Week 7 – Jeff Maness – April 14, 2019
In suffering, the example Jesus left is the experience we can live. The doctrine of suffering is often ignored in our American Christianity. If we don’t learn how to walk through suffering like Jesus, we will very easily be overcome by it when it comes.
Seven: Expectations
1 Peter 2:21 21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
Big Idea: In suffering, the example Jesus left is the experience we can live.
Big Question: How did Jesus walk through His suffering?
Main Scripture: Luke 23:43-46
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Luke 23:44-45 44 By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 45 The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.
Luke 23:46 46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.
These final words of Jesus are not the words of abandonment, but of an absolute and unshaken trust. — Ellicott Commentary
1. With an unshakable trust
These last words of Jesus corresponded to a prayer that Jewish mothers taught their children to say before going to sleep. This prayer is an expression of total trust in God. It comes from Psalm 31 in which King David put his future into the hands of the Lord God with the certainty that God would act in his favor. — Bible.org
Psalm 31:5 5 I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God.
Psalm 31:19 19 How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.
2. With an unwavering Hope
Doctrinally this saying from Jesus is of vast importance; for it emphatically asserts that for those who believe, the soul will exist apart from the body in the hands of the Father. — Pulpit commentary
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles (sufferings) are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
3. With an unrivaled strength
This cry was not the cry of defeat, but a cry of victory. It was not the cry of being conquered by death, but of conquering death. It was not a cry of a person who was a victim of circumstances, but One who is in control of His circumstances. As a commander who would dismiss his servant from his
presence, Jesus dismissed His own spirit and went to be with God the Father. — Dr. Michael Youssef
John 10:18 18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
Ephesians 1:19-20 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
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