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Sermon for June 20, 1999
| Romans 5:3-5 | "Hope Amid Life's Struggles" |
"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Happy Father's Day, all you Dads. It's not easy being a Christian father these days, is it? Whether it's "Deadbeat Dads" shirking their duty, or bumbling Dads depicted on TV, fatherhood is not highly regarded these days. Yet good fathers are more important today than ever. A few years ago the Hallmark Company gave free Mother's Day cards to men in several prisons to send their mothers. It was so successful they ran out of cards, so they decided to provide free Father's Day cards for the prisoners to send. Hardly any were taken. The prisoners had no relationship with their Dads. Good fathers are essential to a good society.
So today we give thanks to God for good fathers, and rejoice with those who see their children grow, such as when a child is baptized. Today I want to address a topic close to all: "Hope Amid Life's Struggles." I begin with a true story from my first congregation in North Dakota.
Jim watched his wife Frieda degenerate for 25 years from cerebral ataxia, an incurable form of MS. During the final years her face became twisted due to lack of muscle control and she could no longer talk or sing with her lovely soprano voice. Her wheelchair reminded him of the countless times he had lifted her, eventually ruining his back. Her illness had cost him his health and wealth. Each of their six fine children had honored them by graduating at the top of their High School class. Most were college graduates and their youngest was at West Point.
Jim and Frieda lived in the farmhouse, the farm long ago sold to pay bills. Their daughter Mary and her husband farmed the land with their two daughters. I was there to officiate at Frieda's funeral that cold day in January. I noticed she had a slight smile on her face now and Jim said she looked better than she had in 25 years. People of the town said Jim is a better man now. In his younger years he was vain and demanding and didn't appreciate his family. Through the years he became more gentle as he cared for her. He refused to take her to a nursing home and remained faithful. The family seemed strengthened because of her illness. Becoming better people, however, had a terrible price tag.
Why is there such suffering in the world? And why do Christians seem to suffer more than non-Christians? These are important questions. It is no surprise that dealing with life's struggles is on the minds of many fathers. Just making a living for your family can be a struggle.
Life's struggles can bring us suffering. The Bible says some suffering is the result of Sin. Because mankind fell into sin, pain, sweat and tears came into the world. All suffering comes, not as punishment for sin, but as result of sin. If there were no sin, there'd be no suffering.
Some suffering is of our own making and some comes from others. Suffering can also come from Satan, and some is allowed by God Himself, such as the testing of Job. All suffering must be viewed through the eyes of faith, with God in the middle of it all, trusting His reasons for why it's happening. Any struggle viewed apart from God becomes meaningless. If we don't see God in the midst of our problems, giving us hope and strength, they have no purpose for us at all.
Sadly, the story of Jim and Frieda didn't end there. Jim died a few years later of a heart attack, and the family learned that cerebral ataxia was indeed inherited. A year after her father's death, Mary, their lovely daughter, started walking with a wobble. That's how her mother's illness started. Now, 20 years later, Mary sits in the wheel chair in a nursing home, a woman my age, unable to talk or walk. And they say Mary's eldest daughter is starting to walk with a wobble.
Why does God allow this? Shouldn't He intervene? How can suffering help anyone? But even asking these questions presumes you and I know better than God and that we shouldn't have to suffer, or see it in others. When we see others hurt, we hurt. But if we think we should not have problems, that's just our pride talking. As hard a fact as it may seem, God uses problems to help shape us into better people.
Human problems are very subjective. The teenage girl who's been grounded for two weeks may think she's suffering terribly at the hand of her oh-so-cruel parents. But the teen who lays in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds knows true suffering. The parent of an unruly child knows one kind of pain, but the parent who stands at his child's grave knows a deeper kind. The unemployed man may experience a dark side of life, but the woman in depression knows a side of life much, much darker. What we consider problems depends entirely on our perspective.
Our text for today says, "...We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Hope comes by persevering through struggles. Hope comes through God's love. The Christian finds hope amid life's struggles, and knows God will tell us why they happened.
St. Paul says in Romans 8, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us." Paul was a persecuted man -- he was beaten, stoned, whipped, and ridiculed for sharing his faith. Suffering for one's beliefs is difficult to endure -- or even understand. Why should they be harmed, we ask? Yet they are. Thousands are persecuted for their Christian faith every day, and many die. It's believed more people have been martyred for the Christian faith in the 20th century alone than in all other centuries combined.
The problems we may face today are nothing compared to the glory God will one day show us. Our text says we should rejoice in our sufferings, not because of them, but in them, and because of what they can bring -- endurance, character, and hope.
The Bible says, "The Lord disciplines those whom He loves." The weight of our suffering may seem heavy, but it helps keep us from becoming self-righteous. "Why me, God?" we cry. But why not me? Or why not you? We people sin, and suffering is a result of sin. Viewed with faith, suffering aids our dependence on God. Struggles bring us face to face with the Almighty. He wants us all saved and with Him in heaven, and He'll do whatever it takes to get us there.
Where we will spend eternity is life's greatest quest. All the rest is small stuff. How important are the little things of life? Years ago during a building campaign I preached a sermon called "The 11th Commandment - Thou shalt not sweat the small stuff." You should have heard the criticism: "Pastor, the design of church buildings or the content of Sunday bulletins is NOT small stuff." So I wrote "The 12th Commandment - Thou shalt regard most all things as small stuff."
Our problems prune our pride. Like Jim, they can shape uncaring people into compassionate people. If you want grapes, you must prune the vine. Let vines grow wild, and they'll stop bearing grapes. What parent would let a child grow up undisciplined? God disciplines us so we'll bear fruit.
The key to understanding human struggle is the Cross of Christ. On it, He suffered for us. He was a real man, who died a real death for the real sins of real people. His suffering was real and it was enough to pay the price. Christ's physical suffering may not have been the worst ever endured, but the spiritual anguish and pain must have been tremendous. God required someone had to pay the penalty for sin, so Jesus, the good Son, had it laid on Him. The Father let the Son die for uncaring people -- incredible! But that's our God and His love for us.
The key to hope is faith. Faith trusts God's reasons. Faith sees God's hand in the pain and trusts that Father knows best. Our suffering can be the thrill of victory by faith -- or the agony of defeat by unbelief. Suffering isolates us and leaves us alone with God. There we experience His great love.
Life will not always be fair. Christian life is not a cake-walk. Following Christ will bring problems. Jesus said, "If you want to come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me." We Americans foolishly think God must do things our way and abide by our rules. Something is not quite right and we cry, "It isn't fair!" But what about the Palestinian Christian being squeezed out of his homeland by Israelis who are supported by the Protestants who think Jews must have their own homeland so Christ can rule over an earthly kingdom for a thousand years? But Jesus is a Messiah of the heart, not the government. Making Christ an earthly king for any reason is idolatry.
Or how about Russian Christians imprisoned more today than during Communism? Or how about Coptic Christians of Ethiopia being slaughtered by the thousands, or Pakistani Christians being killed by entire villages? Compared to them, our problems are probably not as big as we think they are.
Understanding suffering is not easy. But if our problems don't bring us closer to God, they're all a waste. Jesus suffered and died so that you and I could inherit eternal life. Paul says, "Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit."
God's love gives us hope amid life's struggles. You and I won't find hope in the "hype" of this world. Christianity is not a self-improvement program -- it's a way of life by faith, based on hope that God will give us what we need in this life, and what we long for in eternal life.
You won't find hope in a book on positive thinking, but you will find it in the cross of Calvary. Our hope isn't based on what we can do to better ourselves, but on what He has done to forgive us. Give your heart to the Lord, my friends. Trust in Him. "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." (Prov. 3:6) Trust in Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the source of all hope.
As this is Father's Day I want to share with you an event with my own father that I remember so well. It was a time he shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye and said, "We did it, son -- thanks!" It was a moment I'd never forget, the first time I felt really important to my Dad.
As the youngest of five, I was the only one left at home to help Dad farm, and even at age 15, I wasn't much help. My folks were in their late 40's when I was born and were nearing retirement. Not that I couldn't do the work -- farming just didn't interest me. The sweat, the flies and unpredictable weather made me seek other work, like teaching music or maybe being a pastor -- but not farming.
It had been a wet and muddy spring in 1962 on our Minnesota farm, and Dad was tired of the struggle. He prepared the ground and planted what he could between showers. He loved those 160 acres and was pleased at least his oldest son was a farmer. I knew Dad loved me, though he didn't show it much. But I always felt he was a little disappointed in me.
But then why not, since I didn't stick with the work at hand. One beastly hot day in July I'd even jumped off the hay wagon and started walking home. "Where you going?" he shouted. "I can't handle this heat," I said, and went home. Later that night he told me, "Whatever you do, Bobby, don't become a farmer."
During that wet spring I would come home from school and drive the tractor and digger awhile if it was dry. But Dad did the rest, pulling the rusty planter behind the old Allis Chalmers. My Father was the eldest of nine, the son of immigrant catholic parents from Bavaria. He'd become Lutheran after marrying Mom and deciding religion wasn't a good thing to argue about. We were a Christian family - God was always honored. One of my Sunday School teachers had told them I should be a pastor, but I was too young to give it much thought.
That Saturday in the first week of June had promise, so we got up early and headed out. The skies were a heavy grey but it hadn't rained in two days, so maybe we could plant the last of the soy beans. I hitched the digger to the Farmall and headed out to the field for another try. The ground was muddy and packed. Dad filled the planter seed boxes and drove behind me.
At first it seemed we'd do all right, but then it started to rain lightly. You can't plant very fast with a two-row planter, especially in the rain. The drizzle got heavier but then it stopped. "I think we'll make it now," he shouted.
At noon Mom brought us lunch and we ate standing up. As she started back to the house the raindrops started falling again. "Only two more acres -- we're gonna beat this!" he shouted, a hint of panic in his voice. We opened our throttles and drove off into the drizzle. We had to finish this work.
Mud flew off our wheels during those last few rounds, as the rain kept falling. But suddenly the field was done and we headed home. The rows weren't straight and the field was packed hard, but the planting was done. We drove the rigs into the yard, shut them off and slid off the seats. He came over to me smiling, gripped my hand and shook it hard, "We did it, son -- thanks!" he said, and walked off to the house. I stood there dripping wet, wondering what had just happened, but knowing it was something good.
Years later when he decided to sell the farm, Dad came to me, his pastor-son, for advice, "So there won't be any arguments among you guys." It wasn't the last time he'd asked me for advice. Each time he did it was like getting blessed with muddy hands. It was like hearing him say again, "We did it, son -- thanks!" Dad lived to be 97 and I miss him.
And today when I get caught in the rain, I often think about that day when he shook my muddy hand, the day I knew life was going to be all right, the day my father gave me his blessing.
Dear friends, we're not perfect children, but our heavenly Father loves us anyway. He loves us no matter how imperfect we are, no matter what we've done. He loves us all, and in His Son Jesus Christ He forgives us and blesses us with the gift of eternal life. Whatever our struggles may be, may you and I rejoice in the midst of them that we have hope as children of the Heavenly Father. Amen
Copyright © 1999 by Pastor Bob Tasler. All rights reserved.
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