Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / When Your Comfort Zone Gets the Squeeze │ Msg 412

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When Your Comfort Zone Gets the Squeeze │ Msg 412 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Try to imagine stacking up all the poems and essays
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  Speaker 1: ever written about the wonders of romantic love. How high
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  Speaker 1: would that pile reach? Would it be as tall as, well,
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  Speaker 1: the Empire State Building? Would it be as high as
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  Speaker 1: Mount Everest? Now then, add to that stack the works
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  Speaker 1: on valor and patriotism and family. Oh my, who can
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  Speaker 1: count them all? But look around for a flowing lyric
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  Speaker 1: on the topic of pain. It's another story, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: You won't find many. No, not about pain. One writer
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  Speaker 1: acknowledges that. He writes, I have never read a poem
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  Speaker 1: extolling the virtues of pain, nor seen a statue erected
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  Speaker 1: in its honor, nor heard a hymn dedicated to it.
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  Speaker 1: Pain is usually defined as unpleasantness. He continues, Christians don't
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  Speaker 1: really know how to interpret pain. If you pin them
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  Speaker 1: against the wall in a dark, secret moment, many Christians
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  Speaker 1: would probably admit that pain was God's one mistake. He
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  Speaker 1: really should have worked a little harder and invented a
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  Speaker 1: better way of coping with the world's dangers. He's right.
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  Speaker 1: Pain and its companions are Affliction, suffering, hardship, and adversity
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  Speaker 1: are often seen as the invading enemies of life. Whenever
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  Speaker 1: we spy one of those coming at us, we tend
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  Speaker 1: to turn and run. We usually think life should be
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  Speaker 1: fair and straightforward, so when our comfort zones get the squeeze,
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  Speaker 1: truth be told, we feel angry. And yet, according to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, pain is a is a valid, it's a
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  Speaker 1: necessary part of life. And although we may not like it,
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  Speaker 1: we can learn to live with it and learn lessons
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  Speaker 1: from it. There's a tension involved in trying to accept
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  Speaker 1: the pain that God allows, while at the same time
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  Speaker 1: fighting to overcome it. But like the Thessalonians, we can
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  Speaker 1: find real help in our struggle when we learn to
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  Speaker 1: see pain from God's perspective. His word reveals that suffering
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  Speaker 1: is both inevitable and essential. For today's study, let's turn
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  Speaker 1: to that subject. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, I'll be
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  Speaker 1: reading for you verses 1 through 8 of the third
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  Speaker 1: chapter of 1 Thessalonians, where Paul writes, Therefore, when we
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  Speaker 1: could endure it no longer, we thought it best to
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  Speaker 1: be left behind at Athens alone. And we sent Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: our brother, and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so
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  Speaker 1: that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions. For
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  Speaker 1: you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
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  Speaker 1: For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling
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  Speaker 1: you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction.
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  Speaker 1: And so it came to pass, as you know. For
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  Speaker 1: this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I
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  Speaker 1: also sent to find out about your faith, for fear
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  Speaker 1: that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor
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  Speaker 1: would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come
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  Speaker 1: to us from you, and has brought us good news
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  Speaker 1: of your faith and love, and that you always think
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  Speaker 1: kindly of us, longing to see us just as we
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  Speaker 1: also long to see you, for this reason, brethren, in
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  Speaker 1: all our distress and affliction, We were comforted about you
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  Speaker 1: through your faith. For now we really live if you
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  Speaker 1: stand firm.
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  Speaker 2: In the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Physician Scott Peck calls it the road less traveled. Scholar C.S.
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  Speaker 1: Lewis refers to it as God's megaphone. One contemporary author
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  Speaker 1: says that it is the gift nobody wants. English poet
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  Speaker 1: Byron referred to it as the path to truth. But
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  Speaker 1: no one ever said it better than Isaac Watts, the
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  Speaker 1: hymn writer, as he asked direct and searching questions. Am
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  Speaker 1: I a soldier of the cross? Am I a follower
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  Speaker 1: of the Lamb? And again, must I be carried to
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  Speaker 1: the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought
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  Speaker 1: to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? I'm
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  Speaker 1: referring to pain. It's in pain that God speaks to
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  Speaker 1: us through his megaphone. Suffering is the road less traveled.
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  Speaker 1: Affliction is the path to truth. Hardship and adversity, these
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  Speaker 1: are the gifts nobody wants, but everybody needs. And just
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  Speaker 1: the presence of these things in our lives creates attention.
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  Speaker 1: For example, you attend your physician's presence and he says,
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  Speaker 1: takes your x-ray and a few days later contacts you
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  Speaker 1: and says, we'll need to do a biopsy. And then
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  Speaker 1: after the biopsy, he immediately calls and asks for you
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  Speaker 1: to come. And he faces you with that horrible piece
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  Speaker 1: of information. You have cancer. There's no getting around it.
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  Speaker 1: The tension comes. Part of you says, I will accept this.
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  Speaker 1: There is no such thing as a mistake in the
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  Speaker 1: life of the child of God. This is a road
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  Speaker 1: less traveled and I want to travel it carefully and well.
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  Speaker 1: And I want to learn from this affliction what God
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  Speaker 1: is saying to me. But a part of you in
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  Speaker 1: that tension says, I will fight this to the end
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  Speaker 1: because Because I am a survivor and because I believe
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  Speaker 1: there may well be a cure around the corner and
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  Speaker 1: I will not succumb, I resist this thing. I will
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  Speaker 1: not lie down in my bed and give up hope
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  Speaker 1: and die an early death. So the tension between acceptance
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  Speaker 1: and resistance comes upon us. And we fight between a
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  Speaker 1: God of sovereign control and a God of gracious mercy,
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  Speaker 1: don't we? Every time I unwrap the gift of pain, however,
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  Speaker 1: I learn something. If I don't hurry the unwrapping, I
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  Speaker 1: even learn more. Don't you? You bet we do. And
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  Speaker 1: this causes me to realize, even before we plunge into
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  Speaker 1: a few verses out of 1 Thessalonians 3, that there's
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  Speaker 1: reason to blow the dust off some very clear truths
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  Speaker 1: from the New Testament. And I have in mind, for example,
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  Speaker 1: Philippians chapter 1. If you have your Bible, look with me.
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  Speaker 1: And we're going to see that suffering is inevitable. There's
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  Speaker 1: no getting around it. It is inevitable. You will not
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  Speaker 1: escape it, nor will your children, nor have your parents.
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  Speaker 1: Suffering is inevitable. It may be a road less traveled,
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  Speaker 1: but it is a road traveled by all. It's a painful,
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  Speaker 1: albeit inevitable, path. Philippians 1.27, only conduct yourselves in a
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  Speaker 1: manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. so that whether
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  Speaker 1: I come and see you or remain absent, I may
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  Speaker 1: hear of you so that I may hear of you
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  Speaker 1: that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind,
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  Speaker 1: striving together for the faith of the gospel. Note the
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  Speaker 1: word striving. In no way alarmed by your opponents, which
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  Speaker 1: is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation
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  Speaker 1: for you and that too from God. For to you,
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  Speaker 1: note now, to you, It has been granted for Christ's sake,
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  Speaker 1: not only to believe in him, but also to suffer
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  Speaker 1: for his sake. If you've never marked a verse of
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  Speaker 1: scripture before in all your life, mark that one. You'll
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  Speaker 1: need it. You'll turn to it again and again before
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  Speaker 1: your life is over. There are some today who are
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  Speaker 1: emissaries of false doctrine who say, All suffering is wrong.
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  Speaker 1: All suffering is out of the will of God. If
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  Speaker 1: you suffer, you are in sin. And since you are
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  Speaker 1: in sin, if you will deal sufficiently with your sin,
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  Speaker 1: your suffering will end. That is a lie. Stop believing it.
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  Speaker 1: Stop listening to it. It is not founded on scripture.
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  Speaker 1: To be sure, all suffering has its root in the
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  Speaker 1: fact that sin has entered the human race. But it
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  Speaker 1: has been granted not only that we believe in him,
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  Speaker 1: but it has also been granted that we suffer. It's
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  Speaker 1: part of the life. Turn from Philippians 1. to 2
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  Speaker 1: Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4, we'll start our reading
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  Speaker 1: at verse 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
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  Speaker 1: that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of
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  Speaker 1: God and not from ourselves. He continues, we are afflicted
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  Speaker 1: Mark that. Afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed.
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  Speaker 1: Mark that. Perplexed, but not despairing. Here's another one to mark. Persecuted,
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  Speaker 1: but not forsaken. And another. Struck down, but not destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: The next word is the most important of the list.
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  Speaker 2: Always.
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  Speaker 1: There it is again. It is inevitable. always carrying about
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  Speaker 1: in the body the death marks of Jesus, the dying,
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  Speaker 1: that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
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  Speaker 1: That's one of the mysteries of God. By bearing up
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  Speaker 1: under the death-like lifestyle, you enter into the lifestyle of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Real living. It says in verse 16, we do not
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  Speaker 1: lose heart. Though our outer man is decaying, our inner
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  Speaker 1: man is being renewed day by day. Again, decaying. We
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  Speaker 1: are being renewed. There's one more, and it is worth
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  Speaker 1: our turning. 1 Peter chapter 4, toward the end of
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament. Locate verse 12. There are many who
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  Speaker 1: see suffering as unusual. Philippians 1.29 says we're called to it.
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  Speaker 1: Some see it as rare. 2 Corinthians 4 says we
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  Speaker 1: are frequently knocked down. Some say it is strange, surprising
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  Speaker 1: that a child of God would suffer. 1 Peter 4.12 Beloved,
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  Speaker 1: Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you
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  Speaker 1: which comes upon you for your testing, as though some
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  Speaker 1: strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree
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  Speaker 1: that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing,
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  Speaker 1: so that also at the revelation of His glory you
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  Speaker 1: may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the
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  Speaker 1: name of Christ, you are blessed. Look at that, Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Are you right now being reviled? Are you right now
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  Speaker 1: under attack as a soldier of the cross? Rejoice! It's
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  Speaker 1: part of the package. It is essential. It is inevitable.
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  Speaker 1: You are blessed because the spirit of glory and of
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  Speaker 1: God rests upon you by no means. Let any of
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  Speaker 1: you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer. or
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  Speaker 1: a troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: let him not feel ashamed, but in that name, let
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  Speaker 1: him glorify God. Now, that's one side of the coin.
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  Speaker 1: It is inevitable, and we could multiply these by several dozen,
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  Speaker 1: believe me. The scriptures are interwoven with a network of
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  Speaker 1: truth regarding suffering. It's part of the life There's another
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  Speaker 1: side of it, and that's the part that says it's essential.
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  Speaker 1: Over in the book of Psalms, in the longest of
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  Speaker 1: the Psalter, number 119, there are three verses separated from
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  Speaker 1: one another, but connected with the same thought. Psalm 119, 67, 71,
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  Speaker 1: and 75. Suffering is not only inevitable, the pain that
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  Speaker 1: it brings is essential. But this is the part that
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  Speaker 1: we don't like. We want our comfort. We want our
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  Speaker 1: comfort zone. But God invades it. Psalm 119, 67. Before
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  Speaker 1: I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep
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  Speaker 1: thy word. Reminds me of how you must Train a
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  Speaker 1: little dog. And if you have one, you know what
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  Speaker 1: I mean. No one has ever trained a little lovely
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  Speaker 1: pet without pain. It's just part of it. And you,
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  Speaker 1: of all things, find yourself with this little life having
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  Speaker 1: to inflict pain for what reason? To train it. To
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  Speaker 1: teach it to do what is best. to show it
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  Speaker 1: what you will smile upon and what you will frown
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  Speaker 1: upon so that this little creature learns to bring pleasure
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  Speaker 1: to its master. Nothing is worse than being around an
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  Speaker 1: untrained pet. There is something worse. An untrained child is
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  Speaker 1: worse than an untrained pet. And they go together on occasion.
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  Speaker 1: That whole idea of affliction for the purpose of training.
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  Speaker 1: Now look at verse 71. It's good for me, says
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  Speaker 1: the psalmist. It is good for me that I was afflicted,
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  Speaker 1: that I may learn thy statutes. I had a man
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  Speaker 1: tell me just about a week and a half ago,
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  Speaker 1: God never had my attention until he laid me on
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  Speaker 1: my back. Did I listen? This is one strong-willed, stubborn
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  Speaker 1: man who said that, and he was fighting back the tears.
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  Speaker 1: And he's only been in this crucible about 12, 15 days.
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  Speaker 1: It was good for me that I got cut down
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  Speaker 1: to size. Then I learned. I learned through his megaphone.
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  Speaker 1: I learned in that path to truth. I discovered things.
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  Speaker 1: One more, 75, same chapter. I know, O Lord. that
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  Speaker 1: thy judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness thou hast
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  Speaker 1: afflicted me.
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  Speaker 2: A.W.
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  Speaker 1: Tozer said it in a way that few people have
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  Speaker 1: said it better. It is doubtful God can use anyone
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  Speaker 1: greatly until he has hurt him deeply. You will not
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  Speaker 1: find my using the word easy in this talk. It
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  Speaker 1: isn't easy. It isn't comfortable. It is uncomfortable on purpose.
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  Speaker 1: It must be. Now, if you are familiar with your Bible,
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  Speaker 1: you won't have trouble locating Ecclesiastes 7. If you are
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  Speaker 1: not familiar, it is a couple of books beyond Psalms. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
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  Speaker 1: chapter 7, just one more passage on the essential nature
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  Speaker 1: of pain. Chapter 7, Ecclesiastes, verses 13 and 14. Consider
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  Speaker 1: the work of God. Now, I want to meditate orally
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  Speaker 1: on this passage and just have you do that with me.
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  Speaker 1: Let's have an understanding that for the next few moments,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to just sort of let this passage wash
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  Speaker 1: around in our minds. Ecclesiastes 7, 13. Consider the work
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  Speaker 1: of God. For who is able to straighten what he
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  Speaker 1: has bent? In the days of prosperity, be happy. But
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  Speaker 1: in the day of adversity, C-O-N-S-I-D-E-R, consider. Before reading any further,
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  Speaker 1: study it. The term in the Hebrew means to inspect.
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  Speaker 1: It was used in Exodus 3, verse 4, for Moses.
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  Speaker 1: When the bush began to burn, he said, I will
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  Speaker 1: now turn aside and consider why the bush is not consumed.
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  Speaker 1: I will make an investigation. It carries the idea of
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  Speaker 1: perceiving things. and when it is used of oneself, the
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  Speaker 1: idea of revealing to oneself the truth. It's the thought
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  Speaker 1: of examining for the purpose of evaluating. It's what you do,
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  Speaker 1: businessmen and women, when you hire a consultant. The consultant
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  Speaker 1: comes into your firm, and the consultant has the right
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  Speaker 1: to ask the most pointed, and it may seem at times,
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  Speaker 1: vicious questions, as he or she goes to the heart
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  Speaker 1: of your company to see what is there. You pay
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  Speaker 1: good money. for that investigation. Now this is a self-consulting experience. Translated, consider.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go back. Consider the work of God, for who
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  Speaker 1: is able to straighten what God has bent? In the
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  Speaker 1: day of prosperity, be happy. But in a day of adversity, inspect. Examine.
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  Speaker 1: Gain some objective instruction Slow down and listen. God has
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  Speaker 1: made the one as well as the other so that
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  Speaker 1: we may not discover anything that will be after us. Now,
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  Speaker 1: in all of the examination, you will not find anything
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  Speaker 1: about the future, but you will sure learn about the past.
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  Speaker 1: You will really see yourself. And I say again, it
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  Speaker 1: takes pain to see yourself as you really are. Carlisle,
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  Speaker 1: the Scottish essayist, was right. Adversity is hard on a man.
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  Speaker 1: But for one who can handle prosperity, there are a
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  Speaker 1: hundred who can handle adversity. For some of you, it's
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  Speaker 1: in a time of prosperity that the real test has come.
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  Speaker 1: Pain will come in prosperous times just as in adverse times.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it was in such prosperous times that the Thessalonians
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  Speaker 1: were set back on their heels. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.
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  Speaker 1: Now all of that is just preliminary that we've been
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  Speaker 1: looking at. So it's on the basis of that foundation
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  Speaker 1: we want to build some thoughts from this example of
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  Speaker 1: suffering in the Macedonian church at Thessalonica. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: I find in this section of scripture a concern for
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  Speaker 1: these people on the part of Paul, who was the
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  Speaker 1: founding pastor, the apostle, the one who originally led them
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  Speaker 1: to faith. He was the human agent. But now he,
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  Speaker 1: as you may remember, has been pulled away from them.
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  Speaker 1: He calls it orphaned. He is bereft of them, it
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  Speaker 1: says in the latter part of chapter two. Out of persecution,
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  Speaker 1: because of affliction, it was clear that he could no
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  Speaker 1: longer stay in Thessalonica. And before he was ready, he
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  Speaker 1: was ready uprooted, and pushed on his way, and he
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  Speaker 1: wondered how they were doing in the storm that he
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  Speaker 1: left in his wake. And he had been wondering about
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  Speaker 1: it for over a year. He says so in chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: in verse 1, when we could endure it no longer.
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  Speaker 1: We thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone,
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  Speaker 1: and we sent Timothy, To find out how you're doing.
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  Speaker 1: We sent Timothy, our brother. See the relational concern? God's
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  Speaker 1: fellow worker in the gospel of Christ. We sent Timothy
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  Speaker 1: because we didn't know how you were doing in the storm.
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  Speaker 1: If you had a child at Kent State University in
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  Speaker 1: the 1960s, if you had a young adult at the
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  Speaker 1: Berkeley campus in the late 1960s, you understand concerns. If
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  Speaker 1: you had a son or daughter in the Vietnam War
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  Speaker 1: in the late 60s and early 70s, you understand the
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  Speaker 1: therefore of chapter 3, verse 1. There was something about
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  Speaker 1: being in a context that is marked by panic and
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  Speaker 1: adversity and the vicious treatment of individuals that causes a
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  Speaker 1: parent to be uneasy. And you don't sleep well. You
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  Speaker 1: mentally imagine what they're going through. And you on occasion
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  Speaker 1: find yourself unable to endure. You long to have information
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  Speaker 1: about how your son or your daughter is doing. Take
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  Speaker 1: a close look at verse two, the latter part of it.
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  Speaker 1: He sent Timothy for two reasons. Number one, to strengthen
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  Speaker 1: and number two, to encourage them as to their faith.
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  Speaker 1: And that's important. Let's take those two terms. The word
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  Speaker 1: strengthen means to shore up or to buttress, an old
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  Speaker 1: word we don't use today, to buttress. One man says,
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  Speaker 1: it's to put a ramrod down one's back to enable
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  Speaker 1: him to stand straight and erect come what may. Pretty
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  Speaker 1: good word picture. I sent Timothy to put a ramrod
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  Speaker 1: in your back so that you wouldn't shuffle around as
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  Speaker 1: though you were being mistreated, but you'd stand straight You'd
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  Speaker 1: stand erect like a steer in a blizzard. You'd refuse
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  Speaker 1: to bend against all odds. I sent him to add
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  Speaker 1: strength to you. They taught us in the Marines, when
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  Speaker 1: you dig a hole for combat, dig it big enough
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  Speaker 1: for two. There's a reason for that. There's nothing quite
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  Speaker 1: like fighting a battle all alone. You can't hear anything
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  Speaker 1: else because of the sound of your knees knocking inside
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  Speaker 1: the hole where you're hiding. But there's something about having
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  Speaker 1: a buddy with you in battle that keeps you from
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  Speaker 1: panic when they shoot back. Paul says you needed somebody
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  Speaker 1: alongside to buttress you, to help you keep from surrendering.
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  Speaker 1: Now the second word is a comforting word, parakaleo. We
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: get the word paraclete from it. It's often translated comfort
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament. But here it is rendered in courage.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: It is the idea of standing alongside another person to
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: put courage into them. There's not a lecture in it.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: There's modeling in it. There isn't... a put down in
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the word, there is an arm of reassurance in it.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: If you have ever gone through the valley and not if,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: but when you have gone through the valley, some of
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: you could testify. The reason you were able to make
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: it is a Timothy came to your side. Timothy might've
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: been a physician. Timothy might have been a counselor that
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Timothy might've been a pastor. Timothy might've been a neighbor.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Timothy might have been your own parents or your own
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: blood brother or sister. Might have been your own child.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: But the Timothy came and that Timothy brought strength and
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: brought courage to you. Notice it is as to your faith.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Timothy didn't come just to say, buck up. You can
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: handle it. Suck it up. That's the way it is
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: in life. I could tell you about 15 other cases
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and I'm here just to rattle off to you how
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: they stood back fast and you can too. It's not
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the truth there. That's not it. Timothy came to examine
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and to help strengthen you in your faith. Let me
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: show you an example of this. Hold your place and
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: go to 1 Samuel 23. One of my favorite stories
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: when it comes to companionship is Jonathan and David. David
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: is hunted by Saul. Saul is in this crazed state
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: of mind. Saul is determined that David is trying to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: usurp the throne. So Saul has forgotten about fighting Philistines
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: and decided he needs to fight David and kill him.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: But in the meantime, Jonathan, Saul's son, has developed a
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: warm and supportive relationship with his brother in the faith, David.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Look at verse 14 of 1 Samuel 23. David stayed
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: in the wilderness in the strongholds and remained in the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: him every day. You have someone doing that to you?
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Some of you do. You understand. Saul sought him every day.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: But God did not deliver him into his hand. Now
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: David became aware. This adds to it. He became aware
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: that Saul had come out to seek his life while
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. You know,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: it's bad enough to have somebody on your tail, but
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: it's worse when you find out that they are. News
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: reached David in his hiding place. Saul is out to
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: get you. He's got his armies trained for you. He's
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: handed out pictures of you. They know what you look like.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: You better watch out. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: went to David at Horesh and encouraged him in God.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: You talk about a need for an adult fellowship. You
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: talk about a need for a Bible class. You talk
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: about the need to break down a congregation as big
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: as ours here in Fullerton and getting it into bite-sized chunks.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Don't take that literally. Getting the congregation into smaller groups
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: so that as cells we can support one another. Here's
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: an example of it. David had been before the masses. David,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: believe it or not, has already slain the giant. And
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: you would think David would be above this. No one
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: is above this. No one. Handling a giant is chicken
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: feed compared to handling the attack from someone as insidious
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: as Saul. And we need Jonathans to come and strengthen us.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: We need one another. One pastor's wife in the Northeast writes,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: my husband and I have occasionally felt on the edge
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: of an ill-defined despair. There were times when we felt
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: a variety of things, a desire to either quit or run,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: a feeling of anger, the temptation to fight back at someone,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the sense of being used or exploited, the weakness of inadequacy,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: and the reality of loneliness. She adds, Such attitudes can
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: easily conspire to reduce the strongest and the most gifted
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: to a state of nothingness. You can identify with that.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: This was David's lot. Now back to Thessalonians. This is
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the Thessalonian situation. They needed a Timothy, a New Testament Jonathan,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: as it were. I drop down to verse 5, 1
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Thessalonians 3, 5, for this reason. when I could endure
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Notice again, it's not just to see how you're doing.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: It wasn't a nosy curiosity. I wanted to see how
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: you were doing. Why? For fear that the tempter might
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: have tempted you and our labor should be in vain.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: That is so practical. One of the great battles of
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the young Christian is the adversary coming in when suffering attacks.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: The adversary finds that weak link or that chink in
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: the armor and penetrates. And you must have someone you
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: have worked with in the faith that you get concerned
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: about also. There are times that anxiety is good. Here
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: is one of those times. When you can't endure it
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: any longer, you pick up the phone, you call. It's
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: kind of a paraphrase of verse 5, I guess we
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: could say. When I could endure it no longer, I
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: sent a friend. I wrote a letter. I took time
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: from my schedule to check up on how you were.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: There's a practicality in this. We're not isolated granite islands
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: who live like rocks of Gibraltar. We're eroding pieces of
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: soil on the seashore, and that old wave is beating
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: against us. We need each other. And Timothy's presence must
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: have been an encouragement Great encouragement. Let me add here,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: it's on occasion wise to trace your churnings. You found
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: that true? Sometime you will churn at night over someone.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: You will wake up and you'll be churning over that person.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: You'll see their faces in front of you. You've had
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: that experience, haven't you? You haven't been able to get
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: them out of your mind. This is Paul's situation. When
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: I could endure it no longer, I sent to find out.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Don't ignore your churnings. Trace them. Many a person pays
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: many a dollar to someone to help them trace their churnings.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Why do I churn at this point? Why am I
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: uneasy about that? Another question. Why do I find myself
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: unable to get her out of my mind or him?
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: When they are traced back to an individual that you
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: worked with in the faith, check up. Find out. Verse
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: 5 is a good basis for that. For fear that
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: the tempter might have tempted them. And he says, and
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: our labor should be in vain. I didn't want to
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: look back and say all of those hours we spent
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: together were spent. Now, as I see it in vain now.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: To keep a right perspective in all of this, we
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: need some good theology. Back to verses 3 and 4.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Same chapter, same subject of suffering. He's been concerned about
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: the Thessalonians. Now look at the theology behind the suffering.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Verse 3. He sent Timothy to encourage, to strengthen them,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: verse 3, so that no man may be disturbed by
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: these afflictions. Before I go any further, I want to
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: analyze that first part of verse 3. He states a
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: fact that we can rely on. The fact is this,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: affliction need not unsettle God's people. A very interesting word
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: translated disturbed used only here in all of the New Testament.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: It's called a hapax legomena, spoken once. and never spoken
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: again in all of the New Testament. Only hapox, only once.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: So he's coined the word, he's drawn it from extra
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: biblical literature, and he's inserted it here under the guidance
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit to grab the attention of the reader.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: And if you had lived in that day, your attention
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: would have been grabbed. Interesting term. It comes from the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: wagging of a dog's tail. And I think if we
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: were to play on the word, as it seems Paul
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: is playing on it, he's saying, don't be misled by
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: the tails wagging. The whole idea is to be shaken
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: back and forth, but it grew in its etymology from
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the idea of a dog wagging its tail. And then
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: as you come up closer to it, it bites. And
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: if you are a runner, you know exactly what I'm
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: talking about. Never trust a dog that wags its tail.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Those that growl, you're probably pretty safe. They're going to
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: bite you. Those that wag their tails, they're going to
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: catch you off guard and you're going to be deceived.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: That's the word here. I don't want you to be
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: in the midst of the wagging of all of this
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: experience to be bitten, shaken, and hurt. The child of
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: God need not be unsettled by affliction. You know how
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: it happens? It comes out in questions. Doesn't God care
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: about me anymore? Isn't he the one who promised to
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: help me? How can God be good and permit this
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: to happen to me? Why doesn't he answer my prayer?
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Is he deaf? And in intense doubt, maybe all my
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: life I've believed wrong. You know somebody going through those
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: thoughts right now? You know why they are? They have
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: been deceived by affliction. Isn't it remarkable the insight you
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: get from scripture? Isn't it remarkable? God says things you
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: can never find in the university classroom, no matter how
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: intense your study may be. There are depths of wisdom
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: in God's book that you will not find in any
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: other book I sent him to strengthen and to encourage
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: you so that you wouldn't be full of doubt by
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: these afflictions. Now he explains it in a couple of ways.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: How can I keep from being disturbed by affliction? How
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: can I keep from having those unsettled doubts? First, to
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: remember that I have been destined for this. For you
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: yourselves know that we have been destined for this. We
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: just read it in Philippians 1, 27 to 29. God,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: in his sovereign and inscrutable plan, realized that pain had
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: to be a part of our training program. So he
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: destined it for us. Second, we have been warned ahead
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: of time. Verse four, for indeed, when we were with you,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: we kept telling you in advance that we were going
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: to suffer affliction. And so it came to pass. I
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: smiled because I had prepared two of my older children
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: for marriage as best I could. And one of my
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: pieces of counsel was the falling in love is wonderful.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Courtship is great. The wedding ceremony is a memory you'll
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: never forget. The honeymoon is, well, it's pretty good. But
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: when all of that has taken place and you are
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: now living life, roll up your sleeves, tighten your belt,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: it's tough. So when they go, not if, but when
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: they go through the difficulties in marriage, they have been forewarned.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: Same in the Christian life. There's no reason to be scandalized.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: There's no reason to be shocked because we have been
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: warned ahead of time. Unless you were led to Christ
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: and discipled by someone who told you a lie. Namely,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: trust Christ and all your problems will be solved. Then
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: you are in for a real shocker. But if you
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: have been faithfully and accurately trained, you have learned part
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: of God's training program. In fact, it's part of our
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: destiny is the suffering. And second, you have been warned
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: ahead of time it is going to come to pass.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: So you need not in your times of anger, temptation
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: to fight back, sense of being used or exploited. You
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: don't have to give in to those times. you can
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: stand firm through them. By the way, you can't if
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: you don't have Christ. You can no more enter into
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: this life that I'm describing than the man in the
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: moon without Christ. In order for there to be that
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: ramrod in your back, in order for you to be
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: able to stand firm against times of adversity, Christ must
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: be in place. In the nucleus of your life, you
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: are having received him by faith. That isn't automatic because
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: you were born into a Christian home or you have
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: come into a Christian community or you attend a church
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: that preaches the truth of the gospel. You individually and
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: independently must make that decision on your own. These Thessalonians
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: had so it fit. You may not have. You see,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: when you succumb to feelings of adversity, there are three
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: very normal responses. I don't want you to miss this.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Number one, resentment toward a former authority figure. Number two,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: isolation from Christian friends. Number three, indifference regarding former teaching.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: Let me say it again. When we succumb to the tests,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: when we give up, we Embrace three, perhaps more than three,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: but at least three attitudes. We have some kind of
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: resentment toward a former authority figure. We isolate ourselves from
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: former Christian friends. And third, we doubt truth that was
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: given to us in our former days. Let me show
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: you how all three were withstood by the Thessalonians. Look
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: at this personal response in verses 6, 7, and 8. But,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: but now, see that's a contrast. I was concerned. I
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: sent Timothy. But now, now Timothy has come back. He's
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: come to us from you. And he's brought us good
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: news of your faith and love. Isn't that great? Paul
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: was never petty. He was never just nosy. He was
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: concerned about how they were coming along in their walk
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: with Christ. And he says, you're doing great. Now note,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: and that you always think kindly of us. You might think,
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: why did he put that in there? Because one of
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: the signs of a twisted response to affliction is resenting
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: a former authority. They didn't. I got word that you
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: still love me. You still think kindly of me. Guess
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: who gets the business when a Christian in a congregation defects.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: The defecting Christian will often come back at the teacher.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Sometime it's the pastor. Sometime it's the one who counseled
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: him or her. And they will attack. Now, Paul is saying,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: I'm encouraged to know that you still think kindly. You
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: always think kindly of us. So you're doing well. You
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: refuse to blame me for what you're going through. Second,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: remember that The second, tendency to isolate oneself from former friends.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Look at what he says. You long to see us
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: just as we also long to see you. We want
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: to get together. You still want to get with me. Oh,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: there's a dozen stories that run through my mind. I'll
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: preserve you from them. So often it's the tendency when
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the person is in a time of yielding and distress
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: to those afflictions, They want to go to the other
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: side of the street. They don't want to answer your
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: phone calls. They don't want to relate to you. They
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: want to get alone. Worst place in the world to
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: be when in doubt is all alone. You need a friend,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: someone close like a Jonathan to support you. Paul says,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: you long to see us just as we long to
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: see you. And third. There's a firm commitment to spiritual truth.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: we were comforted about you through your faith. There it
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: is again. We were so encouraged to know you're still
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: believing in prayer. You're still trusting in God. You're still
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: counting on him to be glorified. Now, don't miss something.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Paul just kind of drops it in toward the end
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: of this paragraph. He says, for we really live if
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: you stand firm in the Lord. Does that surprise anybody else?
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: You'd think Paul would really live no matter what. No,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: that's not true. Nothing helped him stand firm and really
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: live like knowing his children of faith were. And it
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: was an encouragement to him to see them continue to grow.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: I want to point out a couple of things that
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: I have saved till the last. Now that we grasp
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: at least the flow of these eight verses, the first
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: thought that comes to my mind is this. Having our
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: comfort zone invaded as Christians is essential. It's not unfair.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Having our comfort zone invaded as Christians is essential. It
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: isn't unfair. You know a good example of that? The
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: same reason people say it's good not to have just
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: an only child. It's better to have several in the family. Why?
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Because when you have a brother or sister, they invade
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: your comfort zone. They get under your skin. They also
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: get into your closet.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: They.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: They have a way of dirtying dishes that you have
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: to clean. They have a way of messing up a
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: house that you have to vacuum. They have a way
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: of getting in your comfort zone. And we who are
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: from larger families would say that now that we look back,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: not then, but now that we look back, would say
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: that's the way to go. In fact, those who are
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: only children will often say, I missed something by not
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: having that give and take. See, it was essential. It
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: wasn't unfair. But far more important, secondly, suffering hardship as
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: soldiers in battle is expected. It's not unusual. Suffering hardship
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: as soldiers in a battle is expected. It's not unusual.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: If you lived back in the days of the Second
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: World War, you will remember a phrase that was said frequently.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: There's a war on. Remember hearing that? Remember saying that?
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Someone would ask you about something that seemed a little
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: extravagant that you were doing. They would say, how could
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: you do that? There's a war on. My dad had
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: a little rationing sticker that went on the right front
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: windshield of the car that I used to read, had
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: a little writing on it, had a letter on it,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: A or B or C, and it determined. And if
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: we were out just taking a drive and it looked
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: like we weren't really going anywhere with gasoline rationed as
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: it was, someone had the right to say, why are
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: you doing that? There's a war on. Why would they
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: say things like that? Because when a war is on,
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: you take stock of your life and you control, you
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: ration your heart on yourself. You give up certain things.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: That's the way it is when a war is on. Tertullian,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: in his Address to Martyrs, wrote, No soldier comes to
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the war surrounded by luxuries nor goes into action from
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: a comfortable bedroom, but from the makeshift narrow tent wherever
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: kind of hardness and severity and unpleasantness is to be found.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: Good words. I began with a quote. I want to
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: conclude with another one. Now I want you to hear
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: it well. I don't want you to fish for your keys.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: I don't want you to think about what's coming next
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: or getting out of the parking lot or getting two-year
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: adult fellowship. I want you to hear this. Conclusions are
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: at times even more important than introductions. Listen to this conclusion.
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  Speaker 1: And I quote, truth is avoided when it is painful.
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  Speaker 1: We can revise our map only when we have the
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  Speaker 1: discipline to overcome pain. To have such discipline, we must
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: be totally dedicated to truth. That is to say that
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  Speaker 1: we must always hold truth to be more important, more
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  Speaker 1: vital than our comfort. Conversely, we must always consider our
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: present discomfort relatively unimportant and indeed welcome it in the
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: service of the search for truth. Man, that's good. God
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  Speaker 1: has used every means conceivable to get some of your attention.
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  Speaker 1: And for some of you, he has not yet gotten it.
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  Speaker 1: He will not quit until he does. And he will
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  Speaker 1: bring you to a knowledge of the truth as he
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  Speaker 1: rips apart your comfort zone and addresses reality. Please listen
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  Speaker 1: and consider. Please. For some of you, it means coming
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: to faith in Christ. You know it, and I know it.
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  Speaker 1: and you just can't dodge it any longer, today is
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: the day for you to submit to Him. Today. And
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: quit putting it off. You'll have no better day than today.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: To those of you who need help in knowing how
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: to make that simple decision of faith in Christ, come
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  Speaker 1: and meet with our counselors today. Let's bow. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for being... Faithful to us in the warfare, Father, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for taking away the luxuries of the bedroom and
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  Speaker 1: the comforts of the kitchen and the soft padded carpet
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  Speaker 1: of a living room and pushing us into the streets.
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  Speaker 1: Enable us to learn and never forget what you are
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  Speaker 1: teaching us in the true sense to consider For those
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  Speaker 1: who this day need Christ, your son, don't let up
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: on them till they have bowed to him. May we,
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  Speaker 1: from this day forward, resist the temptation to avoid the pain.
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  Speaker 1: May we learn from it. Down that road, let's travel.
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  Speaker 1: For Jesus' sake, amen.
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, When Your Comfort Zone Gets the Squeeze,
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 1984, 1985, 1993, 2003, 2024, and 2026,
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.