WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER?

                                                                                                                                      1 Peter 4:12-19

A student once told me that he was giving up the Christian faith because he saw his grandmother, a faithful Christian, suffer before she died! His logic was, that if God allows good people to suffer, then he didn’t want to serve God! (Or was this just a cop-out to justify living without God?)

In the movie A Man Called Peter, Catherine Marshall his wife faced a similar dilemma! She was confined to bed with tuberculosis over a long period of time. No matter how much she and her husband prayed, she didn’t get any better! Let’s see what happened in the movie version of the story! This scene takes us from despair to triumph, when Catherine surrenders to God’s will! But we should not assume that when we surrender to God, life will be a bed of roses from then on! (This mistaken belief is called the Prosperity Gospel and is wrongly taught in a number of churches!

There are three reasons I’d like to consider for good people to suffer in God’s world:

1.       Suffering teaches us to rely on God! One of my friends had been very self-sufficient until his wife contracted cancer! He suddenly realised for the first time that we don’t control our own lives after all! But even the death of his wife did not draw him to Jesus! It was only when he landed in hospital himself that the penny finally dropped, and convinced him to surrender to Jesus at last! Peter Marshall himself said that while life is a series of highs and lows, God relies more on the lows to bring us to Himself! And some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else! As we heard from 2 Corinthians 12:9 last week, He told the Apostle Paul, “My strength is made perfect in your weakness!”

2.       Suffering Prepares us for Service! A girl in my youth group contracted a strange muscular disease which left her bedridden for twelve months – just as she was about to do the HSC! But instead of turning away from God, she dedicated the rest of her life to serving God as a hospital chaplain – ministering to the sick and dying and their families! A television movie tells the true story of Edna Gladney who lost her only son at age 5, and then her husband, who told her before she died, “God took your baby from you so that through you thousands of babies may have a chance! Edna spent the rest of her life caring for orphans and deserted children! (This should also remind us that God Himself lost His only Son so that millions could be saved from disaster!)

3.       We Suffer Because the Enemy Hates Us! Satan hated Jesus enough to prompt one of His own disciples to betray Him unto death! Satan also sets out to destroy each of our lives by turning us away from God, as he tried with Job, for example! I once surprised a group of Christian young people in Papua New Guinea by telling them how my Christian group in the boarding school were persecuted for following Jesus! One of them said to me afterwards, “But I thought Australia was a Christian country!” As Christians, we must dare to be different!  If we are doing God’s work, we can expect constant rejection! For example, I messaged some fifteen people during the week to invite them to our service this morning. Of those, only  - have come along!

We are told in 1 Peter 2:21, that we are called to suffer for doing good, “because Christ suffered for you, leaving an example, that you should follow in His steps!”

IS MANKIND MAKING PROGRESS?

                                                                                                                                 Genesis 11

If we define progress as material achievements, we can say “Yes, mankind is making progress!” Japan, for example, has a tower one kilometre high – much higher than the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible! But in the year 2000, the world celebrated 2000 years of Christian faith.  And to mark the occasion, the City of London built the world’s largest ferris wheel. Doesn’t it give you a feeling of security, knowing that London has this special landmark? I mean, yes, you do get quite a good view from up there (I’ve been there already) but to me it’s a sad commentary on human progress that we celebrate our faith in this way!

The truth is, that in the 5000 years since the Tower of Babel, the human race has learned very little of real significance! How can I say this? Because we are still making the same mistakes now that the Babylonians were making all those years ago:

1.       Pride – Making a name for ourselves!

 In other words, by glorifying ourselves rather than God, we are concentrating on Humanism – the idea that human beings can ultimately achieve anything! When Tony Blair became the Prime Minister of England for example, he declared in distinctly humanist tones, that the world was about to experience a generation of peace!  I said at the time that this was a ridiculous assertion, especially since Neville Chamberlain, a previous prime minister had declared, “Peace in our time” just before Britain and Germany declared war on each other!  And sure enough, during Tony Blair’s term of office, England became embroiled in two impossible wars – one in Afganistan, and one in Iraq! The Bible has a comment to make on this kind of pride, in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, “While people are saying ‘peace and safety’, destruction will come upon them suddenly!” I must admit that I’d much rather believe the Bible than the Tony Blairs of the world any day! “Whereas John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He must become more important and I must become less important (John 3:30), most people would prefer to believe the opposite!

We can fall into the same trap as the rich fool in Jesus’parable, who kept building bigger and better buildings for his own importance, until God took him unprepared! A quiz champion of the sixties named Frank Partidge had a new home, a new wife, became a father, etc, but was wiped out in a head on collision! I don’t know whether he was prepared for eternity, but he got it!

Adam and Eve developed such pride that they sought equality with God, but even today, most people make gods of themselves, leaving the true God out of the picture!

2.       Prominence  -  Trusting in ourselves, rather than in God! “Let us build ourselves a city!”

These days, humans feel a sense of self-achievement because they’ve put a man on the moon! Scientists are even claiming that computers which focus on data from outer space can reveal the origins of the universe! And members of SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, claim that by training their computers on outer space, that sooner or later they will pick up signals from other life forms in the universe! But God’s universe is far greater than man or his computers! It is convenient to leave God out of the picture – but not very realistic!

Medical science is now trying to play God by creating life from nothing as God has done! But they will never succeed! We must recognise, as Hebrews 2:10 tells us, that it is GOD “for whom and through whom everything exists!” Not only have scientists and others declared God redundant, but people try to use made-up religions to get into God’s Kingdom! They forget that ‘religion’ means to bind up, while Jesus declared, “The truth will set you free!” (John 8:32) We cannot get to heaven by our own efforts, no matter what we try to do to achieve it! Jesus even tells the story of one man who tried to crash His party by his own efforts, but instead was thrown into ‘outer darkness’!  Jesus also said that His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9) It is only when we make a point of total surrender that God can really work in us! St Augustine said, “Man will never find rest until his soul finds rest in Thee!”

3.       Pressure from Peers – the idea of safety in numbers! 

One of the fallacies of modern (and ancient) society is that “the majority is always right!” But originally the majority thought that the earth was flat! These days, most people live for themselves rather than God, and in the process, they follow the easy path to destruction! (Matt 7:13) But Christians will always be in the minority! E.g. Lot in Sodom! While I was living in the Republic of Nauru, I noticed that the motto of this so-called Christian country was “God’s Will First!” But when I asked the pastor’s son how many of the people were ‘real’Christians, he estimated that 18% would be generous! People forget that when we die, we will face God alone! We won’t have family and friends there to back us up! Our only ally will be Jesus Himself, who will either welcome us into His presence, or say, “”Sorry, I never knew you!”

Babel was language confusion and no effort can unite our languages (e.g. UN) Only the Holy Spirit can unify languages as a Pentecost! Let us not continue making the mistakes of Bable, and instead surrender to our Maker! Our eternal life begins the moment we do!

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FOUR REACTIONS TO JESUS

                      Mark 4:2-9

During World War 1, a group  of Turkish soldiers held a cliff top vantage point to protect the Turkish army near an location called Michmash. The British army was ordered to wipe out the Turkish opponents, which was easier said than done. But one of the British officers remembered an incident in the Bible at the exact location – where David’s friend Jonathan found a trail which led him and supporters to the top of the cliff where the enemy were defeated. The British searched and found the same trail used by Jonathan some three thousand years earlier – and history repeated itself – all because one British officer remembered an episode from the Bible. Remembrance is important, and our theme for communion, where we remember Jesus’ amazing sacrifice for us. Jesus left us this memorial ceremony so that we could remember the greatest of all truths – that He died for our salvation!

Today’s parable shows us not only the four types of response to Jesus and His Word, but it also shows four different reactions that we can make to Him at different times in our lives! The first group are the people who hear the Word of God, but it goes “in one ear and out the other!” In other words, these people are quite indifferent to God’s Word, and it makes no impact on their lives whatsoever! These are the people who turn up to church for an infant baptism or a funeral. They sit with their ears closed throughout the service – especially for what they see as the ‘religious bits’. In the book Hey God, the Italian momma, on the day before she dies, approaches a man walking past her home and she says, “Sir, you better accept Christ and accept Him quickly because you haven’t got long!” But the man keeps repeating, “I don’t want to hear it!” Momma’s son attended that man’s funeral four days later! Most people just don’t want to hear about Jesus, and most of them just prefer to commit the only unforgiveable sin – which is leaving Jesus out of their lives forever!

The second group we are told have shallow soil and the seed sprouts quickly but is soon scorched and withered! These are the people who at first respond positively to Jesus and His Word, but for them it’s just a brief novelty – “here today and gone tomorrow!” I once took a small group of students to a Pentecostal church, and by the end of the meeting, they were all speaking in tongues! They were so excited on the way home and of them wanted to be baptised the following week. But there was no depth to their decision, and by the following week, after getting the usual tormenting from their friends in the dormitories, they had put the whole experience behind them and were happy just to go to the usual service at the Anglican church!

The third group are those who take notice of the Word of Jesus, but the world quickly chokes out what they’ve heard! For them it’s a case of “easy come, easy go!”  They get easily sucked in by the temptations of the world, and their faith is easily swept away when their friends say, “Come with us and have some fun!”  The so-called fun though is usually self-indulgent and self-destructive, and doesn’t allow any room for Jesus! There is no shortage of worldly activities which lead us downhill if we’re ready to go looking for them!  People often fall for one of the three the three p’s:   pokies,  pubs and pot! One of my students once insisted on seeing a priest so that he could become a Christian! I said, you don’t need a priest, you just need to turn to Jesus! And I prayed the sinner’s prayer with him! But then he was so keen to ‘share’ faith with his mates,that he headed straight to the pub to tell them about it! And that’s where it ended. He quickly joined in the drinking and swearing and his new faith was swept away in no time!

But the fourth group hear the Word of Jesus, and are willing to accept Him in place of their empty lives once and for all! The book Hey God, which I’ve already mentioned, tells of several members of Momma’s family who resist Jesus for many years until finally they surrender their lives to Him and can’t wait to share Him with everyone they meet! A lady I know came from a non-Christian family, except that one of the four daughters attended Sunday School. Gradually however, the mother and the other three daughters turned to Jesus and finally the father surrendered  also. The father was so full of the joy of the Lord, that no-one could stop him talking about Jesus at every opportunity. The mother developed a similar zeal. Today it is only the first daughter who gave up the faith and married a non-Christian! She clearly fell into the second or third group which we’ve already described! What about you? Do you give up too easily, or are you willing to face the fact that only with Jesus do we have a real purpose for living and a real confidence in dying!

HOW SHOULD A CHRISTIAN LIVE?

High in the Italian Alps is a cross on one of the peaks, and each year at Easter, many people gather around this cross to celebrate Jesus’ death on our behalf. But one day, someone walked beyond the cross, to find another monument – an open cave, to celebrate the empty tomb which Jesus left behind when He arose from the dead. How often do people finish the story of Jesus with His death and forget what is even more important – that He conquered death by rising from it! Likewise, America’s third President, Thomas Jefferson admired the Bible – but only parts of it! He produced a special edition which removed all the supernatural sections and finished the story of Jesus with the sealing of His tomb! Today we remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us as we celebrate communion, but because today is Resurrection Sunday, we also celebrate the new life He offers us when we surrender to Him!

When I worked about 100metres along this road at Springfield Lodge as the caretaker, one night an American lady approached me and said, “My fridge isn’t working!” I know nothing about fridges, but I thought perhaps if Id looked at it, she may feel a little better, even if we had to get an expert in next day.  As we approached her room, she said, “There’s a mouse in my room!” and I thought to myself, “This lady really does have problems!”  When we arrived I saw the “mouse” immediately! Her room was a mess, but she pronounced “mess” as “mouse”. That one was easily solved. Likewise the fridge problem wasn’t too difficult even for me! I just had to turn it on at the power point! Fridges, like humans, can only function if they are turned on and tuned in! As Christians, we need to be plugged in to Jesus, our source of Power – turned on and tuned in to Him! Those who play electric guitars won’t get far without a source of power – unless they use acoustic guitars, which rely on their own power! But Jesus doesn’t have any acoustic Christians! If we rely only on our own power, we won’t get very far! Christians then, need to KNOW HIM, GROW IN HIM, and SHOW HIM to the world!

1.       KNOW HIM. The best way to do this is to read His Word and listen to His Word! But when a mate of mine told me once that God doesn’t guide us through our circumstances, I became upset and prayed for assurance that He really does guide us through the circumstances He provides for us! I woke at 5.30am next morning while it was still dark and a voice in my head said, “Look up Isaiah 48:17!” I waited until daylight, and read this: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you, and leads you along the paths you should follow!” In other words, God used the Bible and my prayer to Him to show me that He does guide us by going ahead of us and preparing paths for us to walk in! His Word tells us in Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path!”

2.       GROW IN HIM. If we keep watering our plants (which I sometimes forget to do) we sometimes almost see them grow before our eyes! Water in Scripture represents the Spirit of God Himself! As we receive more of Him, we continue to grow! As you probably know the Ku Klux Klan in America are very hostile to black people! Yet when two of their members became Christians, the Holy Spirit urged them to send the sheets they had used as uniforms to the Red Cross, who used them to make bandages for black refugees in Africa! As we grow in the Holy Spirit, He transforms us to do things for Him that wouldn’t have been possible before we became part of His team!

 Having fellowship with other Christians is also a growing mechanism! Two friends of mine were members of our church youth group when I was a teenager, but when they married, they gave up going to church. As a result, they stopped growing as Christians, and eventually the husband ran off with a younger woman. Meanwhile his wife, recognising her need for acceptance, started going to church again and now, years later, her two grown-up daughters are also Christians and are married to Christians. But what happened to the husband? He died of cancer last year, and at his deathbed, one of his daughters read Scripture to him, and he groaned in acknowledgement. We don’t know whether his groans expressed repentance or whether his hostility to the things of God was expressing itself in this way! It is said that church members are like cars – they start missing before they stop altogether!

3.       SHOW HIM.  A former flatmate of mine in Wollongong claimed to be a Christian because he attended church about once a year. When smoking pot, he told his friends about Jesus, but no-one took him seriously! When he had sex with the women he met up with, he told them he was a Christian, but they didn’t take him seriously either! Someone once said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it!”  Do people take you seriously if you tell them you’re a Christian? Do you even take yourself seriously?

Queen Elizabeth I was probably Britain’s greatest monarch of all time! She even inspired her tiny navy to defeat the great and powerful Spanish Armada! And she once made this comment about her Christian faith: “I would like to be alive when Jesus returns, so that I can be the first monarch to lay my crown at His feet!” He attitude was one of total surrender to Jesus! And if we are going to influence others for Him, we have to surrender each part of our lives to Him also.

I would say that when we surrender to Jesus, we are no longer the boss of our own lives! Instead, we could wear a familiar sign we often see on shops: “Under New Management!”But the advantage of this is summed up by the Apostle John in 1 John 5:12, “He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son, does not have life!”

Colossians  2: 6,7 gives us a final thought for today: “Continue to live in Him, planted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you’ve been taught, and overflowing with thankfulness!”