Terry and Don Funeral

Broken World

Every once in a while, we get a sobering reminder of just how painful life can be.

We can go through seasons of life that are incredibly difficult, and sometimes feel just plain overwhelming.

We experience loss, loneliness, heartache, and sorrow.

And frankly, we can sometimes feel like its too much for us to bear.

These are the seasons of life that remind us that this world we live in is a broken one. Something here isn’t right. This isn’t the way things are supposed to be. We can all feel that, we know it to be true, and God does too.

Thankfully, we have a God who doesn’t sit passively by and watch us suffer.

No, we have a God who is moved by our pain and sorrow.

We have a God who feels the effects of our suffering even more than we do.

We have a God who does something about our suffering.

We have a God who suffers with us.

We have a God who provides a ray of hope in an otherwise dark world.

Good God

God didn’t create this world broken. God created this world good, but it wasn’t long before humanity threw it into chaos in greedy attempts to gain power and control.

And yet, even though we have plunged God’s good world into the mess that we see around us today, God was not content to sit passively by and watch us wallow in the suffering we chose for ourselves.

No, it was the Son of God, the second person of the Eternal Trinity, who took on flesh and became the man Jesus of Nazareth some 2,000 years ago. He didn’t do this to condemn the world, or to destroy it.

He did it precisely so he could experience our pain and save us from it.

Hebrews 5:2 ESV

He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.

Jesus feels our pain because he loves us and has experienced it himself.

You see, Jesus is like a Shepherd, and we are like his flock. He told us this in his own words when he described his purpose for coming in John chapter 10. Seeing that there were thieves sneaking in to destroy his flock, he said

John 10:10–11 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

And that is exactly what our good shepherd did. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, he has always existed and will always exist even if we were to all vanish forever. He had no need to come and do anything for us, but he did. He came and suffered, lived a life being ridiculed and mocked, beaten, rejected by his own people, by the very people he came to save, even by those he considered to be his best friends. He was wrongly arrested and accused, even convicted and crucified for crimes he didn’t commit.

But he wasn’t the victim of unfortunate circumstances, his life of suffering was by design. This life of suffering and this humiliating death on a cross was a labor of love for you and me.

John 3:16–17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus did all of that, he suffered and died, and then he resurrected from the dead so that he could beat death for us and secure eternal life after death.

He even gives us a picture of what this everlasting life will look like, listen to the snapshot we get in Revelation 21:1-6

Revelation 21:1–6 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

This life is difficult, yes. At times it will appear to be so dark that we can’t know which way is forward, but know this; we have a God who is guiding us through this life safely back home to himself. He feels our pain, and he gave up his own Son Jesus so that we can have eternal life with God.

That’s a God worth following, because he is a God who loves us deeply. Believe in him, and let his own suffering for you bring you hope in this otherwise dark world.