Sermon Tone Analysis

Outline

And so today we come to the 3rd instalment of this series.

Checkmate.

Arguments against the Christian Faith that would cause people to say, this is something that I just cannot reconcile.

So we have talked about the resurrection and the fact that the resurrection was a historical happening that was witnessed y hundreds of people.

Last week Pastor David id talked to us about the Christian doctrine of Hell and how rather than a doctrine that is in conflict with a God who is good, it actually makes sense that a God who is Good and perfect and Holy would bring about justice and n reality give those who want nothing to do with God, what they have asked for; an existence separate from Him.

Today we look at the idea of suffering.

If suffering exists, she would say that God cannot; at least not the Good that many Christian say exists.

If suffering exists the way it does, Jesus cannot be who he said He was.

And hey, I would say that this is not an atheist question!!

This is not just a question for philosophers and those who are anti-religion; this is a question you and I ask ourselves EVERY day!!

And we have company in Scripture.

Look at King David--he sang a different tune each day--literally---read the psalms

flip the page

“Where are you?”

“Why have you left me here to rot so that the ungodly nations are laughing at me and pointing at me

Is this any different than your experience?

Jeremiah, Elijah, Moses, --these guys had some troubles.

And here in the church you are surrounded by people who believe in the same God you do, have claimed the name of Jesus as their leader and forgiver just like you have, and who are suffering just like you are.

Suffering from broken marriages, suffering from work issues, concerns for our children, suffering from identity issues, addiction, the haunting of sickness and death you name it.

And some of you might be saying (rightly so) these people haven’t lost like I’ve lost.

These people have not suffered as I’ve suffered.

And that may be true.

But the fact is, if they haven’t in the past, most likely they are going to in the future.

At some point we will walk through the valley.

Maybe you’ve been there already, maybe you are going to be there sometime in the near future; maybe you are in the middle of it right now.

We are broken and in need of a saviour--that’s why we are here.

PAUSE

And thankfully - the scriptures are not silent on this topic.

I want you to turn in your bibles to Romans chapter 8 verse 18.

Now as you are turning there, let me just give you a quick roadmap of what is going on in Paul’s letter.

The apostle Paul—church planter extraordinaire –and the formulator of Christian doctrine and understanding, is explaining in this letter, the implications of Christ and the Cross.

That through the cross we see the righteous distaste God has for sin and the mercy and grace that God wants to lavish on his creation, through His son Jesus.

And Paul is explaining that the Cross and the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, and his triumphant resurrection from the grave is central to God’s plan of salvation.

It is the climax of the redemption story.

And although they may be attentive to all that Paul is writing and believing on all these promises --------they see something very different and experience something very different than what Paul is talking about.

But Paul knows that the noise of life, the chaos of what his readers face daily, make holding to these truths in any life changing, life altering way….difficult.

It is the same reason we often walk into church week after week and find it difficult to connect worship and the words we sing with the rest of our lives.

There seems to be a real disconnect.

Life might look very good on Sunday morning, but then life starts again on Monday and the two worlds seem so far removed from each other.

PAUSE

It is this disconnect that Paul addresses in the text we are about to read.

So let’s stand, out of respect for God’s Word to us today and read from And I’ll be reading from the ESV

-25

Prayer

Prayer

You can be seated

I can remember conversations with my son years about what we were going to be eating for dinner.

When vacation is coming, when Friday night is approaching, when something good is coming, it is easier for us to handle adversity.

We learn this from an early age.

I can remember conversations with my son about what we were going to be eating for dinner.

I’d have to sit him down and look him in the eye.

I’m not gonna lie to you son.......we are going to be encountering vegetables at the table tonight.

I am not gonna sugar coat this.

So the bribes start.

And you know it s wrong, but ….you’ll get ice cream for desert.

You do that for awhile and then it’s like a negotiation whenever dinner starts—Corn—I don’t like corn—what’s for desert.

If they know what is for desert, they know if they can make it through dinner or not.

Corn-I’m gonna need freezies—are there freezies in the freezer.

I remember once my daughter praying before a meal and saying

Dear Jesus thank you for today, thank you for our family, and thank you that you love us, thank for the healthy food, and the food we LIKE to eat after that.

But that’s how it works.

Is the end product good enough for me to endure this?

You eat the stuff you don’t like then you get the dessert.

You go to school for 10 months and then you get summer vacation.

You usually work first, then get paid.

Most people would find it difficult to be motivated to work hard if they were not getting paid at the end of it.

In this text Paul uses this idea of perspective to encourage his readers.

And 18 is a springboard for his argument.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Let’s camp here for a second.

Because this is Paul’s whole argument in one verse.

And There are a few things we need to notice.

First, Christianity is not nieve to the fact of pain.

And any gospel that promises a pain free existence, a healthy and wealthy one, is manipulating the scripture.

And is a gospel made in the image of western society.

Scripture is never in denial.

And we should never be in denial about pain.

We should never be like the black night in Monty Python who is having all his limbs lobbed off claiming they are mere flesh wounds.

And Paul does not try to hide the fact that believers suffer.

In fact, he highlights it.

Paul knew first hand that as people who identify with the one who came to overturn the values of this world, Christians will inevitably share in the rejection and trials Jesus experienced.

–

In fact we can read Paul’s resume of suffering in

imprisoned

countless beatings

often near death

5 different episodes of being whipped

3 times beaten with rods

3 times shipwrecked

in danger of robbers, rivers,

in the city, in the wilderness

hunger and thirst

exposed on the cold

and on top of all that an ongoing anxiety.....ya think!!

Paul is not listing this to complain.

Paul is not listing this to complain.

As Pastor Mark explained last week, Paul saw himself as a servant first.

To suffer as he did for the sake of Jesus was right where he wanted to be.

Paul knew pain and understood that to live was to suffer on some level.

But he would also argue secondly, that whatever the level of suffering we may have to walk through.

Whatever depths we may find ourselves in, it is moving somewhere.