Through
the mill
Our topic tonight is ‘suffering’. This is a really important issue to think through because it affects all of us. Some of us have gone through very painful events already. Some of us may be going through the mill at the moment. Others – and I guess I’m in this category – may not yet have had to face any great amount of suffering in life. But the thing is, it will come. Suffering will come to all of us. All we have to do to qualify, is to live long enough. It’s not a happy thought, but it’s true – there’s nothing we can do to acquire a suffering-free life.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do to prepare for it. Imagine a boat out at sea. When suffering comes to us, it’s like we’re a boat being hit by a huge big tidal wave. There’s no amount of preparation that’s going to make that pleasant or nice. But being prepared might keep us afloat. If we’re not prepared, then we’re more likely to capsize.
But the timing of when we prepare is just as important. If you were in a boat, then some of your preparation might involve checking your maps and charts and compass, and making sure you are pointed in exactly the right direction. That’s all well and good before the wave is upon you. In fact, it’s important – taking the wave head-on will be much better than taking it broadside.
But when the wave hits, that won’t necessarily be the time to check the fine details on your charts. You’ll be too busy just hanging on, trying not to be swept overboard.
When the
wave hits
It’s the same with suffering. There is a time to prepare, and a time just to act. There is a time to think things through, and a time just to weather the storm. The best time to think suffering through usually isn’t when you are experiencing it crashing down on you at its worst.
Be ready
in advance
The best time to think this through is in advance, before suffering comes – and come, it will. The second best time is later on, after the worst of the waves of suffering have receded a bit. The hardest time is when you are right in the middle.
In this sermon, we’re going to be doing some thinking through about suffering. The best way to look at tonight’s message is as a advance preparation – getting ourselves pointing in the right direction before the next batch of suffering arrives.
(But let me just say – if you’re reading/listening to this, and the waves are crashing down already, well, I hope there might be something to help. But maybe what you need more than anything else, is someone who’ll sit with you and listen to you, and weep with you as you weep. If that is you, then at the end of the service, let me encourage you to have a go at talking to someone – maybe me, maybe somebody else.)
Because tonight’s sermon isn’t really about what to do when the wave hits. It’s about how to be lined up in the right direction in advance.
And what we’re going to do, we’re going to use that same picture we’ve looked at before – the one that picks out those 4 key gospel moments – Creation, Fall, Salvation and New Creation. We’re going to look at suffering through them. And again, like last week, I’ll rearrange them on the screen as headings.
So first of all, creation. Let’s have a look at some of those early verses from Genesis 1 again.
Creation
Gen 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.
It wasn't meant to be this way
When it comes to suffering, Genesis 1 tells us, it wasn’t meant to be like this. We feel that, often when things go wrong, don’t we? This isn’t right, it shouldn’t be like this, it wasn’t meant to be like this. Those feelings catch a part of this truth. God designed a world that was good and right and beautiful and wonderful.
But that’s just so not they way our world is now. Take a look a these pictures. They’re all from stories in the news this weekend.
Picture 1: A Rwandan survivor
'You are
cockroaches'
"We begged and cried and screamed that we were not cockroaches. They said, "Yes you are, and it's you that killed our president." One of them came to me and touched me where I had been shot and after that I fainted. I don't know what happened next. Later on I woke up. In the years since the genocide, I have been very sick and constantly in pain. I live on pain killers - I'm always on medication. I can't forgive the people that did this to me. It is impossible."
Picture 2: Ethiopia – rain brings hardship
'Our cattle
start dying'
"The cattle could not handle the cold that comes with the rain. Weak from hunger, their stomachs were also unable to digest the new grass. And when drought hits and cattle start dying, the chances of raids talking place increase as stealing another group's herd is a tempting option. Traditionally the casualties were pretty limited, but now gun traders sell AK-47s across the porous borders and peace would not help their incomes."
Picture 3: Iraqi bomb attack
'Triple
suicide bomb'
"An apparent triple suicide bomb attack on a key Shia mosque in Baghdad has left at least 79 people dead and 160 injured, Iraqi police have said. The blasts happened as worshippers were leaving the Buratha mosque in the north of the city after Friday prayers."
Picture 4: Chinese mines
'6,000 miners
died last year'
"profit-hungry mine owners are desperate to take advantage of soaring coal prices and often ignore safety precautions in an effort to increase production. And Chinese miners are paying the price. Nearly 6,000 died last year alone in more than 3,000 fires, floods, explosions and other accidents."
That was just snippets from the news on one day – last {Friday (7/4/2006)|From the BBC News website}. We live in a messed up world, and there’s suffering everywhere we turn. It seems to be built into our world, and as if that wasn’t enough, we seem to do so much to make it worse.
We know the Bible talks about the Fall. We’ve looked at those verses lots of times this term as well. Let’s look at some of them again, but let’s look at them to see what they tell us about suffering. Suffering in general, but also specifically suffering for you and me.
Fall
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
You will
surely die
You will surely die. Not just Adam and Eve, but everybody. Unless Jesus returns first, you’ll die and I’ll die, and everybody we know – they’ll all die, sooner or later. Death is at the heart of suffering, and death enters the world because of sin. Humankind – we’ve all turned away from God, the author of life. And the thing is, if you turn away from life, that only leaves you one thing. Death, in all it’s horrible blackness.
Sin brings death and judgement and curse. Listen again to what God says to Adam & Eve:
Gen 3:16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." 17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Death, pain, toil, curse. It’s an ugly, sad picture. But it’s vital that we understand it, otherwise we’ll never makes sense of this world we’re in. The Bible tells us two things about our world – that it’s good, gone wrong. It was wonderfully good, and it’s gone horribly wrong. That’s the world we live in – a good world, gone wrong. And it’s gone wrong because of sin, and suffering is the result.
Sometimes
we forget
Sometimes we forget that the world’s gone wrong. Maybe we go through a patch where, actually, things go pretty well. And then we start to think that actually, the world’s a pretty alright sort of place. But if the world’s an alright sort of place, then something really bad happens to me – what am I to think? Did I do something wrong? Is that the problem? Well, I suppose sometimes it might be. If you rob a bank, you might end up in jail – and there’s a link there. If you’re always late for work, you might lose you’re job – and there’s a link there. If you drive like a madman you might have a car crash – and there’s a link there. Sometimes it might be something you did. But sometimes it isn’t. That’s the thing about sin and suffering – sometimes the connection is direct, and sometimes it isn’t. Somebody else drives like a madman, and crashes into you. The company you work for goes bust, and you lose your job. You think you’re healthy, and then you get struck down by some disease. What are you supposed to make of that?
Jesus got asked that question once. Listen to what he said.
John 9:1 As [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Here’s something that’s gone badly wrong – a man born blind. And maybe the disciples think something like this: Well, they say to themselves, bad things just don’t happen – God wouldn’t make a world like that. So somebody must have done something wrong. Was it the man or his parents?
Half-truths
are the most dangerous lies
The disciples are on to something here. Or rather, they’re half on to something. But half-truths are the most dangerous sorts of lies. They end up in completely the wrong place. Neither this man nor his parents sinned, says Jesus. No, it doesn’t all fit into neat boxes like you think it does. They end up in the wrong place. But maybe where they start out has got a bit of truth to it. Maybe they start out with the thought – well God wouldn’t make a world were bad things just happen at random. And that’s true. God didn’t make a world like that. But the thing is, we’re not in that good world any more. We’re in a world under curse, a world in a mess. And bad things are going to happen.
Suffering doesn't fit into neat boxes
Sometimes they will happen because our own rebelliousness brings them down on our own head. But sometimes it just happens, and as far as we can see, there’s no rhyme or reason to it. Suffering doesn’t fit into neat boxes.
Jesus suffered.
He knows
what it’s like.
And the thing is, on this one, the Gospel doesn’t give us all the answers. We might still be asking the question “Why?” It doesn’t give us all the answers. But it does point us to a Saviour who knows what we’re going through. Jesus asked that same question – “My God, my God, why – why have you forsaken me?” Jesus knows what it’s like. That’s not the final answer, but it’s something to hold onto until that answer comes. Jesus suffered. Easter reminds us of that more than any other event in the calendar. Jesus suffered. He knows what it’s like. He suffered more than any of us in this room are ever likely to suffer. And he faced it for a purpose. He bore that pain so that our suffering might come to an end. He suffered to bring us peace.
And that’s the other thing. The Gospel may not give us the answers, but it does give us hope.
Creation waits in eager expectation
Rom 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
The whole world is looking forward to that day when everything is put right. It’s hard to get our heads around it, but Romans tells us our present sufferings won’t be worth comparing to how good it’s going to be then. That doesn’t mean the suffering now is any smaller. But it does mean it’s not final. It’s not the last word. There is far better to come.
But the thing is, we’re not there yet. We are by no means there yet. We’re not in heaven, we’re still on this broken, mixed up world. We’re still waiting, we’re still groaning, we’re still longing for what’s to come.
We're not
there yet
Becoming a Christian means we will one day be in heaven. But it doesn’t take us there immediately. It doesn’t mean we’re exempt from suffering. In fact, if Jesus promises us anything about suffering in this world, he promises that, if we follow him, we’ll most likely end up with more of it. Look at these verses in Mark:
Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus calls us
to suffer more
Jesus calls us to suffer more. Becoming a Christian doesn’t exempt us from the sufferings of this world. It may mean we get more – Jesus faced loads of hostility during his life. Some of that hostility may echo onto his followers. Granted, we have a Lord who gives us the strength to continue through the suffering we’ll face. But it’s through it, not around it.
That’s not always a popular bit of the Bible’s message. When I was in Nigeria in January, I heard a snippet of a dangerous bit of false teaching that was doing the rounds there. It went like this – listen to it, and see if you can work out what’s wrong with it:
“On the cross, Jesus bore the punishment for you sins, so you don’t have to be punished. And on the cross, Jesus bore your suffering, so you don’t have to suffer.”
It sounds pretty good doesn’t it? And it sounds pretty appealing – no more suffering – I like the sound of that. But what’s wrong with it? Well, the thing that’s wrong with it, is the same thing that’s wrong with this next statement – listen to this:
“One the cross, Jesus bore the punishment for you sins, so you don’t have to be punished. And on the cross, Jesus bore your death, so you don’t have to die.”
What’s wrong with that one? It’s maybe easier to spot. The problem is, it’s half true. It’s not true of here and now. But it is true of heaven. In heaven there is no more death, because Jesus has taken our death on himself. He bore it for us, so we can be free from it. And in the same way, in heaven there is no more suffering, because Jesus bore it for us. Listen to these words from Revelation 21 & 22.
New Creation
No more death
or mourning
or crying or pain
Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. … 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 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."
Rev 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
In the New Creation, there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more suffering, no more death. That’s what heaven will be like. But we’re not there yet.
So What?
So what? Where does that leave us? How can we get our boat pointed in the right direction, to weather the waves of suffering when the crash into us? Some things to remember:
Suffering is still part of this fallen world – there’s no way round it. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that being a Christian makes you exempt. Otherwise, when suffering comes it’ll be even worse. It’ll be a total shock, you’ll think your faith gone wrong. It hasn’t – we live in a messed up world, and mess happens to everybody at some stage.
Not the end
of the story
But that’s not the end of the story. There’ll be a day when it’s all put right. Don’t lose sight of that. If this world was all there is, then the long term would be hopelessly bleak for everybody. One out of one dies. But Jesus will return, and raise us to new life.
So one final word. Keep trusting Jesus – he’s the one who has won the victory over suffering. And he’s coming back to bring us into that new creation. Keep looking to him.
