The High Cost of Growing

(The Discipline of Suffering)

John Fowler

November 9, 2003

Job 1:1-22

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, when you are looking to grow spiritually, it is one thing to practice the discipline of prayer or to read the scripture, but most people don’t run and come when we talk about suffering. No one chooses to want to suffer, but it is one of the best ways, if not the best way, that we grow spiritually. One of the gifts that God gives to us, when we take our pain and our suffering to Him, is a gift of faith, and especially a faith of endurance — that we hang in there — and God uses it, not only for our benefit, but for those around us.

His name is Job, and I want to share with you his story in Chapter 1 of the book of Job. It says:

16While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

Well, Sunday Morning throughout the world many people do choose to do what you are doing today: come to church, worship the Lord. If you are a marathoner today, it is a good chance that there is a marathon going on around the world. It is a popular time to hold marathons. It is a 26.2 mile run. From what I remember, didn’t the man who ran in the Battle of Marathon drop dead and die? I think that should tell us something, but there are people still determined to do it.

And on September 28, 2003, I want to share some endurance records that fell. First of all, over in Germany, two fell in the Berlin Marathon of September 28th. His name is Paul Tergat, thirty-four years old. He broke the Marathon record, running 26.2 miles in two hours, four minutes and fifty-five seconds. He said the last several miles were pretty difficult. Well, I can imagine that, if you are running at kind of pace. He “hit the wall” but apparently he ran fast enough. In that same race, Andres Espinosa, forty years old — that’s the masters’ category — he was a little bit slower. He ran two hours and eight minutes, forty-six seconds.

The two records I like that fell came over in Toronto. Retired engineer named Ed Whitlock, seventy-two years old, set the record for seventy and under. Again, he, like the rest of them, said, “The last mile was really hard.” And Ed Whitlock ran it in just a little under three hours and broke the record for a seventy year old. The one I like best of all is Fauja Singh. He’s nine-two years old. He set the record for over ninety years old. He took up running at eighty-two years old. He had been a farmer in India all his life and just thought, yes, it would be a fun thing to do. So he heard about the London Marathon and he tried it out. He set a record last year for six hours. Well, this year he broke his own record: five hours and forty minutes. That’s incredible endurance to be able to go that far. But, just like Paul Tergat, he ran some one hundred-sixty miles a week getting ready. I can’t fathom that. But they went through a lot of pain; they went through a lot of training; they went through some suffering to be able to reach that goal — to complete the Marathon in record time. And oftentimes, a walk with Jesus Christ is not so much a sprint as it is a Marathon; it is a distance event. And it’s a particular type of endurance that we need, and it is spiritual endurance. One of the best ways to get this endurance is to take the adversity, take the suffering, take the pain; bring it to God and allow Him to use it in your life so that you will grow spiritually. It’s not the way we choose to grow; it’s not the course we want, but when it comes, what a difference it makes with faith in Jesus Christ.

Let me share with you, first of all, what we can learn from Job’s example. But first of all, who was Job? Well, Job was a man, first of all, who was very godly. We know that about him. Along with Noah and Daniel, he is set apart as one of the godliest men in the Bible. And secondly, he is very wealthy. If you think you can’t be godly and wealthy at the same time, well here is Job. He has great possessions; God has trusted him with that. But also, we know that he loves his family. Whenever the brothers get together and have a birthday party and invite the sisters, he starts praying. I don’t know what that says, but anyway, he does; and maybe they have cursed God. And so, he is praying for them. He is praying for his children even if they are grown and gone. But then you come into Chapter One, and Job’s first test is that Satan comes before the Lord. And the Adversary, as he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he comes and says, “Well, the reason that Job loves You is because always You have blessed him. Now you take those blessings away — he’ll curse You to Your face. He’ll choose to be bitter and resentful.” God allows Satan to tempt him and a day like probably no one has ever had comes to Job. First,

He loses flocks by a raiding party.

16While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep” (we don’t know if it was a lightening storm) “and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

So, essentially, he has lost his wealth. He’s not just lost his job; he has gone bankrupt in one day. What a crisis it is when someone loses their job. How devastating that is. Not only a financial crisis, but just oftentimes it brings a feeling of depression and despair and rejection. Job had it all in one day. He lost that. That was plenty right there. But then the biggest blow comes for that day.

Ten children all died in one day. I have been to visit people in difficult times. I have never seen it all like this together.

What does Job do? What was his response. He fell to the ground and worshipped.

This is a remarkable man. He is grieving, no doubt. Tremendous losses. But he knows, “I have served God all my life. I’m not going to change now. I need Him now more than ever.” He turns to Him. He passes the first test.

But a second test comes. Satan is still not impressed.

Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity…….”

Well, Satan says in Job, Chapter 2:

Some commentators have said that it is elephantitis with the boils all over him, an incredibly disfiguring, painful disease.

His wife now, who all this is happening to, too, says, “Job, curse God and die.” And his reply is:

At this point you begin to think that Job is just not someone that you can relate to. How in the world can someone go bankrupt, lose their family, and now they are so sick and in pain, and still not choose to be bitter and resentful?

But the third test that comes to him is probably the more difficult one. He has three friends who come to see him. These three friends, first of all, share his pain; they visit him; they are quiet for a whole week. But then they are just compelled to answer the question why. And so for thirty-five chapters you hear them and Job’s response talking about why this has happened, like that’s what Job needs most of all. And they all put different slants on it and different twists on it, but essentially they still come back to saying, “Job, anyone having this much happen to them must have done something. You must have sinned. Think about it. Confess it. Confess sins even if you don’t think you did it, but nevertheless, something happened.”

They were defending God, and Job was indignant about their response: “How in the world could anyone do this much to deserve this?”

And we go on until we get to Chapter 38. You know, in Philip Yancey’s book, Disappointment With God, as he read the Book of Job, he was disappointed the first time that he studied Job because he realized that the question why really is not dealt with in depth. It’s more of a book of faith, of trusting God when suffering occurs.

In Chapter 39, apparently God does not feel the need to have a point by point argument defending and countering the debates that have gone on. What he chooses to do is remind them who is sovereign and who has created the heavens and the earth. In Chapter 38 it says the Lord finally speaks:

And throughout these next several chapters, what God wants more than anything from Job, is to trust him.

I remember years ago doing a clinical at Emory Hospital, visiting a woman — and oftentimes when they come to a teaching hospital they have come from far away, trying to find out what’s the matter. They know that they are in pain; they know that they are sick, but still, the doctor has not said, “Well, this is what’s the matter….” And she was going through that for several weeks and, being in seminary, I felt compelled to try to help her — why is this happening — you know. We always think that that is what people need the most. But finally one day, at least the revelation came to her that hadn’t come to me: “You know, I am going to quit focusing on why this has happened and just focus on coming to God with this and learning to trust Him, that He knows what’s best for me and I’m praying to get well, but I know that He will take care of me.” And I thought, “Well, she’s right. She’s right.”

In another excellent book that Philip Yancey wrote, Where is God When it Hurts, he shares two questions, really, that are more important when we are suffering, I believe. I want to share those with you today.

First of all, when you are going through great pain and suffering the question that comes to us is, “Well, does God really care? Does he really care or is He just way off in the Heavens, aloof, and I am just a little person and He doesn’t care.”

Well, the answer from the scriptures and from that book is a resounding, “Yes, He does.”

Well, how do you know that? How do you know that God cares? I used to do a devotion service when I lived in North Mecklenburg and there was a woman there, a blind woman living there in the nursing home who used to just love to sing, “Does Jesus Care”, an old gospel hymn.

And of course the refrain is ♫♫ “Oh, yes He does. I know He does.” ♫♫ He does. How do we know that? We especially know it from the example of Jesus Himself. God came into the world in the form of a baby. He lived among us. He didn’t come as some aloof Savior. He came in the flesh. And he certainly knew the pain of rejection from His own family, His own town. He knew what it meant to be betrayed by His own disciple and deserted by all the disciples. He especially knew physical pain. He was flogged; He was put upon the cross; the nails were real nails. He had nerve endings; I mean, He felt real pain. And upon the cross, He felt incredible, excruciating pain. But also on the cross, He experienced incredible spiritual anguish. As He took the sins of the earth upon Him, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And then He died.

Hebrews tells us that we do not have a High Priest who cannot relate to us. Whatever you are going through, He knows exactly how you feel. How much it helps to have someone who knows what you are going through, that’s been there. They have an air of compassion; they have an empathy that you just don’t have any other way.

What do people suffering need more than anything? I can’t think of magical one, two, three steps, but most of all they need a good dose of I Corinthians, 13 — just good old fashioned Christian love. They need love that is patient. That is always in order.

Oftentimes, when we are in pain, the temptation is to resentment. That’s essentially what Satan was tempting Job to — to choose not to grow in faith, and not to turn to God — but to choose to curse God and die, or to choose resentment, that is, to be angry, and just keep being angry and have a grudge and a chip on your shoulder against God.

Joseph is one of those examples who really resisted the temptation to be resentful. He had all kinds of reasons for resentment, as far as I am concerned. He is sold into slavery at seventeen years old by his own brothers. Then he ends up going into prison when he does the right thing: He resists the advances of Potiphar’s wife, so she lies about him; he ends up going to prison. Then when he interprets the dream of the butler — he forgets. It’s just one thing after another — rejection, betrayal. You would think that he has every opportunity to be resentful, but he doesn’t. He keeps turning to God and, finally, when they remember this dream interpreter, he comes out of prison; he interprets Pharaoh’s dream; he is put in position, second in command, in Egypt; saves the people from famine. But then, here come his brothers. They don’t know who he is.

“I can get them now. I can get my revenge. I can get back at them.”

If you read that story, he does, a little bit. Now he plays some games with them. He wants to know if they are sorry. But, finally at the end of that, when Joseph’s father dies, his brothers came to him and said: (tape change)

…..(tape change)

….Sometimes I tell people that I was in a psychiatric unit, and that is true — I was — but they let me out every day. But I remember spending time with people who were severely depressed — I was just really struggling to cope — and it just really dawned on me as I was walking home one day, you know, I had two sets of clothes; I mean it was the poorest I had ever been in my life, but I thought (to get the perspective, you know), “Well, yes, it’s not good to have a fire. It’s not good to lose things. But it’s much worse to lose your mental health. Much worse. Much worse.

What will our response be? Joyce Landorf gives us the title of this message: The High Cost of Growing. It’s a book that she wrote years ago, based on the personal story of, that the best way that she has known that she has grown, is through pain — through the pain of a troubled childhood, and then the pain of having a jaw that gave her a great deal of trouble — that the dentists and the doctors told her that there was just so much that they could do, that she would have to endure just times when the pain would come, just “hang in there” — and how much it meant to her to have people who would pray for her and would just come over and be with her; who would just do things around the house for her, but helped her through those difficult times.

What will our response be? First of all, we let our faith grow. James said it in this way:

So, when the trial and temptation comes your way, you take it to the Lord and he is going to help that faith to grow.

Another great promise to stand upon is that no test is going to be too hard. I have taken tests that are too hard, as far as I am concerned, but God will not give you a test, spiritually, that is too hard. In I Corinthians, Chapter 10, it says:

We can paraphrase and say that God will not give you more than you can bear. He will provide the way of escape so that you will endure and develop that endurance.

The Apostle Paul also wrote to the church of Corinth when he was going through a very painful time and prayed for a thorn in the flesh to be removed. His answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, Paul, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Another promise we stand upon is that the strength that we need will be given — not necessarily ahead of time — but when we need it, it will come; and we can count on it; we can depend upon it. John Newton wrote about that grace, “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound.” And it is amazing.

And then, in Romans, Paul wrote about hope. He said:

One of the great things that happens when we take our pain to the Lord is that He gives us the gift of hope, and then we get the gift of His Love.

And fifthly, and three chapters later, the Apostle Paul tells us in the eighth chapter:

And in that great eighty chapter he says:

…...we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Paul said:

So ultimately, that is what happens. We take the suffering and pain to the Lord and we discover his love in a new way. We resist the temptation to bitterness. We resist the temptation to resentment. We don’t want that poison in our system. When it comes in we ask God to flush it out. We just don’t need it and we allow Him to change us.

Job ends with a happy ending. He is restored. His business doubles. He marries again, has ten more children. He says the daughters of Job are the most beautiful in the land. It is a happy ending. He lives to be a hundred and forty. I’m sure if he had to choose, he would rather choose the time of blessing than the time of pain, but we don’t get to choose. That’s where God is sovereign. We won’t always know — this side of Heaven.

Let me close with this testing. Abraham, in the twenty-second chapter of Genesis, was tested in his faith by Isaac, his son. He was told to go sacrifice him on Mt. Moriah. He didn’t quite understand it but he had gotten to the point in his life that he was determined to obey God, no matter what. He goes up to Mt. Moriah. He still doesn’t know how God is going to work this out. He is ready to sacrifice his own son — he is probably a teenager by now. He has the knife up; then he hears,

And there was a ram caught in the thicket and God had supplied what Abraham needed. He had passed the test. Well how can we believe that? In Hebrews it says that he believes that even God could raise Isaac from the dead.

And ultimately, what helps us to know that Jesus is alive. He rose from the dead. Even when we don’t understand it — we have a living Savior who will come into our lives and help us to deal with the pain and suffering and use it for our good, and not our defeat.

Let us pray.