SUFFERING!
John
16:25-33, 11/5/2017
Introduction: Throughout New England, this October was
one of the warmest — if not the warmest ever recorded with an average temp of 61.4
F, since 1947, notes the Boston Globe. The October month personally, brings
back the memories of the loss of my father. Nationally, this October month has
been a sad month as it brought so much pain, and loss. It started with the Las
Vegas mass shooting, and ended with a terrorist attack in Manhattan New York.
As I watched the News, I was saddened, and also surprised by the attitude of
the New Yorkers. For many life, as usual, the Halloween Trick or Treaters went
on their way as if nothing ever happened.
What do you say about such attitude,
should we call it resilience or sheer apathy? I wonder what makes anyone pause
and ask, what is really going on in this world? Whenever tragedies of such
nature occur, especially those who have lost loved ones, battle through
questions such as, Why me? Why is this happening to me? Why now? Some even
blame God saying, if God is all powerful why didn’t he then stop the gunman
from shooting or the terrorist from driving a truck over innocent people? Some
struggle with the age-old question, if God is all loving why is there evil and
suffering in this world? Can God eradicate evil and suffering?
I too, have experienced suffering in
my life, which left me with more questions than I can find answers. I am sure,
you might have your own share of suffering. I want to be empathetic to those
among us who perhaps are going through a tough situation, by not giving pat
answers or giving Christian clichés. However, I want us to explore Suffering: The origin of suffering, why
does God allow suffering, what should be our response to suffering, and how God
is going to deal with suffering, in the end I hope we will come away with some
answers. John 16:25-33
I. THE ORIGIN OF SUFFERING:
Whether we turn on the TV, or read the newspaper, among many
things we cannot but notice suffering and much suffering around the globe. If
there is one thing common to all people regardless of religion, race, class,
and gender, it is suffering. It is universal and it is inevitable. The poets
talk about it, politicians haggle over solutions to alleviate suffering and
pastors and priests pray, and come alongside to comfort those who are hurting
and suffering. How do we understand suffering which is part and parcel of all
human lives? Where did it all begin?
In the beginning God created the
world. Everything that was created by God was very good. God made Adam and Eve
in his own image, endowed them with a free will and placed them in the Garden
of Eden. Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony and peace with God with one another
and His beautiful creation. But one day they decided to play God, wanted to know
good and evil. They were deceived by Satan, disobeyed God and ate the forbidden
fruit.
Their eyes were opened. For the
first time Adam and Eve were ashamed and fearful, they wanted to run away from
God. God pronounced curses upon, Satan, man, woman and the earth. The ground
that once produced all kinds of vegetation and fruit, now was cursed. A family that once
enjoyed love, and peace now had to deal with a tragedy as their older son Cain
killed his younger brother Able. That was the beginning of pain and suffering.
How
did God respond to the wickedness in the beginning? “The Lord saw that the
wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of
the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry
that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
Genesis
6:5-6. God destroyed mankind except Noah, his family along with them clean
birds, reptiles, and animals and built a new world. By this we know God is not
the creator of evil and suffering. Then the question comes, why do we suffer?
II
WHY DO WE SUFFER?
The God we serve is not a sadist,
he doesn’t necessarily derive pleasure from seeing people suffer and go through
pain. However, at times he may allow suffering to show the world of his love
and power and teach his children valuable lessons of trust, obedience
dependency on him and one another. Three years ago, I underwent a surgery,
during the healing process, several days I woke up in the middle of the night
crying out to God in pain. I felt like as if God didn’t care about me, was
million miles away from me and totally uninvolved in my situation. It was a
distressful time for all of us.
Thankfully after several months of pain and agony, I was healed of that
situation. Did you ever feel that way? If you did, then you are in a good company.
Whenever
we go through suffering of any kind it is natural, for a child of God to cry
out and say God, where are you, why are you not doing anything, why have you
abandoned me, and so on. Ravi Zacharias in his book, Has Christianity Failed
you? talks about pain, suffering and brokenness. He notes, “God intervenes on
three different occasions in the N.T. He met Saul of Tarsus who was bent on
destroying the church, in a dramatic way. That encounter on the road of
Damascus changed Paul’s life entirely, (Acts 9:4). Sometimes change comes that
spectacularly.
In
the second incidence, God intervenes to bring the apostle Peter out from the
prison in Jerusalem. In Acts 12:5-10, we read that, “An angel comes into the
prison and leads him through the gates of the prison and into a street, after
walking with Peter for a good distance, the angel leaves him. Why didn’t the
angel lead Peter all the way to the prayer meeting where the disciples were
praying for his release? Why was Peter left on his own to find his way there?
Peter was Jesus’ friend, yet he was rescued from the prison and then left in
the street half way.” Have you wondered why God doesn’t take you all the way through
a problem, only brings you to a halfway and leaves you on your own? He does
that to teach us to walk by faith and not by sight.
Sometimes
the miracle is dramatic; other times it is a halfway miracle. The third
intervention, we read in (Matthew 27:46), where we see Jesus was on the path to
Calvary. At the last moment, when his
pain is at its worst and humiliation at its highest, Jesus cries out, “My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus is the Son of God, but left at the
mercy of his enemies. This sense of abandonment by God seems to be repeated too
often, at times those who are closest to God often appear to be least protected
by Him. Can you think of all the apostles, and the missionaries who have lost
their lives for the sake of the gospel?
Yet God calls us to trust Him, and wants us to know that He is in
control.
Ravi
Zachariah, concludes, “Some of us he meets in dramatic ways—often at the moment
of our salvation. For others, it may seem that he is with us only halfway as we
serve him in difficult circumstances. And still other of us may not be
delivered from our trails, even to the point of death.” Without exception, No
one enjoys suffering. It is agonizingly, and excruciatingly painful. No one can
fully understand its intensity except those who are going through it.
The
apostle Paul, writing to encourage Romans in their suffering notes, “We know
that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called
according to his purpose.” In some versions, “God makes all things work
together for good, or in all things God works for good.” Romans 8:28. We may
never know why some people suffer more than the others? But we do know that nothing
in the whole wide world, will be able to separate us from the Love of God that
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In light of this, what should be our response?
III
OUR RESPONSE IN SUFFERING
Along with you I
too am wrestling with this subject called suffering. I do not have all the
answers however, I share with you a few scriptures that helped me in my time of
distress.
I
hope that you will find some solace to cope with your situation and respond
positively in your suffering. My advice to you is, it is OK to express honestly
how you feel to God when you are suffering. There is a whole book in the Bible
called, The Lamentations, which is the work of one who had a broken heart. So
next time when you are in trouble, don’t hold back, pour out your anguish to
God, and he won’t be offended, in fact he invites you to call upon his name
when you are in trouble, and he will send a rescue party to deliver you.
When
we are suffering, we fall into a trap of thinking that we are the only ones who
are suffering unduly, while the rest are having an easy time. However, that
perception is not true. The Apostle Peter writes to the persecuted Christians
to see their suffering in a broader context, “Beloved, do not be surprised at
the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though
something strange were happening to you.” I Peter 4:12 “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like
a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to
devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers
and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of
suffering.” I Pet 5:8-9
Sometimes we suffer because of the consequences of our sins, other times
we suffer because of the sins of others. Yet other times we suffer because
Satan incites violence, and hatred against others just like in the case of
recent shootings. Whatever it may be, we must realize that we will have
trouble, as long as we live in this fallen world. In John 16:33, we read Jesus’
warning to us, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have
peace. You will have suffering in this world. But be courageous! I have
conquered the world." Jesus conquered the ruler of this world that is the
devil. Jesus is closer to the broken hearted. We are healed by his stripes. To
all those who are suffering right now he offers the two very things we need
they are: Peace to deal with our present and courage to deal with our future.
In our
suffering where do we find peace? Only in Christ, he said, my peace I leave
with you not according to the world. How can we find courage? By looking at the
one who has conquered the world! Through his own suffering and death, he has
deprived this world of its ultimate power over you. Suffering cannot defeat you
and death doesn't have the last word anymore. Jesus has the last word! Dear
friends, if we are going through some sort of suffering, let’s take heart Jesus
has overcome the world. What gives us strength and confidence in our present
suffering? It is the hope of our glorious future. As we look to Christ for
deliverance, he may come to us quickly and dramatically change our situation,
or he will take us only the halfway and expects us to walk the rest, or we may
go to death never seeing the deliverance.
But when
Jesus restores all things to God, he will establish His Kingdom on the earth
where all those who believed and suffered for Christ will find their final
reprieve from suffering. Let me close with this scripture, from the Revelation
of John: “And I saw the holy city, the
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the
home of God is among mortals. He
will dwell with them; they will be his
peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe
every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Rev 21:2-4 Come Lord Jesus!
Come Quickly! Amen
