On February 17th of 1812, Adoniram Judson and his wife, Ann, set sail for Burma as missionaries. Judson would return for a visit home to New England after thirty-three years and in Burma would experience the loss of two wives (one of which he simply had to bury at sea), seven of his thirteen children, and multiple colleagues. Judson’s life is filled with so much suffering that it’s difficult to read through a biography without aching for him at almost every turn. In fact, at one point he is put in prison (arrested for something he did not do), his feet tied up so that only his shoulders and head rest on the ground, and he is left to sleep that way at night.

But why? Why so much suffering? Why would God allow it? After all, Judson was trying to do the Lord’s work. Why didn’t God just decide to let Judson’s life go real smooth, suffering be minimal, and show everybody that following the Lord is indeed the right thing to do by allowing Judson’s life to be a glorious display of joy? Those kinds of questions definitely come to your mind when you read a biography like Judson’s, see his intense suffering, and observe all the results that came from his missionary service. However, these same questions come to our minds throughout life when we are tempted to say, as we encounter our suffering, “God, why is this happening? I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

So, why it is that God allows and places suffering in our lives as we are trying to serve him? In many ways we have seen many facets of this answer already in this book, but our text this morning gives us maybe a clearer answer. Therefore, let’s turn to the text to see our answer to this question and some others that come to mind.

In a short and stated way, we see the answer to this question right at the beginning of our text. Namely, we see that …

Our suffering is a divine tool to show that the power of the gospel does not belong to us (4:7-12)

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (4:7). In this verse, “treasure” most likely refers to “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” that he has just mentioned in 4:6. And “jars of clay” was used in writings in the ancient world as a metaphor for human weakness. Therefore, Paul is saying that this treasure of the gospel is in us. That is, we are the instruments who are to take and speak this powerful world to others, and yet we are weak. And this weakness is most clear in our lives through our sufferings. Therefore, Paul gives us a summary of what he’s going to talk about in these first six verses in declaring that allowing this gospel to be carried around by those whose weakness is being displayed is done by God in order to show that the power that comes from the gospel does not belong to us but to God.

Something that you often see on infomercials is the participation of someone in the crowd. For example, if someone is selling these great knives, then for most of the episode he is showing how you can cut through marble, a coke can, and then a loaf of bread without squishing it. Then, however, when you’re thinking, “I couldn’t do that; this guys some kind of professional” the guys yells to the crowd, “Does anyone want to try this?” Then he gets someone whom everyone is thinking couldn’t do it (a woman celebrating her 105th birthday, for example) and has her come up, cut a rock in half, and then slice a tomato with it.

But why does he choose someone in whose hands it would seem so likely to fail? We all know the answer. It is because he wants to show how great the knives are. He doesn’t want the audience to credit this great cutting display to the trained professional using it but to the product itself (i.e. the knives). In the same way, Paul says that God uses us in our weakness to display that when the power of the gospel is clearly changing men’s lives we might not credit the power to the individual sharing the word but God himself. And one way he keeps men from wrongly giving credit to the instruments sharing the gospel is by allowing their weaknesses to be very apparent through their sufferings.

So how does Paul’s weakness and God’s power become apparent? We’ve already discussed it a bit, but we see it in verses 8-11. Paul writes, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

The first part of what he’s saying is what we’ve already said, namely, that his weakness is displayed in his sufferings. He is afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus. This obviously displays weakness before men, even as the Corinthians themselves had been tempted to think of Paul as weak because of his sufferings. However, Paul also notes the Lord’s preserving power in noting that he is not crushed, not driven to despair, not forsaken, not destroyed, and the one through whom the life of Jesus is manifested. His suffering is intense, so much so that Paul writes in verse 11 that he is “always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake.” But why? The answer is in the last half of verse 11, namely, “so that the life of Jesus … may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

That is to say, Paul’s suffering allows him to become a fit instrument to communicate the gospel because his suffering shows his weakness which allows the power that comes from the gospel he shares to be directly credited to God. In addition, by watching Paul suffering and look so weak while he is able to endure and life-giving power flows from his word is a visible reminder to us of our Lord whose death may have invited us to think of his weakness and willingness to be given over to death but whose resurrection displayed the power of God over death. Thus, the result of God using him in his weakness is seen in verse 12 as Paul writes, “So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

So why is it that suffering comes to us, though we are seeking good and to share Christ’s glory? The answer is that suffering is nothing less than a divine tool, an instrument of God, which he uses to enable us to be fit instruments to share his word. And it enables us by allowing our lives to be a visible display of the death and resurrection of Christ, as we suffer and are given grace to endure and by displaying our weakness so that as the power of God comes through in the life-changing message of the gospel, men might know that all glory is to be given to the Almighty One and not to us, for we are weak.

That is to say, Adoniram Judson’s life should not make us think that God was weak and unable to care for his servant. Rather, as we realize that Judson translated the Bible into Burmese so that from that day until the Lord returns hundreds and thousands of people’s lives are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ we might not say, “What kind of man was Judson!” but “What a great God this weak man served!”

It’s easy to look at those kinds of stories after the evidence of his labors is clear and his life is over, however. But how do we find strength to endure our sufferings? That is, if we know suffering is no accident in our lives but even part of God’s divine equipping so that we are “being given over to death for Jesus’ sake” (4:11), how do we endure and find strength to stand in those difficult times? Are we simply left to ourselves by God so that our weaknesses become clear by our being crushed? No, for Paul highlights God’s power in being afflicted in every way while not being crushed. So, how then do we endure and God still show his power in our weakness?

This question is answered by us understanding that …

Because part of God’s power is demonstrated in our endurance, God has given us means to endure (4:13-15)

That is, God’s power is shown by transforming others’ lives through us weak, suffering, jars of clay, and it is shown as God gives us grace not to be overcome.

But what then does God intend for us to do in order to experience the means he’s given us to endure? There are two things we see in verses 13-15.

The first is that we find strength to endure by realizing that God’s working through his suffering servants is not new with us but has been the case throughout his redemptive history, that those saints are merely awaiting the resurrection, and that all God’s children (including Paul himself) would be raised.

This is what Paul speaks of in verses 13-14 as he writes, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed and so I spoke,” so we believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” In this verse Paul quotes Psalm 116:10, the psalm we began our service reading. But, typically the New Testament writers quoted Old Testament verses not simply to focus on the few lines they quote but to put the reader’s thoughts back to the entire context of the text quoted. And in Psalm 116, what we find is a psalm in which the psalmist has known the deliverance of God as he was under suffering and near death and was delivered so that he writes at one point, “You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:8-9).

Therefore, Paul looks back, sees God working in that way in history as his servant cried out in faith amidst his suffering and deliverance and knew that God would deliver him again so that he would walk before the Lord, and Paul is reminded that this has been God’s plan and that God would raise Paul as well, even as he raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And that’s the first means he sees as God’s gift to accomplish his perseverance. He endures knowing that Jesus as many saints before him suffered and were delivered and just as his Lord suffered and was delivered, so will he (though he suffers) be delivered as he will be raised from the dead.

That is our first key in enduring suffering; we remember that God will raise us from the dead. In this life your suffering might be intense and one day (barring the Lord’s return) death will overtake you, possibly in a very terrible way (some of Judson’s last words as he was dying, being wakened from sleep only to vomit in pain were, “How few are those who … who die so hard”), you will be raised from the dead. You must hold onto that truth, bringing it to your memory as one way to endure in suffering. Yet Paul gives us another.

The second gift that God gives us to aid us in enduring in our suffering is that he allows us to behold the manifestation of God’s glory flowing through the thanksgiving of those whose lives have been changed by the gospel. That is, another way we find strength to endure is by beholding the glory of God that comes about through our suffering. As we see and hear others give thanksgiving to God so that his glory is praised, we should find ourselves saying, “It is worth it, for my highest goal is to delight in the manifestation of God’s great glory.”

In a small way, this might be illustrated in my cleaning of the house when my wife is out of town. I love my wife. She is great. She serves me, cares for me, lives with me, puts up with me, and loves me. Therefore, at times, if I am able, when she goes out of town I decide to clean the house. And this is not necessarily something I enjoy. I mean, it’s not bad but getting on my hands and knees to get a stain out of the carpet or a skid mark off the tile aren’t my favorite tasks. However, I’ve witnessed her delight when she comes home enough that I find the strength to press on again and again as I have these opportunities.

Now, yes, that illustration is simple and I do not long to compare my scrubbing of the carpet to men’s suffering, but I hold it up simply to say when I see the delight of the one I love, it strengthens me to press on. And so, when we see thanksgiving coming from men’s mouths so that the God we love is glorified and honored, it should drive us to press on and endure in our sufferings.

We suffer in order to show that the life-giving power of the gospel might be clearly shown to belong to God and not to us and we endure by remembering the coming resurrection and by beholding the manifestation of God’s glory in the thanksgiving of those whose lives are changed.

“But,” we might ask, “Is God doing anything in us as well?” That is, we understand that we are used in our suffering so that others might come to know the life-changing power of the gospel, but does it result in anything in our lives? Is God working anything in us through our sufferings or just in the lives of those with whom we share the gospel?

The answer is that our suffering indeed is working something great in us. In fact, …

Through our suffering God is preparing us to inherit a glory that far outweighs any suffering we will ever know (4:16-18)

Paul begins this last section noting that he does not lose heart. But why? He writes, “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (4:16-18).

Paul pictures himself rightly as living in a sin-cursed fallen world so that as he looks around him and even at his own body, he sees the reign of death and his wasting away. However, at the same time, he knows that God is working something in him even through his suffering, making him more and more conformed into the image of the one who died for him. He sees his inner nature being renewed day-by-day. In fact, Paul has shown God’s work of conformity even through this letter as he begins recounting that his suffering at one point caused him to despair even of life itself (1:8), but now notes that he does not despair, for he has understood more of how God is using suffering. Already, he sees in his own life that God is making him prepared for another life, as part of a new creation.

Therefore, in his suffering, Paul does not look at what he can see, but what he cannot see. He reminds himself in those times that God is preparing him through this suffering to make him fit for a glory that outweighs any suffering he knows. In fact, in comparison, the weighty eternal glory makes him able to see his present suffering and light and momentary.

Therefore, yes, God is not using your suffering simply to make you equipped to minister to others but through your suffering he is preparing you to receive a glory that is so much greater in degree than our suffering that our suffering will be seen as near nothing in comparison. Thus, may we take heart.

Today, maybe we find ourselves in suffering. Indeed, it wasn’t too long ago that Ray, Nathan, and I said to one another, “It appears that many in our congregation are going through deep suffering.” Why? We see part of the answer in our text, namely, in order to make us fit instruments through which God can display the power of his gospel and in order to prepare us for a great glory that awaits us by making us more and more like his Son. Therefore, may we remember these truths, remember the coming resurrection, and take note of God’s present work through us as we come to the table in order that we might continue to endure in obedience this morning as we go forth into a world armed with the gospel. God’s grace will indeed be with us. Amen.

THE DIVINE TOOL OF SUFFERING AND AND THE WEIGHT OF GLORY

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