These verses of scripture were very
important to me thirty years ago when my father died in 1983. I did not know it
at the time but within one year both my grandfathers and my father would die,
leaving me at the ripe old age of 33 as the oldest man in the family. My
father’s funeral was held in Danvers, Mass, and I remember turning the big
Bible on the table at a funeral home to this passage. I read it and pondered it
many times during those days, and it still remains one of the passages of
scriptures closest to my heart. It is a treasure trove of wisdom, and I am glad
it is our epistle lesson for today. I think it holds the secret – if we want to
call it that – to the purpose of suffering. There are four points.
I. First is Narrowing down the
Suffering. When I say that this passage contains the secret to the purpose of
suffering I do not mean all suffering of all people at all times and places, what
is commonly called the problem of theodicy. The so-called “problem of evil” is
one of the chief arguments against the existence of God. The argument says if
God is all powerful and all loving, then why doesn’t he stop the senseless
suffering of innocent people? Examples like the Jewish holocaust or the
suffering of innocent children are usually used as examples. If he doesn’t stop
the suffering, then either he is not all-powerful or not all–loving; therefore
God (as we traditionally understand God) does not exist. It is a strong
argument and a profound theological problem, and I have struggled with it
personally. I have written about it most recently in reference to tragedies
like the Newtown Shooting and the Boston bombing. I have preached about it. It
is a serious challenge to the theistic and Christian worldview. But that is not
what I am going to be talking about today. I am going to narrow down the scope
of the suffering that we are talking about.
This passage in Romans is not
addressing all people’s suffering. It addresses only the Christian’s suffering.
The apostle Paul narrows the scope of the suffering in verse 1-2, he tells us
who he is addressing. He says, “Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” He is talking to those who
have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ and have found peace with God
through Christ by God’s grace. He is talking to Christians. He is not talking to
or about atheists or agnostics, Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims or New Agers or
adherents of the pop spirituality of today. The purpose of everyone’s suffering
is a valid question. But that is not what the apostle Paul is talking about
here.
This is an important distinction to
make. A lot of people will make general statements about suffering. People will
say that it is a universal truth that everything works out for everybody for good,
and they will say that as if they are quoting a biblical maxim. But that is not
what the scripture says. The text referenced in such comments is Romans 8:28,
which is another one of my favorite passages. It does say, “all things work together for good,” but you have to finish the
sentence to understand what it is really saying. The full verses reads, “And we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His
purpose.” Again the apostle is talking to believers in Christ here. And
that is also what I am going to address.
Maybe all the suffering of the world
does work together for the good of everyone. If God is love and he loves
everybody, then it seems to follow that he would work out everything for the
good of everyone. But our text doesn’t say that, so I am not going to take that
further step this morning. I am going to stick to what the passage says. It is
addressed to those who have been justified by faith in Christ and experienced
peace with God by the grace of God.
I also want to narrow down this topic
of suffering even further to unavoidable suffering. Some suffering is inevitable, and some of it
is not. Some physical suffering is inevitable; pain is going to happen to all
of us. We can’t get through life without it. We can reduce the amount and
likelihood of it; we can do things to protect ourselves physically from harm – like
taking safety precautions like using seat belts and having regular medical
checkups and early treatment of medical conditions. But we are never going to
be free of all physical pain; it comes with physical life. The same with
emotional suffering. It comes with being human. We are going to lose people we
love, we are going to fail sometimes, we are going to make mistakes and hurt
people and be hurt by people. Having family, friends, acquaintances, enemies, just
living as part of society means a certain amount of emotional suffering. Life hurts.
But it is also true that a lot of emotional
suffering is unnecessary. A lot of it is self-inflicted. A lot of suffering is
caused by our own minds. It is one thing to be hurt emotionally by some event
or person. That is inevitable. It is another thing to keep replaying that past
event in our mind. When we do that we are reliving the hurt and pain over and
over again as if it were happening now. Our body responds with stress when we
are remembering and emotionally reliving something bad that happened. That is
unnecessary suffering. The same is true with worrying about the future. We live
bad things in our minds that never happened. We speculate about something that
might happen in the future, and rehearse it emotionally, even though it never really
occurred and might never occur. A lot of suffering is mentally self-generated
and self-inflicted. We can stop that suffering with spiritual disciplines. But
today I am going to talk about inevitable suffering – both physical and
emotional – that comes with being human.
2. Second, the apostle Paul talks about Rejoicing
in Suffering. Paul says in verse 3 “we
rejoice in our sufferings.” That is the English Standard Version. The NKJV
says, “we also glory in tribulations.”
NIV: “we also glory in our sufferings”
“we also exult in our tribulations,” “we also rejoice in our afflictions,” “we
also boast in our sufferings.” There are different ways of translating
this, but you get the idea. He is saying
that the key to approaching the inevitable suffering of life is to change our
attitude toward it.
Some people’s attitude toward
suffering is to complain. Some people whine about the hardships of their lives.
Some people make suffering the focus and centerpiece of their whole lives. They
seem to derive a sense of meaning from suffering. Their life becomes the story
of their suffering; if the suffering magically disappeared, they wouldn’t know who
they were. And if they didn’t have physical pain or emotional drama in their
relationships, they would have to find something else to complain about - the
weather or politics or the government or family and friends. We all know people
like this. A lot of suffering is the self-caused and self-inflicted suffering.
The key to all types of suffering – inevitable or evitable – is to change one’s
mind about it. Rethink it. The word “repent” literally means to rethink.
Paul says that we are to rejoice in
suffering. That is what he did, and Paul knew something about suffering. He suffered
a lot. He was persecuted severely with physical beatings and imprisonments as
well as having physical ailment and economic hardships and opposition from
enemies in the Jewish synagogues and the Christian churches and the Roman
government. Everyone was out to get him. The apostle Paul knew real suffering.
And he said that we are to rejoice in our sufferings, glory in our sufferings,
boast in our sufferings! That is a radical rethinking about suffering. This is
not a Pollyannaish, whistle a happy tune, close your eyes and ears and ignore
reality. This is a spiritual reinterpretation of life based on his faith. This
brings me to my next point, which is …
III. Processing our suffering. This
is the meat of the passage. He says in verse 3-4 “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering
produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (NIV) He is describing suffering as a process, and
that process is redemptive. This is a key truth of Christianity. This is why
the cross – a symbol of suffering and shame, as the old hymn says – is the
central symbol of our faith. Suffering is redemptive. This is a different way
of thinking about suffering. Our society’s idea of suffering is that it has no
redeeming value. But the gospel says that suffering is a process that produces good
in our lives. “Suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope.”
Suffering produces perseverance. Some
translations use the word endurance. But this is not just stoically gritting
our teeth and enduring something bad; it is persevering knowing that the end of
the process is something good. Have you ever noticed how a person who has
endured suffering can minister to others who are going through the same type of
suffering? Only recovering alcoholics know the suffering of being an alcoholic
and can be a sponsor to help someone else going through the same thing. The
same with any type of suffering – whether it be physical or sexual abuse,
grief, cancer survivor, amputees, PTSD. This is Memorial Day weekend; I heard
on 60 Minutes recently that 22 veterans commit suicide every day. That is
almost one an hour, due to PTSD or traumatic brain injury or clinical
depression. A person who has been in the depths of it knows what it is like and
can help a person. Suffering gives us the ability to minister to others who are
suffering. This same apostle says elsewhere: “3 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.” Suffering produces
perseverance, which is an inner strength to continue one day at a time.
“Perseverance produces character.” Life involves change, whether we like it or not. Things will
never stay the same. Hardships in life change us for better or worse; that is a
fact. For some people, hardships and sufferings harden them. They become bitter
and angry, and their hearts are hardened. “Why is this happening? Why is God
doing this to me? I have never done anything to deserve this!” That attitude
hardens a person’s heart against God and short circuits the transformative
power of God in our lives.
Francis Bennett lived most of his
life as a Trappist monk, first in the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky (not far
from where I went to seminary)` and later in a Trappist community in South
Carolina. He worked for years as a hospital and hospice chaplain. In his book “I
Am That I Am” just published last month, he describes a 43 year old woman named
Mary – a wife and mother - suffering from cancer. The cancer had destroyed this
beautiful woman’s face requiring the surgical removal of her tongue and jaw, so
she was not able to eat or speak. Francis was her hospice chaplain. Every time he visited her she would write on
her tablet “Why is God doing this to me?” She would phrase it different ways,
but it was basically the same question. She became more and more bitter and
angry at God and life as the weeks went by. In fact she wore out one hospice
chaplain with her anger, and Francis was her second chaplain. One day God
inspired him to say these words to her: “Mary, the only way I know of to get
beyond the kind of pain you are experiencing right now is the way of absolute
surrender.” He says he felt like God was saying these words through him. After
he spoke these words, she just gazed at him for about three minutes, then she
wrote on her tablet “Thank you, Francis.”
He writes “Mary had surrendered
completely and utterly that day. She seemed to be a different person. All the
bitterness disappeared and an unconditional joy appeared in its place. Her
birthday was about two days after this event and it was the most joyous party I
had ever attended. There was a presence of peace and joy that surrounded Mary
from that day forward that was palpable. Everyone around her could feel it.
When I visited her after that day, I felt uplifted in her presence. She was transfigured,
radiating a living light and peace and serenity. The next week she wrote on her
tablet: I used to ask God and myself
every day, Why me? Now I find myself saying, Why not me?.... This
statement, coming from a woman who, just a week before, was so bitter and angry
at God seemed truly incredible to me, like a miracle…. Mary only lived about
two weeks after this breakthrough.”
Suffering produces perseverance, and
perseverance, character and character hope. Suffering can create a sense of
hopelessness in people. But when one surrenders oneself and one’s suffering to
God, then it can produce hope. The epidemic of suicides in our country is
disturbing. Do you know that more military personnel died by suicide last year
than were killed by the enemy in Afghanistan or elsewhere. This is the real
enemy. Everyone seems concerned about gun related deaths these days; people want
to pass gun control laws to prevent gun violence. But I have mentioned before from
this pulpit the disturbing statistics that almost twice as many deaths from
guns are from suicide than homicide. 19,000 gun-related deaths are suicides
compared to 11,000 homicides each year. All the gun control laws in the world
are not going to stop suicide, unless you outlawed all guns, and then people
would just find another way. Hopelessness is the problem – hopelessness caused
by the emotional pain and suffering of life. But when our suffering is
surrendered to God – the God who knows suffering in Jesus Christ – then
suffering is transformed and we are transformed. Suffering produces
perseverance and that perseverance produces character and that character
produces hope. And Paul says that “Now
hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
IV. This brings me to my final point,
which is the Spirit with us in Suffering. That Spirit is the Holy Spirit. In
suffering, the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts. That is the
end result of suffering according to the apostle Paul. When suffering is
sanctified by God’s Spirit, the end result is not despair and bitterness. It is
hope and love. The love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit. Suffering causes some people to doubt the love of God. They ask how a
God of love can allow suffering. But the Holy Spirit turns suffering into an
experience of the love of God in a way impossible to explain or understand.
This is the mystery of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. What some people use as an argument against God becomes an
experience of God and his love. That is the meaning of the cross. The cross is
suffering and pain. It confronts suffering head on. Even Jesus cried out from
the cross, “My God, my God, Why has thou forsaken me?” he suffered physically,
emotionally and spiritually. God’s answer to his Son on the cross was not to
stop the pain and take Jesus off the cross. God’s answer was hope in suffering and
beyond the suffering. The suffering and death of Christ on the cross was to be
the greatest symbol of the love of God the world has ever known. And that hope has
not disappointed us. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead, and because he
lives we will live also. And we have received the Holy Spirit, who has poured
the love of God into our hearts. Suffering opens a space in our hearts for the
love of God to be poured into it by the Holy Spirit. That love fills us with a
peace beyond human understanding and a joy deeper than suffering. That eternal love
of God lived in us, now and forever, is the purpose of suffering.
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