In Jesus Holy Name March 18, 2007
Text: James 5:7-12 Lent IV - Redeemer
“Where is God When I’m Hurting?”
Rev. John Stott in his book “The Cross of Christ” has a chapter entitled “Suffering and Glory”. The fact of suffering is the greatest challenge to the Christian faith and has been for every generation. (Its distribution and degree appear to be entirely random and therefore unjust. )
What happens when we are overtaken with sudden tragedy or painful illness? Rejection, divorce, death, depression, cancer, down-sized, firings, sorrows, difficulties, suffering could fill the shelves of the world’s largest universities. Wars, famines, disease, natural disasters, untimely deaths, are never easy. There are a million other sources of human suffering which produce questions which trouble the soul.
Why would God permit this to happen to me? I have discovered that most of the time God does not rush in to explain what he is doing. Is God obligated to explain? Remember David? God promised that he would be King of Israel but he was running and hiding from King Saul for 14 years.
Isaiah wrote the following about God, the creator of all things. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways” declares the Lord.” We know that God loves us. “We are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” His great love for us led him to send his only begotten son as a sacrifice for our sins, that we might escape the punishment of his eternal wrath. He did so because He so loved the world.
Tragic events, unknown, incurable disease can cause the stoutest Christian to ask: “If God is all powerful and He knows all things why did he let this terrible thing happen to me?
I’m sure the families who lost their teens in the tornado in Arkansas a few weeks back asked that question. This past Thursday was the funeral of a dear friend. Her life was filled with tragic events that brought suffering into her life.
In 1955 her first husband died and left her with two small boys to raise. Not an easy task in the 1950’s when most wives did not work outside the home. She married again. She and her husband Les were granted a son. In his 7th grade year he was tragically shot and killed. In 1994 her second husband died. Two years later her oldest son was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died a few weeks after his daughter’s wedding. How would you have dealt with those tragic events? She never blamed God. She never lost her faith.
Joseph Parker, a Pastor from 1874 until his death in 1902, wrote the following in his autobiography…Up until the age of 68 I never had a religious doubt. Then my beloved wife died. My faith collapsed. “In that dark hour, I almost became an atheist. For God had set his foot upon my prayers and treated my petitions with contempt. If I had seen a dog in such agony as mine, I would have pitied and helped the dumb beast. Yet God spat upon me and cast me out as an offense. Out into the waste wilderness and the night as black and starless.”
There are times when God does seem distant and disinterested. He has the power to heal but it often seems like he’s not lifting a finger to help. There is no indication that God ever explained to Joseph why he was sold into slavery, and then unjustly put into prison for years. He was expected to live his days out one at a time just like you and me. He learned to trust God even when it did not make sense.
First: According to the Bible, suffering is an alien intrusion into God’s good world and will have no part in his new heaven and earth. It is part of Satan’s destructive was against the Creator.
Second: Suffering is due to sin. Originally disease and death entered the world through sin. But I’m thinking of contemporary sin. Sometimes suffering is due to the sin of others, as when children suffer from unloving, irresponsible parents, the poor and hungry from economic injustice, refugees from the cruelties of war, death from drunken drivers.
Sometimes suffering can be the result of our own foolish sin. The reckless use of our freedom. But we must reject and repudiate the Hindu doctrine of “karma” which attributes all suffering to wrong doing in this life or in a previous existence.
Jesus himself dealt with that false theology. In John 9:1-4 we find the story of a man blind from birth and the disciples ask: “who sinned? This man or his parents?” Jesus answered. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Remember the O.T. book of Job? All of Job’s friends trotted out that “karma” theology stating that all of his suffering was due to his personal sin. One of the purposes of the book of Job is to contradict that popular, wrong-headed notion.
Thirdly, suffering is due to our human sensitivity to pain. To be honest, God created our central nervous system to give us valuable warning signals necessary for personal and social survival.
Fourthly, suffering is due to the environment in which God has placed us. Natural disasters, hurricanes, tornados abound and people are caught in the events.
Fifth: When tragic events strike and we struggle with anger, frustration, and other feelings....the bottom line is that sometimes God will use a miracle, other times modern medicine to bring healing and wholeness. But even if a person is healed by the Lord. Guess what? They still must again face death’s door. We will all die…of something. So another question we must ask…Can suffering reveal God’s glory?
James says yes. “Brothers as an example of patience in the face of suffering…be patient until the coming of the Lord.”
“…there comes a time when suffering has to be realistically accepted. It is then that the example of Jesus, which is set before us in the N.T., becomes our example. Jesus set an example and bore the undeserved pain. Undeserved suffering is part of the Christian calling.
James 1:2-4 (read)
The cross of Jesus is a symbol of suffering, suffering he endured in His service to bring us to Himself. He said: “When I am lifted up I will draw all humanity to myself.” We are familiar with the suffering servant passages of Isaiah…’He was gentle never breaking bruised reeds or snuffing out a smoldering wick yet he set his face to Jerusalem. He was beaten, his beard pulled out, his face spat upon and he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and dies, bearing the sins of many.’ (Is. 42:49-50)
The cross of Christ offers the hope of final glory. Jesus clearly looked beyond his death to his resurrection, beyond his sufferings to his glory and was sustained by the “joy set before him.” It is equally clear that Jesus expects his followers to have the same perspective.
He told his disciples. “If the world has hated and persecuted him it would hate and persecute his disciples as well.” Intellectually we know this to be true. We see it in the world and have a glimpse of this hatred of Christians in our culture. We just don’t like the experience.
We should not be surprised. There is spiritual warfare between God and Satan and it is often played out in our culture and in our lives.
It is the hope of glory which makes suffering bearable. When tragic events invade our peaceful world and suffering, aches and pains, become our daily partner, we want to have an answer. We struggle with God. We might experience anger and frustration. God is not obligated to tell us. He has promised to see us through. When we suffer we are filled with questions about life and death, about good and evil and the nature of God. Sometimes prayers are answered and people healed. Sometimes not. And life goes on. The Lord offers no explanation; we are called to trust in the sovereignty of God.
One day Jesus entered Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna. A few days later came the terrible trial and execution, Roman style. He was crucified between two thieves. It was the darkest day in human history, followed by three days later, the most wonderful news ever heard. “He’s Risen.”
Fifty days later 120 disciples experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The church grew. That was followed by persecution and the martyrdom of many. There was good news one day and bad news the next. James was killed and Peter was rescued.
Let me close with a true story of a humble black pastor in the inner city of Chicago who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“He was in his late sixties and had been a minister throughout his adult life. His love for the Lord was so profound that it was reflected in everything he said. When he and his wife were told he had only a few months to live, they revealed no panic. They quietly asked the doctor what it all meant. When he had explained the treatment program and what they would anticipate, they politely thanked him for his concern and departed. The cameras followed this little couple to their old car and eavesdropped as they bowed their heads and recommitted themselves to the Lord.
In the months that followed, the pastor never lost his poise. Nor was he glib about his illness. He was not in denial. He simply had come to terms with the cancer and its probable outcome. He knew the Lord was in control and he refused to be shaken in his faith.
The cameras were present on his final Sunday in his church. He actually preached the sermon that morning and talked openly about his impending death. To the best of my recollection, this is what he said;
“Some of you have asked me if I’m mad at God for this disease that has taken over my body. I’ll tell you honestly that I have nothing but love in my heart for my Lord. He didn’t do this to me. We live in a sinful world where sickness and death are the curse man has brought on himself. And I’m going to a better place where there will be no more tears, no suffering, and no heartache. So don’t feel bad for me.
“Besides,” he continued, “our Lord suffered and died for our sins. Why should I not share in his suffering?” Then he began to sing, without accompaniment, in an old, broken voice:
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone,
And there’s a cross for me. “
