Why Would You Suffer?
I.
2 Timothy 2:1-There is
grace available to honor God and it takes the grace of God to walk in the honor
of God; It’s only by the grace of God that you will live a life of honor
A. Hebrews 12:28-It’s going
to require the grace of God for you live a life of honor and that tells me that
there are going to be things required of you in this life of honor that are
beyond your ability to fulfill and if you are going to fulfill them and live a
life of honor you are going to have to be strong in grace
1.
Grace-The
spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
a. God
can minister grace to you (be gracious to you) & His grace can be on you-1
Corinthians 15:10
b. Grace
is a divine enablement that can be ON
a person that enables them to do what they couldn’t have done on their own
2.
Reverence-Honor, Respect; Godly fear-Reverence, Veneration,
Piety; Veneration-The highest degree
of respect and reverence; respect mingled with some degree of awe; a feeling or
sentiment excited by the dignity and superiority of a person or by the
sacredness of his character
B. This life of honor where
God and his things are first is going to cost you something, there’s going to
be sacrifices made, you’re going to be inconvenienced and you cannot live a
life of honor apart from the empowering of God’s grace
1.
In this life of honor
there’s going to be things required of you that “look” hard to your flesh and
would be impossible to fulfill or accomplish in your own natural ability;
that’s where the grace of God comes in
a. Honoring God more is going to cost you more and there’s grace
to honor him more
2.
God will never require
something of you and not give you the ability to do it; If God is commanding
you to do it, with that command he too provides the grace to fulfill it;
Therefore we never need be overwhelmed by something we believe God is asking us
to do; Often times we feel overwhelmed because we think we have to do it in our
own ability
a. If he is requiring more of you, there’s grace to get done
what he’s requiring
b. God’s always going to
require more of you than you can do on your own because that gives Him place in
your life
3.
As
you step out in faith to begin to honor God, you will experience the empowering
of God’s grace to honor God
C. Why would you need to be
strong in grace? Because things are going to be required of you that are beyond
your ability to fulfill
II.
2 Timothy 2:3-4-When you endure
hardness as a good solider it’s a demonstration of your honor for God and his
things in that is things mean so much to you that you’ll be uncomfortable for
them, inconvenienced for them and continue on
A. 3-Endure hardness as a
good soldier – You need to be strong in grace to do endure hardness as a
good soldier
1.
3-Endure-To bear, to suffer without
resistance or yielding; To support without breaking or yielding to force or
pressure; to bear opposition without sinking under the pressure; Suffer trouble;
Endure affliction, distress, trouble
2.
Why
would you do this? Why would you suffer trouble and affliction and distress and
not sink under the pressure of it? Why not just quit and go home and be done
with the pressure? Honor-There’s something more important to you something that
you value you more than your own comfort
3.
When
something means enough to you you’ll suffer trouble and affliction and distress
for it and just keep on going
B. The most important thing
to a good soldier is to please the one in command over him; that’s what he
values the most (Not being comfortable, not getting his way, but pleasing the
one who sent Him; pleasing the one over him is more important than his own
desires, his own comfort and that is honoring the Lord above yourself) –
This is Honor
1.
There’s all kinds of
stuff that a soldier encounters that is not all that comfortable and convenient
that is hard on his flesh, but he doesn’t care because there’s something bigger
in his life than the comfort of his flesh
2.
There should be some
stuff now as a believer that you just don’t have anytime for and that’s just
not important to you and pleasing your flesh shouldn’t be important to you at
all neither should convenience or comfort
3.
4
(AMP)-There’s certain stuff that’s just not important to a soldier; it doesn’t
get his time, his energy, his effort
III.
2 Timothy 2:9-10-When something
is important to you, you are willing to be inconvenienced, uncomfortable and
suffer because what you are doing it for is worth it to you
A. He’s suffering affliction
but enduring b/c what he’s getting is greater than the price he’s paying;
People being saved is worth it
1.
He
values God, he values the advancement of the Kingdom more than he does his own
well-being
B. He’s strong in grace and
enduring hardness as a good solider
1.
9-Suffer Trouble-To suffer
(endure hardships, troubles)-Same word as “Endure hardness as a good solider.”
2.
Even unto bonds-He went to jail for it; Endure-Not recede, not flee, bear
bravely and calmly, hold fast to one’s faith in Christ
3.
This is inconvenient and
it’s costing him something and yet he is honoring God by the grace of God-1
Corinthians 15:10
a. How could you pay such a price and be so inconvenienced and
it doesn’t even affect you? You are strong in grace
C. When he’s suffering
trouble and being affected and distressed for the sake for the gospel and not
giving in and sinking under the pressure, but rather bearing it and not
breaking or yielding to it this is a demonstration of his honor for God and his
things
1.
How
important is God and God’s stuff to him? Important enough to him to suffer for
it and this reveals His heart
D. Why would suffer for
something? Why when pressure is on you would you not just give in, give up?
It’s uncomfortable for your flesh and your flesh doesn’t like it and some of
it’s not “fun” and it’s inconvenient and it’s taking time so why keep doing it?
When you don’t give in under pressure that’s a demonstration of your honor for
the Lord because it tells the Lord that this means enough to you to continue
going even with pressure on you
1.
Some quit so easy, give
up so quickly; at the least bit of pressure, inconvenience or suffering (their
flesh didn’t get what it wanted) they cave in and they are not enduring
hardness as a good solider and it’s because the thing for which they are
“suffering” doesn’t mean that much to them and what means the most to them is
gratifying their flesh and being comfortable and not being inconvenienced
(People are looking for a convenient Christianity and it doesn’t exist)
a. Suffer-Under trials to hold fast to your faith, To endure, bear
bravely, To remain, To abide, Not recede, not flee, to continue
b. 3-Endure-To bear, to suffer without resistance or yielding; To
support without breaking or yielding to force or pressure; to bear opposition
without sinking under the pressure; Suffer
trouble; Endure affliction, distress, trouble
2.
We’re
not starting a doctrine where we are suffering with Jesus? It’s not your
suffering that impresses him, it’s your honor that impresses him and what he
likes is that it means that much to you that you’d do all that for it
3.
Does it mean enough to
you to stick in there when it gets hard and uncomfortable and inconvenient and
the pressure on your flesh increases? If it does you’ll possess supreme honor
with Jesus (Reign-Possess supreme honor with him)
IV.
2 Timothy 2:11-12-If this
verse is true and it is we ought to be looking to do the thing that cost us
something, we ought to be looking to do the thing that is inconvenient and not
easy and it’s not to earn honor back from him it’s just to let him know Jesus
you are the biggest thing in my life
A. John 5:44-We should seek
the honor of God and to do that we have to look for things that honor him
B. 2 Samuel 24:24-Dishonor
wants it to cost nothing; Honor doesn’t care if it costs everything
1.
18-To
build an altar unto the Lord is going to cost David money
a. He has to buy the
threshing floor, he has to buy the materials to build the altar, he has to
offer a burnt offering
2.
22-Araunah
was a man of honor: He gave David everything he needed for this altar and
offering
a. He literally told David
to take whatever He wanted
3.
24-David
did not want to offer something to the Lord that costs him nothing
a. Versions
1)
CEV-I can’t offer the
Lord My God a sacrifice that I got for nothing
2)
TLB-I don’t want to offer
to the Lord my God burnt offerings that have cost me nothing
3)
MSG-No. I’ve got to buy
it from you for a good price; I’m not going to offer God, my God, sacrifices
that are no sacrifice
4)
VOICE-No, I will buy
these things from you. Name your price.
I will not make an offering to the Eternal One, my True God,
that has cost me nothing.
b. David wanted it to cost
him something; It was important to him that what he gave to the Lord cost him
something
4.
Don’t
cower away from the thing that cost you something; Seek the thing that cost you
something
a. For some, the moment it
cost something you lose them, the moment it gets uncomfortable, the moment they
are a little inconvenienced they are gone and in search of the thing that cost
them nothing
b. Some believers don’t want
it to cost anything and they don’t want to pay any price
c. Beware of wanting it to
cost you nothing, because that means to you it means nothing
d. When you want it to be
convenient, when you want it to be casual, when you want it to be light you
want it to cost you nothing
e. Paying a great price
reveals great honor and if there was no cost at all then there was no honor
V.
2 Timothy 2:11-12,19-22-If we suffer, well what if we don’t
suffer?
A. 20-In a great house there
are vessels to honor and some to dishonor; Some to value/esteem and some that
are of less esteem-Heb3:6
1.
What
if we just give into the flesh all the time and do what pleases our flesh? What
if every time it gets a little hard or inconvenient we just pack it in? Then
when won’t possess supreme honor with him and that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t
love us, it just means that his stuff and pleasing him didn’t mean enough to
you to stick in there when your flesh got a little uncomfortable and yet he
still loves you
2.
Christians
who God and His stuff isn’t important to, they are of less esteem to Him than
one who His seeking Him with all their heart and that doesn’t mean He doesn’t
love them and doesn’t mean He doesn’t want good things for them, it just means
that His stuff is not important to them and therefore they are a vessel not
unto honor
3.
God
wants you to be a vessel unto honor because He tells you how to be one in verse
21
B. If you will separate
yourself unto God you can be a vessel of honor
1.
Purge
yourself from “these” what?
a. 19-Depart from
iniquity-Separate yourself from wrong and unto the Lord
b. Separate yourself from
these wrong words, from wrong thinking, from wrong believing
c. If you do you’ll be a
vessel unto honor, set apart, fit for God’s use, read for every good work and
it’s because God and His stuff meant enough to you to separate yourself unto
them; People that honor God are fit for his use and ready to be used
d. If you don’t purge
yourself form these then you are a vessel unto dishonor, NOT sancitifed, NOT fit for God’s use, NOT ready for every good
work and you’re a vessel of dishonor, base, less esteem; God and His things
aren’t much to you and therefore you aren’t much to Him
2.
22-Flee
youthful lusts and pursue these things; Flee that and Follow this
a. You’ll pursue what you
value and you’ll flee what you don’t value
b. Don’t value and pursue
your childish desires, but pursue these things
c. I’m no longer in pursuit
of gratifying my flesh, but I’m in pursuit of these things
d. What you desire/value
reveals your maturity
3.
11-If
God and His things mean enough to you to separate yourself unto them, God’s
going to honor you with the life He has for you
a. “Dead with Him,” carries
the idea of separated with him, set apart for His use (EX: Like dishes are set
apart for special use)
1)
Jesus
was separated unto God; The Father’s business was the biggest thing in His
life; He only said what the Father told Him to say, He only did what the Father
told him to do, His fulfillment came doing what pleased the Father
2)
Separated
unto him means that your time, money, energy your effort is for Him and
everything else is secondary
b. The way to live with
Jesus is to be separated unto God the way Jesus was
1)
Live-To live a new life in
union with Christ; dedicated to God; With Zoe
2)
You
want to know how to have and enjoy life to the full until it overflows and
experience abundant life? DIE WITH HIM
3)
Matt10:39-This is how you find your life and the life that God
wants you to have and the life that He wants to honor you with: You allow Jesus
to become your life and when he becomes your life and he is the biggest thing
in your life you’ll find your life
a) EXB-Those who try to hold onto cling to seek to preserve
their lives will give up true life. Those who give up their lives for me will hold
onto true life
b) TLB-If you cling to your life you will lose it; but if you
give it up for me you will save it
c) VOICE-To find your life you must lose your life
4)
Ephesians 2:10 (AMP)-God
has prearranged and made ready for you’re a good life this is how you find that
life
5)
People want to find this
life, but they don’t want to die with Him and lose their life and crucify their
flesh
6)
Trying to teach how
people how to live a victorious life while God is not first place in their life
is like trying to build a house with no foundation – IT WON’T WORK
7)
Life
with Him-There’s healing right there, there’s your prosperity right there,
there’s your success right there, there’s your deliverance right there-Genesis
39:2-Prosperity and success is connected to who you are with
8)
Colossians
3:1-3-He is your life and you need to set your affection on things above (He
and his stuff is important to me)
c. It’s a faithful saying
means you can count on this – If you honor God, He will honor you
1)
11-12-Don’t
feel sorry for me; b/c I’m separated unto Jesus and suffering with Him, I
possess supreme honor with him and I live with him
2)
1 Samuel 2:30, 2 Timothy
2:11-12-I will honor those who honor me is NT principle too