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Suffering #4 – Home - 9.9.7 - Dennis Mullen
I'm going to start with a personal illustration that I hope doesn't unnecessarily offend anybody here today. I've been preaching about suffering this month, trying to find meaning in it, and this week it has been as if God has said to me in a small way: “OK, let's see what you really believe about this stuff. Let's see if you can find meaning in suffering, and shift your focus forward to what I can do with it. Let's see if you believe, or if it's just a lot of fine-sounding theory.
To do that, God has allowed this GIANT pain in the rear to enter my life this week. It's the deep, sharp pain of being stabbed in the back. I have laid awake nights thinking about it, and have struggled during the day to keep my mind off it too.
If you think I'm talking about YOU...I'm not (probably :) ) I'm talking about an actual sharp pain in my lower back, a stabbing sensation that sometimes makes it impossible to find a comfortable position. I think it's probably a pinched nerve or something related to some hiking I did on Labor Day, but in the watches of the night I have also theorized that it's a kidney stone or cancer. (I was just starting to be tormented by it when, on Wednesday morning, I went with Cindy an heard her give her presentation on her trip to France to a Rotary Club in Farragut, and of course her trip (and presentation) included the drama of her kidney stones and her stay in a French hospital!)
Now, none of this may sound very serious to you...I understand that. I hope it isn't serious (but it could be, therefore how about some sympathy!). But even this sharp but non-lethal pain I have been experiencing has pushed me to face the issue of pain and suffering on another level above the theoretical. If I had to deal with THIS pain for the rest of my life, would I still be able to talk truthfully about suffering building perseverance, which was a lesson from James and Romans we hit on two weeks ago? Would I take seriously the possibility that this hardship is even discipline from a loving heavenly Father, as Hebrews 12 suggests? How long would I rejoice in the midst of this suffering and how faithfully would I ask God not “Why me?” but “To what end?”
I read a book a few years ago by Tim Timmons, a Christian man who had been injured in a rock-climbing accident. His injury didn't paralyze him; it just left him with a constant and sometimes excruciating pain in his back, a silent companion that other people couldn't see but one that became a permanent part of his life. His faith story is inspiring because, like many Christians (even some here) he has to face years of chronic pain that serves no useful purpose, a physical warning system that cannot be silenced. I've thought a little this week about how my faith would do if that were my lot. I've been reminded that it really is a decision of FAITH for a person to keep trusting in God's goodness when pain screams another message about him. And it is FAITH that keeps us heading toward him, when our bodies or emotions call us fools.
So I want to wrap up the series today with this thought about suffering and faith, and it is the foundation for the lesson:
Suffering shifts our focus forward.
Consider the two Scriptures on the front of your bulletin:
Romans 8:18 - I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 - Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Suffering shifts our focus forward to what is unseen but which lasts forever – away from the many things that shout out for our attention but which do not matter and toward the things that never shout out but which matter ultimate.
Looking forward sounds like a consolation prize, and in a sense, it is: Suffering, if it gives us no other benefit, at least motivates us to focus on what lies ahead instead of dwelling in the present and past, which means it directs our attention to how we’ll spend forever. And when we're thinking about eternity, we'll live differently here and now. We'll live better.
From a Starbucks cup: The Way I See It #230 by LA Times columnist Joel Stein: “Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can’t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They’re basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell.”
Cup’s disclaimer: “This is the author’s opinion and not necessarily that of Starbucks.”
I think Mr. Stein may be right: Heaven, as it is usually described, doesn't sound very appealing. We might look at the early chapters of Revelation and see all the people praising God and say “Heaven is going to be an endless worship service!” Now how appealing is THAT, really?
If suffering turns our head forward so that we're looking into heaven, we need to know what we really can look forward to. That's why today, having asked questions in this series about suffering such as WHY? and HOW? and having discussed the HELP we can receive and give, it's time to wrap it up with this word: HOME. What lies at the end of the journey?
First: (In heaven we will have…)
That matters because one of the most severe pains we experience has nothing to do with backaches or broken bones or heart disease. It's loneliness. “Do I have anyone who really cares? Is there even ONE friend who will stand with me? Can I ever hope to break down the emotional walls in my own home? Will I be all alone and forgotten when I'm old? Will I suffer and die alone?”
So many images of heaven in Scripture, no matter how brief they may be, hit hard on the theme of community, belonging, acceptance, love.
Remember the exchange between Jesus and the thief on the cross? “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." A bold request, but impersonal. “Just pull me a string when you get there, and maybe get me a little apartment there too.” Jesus trumped him. "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:42-43) Put the emphasis on the words “with me” and you'll see the hope for community that we all long for, fulfilled.
Maybe that's just for the thief? Well 1 Thessalonians 4, after talking about the Second Coming of Christ and the resurrection, finishes up by saying: “And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” (vs. 17-18) You can see that describing eternity means, at the very outset, being WITH our Lord, who is big enough to be with all of us one-on-one even though we number in the billions.
What about community with people? I know that I SHOULD long to be with Christ, and I do, but my desire is often more about being reunited with the PEOPLE I have loved and lost. Ah, but here's a problem. Those people were, when I knew them, sometimes a source of pain as well as joy. That's why Scriptures such as Hebrews 12:22-23 matter so much: “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect...”
What destroys community here? What keeps even good relationships from being all they could be? Sin. Selfishness. Mine, yours, everyone’s. Heaven would not be possible without the assurance that those who wind up there are righteous people MADE PERFECT – that is, complete, without sin. But because that truth is trumpeted throughout Scripture, we can look forward to reunion with loved ones made perfect, and so there will be no walls between us. True community.
Second, in heaven we will have...
This is where we have to contradict the harp-playing contingent and confront the all-day-every-day praise service people. The fact is, heaven will be a place of meaningful work, creativity, things to do that we enjoy and that contribute. Here's why I say this...
First, before sin, this was the position work held in the life of people. Genesis 2:15 says that God created man and he created the Garden of Eden and: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” It was only in Genesis 3, after sin, that work fell and God said: “Now it's going to frustrate you. Now you're going to plant corn and harvest thistles. Now the ground is going to produce less than it can.” If you ever wonder why work has to include mean people and stupid problems and unproductive days, read the first three chapters of the Bible and you see why. But you'll also be struck by how wonderful it must have been to have a job in God's creation before sin, the job of tending the garden when the garden would produce and not frustrate.
Second, glimpses into the next age show hints of more than harp-playing. Revelation 22:3 - No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. And listen to what Jesus told the apostles: Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). That's meaningful work for them, and judging in the sense they understood it meant ruling, the work of governance. Imagine even government having the curse lifted off it. Sounds almost impossible!
We think of laws and government as necessary only in a sinful world. Why would we need laws and 12 apostles to rule if we're all mature and sinless? Wouldn't everyone just follow the Golden Rule? But a high school civics teacher once pointed out to me that in our society, even if everyone followed the Golden Rule, we'd still need laws to decide for all of us which side of the street to drive on and whether a red light means stop or go and whether a yellow one means slow down or accelerate. :) Now I'm not suggesting that the apostles are going to be our eternal traffic cops, but I'm just trying to illustrate that even the heavenly society, since it really is a community, will have real work for those who sit on the 12 thrones to do.
As for us: And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29) which sounds like more than simply a harp and a spot in a pew. In heaven, we'll not be disembodied spirits but fully-perfected humans, and as such we'll have meaningful work to do that befits our nature.
I hope you've had a chance to experience a foretaste of this on earth. The closest I have come has been on a couple of missions trips which actually combined meaningful work with a bit of true community to give me a taste of heaven. The work we did was mundane – painting or building benches or even picking up trash – but the reason for it made it meaningful (painting a college dorm for training Christian workers, etc.) and doing it with friends and fellow believers made it special and I think gave me a foretaste of heaven.
More often than meaningful work, though, Biblical descriptions of heaven tell us of the sweet rest that awaits us on the other side. Whenever I do a funeral for someone whose life was hard and perhaps the later years were filled with pain, I read Revelation 14:13 - “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Again we can turn to Jesus' words, “today you will be with me in paradise" and if this time we emphasize the word PARADISE, we can learn from a Bible commentary that paradise meant “Pleasure Ground” or a kings garden, a place of leisure, enjoyment, rest.
And it might seem strange, but this paragraph from Revelation 21:22-27 reminds us of how sweet our rest will be: I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. I say it seems strange, because how can I get any rest if there isn't any night? But this paragraph isn't trying to tell us that the day shift never ends, but rather that there is nothing to fear. Ancient cities shut their gates at night because they feared invaders and bandits who might slip in under darkness. We lock our doors because even though we can trust a lot of people, there are those who do what is shameful and deceitful. Not so in the next age. We'll have sweet rest, made secure and safe by the Lamb Himself, and that sweet rest will be made sweeter by the meaningful work we have to do.
One more thing, also indicated by Revelation 21...
When I think of all the blessings of eternal life, this is the most important, and yet it's the one I have the hardest time getting my mind around. Why? I think it's because in this fallen state, I have never experienced it. I have tasted meaningful work and sweet rest. I have touched the essence of community, if only for a second here and a moment there. But the curse of this world is its separation from God, and we often experience it even after His Holy Spirit makes his home in us. Now I HAVE had foretastes of the divine presence. But more than anything, I have to “walk by faith, not by sight” in this matter. However:
1 Corinthians 13:12 - Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. There may be no greater promise of Scripture than these that deal with direct experience of God, of having the dim glass or the cheap mirror removed so that we can know Him fully even as we are fully known.
When it comes down to the end of the matter, the most important thing I know about suffering is that Christ suffered as we do, and Christ shares our suffering still. Because of him, suffering, for all the problems it causes concerning faith, will not get the final word.
Ken Gire says it this way: And who's to say which is more incredible—a man who raises the dead … or a God who weeps? (from Incredible Moments with the Savior)
Corrie Ten Boom: When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.
Isaiah 53
3 He was despised and rejected by
men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
(Read v. 5 together)
5 But he was pierced for our
transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Morrison
Hill Christian Church
P.O. Box 59 - 1008 E.
Race St.
Kingston, TN 37763 (865) 376-5205
