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Welcome To The Jackson Drive Church Of Christ Website! Jackson Drive Admonisher Archives Hiram Hutto - El Dareer Debate - October 1974 Schedule Of Services: Sunday Morning: Sunday
Evening: Wednesday
Evening:
Jackson Drive's Address: 1110 Jackson Drive Athens, Alabama 35611
Preacher: Scott Richardson
Elders: Malcolm Andrews Owen Griggs
Deacons: Tim Hamilton |
Jackson Drive Admonisher March 14, 2010 Finding Contentment in God’s Grace All too easily
forgotten in our longing
for the love of God are the words of Proverbs 3:12 —
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son
whom He receives.” As a consequence we can feel decidedly
betrayed when we are called upon to suffer, sometimes quite
painfully, because we are God’s children. We may even begin to
wish that God did not love us quite so much. But obviously pain
has an important part to play in God’s loving purpose for His
children, and there is much to learn from the life and writings
of Paul about how to deal with suffering, not just with patience
but with thanksgiving and joy. Suffering was largely foreign to Paul’s early life as a zealous
Pharisee. A staunch defender of the faith of his fathers he was
revered and respected, and on a fast track to becoming one of
ancient Judaism’s most celebrated rabbis (Galatians 1:14;
Philippians 3:4-6). Yet, as a Christian, pain and suffering
of every sort dogged him relentlessly until his physically and
materially wretched life (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)
was ended by Caesar’s sword (2 Timothy 4:6). Such
is hardly the kind of life, and death, that we as Christians
would choose. Hardly the sort of life we would call a model of
God’s marvelous grace at work. Yet that is exactly how Paul
saw it. And in Paul’s view of suffering for the Lord’s sake
is found, without doubt, the reason he was able to endure so
much inward pain and outward conflict undaunted and without the
remotest bit of self-pity or regret. Second Corinthians is known for being the most open hearted of all Paul’s
epistles. In this letter he speaks openly and often of his
suffering. It stuns us a bit to read these catalogues of
adversity (chapters 1,4,6,11,12) because they are so
uncharacteristic. Ordinarily Paul found it both uncomfortable
and unprofitable to speak about what he had suffered as an
apostle of Christ. We might be made to wonder if too many
battles have taken their toll on an old warrior but a careful
reading of 2 Corinthians will show that the very opposite
is true. The truth is that he saw his tribulations as
expressions of the grace of God, and he wanted the Corinthians
to see that it was not only true for him but for themselves as
well. “And our hope for you is steadfast … that as you are
partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the
consolation” (2 Corinthians 1:7). Paul’s overwhelming burdens in Asia, that made him despair even of life,
were seen as a blessing in all directions. They taught him to
trust God and not in himself (2 Corinthians 1:9).
They comforted him because they were “the sufferings of Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5). They prepared him
to be a comfort to others who were also going through the fire (2
Corinthians 1:4). And isn’t it remarkable that it was
amidst such suffering that he was able to say quite joyfully,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians
1:3). In chapter four (verses 7-11) Paul sees his outwardly pathetic
state as graphic evidence that the power of the gospel was in
the message not the messenger. He viewed his patient endurance
of hardships and privation as a means of proving his selfless
love for those he taught (2 Corinthians 6:3‑10) and his
suffering and distress as evidence that he was a true servant
and apostle of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:23‑33). He was, he said, suffering and
dying with Christ so that he might live with Him (2 Corinthians
4:10,11; Galatians 2:20); and he rejoiced in it! It is near the end of his letter that Paul reveals an early experience
that is all likelihood shaped his remarkable response to a
lifetime of suffering (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). Fourteen
years before, likely during his retreat in Tarsus (Acts 9:30),
he had been caught into paradise to hear wonderful things that
he was forbidden to utter. But from those exhilarating heights
Satan had brought him down by some unidentified but very painful
“thorn in the flesh.” He evidently saw his infirmity as a
deterrent to his apostolic calling and earnestly besought the
Lord three times to draw it out; and three times he was refused.
The Lord’s answer was “My grace is sufficient for you, for
My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Satan’s aim was
certainly malevolent but God’s was gracious, to prevent in
Paul an overweening pride. Every since, Paul wrote, he had rejoiced “infirmities, in reproaches, in
needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake”
because it was in his weakness that he was made strong (2
Corinthians 12:10). Paul realized as we all must that until
we are emptied of ourselves God cannot fill us, and, until we
know our own inadequacy, His great power cannot work to
transform and make us a blessing to others. We have at last to
realize that God’s grace is sufficient for us even when
suffering comes that we do not understand and that He does not
take away. Trusting in God’s goodness and the love of His Son
we can know as Paul did in the midst of pain that “all things
will work together for good” (Romans 8:28) and
that our light and momentary afflictions are working for us “a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2
Corinthians 4:17). — Paul Earnhart Biblical Insights Vol. 7, No. 4, April 2007
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