3. Justification is preparation for suffering
”Entering into peace with God”
Relationship is the context for suffering
”Experiencing the presence of God”
Holiness is the purpose for suffering
”Understanding the purpose of God”
Acceptance is the response for suffering
”Cooperating with the plan of God”

4. ”Entering into peace with God”
Justification is preparation for suffering
”Entering into peace with God”
1Pe 3:17  For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

5. Rom 5:3-4  And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

6. "I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.”
— Margaret Thatcher

7. ”Experiencing the presence of God”
Relationship is the context for suffering
”Experiencing the presence of God”
Heb 12:6  FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

8. ”Experiencing the presence of God”
Relationship is the context for suffering
”Experiencing the presence of God”
Heb 12:6  FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
The discipline of calling us to and holding us to a costly standard that causes suffering.

9. …tribulation brings about perseverance; …
Heb 12:7  It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

10. 2Ti 3:12  Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
“There is another type of suffering which comes when we deliberately open ourselves and are vulnerable to others for the sake of Christ. This is the suffering Jesus experienced when betrayed by Peter and Judas. To selflessly love others necessarily means vulnerability, and vulnerability inevitably means suffering.”–

11. Vulnerability For the cause of the Kingdom
Staying in a difficult relationship for the sake of obedience and a redemptive cause.
Sharing the Gospel or your testimony and risking or experiencing rejection or derision.
Giving for the sake of the Kingdom when there are unmet personal needs and desires.
Helping others when there’s no obligation but because God stirred your heart.
Reading your Bible in spite of competing interests for your time and attention.

12. Serving in ministry when little benefit is realized and much investment is required.
Obedience to a principle or precept when an easier but wrong path is available.
Being viewed as an imbecile for not believing the latest theories of evolution, psychology, ethics, or on any number of other subjects.
Commitment to a promise made for the sake of your word and God’s glory.
Returning kindness for evil as a matter of Biblical principle.
Faithfulness to gather for worship when it is costly and not convenient.

13. Holiness is the purpose for suffering
”Understanding the purpose of God”
Heb 12:10  For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

14. Holiness is the purpose for suffering
”Understanding the purpose of God”
It would seem cruel to discipline a child who “did not deserve it”. Our frame of reference tends to cast the discipline of suffering as repercussion for sin instead of production of holiness.

15. Rom 5:3-4  And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

16. 2Co 2:9  For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.

17. William Barclay described endurance as "the courageous acceptance of everything life can do to us and the transmitting of even the worst event into another step on the upward way."

18. ”Cooperating with the plan of God”
Acceptance is the response for suffering
”Cooperating with the plan of God”
The word acceptance is derived from the Latin root ‘accipere’ which means to receive or take what is offered.

19. Acceptance has been defined as the “abandonment of dysfunctional change agendas and an active process of feeling feelings as feelings, thinking thoughts as thoughts, remembering memories as memories, and so on”.

20. J. B. Phillips understood this as he paraphrased James 1:2-4: "When all kinds of trials crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they have come to test your endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men (and women) of mature character."

21. We will receive it, but will we accept it?
Suffering:
We will receive it, but will we accept it?
“Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.”

22. We will receive it, but will we accept it?
Suffering:
We will receive it, but will we accept it?
“Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.”
1Co 2:14  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

23. Hebrews 13:12-13  Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.