SEEING THE POSITIVE IN MY
PROBLEMS
Patience, Persistence and Peace of Mind - Part 6 of 6
1 Peter 4:12 & 19
03-24-13 Sermon
1 Peter 4:12+19 "Don't
be surprised at the painful trials you are suffering as though something
strange were happening to you . . . Those who suffer according to God's will
should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do
good."
FIVE WAYS GOD USES
PROBLEMS IN MY LIFE
1. God uses problems to direct me
"Sometimes
it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." Prov. 20:30 (GN)
Blank: All of a sudden Elijah goes. . .
Ask: Where is this problem leading me?
2. God uses problems to inspect me
"The
Lord God led you all the way in the desert these 40 years . . . to test you
in order to know what was in your heart . . . " Deuteronomy 8:2
"Consider
it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing
of your faith develops perseverance . . . so you may be mature and complete. .
. " James 1:2-4
"I
(God) have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined
in a furnace." Isaiah
48:10
Ask: What does it reveal about me?
3. God uses problems to correct me
Blank: “Sometimes we often learn the value of things by
losing them.
"It
was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your
statutes." Psalms 119:71
(LB) ".
. . it was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me
to pay attention to Your laws!"
"Let
God train you, for He is doing what any loving father does for his
children. Whoever heard of a son
who was never corrected?"
Hebrews 12:7 (LB)
Ask: What is this teaching me? What can
I learn from it?
4. God uses problems to protect me
"It
is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good, than for doing
evil." 1 Peter 3:17
"You
intended it to harm me, but God intended it for good." Gen.
50:20
Blank: When I read this verse – “It is better, . . .”
Ask: What do You want me to learn from
this?
Blank: Sometimes you do the right thing and everything falls
apart.
5. God uses problems to perfect me
"We
can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good
for us -- they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and
helps us trust God more each time we use it . . . " Rom. 5:3-4
(LB)
Ask: How can I grow from this problem?
How does God want to perfect me through this problem?
Blank: c
Last slides:
Are You using this problem to direct me?
Are You using this problem to inspect me?
Are You using this problem to correct me?
Are You using this problem to protect me?
Are You using this problem to perfect me?
SEEING THE POSITIVE IN MY PROBLEMS
Patience, Persistence and Peace of Mind - Part 6 of 6
1 Peter 4:12 & 19
03-24-13 Sermon
1 Peter 4. Today I want to wrap up the series
we've been in on "Patience, Persistence and Peace of Mind." Some of you say. "We've been
talking about perseverance and going through disappointments and peace of mind
but it's hard if you knew the problems I have. How do I be patient, how do I have peace of mind with my
problems?" Many people think
that when they have problems that God is angry with them. That's not true. Many people think that when they have
problems they're out of God's will.
That's not necessarily true. The fact is, there are teachers on the radio today that say
that God wants everybody to be healthy and wealthy. If you're not healthy and wealthy then you must be out of
God's will. That's not true.
1 Peter 4:12 "Don't be surprised at the painful
trials you're suffering as though some strange thing were happening to you.
Those who suffer according to God's will commit themselves to their faithful
creator and continue to do good."
Notice it says, "...those who suffer according to God's
will..." Problems are often God's will for your life. Today we want to look at seeing the
positive in your problems. This is
a brief message wrapping up where we've been. I don't want to explain suffering because I couldn't if I
tried. There are many explanations,
many we won't ever know. But look
at your problems from a new perspective today. See the five ways God uses problems in your life. The problem you're going through right
now, God uses it five different ways:
1. GOD
USES PROBLEMS TO DIRECT ME.
He often uses problems to
point us in a new direction, to motivate us to change. Proverbs 20:30 "Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our
ways." We change not when
we see the light but when we feel the heat. Sometimes God has to light a fire under you. You become uneasy, uncomfortable. Life
gets hot. C.S. Lewis said,
"God whispers to us in our pleasure but he shouts to us in our pain." He gets our attention real quickly when
problems come on us.
There are many examples of this
in the Bible. In the story of
Elijah when he was down by the brook, God had had him there for two or three
weeks. He had plenty of resources,
water to drink in the middle of
the desert, the ravens were bringing him food and he could eat the food. It says everything was going great then
one day the brook dried up.
Have you ever had a brook dry
up in your life? All resources dry
up? A financial brook dry up? A physical brook dry up? An emotional brook dry up?
All of a sudden Elijah goes,
"What gives, God? I don't
understand it! Everything was
going great. You provided for all
my needs. Now all of a sudden the
resources I counted on aren't there any more. What happened, God?
You must not love me any more."
God said, "No, that's
not it at all. Here's the
issue: I don't want you to stay
where the brook is. It's time to
move on. As long as you're
comfortable in that situation, you're not going to change. The brook dried up so God could direct
Elijah to a new situation.
Sometimes a job dries up, a relationship dries up, a situation dries
up. Things that were going
great. Why? God says, "I don't want you there
anymore. I want you trying
something new. I want you working
in a new area."
Remember the story of
Jonah. God told Jonah to go to
Ninevah. He went to Tarshish as far in the opposite direction as you could
go. So God arranged a little
Mediterranean cruise for Jonah! I
have no problem of God creating a fish that can hold a man. If God can create the world, He can do
anything He wants to. The fish
says, Jonah, you're going the wrong direction! When he spits him out guess which way he's headed? God uses problems to direct us.
Remember the prodigal son
story. He comes to his dad one day
and says, "Dad, I want half of my inheritance. Give it to me now." He gives it him and he goes down to
Sunset Strip in Jerusalem. It's party time in Jerusalem. He's having a great time until he runs
out of money and runs out of friends.
It says he ends up feeding pigs.
That's not a very good job if you're Jewish. It's not exactly kosher. It says he got so hungry he began to eat the pig food
himself. Then he came to his
senses ... where? In the pig
pen.
It's typical that we never
change until we get desperate. God
uses problems to direct us, to get us moving. He uses problems to prod us and push us and promote us and
prompt us to change. We would rarely change if we didn't have any
problems.
You want to ask the question: Where is this problem leading me? Because problems never leave you where they found
you. When you go through a problem
you always end up someplace different than where you started off. God uses problems to direct me.
2. GOD
USES PROBLEMS TO INSPECT ME.
Check me out, see what I'm
like on the inside, to test me. People are like tea bags. You never know what's inside of them
until you drop them in hot water.
Then you know what they're like on the inside.
Deuteronomy 8:2 "The Lord God led you all the way into
the desert these forty years to test you in order to know what was in your
heart." Circle
"test". The Bible says
when Moses led the children of Israel through the Red Sea they're going to the
Promised Land in Israel. Egypt to
Israel is just a matter of weeks.
It took them forty years!
Why? God said, We're going
to wander around out here for a while, while I test you. They went through seven tests. Seven times God tested them to see what
was inside of them.
Remember the story of
Marah. Marah was one of the seven
tests. Just one. Every time God would
say, "You blew it! One more
lap around the desert! Let's try
it again. Final exam number
six!"
Has God ever tested you with
a problem? You bet He has! God uses problems to direct me and He
uses problems to inspect me. You need to
ask the question: What does it
reveal about me?
The Bible says, "Consider it pure joy when you face
trials of many kinds because you know the testing of your faith develops
perseverance so you may be mature and complete." The Bible often compares suffering to a
refining fire. You take silver and
metal and heat it up and it burns off the impurities. God does that with people through problems. Isaiah 48:10 "I, God, have tested you in the fire of suffering as silver is
refined in a furnace." God uses problems to burn off the excess in
your life that's not needed, to burn off the impurities. I asked a silversmith one day how did
he know when the stuff was pure.
He said, "When I see my reflection in it." When God can see His reflection in you
He knows He's burned off the impurities.
He uses problems to direct
me. He uses problems to inspect
me.
3. HE
USES PROBLEMS TO CORRECT ME.
Psalm 119:71 "It was good for me to be afflicted
that I might learn Your statutes." Circle "learn". Life is a school and problems are the curriculum. Why is it that some lessons we only
learn through failure? Some things
we only learn by blowing it.
When I was a little boy, my
mom used to say, "Don't you touch that hot stove." You think I touched it? Count on it! After I touched it, do you think I touched it again? No. I learned by being burned.
Have you ever learned by
being burned? Have you ever gotten
burned financially? Have you ever
got burned in a relationship? Have you ever got burned in a bad decision? I learn by being burned. God uses problems to correct me when
I'm going the wrong direction. "It was good for me to be afflicted
that I might learn Your statues." The Living Bible says, "It
was the best thing that could have happened to me for it taught me to pay
attention to Your laws."
Sometimes we often learn the
value of things by losing them. We
learn the value of money by losing it.
We often learn the value of relationships by losing them. You learn the value of health when you
don't have it. It's human nature
that a lot of times we have to learn through pain.
So God uses problems to
direct me and he uses problems to inspect me and He uses problems to correct me
-- to see what's inside of me.
Hebrews 12:7 (Living Bible) "Let
God train you for He is doing what any loving father does for His
children. Whoever heard of a son
who was never corrected?"
Do you discipline your kids?
Sure you do. Because you
love them. Do you discipline the
kids down the street? No. When the kids down the street throw
dirt clods in my neighbor's pool at the bottom of the slope, I don't have the
right to go down there and spank them. But I discipline my own kids. I love them.
It says that discipline is a
proof that God loves you. Problems
don't mean that God hates you.
Problems mean that God loves you. He allows the circumstances to occur
that are the natural consequences of your behavior.
Many people confuse
forgiveness and discipline. They
say, "I made a bad decision.
I sinned. I blew it. So I'm just going to confess it to God,
`God I'm sorry. Please forgive
me.'" Does God forgive
me? Yes. Instantly I'm forgiven. It's wiped out, no guilt, no condemnation. But that does not mean that God withdraws
the cause and effect of that situation.
You are forgiven but He does not withdraw all the circumstances. I could go get drunk and have a car
wreck, break my arm, and say, "God, please forgive me" but I'd still
have a broken arm. When we come to
God and confess, He forgives us and the guilt is cleaned out of our lives. But He often allows the cause and
effect in order to teach us not to do it again. If every time you did something that was bad for you, you
could get away with it by saying, "Please forgive me", you'd keep
right on doing it. But the Bible
says we sow and we reap what we sow.
God allows that to happen in our lives -- that we reap what we sow --
not because He hates us but because He loves us. He wants us to learn.
"It was the best thing that
could have happened to me for it taught me to pay attention to Your laws." God's discipline proves that I'm His
son, I'm His child, that He loves me -- that's the motive.
You need to ask this question: What is this teaching me? What can I learn from it?
When problems arise, you
don't want to ask Why, Why is this happening? but "What?
What do You want to teach me?" God may want to teach you something about Himself through
this problem. Maybe He wants to teach you about His power. Maybe He wants to teach you that He can
handle any situation. Maybe He
wants to teach you that He cares about you, that He knows every detail in your
life -- the good, the bad, the ugly -- and He still loves you, that He wants
what's best for you. Maybe He
wants to teach you about His grace, His wisdom. God uses problems to teach us about Himself.
God also uses problems in our
lives to teach us about ourselves. Have you ever learned anything about
yourself through a problem? Sure you have. God may use a situation to reveal a weakness, a character
fault. God may allow a problem in
your life to show up a blind spot.
If you don't take care of it, it's going to cause major damage in your
life. He uses these problems to
correct me.
The fact is, we don't like to
face the truth. We rarely face the
truth unless we're forced to face it.
So God does it through problems.
He directs me. He inspects
me. He corrects me.
4. GOD
USES PROBLEMS TO PROTECT ME.
Sometimes God allows problems
in my life for my own benefit. Many times a problem is actually a blessing in
disguise. It prevents you from
getting involved in something more harmful.
Notice it says "It's better if it's God's will to
suffer from doing good than doing evil." You are going to suffer. There are going to be problems in life. You might as well have problems for
doing the right thing rather than problems for doing the wrong thing. You're going to have problems either
way. It's safer to do what's right
and honest and suffer for it than to compromise your values and suffer for
that.
When I read this verse -- "It is better, if it is God's will, to
suffer for doing good, than for doing evil" -- I think of the
story of a man who was in our church a number of years ago. He said, "My boss has asked me to
make an unethical decision and I don't want to do it. I know it's wrong and I'm not going to do it. I'm afraid that if I don't do it, I'll
get fired." I said,
"You're right. You may get
fired. But God's in control. He can get you a job." He went back and when the boss told him
to make the decision, he said he couldn't do it; it was wrong, unethical. The
boss said, "You either do it or it's your job!" He said, "I'm sorry, I can't do
it. I'm a Christian" and he
gave a testimony. And he was
fired. He lost his job for doing
good. It just so happened that in a matter of weeks he found another job,
better job and was back at work. A
couple of months after that his former boss and all the top employees were on
the front of the Orange County Register
being indicted and going to prison for fraud and all kinds of stuff.
Did God protect him? Without a doubt. He suffered for doing right rather than
suffered for doing wrong. If
you're going to have problems, you might as well have them for doing the right
thing rather than for doing the wrong thing. God allowed a little problem to protect him from a big
problem.
For some of you maybe the
best thing in the world was for you to get fired. Maybe there was a temptation there at work, a situation, a
circumstance that was detrimental to your family, detrimental to your health,
detrimental to your spiritual life and God knew what He was doing. Rather
than complaining about it you need to ask, "What do You want me to learn
from this?"
You don't see the whole
picture. God does. You don't. Sometimes God uses problems
to protect me. Sometimes the best
thing in the world are problems.
I've discovered in my own life that the most painful things in my life
have been the things that have taught me the most and have also directed me the
most.
When I think of this -- "It's better to suffer for doing good
than doing evil" -- I think of Joseph. Remember the story in the Old Testament: Joseph sold as a slave. The master's wife tries to get him to go
to bed with her. She's seducing
him day after day. He says
no. So she falsely accuses him of
rape and he gets put in prison for not giving in to temptation. I'm sure Joseph's thinking, "What
gives, God? What are You
doing?" David paid a penalty
for his sin. Joseph paid a penalty
for not sinning.
Sometimes you do the right
thing and everything falls apart. Joseph ends up in prison and doesn't
understand. But it so happened
that while he was in prison he met two men who through those relationships,
later brought him to power in the nation of Egypt. He became second in command only to Pharaoh. He came up with the plan to save the
nation and to save the nation of Israel.
Two nations were saved from seven years of famine because he ended up in
jail. Through that relationship he
built in jail he ends up saving other people. God knew what He was doing. Joseph, at the end of his life, says in Genesis 50:20 "You intended it to harm me, but God
intended it for good."
There are people out there
that you're going to face this next week that intend to harm you. There are people who want your
job. There are people who want
your wife/husband/kids. There are
people who mean to harm you. And
they'll try. And you may get
harmed. They may mean it for bad but
God has a purpose. His purpose is
greater than your problem. Look at
Him. Sometimes He's using those
problems to protect you.
Often problems are
preparation for eventual success.
How do you get to be a success?
Experience failure. Then
you know what doesn't work. Thomas
Edison had things he experimented with before he found the right filament for
the light bulb. They said,
"You've had 600-700 failures!"
He said, "No, I know 600‑ 700 things that don't work!" Don't call it a failure; call it an
education. Some of you are very
educated. I'm educated. I know a lot of things that don't work
and so do you.
What is being prevented? You have a car problem on the way to
the airport and you miss a business trip.
You have no idea what might have happened on that business trip. You just have to trust God in
life. He knows what He's doing and
you don't most of the time.
Sometimes God uses problems to protect me.
5. GOD
USES PROBLEMS TO PERFECT ME.
To develop me. Romans 5:3-4 "We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know
they're good for us. They help us
learn to be patient and patience develops strength of character [circle
"strength of character"] and
helps us trust God more and more each time we use it."
It's like the old
illustration about the uncut diamond.
You're the uncut diamond and God wants to chip off your rough
edges. He wants to polish you up
and make you a beautiful gem that glistens and reflects His glory. So He uses problems to chip off the
rough edges in your life. He comes
along with His hammer and chisel and sees a rough edge in your life and knocks
it off. Sometimes, if you're resistent, He gets out the jackhammer or dynamite.
It takes different kinds of
things to get our attention. God
is trying to hone you into something for His glory and use. God wants to make you like Jesus Christ
and He does it two ways. Trough the Bible and through circumstances. As you read the Bible He makes you like
Christ. As you go through
circumstances, He forces you to become like Christ. The easy way is the Bible. God can say, "Be
patient" and you learn patience.
But if you don't learn patience that way, He'll just put you in a
traffic jam and force you to learn patience. You read a verse that says, "Be humble" so you can
learn it this way (the easy way).
If you don't learn it, that's ok; he'll just humiliate you! God will get His message across.
I prayed for patience one
time and my problems got worse. I
prayed for more patience and they even more worse. Finally I realized I was a lot more patient than when I
started out! How does God teach
you patience? By everything going
your way? Not at all but by things
falling apart.
Paul had to learn this
lesson. He talks about his thorn
in the flesh. We don't know what
it was -- irritation, frustration, physical pain, emotional weakness, we don't
know. He says three times he
prayed desperately, "God take this situation out of my life" and God
said, "No way! Because the
purpose of this problem is greater than the pain of the problem. If I took it out of the way, you
wouldn't learn the lessons I want you to learn." So God sometimes says No to a problem. He wants you to learn it first.
In Hebrews 2:10 it says Jesus
was made perfect through suffering. How do you think you're going to be made
perfect? The same way. 1 Peter
1:6-7 talks about the seasons in life.
Life is not the same. You
have good times, bad times, ups, downs, times of poverty, times of wealth. Life changes. There are springs and summers and falls and winters. All sunshine and no rain makes a
desert. All rain and no sunshine
you need an ark. You need balance
in your life. We need seasons in
our lives. We need the seasons to
season us, to prepare us and make us what God wants us to be.
You need to ask yourself the question: How can I grow from this problem? How does God want to perfect me through
this problem?
Summary: Your problem is not your problem. The problem you've got right now is not
your problem. That sounds
redundant but it's not. Your
problem is the way you're responding to your problem. That's the real problem.
When do problems become real
problems? They become real
problems when you get a bad attitude over them. They become real problems when we lose our perspective, when
we let go of our values, when we lose our sense of humor and start having self
pity. They become real problems
when we start blaming other people for our circumstances. Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker on the
freeway that said: It's not whether
you win or lose, but how you place the blame. That's the motto for a lot of people.
Ask yourself some questions
as we close:
1. Lord,
are You using this problem to direct me? If so, what do You want me to change? What direction do You want me to
go? Where should I back off and
head in a new direction. Are You
using this problem to direct me?
2. Lord,
are You using this problem to inspect me? If so, what does it reveal about me? What does it say about my character
flaws, about my weaknesses, about areas in my life that need changing? Many problems in your marriage, at work
are character defects in you that are causing wrong responses. You need to change them. What does it reveal about me? A weakness? A misplaced priority? A compromise? Lord, are You using this problem to inspect me, to see
what's really in me? If you tell
God, "I want to follow You 100%" you can count on it! He's going to test you on it. He's going to see if you really mean
business. If you say, "God, I
want You to be Number One in my life" He's going to test you by providing
options.
3. Lord,
are You using this problem to correct me?
Maybe I brought it on myself.
Maybe I'm reaping what I sowed.
Maybe I shouldn't ask, Why? but What? "What do You want me to learn from this?"
4. Are
You using this problem to protect me?
Your heavenly Father knows what's best.
5. God,
are You using this problem to perfect me?
Some of you are here at
Saddleback -- you've only come once or twice. God is working in your life even when you don't know it. God
has been working in your life for a long, long time even when you didn't
recognize it. You're here this
morning. You had no idea what we
were going to talk about. God
works in your life even when you don't understand it, even when it doesn't make
sense.
But it is much more
beneficial and profitable and easy when you cooperate for God's plan for your
life. It's so much easier. You can
learn in a much shorter time. You
need to cooperate with Him.
You need to start out by
saying, "Jesus Christ, come into my life. Be number one.
Use the situations in my life to direct me, correct me, inspect me,
perfect me, protect me." If
you haven't done that, let's close the service today with a prayer asking Him
to do that.
Prayer:
Pray
a simple prayer like this in your heart:
"Jesus Christ, I've believed about You. I've known about You.
But I want to know You personally.
Please come into my life and make Yourself real to me." Say that in your mind. He'll hear you. "Please come into my life and make
Yourself real to me. I want to
follow You. I want to find out
more about You. I want to live the
way You want me to live. I ask You
to forgive all the things I've done wrong. I want to believe in You."
Father,
thank You for Your word. Help us
to face the problems this week with a positive attitude, realizing that You're
using them in our lives. In Jesus'
name. Amen.
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