Redemptive Suffering

Discouragement and disappointments have often been experienced by God's faithful people.  In the depths of suffering many wondered why they had ever been born!  Consider this lament of the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:14-18:  "Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! ¹⁵ Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father, saying, "A male child has been born to you!" making him very glad. ¹⁶ And let that man be like the cities which the LORD overthrew, and did not relent; let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon, ¹⁷ because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me. ¹⁸ Why did I come forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?"

When we are faced with sorrow and grief, these words might be our own as we cry out to a God we know exists and loves us.  Christians discover that at our lowest points knowledge alone is not a magic charm which ends our suffering.  If the scripture finished on this note we might wrongly assume there is not a reasonable answer to the question:  what is the point of my life anyway?  Why was a born if I would have to contend with such pain?  Thankfully, there is a real answer to this question.  God had a purpose for Jeremiah to endure sorrow, even as His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  He was despised and rejected, called "a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." (Isaiah 53:3)  He had been sent to earth for the purpose of seeking and saving sinners through His death on the cross.  He was not disillusioned because the joy of the LORD was His strength.  He looked through the cross and knew what glorious salvation He would accomplish.

Why do we become disillusioned?  Generally this occurs when our plans and expectations are not lining up with our current reality.  We expected more and received less.  We have suffered long enough, right?  What could this painful experience be accomplishing?  Listen my friends:  more than you could possible quantify or appreciate.  I can say this based upon the authority of God's Word and the example of Jesus Christ.  Jesus suffered, did He not?  Was His suffering without meaning or purpose?  Not one stripe or piercing was without significance.  As we abide in Him all God allows us to suffer will accomplish the good purposes of God who has made us benefactors of Christ's death and resurrected life.  When we consider all Christ endured for the joy which was before Him, through the Holy Spirit we are strengthened to endure.  We may not feel like enduring - we actually may feel like quitting - but we will be given in that moment all the strength we need.

Consider the words of Paul who suffered great things for Christ's sake in 2 Corinthians 1:3-6:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. ⁶ Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation."  Does this sound like the words of a bitter, disillusioned disciple?  Hear the words of praise of God, our LORD who is the "Father of mercies and God of all comfort."  In ALL our tribulation God is able to comfort us to the end we too can comfort others.  See how God redeems all tribulation!

There can be times where our pain is so great we do not care to be a comfort to others; we honestly cannot care about anyone's salvation but our own.  God is gracious to us even when we feel this way, embittered by our own struggles.  But know there is no darkness which can overcome the Light of the World Jesus Christ, the One who promised to send us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  No one can comfort as profoundly and completely as He can when we trust Him.  The resurrected body of Jesus Christ is proof He overcame the power of darkness, sorrow, grief, sin, and death.  We must choose to look to Him, entrusting ourselves body and soul to His care.  In our flesh there dwells no good thing, but God is only good.  Won't you trust Him in spite of your pains?  Praise Him even now for the painful thing He is allowing in your life, for He is a Saviour and Redeemer.  David said in Psalm 42:5, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance."

Eating Together As Family

When I was a kid I enjoyed watching "Yan Can Cook."  He was always so happy, positive, and the food he made looked simply delicious.  The ingredients of his dishes were typically easily available because he encouraged people to cook for themselves.  That makes sense, right?  It's fun to see contestants on "Iron Chef" cooking with truffles, foie gras, and shark fin, but who can source or afford these sorts of delicacies?  I have found food tastes better when you are hungry, and even more so when you have laboured over it yourself.  Putting effort into a dish that turns out beautiful is satisfying on many levels!

C.H. Spurgeon compared the preparation of a sermon to preparing a delicious meal.  With the saturation of TV cooking shows and the internet which have revolutionised cooking by providing access to techniques and recipes for everyone, I sometimes wonder if the same thing has happened with sermons.  When I was a kid there was one radio station which broadcast sermons and praise music.  It used to be people would queue up to grab a cassette tape or CD after the sermon at church if it was particularly meaningful.  Gone are the days of cassettes (a good thing really!) and most churches and preachers have internet websites, live message streaming, downloads, and podcasts without end.  Since we can be highbrow over our gourmet creations, proper coffee, or seared ahi, isn't it possible we can become sermon or church snobs, preferring delicate aromas and exotic flavours over simple roast beef and potatoes?

We all have unique tastes and preferences when it comes to food, and I expect this also applies when it comes to church and varied approaches to the preaching of God's Word.  An international cornucopia of sermons accessed via the internet is a luxury afforded us the early church did not possess.  The abundance of options can tempt us to become gourmets where presentation and plating is more important than nutrition!  In my life it seems the amount of food intolerance and allergies has increased dramatically, and I wonder if the same is true concerning Christians today.  There are themes and styles we avoid when possible.  We prefer sampling over feasting because we're really not hungry anyway.  We are full of doctrine but not necessarily full of the Spirit who has given us a spiritual appetite.  There's something special  and uniting about enjoying a family meal at home together which can't be duplicated, and I believe the same concerning gathering as the Body of Christ in your home church.  We don't have the power to choose what's for dinner, but we can receive nourishment for our soul from God.

Hebrews 10:23-25 says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Let's consider one another and continue assembling and exhorting one another to "stir up love and good works."  It is impossible to obey the "one another" commands of the New Testament in isolation, regardless of the quality of a podcast.  Are you hungry for the Word?  Dig in yourself and share what God teaches you with others.  How long has it been since you sat down to share a sermon with your brothers and sisters in Jesus?  God will supply the hunger of your soul by His grace and the pure Word.

God Makes Holy

I love reading through the Law sprinkled in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  The commands and prohibitions may be tedious to some, but I find them fascinating and illuminating.  There are commands which impact all parts of the lives of God's people, from the clothes they wore to the food they ate.  There were boundaries placed on their sex lives and how they should treat foreigners.  The more I read the more it emphasises how God wanted to impact every aspect of life, for He dwelt among them.  I am convinced God did not load His people with commands because He is a nitpicky, grousing, or sensitive Being who is easily offended.  He gave them commands because without His guidance His people would bear no resemblance to God's holy and righteous character or practice whatsoever.

This is the place where the children of Israel lost the plot, thinking they could be made righteous through keeping a Law which could not save.  The Law could only condemn.  Through the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we understand that nothing is evil in itself, like wearing clothes of mixed fabrics or sowing different seeds together.  Both circumcised and uncircumcised in flesh can be accepted by God through faith in Jesus Christ.  God gave His people commands so that every part of their lives would be lived in acknowledgement of His Word and love for them as LORD and Saviour.  Jesus said that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments.  God's Law was an opportunity God provided His people to demonstrated their love for Him, for they were to love the LORD their God with all their heart, soul, and might.  The Law of God was a revelation of God's righteousness to be responded to, not a means of obtaining eternal life.  As it is written in John 1:17, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

When I read through the Law I realise there are areas of my life I do not naturally consider God.  I do not necessarily think about God when I dress myself in the morning, during a meal, or when I meet a stranger.  But as a child of the Living God who has filled me with the Holy Spirit, I can and should.  I am no longer under the yoke of Law but under grace which requires far greater sacrifice and supernaturally assisted obedience.  The scribes (sofer) who copied the Torah were required to know and observe about 4,000 laws concerning their conduct to properly handle God's Word, and the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us.  Jesus has baptised His followers with the Holy Spirit, and He helps, comforts, teaches, and guides us into all truth.  As His purchased possession through the shed blood of Christ, God has the right to be included into every aspect of our lives even as in the day of Moses:  what we eat, drink, what we say, do, and how and why we do so.  The Law dealt with externals, and because Jesus has transformed our hearts His presence affects infinitely more.

As children of God's Kingdom, we should live our lives unto the LORD by the power of the Gospel, even as God made a distinction between the Jews and the surrounding nations in Leviticus 20:22-26, "You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. ²³ And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. ²⁴ But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. ²⁵ You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. ²⁶ And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine."  Instead of having lives which resemble those who live in darkness, may the Light of the World shine bright through us as we walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

Love Meets Needs

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰  And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God."

Leviticus 19:9-10

In the Law, God made provisions for the widow and fatherless, for the poor and the stranger.  It was forbidden for the Israelites to harvest all the crops which grew in their field so those without an inheritance could gather food for their survival.  All the crops produced in their fields was a gift of God, and He gave them enough to spare.  God was a generous Father for  His people, and through them He would bless the fatherless.  Those whose husbands had died would find practical needs met by God through the people He had betrothed to Himself.  The children of Israel had experienced poverty as foreigners in Egypt, and they were called to remember their humble beginnings so they might retain humility.

Further on God said in Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD."  The children of God were to consider the needs of others and love them without bitterness or resentment.  The measure of their kindness to others was according to the preference we naturally extend to ourselves.  When Jesus came, He immeasurably increased the standard we ought to follow, for He said in John 15:12:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  The love of God expressed through Christ's life and demonstrated in His death is beyond measure, and only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we begin to fulfil His glorious command.  As we have freely received from God we are to freely give to God and others.

James 1:27 reads, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."  Jesus has come to us, and it is fitting we would visit those who are in trouble, motivated by the love Jesus has given us.  God has shown His love to us practically by meeting our spiritual and temporal needs, and we too can show the protective and providing love of a husband and father to those God brings across our path.  God does not change, but may we be changed into His loving likeness, willing to sacrifice and give for the benefit of others and the glory of our God.