It seemed that almost everyone had expectations, or a false self, to impose on Jesus’ life. In living faithfully to his true self, he disappointed a lot of people. Jesus was secure in his Father’s love, in himself, and thus was able to withstand enormous pressure. He left his family of origin and their expectations of a carpenter’s son and became an innerdirected, separate adult. As a result, he disappointed his family. At on point, his mother and siblings wondered if he was out of his mind (Mark 3).
He disappointed the people he grew up with in Nazareth. When Jesus declared who he really was as the Messiah, they tried to push him off a cliff (Luke 4). He remained self assured in his beliefs, regardless of the outrage of the crowds in his hometown.
He disappointed his closest friends, the twelve disciples. They projected onto Jesus their own picture of the kind of Messiah Jesus was to be. This did not include a shameful end to his life. They quit on him. Judas, one of his closest friends, “stabbed him in the back” for being true to himself. But even though they misunderstood him, Jesus never held it against them.
Jesus listened without reacting. He communicated without antagonizing. Yet he deeply disappointed the crowds. They wanted an earthly Messiah who would feed them, fix all their problems, overthrow the Roman oppressors, work miracles, and give inspiring sermons. Somehow Christ was able to serve and love them, again, without holding it against them.
He disappointed the religious leaders. They did not appreciate the disruption his presence brought to their day to day lives or to their theology. They finally attributed his power to demons. Nonetheless, Jesus was able to maintain an non-anxious presence in the midst of great stress.
Jesus was not selfless. He did not live as if only other people counted. He knew his value and worth. He had friends. He asked people to help him. At the same time Jesus was not selfish. He did not live as if nobody else counted. He gave his life out of love for others. From a place of loving union with his Father, Jesus had a mature, healthy “true self.” This love from God the Father, I believe, was the power that allowed Christ to suffer and die to show the wealth of God’s love and grave for sinners.
The measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is the degree of his sacrifice in saving us from the penalty of our sin. The other is the degree of unworthy that we had when he saved us.
We can hear the measure of his sacrifice in the words, “He gave his only son” (John 3:16). We also hear it in the word Christ. This is a name based on the Greek title Christos, or “Anointed One,” or “Messiah.” It is a term of great dignity. The Messiah was to be the King of Israel. He would conquer the Romans and bring peace and security to Israel. Thus the person whom God sent to save sinners was his own divine Son, his only Son, and the Anointed King of Israel – indeed the king of the world. A person of amazing worth.
When we add to this consideration the horrific death by crucifixion that Christ endured, it becomes clear that the sacrifice the Father and the Son made was indescribably great – even infinite, when you consider the distance between the divine and the human. But God chose to make this sacrifice to save us.
The measure of his love for us increases still more when we consider our unworthiness. “Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5. We deserved divine punishment, not divine sacrifice.
I though about it at our last retreat of solitude. God didn’t die for ducks. He responded to our value as humans. This turns grace on its head. We are worse off than ducks. They have not sinned. They have not rebelled and treated God with the contempt of being inconsequential in their lives. God did not have to die for ducks. They aren’t bad enough. We are. Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay it.
There is only one explanation for God’s sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is “the riches of his grace”. It is all free. It is not a response to our performance and worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, his infinite beauty.
So this is my message: to your face, you are not what you do, you are not what you own, you are not what others think. You are loved by God. That is your identity.

For the Christian, there is suffering. For the non-Christian there is suffering as well. Our beliefs (or unbelief) cannot change the fact that there is pain and suffering in this world. But what of our God? If God is all good and all powerful, like I as a Christian believe, then why is there suffering and pain in the world?

This is a question that many atheists pose and often use as the reason for their philosophy in life. At first glance it proves that the Christian God is not real because since there is pain, God cannot be both all good and all powerful. The atheist would claim that since there is pain, then God shows he is either not good, or not able, thus disproving the Christian God’s existence. It is also a question that many Christians pose that can cause doubt in who their God is because of the same reasons that many atheists will point to. It is a great question to delve into because it is a legitimate one but it is also one that has been given a more than satisfactory answer to. Even though an answer is given, it still is difficult to wrap our minds around it. At the same time, when we are experiencing pain and suffering, the last thing we want to hear is an expository on why our good God allows pain and suffering.

If you are currently experiencing pain (and to some extent we all are), this will not provide the comfort that you are looking for; but hopefully it will help us all better understand the God of the universe and His purposes. Anyways, lets jump right in. C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain” does a wonderful job breaking things down. Here is an excerpt from his book that gives a great set up to understanding the existence of suffering,

“In the fallen and partially redeemed universe we may distinguish (1) the simple good descending from God, (2) the simple evil produced by rebellious creatures, and (3) the exploitation of that evil by God for His redemptive purpose, which produces (4) the complex good to which accepted suffering and repented sin contribute. […] A merciful man aims at his neighbor’s good as so does ‘God’s’ will, consciously co-operating with ‘the simple good’. A cruel man oppresses his neighbor and so does simple evil. But in doing such evil he is used by God, without his knowledge or consent, to produce the complex good — so that the first man serves God as a son, and the second as a tool. For you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John”

Looking at this excerpt we must understand that God is sovereign (in control). He is able to use things that are both good and evil for his purposes. The simple good that is descended from God includes mans ability to choose. We were given the choice to obey God or not to obey God. Looking at our world today mankind has chosen to disobey God.  The choice that God gives us is intrinsically good; however, because we are given that choice, we as man have rebelled against God and as a result produced evil.

Now the evil itself is not the pain and suffering. The pain and suffering is a result of the consequences of evil. But God, has put himself into the center of that suffering in order to redeem man but man must choose to be redeemed or else he continues doing evil. The savior is there because God knows the extent of our suffering, and the horrific nature of our evil and how we are enslaved to it, his goodness is why Jesus is here. Jesus himself suffered for our sake. He took on the wrath of God so we could be reclaimed by God as righteous. God uses both evil and suffering in order to carry out his goodness with his perfect wisdom.

God’s wisdom is the last thing I want to touch on. We as humans have finite wisdom. God’s wisdom is infinite. He knows everything and it is all at the forefront of his mind. Many of the things God understands are things that we do not. I think a full understanding of goodness and evil is included in that. I heard a great quote recently from a woman named Rachel Barkey who was dying from cancer. As she was speaking to a congregation she said “God allows in his wisdom what he could easily prevent with his power.” God is powerful enough to rid the world of suffering and pain. Instead God has chosen to use suffering and pain to bring more people to a relationship with himself and that is the greatest good.

Mike

Excerpt from C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain. 1940

Rachel Barkey quote is from her speech entitled “death is not dying”. It can be found here http://deathisnotdying.com/.

Last Thursday’s talk (or even the last two Thursdays) was about God’s unconditional love and acceptance podcast now!). Accepting and experiencing this unconditional love and acceptance is often times one of the hardest things to do because of the world we live in.

In this world, everyone tells us that we need to be a certain kind of person in order to be worthy of love; whether that means getting the grades, the job, the degree. Or, it can be dressing a certain way, listening to certains kinds of music, having “popular” interests,  or anything we do in order to “fit in” and feel accepted (high school, anyone?). When I started walking with Christ, the need to be loved and accepted from the Christians around me would manifest itself as I started to read a lot, listen to a lot of sermons, etc. These things in themselves aren’t bad things, as they were meant for good! But if I were to be honest, a closer look revealed that although I wanted to experience more of Jesus in my life, my heart and motives were tainted by using these things as a means to impress people… and thus earn their love and acceptance. I still struggle with this!

And here is the paradox of the Christian life: as long as we keep striving to earn love/acceptance/approval from others, we fail to experience the love/acceptance/approval that comes from God through the cross of Jesus Christ… and it’s out of this experience that we can truly love others and serve (see 1 Jn 4:16-19, Lk 7:36-50).

So, as promised, here are some resources I’ve found to help all of us do some heart-work with the Lord to accept and experience his unconditional love and acceptance:

UPDATED: I keep finding things from John Piper this time around. An excerpt from a sermon in 1999 on why faith (trust) glorifies God:
Illustration for Children: Why Faith Glorifies God

 

An Article by John Piper:
How is God’s Love Experienced in the Heart?

 

A collection of articles on the love of God, looking at this at all sorts of perspectives:
Discovering that You Thrill the Heart of God!

 

A letter accounting a pastor’s struggle to experience God’s love (everyone struggles):
Are You Struggling to Experience God’s Love?

 

A study into the book of Romans so that we can be sure of God’s love:
Romans 5:5-11 – How To Be Sure of God’s Love

 

A practical group exercise that may seem interesting:
“Back Graffiti”

 

Probably the best book I could recommend on learning to experience God’s love is Desiring God. It’s no easy read, but it’s worth it! John Piper dives into how God is most glorified NOT when you serve Him, but when you most enjoy Him… you glorify God the most by experiencing the love He has for you!
Piper’s theme for the entire book is:

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Desiring God can be read for FREE online here.
If you’d rather have the physical book, you should be able to find it at most bookstores, but the cheapest place I found it was here.

 

 

And here’s a song, just because it’s been in my head for a few days now and it’s wildly appropriate:

In case you missed it or just want to hear it again, here’s Howard Wong’s Testimony that he gave last Thursday in Large Group! Thanks for sharing, Howard!

If you’re reading this from Facebook or from a Feedreader, click here to go to the testimony.

Howard’s Testimony