Woundedness + Weakness = Worship

The Big Idea

For suffering to result in worship, we must face our woundedness and our weaknesses.

The Expanded Big Idea

In order for suffering to produce worship, we must face our woundedness (the sins that happened to us) and our weaknesses (the struggles occurring within us) face-to-face with Christ.

Paul’s Candor: 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Paul insisted that we not live in denial. The Christian life is a life of truth—even truth about the evils that happen to us, and the struggles that dwell within us.

Paul honestly faced his suffering face-to-face with Christ. He never pretended. He was never so heavenly minded that he denied earthly reality.

Paul candidly faced what happened to him—his external wounds.

Wounds: “We do not want you to be agnostic [agnoeō] [denying reality, refusing to face truth], about the troubles we experienced.

Paul lamented to God, to others, and to himself what was happening in him—his internal weakness. These weaknesses were not sin. They were normal, human, finite responses to the evils of a fallen world.

Weaknesses: We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt the sentence of death.

Paul never denied his wounds and weaknesses. Nor did his wounds and weaknesses magically vanish when Paul worshipped. Instead, by facing his wounds and weaknesses with candor, Paul then worshipped in the midst of his wounds and weaknesses.

Worship: These things happened to us so that we might not rely upon ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

Christlike Suffering Includes Lamenting, Groaning, Grieving, and Even Despairing

Paul’s model conveys the exact message found throughout the Bible. Godly, Christlike suffering includes lament, groaning, grieving, and even despairing. A few examples…

In Job/Job 3:1 with Job 42:7: After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth…. After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

In Laments Psalms/Psalm 88:15-18: From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me. You have taken from me friend and neighbor—darkness is my closest friend.

In Lamentations/Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:13-18: The Lord has pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink. He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

In the Garden/Jesus/Matthew 26:37-38: Jesus took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

In Romans 8:23, 26/Groaning Until Heaven: We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10/Paul Delighting in Weakness: Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

“Suffer Well”?

Biblically, “suffer well” is NOT limited to healing hope, though it includes that. Biblically, “healing hope” does not eradicate present hurt.

To suffer well means to candidly face our pain, feel our wounds, and admit that we have indeed been victimized in this fallen, evil, sinful world.

Suffering well is to lament, groan, grieve, feel, and hurt. It is never to ignore pain or to deny reality.

Suffering well never denies the reality of sinful victimization. It never turns a blind eye to the wounds caused by evil and sin.

Historically, suffering well united hurt and hope. Throughout the history of Christian soul care, soul physicians simultaneously provided sustaining comfort that communicated “it’s normal to hurt,” and healing encouragement that communicated “it’s possible to hope.”

Reject the False Gospel of Emotional Health and Wealth

The false gospel of emotional health and wealth creeps into Evangelical Christianity and into the modern biblical counseling movement. In suffering, this false gospel teaches several lies:

The False Gospel Lie: If we are “really spiritual,” then in suffering we won’t think about our wounds and will barely feel our hurts. Our painful emotions will melt away in a maze of other-worldly make-believe. The Gospel Truth: This false gospel of emotional health and wealth claims eternal promises as if they are present-day promises. Revelation 21:4 is God’s promise for heaven, notHis promise for today: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The False Gospel Lie: If we are “really Christlike,” then in suffering we will quickly move from hurting to healing hope. Healing hope crushes all of our hurts. Future victory vanquishes all current pain. The Gospel Truth: Victory and victimization co-exists until heaven. Worship and woundedness co-exist until heaven.

The False Gospel Lie: Christians don’t use words like “trauma,” or “victim,” or “wounds” because we are more than conquerors. The Gospel Truth: In Romans 8, where Paul uses “more than conquerors,” he also talks about life-long groaning until heaven. We groan until glory.