Telling the Truth for Women

Jill Briscoe: Finding encouragement in a discouraging world is really what this is all about. And what do you do when God allows Satan to give you a message, allows suffering to come to your life? James says in his first chapter, when little troubles come knocking at your door, do not resist them as enemies. Don't put your foot against the door and say you can't come into my life, but welcome them as friends.

And then he gives all sorts of reasons why we should do that, because character is developed and Christ is seen to be powerful in our lives and all sorts of other reasons. And what do you and I do? Well, what do I do? I can't speak for you, but if little trouble comes knocking at my door, I put my feet against and say you can't come into my life. And I resist it.

Who is the saint that can welcome suffering as a friend? And yet God can help us to do that, and only God can help us to do that, when he allows a messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh, to be part of our pilgrimage down here on earth. So what do we do when we face these hardships and difficulties that overwhelm us?

The Apostle Paul helps us see how we can use what's against us to work for us, for others, and for Christ. And that's how you redeem the suffering. That's how suffering can be a redemptive action in our life, transforming action in our life, in order that Christ might be glorified and that we may be a comfort to others.

We're going to be in the book of Corinthians because Corinthians is so much about suffering. I never realized how many passages the Apostle Paul gifts us, leaves as our heritage, where this subject of suffering and so much of it is gathered together in his letter he wrote to the church at Corinth.

What was this church that he wrote to? Well, the church at Corinth was a fledgling church, although for years it had been established. There were other churches doing a lot better than the church at Corinth that had only just been established. But this was a church Paul had walked into Corinth, the sin city of the ancient world, and had literally established a fledgling little group.

They had grown numerically, but they had not grown in depth, and that can happen. A church can grow numerically, a mile wide, but an inch deep. And that's what had happened. And when that happens and then trouble comes, then the church can disintegrate under it. There were rumblings about what was happening in Rome and they were throwing Christians to the lions and that the persecutors were coming from the Romans towards Corinth.

The church was not prepared for what was ahead for them. They were not prepared because they'd never grown up. If you look in 1 Corinthians chapter three, Paul writing to this church says, brothers, I couldn't address you as spiritual, but as worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.

Indeed, you're still not ready. You're still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, aren't you worldly? Aren't you acting more like men? For when one says I follow Paul and the other says I follow Apollos, aren't you merely men? What after all is Apollos? What is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

I planted, Apollos watered, but only God gives the increase. Only God gives the increase. Only God gives the increase, folks. Whatever we're doing in ministry for God's name, we can do and do and do till we're blue in the face, but only God brings life and transformation.

And what was happening in Corinth, most of the work of God was being done in the power of the flesh or the self. And so nothing was happening deep; everything was happening wide. And as a result, it was an infant church, it was a childish church. It needed to grow up. And the Holy Spirit through Paul says over and over again, grow up church, grow up.

1 Corinthians 13, famous passage: I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I don't have love, I'm a sounding gong, just making a lot of noise. Just a lot of noise. Love is patient, love is kind. It doesn't envy, it doesn't boast, etc., etc. And at the end of that famous passage, 1 Corinthians 13, you remember what Paul says.

When I was a child, I thought like a child, I behaved like a child, I acted like a child, I responded, I was just childish. I was an infant. And then I grew up and I became a man. And Corinth, you need to grow up. Is that what the Holy Spirit is saying to every church in the West? I don't know. I'm sure he's still saying it in different ways as it is needed. Paul said it to this group in Corinth.

How adult are we? And it's always shown when suffering comes, just how big we are. That's the test. How do we respond and react when little troubles come knocking at our door? What do we do with a thorn in the flesh? What do we do when God says no to our prayers? How do we know he's saying no? Is it even on our radar? That's the sort of thing I want to talk about.

So let's look at what was happening at the church in Corinth. There is all sorts of suffering and trouble. And I think one of the hardest things to bear is relational trouble. One of the hardest things to bear is actually from within the body, not from without the body. Sticks and stones will break my bones and words will never hurt me.

I don't agree with that little nursery rhyme. I find words are the most cutting, crucifying thing. Slander, discrediting your ministry. And that's what was happening to Paul. Over and over again, he uses that word discredit. You are discrediting my ministry. And what had happened in this church was people were wanting to speak, they wanted Paul's pulpit.

Actually even he wrote to the church at Philippi, his prize heart and joy, and said there's some of you couldn't wait till I got thrown in prison so you could preach. Chapter two. Some of you said good, now he's there we can have a go and we can do it better than him. This is his best church.

Well, who's Paul and who's Apollos? And you know what Paul answers that? Talk about grace. I don't care who's preaching. It doesn't have to be me as long as Christ is preached. Yes. That's how he responded to that. And Corinth, they were pushing and shoving, and Paul calls them at one point you super-apostles, sarcastically.

There were super-apostles. We can do this better. It's a little bit like Moses' story in the Old Testament when they're walking through the wilderness and God has called Moses and Miriam and Aaron to be leaders. It says that in Ezekiel: I chose Moses and Aaron and Miriam to lead my people, etc., etc.

And there comes a point where Miriam and Aaron say to each other, hasn't God spoken through us as much as he's spoken through Moses? Is he the only prophet and leader? Is he the only one that has God's ear? I'm a prophetess and you're the high priest and hasn't God spoken through us? And God dealt drastically with Aaron and Miriam at this point.

Well, that was the sort of thing in the New Testament that's going on in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians in the letters that Paul writes about it. I'm so glad these letters are here because nothing much has changed. Nothing much has changed. I remember when Stuart and I immigrated from America and came to our little church, this brave little group of people who invited Stuart and me who had never been a pastor, we'd never trained theologically.

They took a deep breath and invited us to be their pastor. They were either, as Stuart said, the most stupid people in North America or the most brave to invite us to come. And I remember my husband standing up when we came in 1970 and holding up this book and saying, I promise you I will read, mark, inwardly digest, and teach this book.

And I invite you to join me in doing it. Let's have an adventure. And that brave little group of two or three hundred people said we'll do it. We'll do it. And years later, they did it. But not without a whole lot of 1 Corinthians activity as Elmbrook grew to the size that it is today. And that's what happens when you grow wider if you're not going deeper. That's what you have to watch.

I remember my husband, who was at the top of his career at the age of 26, he was a bank inspector and he was being interviewed to go to Common Market in Europe at that age and move right up to the top of the ladder. And that was the point that he had to make the choice between ministry or business.

I remember him coming here and we were so enthusiastic and we wanted to do the very best thing we could. We hadn't a clue what we were doing, but we were willing to do it. And after his third board meeting, he came home and he said, Jill, I have taken more low blows in three months from the church than I took in 20 years of banking in the business world.

How can this be? Paul will tell you. Paul will tell you. The low blows. And that is suffering in a sense. It is the criticism. Just dealing with criticism. Paul was never through with it. There's a passage in Corinthians in chapter four where he says, it's a very small thing that I am judged of you, criticized by you, or of any human court.

I don't even judge myself. It is Christ who judges me and I'm going to stand before him. I'm accountable to him, not you lot. And one day he will come and we will all see the motives of my heart. So I'm going to wait for him to judge me on this that you're judging me on. Now that's a very interesting passage.

If you are being criticized or slandered, get into it. It will give you a lot of help. I return to it again and again because you cannot stand on a platform or become a public speaker and not invite criticism of all shapes and sizes. And if you're a woman, a double dose of it, if you are up here.

I remember John Stott saying once in England, this pulpit is a very dangerous place for any son of Adam or daughter of Eve for all sorts of reasons. And I asked him about that afterwards. And he said, well, for you, young lady, you have a double dose because half the church will say you shouldn't be doing what you're doing.

Half the church will. And he, as one of my mentors, what a heritage I have, said go for it, Jill. God has gifted you and this is what you should do. You have to answer for the gift that God has given you. He was right at the beginning. But if you want to talk about being criticized on your ministry, talk to me. Talk to me.

And it's something you have to handle. I'm handling it today. I have just said yes to a huge opportunity, a very unusual, incredible opportunity to speak at something. And I took that engagement and for three weeks I have been on my knees asking myself why. And I have opened myself to God to say what was my motive.

I'm waiting for his answer. I might have to uninvite myself, I don't know yet. But even today, it's the motivation of the heart that God looks at in church and ministry. And Paul was arguing his credibility, not on the grounds of his gifting, but of his calling. Of his calling.

Over and over again, that word, you're discrediting me, you super-apostles. You are taking away my calling. He's finding himself having to defend himself on every single level. They are criticizing him, for example, coming to preach and expecting to be given an honorarium. Well, actually, he wasn't, as he lays out.

He says, I'm the only one that comes through here who isn't using the gospel to make money. I do not accept any payment. I do not charge for preaching the gospel. And they are criticizing him on every single level. Hurts, folks. You suffer with this. What do you do with this?

Paul was handling all this turmoil from within the church. On top of it, he is handling hardships. There's a list in 2 Corinthians 6:3-13. Listen to this: In great endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in hard work, in sleepless nights, in hunger, in dishonor, with the bad reports, with you getting at me as an impostor, dying, beating yet not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything.

What a passage! Why didn't God protect his prize apostle laying out the theology for the rest of us until time is no more? I mean, why didn't he make it easier for him? And on top of all of that, somebody gives him a thorn in the flesh.

What is this thorn in the flesh? Very interesting little question. Did God give him this thorn in the flesh or did Satan? Well, if you read different translations, some say God gave it to him, it was a gift from God. And others say Satan gave it to him. And you have to take that challenge on yourself and figure it out.

Do some praying and reading on it. But what was it? That might give you a clue. What was this thorn? And he doesn't, for good reasons, tell us. But there are hints and there are reasons to believe it was a physical pain, an unrelenting pain. It was a weakness that was hindering his work for God.

It was a weakness of the flesh. And most people believe it was eye problems. Just as I was getting ready to come to you, I was thinking through this thing driving up here, and I never had this thought before, but I just wondered to myself if it had to do with his conversion. Because remember when he was on the road to Damascus, what happened?

A blinding light blinded him. Do you remember that? It was the glory of God. It was Jesus, of course. And he was literally blind and had to be led by the hand into Damascus where Ananias appears, very brave man. God says go and lay your hands on brother Paul.

And he said, well, brother Paul's just arrived to kill us all, me included. Do you mean lay my hands—he's come to lay his hands on me. Do you want me to lay my hands on his head or round his neck, Lord? And God said go and he's waiting for you. Behold, he prayeth. I love that in the old King James.

Behold, he prayeth. Fabulous. All heaven is looking at this persecutor of the church, of this killer of Christians. And he's on his knees, he's on his face. He has been wrong, wrong, wrong. He's met the risen Christ. Can you imagine the heart of Paul? He is fasting, he hasn't eaten since this happened.

He is on his face before God. And Ananias comes, and do you remember what he said? The grace. Brother Paul, I've come to tell you what great things you must suffer for Christ's sake. That was the message. And God told him so. Paul was expecting it, but even though you know you're going to suffer, that doesn't make it any easier, I've found.

There's lots of troubles ahead of me, God's told me himself, there's a lot of trouble you're going to have for my sake, etc., etc. It doesn't make me look forward to tomorrow any more than not knowing what troubles you're going to have. He at least knew. And he says there's a reason for this thorn that God allowed Satan, I believe it means, to bring sickness.

Now remember, we live in a fallen creation that's groaning. The whole creation as well as the created is groaning waiting for our redemption. Waiting till there's no more tears and no more sickness and no more death. We're waiting. And meanwhile, God allows a fallen creation to die. Sometimes he stops it.

He intervenes. Sometimes he reverses, and the miracle happens. But some of God's miracles take time. I was reading Lewis again on the problem of pain this month. And there's these fabulous phrases that stop you reading and just you think what? Let me think about that.

And that was the phrase: miracles take time. Seems to be an oxymoron to me. Because we think of miracles as magic. Miracles aren't magic. Miracles are a reversal of the created order and the creatures disintegrating. And he stops, stopping that result of sin and the fall. No less a miracle, says Lewis. I love that.

That was a new thought to me, actually. No less a miracle. When we came to Wisconsin, we had a house, in the yard was the largest oak tree in Brookfield. Now we were not aware of that. We were there about three months, and I looked out my kitchen window, and there was a group of people on chairs sitting around our oak tree in our garden.

And there was a man standing up giving them a lecture. And I thought, oh, that's what they do in America. They just come, come into your yard and have a talk about your oak tree. So I walked out to find out who they were. And I tapped somebody on the shoulder and said, who are you?

And they said, we are the historical, not hysterical, historical society. And we have come to talk about your oak tree. And they continued and I thought oh, good. So I just joined them and I listened. And I found out we had the largest oak tree in Brookfield. And when they'd gone, after I learned a lot about oak trees, I picked up an acorn.

I kept it for all those years as we were raising our teenagers. And every so often, I would take my acorn and I would walk outside to my oak tree and I would say, you don't grow an oak tree overnight. No less a miracle. That a little acorn can become an oak tree is a miracle.

But you don't grow an oak tree overnight. Some miracles take time. Some miracles take time. And that helped me as a mother of teenagers. You might want to collect a little acorn on the way home and plant an oak tree. It helps, encourages you. So some miracles that you ask for take time.

And some miracles you ask for never happen. Why? Is it lack of faith? Haven't I prayed hard enough, persistently enough? What do you do with all this pain? What do you do with all this challenge? How do you figure out what the answer is? Yes, no, maybe, wait.

Because God always answers prayer. There is no such thing as unanswered prayer, folks. Some people think there is unanswered prayer. Unanswered prayer is a yes that's waiting. And maybe the miracle is going to take time. That's one thing it may be. But God always answers. He always says yes, no, or maybe. Folks, he says no. He says no. He says no sometimes.