MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
DOES GOD REALLY CARE ABOUT US?
TEXT: Isaiah 63:7-9; Exodus 3:7-8; John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; Luke 23:28-29;43-46; Mark 15:34; Romans 8:18
ILL. Some nursing home residents were sitting around discussing their aches & pains. One said, "My arms are so weak I can barely lift this cup of coffee." "Well, at least you can see your cup,” said another. “My cataracts are so bad that it’s hard for me even to see my cup.”
A third one chimed in, “What about arthritis? Mine’s so bad that I can’t even turn my head." "Well, my blood pressure pills make me very dizzy," added another. "I guess that’s the price we pay for getting old."
There seemed to be general agreement with that gloomy assessment until one woman spoke up. "Wait a minute. It’s not that bad," she said. "At least we can all still drive!"
A. Well, I’m not sure about that story, but I do know that it’s easy for some people to have a “pity party” & end up feeling so depressed about themselves & what is happening in their lives. Sometimes they even cry out, “Where is God? Why isn’t He doing something about this? Does God even care about me?”
I think that is a relevant question to consider: “Does God care about us? Does He really care?”
One striking passage in the O.T. concerning this is Isaiah 63:7-9, "I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which He is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us yes, the many good things He has done for the house of Israel, according to His compassion & many kindnesses.
"He said, ‘Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me’; & so He became their Savior. In all their distress He too was distressed, & the angel of His presence saved them.
“In His love & mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up & carried them all the days of old."
Now that's a remarkable passage. And perhaps the key words we need to notice are in Vs. 9 where it says, "In all their distress He too was distressed…"
Didn’t God say almost the same thing when He spoke to Moses at the burning bush? "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them. . ." (Exodus 3:7 8). And He told Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!”
B. Over & over the Bible proclaims that God loves us & cares for us. We see that in the birth of Jesus. Notice that God did not send His Son to be born into a royal family to enjoy the very best this world has to offer.
Instead, He chose to experience what it is like to be poor, to spend long hours working under a hot sun, to have calluses on His hands & sore, aching muscles.
He knows what it is like to be a part of a despised race, to be arrested & tried for crimes He did not commit. And hanging there on the cross in our place, He experienced pain such as you & I have never experienced.
ILL. Years ago, a group of missionaries had an audience with Mahatma Gandhi to explain their work in India. As the meeting drew to a close, Gandhi asked them to sing one of their favorite Christian hymns. They asked, "What hymn shall we sing?" Gandhi answered, "Sing the hymn that best express¬es what you believe."
So they sang this one, "When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, & pour con¬tempt on all my pride."
They chose well, for that hymn, maybe more than many others, expresses what we believe - that on the cross, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Glory, died for us.
And because of that it is a wondrous cross, & we sing about it because God's love transformed it into a symbol of victory over sin & death.
PROP. With that in mind, let’s look at Jesus & the cross & realize that when bad things happen to us, God suffers too!
I. LOVE & SUFFERING OFTEN GO HAND IN HAND
At times we may hear people saying, "God must not love me or I wouldn't be going through all this. If God really loved me, He wouldn't let me suffer like this." But then we look at the cross & see that love & suffering often go together.
ILL. If you love your husband or your wife, you'll suffer together through many of life’s experiences. If you bring children into the world, you'll suffer with them, too.
The greater the love the greater the suffering. They go hand in hand with one another. Isn’t that what the Bible tells us in John 3:16? "For God so loved the world that He gave His one & only Son..."
And again John proclaims in 1 John 4:10, "This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us & sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
ILL. Someone asked C.S. Lewis, “Why do the righteous suffer?” “Why not?” he replied. “They’re the ones who can take it!” And our confidence in God who knows & loves us is the reason “we can take it.”
II. SUFFERING IS NOT NECESSARILY PUNISHMENT FOR SIN
A. A second lesson we draw from the cross is that our suffering is not necessarily a punishment for our sins.
Sometimes, if something goes wrong, we’re tempted to say, "God must be punishing me." Yes, there are times when sin causes suffering, for there is cause & effect in our world & sins do have consequences.
B. But sometimes we’re suffering just because we live in this world. When Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden the whole world suffered the consequences.
ILL. Dorothy Sayers said that God, at least, plays fair. She said that for whatever reason God chose to make man as he is - subject to suffering, sorrow & death - God had the courage to take His own medicine. And whatever God is doing with His creation, He has kept His own rules & played fair.
That's true, isn't it? "Fair" is one of those words we may hear when people are suffering. "It isn't fair! It isn't fair that our daughter was killed in an automobile accident. It isn't fair that he reached the age of retirement & his wife died. It isn't fair that they gave birth to a handi¬capped child. It just isn't fair!"
But is it fair that Jesus Christ should come into the world He created, & the very people He created would laugh & mock Him, spit upon Him, & nail Him to a cross?
The world groans under the weight of sin, & the consequence of sin is death. So God played fair. God kept His own rules. And because He loves us, He went to the cross & took the punishment for your sins & for mine.
There is an important truth here. The worst that can happen to us in this life is not that we suffer. But rather, the worst that can happen is that we be ensnared by sin & die unforgiven of that sin.
Do you remember? As the Roman soldiers were taking Jesus to be crucified, they passed a group of weeping women. And Jesus said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves & for your children. For the time will come…” (Luke 23:28-29).
Jesus was right. It was not the time to weep for Him. Rather, it was a time to weep for Annas & Caiaphas & the members of the Sanhedrin who manipulated the crowd to cry “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
It was a time also to weep for Pilate, a politician who would not listen to his conscience; & for Judas who turned his back upon Jesus, passing up the greatest opportunity that he ever had.
It's not suffering, but sin that we should fear. And remember, suffering is not necessarily a punishment for our sins.
III. OUR SUFFERING CAN HELP SOMEONE ELSE
Now there is a third truth that comes out in the lesson of the cross - sometimes our suffering can actually help someone else. The Bible teaches that Joseph in the O.T. suffered so that His family could be fed during a time of famine.
Moses suffered so that He could deliver Israel out of Egyptian bondage. And Jesus suffered so that the penalty for sin would be paid & people redeemed from their sins.
ILL. Mother Teresa spent most of her life working in the streets of Calcutta, in one of the most desperate pockets of pover¬ty in the world. There she ministered to the poor, giving them food, taking care of their physical needs day in & day out.
She was 87 years old when she died. She could have been back home enjoying the comforts & honors she so richly deserved. Yet she chose to remain in Calcutta.
When asked about it, she said, "I am just a tiny pencil in the hand of God as He writes His love letter to the world."
IV. OUR SUFFERING CAN BRING GLORY TO GOD
A. Finally, our suffering can bring glory to God. The 7 times Jesus spoke while on the cross give us an example of how to suffer as a Christian & thus to bring glory to Him. Let’s listen to His words again.
1. As Jesus hung on the cross the first words He spoke were these, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34) Sometimes people caught up in the pain & problems of life become bitter. They get angry at the world, at God, at the church, at something or someone else.
But Jesus teaches us, as He hangs there with nails in His hands & feet, that we should release the bitterness & forgive those who have driven nails into our lives. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
2. Then He turned to the thief beside Him & said, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)
One of the great temptations of suffering is to become self-centered & think only of ourselves & the problems we’re experiencing. Yet, the cross teaches us that we should never become insensitive to others.
3. Then to His mother & to John He says, “‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ & to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’"
Even as Jesus was dying, He did not forget about His mother & His responsibility as her oldest son for her care & keep¬ing. His words teach us that even in the midst of suffering we should never forget our responsibilities.
4. Then Jesus said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) I'm thankful that Jesus didn't place a smile on His face & try to convince us that He enjoyed dying on the cross.
There are times of loneliness. There are times when you feel forsaken. Be honest about it. And yet, realize that once you have come through this valley, this shadow, this time of darkness in your life, God was always there.
5. Then Jesus said, "I am thirsty." One of the hardest things to accept when we’re suffering is our inability to care for ourselves. As we visit in hospitals & nursing homes we've all seen people who are proud & independent, humbled by the fact that they have to be taken care of by others.
And we dread the idea that the day may come when someone else will have to feed & bathe & dress us. But maybe it will help to know that even the Son of God allowed a stranger to minister unto Him, to moisten a sponge & wet His lips as He hung there upon the cross.
6. "It is finished," He said. One day our sufferings will be over, too. They are not forever. The apostle Paul wrote, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)
7. Finally, Jesus said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Death is not the worst thing that can happen. It can be the best thing. It's a promotion. It's a graduation. It's when our spirit goes to be with God forever.
The Bible teaches that our suffering in this world is not worthy to be compared to the glory that we will share with God for all eternity.
B. If Jesus is not your Savior, then perhaps you don't understand what I am saying. Maybe you've never experienced the comfort & strength that comes from knowing you're not alone, that God is beside you.
ILL. As many of you know, the late Senator John McCain spent several years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. In ‘‘Leadership Magazine’’ he told this story:
“In the final years of our imprisonment, the North Vietnamese moved us from small cells with one or two prisoners into large rooms with as many as 30-40 men to a room. We preferred this situation for the companionship & strength we could draw from our fellow prisoners.
“In addition to moving us into new quarters, our captors also let us receive packages & letters from home. Many men received word from their families for the first time in several years. The improved conditions were a result of public pressure put on the North Vietnamese by the American public.
“In our cell was one Navy officer, Lt. Commander Mike Christian. Over a period of time Mike had gathered bits & pieces of red & white cloth from various packages. Using a piece of bamboo he had fashioned into a needle, Mike sewed an American flag on the inside of his shirt, one of the blue pajama tops we all wore.
“Every night in our cell, Mike would put his shirt on the wall, and we would say the pledge of allegiance. I know that saying the pledge of allegiance may not be the most important event of our day now, but I can tell you that at that time it was!
“This went on for some time until some guards came in as we were reciting our pledge. They ripped the flag off the wall & dragged Mike out. He was beaten for several hours & then thrown back into the cell.
“Later that night, as we were settling down to sleep on the concrete slabs that were our beds, I looked over to the spot where the guards had thrown Mike. There, under the solitary light bulb hanging from the ceiling, I saw Mike.
“Still bloody & his face swollen beyond recognition, Mike was gathering bits & pieces of cloth together. He was sewing a new American flag.”
(Flag of Rags, by John McCain. Leadership Magazine. A. Todd Coget on SC)
Oh, I believe it’s still true. In all our distress, God is distressed too. He cares. He cares about us!
This morning we extend His invitation. We want you to know Jesus as your Lord & Savior. We want you to realize that His death on the cross was not just for someone else, but for you.
Will you accept Jesus as your Savior & come forward to make that decision known, & to follow his example & command in baptism. Or having already done that, to make Ridge Chapel your church home?
INVITATION HYMN
