God has made plain to us one of the reasons for which pastors must suffer. Paul tells us in 2 COR.1:6: "If we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation." A sermon on this text would have as its main point: "The afflictions of the Christian minister are designed by God to achieve the comfort and salvation of his flock."
...No pastoral suffering is senseless. No pastoral pain is pointless. No adversity is absurd or meaningless. Every heartache has its divine target in the consolation of the saints, even when we feel least useful.
...2COR.1:9: "That was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."
Piper, Brothers, p139-40
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