Post-Passion Pontification (Part 3)

Of all the messages I heard at Passion ’06, I was most challenged by the sermon John Piper gave on Wednesday morning. One of the first things he established was that every living person is going to suffer on this earth. Some people have already experienced severe hardship, some are in the midst of it, and some have it coming, but everyone will experience it. You’ve heard the suffering messages: God is using your trial for good, God is going to carry you through, you have to use this test to grow stronger, etc. John Piper’s message wasn’t just about how to deal with suffering, though.

Do not mistake me; those are great truths from God’s Word. He does ultimately use suffering for good, and to refine His people. The challenge that Dr. Piper issued was: are you positioning yourself for suffering? The Christian life is not about living comfortably. Yes, God blesses His people and these blessings are wonderful, but without hardships and times where you truly learn to need God, you will miss out on a much deeper relationship. In suffering God draws us closer to Him.

And in suffering our witness as Christians becomes stronger. Who wouldn’t accept Jesus Christ if the resulting life was one of ease and material abundance? No, the Christian life is riddled with hardships equal to and sometimes beyond the trials unbelievers face. The difference is that we do grow closer to our Father in those seasons. Our faith is strengthened in a way unattainable by any other situation. And we trust in Him Who put us there to bring us out again.

Take a moment to consider a few of the things in your life that you would be reluctant to let go. For some of you this might be certain relationships. For others it could be possessions or wealth. Maybe it’s status, or reputation, or power. How would you respond if that thing was unexpectedly torn from your life? Is that one thing you are holding onto so tightly interfering with your relationship with God? Because as unwilling as you are to let it go, it is holding onto you with equal strength. You may be experiencing the presence of God now, but that thing is keeping you away from a level of worship and intimacy that you cannot reach until you let it go.

Position yourself for suffering. Maybe it means increasing your financial giving back to God to the extent that your offering is truly a sacrifice. Maybe it means letting go of that thing you are holding onto. Maybe it means leaving everything behind and serving God in India, or in Africa, or in China, or in Brazil, or to wherever God is calling you. Take up your cross daily. The cross, the means of your salvation, could only accomplish its ultimate goal through Christ’s suffering to the point of death. Position yourself daily so that God may accomplish much through you.

What we didn’t know at the time John Piper gave his message was that he had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Please keep him in your prayers in the weeks to come, not only that the doctors would be able to treat him effectively, but that he would find renewed strength every morning to take up his cross and follow His Savior whom he loves so dearly.