Northside Church - Sydney
Living Hope- Week 4: Hardships & Hope
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. I'm amazed how much God seems to teach me in the week leading up to the message, and often I have to pinch myself and think, "Well, of course Sam, you just think about a topic and your eyes are always opened up to it." Everything happened this week, I was hosting an event in the city, and it was definitely an interesting event. There were people from all walks of life, and up came a lady with the five most cutest little girls I've ever seen. They all got matching dresses, and they had a little brother there that was tiny, and so they were from ages two through to eight years old, and she said, "Oh, look, can you take a photo for me with the kids?" And I said, "Yeah, sure, and as I began to do that, she began to explain how to have a photo there as to how her husband had recently passed away with the cancer eating away at his jawbone and eventually taking over his body, and this photo was the last picnic that they'd had together as a family. It was a mighty man of God and a great Christian, and as she's sort of holding back the tears, it was still raw, it was still fresh, it was only a matter of months past. What do you say to that? You see all these girls running around almost oblivious to the gravity and the tragedy of the situation that was unfolding. What do you say to that? And tonight we look at a topic which we will grapple with for the rest of our Christian lives, and that is suffering. How do we deal with suffering? How do we push through it? You see, the big idea of this whole series has been that we underestimate the power of our believed in futures. And so what role does hope play in the midst of suffering and hardship and grief and pain and tragedy, what does it mean practically for our lives? And so let me start tonight too because there's probably not a message for someone that is right in the midst of suffering. If you're suffering tonight, if you're experiencing pain tonight, you know, you're probably already lost you in that sense. And I just want to say that's totally fine, you don't have to listen to the rest of the message because the only message you do have to get tonight, this is a place, this is God's church is a place in which we simply want to cry with you, we just want to hug you, we just want to get alongside you and to comfort you and to be with you. That would be the only message that you need here tonight, but suffering like it is with this lady to me seems inherently unfair. It doesn't seem fair, much of life is not fair and so much of the Bible says, thankfully for us that God, God is a just God. There's so much language about God's justice, the way that his righteousness and his justice throughout all the Psalms will come back, that God is a just God and justice will be done in the end. But until that day, that day when there are no more tears and there are no more suffering and there's no more pain and there's no crying, what do we do? We'll get a hint from Paul as we read through his letter to the Corinthian church in chapter 4. If there was a guy that knew about suffering, it was him from verse 7 in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. He says, "But we have these treasures in jars of clay to show that this also passing power is from God and not from us. We're hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, but flexed, but not into spare, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed, we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, and so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body for we who are alive are always being given over death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then death isn't working us, but life isn't work in you. And so it's written, I believe, therefore I've spoken and with that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak because we know that the one who raised Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus, and present us with you in his presence. All of this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we don't lose heart, though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light, and at moment Terry Troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. We're going to look at suffering tonight, and I wish I could cover it all in one message we could do an entire series on this. So in that way, a book that's really shaped what I'm going to be saying tonight, an understanding of the broader framework is Don Carson's How Long Oh Lord, and I encourage you if you're someone again, not in the midst of suffering, but want to build a framework around that, read that in your own time. It could take about three or four weeks, but you're going to be able to process it and work it through. It's so tough to get this through in 20 minutes, and that is the burden that I've carried all week with me. But see, the thing is if you live long enough, the chances are that you might see a child pass away, if you live long enough, the chances are you might be in an accident. If you live long enough, you might see someone overtaken with disease. If you live long enough, you might even endure a war. If you live long enough, you might lose your job. What I'm trying to say tonight is that in the probability of suffering is that suffering is inevitable. Paul's audience would have known that, sorrow, pain, injustice. It wasn't uncommon to them. It's probably one verse 16 that he says to them, "Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." Paul knew it. His readers knew it. They understood that this world suffering was inevitable and realistically, if we be real with ourselves, for us in this incredible, amazing country and the lives that we live, our lives are on the other end of that spectrum, we live, we don't understand that because if for some of us that are younger here, we are the first generation not to experience a war, we're the first generation not to experience a great depression, we're the first generation not to experience a famine, if we look at ourselves honestly, we're the comfort generation. That's indicated by the sorts of shows that dominate our attention on television, dancing with the stars and keeping up with the Kardashians and the hills and all the things that I need to repent of, but you see here, isn't the irony here is that most of the anxiety that we see in our lives, I'd be willing to put it, if you do some common sense, is rooted in our desire to run away from pain. We're worried about being uncomfortable, we're worried about losing what we have. I'm worried about losing what I have and it's a constant battle to keep my eyes focused on God, there's a deep-seated anxiety in our culture and that came up when I was listening to, yes, I listened to AM radio, the other week and probably why I'm wearing this jacket, and I'm listening to AM radio and the most bizarre sort of statistic came up in response to this nap plan testing that is happening and that a psychologist was interviewing year three, grade three students about their feelings around the nap plan test and so what their greatest fears were and in the top five fears of grade three students in this country was rising petrol prices and I'm thinking these guys don't even own cars and they're worried about petrol prices, but here's what I'm saying is that there is a deep-seated anxiety in our culture, you're getting what I'm saying here, that is trying to avoid pain, the pain of not having a car for crying out loud and guys so look on the flip side, on the personal side as I grow older one of the greatest challenges in my life and I'm finding in my ministry is that there are answers that people are seeking from life that I am constantly now having to come back to the answer that says I don't know, I don't know, I can't give you an answer, I can look to the Bible it could feel, I don't know, I just don't know, I've got friends that are dealing with relationship heartbreak, I've got friends that are dealing with crushing disappointments, friends that are dealing with family meltdowns, friends that are losing jobs for the first time, friends that want a superstar track with careers and have been gripped and shattered by mental illness, I've got friends that are in sort of seemingly irreversible medical issues and I don't know about you guys but particularly for the young adults here, what I am discovering is that life is somehow seeming now to whittle a track in which our personal sovereignty seems helpless in making a choice to get us out of suffering, there are answers in which I say I don't know, there are problems in life that I've got no solution for, no doubt that's probably what Job felt right in the book of Job and he'd lost his family, he'd lost his livestock, he'd lost his business, he'd lost his health and isn't an amazing story and now I've got a real insight when I was reading through it because I thought if you're talking about suffering you've got to talk about the book of Job in some way and we know a bit of his story, one of the most righteous man, God and Satan having a bit of a wager and Job is the object of that wager and he's a righteous guy, he loses it all but the funny thing that got me was the way that his three friends began to chip in. They come down, Job scrapes and saws off his arms with bits of coal, they're sitting around the fire and they begin to chip in, they begin to say things like maybe you're similar to this Job, Job you can't force God's hand, don't you know Job, all of God's ways are higher than you always, God's good timing Job, a Job the wicked will die, a Job the righteous will succeed, Job change your attitude and what I thought was fascinating was I thought they seem half plausible, they seem like they're half of my pastoral answers I could sort of get off the shelf and you know what the crazy thing that I thought, oops I sort of pushed them to the side a bit, was that God absolutely smashes these friends when he's talking to Job, he's furious at him, in fact Job in all these suffering and the saws and the pain, God says Job I want you to pray for your friends, he wants Job to pray, they seem like reasonable answers and in a crazy twist that's what God's saying, I'm furious at your mates, you pray for him, you ask for forgiveness on their behalf, why was Job's friends being rebuked by God for what seems like some pretty standard sort of answers, we might even give them to someone who's hurting and suffering, why because they were trying to box God in, they were trying to come up with little theological cliches, they're trying to come up with these sort of little formulaic statements in terms of Job how he can help you through the suffering and so what occurred to me and like what Don Carson says in his book is that when we're faced with this excruciating adversity we might be tempted to lash out with millions of questions for God like Job, questions we could spend a whole series on, come up with the kitschy cliched answers and yet if you're trying to summarize this book of Job then it would be this, that when there is suffering there will sometimes be mystery but the real question is in the book of Job is will there be faith, and there's a question that I pose to all of us tonight that when we go through suffering there will be mystery, the inevitability of it but the question is will there be faith, the probability of suffering I'm finding is increasing as I'm getting a holder, it's inevitable so the question is how do we deal with it, what do we do with that then we see the pattern of suffering of course you go to the guy who knew all about suffering, this guy was the king of suffering and Paul in this letter to Corinthians he's writing to a church where his credentials are getting hammered this is the Paul that we see that God calls him out in Acts chapter 9 he says this is the guy is going to be my chosen instrument I want you to show, I'm going to show him how much he's got to suffer in my name and what we find is that suffering's not only inevitable it's intrinsically linked to the Christian life and so 2 Corinthians is written to church to a church where Paul's authorities and his credentials have been questioned if you read the whole book you'll see the Paul's responding to people who's saying look can you really trust Paul because is God really with him, if this guy is really with him why because one of the lines of the raising for this what they're talking about is that Paul seemed to have an inordinate number of tragedies going on in his life I mean he was a bit like Martin Short from the movie Pure Luck, bad things were constantly happening to Paul he was going through all these sorts of tragedies and this is how it goes you know you listen off you're saying how he received from the Jews 40 lashes -1 he was beaten with rods he was stoned he was shipwrecked he's been constantly on the move, danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from his own countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the country, danger at sea, danger of false brothers, it's danger man, 2 Corinthians 11 God never read through, look here's the question, here's how it would go, here's what we would say look can God possibly be with a man like that, you know if God is with you you know surely if God's with you aren't you supposed to be prospering, if God is with you aren't you supposed to be it's supposed to be protected, if God is with you isn't he supposed to be blessed in you, imagine someone saying I've traveled around the Mediterranean for three years and I've never been shipwrecked and look at this guy Paul three times this guy has not got a good record and he's calling himself an apostle and this is the question I've alluded to that Job's friends were asking me on the campfire you know what they were saying to himself they're saying look if this much is going wrong for Job Job what have you done wrong confess you're seeing what have you done what have you done wrong what do you do if God's with you this wouldn't be happening right and so I'm going to look I'm going to ask you tonight is that the sort of question that you've asked yourself is that the sort of question you've asked yourself when you're going through seasons of life of pain and hardship and you think you're at the worst spot and then you just take into a whole nother level further you think and what have I done where is God is any supposed to be with me here you look at life and you go this can't be right either either there is no God and that's how some people react when it comes to say either there is no God or this this God certainly not on my side he can't be with me and the question is how does Paul respond to that how does Paul respond to the premise that I you know God can only be with you unless you're on the up and up but not getting yourself shipwrecked look he goes further he goes he goes wonderfully further on that you know he says that that he's he's sufferings are not just a there's one commentator said it's not just a denial of the gospel in fact his sufferings are a confirmation of the gospel the pattern of suffering the ups and downs verse 11 and 12 of 2 Corinthians 4 for we who are live are always being given over to death for Jesus's sake so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body and so then death is at work in us but life is at work in you and so Paul saying the gospel the way the gospel works death leading to resurrection hopelessness leading to vindication weakness leading to power injustice leading to triumph what he's saying is that that that pattern of life is at work in us that the way the gospel worked in Jesus life is a way that the gospel work can work in my life the way that the gospel can work in your life just as Jesus suffered his death and it will led to a greater life the same sort of thing happens that that that the death to ourselves leads to something greater and it's not it's a metaphorical death and a death of economics and emotions that were constantly putting the death in the Christian life and so what example does he give us to work it out in our own lives I come on we want to say how's this work how's this work Paul and what I like about it is Paul Paul does work it out in his own life like it's really amazing to compare second Corinthians for chapter 8 with second Corinthians chapter 1 verse 8 right that down to 4 verse 8 verses 1 verse 8 chapter 1 verse 8 he says he's comparing the last great suffering went through and listen to this he goes we don't want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia we're under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired even of life you know what that is he was it he was beginning to lose hope he despaired for his life but in verse 4 chapter 4 verse 8 that he goes on later to say he says we're hard pressed on every side we're not crushed we're perplexed but we're not in despair so in 1 verse 8 he says we're in despair of lost or hope and then he goes on and says but now we're not in despair it's like a contradiction what's he going on about it is a man as Paul always seemed to do this it's a great sort of preaching technique it's he's sort of written for us later on it makes it makes it makes the Bible interesting don't you think you see Paul saying when you're actually going through the suffering the reality is you do feel like you're being crushed when you're going through the suffering you do feel like you're in despair but the difference between those two passages is time and what we see is yeah you're saying in chapter 4 verse 8 yeah I was in despair but now look now I can look back and I can see that God was sustaining me that God was propping me up the God was holding me God was comforting me how through a living hope that can remember that can never perish or spoil or fade it was being held up by the living hope as time passed he said yeah it felt horrible at the time and so for the person in the midst of suffering tonight and for those of us that are prior to suffering we must remind ourselves that God is always in control God is always sovereign and that sounds like a pretty cliched sort of statement to make because you say yes Sam come on what are you talking about have you seen the sort of things that are going out there in the world have you seen the sort of things that people are getting away with have you seen the sort of poverty and affliction and just hardcore evil that is happening in our world how can God be in control of this when we see all this evil in the world and there's an amazing statement part of the story that I picked up from the Old Testament this week in studying through Genesis chapter 50 is the back end of the story of Joseph and his technical dream code you might have seen the musical it's actually a biblical story and and it's this incredible sort of no Joseph story right he was having these dreams it said how all these brothers are going to bow down to him they've got to be jealous with that they sell him off into slavery he's lost for years and years he spends years in a jail he starts having these crazy dreams Pharaoh sort of likes them raises Joseph up to be the governor of his entire kingdom pretty much and his brothers have absolutely no idea and then eventually in this great twist drama unfolding you could write movies about this sort of stuff Joseph deliberately seeks out his brothers and wants to reunite with them and hides his identity from them until you get into the latter chapters of chapter 50 and what's happened is that Jacob has died the brothers have understood that Joseph is their brother and they think and holy molly in fact they even get dad to write a letter to say please don't hurt these guys when I'm gone you think the minute dad is gone Joseph is going to pull out a can of whoop ass on me so big that they thought Joseph whose retribution was a right of his after the way that they were treated him they are carrying in front of him as Egypt's first minister and Joseph has the entire powder hang these up these guys up from the trees they bring in the note from dad and Joseph sweeps their tears away he hears the way that they throw themselves at his feet and it says that Joseph wept and an incredible statement he says get this you intended to harm me but God intended it for good you intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives what an incredible way to think and act after all that pain and suffering see what an example this is of God's God's sovereignty doesn't say brothers sold him into slavery and then God miraculously turns around and saves Joseph nor does it say that God intended for first class treatment of Joseph all the way to Pharaoh's cabinet and then the brothers muck the plan up along the way know what it says that God was always working his sovereignty in and amongst the decisions of evil in order to bring out the good in the midst of is that an amazing statement or what God is always in control and friends it's a reminder for us the look here was what I was thinking that does it remind you of another brother that got a bit of a raw deal a brother of the human race who was cast out of his family endured pain and hardships and suffering only to be raised to control the king's business does the picture begin to sort of paint twinkles of a story that we've already heard of the ultimate story you see that is what a Christian being a Christian really is being a Christian is to understand that we are like the brothers that finally realized the identity of the king and we fall out of his feet and whilst he has every right for retribution for our rebellion he looks at us and he weeps and he says don't don't do such a thing at the cross although they intended to harm me God intended it for good even for the disciples in the midst of the absolute hopelessness God was in control and that brings us incredible comfort tonight as Christians because that is the pattern of suffering hopelessness melting into vindication weakness melting into power injustice leading to justice death leading to life and that is the paradox of the cross guys that is the upside down nature of the cross it's a crazy part of the cross because the cross cross both destroys and it establishes the credibility of God because on one hand what sort of sovereign God is hanging from either hand on a tree and subject to these Roman rulers and put to death what sort of sovereign God is that but at the same time God didn't you know he didn't intend this first class treatment for Jesus at the same time when the disciples are asking what would God know about suffering when we asked what would God know about suffering at the cross we meet God in the suffering God is always in control and where there's suffering there will sometimes be mystery won't they guys but the question is to the disciples then the question is to us not tonight will there be faith God is always in control and so finally we see the plan for suffering look I've been to the giant sequoias of Yosemite National Park these incredible trees that grow to a hundred hundred and fifty meters tall the giant redwoods they're called from time to time now my question is for you tonight could you really get an appreciation of the giant sequoias if you stood five centimeters from the bark oh it's a wonderful it's a beautiful tree it's huge our friends at time we we need to step back in our suffering and realizing the trials and the hardships that we face that we are staring five centimeters from a giant sequoia we need to step back and see the incredible story the incredible beauty of the story that God is painting for us in the same way that's why Paul was trying to get us to stand back in verse 17 he says you're not looking at the whole tree he says for our light and our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all and the incredible thing is that Romans 8 seems to be a passage that is turned up in just about every sermon of this series and until you put it alongside this passage tonight 2 Corinthians 4 verses 16 to 18 you're not going to see the incredible claim that Paul is making Romans 18 he says I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us the sufferings now are not worth that which will be revealed in us but in verse 17 of this passage he says at the present time the sufferings of the present time are producing the glory the sufferings of the present time are achieving the glory the sufferings of the present time are working out the glory what's he saying it's not a Pauline contradiction isn't it we just love it don't we what is what is he saying is he what is he going on about look there are lots of ways that we can approach suffering these days we can avoid it it was the way that people have dealt with suffering in Paul's day you can avoid suffering other people they accepted suffering they just took it for what it is yep the world's a bad place life sucks other people embraced suffering and I was prior to themselves out of heaping this suffering on themselves but you see what we see guys tonight is the gospel doesn't accept doesn't just accept the gospel doesn't just avoid the gospel doesn't just embrace suffering it swallows it up it swallows it up hell that swallows it up what do you mean it's got to do with hope it's all got to do with hope you see what's the Christian solution to suffering we said this last week is it just going to heaven tough news was Jesus didn't come back this weekend right is it just going is it just is it just going to heaven because if it's just heaven and that's just compensation for what we've lost the family and the friends and and and the good times if it's that if it's just going to heaven then then then heaven is just compensation for what we've gone through hope is just an insurance policy that we're going to get the claim on when we can sort of enact it out and we pass through death but if hope like we saw last week is the new heaven and the new earth coming to earth a restoration of life that we've always wanted we're not just going to be compensated everything will be made new everything will be made new look question is have you ever been lost ever been traveling gotten crazily lost I did that when I went to Prague once it's it's quite serendipitous at my best mate from Canada's out here tonight and listening to this message up in the kids room because he was the one who told me that I should never go to Prague because I needed a visa to go to Prague but I didn't want to get a visa to go to Prague and you've heard me tell this story and I got off the train too early and I got lost in the station outside of Frankfurt at one o'clock in the morning and I was scared and I was tired and it was painful and it was horrible and I was freaking out and and and and I spent a whole week in this strange land of trying to find my way back home and get reunited and and and and and eventually we we met back up again on the top of some Peter's Basilica in Rome biblical and and when we finally reunited in and in sort of that small sense I knew I was home with my best mate every bit of pain every bit of uncertainty every bit of fear in my life got swallowed up by the joy the things that I was absolutely freaking out about about you know I laugh about it now why is this to me you need a visa to go to Prague what I'm trying to say guys tonight is when the new heaven and the new earth that we've been talking about the ultimate Christian hope that'll turn every hardship that you have ever experienced into joy when that happens that is going to swallow up that when when you are home in that sense when you are reunited with the ultimate friend Jesus Christ the pains and the hardships of your life you're going to get swallowed up in a joyous reunion and I've said to people you know like it's when we go to heaven I don't want Jesus to be like a Keith urban that I've admired from a distance but I've never really gotten to know like if I see Keith urban in heaven and I hope I do because he's got a few songs that mention the word God if I see if I see Keith in heaven I'm like you're Keith urban and it's really good but I don't know his life I don't know what he's going on about I'll have nothing to talk to him about you see what is suffering in the Christian life other than something that with great experience and intimate knowledge we can share and talk about with Jesus Christ now come on there's all sorts of theological arguments as to whether we're going to remember the suffering there but you get what I'm saying right at least I'm going to have something if I suffer in this life to talk to Jesus about you were people people persecuted you because of me I went through that too God's plan for suffering tonight guys revelation chapter 21 then I saw a new heaven and a new earth and for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea and I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying now the dwelling of God is with men and they and they will live with him and they will be his people and God himself will be with them and they will he will be their God and he will wipe every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away he who has seated on the throne said I am making everything new and then he said write this down for these words are trustworthy he said to me it is done I am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end to him or she who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost the spring of the water of life the plan for suffering it's going to get it's going to get swallowed up and every bit of hardship is going to become it's going to get swallowed up into the joy guys there will be a day there will be a day no more tears no more crying no more mourning no more pain no more suffering and until that day guys as Christians we've got an awareness that the of the location of our suffering is smack bang right in the middle on the street in between the now and the not yet and although we have a down payment by the Holy Spirit a preview a trailer of the great things that are yet to come in the glory of God there will be pain and suffering our God reigns our God reigns but it is in the jaws of pain and suffering until that day hope in the midst of hardship says at least there's a third umpire that's what it's saying tonight least is at least there's a referee looking out for the cheap shots and people will be brought to justice there is a third umpire he's seen every cheap shot there will be a day and until that day every minute of grief every ounce of pain every tear that we cry will be swallowed up the question is what are we doing in the meantime what about the friends what about the friends that are going through this let me just pastoral implication one quick quote says Lewis says on the far reaching subject of teaching patients in suffering he said I was never foolish enough to see myself qualified nor having anything to offer my readers except the convict the conviction that when pain is to be born little courage helps more than much knowledge little human sympathy helps than much courage and the least snippet of God's love more than all and the least snippet of God's love more than all courage more than knowledge sympathy more than courage God's love above all there's an inevitability of suffering and there is a pattern that we will continue to live until God brings his plan to completion we see the giants acquire the first time in our lives and where there is suffering guys there will sometimes be mystery and my question did a night is will there be faith there will be a day and until that day as one writer says when I walk through the suffering let there be an offering like a fragrance rising in the valley of shadow not to waste my sorrows but to trust and to follow until the day when you wipe away every tear you will hold me carry me until the day when you take away every fear no more suffering who can imagine that's hope in the midst of hardship let's pray Father we lift those up to you tonight that are in pain and in suffering Lord we ask that through your spirit you help us discern what it is we would say to them Father in so many ways may it not just be in words but in in in hugs and in in time and and in genuine sympathy Father God may they find peace and comfort amidst your community I hope here at Northside so Father until that day will you help each and every one of us are prepare for those tough times that will inevitably come but Lord we we know deep down and we sense already tonight that we are never going to truly be able to answer the question am I up for it can I take it will I make it through until we take those steps into the darkest moments of our lives and we discover that as you say in your words through sun Jesus Christ the blessed are those that are at the end of their rope that we find that your street address is in the hurting and the broken and the down and out blessed are those blessed are those who were poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom Lord we pray that that becomes a reality for some tonight we pray that that becomes a reality for us as we move into those dark times and as we do Father may we hold firmly by faith to the ultimate hope that you are making all things new we thank you for that we praise you for that and And we pray this tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.