good they are doing is perceived as unkind because it's painful. Dr. Peter Kreeft, he's a philosophy professor at Boston College. Before that, he spent 40 years at Villanova. He got his doctorate from Fordham University. He wrote a book called Making Sense out of suffering. Dr. Kreeft was being interviewed by Lee Strobel about Making Sense out of suffering. And Dr. Kreeft gave this analogy about the difference between God and man is like the difference between a man and a bear. And he started out saying, I hope we would agree on the premise that a man is more intelligent than a bear. A man knows more, has a better perspective of his world than certainly a bear does. This is the kind of way that we need to understand God has a much bigger and better perspective of the world than we do and of our lives and of the circumstances of our lives. And Dr. Kreef said, let's pretend that a bear gets caught in a bear trap, and then a man comes along with compassion and wants to free the bear from the trap. First thing that he has to do is inflict more injury onto this bear by shooting him full of tranquilizers to immobilize him so that he can help him. But the bear will perceive that as a threat, as some kind of no good treatment, in fact, maybe even trying to kill the bear. And then once the bear is subdued with tranquilizers in some semi conscious state, the man has to then press the paw further into the trap to dislodge the spring in order to free the bear. And if the bear has any understanding of what's happening at all, he will perceive all of this as being not for his good, but for his harm. You see, sometimes doing the kind thing is perceived as not being good. And in a similar way, Dr. Kreef said, quote, I believe God does the same to us sometimes, and we can't comprehend why he does it any more than the bear can understand the motivations of the man, end quote. In other words, you see, our finite minds cannot always understand. We don't have the ability to comprehend what God is up to and why God allows what he does. But that should not cause us to question the goodness of God. Our lack of understanding, our human inability to comprehend the vastness and greatness and complexity of God should not cause us to question his goodness. If you at least believe he exists, then you must also believe that he is good. Even when God doesn't make sense to us. So I want to share with you five things that I think are important for us in surviving suffering. This is just biblical principles to help us get through different seasons of suffering. Maybe you're in one now, maybe you've been through one recently, maybe you're heading into one. But here's a few things. Number one, we need to understand that suffering might be relative to us, but not trivial to God. Here's what I mean. Let's be honest. You can always spot someone who's going through a worse crisis than you are normally. I mean, even think about. Paul is writing here talking about his sufferings. The guy is in prison. And there are things like that or similar to that that we would think are, relatively speaking, worse. You think about Coptic Christians a few years ago who were beheaded by ISIS on the beach of Libya, or nuns who were murdered in Yemen. Or a child who loses a mom or a father, or vice versa. A mom or a dad who loses a child, or someone who gets diagnosed with cancer. I mean, we can all make a list of things that are really hard things, difficult sufferings that probably don't compare to when you break down on the road on your way to work. You know what I'm saying? It's like you have a flat tire, you broke down on the side of the road, and in the moment you think, like, that's the worst thing. It's not really the worst thing, but it feels like it in the moment. And it might be relative. And by the way, understanding people's relative suffering and having empathy for people is actually a healthy thing because it can help you to kind of, you know, recognize. Take a deep breath, okay? What I'm going through is not as terrible as some other things that other people are going through. But having said that, listen, I want everybody to understand that what you might be going through, relatively speaking, may not be as horrible as what your neighbor is going through. But yet God still cares about you and he doesn't trivialize things. It isn't as if God looks at the suffering of the world and then he ranks it and he only cares about the upper 1%. And he doesn't really care about you because you know your suffering is not as great as somebody else's. Well, it may not be relatively speaking, but it is not trivial to God. If you're a parent, you understand this. Let's say you have a few children and child number one comes to you and they have, like, a head injury, they fell off their bike, they weren't wearing their helmet, blood is gushing out of their head. You have to rush into the emergency room and you have to get stitches. And. And so you get through that, right? And then the second child comes to you and they have a hangnail. All right? You don't say to the second child, listen, compared to your brother, we just got out of the emergency room. That's nothing. Like, go away. Like, you don't. I mean, in the moment that. I mean, some of you might do that. It's just some of you, like, you know, suck it up. It's not that bad. Your brother just went, okay. But normally speaking, if you really want to just show a little compassion and empathy in the moment, whatever your kid is going through, you meet their need in that moment. You care about, you love them, you want to console them and comfort them. That's the way our Father is. In fact, Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 1:3 that God is the God of all comfort and the Father of all compassion. He is your Father in heaven, so he cares as much about what you're going through as the most severe suffering of anybody else, because he's your dad in heaven and he loves you. And the fact is, some of you have deprived yourself of the mercy and loving compassion and care of God because you have trivialized it yourself. He thought, well, you know, my marriage is blowing up, but at least you know, my neighbor has cancer. It's not as bad as what they're going through. So. And then you don't even receive what God might want to give you because you've trivialized it compared to somebody else's suffering. Again, that's important for perspective so that you can realize and take a deep breath. Okay? But still God wants to minister his grace and his peace and his care for each of us and just like he does the next person. So while suffering might be relative to us, no suffering is trivial to God. And whatever you are going through today, your Father in heaven sees you and loves you and wants to console you and comfort you and help you. Do not deprive yourself because you just dismiss it as less consequential than what someone else is going through. God cares about you. Number two. This is another important thing about suffering. Suffering teaches us what only suffering can. There are some lessons you and I will not learn in the good times that we will only learn in the difficult times. Suffering can be a good teacher in that sense. C.S. lewis once wrote this. He said, God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. End quote. See, it's in the hard times that we learn to lean. We learn to lean on the Lord. There are lessons that we learn in the difficulties that we otherwise would not learn in the good times. And so God allows sometimes things to come into our lives to teach us in order to draw us closer to Himself. And that's what suffering will accomplish. I've quoted her before, but Joni Eareckson, Todd, I think, is just a hero of the faith. If you know her story, you know that she's been in a wheelchair for more than 55 years as a quadriplegic. After she had a diving accident at the age of 17 in the Chesapeake Bay, she dove off into shallow water, broke her neck. Been a quadriplegic for 55 years. She loves the Lord and she has a wonderful ministry to encourage people, particularly those with disabilities. She's prayed for the Lord to heal her. In his sovereignty, he has chosen. Not one day she will walk streets of gold, but in this lifetime while she suffers. She also survived stage three breast cancer. Diagnosed back in 2010, she underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. She wrote many books. One book she wrote which might be an encouragement to some of you, it's called the God I Love. And in that book, she wrote something that only someone who has been through what she's been through could really write with any kind of authenticity. She said this quote, sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves. End quote. What she meant by that was, God hates suffering. He doesn't want his children to suffer, but he will allow it sometimes to bring us closer to him because that's what he loves. And she calls suffering a gift. She said, this was God's gift in my life because it brought me to a place that I would never have known him without it. Suffering teaches us what only suffering can. Number three. Suffering produces character. You know the old saying, what doesn't kill us will make us stronger. And the things we go through shape us and develop character. Fire refines us. It burns away all the junk that we didn't know was there until suffering exposed it. Not a show of hands, but have you ever realized something that you don't like about yourself that only came to your awareness because you went through some painful trial, and then when you went through that, you realized, oh, that's not good. I need to get rid of this. Give this to the Lord. This is. This is not a good thing in my own heart. That's because that's what the fire of suffering does, it begins to refine us and purge those things out of our lives. Paul would Write in Romans 5, verses 3, 4, 5. He says, 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. It will make us stronger in ways that we wouldn't otherwise have grown in our lives except that it got exposed in the heat of suffering. Number four. Just two more. Number four. Suffering is a normal part of life. If you are going through some season of suffering, don't think that this is an odd thing, because most of us at some point will go through suffering. It's a natural byproduct of life in a fallen, sinful world. We can't escape the effects that this world has on us. Suffering will touch us at some point in our life because this life is not heaven. This world is not heaven. When we get there, there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more crying, no more death. The old order of things has passed away. Behold, he makes all things new. But while we are here, we must manage life and all of its painful trials. Jesus even said in John 16:33, he said, these things, I have spoken unto you that you might have peace. He said, in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. He admits, we're going to have tribulation, we're going to have trouble, we're going to have difficulties. He says, but I've told you these things. You might have peace in me, because while you wait for heaven, there are things on earth that will be trying. He says, take heart, I've overcome the world. Peter reminds us in 1st Peter 4, 12, 13. He says, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial. You are suffering as though something strange were happening to you. He says, but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, that you may be overjoyed when his glory is rejoicing, revealed. Which brings us to the last point. And that is, this suffering on earth does not compare to the glory of heaven. Suffering on earth does not compare to the glory of heaven. Romans 8:18. Paul says, For I consider that my present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us in Christ Jesus. He said, look, hold on. He said, I, I, I can't even tell you how wonderful the glory will Be in heaven. But he says, in the meantime, we have to press on and persevere through our present sufferings. But they're not worth comparing to the glory that awaits us in Christ Jesus. And sometimes, friends, we just have to constantly fight to maintain a heavenly perspective instead of just keeping our eyes on this world. We have to look up, we have to be vertical. Everything horizontal can be very discouraging to us at times. So we have to constantly have this vertical perspective. Okay, Lord, I'm just passing through. Ultimately, this will pass, and I will spend eternity with you, knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Persevere, Church, because one day it will all be worth it. I close by quoting from an old hymn of the church. It's entitled God Will Take Care of you, written by Sivilla Martin in 1904. First stanza. Be not dismayed whate' er betide God will take care of you Beneath his wings of love abide God will take care of you. Third stanza. No matter what may be the test God will take care of you Lean, weary one upon his breast God will take care of you. And then the refrain goes, God will take care of you through every day or all the way he will take care of you. God will take care of you. Amen. I'm going to ask us all to stand for prayer. If you're here this morning, you're going through something of your own. Some difficulty, some trial, some measure of suffering. Listen to what I'm about to say. Do not trivialize it, because God doesn't. I'm going to pray right now. And if you want to be included in that prayer, because whatever you might be going through, just lift up a hand to the Lord right now. Just lift it up. Father, you see these hands? You know the hearts of these men and these women, these young people. Lord, we thank youk. We can lift up holy hands in youn house and make our requests known to youo. And the peace that passes all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Lord, thank youk that we can appeal to youo as the God of all comfort and the Father of all compassion, I pray right now that yout would visit those whose hands are raised. These are your children, Lord. And just like you would not trivialize or minimize whatever one child is going through, you will not trivialize or minimize any that they are going through who have their hands raised today. So thank you, Lord, that we can appeal to the God of Heaven and say, lord, we don't understand. We may not understand the suffering and the hardship in this lifetime things don't always make sense to us. One day when we are with you we will know you even as we are fully known and more things will be understood then but right now we trust you Lord as our Father and I pray in Jesus name for you to impart an extra measure of your grace, your peace, your comfort, your healing touch that you would bind up the brokenhearted that you would restore marriages that you would heal broken bodies that you would save lost souls that you would do whatever you need to do in our hearts and lives to bring comfort to those who are suffering today we appeal to you as the God of heaven and the Father of compassion. Thank you Lord for meeting our needs. Do your good work in the hearts of your children today and we give all of our questions, worries, fears and concerns to you Lord and we thank you in Jesus name and everybody said amen and amen. God bless everybody have a great day.