2 Timothy
1:12 (KJV)
For the
which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day.
There is a question
commonly asked among spiritually minded people.
It is not
really a Bible question
I am not
personally sure the Bible even gives an answer for it.[1]
It is a
question that one particular group of believers sort of have to answer because
their doctrinal boundaries pretty much require it.
My personal
understanding of the Bible, in my opinion, doesn’t so desperately require the
answer.
The question
is, “Why to bad things happen to good people?”
Those who
take the highest view of the sovereignty of God need an answer for the question
because they teach that God is reason for everything.
It’s called
meticulous determinism.
The doctrine
teaches that God planned and created everything, including evil.[2]
If God
created evil then everyone has a right to ask the question, Why does God
inflict this evil on people He claims to love and who are following His Word as
closely as they are able?
· I do not believe God created evil.
· I believe God created beings, angelic and human,
with free will.
Some of
those beings chose to turn against God and be evil.
Because evil
is in this world, evil may happen to any of us.
I believe
God can and does use evil for good
But God
never does evil.
I said that
I don’t think the Bible directly answers the question, but I want to give you
what might be as close to a Biblical answer as you will find in the pages of
the Word of God.
Paul,
speaking to Timothy urged him not to be ashamed of Paul’s suffering and, in
verses 11-12, gives three points that answer why he personally suffered as he
did.
*I. BECAUSE OF HIS APPOINTMENT
2 Timothy
1:11-12a (KJV)
Whereunto I
am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
For the
which cause I also suffer…
The Bible
says,
2 Timothy
3:12 (KJV)
Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
It was part
and parcel with his calling that he would suffer.
Acts 9:15-16
(KJV)
But the Lord
said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
For I will
shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
It wasn’t
that God appointed him to suffer.
It was that
God appointed him to be an apostle to the Gentiles, which would draw the
attention of the ungodly who would then make him to suffer.
· Some people are called to minister in areas that
are very wicked – they have more exposure to evil
· Some people are called to ministries that draw
more attention from the evil
· The pastor of the church at Pergamos served
where Satan’s seat is.
· The pastor of the church in Philadelphia served
where revival was
Each pastor
was where God appointed him and each pastor’s experience was vastly different
because of where he had been appointed to serve.
Paul said
that he suffered for the cause of his appointment.
Secondly
Paul implied that he suffered
*II. BECAUSE OF HIS BOLDNESS
2 Timothy
1:12 (KJV)
For the
which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed…
Paul had
written in
Romans 1:16
(KJV)
For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
If Paul
hadn’t been quite as bold about his faith, perhaps he could have avoided some
suffering.
Think of the
boldness of this man.
When he was in the city of Lystra, the people
began to worship him as one of their false gods.
When he
urged them not to do it they
· Took him outside the city
· Stoned him and
· Left him there for dead
You would
think that, having survived the stoning, he would high tail it away from there
as quickly as he could.
Instead, he
went back into the city and spent the night before leaving the next day.[3]
In Philippi they beat Paul and Silas and
threw them into prison. An earthquake opened the door of his jail cell, but
instead of leaving, he stayed and led his jailor to the Lord.
The next
day, when the soldiers came to release him, he refused to leave until he saw
the rulers who had ordered his illegal beating face to face.[4]
Timothy was that same sort of man.
Foxe’s book
of Martyrs says that Timothy was stoned to death when he withstood the pagans
of Ephesus who were parading their idols in the streets.
He could
have stayed home that day and preached against the evil of idols next Sunday.
But he was
not ashamed.
He was bold.
And he
suffered for it.
Thirdly Paul
suggested that he suffered
*III. BECAUSE OF HIS PERSUASION
2 Timothy
1:12 (KJV)
…for I know
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed unto him against that day.
He just believed God and
believed that believing God was worth it.
Paul never backed down
from telling anyone the Gospel of Jesus Christ:
· Jews
· Gentiles
· Jailors
· Town clerks
· City magistrates
· High Priests and
· Kings
So persuaded was he that
Jesus Christ had risen from the grave in answer to Old Testament teaching and
to forgive the sins of all those who would believe upon Him that he worked
tirelessly and went everywhere telling everyone that message.
He wrote
Philippians 3:8-10 (KJV)
Yea doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ,
And be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
That I may know him, and
the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death;
He had given up:
· His reputation
· His career and
· His hope of earning his own righteousness
Because he was persuaded
that Jesus Christ had saved him and that Jesus Christ would keep him until he
was in heaven.
Conclusion
Bad things happen to
good people because bad things exist in this world.
· God doesn’t cause it
· God doesn’t plan it
But God can use it – if
we boldly accept our appointment and trust Him to keep us through it.
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