The darkest of all times comes when men stand against men, abandoning all other notions, and for the plumb reason of orders strikes down members of mankind. No, I say with great fortune that I have not witness war or its graphic result in the flesh. And I am not some liberal giving yet another disillusioned claim that this or any war’s intention is wrong nor do I like to write about politics in which everyone who has always seems to have “the right” opinion. This war I speak of reaches further into history then September 11th, the 60s or 1941, and the history of this Republic or its discoverers. I speak of the war that rages between two forces unseen but played out in our daily lives. No I am not also speaking of God and his angel Lucifer per say, that score is settled all that remains is to sweep up the aftermath. The one I speak of we all are soldiers in.
C.S. Lewis, my senior patron, (as Dr. Bridges would say) in many books uses war to describe the battle between good and evil. It has a way of making expressions come to life and gain deeper meaning. C.S. Lewis is not the only one to use this metaphor. The Apostle Paul used it in his letter to the Romans.
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law’ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25. NIV)”
Many scholars argue about from what perspective Paul writes this piece, whether it depicts the struggle of all new Christians, the Jews struggling with their transformation to Christianity at the time, the history of Israel, or Paul himself. Frankly I do not care what writing stylistic idea you may hold, what does it matter? The message applies to all perspectives. I have been a student of Christ since 1995, I can tell you that no matter what level of maturity I have obtained this inner self conflict has always been present and prevalent. A war that rages on between what we know to be righteous and the desires of the flesh. It is easy for me to get lost in these simple but flabbergasting words from Romans. The idea may be this; no line is drawn separating good people and bad people. The citizens of mankind, even the Christians, have bad and good in them. The good inherited by the creator and the bad welcomed in by our lustful appetites. Whichever one we chose determines the law we follow. More simply, it decides our master. Martin Luther would dash around his room at night in rage about his evil thoughts and cursing himself and Lucifer. Like a mad man he argued with himself yet maybe his understanding of his condition has surpassed what I or we seem to comprehend. He hated evil so consequently hated the part of himself that desired evil. Not recognizing the war exists at all, ignorance of its presence or necessity bears down on many including myself many times. In this case ignorance does not equal bliss. Concentrating on what we hate about one ourselves does not seem to overcome it. The problem of our pain surpasses that of creation because of our intuitive minds, we focus on our suffering. Instead, in order to win, to defeat our own mind games, to no longer observe evil we must learn to focus on what separates us from wickedness, for we know Love. Evil will always exist in my members capturing me when I lax my guard, fortunately a greater force, preceding evil, also fights for me. If I look for the evil in myself I will surely find it, accomplish nothing to suppress it, and finally become imprisoned by it. Instead dwell on the Good, his name is Yahweh.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Disturbance of Suffering: my sermon on pain [sermon notes]
Introduction:
“The Son of God suffered unto Death, not that men might not suffer, but that their suffering might be like his.” – George Macdonald.
A cold and stormy night I hid beneath my ultimate protection, but sometimes even that gave way and I was forced to abandon my fortified bed and go to my parents. This particular night the thunder shook the house and the lightning made the room as bright as day. The rain batted against the window and ceiling like a constant wave of sand. It wasn’t that I was afraid of the storm as I was the house being struck by lightning and be fried in my sleep.
Even so I had to leave my safety zone to seek refuge in my parents.
Illustrations:
Biblical Story Genesis 22:1-19
Back Story:
Covenant between God and Abraham…
Miracle Birth
He only had one son.
He must sacrifice his son
Intense pain
What possible good would ever come from this.
Some times you just have to ask why.
None the less, Abraham obeyed God and headed out with Isaac, without telling Isaac what he was planning to do.
Personal Story: Erin and Michael
I want to tell you about my Sister Erin.
As children, she acted like a 2nd mother
She cooked and cleaned for Laura and I.
Most tenderhearted woman.
She married Michael in 2001 and after a year or so they planned to conceive.
They tried and tried and for whatever reason they couldn’t get pregnant.
They got tested and found that nothing was physically wrong with them it was in their head.
4 years ago My sister called from their home in little Georgetown OH to proclaim the good news. She was pregnant.
Oh the joy that was becoming of her.
She was ready to be a mom and wished and prayed for it so.
After being pregnant a couple of weeks she went to the doctor to get an ultra sound, they new they wouldn’t see much but to their alarm, they found nothing.
This wasn’t horrible news. Yet, it raised some questions.
A week later Dad and I went off to Summer camp, not far away in fact closer to where my sister lived.
On Wednesday my dad got a phone call. He rushed to my tent and in a panic and in fear demanded we leave at once. We sped east to the hospital to see my sister awaiting emergency surgery.
Erin lost the child.
[pause]
Teaching on Suffering:
Have you ever asked yourself why me?
And it doesn’t have to be bad; you could be excited from something wonderful. Most often then not I ask myself this after something I am looking forward to goes awry.
Even at times when something goes wrong I lay up at night and my thoughts wonder to what previously occurred. I am sure everyone does it at times, wishing for another try or chance, possibly for her to say yes or thought you should have studied harder, and maybe even think you could have handled things better.
Or miss A loved one who has been taken by death. You may lay awake thinking about your suffering, part of life’s suffering is misery’s shadow lingering; not only do you suffer but you have to think about suffering.
Have you dared beat your chest and raise your fist in anger and shout to the heavens in your own anguish.
Storms come and rain on your parade and there is nothing you can do about it. You would just as soon control the rain or turn the tide before you gain all the wisdom of the world to handle such situations.
I can’t prove this with statistics or find it any book I know of, yet I would say that more people either come to the faith or fall away because of this reason above all; the disturbance of suffering.
Now there are two forms of sufferings observed by man, the physical and the psychological. Let it be known That I shall deal more with the later.
C.S. Lewis writes an amazing book about pain entitled the problem of pain. He brings to light a critical truth about the problem of pain. You see, people have a problem reconciling human suffering with a loving God so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word Love and look things as if man were the center of them. If God was all good and all powerful he would wish his creation to be all good and it of course is not. Therefore God lacks either goodness or power. This is the problem of pain.
You see God uses Times of suffering to teach and grow us.
If you allow yourself to recount your sufferings, did you not learn more about faith while suffering then any other time?
It has been said that ; “blessings are God’s whispers, he speaks in our conscience, but shouts to us in our suffering.”
Suffering becomes the only way to realize our stagnate spiritual self. Pain is unmasked and every person knows when something is not right when they are hurting. Pain insists upon being attended to.
So when you travel down this line of thought you come to the idea, why do I or someone suffer when others don’t? It isn’t fair
[pause]
I know suffering is exhausting and pain hurts. That is why it is called pain and suffering. If there were an escape a person of great wisdom and foresight would have done it already. Yet Discipleship demands such trials to compel us towards salvation.
Read Hebrews 2:10
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Hebrews deals a lot in discipleship
Suffering becomes synonymous with discipleship.
I began to wonder then if suffering is a good thing. I thought if the bible talks about it so much then maybe I should look for it. I was wrong. You see, suffering is not by itself good. What is good is the sufferer’s submission to God’s will.
Jesus’ suffering:
At the center of all Discussion of suffering there is Christ
those resounding words… Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani – which means: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
How could Jesus say something which appears offensive?
Because in his suffering he remained obedient and not venture from the Lord’s Will.
Jesus is quoting Psalm 22
•Read excerpts.
Psalm 22
This psalm is the first of the passional psalms.
It reads as if it were written at the foot of the cross.
The sufferer here trusted in the Lord. He knew that God could deliver him. In patient trust he accepted his lot as the will of God.
In spite of his pain and suffering or the mooching of men, the sufferer remained committed in faith to his father.
In verse 22 the writer changes tones. He changes from his suffering to the praise of God. [read vs. 15-25]
Focus on those verses.
Cross imagery.
This is why Jesus was forsaken
Hebrews 2:10-11 [read]
The thing about suffering is that people become blinded by their pain and lose sight of the Lord. In their blindness they are tested, remember God allows this because he loves you, for in your pain you are compelled.
Personal Story: ending
On the way to the hospital we had more questions then answers. When we arrived My mom told us before we went in that Erin had a tubule pregnancy.
A tubule pregnancy is when the Baby is fertilized still in the fallopian tube. They didn’t know this happened because they couldn’t see it.
The tube burst so the baby was aborted but Erin had to have surgery to have it removed or she would die.
The nurse before taking Erin to the O.R said this: “I don’t know what you believe, but I think that if you have faith then you will wake up at the end of this suffering.”
After that the room was in tears, we joined hands and my dad prayed with 20 of us or more in the room. All family and friends.
Then I saw something. In the hall, Michael broke down and wept with his mother holding him. There was nothing I could do to stop my tears let alone his.
• All that was left was to wait.
Erin made it, she lost the use of one of her ovaries. And she went on for months in depression. After a time of grief she recovered and went back to pursing motherhood. She became blessed with Jacob and Justin Peters who are two of the most adorable children.
Transition
Biblical story: ending
Finish story
He had Isaac on the alter, then the angel came.
When ever I read this I always thought to myself, If God is omniscient He must have known what Abraham would have done without the experiment; why then this needless torture?
Not to long ago I realized at a better understanding. Whatever God knew Abraham did not know. He didn’t know his obedience would endure such a hardship. The reality of Abraham’s obedience was the act itself. It was not to prove obedience to God for God’s sake but for God to show Abraham how obedient he truly was.
[pause]
closing:
On that cold night.
When I was a child I was scared of the storm but as I matured the storm became soothing after a long day of work.
The Son of God suffered unto Death. Not that men might not suffer, but that their suffering might be like His.”
Amen.
“The Son of God suffered unto Death, not that men might not suffer, but that their suffering might be like his.” – George Macdonald.
A cold and stormy night I hid beneath my ultimate protection, but sometimes even that gave way and I was forced to abandon my fortified bed and go to my parents. This particular night the thunder shook the house and the lightning made the room as bright as day. The rain batted against the window and ceiling like a constant wave of sand. It wasn’t that I was afraid of the storm as I was the house being struck by lightning and be fried in my sleep.
Even so I had to leave my safety zone to seek refuge in my parents.
Illustrations:
Biblical Story Genesis 22:1-19
Back Story:
Covenant between God and Abraham…
Miracle Birth
He only had one son.
He must sacrifice his son
Intense pain
What possible good would ever come from this.
Some times you just have to ask why.
None the less, Abraham obeyed God and headed out with Isaac, without telling Isaac what he was planning to do.
Personal Story: Erin and Michael
I want to tell you about my Sister Erin.
As children, she acted like a 2nd mother
She cooked and cleaned for Laura and I.
Most tenderhearted woman.
She married Michael in 2001 and after a year or so they planned to conceive.
They tried and tried and for whatever reason they couldn’t get pregnant.
They got tested and found that nothing was physically wrong with them it was in their head.
4 years ago My sister called from their home in little Georgetown OH to proclaim the good news. She was pregnant.
Oh the joy that was becoming of her.
She was ready to be a mom and wished and prayed for it so.
After being pregnant a couple of weeks she went to the doctor to get an ultra sound, they new they wouldn’t see much but to their alarm, they found nothing.
This wasn’t horrible news. Yet, it raised some questions.
A week later Dad and I went off to Summer camp, not far away in fact closer to where my sister lived.
On Wednesday my dad got a phone call. He rushed to my tent and in a panic and in fear demanded we leave at once. We sped east to the hospital to see my sister awaiting emergency surgery.
Erin lost the child.
[pause]
Teaching on Suffering:
Have you ever asked yourself why me?
And it doesn’t have to be bad; you could be excited from something wonderful. Most often then not I ask myself this after something I am looking forward to goes awry.
Even at times when something goes wrong I lay up at night and my thoughts wonder to what previously occurred. I am sure everyone does it at times, wishing for another try or chance, possibly for her to say yes or thought you should have studied harder, and maybe even think you could have handled things better.
Or miss A loved one who has been taken by death. You may lay awake thinking about your suffering, part of life’s suffering is misery’s shadow lingering; not only do you suffer but you have to think about suffering.
Have you dared beat your chest and raise your fist in anger and shout to the heavens in your own anguish.
Storms come and rain on your parade and there is nothing you can do about it. You would just as soon control the rain or turn the tide before you gain all the wisdom of the world to handle such situations.
I can’t prove this with statistics or find it any book I know of, yet I would say that more people either come to the faith or fall away because of this reason above all; the disturbance of suffering.
Now there are two forms of sufferings observed by man, the physical and the psychological. Let it be known That I shall deal more with the later.
C.S. Lewis writes an amazing book about pain entitled the problem of pain. He brings to light a critical truth about the problem of pain. You see, people have a problem reconciling human suffering with a loving God so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word Love and look things as if man were the center of them. If God was all good and all powerful he would wish his creation to be all good and it of course is not. Therefore God lacks either goodness or power. This is the problem of pain.
You see God uses Times of suffering to teach and grow us.
If you allow yourself to recount your sufferings, did you not learn more about faith while suffering then any other time?
It has been said that ; “blessings are God’s whispers, he speaks in our conscience, but shouts to us in our suffering.”
Suffering becomes the only way to realize our stagnate spiritual self. Pain is unmasked and every person knows when something is not right when they are hurting. Pain insists upon being attended to.
So when you travel down this line of thought you come to the idea, why do I or someone suffer when others don’t? It isn’t fair
[pause]
I know suffering is exhausting and pain hurts. That is why it is called pain and suffering. If there were an escape a person of great wisdom and foresight would have done it already. Yet Discipleship demands such trials to compel us towards salvation.
Read Hebrews 2:10
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Hebrews deals a lot in discipleship
Suffering becomes synonymous with discipleship.
I began to wonder then if suffering is a good thing. I thought if the bible talks about it so much then maybe I should look for it. I was wrong. You see, suffering is not by itself good. What is good is the sufferer’s submission to God’s will.
Jesus’ suffering:
At the center of all Discussion of suffering there is Christ
those resounding words… Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani – which means: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
How could Jesus say something which appears offensive?
Because in his suffering he remained obedient and not venture from the Lord’s Will.
Jesus is quoting Psalm 22
•Read excerpts.
Psalm 22
This psalm is the first of the passional psalms.
It reads as if it were written at the foot of the cross.
The sufferer here trusted in the Lord. He knew that God could deliver him. In patient trust he accepted his lot as the will of God.
In spite of his pain and suffering or the mooching of men, the sufferer remained committed in faith to his father.
In verse 22 the writer changes tones. He changes from his suffering to the praise of God. [read vs. 15-25]
Focus on those verses.
Cross imagery.
This is why Jesus was forsaken
Hebrews 2:10-11 [read]
The thing about suffering is that people become blinded by their pain and lose sight of the Lord. In their blindness they are tested, remember God allows this because he loves you, for in your pain you are compelled.
Personal Story: ending
On the way to the hospital we had more questions then answers. When we arrived My mom told us before we went in that Erin had a tubule pregnancy.
A tubule pregnancy is when the Baby is fertilized still in the fallopian tube. They didn’t know this happened because they couldn’t see it.
The tube burst so the baby was aborted but Erin had to have surgery to have it removed or she would die.
The nurse before taking Erin to the O.R said this: “I don’t know what you believe, but I think that if you have faith then you will wake up at the end of this suffering.”
After that the room was in tears, we joined hands and my dad prayed with 20 of us or more in the room. All family and friends.
Then I saw something. In the hall, Michael broke down and wept with his mother holding him. There was nothing I could do to stop my tears let alone his.
• All that was left was to wait.
Erin made it, she lost the use of one of her ovaries. And she went on for months in depression. After a time of grief she recovered and went back to pursing motherhood. She became blessed with Jacob and Justin Peters who are two of the most adorable children.
Transition
Biblical story: ending
Finish story
He had Isaac on the alter, then the angel came.
When ever I read this I always thought to myself, If God is omniscient He must have known what Abraham would have done without the experiment; why then this needless torture?
Not to long ago I realized at a better understanding. Whatever God knew Abraham did not know. He didn’t know his obedience would endure such a hardship. The reality of Abraham’s obedience was the act itself. It was not to prove obedience to God for God’s sake but for God to show Abraham how obedient he truly was.
[pause]
closing:
On that cold night.
When I was a child I was scared of the storm but as I matured the storm became soothing after a long day of work.
The Son of God suffered unto Death. Not that men might not suffer, but that their suffering might be like His.”
Amen.
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