Following a Suffering Savior

Here is what Hebrews 12:3-4 says, "Consider him who endured such hostility from sinful men against himself so that you do not grow weary or fainthearted.  For in your struggle agaist sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."  In v. 1 the Christian life is described as a "race set before us"; in verse 4 the Christian life is described as a "struggle against sin".  We run the race by looking to Jesus, we fight against sin by considering Jesus' struggle against sin. 

The whole course of Jesus' life upon this earth was a fight, a contest, a struggle against sin.  All the suffering he endured, chiefly that which he suffered at the hands of sinful men, was for the purpose of conquering sin and all its effects.  He overcame by his obedient life and by his willing death.  As the prophet Isaiah foretold about the Messiah he was a "man of sorrows and aquainted with grief". 

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

(Isa 53:4-6 ESV) 

The suffering of Jesus was the bearing of the punishment due us for our sins.  His suffering was in our place.  We deserve to suffer and die and be sent to hell forever for our rebellion.  But God laid on Christ all our sins and the punishment due us was laid on him so that there is no more punishment left for all who trust in Jesus. This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus.

However, we are commanded to consider this fact about our Lord Jesus so that we will not give up our fight against our sin.  The point is that just as the sufferings of Christ perpetrated against him by sinful men were necessary for his fight with and final victory over our sin, so our sufferings are a necessary part of our fight against our sin.  We do not suffer and fight for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness for ous sins.  Our sins are forgiven because of what Christ did.  Our struggle is against the present power of sin over us.  It is against the deception of sin.  We fight the fight of faith, which is to believe that Christ and his salvation is better than the pleasures of sin. 

The fact is that suffering and pain always put pressure on us to quit the fight and so we must consider the suffering Christ so that we do not give up.  We must remember that Jesus only conquered our sin by his willingly suffering at the hands of sinful men.  So our sufferings are designed by God as the means by which we will also overcome our own sin.  We trust and follow a suffering Savior and so we must also embrace the sufferings which God sends to us to aid us in our struggle against sin.

Let me close with Amy Carmichel's poem:
Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendent star
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that encompassed me, I swooned;
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the master shall the servant be
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has nor wound nor scar?

Running with endurance

My wife told me my last post was too long. Therefore I aim to be more brief in this post, which, for those who know me, is another trial :-)  A passage that has been a source of great comfort over the past ten years as we have cared for our oldest son and which is again reminding us of God's good purposes in sending suffering to his children is Hebrews 12:1-11.  The entire letter to the Hebrews is a powerful encouragement to Christians who are suffering and wondering if it is worth it to keep truting in Jesus.  (I've preached through the entire book and you can read or listen to these sermons from our church's website: www.riverhillsonline.org) 

The author begins chapter 12 by saying, "Therefore, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..."  Chapter 11 describes a number of OT people who had faith in God's promises throughout their lives and yet never received what was promised in their lives.  Just as these men and women trusted God through the course of their lives so we must trust God through the course of our lives.  Just like them we have had a race set before us.  Like runners in any race, we do not set the course.  The course is set for us.  Our job is to run to the end.

How do you run when all that you see appears to contradict what you've been promised?  Verse 2: "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  For the Christian while we remember all those OT saints who lived by faith, we fix our attention on our great God and Savior Jesus.  He is the chief runner.  He was the first one to truly finish the race.  How did he do it?  He looked past the pain to the joy that waited at the end.  He treated the horrible cross with contempt in view of glory that was coming after the cross.

There are two things that help me keep trusting in the goodness and wisdom of God in the midst of this painful race.  First, I look at the suffering of my friend and Savior.  While I sat next to my son's hospital bed that first day, weeping for him and his suffering I remembered the suffering of Jesus.  He was innocent and holy and he suffered hell for me and my son.  His suffering was infinitely greater than any suffering I will ever endure because he suffered for me.  He bore it in my place and so I can bear whatever suffering he places in my race.

Second, this is temporary.  There is eternal, infinite joy awaiting me and my son and all who trust in this Jesus.  The apostle Paul sums it up so well: "I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not even worth comparing to the glory to be revealed to us."  Jesus suffered the cross and has entered the joy by finishing the race so that all who trust him will join him in the joy.  Two times I've run in a 20 mile race here in southern WI.  Both times the only thing that kept me going the last 2 miles was the thought of the joy waiting for me when I got to stop running at the end of the race.  The pain is temporary, the joy is forever and it has been guaranteed by Jesus the one who now waits for me to finish at the Father's right hand.

Where does suffering come from?

As I mentioned yesterday, I am so grateful to God that many years ago, prior to my son's accident, he enabled me to understand his good purposes for sending trouble to his people.  I want to explain the many ways that God has brought comfort and courage to me and my family during the past ten years and now as we face a new kind of trouble.  Each day I will seek to explain one of the truths which he has used to help us.  I will begin today with a consideration of God's answer to the question of why do I have cancer?

Most explanations for the presence of evil and suffeirng in the world or in an individual life tend to focus on one cause, one explanation.  Hindus have their doctrine of karma where all that is happening to you, whether good or bad, is the result of things you did or didn't do in a previous life.  Many religious people from a variety of traditions want to locate all evil and suffering under the power and authority of the devil or evil spirits.  Naturalistic materialists have a difficult time talking about evil but would locate suffering as the result of entirely natural physical and chemical forces. 

However, the Bible has a far more complicated view of the causes of evil and suffering. I will begin with the book of the Bible which is written for the purpose of answering the question: why do bad things happen to God's people?  If you have not read the book of Job recently I would encourage you to read at least the first four chapters.  In reading Job it is critical to recognize that we, the readers, by God's revelation, know things that Job and his "friends" do not know.  Job and his debating partners are in the exact same situation that we are in.  Things have happened to Job that they all know about.  However, we are given a peek behind the curtain of heaven so that we know things that they do not.

Here are the facts that Job and his "friends" all agree upon.  Job has a repuation for being a God fearing, righteous man who is very wealthy and the head of a very happy and successful family.  One day calamity strikes Job and his family.  The Sabeans attacked his servants who were working his fields with his many oxen and donkeys.  They killed all of his servants but one and took all of his oxen and donkeys.  Then "the fire of God fell from heaven" and burned up all his sheep and his shepherds but one.  The Chaldeans raided his camel herds and killed all of his servants who were caring for them except one and took all of his camels.  Finally, his seven sons and three daughters, who were all at the oldest brothers house for a family get together were all killed when "a great wind came across the wilderness" and struck the house.  As if that were not enough, a few days later he is struck from head to foot with painful, festering boils.  All the characters in the book agree about these facts.  They all also agree about one other fact and that is that God is the ultimate cause of all this evil and suffering.

Chapters 3-37 are a running debate between Job and three of his "friends" followed by a really encouraging speech by a young guy who has listened in on the whole coversation.  The subject of the discussion is why have all of these evil things happened to Job?  Job insists that God has done this for no reason in him.  He does not know why God has done this to him but he knows it is not because he has done evil.  He does not claim to be sinless but he does insist that this is not God's justly punishing him for evil he has done.  His "friends" on the other hand, and the young man at the end of the debate all insist that God is a just God and would never do evil to a righteous person.  God is good and does good to good people and does evil to evil people.  Since Job has suffered all this evil, he must be evil.  It is a simple formula.

What I want to draw your attention to is the numerous agents involved in the suffering of Job.  Based on our behind-the-scenes information from chapters 1 and 2, we know that Satan, the great adversary of God's people has willed and caused all this destruction to Job.  We know that he has done this out of his desire to mock and bring dishonor to God.  He aims to show that people do not love God for his own sake but only because of what God gives to people.  However, we also know that humans have willingly participated in doing evil to Job.  The Sabeans and the Chaldeans happily attacked and murdered Job's servants and stole his property.  However, we must see that when Job gets the news of his great loss this is what he says: "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord (1:21)."  Then the God inspired author adds this editorial comment: "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong (1:22)."  Then after Job is afflicted with boils and his wife tells him that he should curse and God and die he says: "Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil? (2:10"  Then again the divine author comments: "In all this Job did not sin with his lips."

It is those last sentences that are shocking.  How can it be that Job was not charging God with wrong, that he was not sinning when he said that God is the one who took away his property, servants and children and gave him boils?  There was much evil done and Job said God did it and yet in saying this he was not saying God did wrong, he was not sinning.  Let me be clear, God says in his word that he never does evil but always does good.  In fact, God cannot do evil because he never wants to do evil.  He only wants to do good.  Yet, as we see here, all the evil and suffering that is done in the world is under his sovereign control.  Satan, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans all wanted to do the evil that they did.  God did not make them do the evil they did.  Yet all the evil which these moral creatures performed accomplished God's good and perfect will for Job.

So why do I have cancer?  I have eaten a lot of bad food.  I have been exposed to numerous carcinogens in my environment.  I have not managed the stress in my life very well.  I am a workaholic.  I didn't get a colonoscopy sooner, as my doctor instructed me.  Satan is attacking me and seeking to destroy my faith and the faith of my family and my friends.  But above and over all these causes of cancer stands the good and perferct will of my heavenly Father.  God has so ruled over my choices and the things to which I have been exposed and the will of Satan in such a way that he made sure I contracted cancer and yet he has done no evil.

God never tells Job why he sent all the suffering.  He does tell him that he alone is God and knows what he is doing and thus Job recognizes that his need is to trust that God is doing good no matter what it looks like.  Fortunately for us God has told us some of the reaons for which he sends suffering to his people.  Tomorrow we will begin to examine some of those.

God's providence

I am thinking about the providence of God today for a couple of reasons.  Prior to telling you why, let me quote from the Heidleberg Catechism, one of the great summaries of the Christian faith written in the 16th century describing the biblical doctrine of the providence of God.

What do you mean by the providence of God? (Question 27)
The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

This past Wednesday, February 23rd, I had the 20 staples removed from my stomach where the surgeons had cut me to remove a foot of my colon.  In God's providence that day was also the 10th anniversary of my oldest son, Jared's, accident.  At about 9pm that night, 10 years ago he lost control while skiing and slammed head first into a pole, shattering his skull.  At this time 10 years ago we were basically living at UW Hospital waiting to see if Jared would live or die.  (He survived but with a profound Traumatic Brain Injury which has left him blind, mute, unable to eat by mouth, incontinent and completely unable to care for himself.  He has lived with us since April of 2003.)  It is not in significant that now, 10 years later, at the very same time I have found out that I have cancer and that I will be beginning chemotherapy.  We are spending many days in doctor's offices and hospitals much as we did a decade ago.


Many kind and well meaning people told me during those early months when they heard of our tragedy, "We don't know why God allows these sorts of things to happen."  I said to each person who said that to me, I hope in a kind way, "That is not true.  God has told us clearly in his word why he sends these troubles and this suffering to his people."  I have often praised God that he, in his great mercy, through the faithful teaching of many teachers both living and dead had enabled me to understand his purposes in the sufferings of his people prior to my son's accident.  Knowing that my son's accident and condition and that my cancer have not come by chance but from my Father's hand is a source of great comfort and courage in the midst of the trouble.  During the next several days (weeks?) I will reflect on a number of biblical texts that show us that God sends the suffering and that he does it because he loves us and aims to do good to us by it.

The reason I am writing

I have decided to enter the blogosphere because I found out on February 15 that I have stage three cancer following the removal of a foot of my colon and 46 lymph nodes on February 10.  I will begin chemotherapy on March 6.  My last treatment, if things go as planned, will be August 9.  I am going to write this blog so that my friends scattered around the world can keep track of my progress and pray for me and my family during this time.  I also am writing because I want to reflect on the meaning of this thing, cancer, as well as on the meaning of other things which we all can see. 

I do not claim some special visionary or prophetic power to discern the meaning of things.  I do however believe that the God who has made all things and who rules over all things has chosen to reveal in his written word, the Bible, the meaning of some of the things that we see.  He has not revealed the meaning of all things because he says through Moses: "The secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may follow all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 29:29)."  So there are secret things about which God has not spoken and thus about which we cannot know.  However, he also says, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world (Hebrews 1:1-2 ESV)."  The infinite and eternal God has chosen to speak to us in language we can understand so that we can know him and his purposes in his universe. 

So it is my hope that over the coming months (perhaps longer) I can draw attention to the meaning which God has placed in his creation and about which he has spoken in his word.  My prayer is that we together might see that every bush, every event, including my cancer, is crammed with heaven and afire with God so that we might worship the one who has made it all and who rules it all.