Focal Point

Dave: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: You need not only suffer perceptively, you need to suffer purposefully. I'm going to see the purpose that God has. As I get through this, I want to help others. I want people around me in my church to get through their trials. So when I'm suffering, I'm supposed to be thinking about them. How can I have my comfort and me getting through my trials something I can utilize in your life? That's the way we need to think.

Dave: When hardship shows up, why me? tends to be the first question out of our mouths. But there's a far more useful one. Lord, what are you doing in this? Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez names five reasons God may be allowing a season of suffering from loving correction to the kind of pruning that makes a life more fruitful. By the way, first time listeners can request Pastor Mike's booklet Seeking Comfort free of charge at focalpointradio.org. Now back to the reciprocity of comfort.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: The first thing we need to do when we're suffering is to suffer, number one, perceptively. We need to think about what's happening. You need to be perceptive. You need to even be inquisitive. And we need to think of this in two ways. The thorns and thistles, the weeds that are in the garden of Adam's garden, right? That's what we would call natural evil. If you're talking to a philosopher or you're do you're sharing the gospel with someone, having to defend the faith, an apologetic, you need to distinguish two kinds of evil. And even in what Job was saying to his wife, shall we receive both good from the hand of Lord and not evil?

Of course, we need to receive evil from the hand of God because that's what he promised in Genesis 3. And what kind of evil did he encounter? Well, he encountered some bad people stealing his stuff. That 's not natural evil, but he did encounter a storm that knocked down a building and killed his children. That's what we call natural evil. Storms, right? This is something that no one makes a moral decision to do. This is the futility of creation, and God has subjected the world to it. When he cursed the ground of which we're made, all the materials of Earth, and we have part of what the Earth is all about, the the soil built into our our constitution.

And that is cursed. Our cells do not replicate perfectly. Our DNA doesn't even replicate perfectly. Our lives are are are messed up. And because of that, there are people in this room that have cells that are rebellious. They don't have a soul. They don't they're not a moral agent. But those cells, we call them cancer cuz they don't do what they're supposed to do because in the world, the nature itself, the plate tectonics don't they're not greased quite the way we'd like them to cuz we have earthquakes here in Southern California. And who knows, before the day is over, we might have a huge one for all we know.

And it will knock down buildings as sure as the Santa Ana winds fuel the flames that burn down a massive amount of of buildings in Southern California. Natural evil. And there was going to be natural evil in Eve having to suffer the pains of childbirth to bring a child into this world. That's natural evil. And the world is filled with it. When a volcano and some South Pacific island kills a bunch of people that live on the on the on the mountainside of this this inert volcano that decides to become active. Well, it doesn't decide.

It's natural evil. When there's hurricanes in Florida, when there's tornadoes in Oklahoma, and we sit back and read about the death and the devastation, we watch people's homes scattered like like like toothpicks on the scene of the helicopter after the disaster. That that's natural evil. It comes because God has subjected the world to futility, including all meteorological realities, all geologic realities, all cellular realities. These are all subject to futility. So natural evil is what God endowed the world with in Genesis 3. Genesis 4, we see moral evil. When Adam and Eve have to bury their son Abel, who's a pretty bright and godly young man, and now he's dead because his brother Cain was envious of him and decided to pick up a rock and smash his head.

Can you imagine having to bury a child and it's because one of your your other children killed that child? That's the moral evil that strikes to the heart of Eve, and you can only imagine what it was like to suffer the broken dream of having your child killed by your other child. Moral evil's taking place in this world, and you're not exempt from natural evil. Your house can fall just like your neighbor's house in the next earthquake. And you can be the victim of crime. You could be murdered before we get together and study the Bible again because we are all subject to moral evil and natural evil.

We better understand moral evil and our non-exemption from being victims and subjects of moral evil. There's another kind of suffering the Bible talks a lot about, and that's self-imposed suffering because you sow to the flesh and you reap from the flesh. Here's a word that's painful, corruption. Sowing and reaping. It's all over the Bible. Read the book of Proverbs. There's a lot of things that can happen. You can be lazy and then you can starve, right? You can be a crook, and the Bible says sometimes being a crook will lead you to punishment, and you can end up dying over that, being being killed.

There's all you can 't scoop fire into your lap and not be burned. And speaking of fire, maybe you can look past all of the surgeon general's warnings on the pack of cigarette and smoke six packs a day and end up dying of emphysema or lung cancer. And you can say, well, if I hadn't smoked, this wouldn't have happened. And you're right. That's called sowing and reaping. God builds into the world when you transgress things that make sense in God's moral climate of reality that you end up reaping the consequences of it. You could enjoy so much the dopamine hit you get from taking your paycheck and driving out to Vegas and wasting it all on on the craps table that you you end up becoming a broke person looking for government assistance.

You you can suffer because you do something that you know is wrong. Your conscience yells at you when you lay down another bid, and all of a sudden now you are doing something that you know is going to end up hurting you. You bring this pain upon yourself. When we suffer perceptively, we should all be praying the prayer of Psalm 139. That'd be a good passage to jot down because we should be praying it often because we 're going to suffer often. Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. And it's a great little prayer that you you've certainly heard, and it goes like this.

Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there's any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. When you start praying that prayer, God may identify for you what kind of suffering this is. Even you being allied with Christ, we've talked a lot about this in the past, and I if I had time, I'd go deeper into this. But you remember the prophecy regarding Christ that he'd be assigned to be opposed. This was told to Mary as as she was told, there's going to be a sword that pierces your heart raising the Messiah.

It's going to be hard. You're going to watch him get crucified. But that sign to be opposed, we talked about that way back when we studied Luke 1 together. The world's going to target him because it's a fight not against flesh and blood, but ultimately against spiritual powers and principalities, and they're going to hate what Christ is there to do. And if you align yourself with the bull's eye of the cosmic powers, guess what? You're going to be you're going to be hit, too. As Jesus put it, if they hated me, they're going to hate you.

Or as Paul put it, you can't desire to live godly in Christ Jesus and avoid being persecuted. You're going to you're going to be persecuted. So a lot of the pain may come just because you're a Christian or just because you live in the world. But I'm more concerned with the sowing and reaping, not just the kind of general sowing and reaping, but you claiming to be a follower of Christ. And when you are, we know we have the potential to grieve the Holy Spirit. And if we do that, here's one of the reasons you may be in in a in a season of suffering.

And we should start here. Not the only place we're going to go, but one of five reasons. Let me start with this one. You're being disciplined. Let's just jot that down. Right? One of the reasons you could be suffering, and if you're suffering perceptively, you're going to ask God, God, is this the reason? Is there something in my life you're disciplining me for? Now it says in Hebrews chapter 12, there is no discipline that's going to seem pleasant. It all is painful. So you're experiencing pain. Could be I planned this and this happened. Think about the Old Testament.

They went out in the marketplace, they turned to prophet, they put it in their wallets or their purses, and it was like putting it in a purse with holes in it. Why? Because they weren't giving to the Lord, and they were supposed to give to the Lord, especially in the post-exilic period. Very important that they gave to the Lord. They didn't give to the Lord. So God says, I'm going to take all your wealth and and spread it out to the wind. You're going to do good in business, but you get at the end of the month, you're going to say, where did it all go?

Because you're not giving. There's an example of you being a Christian, and you may say, well, God, why is this happening to me? Maybe happening to you that you're not making ends meet or that you're not healthy or that you have some problem because of some sin in your life, and as a Christian, you're not doing this. So you ask God, just like you as a parent, if your kid comes to you and say, why am I grounded this Friday? I have no problem telling you why you're grounded. I will tell you why you're grounded.

Happy to happy to oblige you for that. We want our kids to know why they're suffering. Especially when they brought it upon themselves and we are imposing the suffering on them. The purpose of the Lord can stand, and maybe God has broken some of your plans and shattered some of your dreams because he's trying to get your attention that there's sin in your life. You need to confess and repent of put it in terms of 1 Corinthians. This is who he's writing to after all the Corinthians in the first letter of Corinthians as we call it in chapter 11, he says you've turned the Lord's supper into a potluck, and it's a joke because you're sitting there elbowing each other to get to the front of the line, and this is ridiculous what you're doing.

The kinds of divisions within the church had made the Lord's supper a joke, and he says that's why some of you are weak, some of you are sick, and some have even died in your church. Think about that. This passage, by the way, he says you need to discern yourself when you're engaged in this so that you don't drink judgment on yourself, eat and drink judgment on your Here's what he goes on to say after he says many of you are weak, many of you are sick, many of you even died. He said, but if we judged ourselves truly, honestly, if we really prayed Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24, well then we would not have to be judged.

Right? That's a that's a great statement. That's an another way of saying if you would just figure it out what you're being disciplined for and confess it and repent, the discipline would stop. That's the promise here. If we truly judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we're being disciplined. And according to Hebrews 12, that's a privilege to have God care enough about your life and your call to be a Christian to correct you when you're wrong. And the way he gets your attention is through suffering. So that's one reason.

Another reason, turn to this one if you can, 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 6 and 7. It says you've been grieved by various trials, bottom of verse 6, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, which is better than gold, may be found a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When Christ comes back, real Christians are going to be so jazzed that it's all taking place. When you get caught up to meet the Lord there, that's a good day. But if I ask you, are you sure? Like he asks in 2 Corinthians 13, test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

We need to make sure that Christ is in you. Are you really saved? Which I know some people rebuff at anyone you know questioning their testimony. Not a bad thing. If we love you, we're going to say you sure you're of the faith, just like Paul says. So is your faith real? Did you read the DBR this week? In the DBR, Jesus explains the parable of the four soils, and he talks about one soil that springs up as though it's going to be a really healthy fruit-producing plant. But instead, right? Here come as he explains it in the interpretation, here come the temptations, here come the pressures, here comes the suffering, here comes the price tag of being aligned with Christ.

And because of that, immediately it wilts, immediately it dies, immediately it's done. Don't want anything to do with this cuz it's too costly. You know what that's called? Suffering. The second reason you may be suffering is God is trying to prove to you that you're really a Christian. And he'll do that through suffering. There's no possible way you can get through the Christian life if you live any amount of time after you become a Christian without him bringing some trial into your life just to bring you assurance that you're truly saved. That's the assurance that we need, and you need that assurance cuz when someone asks me you're a Christian, I want to be able to look at my life and say, here's the thing.

My my faith's been tested. I'm not running out of the kitchen just cuz it gets too hot. I I'm not in this as a fair-weathered person that just likes Christianity as long as it feels good for me. When persecution arises because of the word, are we going to stick it out? That's what's going to give us assurance. So maybe you're suffering because God just want to make sure that there's no doubt in your mind that when Christ comes back, it's all going to be good. Maybe James chapter 1 is a good one to look at with me.

James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4. Maybe you just need bigger muscles. God wants strong Christians. I don't care about your physical biceps, but you and I should care about our spiritual biceps. And we should be strong. Strong Christians are important in this world. We need strong Christians. Christians like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to use their Babylonian names. We need strong Christians. And the Bible says, you should count it all joy when you go to the spiritual gym cuz it's going to hurt. You meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces Now here's the word we find also in 2 Corinthians 1.

It's the Greek word We've talked about it. To be able to steadfastly remain under the difficulty, patient endurance. That those two English words translate the word and here it's translated steadfastness, which I wish it weren't cuz no one's when someone asks you how you're doing, none of you said steadfast. We don't use that word much anymore, but nevertheless, it's a throwback word. But it's supposed to communicate that stick-to-it-iveness of being able to to be strong. Well, it's more than just being assured of my salvation. Let that that steadfastness have its full effect. And what is that?

That you may be perfect. Here's this word teleos. I often talk about the word teleos. It doesn't mean that you never make a mistake, but it means as my dad used to say, you got to have the right tool for the job, and you've got to be sharp enough to be used for whatever God wants to use you for that you may be teleos. You may be just right and complete, lacking in nothing. When God wants to go into the tool chest of of of the church at at at AV, compass AV, he wants you to be a tool that's just right to be useful.

So you need to be stronger cuz all Christians need to be stronger. And I guess this one overlaps. Just jot this one down. John chapter 15 verse 2. John 15 2, that's the illustration Jesus uses as the father, right? Is the the farmer, the vine dresser, and I'm the vine. If you abide in me, you'll bear fruit. And then it says this in verse 2, if you if if the vine dresser sees a vine that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it'll bear even more fruit. Now I don't know how you you want the sharp scissors of God messing with your life, cutting things off.

That's painful. But it 's the pruning that produces more fruit. The strength is not just so that you can be strong, and we can stare at ourselves in the spiritual mirror of the word. Although there are times you read the Bible and go, man, I remember wrestling with that 2 years ago. I'm glad I glad I've got that as a habit of my Christian life. I'm glad I got through that temptation. Good. As a young man in Christ, that's a good thing. But it's so that you can go out and do something productive. And maybe the pruning and your strength and your spiritual muscles are so you can be useful.

You can bear fruit. He doesn't just want you bearing 30-fold fruit. Maybe it's time for 60-fold fruit. And the reason you went through that season of suffering and your dreams were shattered in this particular area of your life is cuz you got through it with the Lord, and now he's got you ready to do more effective ministry. Maybe you're being disciplined. You need to pray and ask. Maybe you need assurance. Maybe you need to be stronger. Maybe you need to be more productive. How about one more, the fifth one? Maybe you are maybe you're maybe you're producing 100-fold fruit, then why would I suffer?

Well, we've dealt with this example from many different directions already. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul has a thorn in the flesh. You want to talk about a 100-fold fruit guy? That's him. He's bearing a lot of fruit in the book of Acts. And yet he gets a chronic illness that he calls a messenger of Satan, and he pleads to the Lord cuz you know what? It's only affecting him because the Lord is allowing this to affect him just like in Job's story in Job chapter 1. Only happens cuz God is giving the leash out a little bit on Satan to attack Paul.

Paul gets the thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet his body. He's in pain. He cries out to God determined to have God take it away three times. He's got faith I mean like crazy, and God didn't take it away. He says, no, my grace is sufficient. And he explains in verse 7 why that's happening. Because he said he wants me humble because of the exceeding revelations that he's experienced. If you're writing the New Testament and you go to somebody's home fellowship group, you're you're going to feel pretty prideful, I'm assuming. You're going to be tempted to be prideful.

What does this mean? Well, let me tell you. I wrote it. I mean that that's that's that's going to be a a moment of tempting pride. Well, if you're there with a chronic illness that brings you pain every single day, perhaps this is something that you need humbling. Why? Because God is opposed to the proud, but he'll give grace to the humble. He can use humble servants. He will keep you producing fruit if you can stay humble. So this is part of maybe why you're suffering. Maybe you're suffering because you're being disciplined. Maybe you're suffering because you need assurance.

Maybe you're suffering cuz you need to be a stronger grown-up Christian. Maybe you need to produce more fruit, or maybe it is that in you're producing a fruit, you need to stay right where God wants you. And that is reliant and dependent and humbly bowed before God. There's five reasons, and you could might put together a couple more from the New Testament, but that's a good start for you. But you're never going to figure this out if you don't suffer perceptively. What is happening? Is this sowing and reaping? What's going on? Is this discipline? Is there unconfessed sin?

Do I need more assurance of my salvation? Do I need to be stronger? Do I need to be more productive? Do I need to be humble? What's going on in my life? That's a good place to go. Paul figured it out in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. We need to figure it out by suffering perceptively. Keep your ears open. Well, this was not the encouraging sermon I thought it would be, Pastor Mike. Well, let's go back. We looked at the affliction and and and suffering side. Let's look at the comfort side. But I just want to give you a preview.

Not going to be as encouraging as you think. Sorry. And I'll tell you why. Let's just read it and we'll figure it out. Who comforts us in all our affliction. Oh, yay, finally. So that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction. There's the rub with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Oh, that's nice, comforted by God. As we share abundantly in Christ's suffering. Already dealt with that. So that through Christ, we may share abundantly in comfort, too. Oh, that's good cuz if we're afflicted, it's for your comfort and salvation.

And if we're comforted, it's for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same suffering we suffer. Okay. Comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort. That's great, but it's a comfort that I'm supposed to understand so that when I'm comforted in my afflictions, I might like Paul and Titus do, and just like Christ did, I might be able to help you. And here's the thing I don't want to do when I'm suffering, worry about you. I want to worry about me, right? I want to curl up and say this is my pain, my problem. Everyone needs to help me, please.

Help me. I 'm suffering. That's my natural tendency. Is it yours? I'm sure it is. You don't need to answer. Yes, it is. But here's a passage challenging us that when we're comforted, it's for a purpose just like the affliction he says. Look at this in verse number 6. If we're afflicted, it's for your We just pass right past your comfort even though that's been clearly stated in the passage. If you're afflicted, it's so I can comfort you. My affliction is purposeful. Let's put it that way. Number two, you need to not only suffer perceptively, you need to suffer purposefully.

I'm going to see the purpose that God has. As I get through this, I want to help others. Help is such a small word compared to what Paul has in view that he even enlists a word that's hard for us to understand in any other context than having our name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But look at it again in the passage so you don't misunderstand verse 6. If we're afflicted, it's for your comfort and salvation. Now let's just for fun just think about the difference between the two salvations we can talk about.

There's the salvation that matters most that most of the time we use the word even in the New Testament, we're thinking about our name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, us being clothed in Christ, us never hearing depart from me, I never knew you, but having that great welcome into the kingdom. That's salvation. Salvation is future. That's true. But all you have to do is read more in the Bible to find that that word. Even in the New Testament, that word is sometimes used as it is here for getting through the bad thing that's happening.

Dave: That's Pastor Mike Fabarez on Focal Point with more from his message The Reciprocity of Comfort in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, part of our series When Life Beats You Up. If you'd like to go back and revisit any part of our study so far, you'll find it online at focalpointradio.org or listen on your own schedule through the free Focal Point app and bring the whole series along wherever the week takes you. There's a phrase Pastor HB Charles Jr. uses that fits today's message well. He says true faith is ambidextrous. It holds blessing in one hand and suffering in the other and trusts God to work both for good.

His book Psalms of Trust is full of that kind of steady, hard-won confidence. He takes 10 Psalms written in the thick of real trouble, Psalm 23, Psalm 73, Psalm 91 and others, and reads each one as a complete unit from its opening line to its last. Pastor Charles is candid that worry is his own besetting struggle, and he notes that anxiety often has more to do with wanting control than we care to admit. It's the kind of book you'll want within arms reach the next time life takes an unexpected turn. Psalms of Trust is our thank you when you send a gift to Focal Point this month.

Call 888-320-5885 or visit focalpointradio.org. You're also welcome to mail your gift to Focal Point Post Office Box 2850 Laguna Hills, California 92654. Friend, when someone's world is falling apart, they don't need one more opinion. They need the comfort and clarity of God's word, and your giving helps put it within their reach. If these messages have steadied you through a hard season, consider becoming a Focal Point partner with a monthly gift that helps someone else find that same footing. Whether they tune in tomorrow or years from now, call 888-320-5885 again 888-320-5885 or join online at focalpointradio.org.

Well, tomorrow it's Ask Pastor Mike Live. Should churches steer clear of songs from ministries with troubling doctrine? And when a Christian husband files for divorce simply because he's unhappy, is that abandonment? I'm Dave and we'll be back Friday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God's word promises it'll never return void. So wonder how is God's word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line. Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We'll see you then.

Dave: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.