Pentecost 18B - Romans Series
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
We know that, do we? That's something we can ALL agree on, is it?
We know that all things work together for good or those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
There are days when I don't like this verse. Not because I don't think it's true. But the days I don't like this verse are the days when, it's misused, when I hear it as a cop-out, a way of protecting our beliefs against the mystery of suffering. When its used to push aside or even dismiss other peoples' pain from someone who's uncomfortable with strong feelings. When it's used as an easy answer to life's hardest question.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
If only it were that easy. If only we could always trust that it were true. If only those words worked like a magic formula when pain arrives at our front door.
But there are days when it's hard to make sense of what Paul is saying.
When staring at the pill bottle, wondering why the medicine isn't working, and you can't shake feelings of despair and emptiness, your sister tells you,
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
What do you hear when she says that? Do you thank her for those comforting words. Or do you want to smack her for diminishing your pain?
When, after 20 years of marriage, you find yourselves across the desk from a lawyer, trying to figure out who gets the kids on what weekends, who gets the house, how the assets are going to be divided. You're starting over. Back to square one. You find yourself alone. You open your bible and you're told,
We know that all things work together for good or those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
How do you respond? Do those words soothe your sorrowing soul. Or do you get even angrier?
When you're standing at the foot of casket, and the person inside is far too young to be there. Your grief has no words. Your pain is too great for tears. Someone whispers in your ear,
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
Do you believe it? Is this good news? Or do those words slam the lid shut on your relationship with God?
It doesn't even have to be us who suffer to make this passage hard.
We may open the paper and see that an earthquake obliterated villages in Indonesia, killing 4000 people. Or we turn on the TV and we're told that a typhoon is bearing down on the Philippines for the second time in a month. Or we learn that, every 3.5 seconds, a child dies of hunger and malnutrition related diseases, while we work at losing weight.
A preacher then says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
A liberating word? Or a way of letting us off the hook?
I don't know about you, but I find that it's easier to believe that God's Big Picture makes sense when suffering is simply an abstract thought. An idea to be pondered.
We're told that God has a master plan, a plan which we can't know, and therefore we simply just have to accept that suffering happens for a reason, that pain is part of that plan.
When life is good, God's plan seems clearer, more apparent. Easier to swallow.
But when that awful phone call comes, when the doctor gives you the terrible news, when you're visiting with the funeral home, it's harder to believe that something good comes of it. It's harder to believe that our pain is part of God's purpose.
It's harder to say that “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose” and believe that it's true.
It's in those times, we may say, If this is God's purpose then I don't want any part of it. I'd rather have my marriage re-assembled. I'd rather be healthy. I'd rather have my child back.”
If this is part of God's plan then God can leave me out it, I'd rather the weather not kill people. I'd rather that every child have a decent meal every day. I'd rather their be peace on earth. I'd rather that suffering be relegated to file-folder of history. That's what I'd like.
As many of you know, I'm turning 40 in a couple weeks (Really! I'm not kidding!) So I've been a little extra reflective these days, enjoying the sight of my naval perhaps a bit too much. ( These days it's pretty easy to find!). I'm anticipating the approaching mid-life crisis. So don't be surprised if, by Christmas, you see me riding a motorcycle or driving little red Corvette.
What I've realized is that, over the 40 years I've been on this planet, I've become less and less surprised by suffering. Less and less surprised by peoples' pain, by natural disasters, by peoples' self-centredness.
And I've learned that suffering is part of creation. It's what happens in a broken and fallen world. It shows us that world still isn't how God wants it to be.
But I've also learned that God hasn't finished with the world yet. That the kingdom – or the reign of God – isn't fully here.
But where did suffering come from? Did God make suffering?
I don't know. But what I do know is that God suffers. God suffers deeply. God suffers because God loves. Where there is no love, there is no suffering.
But God turns suffering around and creates something beautiful from it. Where pain, suffering, and death reside, God creates life.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now;” Paul says, “and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
Labour pains! Paul is saying that our suffering is labour pains, giving birth to a new creation.
I find this way of talking about suffering REALLY helpful. Paul is saying, “Yes, your pain is real. I know there are days when you can barely get out of bed. I know there are days when your wounds of grief is so raw you can hardly speak. I know there are days when it looks like life is over, the world is ending, that sin and evil will triumph.
But these are just the beginning of something new that God is doing. A new day is coming when God’s New Creation finally comes in it’s fulness, the dead shall rise, and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
And for Paul, this wasn't some mushy, pie-in-the-sky when you die sort of stuff. For Paul this was a promise he clung to with both hands. Paul wasn't some naive preacher telling people what they wanted to hear. Paul was preaching from the bowels of Hell. He knew what suffering was. He had been tortured, imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten, insulted. He had watched some of his friends be executed. He had seen some of his ministries fail.
This is why I take this passage from Paul so seriously. Paul wasn't some thinker speculating on the problem of suffering from the basement of a church. Paul's letters have blood stains on them. They arrived to their readers wet with tears.
That's why Paul writes so passionately. That’s why he could talk about hope and people would believe him. Paul didn't have time for feel-good religion or easy answers to life's toughest questions. He suffered too much for such nonsense. The heat from Hell's flames singed his eyebrows.
That's why I can stand with Paul when he says about our pain,
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May this be so among us. Amen!
We know that, do we? That's something we can ALL agree on, is it?
We know that all things work together for good or those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
There are days when I don't like this verse. Not because I don't think it's true. But the days I don't like this verse are the days when, it's misused, when I hear it as a cop-out, a way of protecting our beliefs against the mystery of suffering. When its used to push aside or even dismiss other peoples' pain from someone who's uncomfortable with strong feelings. When it's used as an easy answer to life's hardest question.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
If only it were that easy. If only we could always trust that it were true. If only those words worked like a magic formula when pain arrives at our front door.
But there are days when it's hard to make sense of what Paul is saying.
When staring at the pill bottle, wondering why the medicine isn't working, and you can't shake feelings of despair and emptiness, your sister tells you,
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
What do you hear when she says that? Do you thank her for those comforting words. Or do you want to smack her for diminishing your pain?
When, after 20 years of marriage, you find yourselves across the desk from a lawyer, trying to figure out who gets the kids on what weekends, who gets the house, how the assets are going to be divided. You're starting over. Back to square one. You find yourself alone. You open your bible and you're told,
We know that all things work together for good or those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
How do you respond? Do those words soothe your sorrowing soul. Or do you get even angrier?
When you're standing at the foot of casket, and the person inside is far too young to be there. Your grief has no words. Your pain is too great for tears. Someone whispers in your ear,
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
Do you believe it? Is this good news? Or do those words slam the lid shut on your relationship with God?
It doesn't even have to be us who suffer to make this passage hard.
We may open the paper and see that an earthquake obliterated villages in Indonesia, killing 4000 people. Or we turn on the TV and we're told that a typhoon is bearing down on the Philippines for the second time in a month. Or we learn that, every 3.5 seconds, a child dies of hunger and malnutrition related diseases, while we work at losing weight.
A preacher then says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose.”
A liberating word? Or a way of letting us off the hook?
I don't know about you, but I find that it's easier to believe that God's Big Picture makes sense when suffering is simply an abstract thought. An idea to be pondered.
We're told that God has a master plan, a plan which we can't know, and therefore we simply just have to accept that suffering happens for a reason, that pain is part of that plan.
When life is good, God's plan seems clearer, more apparent. Easier to swallow.
But when that awful phone call comes, when the doctor gives you the terrible news, when you're visiting with the funeral home, it's harder to believe that something good comes of it. It's harder to believe that our pain is part of God's purpose.
It's harder to say that “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God's purpose” and believe that it's true.
It's in those times, we may say, If this is God's purpose then I don't want any part of it. I'd rather have my marriage re-assembled. I'd rather be healthy. I'd rather have my child back.”
If this is part of God's plan then God can leave me out it, I'd rather the weather not kill people. I'd rather that every child have a decent meal every day. I'd rather their be peace on earth. I'd rather that suffering be relegated to file-folder of history. That's what I'd like.
As many of you know, I'm turning 40 in a couple weeks (Really! I'm not kidding!) So I've been a little extra reflective these days, enjoying the sight of my naval perhaps a bit too much. ( These days it's pretty easy to find!). I'm anticipating the approaching mid-life crisis. So don't be surprised if, by Christmas, you see me riding a motorcycle or driving little red Corvette.
What I've realized is that, over the 40 years I've been on this planet, I've become less and less surprised by suffering. Less and less surprised by peoples' pain, by natural disasters, by peoples' self-centredness.
And I've learned that suffering is part of creation. It's what happens in a broken and fallen world. It shows us that world still isn't how God wants it to be.
But I've also learned that God hasn't finished with the world yet. That the kingdom – or the reign of God – isn't fully here.
But where did suffering come from? Did God make suffering?
I don't know. But what I do know is that God suffers. God suffers deeply. God suffers because God loves. Where there is no love, there is no suffering.
But God turns suffering around and creates something beautiful from it. Where pain, suffering, and death reside, God creates life.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now;” Paul says, “and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
Labour pains! Paul is saying that our suffering is labour pains, giving birth to a new creation.
I find this way of talking about suffering REALLY helpful. Paul is saying, “Yes, your pain is real. I know there are days when you can barely get out of bed. I know there are days when your wounds of grief is so raw you can hardly speak. I know there are days when it looks like life is over, the world is ending, that sin and evil will triumph.
But these are just the beginning of something new that God is doing. A new day is coming when God’s New Creation finally comes in it’s fulness, the dead shall rise, and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
And for Paul, this wasn't some mushy, pie-in-the-sky when you die sort of stuff. For Paul this was a promise he clung to with both hands. Paul wasn't some naive preacher telling people what they wanted to hear. Paul was preaching from the bowels of Hell. He knew what suffering was. He had been tortured, imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten, insulted. He had watched some of his friends be executed. He had seen some of his ministries fail.
This is why I take this passage from Paul so seriously. Paul wasn't some thinker speculating on the problem of suffering from the basement of a church. Paul's letters have blood stains on them. They arrived to their readers wet with tears.
That's why Paul writes so passionately. That’s why he could talk about hope and people would believe him. Paul didn't have time for feel-good religion or easy answers to life's toughest questions. He suffered too much for such nonsense. The heat from Hell's flames singed his eyebrows.
That's why I can stand with Paul when he says about our pain,
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May this be so among us. Amen!
posted by Unknown at 10:17 AM
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