Lesson for May 17, 2020
Suffering and Testing in the Christian Life
Lesson 1
Philippians 1:29, “For to you, it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”
I Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such is common to man; and God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted (tested) beyond what you are able, but with the temptation (testing) will provide a way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
Punitive Suffering
Punitive is defined as inflicting punishment. For a believer in Christ, there are two categories of suffering that involve punishment. The first is self-induced misery and the second is divine discipline. These two categories of suffering occur when a believer fails to develop their spiritual life by the consistent study and application of Bible doctrine.
Self-Induced Misery
Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Self-induced misery is a result of the violation of the Law of Volitional Responsibility. The Law of Volitional Responsibility states that all decisions in life have a consequence, either good or bad. When a believer makes a bad decision in life from a position of weakness, the inevitable result is always self-induced misery, if only for a minute. (Galatians 6:7)
Every human being (even unbelievers) operate under this law and since God gave us free will, it is our choice as to what our decisions will be, good or bad. These decisions determine the course of a person’s life. For a believer in Christ, their decisions from their free will determine whether or not they will have a spiritual life and whether that life will glorify God.
The Law of Volitional Responsibility means that a believer is responsible for their own decisions and actions. Under this law, a believer cannot blame another person for their unhappiness or misery. Even suffering from outside sources is never an excuse for unhappiness or misery for a believer. If your happiness depends on others or circumstances, then you are not relying the problem-solving device of sharing the happiness of God. There is never an excuse for a believer in Jesus Christ to be unhappy!
It is the responsibility of every believer to take control of their own spiritual life by using the two power options provided by God during the Church Age in which we live. Those power options are the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine. Using these two power options a believer is to reside in God’s power system called the Divine Dynasphere. The Divine Dynasphere is an encapsulated environment where Bible doctrine has been given number one priority and a believer is executing the Protocol Plan of God.
Failure to take control of your spiritual life is caused by arrogance. Rejection of God’s plan, purpose and will for a believer’s life can be classified as arrogance, believing that a believer’s plan is superior to God’s. This is nothing more than self-deception. Arrogance is total divorcement from reality and leads to self-induced misery. Self-deception leads to self-justification and self-justification leads to self-absorption, which we call the arrogance complex. Instead of taking the responsibility for their own flawed thoughts and actions, believers in arrogance blame others, their surroundings, their upbringing, bad luck, the devil or even God. Everyone is responsible for their own decisions!
Personal Sin
The source of personal sin, human good and evil is a person’s own volition (free will). Personal sin is violation of the principles, laws, standards or will of God. The sin nature which is imputed to every human being at the moment of physical birth is the source of temptation, but a person’s volition is the source of all personal sin.
Temptation is not sin, but succumbing to, or saying yes to temptation is sin. God has provided solutions to personal sin. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all personal sins when He died on the Cross. Therefore, a person who places their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation will never suffer the penalty for any category of sin. However, the sin nature that we are born with is not eradicated at salvation and must be dealt with by believers after salvation.
Dealing with our sin nature and the temptation to commit personal sin can only be successfully dealt with through the power of God the Holy Spirit and application of Bible doctrine that has been stored in the soul. We can classify personal sins into three categories that are consistent with the Word of God: mental attitude sins, verbal sins and overt sins. No one is immune from any of these categories of personal sin, but they can be controlled with God’s help and power. Mental attitude sins include such sins as arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, self-pity, hatred, worry, guilt and revenge motivation. Verbal sins include sins such as maligning, gossip, character assassination and lying. Overt sins include such sins as murder, theft, adultery and drunkenness.
Human Good
Human good is man’s righteousness, which does not measure up to the God’s divine righteousness. There are certain human good works that are beneficial for others like helping the legitimate poor or those with illnesses. But when the human good works of mankind are offered to God for His love and approval, they fall well short of His divine standard of righteousness. Religion typically seeks God’s approval and love based on human good works. However, Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and His divine righteousness. At the moment of salvation, God imputes His very own righteousness to every believer in Christ. (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:21-22: II Corinthians 5:21)
Evil
Evil is a system of thinking that is contrary to the will of God and in fact is Satan’s policy as the ruler of this world system in which we live. Satan’s system of evil is carried out by an army of well-organized fallen angels called demons. His evil influence can be seen in a variety of ways and in a variety of organizations including but not limited to governments, politics, entertainment, social programs, religion, education, family, etc.
When believers fail to live in accordance with the policies, doctrines and principles found in the Word of God, the Bible, they are by default living in accordance with satanic policies, doctrines and principles. The most miserable people of the face of the earth are not unbelievers, they are believers who have rejected the Christian Way of Life and become the enemies of the Cross of Christ. They have not lost their salvation since that is impossible, but they have destroyed their spiritual lives and receive divine discipline as a result. For this reason, they are the most miserable people on earth and also suffer self-induced misery. Recovery from this miserable state is possible only through the proper application of Bible doctrine beginning with the utilization of the Rebound Technique, which is naming, admitting, acknowledging, or citing your know sins to God. (I John 1:9) After being restored to fellowship with God and being filled with Holy Spirit, a believer can start on the road to the recovery of their spiritual life and the happiness and the success God initially designed for them as believers. (Galatians 5:16-24)
There will always be a certain amount of suffering for every believer because Satan has total control of the world system in which we live. However, self-induced misery can be avoided by means of the application of the truth found in the Word of God.
Sometime in eternity past God the Father designed a plan for mankind based upon His grace, His righteousness, His justice and His perfect character. God is perfect and His plan is perfect, even with the introduction of man, who would become imperfect. God’s plan depends on God’s grace: in salvation Jesus Christ accomplishes the plan; in the Christian Way of Life the Holy Spirit accomplishes the plan; in eternity God the Father accomplishes the plan. It is always God who accomplishes the plan. Therefore, it is always grace. (John 3:16,18; Ephesians 1:1-14; I Corinthians 12:4-11; II Corinthians 5:8)
Under God’s grace policy certain principles or divine laws were established to ensure the function and the perpetuation of the human race. These principles or laws are called the Laws of Divine Establishment and are given by God to believers and unbelievers alike. Within these laws there is no discrimination based on race, nationality, gender or any other factor.
God’s Laws of Divine Establishment apply equally to all members of the human race in all dispensations. This means that an unbeliever, can have a peaceful, happy life in a limited way, if they apply these principles. On the other hand, failure to abide by these principles or laws by individuals or nations brings only disaster and self-induced misery.
The fact that an unbeliever can avoid self-induced misery by application of God’s Laws of Divine Establishment means that the Protocol Plan of God for believers which includes these laws is far superior. Therefore, no believer has an excuse for being miserable in this life. Strength of soul for the unbeliever can come only through the Laws of Divine Establishment, but the believer’s strength of soul comes from the two power options of the Protocol Plan of God, which are the filling of God the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine in the soul.
Protocol is strict adherence to precisely correct procedure. In the case of a believer, protocol is strict adherence to the commands from God and using the correct procedure for carrying out those commands. These commands and the precisely correct procedures are found in only one place, the Word of God. By learning and applying the truth found in the Bible, a believer can fulfill God’s purpose, plan and will. When this truth is presented from the Word of God in a systematic manner, it allows any believer to grow spiritually (regardless of I.Q.) by following God’s plan.
God, in His grace, has set up certain protocols that must be strictly adhered to if a believer is to advance in his spiritual life. Random intake of Bible doctrine will not accomplish the goal. If a believer is to properly execute God’s protocol plan, he must be consistent with his intake and application of Bible doctrine. There is no other plan for believers in this Age.
During the Church Age, in which we live, believers receive all the necessary tools for the fulfillment of the Protocol Plan of God. The objective for believers should be to reach the status of spiritual maturity, which results in a tactical victory over Satan in the Angelic Conflict. Only by residing in God’s system under the control of the Holy Spirit can a believer reach this status.
God’s policy for dealing with mankind is always His grace. His grace begins with providing salvation through Jesus Christ. Since Christ paid the penalty for the sin of the entire human race, anyone can have eternal life and be saved from eternal separation from God. All that God requires is a simple act of faith in Jesus Christ (apart from any human merit). This simply means that you are relying (trusting) upon Jesus Christ for eternal life and not your good works or anything else. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
After salvation, God’s policy continues to be grace. Only by orienting to His grace can a believer execute the Protocol Plan of God. The Christian Way of Life was not designed to be a life of human good works performed as a means of gaining the approbation (approval) of God. The Christian Way of Life is a life of thinking divine viewpoint and the divine production that results. Divine production can be visible or invisible. (Titus 2:12)
God’s power system is based on virtue (strength of character) and integrity (a strict adherence to divine truth). You cannot adhere to something that you know absolutely nothing about. For a believer with positive volition, virtue is motivational when directed toward God and functional when directed toward mankind or circumstances. In other words, when you begin to learn about God, His character and His attributes, you become motivated to love Him and depend on Him in every circumstance of life. The natural result of your love for God will be impersonal (unconditional) love for all mankind, based on the virtue and integrity that you have developed as a result of knowing God.
Every believer must take responsibility for his own decisions since he will be accountable before God for those decisions. Reversing the trend of making bad decisions from a position of weakness can be accomplished only through the consistent study and application of accurate Bible doctrine. Living within God’s power system, the Divine Dynasphere, a believer learns how to problem-solve using the Ten Problem-Solving Deices of the Protocol Plan of God. Since the Protocol Plan of God is adherence to a precisely correct procedure, a believer simply learns and applies the truth found in the Word of God which results in making good decisions from a position of strength.
Application of truth, however, does not always immediately remove the suffering caused by self-induced misery. Proper application of prayer, using the Rebound Technique, for example, will restore fellowship with God and the filling of the Holy Spirit, but does necessarily remove the damage or suffering caused by bad decisions. For example, if a believer makes a bad decision to go on an alcohol drinking binge (drunkenness is contrary to God’s law) trying to “drown his sorrows” and wakes up with a hangover and severe headache, the prayer of Rebound will not remove the hangover or the headache. It will, however, restore the believer’s fellowship with God and the filling of the Holy Spirit, but he will still have a severe headache.