LIGHT AFFLICTIONS
1. You have cancer. You have AIDS. I’m sorry, but we must remove your leg.
2. At times we may receive some very bad news from someone.
PEOPLE CAN LOOK AT THEIR LIVES AND CIRCUMSTANCES AND SEE THEIR SITUATION AS A GREAT AFFLICTION/SUFFERING.
a) Moments ago we heard a man who suffered greatly say something quite unusual in 2 Cor. 4:17.
i) Paul spoke of his problems and said they were a “light affliction.”
2) Paul was someone who had been beaten on several occasions.
3) He
had been shipwrecked, chased, and nearly killed at various times in his life.
He had faced hunger, thirst, poverty, and no real “home” for many years.
4) In spite of all he went through he said his afflictions were “light.”
5) Paul could only say his burdens were “light” in a comparative sense.
6) When put side by side with something, then and only then were his problems “light.”
a) Tonight I want to set forth 7 reasons why Paul could say his afflicts were not that difficult.
b) The first reason involves the Christian life.
7) Whether we recognize it or not, a Christian has some of the loftiest goals in the world.
8) There are people who want to be President or another political official, and that is a high goal.
9) Others want to be a specialist of some kind, and this worthy goal takes years of training.
10) Christians have goals which are even more difficult to attain.
a) As God’s people, we want to “walk in the light” (1 Jn. 1:7).
b) Christians want to be conformed to the image of God.
c) As saved people, we want to glorify God in our lives (Mt. 5:16).
d) Jesus said others would see us and our works and thereby glorify God.
e) 1 Cor. 6:20 specifically tells us to “glorify God in our bodies.”
f) A third goal is to do our best to bring others to the faith, or at least show them the way.
g) Phil. 2:15-16 refers to our “holding forth the word of life.”
h) Christians have big goals.
11) High goals usually mean a high price.
12) I recently spoke with the parents of someone whose son is in the medical field.
13) These parents told me their son is one of the top doctors in his field; he now does some teaching.
14) To get to this point and this kind of career, his training has spanned two decades (20 years).
15) Christians have goals that are much higher than what this doctor will ever achieve.
16) Thus, our goals are going to cost us some things: time, money, effort, sacrifice, and even pain.
17) When we look at the goals and what they lead to, we find the involved cost is ultimately “light.”
18) Point # 2: All earthly suffering is light when we compare it to what we deserve.
a) In Rom. 6:23 the Bible says the “wages of sin is death.”
b) Because of sin we deserve to be lost; consigned to an eternal hell.
c) God gives a free pass out of destruction if we will respond to it and obey Him.
d) When we compare earthly afflictions to what we get to avoid, there is no comparison.
e) God’s price for salvation is cheap when we compare it with the price for being unsaved.
19) Point 3: earthly suffering is light when compared to the sufferings of Christ.
a) Jesus’ public ministry only lasted about 3 ½ years.
b) In this short period He endured so much.
c) He was mocked, tested, tempted, hated, and there were assassination attempts on His life.
d) He faced rejection from His family and even His disciples didn’t have full confidence in Him.
e) From the time of His birth to the time of His death, people opposed Him.
f) Our suffering is not like that, so we can say that it is “light.”
g) We are not required to go through the same intense process faced by our Lord.
20) Now we come to reason 4, and this point relates to the forgiveness of sins.
a) Last Sunday night some people stayed to help clean the baptistery.
b) We talked about a lot of things, one of which was t.v. shows like “Fear Factor.”
c) We discussed whether or not we would do some of those stunts for several thousand dollars.
d) Most agreed the stunts might be okay, but we would decline some of the food contestants eat.
e) There are things we want, but we may think the price is too high.
21) Forgiveness of sins is something people want. Without it we are separated from God.
22) What price is too high to pay for forgiveness?
23) There is no price that is too high to obtain forgiveness of sins.
24) Having forgiveness of sins is so essential it is worth everything we have and a whole lot more.
25) God says forgiveness will sometimes come with suffering.
26) We may have heaven, but it is going to come with hardship.
27) Whatever the costs, the price is light when we compare it to the spiritual benefits we receive.
28) Point 5 compares suffering to Christ’s love during times of tribulation.
a) When Jesus gave the great commission (Mt. 28:18-20), He said He would be with His people.
b) God’s love will not fail in our lives.
c) Listen to 1 Jn. 4:16 – READ.
d) Is having a God who always love us desirable? It is.
e) How valuable is this love?
f) Most would say it is priceless.
g) If it is this valuable, what are we willing to give (pay) for such a relationship?
h) Would we be willing to suffer some if that is required?
i) Most would say “yes; suffering is acceptable.”
j) If we say this, then we will agree with Paul: our sufferings at the present time are “light.”
29) We want Christ’s love in this life, but it is even more important to us in death.
30) From time to time most of us go to a funeral for someone who was not a Christian.
a) The deceased may have never darkened the door of any church building.
b) If they had a Bible, they never read it. They never prayed. They may not have believed in God.
c) The moment that person left this life, they changed their perspective.
d) We have previously studied how at death a person goes to the Hadean realm.
e) In Hades a person is either comforted or put into a state of punishment awaiting the final judgment.
f) At that moment a person will see how “light” the Christian life would have been.
g) This knowledge, however, will come too late for the unsaved.
h) When a Christian dies, they can immediately realize how “light” their afflictions were.
31) Both in life and death having God’s constant love is a blessing worth any kind of cost.
32) Once we leave this life we will look back and say, “it really didn’t cost that much.”
33) To some degree we see this principle in our lives even now.
34) Way back when I just could not get a good grasp on multiplication when it was introduced in school.
35) I dreaded that part of math class. That part of math seemed to be a heavy burden.
a) Now I can go through those numbers pretty quickly.
b) At a later time in life the intensity of former burdens fade away.
c) We can come to realize just how small matters were, though they seemed to be big at the time.
d) Christianity operates in the same kind of way.
36) Lazarus surely must have thought about this when he died.
37) In life he was a beggar. He was “full of sores.” People had to carry him to a man’s “gate.”
38) Dogs came to lick his sores. He was begging from mere crumbs.
39) Life must have seemed to miserable and unfair.
40) Someone recently me an e-mail which had the word “yucky” in it.
41) Lazarus may have looked at his life and said, “yuck.”
42) His affliction (like that of Job) must have seemed overwhelming.
a) When he left this life, all those difficulties faded. His affliction had really been light.
b) This past week I was doing a little reading in the book of Job.
c) My attention was drawn to the 10th chapter of that book.
d) The 10th verse of this chapter has Job saying God had “curdled him like cheese.”
e) In verses 15-16 the ancient man said he was “frustrated.”
f) If he got up off the ground, God was ready to pounce on him like a lion.
g) God would “leap upon him and finish him off.”
h) Then in verse 17 Job laid it on even thicker.
i) He said God would increase heaven’s wrath against him.
j) It was like God created fresh armies to come out and oppose this great man of God.
k) Job felt like God was sending in fresh batches of troops again and again to persecute him.
43) Job suffered and he suffered so much.
44) If we could speak with him today, he would surely say what Paul said.
45) “In spite of what I said, “my affliction was light. Compared with the eternal, the troubles were small.”
46) A 7th and final reason for suffering being light is that it can draw us closer to God.
a) God allows His people to be tested.
b) Some Christians are tested in fairly simple ways.
c) There are cases where Christians are not tested for a long period of time.
d) We may become a Christian and we are not really tested until 20, 30, or 40 years pass.
e) Then one day the tests come, and they seem overwhelming.
f) Our tests may make us feel like we are being hit with a tsunami.
g) Drawing close to God during these times is a key part of Christianity.
h) As painful as these times are, drawing close to God far outweighs all the costs.
47) If we look at the price of Christianity from the world’s perspective, it is too high.
48) If we look at things from the Biblical perspective, it is indeed light.
a) Quite a while back I used the Oreck vacuum cleaner for a sermon illustration.
b) On the way out someone say, “I own one of those.”
c) I came up with another Oreck illustration from the other day.
d) Mr. Oreck put his vacuum cleaner on a scale.
e) Then he put a gallon of milk on the other side of the scale.
f) He said, “Let’s see which one weighs more,” and the milk was heaven.
49) In 2 Cor. 4 it is as if the Christian life is put on a scale.
a) On one side of the scale we have every difficulty associated with Christianity.
b) On the other is what God offers in this life and eternity.
c) There is no comparison.
d) An honest and fair evaluation says Christianity is the best deal every single time.
e) For us to access this best deal, we must become a Christian and we must be faithful.