Victory & Suffering

Welcome Statement

Last week we reflected on the present society’s struggles to reach across the divide, how Church’s are in a unique position to break down walls and be those peacekeepers, and not perpetuate worldliness. Today, I want to continue this by talking about how as we work out these issues in our lives, we find ourselves sometimes really frustrated in our work as messengers of God. We are told there is this powerful Victory of Christ. But it keeps feeling like it’s far off. Maybe I just need to suffer a bit more and he will reward me. Maybe the Victory isn’t a present thing but a far off thing? Well, That certainly isn’t so, It’s a present day reality. I think my previous sermons have been very clear on this fact, but we can really get caught up on feeling like we aren’t doing enough to connect ourselves to God, instead of letting our hearts open up. But that also feels like work! How do I find the time! I’m hurting God! Where are you!? We hear wonderful passages like the following from Deuteronomy that prescribe a powerful prescription or plan that we think might help us, let us read it together:

Old Testament Reading - Deuteronomy 28:1-13

Deuteronomy 28:1–13 NRSV

If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them,

The Wrong plan for wrong people

This plan is great, but it’s not for us, it’s for God’s Chosen People, meaning the israelites, and there were definitely periods where they were blessed, for example under King David’s leadership when the Spirit of the Lord was upon him when he was not sinning. But then we also read Psalms like the following: Psalm 51:11

Psalm 51:11 NRSV

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

So this plan has a lot of ups and downs in the process, and requires so much hard work, it’s a prescription full of suffering and impossible works. As paul points out, it’s a schoolmaster/teacher to point out ones sin, for us, it’s history to show us a better way. It’s a prescription to keep a people together long enough to bring a savior upon the world to save all people. What I will not suggest is that we ignore all of the Old Testament. No, there is a lot of historical relevance, there is a lot of ethical and moral relevance. Because, God is true to his word, he will bless those who follow him. It’s not that these words don’t apply to us in some sense, it’s just that they don’t apply in the exact same way, and so we have to be careful with our context, and not accidentally apply this utmost certain prosperity gospel. “If I do X, then God will give me Y” mentality. This is what got Job’s friends into trouble with God, that Job suffered because he did something wrong. Sometimes suffering is because of no reason at all. Sometimes blessings are for no reason at all. Ecclesiastes will describe life to you as a vapor, and I will agree with them, it’s murky, sometimes it’s just the intercconnectedness of society and people making things happening. In Ecclesiastes 1:2 he uses the term, vanity of vanities. Meaninglessness. Some people argue “everything happens for a reason”. I can’t say I always agree with that, because not all things have a silver lining, there are horrific events that definitely were not ordained by God, so these phrases become really challenged by books like Ecclesiastes and Job. I think the world is more of a world of grey in terms of a mix of God’s providence and free will. God is certainly sovereign in all of it, but he isn’t ordaining every single event. He is allowing free will to occur, because he allowed it in the beginning, he set the pieces so to speak, and let people on their way. I probably made a lot of Calvinists angry with that statement, and possibly some free-will enthusiasts, but this is probably a closer view of how the Bible shows our own deviations in tension with God’s declarations. We need to get back to this mystery in Christ that sometimes suffering doesn’t have meaning, it can be like a vapor, but we know even from these Vapors, Christ has declared victory over all of them. Even in the cases of where we find ourselves embattled against the world, against our passions, our flesh, we are not alone. We have that spirit. We are promised this in John.

New Testament Reading - John 15:18-27

John 15:18–27 NRSV

“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

It hated me before it hated you.

One can think about how far this statement goes. Christ was first denied by people before his followers had to suffer. But not only that, in the old testament, we see the struggle of those denying God. So this is true in that case as well! These statements when put in tangent with other statements in the Bible of Christ’s declaration of his Divinity, can be clear statements of his call way back to the beginning. This is a fulfillment of Psalm 69:4. One of the signs that Christ would be hated without any justification.

The Spirit of Truth Will Testify

There is this interesting tension we see, where Christ says the Advocate (The Holy spirit) will testify on his behalf. Like it has this power it can fill us up with and inspire us to do things. That moment of Pentecost! But he then turns aronud and says, you are also to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. The point I think here is that, we shouldn’t only testify based on how we feel. Job in his ups and downs continued to testify about God’s character despite his own doubts on whether it was true, sometimes wavering of course, demanding an audienec with God, but we see this amazing strength from Job, where he still testified on his own about God’s proper nature, and was rewarded for it by God in the end. This is what I believe Christ is talking about. We do receive pentecost that will help us speak, and it will give us the words. But there will be spiritually dry moments where we find ourselves having to slosh through the work, those dry times of suffering, is where we find the deepest victory, like Job does. Because it’s when Christ can continue to hold us and lift us up and say “my faithful servant, I have never let you go”. Even if we do mess up, he will come back to pick us up.

Closing Statement

Recall these words from Psalm 23:1-6

Psalm 23:1–6 NRSV

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Despite the suffering we bear today, despite the pain of yesterday, despite the pain of tommorow we might even have. We are guaranteed that there will be also a tommorow where there will be goodness and Joy. There is a beautiful song I have listened to called “There will be Joy in the Morning” by Tauren Wells & Elevation Worship. We have a responsibility to live out our lives as if there will be joy in the morning. As it says in scripture.

Ephesians 4:26–27 NRSV

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.

What this means is, if you can, let go of your anger at the altar, surrender before the sun goes down. For Paul and other Jewish Christians, this was when a new day started. Nightfall was when the next day started. This meant, don’t let your anger be taken to the next day. This is why this verse gets misunderstood to mean that we have to absolutely have our anger wrestled out before bed. It’s not that, It’s that, we need to let it go after we get to the next day’s work or tasks. This is a tall order of surrendering the desires of things like accountability and discipline, and even in Marriage this can be tough. There are days where our suffering is so great we do have to sleep on our anger, but in that process it will allow us to surrender. But it is important to not hold on. Let that sleep be your healing. As we reflect during this time of prayer, think about how we can take each day to reflect in Christ’s victory, how we can let go of anger daily, and not let anger be carried on into the new day. Let each day’s suffering be the suffering of that day, instead of allowing it to pile up. Let Christ’s Victory unload your backs. Take up his yoke instead, Lift up your Cross! Let us pray!

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, adfs asdfa

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!