by RobertCummins | Oct 6, 2015 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Moving Through Suffering – 1 Peter 4:12-19
I pray you will read and wrestle with our passage before proceeding. I would prefer you wrestle with God as opposed to me …
How is it that bad things happen to us when we have angels looking out for us, when Christ himself is interceding for us, and when God, who is all-powerful and all-knowing is all for us? If God is my fortress, how did this stuff get over the mote and into the fortification?
How are we to respond to suffering? What value, if any, is there to it? The answer we get may not be what we’ve been taught and it may not be what we would prefer but If we will listen to Peter, he will answer the questions so many of us have asked, and may be asking still. Peter tells us that …
1) Since Jesus has suffered, arm yourself with the very same purpose. 2) Don’t let suffering catch you off guard as if a test were an unexpected thing. 3) When you suffer according to God’s will, entrust yourself to him. 4) Christ shares his suffering with some. If you are privileged to be one of them, stay current in your rejoicing, knowing that exultation awaits you. 5) Trials and suffering are necessary sometimes. 6) Suffering serves as a refining fire for our faith which will prove more precious than gold. 7) Responding well to suffering will result in the eternal benefit of praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I will once again reference two classic books by the late Paul Billheimer; Don’t Waste Your Sorrows and Destined for the Throne. These books hammered home a spiritual reality: Out of life’s painful experiences, God somehow creates current intimacy as well as eternal blessing. Consequently, when suffering has come into my life, there has always been a hope, albeit faint at times, that God was in the midst of the fire with me. Thanks to the scriptural teaching on suffering, there has always been an understanding that God was at work in the midst of unwanted circumstances.
Thanks to Paul, the Apostle’s, Romans 8:28 contribution, there has always been the anticipation that proof-of-redemption would one day become evident, accruing to God’s glory and contributing to the furtherance of God’s kingdom. Viewing suffering through this lens exposes a deep mystery and encourages the perseverance required by faith – that thing which is so pleasing to God.
Sufferings are intersections where the believer finds a stop light. He can turn either left or right. Or, most desirably, he can proceed straight ahead on the main highway. The left turn has the believer closing his heart off to God because bad things transpired under the watch of a supposedly good Father. These travelers have no answer to suffering other than disappointment and even anger.
The right turn has the believer doubling down on false gospels which conveniently avoid the subject of suffering altogether or explain it away as satanic-theft. In this hyper-religious response, a God who must be good (all the time), by our temporal measurement, is rescued. This imagined deity’s throne is secure as long as believers can keep Satan at bay with their authority in Christ.
I don’t believe either of these directions honor the scriptures. I don’t know where they lead and I don’t want to find out. However, I do believe the Parable of the Sower sheds some light. Whether it was in bitterness or denial, the talent got buried. In the heart, where it might have grown, faith lay fallow. Neither the left nor the right turn will bring a return of investment to the Master.
Just as I have a low tolerance for physical pain, I also have a low tolerance for spiritual pain. At one level I despise suffering; I tremble for myself and others as I watch them dealing with it. I am keenly aware of both the left and right turn temptations. But, deeper in my heart, I recall that suffering may be necessary. I recall that redemption is embedded in all things (which includes suffering). I believe I will see this redemption if I will only respond to Jesus – as opposed to reacting to my circumstances in bitterness or religious-denial.
I don’t want to squander my sorrows. The scriptures tell me they are treasures in disguise. This is a place where we can advance in loving God with all our hearts, with all our strength and with all our minds. These intersections are where Jesus can become our all in all. Mysteriously, suffering can produce intimacy – God’s anticipated ROI.
Admittedly, suffering is a cosmic mystery and we are right there, with Christ, in the middle of it. Responding to it correctly is how we are to stay on the main highway. My thanks go out to Peter, to both Paul A. and Paul B. and to my other spiritual fathers, for your navigational assistance.
Father, We really don’t need to know why painful experiences come our way. Regardless of our poor initial reaction to suffering, help us to recover quickly, realizing we are being raised as sons of God, as brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ and that you are a competent and loving parent who is capable of making use of everything that touches our lives, regardless of where it comes from. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 5, 2015 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Moving Through Suffering – Hebrews 2:10-18
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (14-15)
When we look at humanity we see so many radically different groups and we wonder if harmony will ever be possible on earth. We see the ancients and the moderns, the communists and the capitalists, the Hindus and the Muslims, the young and the old, the devout and the debauched and a hundred other breakdowns. I wonder though, in light of verse 15, if there really isn’t just two categories of men; those who are free and those who are slaves. We know Jesus came to set captives free and we know Satan has come to prolong our slavery with the fear of death. Let’s explore just how he is pulling this off.
Let’s review. We know the devil is the spiritual father of all lies. His lies are disseminated in the form of myths, errors and distortions. His power rests in deception. His mission is to persuade men that God does not exist or to distort God’s actual nature.
What do you believe are Satan’s greatest lies? I am proposing it those particular lies which are causing the most suffering to the most people over the longest period of time. And, I am proposing that the greatest lies are those keeping Christians enslaved – lies keeping the light of the world glowing at low wattage. Satan’s worst nightmare is that the children of God discover the fullness of life in Christ, who is in them. Liberated children of light, free from the fear of death, are big trouble for Satan. Fearless citizens of God’s kingdom will wreck the kingdom of darkness because truth sets captives free! What are the greatest lies being told on earth? I believe they are the myths, errors and distortions currently entertained by the Body of Christ of which we are members.
That might be hard to swallow. Let me restate my point by asking another question; What is the greatest evil that could be perpetuated on a community infected with Ebola? Simple; it would be to withhold from it an available Ebola vaccine. Without the vaccine, the virus will systematically ravage and kill everyone. Similarly, our world is infected with a fatal spiritual virus which is destroying us. Jesus Christ is this earthly community’s only cure. The Body of Jesus Christ is this infected and dying community’s only hope. We are Christ’s Body and we are this earth’s long awaited vaccine.
Yet, slavery within the Church is not a popular topic. How can a pastor speak to his congregation who is free in Christ (at least in bible-theory) and insinuate that lies being entertained in their hearts is causing the most suffering to the most people over the longest period of time? If these lies exist, as I have proposed, what would they look like? First of all, they will not be obvious to us because they will have become our normal. Promoting lies until they becomes norms is how the enemy enslaves men. Let’s look to Jesus for help.
Jesus was tempted just as we are. He understands the temptation to sell out to the devil better than we do. He was assaulted with lies in the wilderness. Recall, these temptations each began with, “If you are the son of God, then you will……..”. There is a satanic bullseye painted on our identities. How we see ourselves is one of Satan’s primary targets – where he doth seek to work us woe. We have not yet prevailed over our enemy as Jesus has. Over our lifetimes, we have allowed myths errors and distortions about God and ourselves to take precedence over God’s words. These thoughts are our enslaving norms.
Slave-thoughts can become so engrained in our identities, questions about our legitimacy and God’s goodness can become normal. I have been shocked in my personal journey out of slavery into freedom, how frequently, even as a Christian, I have lived in agreement with the father of lies. This is why Psalm 139: 23-24 is such a pivotal prayer to me …
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful (enslaving) way in me, and lead me in the everlasting (liberated) way.
When we break into freedom, and we shall, because he is bringing many sons to glory, light will be released through the Church, not just through better programs and sermons but through the lives of those who are being transformed into the image of Jesus. God is seeing to it that his children are spreading out strategically into all the earth. Like a positive virus, the Church is being poised to infect the world with Jesus Christ. We have each been relationally positioned to infect others with the love of God – which is our ultimate cure.
Father, through your suffering, you have removed the basis of our fear of death. Let us give ourselves unreservedly to your life. Go after the enslaving half-truths and blatant lies the enemy has sold us. Liberate us into the freedom of the sons of God which we and all creation are longing to experience. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 5, 2014 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Psalm 42
“As the deer pants for the water brooks so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God“.
There are precious pearls within this psalm. I pray you can pause long enough to mine them out for yourself. Hint; the best miners are the best question askers. They find more treasures than anyone. Questions are what come from the hearts of thirsting and panting souls. Listen to this soul’s questions: When shall I come and appear before God? Why are you in despair, O my soul and why are you disturbed within me? Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of my circumstances?
There are different types of questions. Some questions are really just commentary in disguise – concealing the darkness of our doubts, bitterness and unbelief. Other questions are rhetorical – used frequently by the proud for posturing and positioning. No answer is expected here because this soul already knows the answer. There are also questions that are asked in order to collect the data we need to support our existing hypotheses. These types of questions will not unearth anything of lasting value. Then, there are the questions of those with no hardened pre-formed notions. These questions come from child-like searching hearts. These are usually the hard questions we ask ourselves and God. These are the questions that reveal the hunger and thirst that equip the humble to encounter their God.
I believe we are both “driven” and we are “drawn”. From behind we are driven by pain and fears that we dare not stop and face. We are totally persuaded that pausing to look those things in the face would be our undoing. We’ve been there and done that. We felt those deep and unwelcome questions gaining on us – those questions that our painful experiences have raised which, we sense, have no answers. This is not a problem though because we can turn up the volume and speed of life so that those questions are drowned out and left behind on the edges of our consciousness.
I believe our triune enemy (the world, the flesh and the devil) conspire to see that we remain “driven” so that we never move toward the core of our being where we must meet these buried issues and put them in their place as servants rather than masters. It is the typically unexplored core of our being where He lives that we must watch over with all diligence. In our hearts He endeavors to overthrow every lie and half truth that is driving us. Our abundant life is simply us living out our new-creation lives; it is Christ in us (at the very core of who we are) who is the hope of glory. This life emerges as we are drawn, responding to His invitations to draw near. This revelation fuels the longings and thirsts native to healthy spirits.
The writer of this psalm, on the other hand, is on the track of one who is being “drawn”. They have slowed down and from the recesses of their consciousness there are painful questions surfacing which they are taking ownership of by giving voice to them and by writing them down. (The power of journaling rests in becoming a psalmist in our own right – becoming completely transparent before God.) I think this is what is going on when “deep is calling (drawing) unto deep” (vs 7). His Spirit is touching ours. His light is touching our darkness. His truth is touching our lies. This is where, by slowing down, eternity overtakes time and our hearts realize their connection to God. His light overtakes our darkness. This is a place where the world, the flesh and the devil are overthrown and captives are truly set free.
Beware though, when you start applying the breaks or turning down the volume of your life, the truly important (yet painful) things we have buried tend to surface. As this psalmist slows down and records his thoughts, listen to his troubled consciousness (the very thing we work overtime to avoid). More importantly though, listen to the psalmist’s intentionality in embracing truths beyond his feelings and understanding. (This inward exchange is one of the better examples of spiritual warfare that I know of in scripture.)
My soul thirsts. I cry day and night. When will you bring relief God?
I REMEMBER – I HAVE PRAISED YOU BEFORE. I SHALL PRAISE YOU AGAIN!
Why are you in despair oh my soul?
I REMEMBER – I HAVE HAD EXPERIENCE WITH YOU. I SHALL HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH YOU AGAIN!
Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me.
LORD, YOU WILL COMMAND YOUR LOVINGKINDNESS AND YOUR SONG WILL BE WITH ME IN THE NIGHT!
Why hast Thou forgotten me?
I WILL HOPE IN GOD. I SHALL YET PRAISE HIM. MY COUNTENANCE SHALL BE LIFTED!
This is going to be incomprehensible to some who are just natural songbirds sitting on that perch singing beautifully unhindered by introspection such as this. By all means sing away. You were a born warbler. Your precious song is a gift to us all. Suffering through anguished thoughts was not your lot. On the other hand if your song is really more like “whistling in the dark” try slowing down and catching up with the Lord.
This psalm is priceless. Here are a few of its gems. It demonstrates a man’s complete emotional honesty before God. It highlights the value of questions. It demonstrates that we do not need a priest, a vicar, or any intermediary between us and God. It demonstrates that a troubled heart can be a place of new beginnings. It demonstrates the power of deliberately recalling truth and declaring it to ourselves to combat questions that can become spiritually debilitating. It reveals that our wound, our failure or our restlessness may be transformed into thirst for God, an essential experience if we are to be drawn by God.
We must ask ourselves, “Are we being driven or are we being drawn?
Father, we are children of light. Teach us to live in your light especially when it gets
uncomfortable. Lead us into that place where we truly truly become the free souls you intended us to be – that place where Your sacrifice and suffering have not been squandered upon us. Help us to do our part in overthrowing the kingdom of darkness within us – those places where the world, the flesh and the devil have reigned too long, robbing from us the abundant life that You secured and is ours for the taking. May you succeed Lord in making us that city set upon a hill, that when an unbelieving world asks, “Just where is your God?”, You will be seen in the joy of our countenance, the vigor and purpose of our step, the wisdom and truth of our council. Your Life will be expressed through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 4, 2014 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
If I were the writer of children’s books or materials, I would embed an idea in those materials that I believe would help commission a new generation of kingdom citizen warriors. The idea would be born from Jesus own words…
By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:17
This phrase; “So also are we in this world” if planted and nurtured in the precious dark loam of a child’s heart, would grow and naturally link “God so loved the world” with “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” As the seed germinates and finds its way up into the air and sunlight of God’s kingdom a new vision will be formed; the plant (an Oak I suspect) would have new eyes to see and new ears to hear.
When the seed that was planted in many of us sprouted it seemed to mostly just see the Incarnation and the Resurrection, leaving us with a vision stripped of all that was between those two events which was the astonishing life of God that Jesus lived as our model. After our rebirth as God’s children our discounted vision has accommodated the notion that our religious service of worship will consist mostly of being grateful for the two primary tenants of the faith and expressing that through church attendance and involvement (if you are a zealot).
The DNA of this seed dictates a vision of discipleship that essentially means replanting this same seed in as many souls as possible. Discipleship comes to mean doing all the things necessary to prevent souls from damnation so they are preserved for either the rapture or heaven after they die. Note; This high calling is then typically entrusted to a few called (or anointed) individuals.
Back to the seed planted in the fertile loam of the childlike kingdom heart. Here an identity will take shape that says to itself, “as Jesus is, so also am I in this world.” If this heart happens to find itself in a place where the seed has been stripped somehow of the “as He is, so also are we in this world-DNA strand, it will not be able to make sense of what it is seeing. It will say, salvation was not just a past-tense, moment-in-time experience, rather it is a moment by moment affair that is taking place everywhere its roots can spread. Its kingdom focused senses will wonder why there are mostly just professional Christians who feel called to full-time ministry and so many others who just observe. The childlike kingdom heart will look at this scene and conclude the army is mostly just sitting around in the barracks.
However, the greatest shock for the kingdom heart will be caused by how little relevance and connection those with the mic make between Jesus’ life (lived between the Incarnation and the Ascension) and their own. Yes, some moral training will be strained out of the body of Jesus’ teachings but most (or all) of the implications of the gospel of the kingdom which is all about Jesus’ powerful and revolutionary life is not mentioned or it is reserved for the hereafter.
I had the privilege of hearing Thomas Ashcroft speak on Wednesday. He wrote Mansions of the Heart. In his book he reviews the evangelical tradition’s various takes on discipleship and graciously exposes how short it has come in it’s understanding of it. He also describes more fully what happens to believers when the kingdom seed is birthed in their hearts and they find their vision cannot be reconciled with that of Pastor. He offered simple, time proven milestones for disciples. What a refreshing, simplifying and clarifying word he spoke about discipleship!
Tom Ashbrook also offers a surprising pathway back to innocence and vision that might serve as a meeting place for institutional leaders and the kingdom hearts which are languishing inside the conventional models they oversee and possibly even those who have walked away from them. I say this because Tom had nothing to offer than Christ alone, the only common ground and hope that any of us really have. For the hope and vision which he deposited in the body of Christ in my faith community I am profoundly grateful. I pray he will visit us again and nourish the kingdom seeds whether they be dormant or living.
Father, I confess that I sometimes despair when I inventory all the disparate understandings of who you are and what you are doing and saying. Would you raise up those who can exercise their ministry of reconciliation not just between man and Yourself but between us, Your children, Come and be preeminent in our midst. Come and speak your healing words into Your fragmented body – making us the family and the army you destined us to be. Persist with us Father until we can corporately say with joyful confidence….
As He is, so also are we in this world. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon us, because the Lord has anointed us to be the good news to the afflicted; He has sent us to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. Then we will be called the oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
So be it.
by RobertCummins | Oct 3, 2014 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16
“In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33 sheds light on our passage)
Without Jesus’ declaration, “I have conquered the world“, it would be difficult to connect “Taking heart” and “continued difficulties“. So, what does that mean, that Jesus has conquered the world? How much relief am I to expect in my continuing difficulties by virtue of His victory?
Jesus is presented to us in our passage as the great high priest. Why does the author give him status as “great”? The traditional duty of a high priest was to oversee the sacrifices and to offer up the blood of beasts in behalf of Israel’s sins. This inspired author points to Jesus coming down from His high place in heaven and taking on human flesh so that he could experience our frailty and temptation. He was great because in doing this He never once sinned. He was also great because He didn’t just oversee the sacrifices. He became the sacrifice, once for all.
His sinless life qualified Him as a spotless, perfect sacrifice whose death met God’s criteria – blood from an unblemished substitute, for the cleansing of mankind’s sin. It was in this sacrifice that He secured a victory for all who would believe in Him. It was at the cross that He conquered the world. This is what made Jesus a great high priest.
So, beyond the obvious gratitude and thanks that is due Him, what other application is there for us, now that we have a fresh reminder of God’s greatness? Two things; the first; Holding fast to our confession. In Romans 10:9-10 Paul ties our profession to our salvation. I don’t believe he was speaking only of the initial profession of faith our traditions require at baptism. I believe Paul was speaking of a life style of profession where our union and our experience with Christ is expressed throughout our lives in the midst of ongoing difficulties.
The second application is; Drawing near to God with with confidence. The early part of Hebrews 4 is discussing the essential nature of rest in a believer’s life. Resting from our works mentality (that thing in us that says approval from God must be earned) will keep us from coming confidently before God. Resting in God’s work on the cross enables us to come boldly before His throne so that we may find grace in the difficulties we are told we will encounter in this world.
We live in a great cosmic war with men’s eternal souls as the prize. I can imagine our hearts as a kind of beach head in this earth, like Normandy in WW II, where The Lord of Hosts Himself has entered into a stronghold of enemy opposition. The ground we permit Him to take in our hearts becomes the substance of our confession (or the telling of our story). With the formidable weapon of our testimonies we combat Satan who is always saying something to this effect, “Just look around. You and I both know you are outgunned. We both know exactly who is in charge here. The reason that this world appears as a godless place is because it is a godless place. Hasn’t suffering confirmed to you yet that God is absent or indifferent? Don’t you think that If God was as good and all powerful as He claimed, He would have relieved you of your suffering by now?”
On spiritual warfare. While there are no doubt great spiritual battles being waged in the heavens between intercessors and spiritual principalities, I think every believer is on the front line of the battle being waged on earth; one that may be ongoing right now in the midst of our own individual hearts. We will discover our destinies as conquerers as Satan’s lies are dislodged and rooted out of our belief systems. When we learn to watch over our hearts with all diligence, there will be a dramatic shift in the battle. The greatest warriors are those who have learned to rest.
I picture the end of times concluding with Satan’s last accusatory, condemning and intimidating lies being drowned out by our professions of God’s faithfulness, of His proven greatness in delivering us from and sustaining us through our continuing difficulties.
Father, give counsel to our hearts that we may arrive at Your perspective on the difficulties of our lives. Help us to meet You in the midst of life whatever comes our way. Show us where and how to resist enemy attacks and show us where to rest and entrust our circumstances to you. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 1, 2014 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Romans 8:18-38
I was preaching one Sunday and it dawned on me mid-message that what I had done in my preparation was what my church attending audience could and should be doing for themselves. In fact, I became convinced that if I were to continue in this practice, I would be an accessory to the crime of perpetuating a spiritual welfare culture. I recall thinking; at some point mamma bird must force her babies to leave the nest. If she does not, they will not learn to fly nor feed themselves. They will perish and it will be the mother’s fault.
In my email excerpt I alluded to a powerful tool for followers of Jesus. I said that it was a catalyst to transformation; a key to discovery; a pathway to wisdom and that It could be the first step into a great adventure. I warned however that it would have a price tag. Have you figured out my riddle?
The tool is “the question“; the cost is “the thinking” invested in answering the question. Slowing life down where heart-level, prayerful thought can be invested into interaction with the the Lord in the scriptures is integral to spiritual growth, yet sadly, it is our custom to leave this chore to pastor.
If I were to rate a pastor my criteria would not be how many people attend their services or the size of their budget, rather it would be how many Christians have they kicked out of the nest and taught to fly and feed themselves. There is certainly a place for them but I contend that the best preachers and teachers are the ones that serve as catalysts. They ask penetrating heart-level questions which send believers off to their prayer closets and bibles to encounter God for themselves.
So, my gift to you today are simply questions which relate to our passage. If you take the time to search out their answers, I predict your wings will grow and that you will feel nourished in a way that passive listening (even to the best sermons) cannot accomplish. Enjoy your in flight meal….
What could you learn from this passage regarding what Paul believed to be normal emotions for a follower of Christ?
If we feel that we have not prayed with pinpoint prophetic accuracy on a matter, what hope might this passage offer? and why?
What precisely does this passage say is capable of separating us from God’s love?
In what set of circumstances does Paul say we will overwhelmingly conquer?
What is Paul asking us to compare our “present” circumstances with?
What does the process entail from predestination to glorification?
What is the “big event” that Christians and creation are greatly anticipating?
On what basis might a follower of Christ take courage when the events of their life seem wasteful, unfair or painful?
After reading the passage and seeking the truth in response to these questions, what stands out as the thing God is trying to most impress upon you?
