217 Sermon Illustrations on Suffering

Acts 14:19-21

Though stoned at Lystra, Paul was compelled by the will of God to return. This poem illustrates the suffering we are called to for the cause of Christ. Sometimes joy comes through the most difficult of circumstances.

The cruel stones unerring fell upon him -- Until they deemed his bleeding form was dead; His worth and work they knew not, and they cared not; Enough, they madly hated what he said.

God touched him! and he rose, with new life given; Nor in his bosom burned resentful pain; And, by and bye, when need and call both guided, He is the stoning-place RETURNED AGAIN.

Perchance thou, too, hast tasted cruel stoning -- And might'st be glad if call came ne'er again To turn to scenes where surely there awaits thee The cruel, cutting stones which make life vain.

Yet, if "back to the stones" the Finger pointeth, Then thou shalt know there is no better way; And there, just there, shall matchless grace await thee, And God Himself shall be thy strength and stay.

--J. Danson Smith

Subject: [CCC-Forum] Domestic Violence--An "Egalitarian" Phenomenon

Dear List,

From another list where I lurk, I received the following, which I pass along to you. It's nasty stuff, though it does serve one purpose complementarians will welcome--it provides some documented evidence that domestic abuse is not the sole province of men (especially patriarchal men, as many feminists and egalitarians would claim). For those of you who need the data, here `tis:

***************

Domestic Abuse of men and children, the silent majority!

"Women must share responsibility for their behavior and contributions to domestic violence." - Judith Shervin (Psychologist)

Domestic violence and abuse are not committed only by men as is popularly believed. In fact, men and women abuse each other with almost equal frequency.[1] You've probably heard the statistic that claims a woman is abused by her spouse every 15 seconds. What you may not know is that the same study also found that a man is abused by his spouse every 14 seconds.[2]

Surprising Facts on Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

Until society recognizes and accepts the fact that women can and do commit domestic violence, the problem of domestic violence will never be addressed and a "solution" will never be found. Domestic violence is a societal phenomenon that is not gender-specific. To deny this fact is unrealistic, biased, and shortsighted.

Facts You Probably Haven't Heard:

More than half of all 'severe' domestic violence is committed by women against their husbands or boyfriends. [1]

Extrapolating from a 1985 survey of more than six thousand couples, the authors estimate that 1.8 million females are the victims of severe domestic violence each year (with injuries suffered by one in ten), but so were about 2.1 million men. [2]

A random survey of 2,143 American homes uncovered the fact that severe abuse was committed equally by men and women. [3]

One study of inner city child abuse found that 49% of all child abuse is committed by single parent mothers. [4]

Natural mothers are the perpetrators of:

* 93% of physical neglect of children * 86% of educational neglect * 78% of emotional neglect * 60% of physical abuse, and * 55% of emotional abuse [5]

A Bureau of Justice report found that Mothers (55%) are more likely than fathers (45%) to murder their children. [6]

According to the government's own figures, females kill 31 times as many children as natural fathers. [7]

Females comprise 78% of the perpetrators of fatal child abuse (child murder). [8]

As disturbing as these statistics are, even more disturbing is the fact that they are virtually unknown. Only recently has any attention at all been focused on the issue of female batterers.

As psychologist Judith Shervin writes, "Women must share responsibility for their behavior and contributions to domestic violence." These contributions are far bigger than feminists and the media are willing to admit.

Dr. Martin Fiebert, (1997) professor of Psychology at the California State University of Long Beach, listed 94 empirical studies that support the position that men and women are assaulting their intimate partners at nearly the same rate. When all the evidence is weighed, the only reasonable conclusion is that men and women commit spousal abuse against each other at nearly equal rates. [9]

REFERENCES

1. Research by M. Strauss & R. Gelles as reported in "Women Are Responsible Too", Judith Shervin, Ph.D. & Jim Sniechowski, Ph.D., LA Times. 6/21/94.

2. From the National Family Violence Survey (1975, 1985, 1992) developed by M. Strauss & R. Gelles, and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

3. 1980 study by Murray Straus, Richard Gelles, and Suzanne Steinmetz.

4. A study of child abuse in Lansing, Michigan. Joan Ditson and Sharon Shay in Child Abuse and Neglect, Volume 8. 1984.

5. Data from the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3) from DHHS, and also from the Bureau of Justice Statistics report entitled "Child Victimizers and Their Victims".

6. Bureau of Justice, "Murder in Families", NCJ-143498.

7. (From item 5, the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3)

8. Ibid.

9. Martin S. Fiebert, Cal State Univ., http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

Copyright 2000 by FRTC, Inc. http://www.deltabravo.net/custody

Suffering is sometimes a mystery. We must affirm both the mystery and God. The paradox remained, but now, at least, Job knew that it belonged there -- that it is built into the moral and physical orders, and into the very nature of God as He has permitted us humans to perceive Him. In a world where the universal principle is cause/effect, the book of Job reminds us that the principle is a reflection of the mysterious, self-revealing God. It is subsumed under Him, however, and He cannot be subsumed under it. The God-speeches remind us that a Person, not a principle, is Lord.

... C. H. Bullock, Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Sometimes, in the middle of the night, when she can't bear it any longer, Cynthia Jay-Brennan calls out to her husband. The blanket has fallen off her broken body and she shivers in the silence.

Terry Brennan gently pulls the covers back over his wife and drifts off to sleep again, knowing he will do the same several more times before morning comes.

It didn't use to be like this. The cocktail waitress and the bartender fell in love and lived together in a modest town house, traveled and looked forward to a life together.

Then fate changed everything. On Jan. 26, 2000, Jay-Brennan put a few dollars in a slot machine and won $35 million - the world's largest slot machine jackpot. Seemingly, she could have anything she wanted.

But just six weeks later - a year ago Sunday - a drunken driver rear-ended her car, paralyzing her and killing her sister.

The driver, a man who had 16 prior drunken driving arrests, was convicted Thursday.

A few hours later, maneuvering her wheelchair through the new house bought with the Megabucks winnings, Jay-Brennan pauses by the slot machine that changed everything. It was a gift from the casino and the reels are stuck on the winning symbols.

"Sometimes I think that maybe Megabucks came to help me with this thing that came next," says Jay-Brennan, 38. "Maybe there's a reason for me being like this."

---

She was a leggy, blonde cocktail waitress who took him the gamblers' drink orders. He was a bartender who worked with pretty women all day.

But she was the one who caught Brennan's eye and they began dating in 1999. "I was like, nobody's this nice," he says.

They weren't regular gamblers, but when the buzz of the growing Megabucks jackpot went around town, Jay-Brennan couldn't help herself.

On Jan. 26, after celebrating Brennan's mother's birthday at a Desert Inn hotel-casino show, she sat down at a slot machine and played $21.

Nothing happened. "I told him I want to put more money in, maybe $6," she says.

So, $3 went in. Nothing. Then the last $3 - and the Megabucks symbols lined up on the machine.

When the excitement had subsided, Brennan, 46, sat her down and told her: "A lot of people change when this happens. I don't want anything to change."

But it would, in the cruelest of ways.

---

They left their jobs, met with accountants, planned wills and a trust. They decided to marry sooner than they had planned to make the legal process easier.

They took care of their families financially and started planning vacations. There were the odd letters from people asking for money, and the sneers of the jealous few when Jay-Brennan went out in public.

They still lived in the same home and hadn't even begun spending on themselves when the accident happened. They had been married only five weeks.

Jay-Brennan spent a night out with her mother, four of her five sisters and one of her three brothers. They began the evening at Boulder Station hotel-casino, playing nickel slot machines and hoping there was a band.

The group decided to head to another casino down the street. Jay-Brennan got in her car with her sister, Lela Anne Jay, 45. The rest of the family rode with her mother and brother.

Just two blocks from their destination, the sisters were sitting at a red light when Clark Morse, a 58-year-old Las Vegas man with 16 drunken driving arrests and at least three convictions, rear-ended Jay-Brennan's car. The impact caused a chain reaction with the three cars in front of hers.

"I was talking to her about how happy I was, newly married and just the whole thing," Jay-Brennan says. "She was actually saying she was happy, too. That's the last thing I remember."

Her sister's neck was broken and she died at the scene. The fifth vertebrae in Jay-Brennan's spine was shattered, paralyzing her from her upper chest to her toes.

No amount of money could buy a cure.

Jay-Brennan spent 10 days at a local hospital, then four months of rehabilitation in Colorado. Screws were drilled into her skull to hold weights that would help stabilize her spinal cord. Her weakened body was ravaged by infections.

"They told me, get used to my chair. I'm never going to walk," she says. "But I don't believe it."

---

A caretaker visits morning and night, but Jay-Brennan depends on her husband for the little details - moving a hair away from her face, smoothing on peach lipstick, brushing away a fallen eyelash.

"I'm like a rag doll," she says.

At night, lying in bed, sometimes it's the cold that bothers her; other times it's the heat. She wakes her husband with her soft voice and asks for his help. He also must turn her so she doesn't get skin sores.

"I would always hold her hand in the middle of the night," Brennan says. "Once, I went to grab her hand and thought: She doesn't know I'm touching her."

Four days a week, Jay-Brennan endures hours of physical therapy. In a year, she's learned to slowly lift her arms, but only so high. Not high enough to feed herself. She can't feel her fingers.

She testified against Morse, who faces more than 100 years in prison when he is sentenced April 20.

Defense attorneys argued that Morse is mentally disabled and has the mind of a third-grader.

But prosecutors said Morse knew drinking and driving were wrong, and that he was intelligent enough to obtain a driver's license and hold jobs for years. Authorities also said his blood-alcohol content was nearly twice the legal limit.

There are days when Brennan doesn't want to brush and floss his wife's teeth. But he always does it.

"I'd trade it (money) all tomorrow for our lives to be the way they were before," he says.

Sometimes, he sits her on the couch so he doesn't have to look at the wheelchair.

"It's kind of a cruel irony. I don't know if it's God's cruel joke or what," he says.

Jay-Brennan relives the accident, and wonders.

"I could have went on a different street. If I had ..." She thinks some more about that night and adds: "You have to think it's just fate that I went that way."

And maybe fate will intervene once again and she will be able to walk one day.

"There's always a chance ... seeing there was a chance of me winning a million dollars," she says.

In an astonishing interview with Christina Lamb, the Afghan leader's former bodyguard reveals the full brutality of the fundamentalist regime sheltering Osama bin Laden.

"You must become so notorious for bad things that when you come into an area people will tremble in their sandals. Anyone can do beatings and starve people. I want your unit to find new ways of torture so terrible that the screams will frighten even crows from their nests and if the person survives he will never again have a night's sleep."

These were the instructions of the commandant of the Afghan secret police to his new recruits. For more than three years one of those recruits, Hafiz Sadiqulla Hassani, ruthlessly carried out his orders. But sickened by the atrocities that he was forced to commit, last week he defected to Pakistan, joining a growing number of Taliban officials who are escaping across the border.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, he reveals for the first time the full horror of what has been happening in the name of religion in Afghanistan. Mr Hassani has the pinched face and restless hands of a man whose night hours are as haunted as any of his victims. Now aged 30, he does not, however, fit the militant Islamic stereotype usually associated with the Taliban.

Married with a wife and one-year-old daughter, he holds a degree in business studies, having been educated in Pakistan, where he grew up as a refugee while his father and elder brothers fought in the jihad against the Russians. His family was well off, owning land and property in Kandahar to which they returned after the war.

"Like many people, I did not become a Talib by choice," he explained. "In early 1998 I was working as an accountant here in Quetta when I heard that my grandfather - who was 85 - had been arrested by the Taliban in Kandahar and was being badly beaten. They would only release him if he provided a member of his family as a conscript, so I had to go."

Mr Hassani at first was impressed by the Taliban. "It had been a crazy situation after the Russians left, the country was divided by warring groups all fighting each other. In Kandahar warlords were selling everything, kidnapping young girls and boys, robbing people, and the Taliban seemed like good people who brought law and order."

So he became a Taliban "volunteer", assigned to the secret police. Many of his friends also joined up as land owners in Kandahar were threatened that they must either ally themselves with the Taliban or lose their property. Others were bribed to join with money given to the Taliban by drug smugglers, as Afghanistan became the world's largest producer of heroin.

At first, Mr Hassani's job was to patrol the streets at night looking for thieves and signs of subversion. However, as the Taliban leadership began issuing more and more extreme edicts, his duties changed.

Instead of just searching for criminals, the night patrols were instructed to seek out people watching videos, playing cards or, bizarrely, keeping caged birds. Men without long enough beards were to be arrested, as was any woman who dared venture outside her house. Even owning a kite became a criminal offence.

The state of terror spread by the Taliban was so pervasive that it began to seem as if the whole country was spying on each other. "As we drove around at night with our guns, local people would come to us and say there's someone watching a video in this house or some men playing cards in that house," he said.

"Basically any form of pleasure was outlawed," Mr Hassani said, "and if we found people doing any of these things we would beat them with staves soaked in water - like a knife cutting through meat - until the room ran with their blood or their spines snapped. Then we would leave them with no food or water in rooms filled with insects until they died.

"We always tried to do different things: we would put some of them standing on their heads to sleep, hang others upside down with their legs tied together. We would stretch the arms out of others and nail them to posts like crucifixions.

"Sometimes we would throw bread to them to make them crawl. Then I would write the report to our commanding officer so he could see how innovative we had been."

Here, sitting in the stillness of an orchard in Quetta sipping tea as the sun goes down, he finds it hard to explain how he could have done such things. "We Afghans have grown too used to violence," is all he can offer. "We have lost 1.5 million people. All of us have brothers and fathers up there."

After Kandahar, he was put in charge of secret police cells in the towns of Ghazni and then Herat, a beautiful Persian city in western Afghanistan that had suffered greatly during the Soviet occupation and had been one of the last places to fall to the Taliban.

Herat had always been a relatively liberal place where women would dance at weddings and many girls went to school - but the Taliban were determined to put an end to all that. Mr Hassani and his men were told to be particularly cruel to Heratis.

It was his experience of that cruelty that made Mr Hassani determined to let the world know what was happening in Afghanistan. "Maybe the worst thing I saw," he said, "was a man beaten so much, such a pulp of skin and blood, that it was impossible to tell whether he had clothes on or not. Every time he fell unconscious, we rubbed salt into his wounds to make him scream.

"Nowhere else in the world has such barbarity and cruelty as in Afghanistan. At that time I swore an oath that I will devote myself to the Afghan people and telling the world what is happening."

Before he could escape, however, because he comes from the same tribe, he spent time as a bodyguard for Mullah Omar, the reclusive spiritual leader of the Taliban.

"He's medium height, slightly fat, with an artificial green eye which doesn't move, and he would sit on a bed issuing instructions and giving people dollars from a tin trunk," said Mr Hassani. "He doesn't say much, which is just as well as he's a very stupid man. He knows only how to write his name `Omar' and sign it.

"It is the first time in Afghanistan's history that the lower classes are governing and by force. There are no educated people in this administration - they are all totally backward and illiterate.

"They have no idea of the history of the country and although they call themselves mullahs they have no idea of Islam. Nowhere does it say men must have beards or women cannot be educated; in fact, the Koran says people must seek education."

He became convinced that the Taliban were not really in control. "We laughed when we heard the Americans asking Mullah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden," he said. "The Americans are crazy. It is Osama bin Laden who can hand over Mullah Omar - not the other way round."

While stationed in Kandahar, he often saw bin Laden in a convoy of Toyota Land Cruisers all with darkened windows and festooned with radio antennae. "They would whizz through the town, seven or eight cars at a time. His guards were all Arabs and very tall people, or Sudanese with curly hair."

He was also on guard once when bin Laden joined Mullah Omar for a bird shoot on his estate. "They seemed to get on well," he said. "They would go fishing together, too - with hand grenades."

The Arabs, according to Mr Hassani, have taken de facto control of his country. "All the important places of Kandahar are now under Arab control - the airport, the military courts, the tank command."

Twice he attended Taliban training camps and on both occasions they were run by Arabs as well as Pakistanis. "The first one I went to lasted 10 days in the Yellow Desert in Helmand province, a place where the Saudi princes used to hunt, so it has its own airport.

It was incredibly well guarded and there were many Pakistanis there, both students from religious schools and military instructors. The Taliban is full of Pakistanis."

He was told that if he died while fighting under the white flag of the Taliban, he and his family would go to paradise. The soldiers were given blank marriage certificates signed by a mullah and were encouraged to "take wives" during battle, basically a licence to rape.

When Mr Hassani was sent to the front line in Bagram, north of Kabul, a few months ago, he saw a chance to escape. "Our line was attacked by the Northern Alliance and they almost defeated us. Many of my friends were killed and we didn't know who was fighting who; there was killing from behind and in front. Our commanders fled in cars leaving us behind.

"We left, running all night but then came to a line of Arabs who arrested us and took us back to the front line. One night last month I was on watch and saw a truck full of sheep and goats, so I jumped in and escaped.

"I got back to Kandahar but Taliban spies saw me and I was arrested and interrogated. Luckily I have relatives who are high ranking Taliban members so they helped me get out and eventually I escaped to Quetta to my wife and daughter.

"I think many in the Taliban would like to escape. The country is starving and joining is the only way to get food and keep your land. Otherwise there is a lot of hatred. I hate both what it does and what it turned me into."

c Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2001.

Like many pastors, I keep a few trophies of accomplishment on display for the world to see, but out back are truckloads of broken dreams. Until reading this book, I considered those dreams trash. But according to Crabb, in my piles of pain, which include a broken engagement, a failed church plant, and a painful rejection by a group of believers I loved and tried to shepherd, God had been at work. Amid each of these broken dreams came my times of deepest yearning for God.

A group of friends and I were discussing the book at a party. One woman, eyes welling up, said, "If these things are true, maybe my life hasn't been wasted after all." She didn't know that I had penciled a similar sentiment in my copy.

In SHATTERED DREAMS, Crabb offers a painful yet insightful exposition of the life of Naomi from the book of Ruth. He writes, "Happy people rarely look for joy. Their central concern is to keep what they have. They haven't been freed to pursue a greater dream. In his SEVERE MERCY, God takes away the good to create an appetite for the better." That is frightening for those of us who secretly believe God owes us exemption from the pain of life.

Scarier still is Crabb's insight into the unexplained phenomenon so many have experienced - an unresponsive God. In our time of greatest need, when we cry out for him, God is nowhere to be found.

"God's restraint has a purpose," claims Crabb. "Only in the agony of His absence, both in the absence of blessings and in the felt absence of His Presence, will we relax our determined grasp of our empty selves enough to appreciate His purposes."

Hard thoughts for soft minds like ours. Our churches are full of people Crabb describes this way: "Satan's masterpiece is not the prostitute or the bum. It is the self-sufficient person who has made life comfortable, who is adjusting well to the world and likes living here, who longs only to be a little better-and a little better off-than he already is."

We want life to be easier. God wants it to be better.

I've found release and hope in knowing that God is using my shattered dreams, that he is answering my, "Why?"

________

Ed Rowell is a teaching pastor at The People's Church in Franklin, Tennessee

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./LEADERSHIP Journal.

LEADERSHIP, Fall 2001, Vol. 23, No. 4, Page 119

”But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10, NIV).

A “Daily Encounter” reader shared how she heard a religious leader state that, “Christian women don’t have miscarriages.”

I remember hearing a college professor saying that Christians should never be depressed. And still others teach that every Christian should be healed.

Statements like these are totally false and can make some people feel very inferior, that they lack faith, that they’re not good enough for God to care about them, and can cause them to become very discouraged.

God used Paul to heal people, but God didn’t heal Paul. Paul didn’t say what his problem was, but he prayed three times and the answer he received from God was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Jesus raised Jarius’ daughter from the dead, but John the Baptist lost his head — and stayed dead!

The reality of life is that we live in a broken world, and everybody, at some time or another, is going to suffer either from loss, a broken relationship, physical suffering, sickness, mental breakdown, etc., etc. And being a Christian isn’t going to save us from human problems.

True, some people suffer through foolish actions or irresponsible behavior, some suffer because of neglect, but many suffer just because suffering is a part of the human condition. And some people suffer because God allows them to be tested such as Job, who suffered from terrible boils and the loss of all of his children and said, “When he [God] has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10, NIV).

And God allows some people to suffer so that “the work of God might be displayed in their life.”

Take the blind man in the Bible for example. The disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:2-3, NIV).

The important thing to remember, regardless of the cause of our suffering, God wants to use our problems to help us grow and become stronger, more sensitive and healthier Christians. On the other hand, Satan wants to use our problems make us bitter and to destroy us. When faced with trials, with God’s help we can become better, or we can just become bitter.

And that choice is ours.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, when trials come to me, help me always to remember that you want to use these to help me grow and to become a better person, also that you will be glorified. With your help I choose to become a better person. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

The hurt and the pain drives him into a park,

He seats in his car staring into the dark,

The last rays shine through the tall trees,

Looking like long hands stretching by threes.

The sun disappears into the land untold,

The stars form patterns beautiful to behold,

The illuminated patches of clouds speak silently,

Of the pretty designs of creation arranged so perfectly.

He seats there struck by the awesomeness,

He lays back and stares into the sky’s oneness,

Momentarily his pain seems to drown away,

For beyond the sadness he sees hope not far away.

He thinks, God must be really great,

He never meant for me to get this treat,

The desperation, the desolation, the pain,

For the truth of His love is displayed so plain.

Touch me again Lord, he whispers to Him,

Caress me with your gentle love, he cries to Him,

Give me peace within no matter the chaos outside,

Give me commitment, your kindness to hold inside.

My friend is a man with a heart of love,

In the midst of hatred he’s calm as a dove,

In discouragement he’s shown the strength to hope,

Believing in the salvation of the Lord at the end of the rope.

In a picturesque Swiss village full of tourists, hotels, and restaurants, a 21-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with undiagnosed stomach pain. Twenty-four hours later she was dead of a highly unusual infection.

Her parents had never shown much evidence of faith, attending church only at Christmas and Easter or for weddings and funerals. After her death, they were bitter. “We can’t believe in God,” they said. “No good God could ever permit this to happen.”

Well-meaning comforters offered remarks that were true enough but hardly a consolation: “At least she went quickly. It could have been cancer.” “Remember the bus full of children that fell into the ravine.” “A hundred years ago one child in four died before age 5.” “At least you still have another child.”

The organist at the village church was gruff: “They ought to have thought of God sooner.”

AN INTUITIVE AWARENESS

In a day when many people never think of God except to blame Him when things go wrong, the organist’s comment does make some sense. If we have not paid enough attention to God to know and trust Him, we really do not know to whom to complain — or whether we are entitled to complain.

The fact that most people do complain after tragedy shows that they have at least an intuitive awareness of God. If there were no Creator and no divine purpose to life, the sudden death of a young woman would not be the least bit surprising. If the cosmos were the blind product of “chance and necessity,” to use the words of one Nobel Prize winner, the late biochemist Jacques Monod, then the universe would be both mindless and heartless. Whatever happens, simply happens. There is no one to blame, no one to whom to appeal for relief, and nothing to be surprised about. Heartless affliction is just what we ought to expect.

The reason people cry out, as these bereaved parents did, is because in our innermost thoughts we do not really believe the universe is blind. We sense there really is a Creator. In addition, we think of ourselves as decent and deserving — so we blame the Creator for not treating us fairly. “God is not fair to me, so I refuse to acknowledge Him.”

Unfortunately, an unfocused, intuitive awareness of God, without knowing Him personally, leaves us totally bewildered by and unprepared for the suffering of this world.

TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD

When people do know and trust God, the problem of pain and evil does not disappear. At first it may be harder to handle. “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,” the apostle wrote (Rom. 8:28 nasb). If this promise does not directly apply to those who ignore God, what of those who do love Him, who serve Him faithfully, who in every way exemplify what Christians ought to be and do?

Sometimes it helps to think of what we learn through suffering. Even Jesus “learned obedience from what He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). But what do we learn through drawn-out, apparently pointless suffering at the end of life? What about the beloved seminary professor who contracted cancer and died after months of intense suffering? What did he learn by it, or his loved ones who watched his agony?

THE ABUSE OF FREEDOM

Philosophers and theologians refer to “the problem of evil.” Many books have been written in an effort to explain how evil can be so present and powerful in a world created by a good and omnipotent God. It would be foolish to attempt a thorough answer in these two pages, but it is possible to lay down some helpful guidelines. The two key words are freedom and Satan.

God’s Word tells us that He created the world good, but because of man’s rebellion — the Fall — it is now in an unnatural, distorted condition. Our guilty abuse of freedom has blighted it. Much if not all of the evil that we encounter, from AIDS to genocide, is attributable to this abuse of human freedom. Human evil, both individual and collective, casts long shadows and afflicts countless people who had nothing to do with causing the evil, or who may even have resisted it.

Much has been made of the dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke; there is even greater danger from what we might call secondhand sin. A careful driver can be killed in an accident caused by a drunk. A chaste adult can contract AIDS from a blood transfusion. In such cases, although the immediate victim did not sin, someone else’s abuse of freedom set the deadly chain of events in motion.

Many diseases, such as most cancers, can strike without warning and without any direct link to behavior. But if we look further into the past, we see that some sin somewhere, or many sins in many places, is the root cause. Because of Adam’s sin, and all the other sins of history, the human body and psyche are vulnerable. We cannot always avoid the consequences of evil.

THE REALITY OF SATAN

Human sin by itself explains much. But the power of evil and the way it strikes the “undeserving,” even those who sincerely trust God and try to live as He would have them live, requires a fuller explanation. The answer lies in the reality of Satan — a real and powerful adversary, one who is determined to do us as much harm as he can. Though he cannot ultimately separate believers from the love of God, he will hurt us as much as he can.

Our fallen world “lieth in wickedness,” the King James Version explains (1 John 5:19). Some modern translations personalize the text: “The whole world is under the control of the evil one” (niv). Satan’s final defeat is certain, but he still has tremendous power. He uses it against the unconverted to keep them as far as possible from faith, striking at their vulnerability and seeking to make them blame God for their hurts.

People such as the bereaved couple mentioned above are sometimes easy prey. If they knew the Scriptures, “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 nkjv), they could more easily find the way out of bitterness to faith. But even those who know the Bible and seek to walk by faith are not beyond Satan’s attacks. Satan will do all he can to make us doubt God’s love and drive us to disillusionment, depression, and if possible, despair.

PAIN IN PERSPECTIVE

The Christian life is often filled with evidence of God’s grace, love, and mercy, but sometimes the evidence is not so clear. Though we can experience great joy in serving God, this does not eliminate the potential for sorrow. Jesus warned, “In the world you have tribulation” (John 16:33). Hardly anyone experiences a completely healthy and harmonious life. And except for those still living when Christ returns, we will all have to spend time in the dark valley of the shadow of death.

The scope of human sin from Adam to the present, the pain it caused and continues to cause, is an incredible burden. As the Lutheran theologian Paul Althaus expressed it, the burden would be too much to bear except for two world-transforming facts: first, the victory Christ won on the cross over Satan and sin; second, His impending return in glory. These truths do not solve the problem of evil or answer all of the questions it forces on us here in time, but they do put everything into perspective. Philosophers and theologians can help us deal with the problem of evil, but the ultimate answer will come only when “God will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes” (Rev. 7:17).

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Dr. Brown is professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois) and director of the Rockford Institute Center on Religion and Society.

Over the years, I've had the honor and the pleasure of speaking for many professional football chapels. You should have seen me with the New York Giants. I was like the New York dwarf! I guess I'm tall inside, you know. But anyway, their “thank-you” for speaking was two tickets for the game. And they had great seats reserved for the chapel speaker, midfield under cover. Of course, any time you go to a public event like a game or a concert or a show, you hope for great seats. On occasion, I've even looked up a seating chart for the facility where an event was being held so I knew what seats to ask for. Unfortunately, you have to pay a little for the best seats, but you get a view most folks can't see.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Best Seats in the House.”

For nearly forty years, Joni Eareckson Tada's view has been from a wheelchair. She has been a quadriplegic since a horrible diving accident at the age of 17. And after some early battles with bitterness and despondency, Joni found in Almighty God her source of joy and hope. Today, her ministry of compassion and hope reaches around the world. She has represented her Lord again and again in major arenas with Christian leaders like Billy Graham, and her radio ministry has a powerful impact on countless lives. But she lives with constant pain, in need of help just to get through each day, - imprisoned, some might say, in her wheelchair and her broken body.

In her book, “The God I Love,” Joni says this to God. “I know I wouldn't know You ... I wouldn't love and trust You ... were it not for this wheelchair.” Joni believes that the wheelchair she has often wished she didn't need has actually given her a front row seat on the love and greatness of God. Those who have suffered painfully, those who have been hurt deeply, they are the people who have - or can have - a view of the awesomeness of God that others never see. And if you are going through a long, dark valley right now, there's hope here for you in seeing beyond the hurt to what can happen if you let your big need open you up to a big God.

In Romans 5, beginning with verse 2, our word for today from the Word of God, the Lord shows us the view that will redeem our pain and turn it into something very beautiful. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

Suffering surrendered to the Master Potter is the wheel on which He can make you into a masterpiece. And you will experience a depth of hope, a strength of character, and a flood of God's love and grace that can only be experienced by those who need Him desperately. There's no way to really, really know Him until you really, really need Him.

If this is such a time, thank Him for it, and don't miss the view because you're all focused on yourself. Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor to President George Bush, said in a church where she spoke on “The Privilege of Struggle”: “How else, but through struggle are we to get to know the full measure of the Lord's capability for intervention in our lives? If there are no burdens, how can we know that He can be there to lift them?” Or, as in Joni Tada's life, you might never know the Lord, you might never love the Lord, you might never trust the Lord if it were not for your heavy burden.

Yes, you do have to pay a price for the best seats in the house, but you have a view of the grace and greatness of God that others cannot see. The price you pay will last a little while. The view will last forever.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

Come with me to the scene. A tomb sealed quietly in Bethany near Jerusalem, pronouncing the finality of death, the victory of corruption over the body of a man. Two sisters weep, Mary and Martha, surrounded by professional mourners. On the outskirts of town, Jesus finally arrives with his band of men. The sisters come to Jesus and blame him for not coming sooner. They knew He had the power to heal. Why didn't he come and heal? He had healed many strangers. Why didn't he come heal a friend?

Jesus, composed and determined, said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believers in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha's reply reveals that she did not understand his power or purpose, but she did know he was trustworthy: “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

Then Jesus weeps with them. Ravi Zacharias notes that Jesus, having power to raise the dead, weeps with those who do not have that power. We do not have a high priest who cannot identify with our deepest sense of loss.

After the command was given to roll away the stone, Jesus prays aloud to his Father for all to hear and then utters the command that threw the world into gasping silence, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he came forth.

Suddenly the incredible power of death which paralyzed the world was broken. Death, though it had uttered volumes to silence the lives of scores of humans, did not have the last word. Another Word was spoken.

It is sad to see that, as this Word was spoken to penetrate the power of death, many began to plot to erase that Word. Philip Yancey points out this was the last miracle Jesus did.

But Lazarus would die again on another day. The Scripture is silent on the second physical death of Lazarus. But we can be assured that Lazarus, though the focal point of so much awe and scrutiny, was again laid in that tomb. The physical miracles of Jesus were always temporary ones. And the loss of a brother would come again to the hearts of the women.

Death's final word can only be overshadowed by a permanent resurrection! Lazarus' resurrection was not enough. The ultimate fulcrum of suffering and healing resides in Jesus Christ, who identified with our suffering by taking our sin and sorrow upon his shoulders at the Cross, and then burst forth in his resurrection to ensure a permanent hope for you and me.

The suffering of losing those we love lingers for a long time, even when we have everlasting hope. Gerald L. Sittser, who lost three generations of his family in one automobile accident, writes in his thoughtful and helpful book, A Grace Disguised, “Suffering engenders a certain degree of ambivalence in those of us who believe in the resurrection. We feel the pain of our present circumstance, which reminds us of what we have lost; yet we hope for future release and victory. We doubt, yet try to believe; we suffer, yet long for real healing; we inch hesitantly toward death, yet see death as the door to resurrection.... Living with this ambivalence is both difficult and vital. It stretches our souls, challenging us to acknowledge our morality and yet to continue to hope for final victory — the victory Jesus won for us in his death and resurrection, a victory that awaits us only on the other side of the grave.”

Though all people die, not all people will really live. Sittser writes, “The last chapter of the human story is not death but life. Jesus' resurrection guarantees it.” That is, for all who are willing to be part of his unquenchable hope and his never-ending story. This hope holds all of our sorrows in tension as we await our own permanent resurrection. Jesus Christ will utter, once and for all, “Come forth!”

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Copyright © 2003 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

Simon of Cyrene: I was just a simple bystander that day, one of the thousands pilgrims who'd come to Jerusalem for Passover. The whole city was in an uproar. People shouting "Crucify!" jamming the street, waiting for the Nazarene to pass. It seemed incredible. I mean, this was the same man who'd ridden a donkey through the street a few days ago, hailed as a king! The crowd had swarmed about him, waving branches and throwing coats in his path. "Hosanna!" everyone shouted. I even broke a branch off a date palm and joined in myself.

But all of that had changed. Now the Nazarene trudged up the street. Bent under the weight of a wooden cross. He came closer and closer, here and there stepping over a dried branch. Suddenly he was right beside me! I could smell the blood and sweat and hear him laboring to get his breath. The next thing I knew, he stumbled. Without thinking, I reached out to catch him. But he fell at my feet.

"You!" a Roman soldier shouted. "You are so willing to help, you carry it the rest of the way!" He thrust the cross onto my back. The Nazarine lifted up his eyes and gave me a sad look that pierced my heart. Maybe he is the Messiah after all, I thought.

It was a long, difficult walk. People taunted me just as they did the Nazarene. But you know, I was glad in the end they had chosen me, Me...Simon, carrying the Messiah's cross! But I was not so special. You see I was simply doing what he asked all his disciples to do every single day...to take up their cross and follow him...to walk with him even when the way is difficult an painful.

Father teach me today that there is no short cut to Easter...that I am called to walk with you even in your suffering.

Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example … who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not. — 1 Peter 2:21, 23.

Never allow yourself to answer again when you are blamed. Never de-fend yourself. Let them reprehend you in private or in public as much as they please. Let them smite you — it shall be a kindness; let them reprove you — it shall be any excellent oil which shall anoint your head. “It is the mark of deepest and truest humility,” says a great saint, “to see ourselves condemned without cause, and to be silent under it. To be silent under insult and wrong, is a very noble imitation of our Lord. Oh, my Lord, when I remember in how many ways Thou didst suffer, who in no way deserved it, I know not where my senses are when I am in such a haste to defend and excuse myself. Is it possible I should desire any one to speak any good of me, or to think it, when so many ill things were thought and spoken of Thee!”

But who Thy path of service,

Thy steps removed from in,

Thy patient love to serve us,

with human tongue can tell?

Midst sin, and all corruption,

where hatred did abound,

Thy path of true perfection

was Light on all around. — J. N. D.

There is a part of me that feels the twinge of being scolded whenever my name is spoken to me. “Jill, what are you doing?” “Hurry, Jill!” (Perhaps those of us that share this idiosyncrasy got in trouble a lot as kids.) But I have often wondered how Peter felt when Jesus' scathing rebuke to Peter's words confronted not “Peter,” which would have yet had its sting, but “Satan.”

In those days, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. He began to explain to those who loved him that he would be put to death. Peter, like most of us reacting to the suffering of our loved ones, swore to protect him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” I can only imagine his shock at Jesus' response. Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23).

I cannot read that passage without picturing my reaction to those words. I would have been devastated. But I also know when Jesus says something devastating we should pay attention all the more. The intensity of his reaction to Peter portrays the intensity with which he knew he had to suffer, his severe understanding of our need for his affliction. To get in the way of his necessary suffering was to be as an enemy obstructing the plan of God.

As I look at Peter standing before Christ with good intentions, not wanting to see the one he loved broken or defeated, I wonder how many times I, too, have obstructed suffering God deemed necessary. My gut reaction in the face of pain, my own and others, is to make it stop. Like Peter I vow to fix it, not knowing what I mean, just wanting it gone. In the midst of suffering, Jesus warns, we must decide whether we will have in mind the things of men or the things of God.

The Christian understanding of suffering is forged at the foot of the Cross. At the Cross, we are reminded that God's plan for our lives has always included suffering. Christ was wounded and crushed for our iniquities; by the suffering and shame he endured we are healed. Can God not also have a plan for our own suffering?

As one theologian notes, “Jesus did not die in order to spare us the indignities of a wounded creation. He died that we might see those wounds as our own.” At the Cross, we see our sin and the suffering that we have caused by it. But we also find meaning even in suffering that doesn't come as a direct result of our sin. We see, as Paul observed, that suffering produces perseverance, that we are purified in its fires, that what was meant for ill God intends for good. We see that Christ who suffered for us, so walks with us in our own suffering. “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5). At the Cross, we see that some suffering is necessary.

Peter not only picked himself up from a rebuke more severe than anything he heard Jesus give the Pharisees, he took Jesus' words to heart. In a letter meant to encourage fellow believers, he wrote, “It is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God” (1 Peter 2:9). Peter chose to keep in mind not the things of man, but kept in mind the things of God.

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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

Throughout the United Kingdom, following the Christmas tsunami that killed at least 150,000 people and changed the lives of their surviving relatives forever, some are asking how a “loving” God, if He exists, could allow such a catastrophe to happen. Another question is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

The questions are mostly rhetorical, since by asking them, the questioners don't actually expect, or even desire, an answer. They are asked in an accusatory way, as if the questions themselves indict, try and convict as fools those who believe in God.

One counterquestion should be: Why do GOOD things happen to BAD people? The Scriptures say, “Only God is good.” All humanity is diagnosed as “sinful” and “not righteous.” Our desires are “only evil all the time.” Look it up.

What about a “good God” allowing bad things? Death is the destination of all living organisms. Some die sooner than others. Shouldn't a “good God” provide a way to escape the grave? He has, but that requires faith, which critics and skeptics lack.

Here's another question for those who ask the other questions: If catastrophe proves there is no God, does charity prove He exists? Individuals in Britain have contributed millions of pounds to the tsunami survivors, more than their government. Most of the world's charities helping in the effort are Christian and American.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation, yet Muslim nations, including the fabulously wealthy Saudi regime, have given chump change compared to those countries with majority Christian populations. Don't expect Christians, or Americans, to gain points with those who believe America is the “Great Satan.”

Human tragedy is bad enough, but listening to some theologians trying to explain it is doubly irritating. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, wrote a Jan. 2 column for The Sunday Telegraph about the tsunami disaster. The front-page headline about the column proclaimed, “Archbishop of Canterbury admits: This makes me doubt the existence of God.”

The headline writer misrepresented the archbishop's view, but so convoluted was Dr. Williams' statement about the disaster (as noted by an editorial the next day) it is understandable how the writer of the headline reached his conclusion. Theologians should offer hope and truth. The pagans serve up enough doubt.

Rather than attempt to bring mankind up to God's level, many skeptics try to bring God down to man's level, remaking Him in a human image and thus encouraging the false view that God is someone who is supposed to make us happy and prosperous. If we are unhappy and not rich (or not rich enough), we will deny He exists. Prosperity and good health provide their own motives for unbelief, as C.S. Lewis and numerous other thinkers have eloquently written.

When Dr. Williams says prayer provides no “magical solutions” and most of the stock Christian answers to human suffering do not “go very far in helping us, one week on, with the intolerable grief and devastation in front of us,” where would he suggest we turn, if not to God?

As with most liberal clerics who question God, more than trust Him, Dr. Williams offers nothing from Scripture for comfort and explanation. It was the same when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in that Paris car crash. Clergymen were interviewed, but none offered more than empty platitudes. What good are the clergy if this is the best they can do? Why are they drawing salaries paid by parishioners who might properly expect, even demand, more?

Let me, a nontheologian, offer some help to the skeptics. In Job, Chapter 1, Job suffers a catastrophe when God allows Satan to take away his children and worldly goods to test his faith. Job makes two statements that ought to be remembered and repeated in times like these.

The first is, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.” Job also says in response to his skeptical and nagging wife, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?”

If you prefer a secular source, consider Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address. Seeking to understand the Civil War catastrophe, Lincoln concluded, “The Almighty has His own purposes.”

Those are answers (and questions) that resonate far better than the pap coming from the skeptics and certain theologians who have their degrees, but seem to know less about God and His nature than what causes an undersea earthquake.

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©2005 Tribune Media Services

*

Just a few days ago, I was sitting in a restaurant with Bill, a dear friend of mine whom I led to the Lord a few years ago. We were talking about his spiritual growth when the conversation transitioned to the mess our world is in.

Bill particularly was concerned with the terrorist threat and the crisis we face on so many international fronts such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea. I shared with my friend about the power of God to change a nation. He was pretty skeptical about the ability or the willingness of our government to do anything about all of this, and about the general future of our world.

In the middle of our conversation, a server I knew came to our table and said, “There is a man eating here today who knows you. I think you may want to talk to him.” The man, Pastor Joe, was a godly leader from a local church in the area. I had worked with him in unity events when I was a pastor. As we began to talk, it was obvious that he was excited. I was stunned when I found out why -- he was preaching his wife’s funeral that afternoon.

He shared with us the opportunity that this would present. Many people would be there who did not know Christ. He had been married to his dear wife for 52 years. For the last eight she had battled Alzheimer’s disease. Joe told me about five people who had come to Christ through his wife’s illness. He shared of her courage and grace through terrible suffering. He told me about one young man who had no interest in his witness until he met Joe’s wife.

“When I realized that you lived with this joy while your wife has this horrible disease, I knew that what you had was real,” the man told Joe. And he became a follower of Christ! And then Joe spoke with passion about the specific people who would be at the funeral that day who needed Jesus.

What an incredible honor it was to turn that restaurant into a sanctuary and go to the Father on behalf of Joe, as I prayed for God’s Spirit to fill Him as he preached, and to draw people to Jesus. As soon as I finished, a woman approached Joe and said, “I knew your wife. I can’t tell you how she impacted my life. I thank God for both of you.” Then I watched Joe make his way out the door and on to his mission.

My friend Bill watched this whole scene. Then something occurred to me.

“Bill,” I said, “Do you know why America has been so blessed by God? Why we are glad we live here instead of in a place like Iran or North Korea?”

“Why?” he asked.

“I believe it is because of frail elderly women with Alzheimer’s and humble, passionate pastors who may never have their name in lights and millions more just like them. For more than 200 years, an army of Christ-followers just like Joe and his wife have spread out across this land, loving, serving, sharing the Good News of Jesus, often at incredible sacrifice. One by one they don’t make the news. But together, they have changed history. This country was born in spiritual power and blessing because of them. This country has been sustained by them. And if we want to change America and this world, I think all we have to do is join them.”

We sat in silence for a few moments and then had the opportunity to pray and share with our server, as we enjoyed the privilege of joining Joe’s mission.

If the Lord delays his coming, those living 200 years from now are depending on us to keep this country great and to continue to be a light of goodness and hope to the whole world. And that requires the sacrifice of those who are defending us in far-away places right now. And it requires that we do our best to choose godly people to govern us. But I think most of all, it requires something of you. Something that will take you out of your comfort zones and your comfortable pews. Something that will take you away from self-centered, club-like Christianity and into the lives of people you have not even noticed. And something that will become the greatest joy of your life. To make America great again, to bring hope to the world again, we must make evangelism good news again.

And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail. — Leviticus 16:12.

There are certain flowers that emit no fragrance as they grow, but when they are crushed they give out perfume which anoints the hand that bruised them. Christ’s life was ever giving out love and kindness. He met reviling with blessing. They hung Him on the cross and He died, but in that cruel death He wrought redemption. When we are wronged, or hurt, or treated unkindly or cruelly, if we would honor our blessed Lord, we must endure with sweet forgiveness and patience.

Life, life of love poured out, fragrant and holy!

Life, ‘mid rude thorns of earth, stainless and sweet!

Life, whence God’s face of love, glorious but lowly,

Shines forth to bow us, Lord, low at Thy feet! — F. Allaben

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. — 1 Peter 3:18.

By taking our place at Calvary, Christ gives us His place of glory. Our sins became His that His righteousness might become ours. Our death He suffered that His life we might receive. The abandonment by God that should have been ours He endured that the nearness that is His we might enjoy in Him. So infinite is the union between Christ and those of us which believe that His resurrection is the pledge of our resurrection, and His future is our future.

O Lord, from my heart I do thank Thee

For all Thou hast borne in my room,

Thine agony, dying unsolaced,

Alone in the darkness of doom.

That I in the glory of Heaven,

Forever and ever might be,

A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings,

I bring, blessed Saviour to Thee. — Ernst C. Homburg.

The Spirit of Christ … testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. — 1 Peter 1:11.

We look backward to the “sufferings,” and forward to the “glory.” The first advent of the Lord was to endure the sufferings; the second advent will be to bring the glory. The Church occupies the interval. Most blessed place wherein to rest, and wait, and watch until Jesus comes! — Trotter.

“A little while” — He’ll come again,

Let us the precious hours redeem;

Our only grief to give Him pain,

Our joy to serve and follow Him.

Watching and ready may we be,

As those that wait their Lord to see.

Peter Writes to Pilgrims — 1 Peter 4:12–19 — Suffering to God’s Glory

« My translation of 1 Peter is to convey the flavour of the Greek rather than to be for English fluency and literacy. Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. Review

1. Outline, thus far (abridged):

a. 1:1–2:12 – The Blessings of Spiritual Pilgrims

b. 2:13–4:11 – The Duties of Spiritual Pilgrims

i. 2:13–17 – Living as Earthly Citizens

ii. 2:18–20 – Facing Unjust Treatment

iii. 2:21–25 – Christ the Example

iv. 3:1–6 – A Good Woman (Wife)

v. 3:7–12 – A Good Man (Husband)

vi. 3:13–17 – A Defence in Suffering

vii. 3:18–22 – The Atonement

viii. 4:1–6 – Leaving the Old Life

ix. 4:7–11 – Living to God’s Glory … review …

2. An Incentive to the New Life: 4:7a But the end of all things has drawn near. … How does this encourage Christian living? « – it brings us face to face with the fact that all our material relationships and possessions are passing and that we will soon need to give account of our spiritual life »

3. What are to be marks of the New Life (4:7b-9): 7b Therefore, be healthy minded; be disciplined unto prayers; 8 and first of all, having ‘stretched out’ love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of faults, 9 hospitable to one another without grumbling. … ?

a. A wholeness of « mind by God’s salvation, peace and love »

b. A self-controlled « prayer life, public and private »

c. Showing « love to the limit to other believers »

d. If wronged « forgive and keep quiet about the wrong »

e. Providing « to the entertainment and needs of others, not counting possessions as our own, but giving cheerfully »

4. Marks of the New Ministry, 4:10–11: 10 According as each one has received a gift minister it among yourselves as good dispensers of the many-sided grace of God: 11 if any man speaks, let him do so as speaking God’s oracles; if any man ministers, let him do so out of might which God furnishes; in order that in all things, God should be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and the ruling power unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

5. What is the source of the ability of spiritual ministry? « – it is a gift or grace received of God »

6. Think on the word ‘many-sided’; how does God work in His church? « – like the variety of His creation so is the variety of the ways God works, even in His church »

7. What is the ultimate purpose of service? « – the same for every kind of service, the worship, praise & glory of God »

B. The Trials of Christian Pilgrims … 4:12 – 5:14

1. Suffering to God’s Glory 1 Peter 4:12–19

2. 12 Beloved, do not consider the burning ordeal among you to be alien — as a random, alien happening — it comes into your midst as a testing; 13 but according as you are sharing in the sufferings of the Christ, rejoice now, in order that also in the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice exuberantly. 14 Blessed are you if you are being reviled for bearing Christ’s name, because the Spirit of glory, even that which is of God, is resting upon you. 15 So, let not any of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as one interfering in other’s affairs; 16 but if it is as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but rather let him glorify God for possessing that name. 17 For now is the season to commence judgement of the house of God, and if of us first, what will be the end of those disobedient to the gospel of God? {Cf Jeremiah 25:29} 18 And ‘if the righteous is saved with difficulty, where shall the impious man and sinner show themselves?’ {Proverbs 11:31, LXX} 19 Consequently, let also those suffering according to God’s will, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator in well-doing.

3. In verse 12, the word ‘alien’ can also be translated as ‘foreign, strange, a guest, not part of the family’ – what is the message Peter conveying? « – suffering for the believer is not abnormal, nor is it without reason … it is to be expected »

4. What is the purpose of such suffering? « – it is brought into our lives to test – as an athlete is tested in competition to spur him on to excellence and victory »

5. In verse 13, how ought we to think of our sufferings? « – that they are a point of union with our Suffering Saviour »

6. What hope can we take from this fact (cf 5:1 & Romans 8:18, ‘For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.’ (NAS))? « – if we share Christ’s suffering, we anticipate sharing His glory »

7. Verse 14; in bearing (or possessing) the name of Christ, what do we also share with Him (see Isaiah 11:2, ‘And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.’ (NAS))? « – The Holy Spirit He promised in John 14–16. »

8. In verse 15, we should hope not to be guilty of the first three but what makes the fourth (‘being a busybody, poking one’s nose into other’s business’) so insidious? « – we can rationalize this as being interested, merely being curious, and so on »

9. Verse 16 continues the theme introduced in verse 14 and is in contrast with verse 14; what do we have that will cause the world to persecute us, John 15:18, ‘If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.’ (NAS)? « – name ‘Christian’ that marks us as belonging to Jesus Christ »

10. In verse 17, what does Peter mean by ‘the house of God’? « – it is not the temple (about to be destroyed), but the church made up of believers – shown by following words ‘if of us’. »

11. Verse 18 is quoted to support the statement in verse 17; what do you think it means that Christians are ‘saved with difficulty’ or ‘scarcely saved’? « – it is not that it is too hard for God; nor, here, is the thought about how great a price is paid for salvation; but, that on account of old nature continually resurrecting its ugly head, God has to chasten us to work His sanctifying work in our lives – Hebrews 12:6, Revelation 3:19 ‘love … chasten’ »

12. How can this truth be used in witnessing to unbelievers? « – if God so hates sin, that He uses chastening to remove it from our lives, how will he treat those who refuse to repent and to accept His love? »

13. In verse 19, what, then is the response of the believer to be to the suffering that is according to God’s will, the suffering that befalls us just because we are a Christian? « – an exercise of saving and persevering faith, leaving any injustice in God’s hands and continuing to do what we know to be right »

And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat THIS passover with you before I suffer. — Luke 22:14, 15.

This is the only instance in the New Testament where the word suffer is used in the absolute sense; and who can fathom its depths of meaning, as uttered by our blessed Lord at the table? He only knew its significance, and yet how strong His desire to commune with His disciples! how amazing His grace! how wondrous His love!

The depth of all Thy suffering no heart could e’er conceive;

The cup of wrath o’erflowing for us Thou didst receive;

And oh! of God forsaken, on the accursed tree,

With grateful hearts, Lord Jesus, we would remember Thee.

Peter Writes to Pilgrims — 1 Peter 2:21–25 – Christ the Example (alternate Title: ‘Christ in our Place, We in His Steps’

« My translation of 1 Peter is to convey the flavour of the Greek rather than to be for English fluency and literacy. Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. Review

1. Outline, thus far:

a. 1:1–2 — Peter’s greeting

b. 1:3-5 – Praise and thanksgiving to God for salvation

c. 1:6-9 – The Testing of Faith

d. 1:10-12 – the Prophecy of Salvation

e. 1:13–16 – A Transformed Mind

f. 1:17-21 – The ransom price paid for us

g. 1:22-25 – Three subjects on truth

h. 2:1–3 – Feeding on the Word

i. 2:4–8 – Founded upon the Rock

j. 2:9-12 – Living as Heavenly Citizens,

k. 2:13–17 – Living as Earthly Citizens

2. Last Week, 2:18-20 – Facing Unjust Treatment

a. Unjust Treatment, the Command, 1 Peter 2:18 — Domestic servants, be submissive to your masters {’despots’} in all respectful fear; not just to the good and considerate, but also to the perverse {’twisted’};

i. Servants in those days had little control over their job situation, as may be true for us; what do we control? « – our attitude or response to, our work for, employers »

b. Unjust Treatment, the Benefit, 1 Peter 2:19 — for this is to someone’s credit {lit., ‘grace’}, if for the sake of consciousness {AV ‘conscience’} of God, he bears up under wrongs, suffering unjustly;

i. God approves of His children who act this way; where does the real credit belong? « – the enabling Holy Spirit »

ii. What is the converse of this verse (Ephesians 6:9)? « – as ‘masters’ the gentleness we show to those serving us »

c. Unjust Treatment, the Definition, 1 Peter 2:20 — for what kind of fame is it, if sinning and being punched {’fisted, struck with the fist’} for it, you should endure it? But, if doing good and suffering for it you should endure it, this is creditable {lit., grace} before {ie., in the presence of} God.

i. What makes this to be commendable? « – suffering is endured for good and not due to sin »

B. Walk in Christ’s Steps in Suffering 1 Peter 2:21–23

1. 21 For unto this you were called, because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving behind for you a pattern, in order that you should follow closely upon His footsteps; 22 ‘He who did not sin neither was there found deceit in His mouth’ {Isaiah 53:9}; 23 who, being verbally abused, did not return that abuse; who suffering, did not threaten; but yielded Himself to the One who judges righteously; « Peter, on the same topic, now addresses a larger class of servants – all believers »

2. What is the ‘unto this’ to which we are called, (1 Peter 2:18–20, previous page, or Ephesians 2:10, ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’ (NAS))? « – doing of good works, of which only those effectually called are capable, and even in the face of our suffering for so doing, and for the sake of Christ; Peter returns to this theme in chapters 3 and 4. »

3. What reason is given for our accepting unjust treatment in the fashion described in last weeks lesson? « – the pattern that Christ has given to us in His unjust suffering on our behalf »

4. The word ‘pattern’ is literally ‘writing-copy,’ an example from which a student assiduously copies every detail. What most pertinent example did Christ give to believers in John 13 (especially verses 14–16, ‘If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.’ (NAS))? « – that of mutual servanthood; Paul expresses his adherence to this in 1 Corinthians 9:19 »

5. Why would this lesson be particularly one that Peter would remember? « – he first objected to Christ’s washing his feed, but once he understood why, he eagerly begged for it and more »

6. What are some other actions and attitudes of Jesus Christ that are there as patterns for us?

a. Matthew 3:14-15 ‘But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.’ (NAS)? « – being baptized »

b. Mark 1:35 ‘And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there.’ (NAS)? « – prayer »

c. Matthew 26:39 ‘And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”’ (NAS)? « – submission to God’s will »

d. John 11:35 « – showing genuine sympathy in times of sorrow »

e. Any other ways He is an example that come to mind?

7. In connection with our subject of last week (see review, p. 1), what makes Jesus the ideal example, Isaiah 53:9b ‘… Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.’ (NAS)? « – the absolute unjustness of His execution »

8. The fact that He was without sin, that His enemies could not dispute that (John 8:46 ‘Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?’ (NAS)) is important for the following verses in Peter; to anticipate, what did this fact allow God to do with Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21, ‘He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’ (NAS))? « – make Him our sin (offering) and account His righteousness to us by faith. »

9. Isaiah 53 has already been referenced in Peter’s words; what further fulfilment is found in these verse (53:7, ‘He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.’ ( NAS))? « – his silence in the face of abuse, scorn, injustice »

10. How did Pilate react to this (Matthew 27:14, ‘And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so that the governor {Pilate} was quite amazed.’ (NAS))? « – amazement »

11. How did Jesus react to all this abuse (Luke 23:34a, ‘But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”’ ( NAS))? « – forgiving His oppressors »

C. Christ Walked as Man, Taking Our Place 1 Peter 2:24-25

1. 24 who He Himself bore up our sins in His body upon the cross in order that renouncing sins, we should live in righteousness: ‘by whose wounds you were healed.’ {Isaiah 53:6} 25 For you were as sheep wandering astray, but now you are returned unto the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

2. Did Christ suffer only, or even primarily, to be an example for us? « – no, it was in order to redeem us by paying for our sin »

3. Peter once again quotes from Isaiah 53; what verse does he use but not directly quote? « – verse 6: ‘All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.’ (NAS); also part of verse 12, ‘… and He bore the sin of many …’ (NKJV) »

4. In what two ways does he directly apply this verse to us?

a. First part « – the description of how sin had taken us like wandering sheep away from the Lord, our Shepherd »

b. Second part « – that the Lord has placed our sin on Messiah, so that all the punishment due us was taken by Him »

c. This we describe as His vicarious or substitutionary death: that Jesus Christ died in our place, bore our punishment, and we in Him are righteous. Though denied by liberals, it is well attested in Scripture (cf. Romans 6:11, Hebrews 9:28, 1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

5. How do we as sheep return to our Shepherd (John 10:11, 14, Luke 15:1-7, 19:10)? « – ‘Jesus the kind Shepherd found me – and now I am on my way home’ (John W. Peterson, Alfred Smith) »

6. There are three words used for church leaders: elders (those having the rule over the church), overseers (also translated bishop, and meaning ‘watchmen’), and pastors or shepherds (the same word is translated both ways). Peter talks to these in chapter 5, as Paul does in Acts 20:17ff. The words denote the same individuals but emphasize different responsibilities. What should we conclude from today’s study about these? « – the example for their ministry is likewise in Jesus Christ; they are to be servant leaders »

He hath made him to be sin for us. — 2 Cor. 5:21.

If you would have your soul enthralled, bowed in adoration at the feet of the Son of God, and overwhelmed with the greatness of this love, turn your thoughts to Calvary, gaze upon that holy Sufferer on the central cross, contemplate the utter desolation of that Blessed One as He cried out of the thick darkness, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Linger there, whilst in spirit you travel back to Gethsemane, where the dread anticipation of Golgotha caused that bloody sweat of soul agony. Now return to the place of a skull, where the most solemn transaction in time or eternity took place. There God — the thrice holy God 00 abandoned His Son, when He, the sinless One, having voluntarily taken our guilt, bore the full weight of judgment due to it. — H. Nunneley.

O Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee?

Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see

Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll,

Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul. — J. N. Darby.

A sermon on what believers are to Christ. Isaiah 53 is the clearest Godspel prophecy of the OT, describing first the suffering of Christ, then His triumph. [Note: One of my congregation lived with her parents for 3 years in Jerusalem witnessing to Jews. When she read this chapter to a Jewish friend, the friend cried, 'Stop! Your reading from your new testament'. RGH]

I. The Travail of His Soul -- its greatness: 'sorrowful even unto death'

a. eternal Beloved took our nature

b. left the loving holy for the despising unholy

c. made sin

d. personal conflict with Satan

e. heartbreaks by disciples

f. rejected by His chosen people

g. rejected by the very priesthood

h. the final rejection, 'Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani'

II. Fruits Resulting from Travail

a. deliverance of sinful world

b. restoration of God's honour

c. the church, the body of Christ, reflecting God's glory

d. performed mercy and justice

III. The Satisfaction which the Saviour Experiences in these Results

a. Christ contemplates his work (cf. the Creator in Genesis 1:1-2:3)

b. 'It is finished; it is enough; it is sufficient'

c. as a mother travils and loves the child

d. the satisfaction of God's desire to exhibit grace

e. infinite work causes infinite satisfaction to the infinite God (man needs little to satisfy him)

IV. Conclusion

a. Christians rejoice: Christ rejoices (cf. those involved in saving a drowning man)

b. not our worth but our need

c. unsaved: Christ has done it but you must respond

d. Christian: are you indeed such in both word and deed?

Because of the nature of today’s discussion, I’ll dispense with the usual light-hearted opening.

We have some friends who at this moment are going through the trauma of dealing with cancer, chemo and all that goes with it. You may also have friends who are in the same dilemma. What do you say at a time like this? Probably this is not a time for the usual small-talk platitudes, but rather a time to listen, show you care and pray with and for them.

At times like this you wish you could sit down and talk to Job. We do have the next best thing — his book. If you are going through a difficult time of physical deterioration, you can easily become very distressed and feel like Job when he said (Job 23:3-4) “If only I knew where to find Him: if only I could go to His dwelling, I would state my case before Him… “ You may feel like that at times.

In times like this, the child of God has a resource which is beyond the reach of those who do not know Him. Job knew it! In spite of all he went through (including some wordy friends), he still could say, “God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding” (Job 37:5). Always keep hope and again say with Job, “My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His way without turning aside.” (Job 23:11) Stay true to Him.