Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - There Is a Reason, Part 1: A Purpose in Your Pain

Episode Date: April 18, 2020

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One of the most depressing things that I hear people say so often is they'll say, I just don't see the purpose. What's the point? It might be in their marriage, it might be in their finances, it might be spiritually when it comes to the church. They'll say, what's the purpose? I just don't see the purpose. I'm exhausted. Why should I keep trying?

Why do I try to do what's right when it doesn't seem to make any difference at all? It just doesn't seem to matter. I don't see the purpose. There is a reason. I've heard it said that people hate pain. I wonder if I ask you guys, do you hate pain? How many of you say, I hate pain? I think most people would say, I hate pain.

If that's you, just go ahead and type it in. I hate pain. I'm going to argue, though, that's not completely accurate. it's my opinion that people don't hate pain what they hate is they hate pain without a purpose people hate pain when there's no reason they see attached to the pain for example if something bad happens and they don't see a reason there's a car wreck and someone gets hurt or you test positive for COVID-19 or you lose your job and you wonder God where are you in this I don't see a reason what's the purpose God I'm trying to do what's right I'm a good

person and I try to help people, but I just don't see the point. I would argue that people don't hate pain. What they hate is pain without a purpose. Because the truth is people can endure a lot of pain if there's a purpose. This is kind of crazy to me, but some people will actually pay money to experience pain as long as there's a purpose. For example, I know some people that will pay good money to run in a marathon.

Now, I've never run in a marathon before, but in my mind, I imagine about mile three, it starts to get painful. Then there's mile 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, I'm a little at 26. And people will pay to run in a marathon even though it's painful

because the payoff, the satisfaction, the fulfillment, the sense of accomplishment is worth the pain. I have some friends who enjoy CrossFit. I did CrossFit one time. 4,000 push-ups, 4,000 air squats, 4,000 burpees. And that was just the warm-up. Then the workout game, and it was incredibly painful,

but people would pay to endure that kind of pain because there's a payoff. There's a sense of accomplishment. You feel better. You have camaraderie. you enjoy the people that you're with, you get in better shape. I miss my front row at church, a whole group of people who now enjoy the gift of sobriety. So many of them endured the pain of detoxing withdrawals, but they did it for the payoff.

My wife, Amy, is here, and she blessed our family with six kids. That's a basketball team with a six. sub. That's a lot of kids. And she gave birth six times. I was there for all six of them, of course. I only passed out one time. My record's pretty good. I stood with her five out of the six times. That looks painful to me. But when you hold that baby, the baby is worth it. People don't hate pain. What they hate is pain with no purpose. People can endure a lot of of pain if there is a purpose. I wonder how many of you right now that you're living in a season that just feels completely uncertain. I think everybody would say, this is not easy. I don't see

a whole lot of good in this. There's a lot of frustration. There's a lot of pain. The title of this message is, there's purpose in your pain. Father, we, We ask that by the power of your word and the goodness of your presence, that in the middle of a season of uncertainty, doubts, frustration, weariness, pain, that we could start to sense your purpose, your goodness, your provision. God speak to us today. Help us to see there is a reason, there is a purpose, and our pain. In Jesus' name, we pray, and wherever you are, would you just say it aloud, say amen and amen.

I want to share with you a verse in the Bible. It's actually the words of Jesus that used to bother me. Is that legal to say that the words of Jesus bother you? These words bothered me. It's in Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 22, verse 31. And Jesus was talking to Simon, whose name became Peter. so this is Simon Peter, and Jesus says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.

So Jesus is saying to Simon Peter, the devil wants permission to attack you, to try to hurt you, to test you, to put you through some trials. Jesus could have said, Peter, you're going to be embarrassed, you're going to be humiliated because you're not going to succeed, You're going to fall short.

You're going to fail. And this is going to be a season that's more difficult than you could ever. Imagine. Let's look at it again. Simon, Simon, Jesus says, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. And then Jesus says, but I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. That bothered me. The devil wants permission to attack.

And Jesus says, okay, you can have permission, but I'll be praying for it. you. I'd be kind of like, hey, skip the prayers and just run the devil out of town. Just tell him no. I mean, tell them no and just kick some devil boot-aid. Just see my edit on the fly. Okay, just run the devil off. The devil's asking Jesus, hey, can I attack and notice that Jesus didn't cause it, but for whatever reason he allowed it and said, I'll be praying for you. I don't know about you, but it feels like we're under attack right now. Just like ongoing, when is this thing ever going to stop? The frustration, the people that are sick, the people that are hurting, the people that are in need,

the people that are losing their jobs, the business leaders that can't meet and are having to make horrible decisions to lay off the people that they love. And it just goes on in another week and another week. And we wonder, when in the world will the world ever get back to normal? those of you that maybe it's more than just the COVID-19 crisis, maybe you're just praying and praying and praying that God would let you get married. That's your heart's desire. And now the odds weren't good before.

You couldn't find anybody when you went to work. Now you can't even go out of your house. And when you do, everybody's wearing a mask at the grocery store. It's incredibly frustrating. God, when are you going to hear the cries of my heart? Some of you, you might have felt underemployed before you had a college degree or a master's in your job. job didn't quite seem to measure up to your preparation. And now you're not just under-employed or

undervalued, but you're unemployed wondering, God, where are you in the middle of this? You might feel like you're failing right now in your business, in your marriage, as a parent, as a provider. whenever it feels like the devil is attacking when he's testing you it's important to remember that sometimes God's preparation comes packaged as pain sometimes God's preparation it comes packaged God's preparation, it comes packaged as pain. In other words, there is a purpose in your pain. God might be using the pain that we're enduring to do something in us before he does something through us.

The pain that we're experiencing may be preparation for the purpose that God has prepared for us. In fact, I want to show you this in the story with Simon Peter. Now, I don't know about you all, but Peter makes me feel really, really good. because the guy continues to mess up. How many of you have a friend that you keep around like Peter just to make yourself feel better and look better? Like, yeah, you're my friend.

No matter how stupid I look, you always are stupid. Everybody needs a friend like this. The devil comes after Peter and attacks him, and I want to show you just the high points of Peter's failures. There are so many of them, but we'll just look at some of the bigger ones that we see in scripture. Let me give you these scriptures.

One of them is found in Matthew 16, and this is where Jesus actually predicts his death. He says, God sent me to give my life. On the third day, God will raise me from the dead. And what does Peter do? Peter essentially rebukes Jesus for clearly defining his mission. This is why I came, and Peter says, no! Jesus is like, this is why God sent me. And Peter says, no!

And Jesus looks at Peter and says, get behind me. You're a stumbling block. And then he calls Peter Satan. Get behind me Satan. Now, here's a little thing. Anytime Jesus calls you Satan, that means what you did was not good. He calls Peter Satan. I like the meme.

I don't know if you've seen the one that says, The devil whispered in my ear, you're not going to make it through this. And I yelled back, get behind me six feet, you idiot. That's just a little COVID-19 joke in case you're wondering, get back six feet. Don't get so close to me. Here, Jesus is declaring his divine calling, and Peter says to him, no, this isn't going to happen to you.

Matthew 26 is another failure in the Garden of Gassimony, as Jesus was wrestling with his calling, he tells Peter and others, stay on guard, just stay awake. Keep watch. And Jesus comes back a little while later, and Peter's taken a nap. He saw in logs.

He's sleeping away. John 18, later in that very same story, Jesus is arrested by some Roman soldiers. He's going to do what he clearly explained he was called to do, and Peter again tries to stop it. He draws his sword, this is funny to me, he swings for the Roman soldier's head, and he doesn't even hit the target.

He can't even accomplish what he's trying to do. He misses the guy's head, he clips his ear, he cuts off the ear. And Jesus is kind of like, Peter, calm down, calm down. Put your sword back, you're getting in the way of my purpose. Then it's funny if you read the text, Jesus is like, find the guy's ear. I can just imagine. Where's that ear?

It rolled off somewhere, like, find the ear. It's in the bushes. Give me the ear. And then Jesus goes and heals the ear. Then there's the big one. And you see this whenever Jesus prophesied that Peter would end up denying Jesus three times, even before the rooster crowed, and Peter boldly said,

that'll never, ever happen. I will always be in your corner. I'm your guy. If you can count on anybody, you can count on me. And three different times, three times. Little girl comes up and says,

aren't you one of the disciples? And Peter looks like, I don't know who you're talking about. Three times. What's incredibly painful about this is scripture says in Luke 22 that Jesus actually saw Peter do it, and their eyes met at the moment of the third betrayal.

Scripture says this, the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster froze today, you will disown me three times. And Peter went outside and wept bitterly. Wept bitterly. The pain felt like it was more than he could take. I'm just such a failure. I let God down.

I haven't lived up to my potential. I'm such a failure. I know so many people that feel like this right now. I know business owners who feel like I should have seen something like this coming and now I'm having to lay off good people. I know those who are working from home that feel like I just can't get it going.

I'm trying so hard, but it's so difficult to be motivated and I've got kids everywhere. I know those that are home educating and feel like, you know, my kids are going to be done forever because of this time with me. I'm such a failure, and here I am. I'm supposed to have the fruits of the spirit. I'm supposed to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

gentiless, faithfulness, and self-control. And the only fruits I have are anger, anxiety, frustration, fear, worry. I ate a whole gallon of ice cream and a half a cake, and that was just my warm up. Everybody else is having great family time. Praise the Lord. We did puzzles, and we played games, and this is so great. And the only game you want to play is hide and don't seek. I'm going to hide.

Don't anybody come seek me. Supposed to be great for families and we want to make our families disappear. Where was God in the middle of Peter's failures? Where was God in the middle of his pain? His regret. There was a purpose. There was a reason. Sometimes God's preparation comes packaged as pain.

That's why I try to tell myself, don't just look at life from a perspective of pain. This is so easy to do. It's especially easy in this season just to look and say, well, here's what I've lost and here's what's not fair, and here's what I used to have, and here's what I was going to do, and we were going to go here for vacation,

and we had this much money saved, now that's gone and this just isn't great. Here's what I was seeing and now here's what I have. Don't just look at life from a perspective of pain, but see your pain through a perspective of purpose. Realize that God may be doing something in you before he does something through you. That the difficult thing that you're going through right now,

it's not without purpose. God may have allowed it to strengthen you in a way, that only this pain could strengthen you. In fact, I love what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 828. One of the most quoted verses in the Bible with good reason. He says, we know that in all things, somebody say in all things, we know that in all things. That means that in the promotion or in the layoff. That means in the blessing of the relationship or in the breakup.

That means when you make great decisions and you're proud of them or you make the decisions that you regret, we know that in all things, our good God works for the God. good of those who love him. Watch this, who have been called according to his purpose. Somebody say purpose. He's been called according to his purpose. God works in all things, everything, whatever you're going through right now. This season, God works in all things for the good according to God's purpose, not according to your pain. What I want to do is change the perspective of which I look at life and see God's hand of purpose even working in the middle of my pain.

And I know I can only imagine what some of you are thinking right now because I feel for you, you're thinking, but you don't know how much I'm hurting. And you don't know how desperate I feel. And it's easy for you, preacher boy, to act like everything's fine in your little preacher world. But I'm really hurting right now. Maybe the very thing that you've dreaded the most

is what God might use to develop you in a way that he can only use that. In fact, the stronger, the pain might be an indication of the bigger, the purpose that God has on the other side. In fact, we talked about the words of Jesus that frustrated me. I'll give you some other words that frustrated me.

In James writings, James says this in Scripture, he says that to consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, that's just kind of plain weird, right? Like, hey, you're supposed to be happy whenever things go bad. Like, wheehoo, here's a problem. Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds. Why? Because there's a purpose. There's a purpose in your pain. James said, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. There's a reason. There's a purpose. James says, let perseverance finish its work so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Because sometimes God's preparation comes packaged as pain. In fact, I want to look again at Luke's gospel, Luke 22, verses 31 and 32. I told you this was a frustrating verse to me, and it can be. Look again at what Jesus said. He said, Simon, Simon. Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. Then watch what Jesus says, Peter, Simon.

And when you've turned back, strengthen your brothers. I prayed for you. And the very thing that your spiritual enemy wants to use to hurt you, I'm going to use to strengthen you. You will turn back. And when you do, you're going to be different. You're going to be stronger. You will be prepared for my purpose.

The pain was actually preparation. If you don't know, after the resurrection of Jesus, after he did fulfill his purpose and give his life, and God raised him from the dead. The first person to preach on the power of the resurrection and forgiveness was Peter, who preached at Pentecost. The pain was the preparation to preach at Pentecost when he said, repent of your sins because he knew what it meant to be forgiven of sins.

And 3,000 people gave their lives to Christ and became disciples on that day because God was doing something in the middle of the pain. You may not always see it, but by faith choose to believe it. God, give me eyes to see your purpose in the middle of the pain. I choose to believe it. I'll tell you a little bit of my story. It's hard to believe. It was only six weeks ago.

It seems like six years ago. How many of you would agree that like one day equals three months in COVID-19? time. It's crazy. It was six weeks ago that Pastor Bobby and I came back from Germany. And we had dinner with a guy that ended up testing positive. We took selfies with them, hugged him, prayed with them, sat right next to him. And so we thought we were the people most likely bringing the virus back to our state. At that time, there were no cases in Oklahoma. And we thought, we're going to be the people that bring this here, and we could cost innocent people their lives.

National news story, Pastor Craig, Pastor Bobby, and we were alone and quarantined. And it doesn't seem like that big of a deal now, but at the time, I felt stripped of all purpose. I felt useless like I was taken out of the game. I battled this real sense of depression and feeling all alone, and so I realized, okay, there's got to be a purpose.

My purpose is that I'm going to be prepared when I come out. So I worked 14, 15, 16 hour days. I'd get up 3.30, 4 a.m. And I would write until I'd go to bed. I'd take a break to work out and a break to watch one Netflix show, of which I didn't even hit that target on every day. I just worked and work to work. I came out with messages prepared all the way through the end of May.

I was prepared. And then there was no church and physical building. when I got out. And I have not preached one single message that I wrote in 14 days of quarantine. Where are you in that God? Then, and my pain is not anything compared to what many people are going through right now,

but as a person who has the heart of a shepherd, it's a metaphor in the Bible, that Jesus is the good shepherd, the pastor is a little shepherd, and then the people, we're all a bunch of sheep. Right now, the pain that I feel is that since we can't gather, it feels to me like the door to the sheep pen is open and like the sheep can wander.

And what horrifies me is knowing that there are wolves out there, that we have a spiritual enemy who wants to pick you off, pick you off, to steal from you, to hurt you, your family. And I know because many of you told me, oh, but we're so close right now. We're with our life group and we're so close. And I know that's true for some of you,

but I am so afraid for so many of you. I'm so afraid that in your boredom, you're wandering and now maybe you're glancing again at pornography. It's going to poison your soul. And I know that there are those of you who weren't relying on the wrong chemicals, the drinks and the pills, and all of a sudden now you've gone to those things. And I know that there are some marriages that are doing good

because we have time together and others that you're hanging by a thread. And it just, it wrecks me. I know, I know I'm going to see a purpose. But I don't see one right now. Like, I don't see it right now. There's a good news. What I found in walking with Jesus for three decades is if you look at life in any one snapshot,

one moment, one day, it can be easy to be disillusioned to feel like God's not using that. Where is he? This isn't fair. There's no purpose. What's the reason? I don't see a purpose. If you look at life in any single snapshot

It's so easy to miss what God might be doing. But what I found is if you look at life over any extended period of time, you look over a five-year period and then glance back to that snapshot of pain, you can say, oh, there it is. Now I see how God used it. I didn't see it at the time.

I would never wish it on anybody. I wouldn't want to go through it again, but I'm so glad because of what God did in me. There was a purpose in the middle of that pain. So by faith, I'm not looking at life from a lens perspective of pain. instead I'm looking believing I will see God's purpose what will be for you man I don't know I don't know what it'll be for you some of you right now you've lost jobs you feel like you've lost hope you've got no idea you feel maybe angry or frustrated or just worn out and afraid the greater the pain perhaps the greater the purpose that's coming

how might God use it in your life? Maybe for some of you, you will connect with your children in a very real way for the first time in so long, intimately getting involved in their world. Some of you, it may strengthen your marriage. And I'm not talking about the easy way of strengthening your marriage. Like, oh, praise God, we have time together.

It might be the boom, boom, boom, we don't like each other. And you realize we've got to address some problems that we're underlying a long time. time ago, it's time for us to get some help, and on the other side of the pain you're experiencing now, you may see the purpose and blessing as God brings healing into your marriage. For some of you, I just believe there will be ministries born out of this time. You'll see opportunities and ways to meet needs to help people. Others of you, it might be a business. It might be what felt like a failure. Actually, it was a launching pad to something else because God took you out of your comfort

zone. And all with all of my heart, I believe that there will be those of you, that this very difficult, this very painful time will rock you out of your spiritual complacency, knock you off of your self-sufficiency, to where you come to a point of desperation, where all you can do is cry out to a God who was already there and waiting to draw near to you, the moment you draw near to him. Is it hard sometimes? Yeah, it's hard. But there is a reason. Our God is working in all things to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. What's the purpose for this season? I don't know completely right now. But with every bit of faith in me, I know God will show his faithfulness.

Look for it. Search for it. Believe it's there because our God is that good. And when you've turned back, strengthen your brothers. Make a difference. Declare the goodness of God. Declare his faithfulness. Give him glory in all that you do.

Let his goodness be evident to all that you meet. because with our God, there is always a reason. There is a purpose. Maybe this season of pain is preparation for the purpose that is to come. So Father, today for those that are hurting, we ask that the power of your spirit would do what only you can do. God, give them endurance. May we consider it pure joy when we face these trials,

knowing you're doing something in us to develop us, to prepare us for the purpose that you have ahead. Today, as you're reflecting those of you that would say, I want to trust God for his purposes. You can just lift your hand in your bedroom and your living room. You can just type it in the chat. I'm trusting God. I'm trusting God. I'm trusting God. I may not see it right now, but by faith I believe it.

I'm trusting God. Father, according to your word, we trust in you. you with all of our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding, God, but in all of our ways, acknowledging you. God, for those who feel like there's not a point, it's not worth it. I pray, God, by the power of your spirit, you would comfort them knowing that you will use all things to bring about good. God, give us eyes to see your purpose. that we could fulfill your plan and give you glory and all that we do.

Help us to trust. Help us to trust you. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches and living rooms and on the other side of computers and TV screens and mobile devices, there may be some of you who you recognize. I'm missing out on what God wants for me. If we sat down and could just kind of have like a coffee six feet apart and one day right next to each other again.

And I ask you, you know, how you're doing spiritually? You might say right now, I don't know. I'm kind of a wreck. What I hope you'll understand is that our God is a good God and his great desire is to reveal his goodness to you. Our God is so good and so loving that he didn't just shout his love from heaven, but he showed his love on earth when he became one of us in the person of his son, Jesus. Jesus, born of a virgin, he lived the perfect life without ever sinning or disobeying God, was obedient even to death on a cross.

He gave his life and our God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, no matter where you are, no matter how much you've failed, no matter how far you've fallen short, Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven. You would be made completely brand new. You may look back and say, oh my gosh, I would have never been in a physical building

but I'm watching online right now. That's the purpose. God brought me to him for this moment. You need his grace. You need his forgiveness. Just say, yes, Jesus. I turn from my sins. I give my life to you.

Those of you at church online, click right below me. Those of you in a chat just say, I need his forgiveness. I'm giving my life to Jesus. I'm giving my life to Jesus. I'm giving my life to Jesus. And as you call on him today,

he will hear your prayer, he will forgive your sins, and he will make you new. Just type it in, click below me, and just pray aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus save me and make me new.

Fill me with your spirit so I can trust you. and follow you and serve you. Thank you, God. There's a purpose, the purpose to know you, to show your love, to do your will, to live out your plan for my life. Prepare me for your purpose,

whatever it takes. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name, I pray. wherever you are right now can you just give our God praise thank him for who he is thank him for his grace thank him for his goodness to work in all things to bring about good lift up your voices will you today let's give our God some praise