Sermons
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Sermons |
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Sermon preached by John Cooper at Christ Church on 15th February 2004. It was on the topic of suffering and was given at the 6:30pm evening service on the occasion of his re-licensing as a 'reader'. The Bible reading was from chapter three of the book of Philippians and reading from verses 10 to 21. |
Bible
Readings: Main
Themes: People know two things about Paul's Epistle to the Philippians. Firstly that he uniquely praises the church there and secondly he says that he is quite prepared to die in prison but for their sakes he thinks he ought to live [1]. If you were at the church at Philippi how would you reply? "Yes everything is 'hunky-dory' here and so glad that you are facing imminent death so well". When I was in hospital a patient came in with a wound to his leg much like mine. It became infected and the surgeons had to remove it. Then whilst exercising for his artificial leg in the hospital gym he scratched his other leg. That too became infected and had to be removed. From then on things went further down hill. Finally he was told he was to be moved out to a hospice because nothing more could be done for him. That evening his parish priest came to visit him. What do you think the priest could say to him? In the Iliad the Trojan War is fought because of the capriciousness of the gods. [2] What do we say to people who are suffering? What could a Messianic Jew say to his fellow inmates at Auschwitz? There are no easy answers! And it is wrong to imply there are. The Bible recounts the story of Job who lost ten members of his family, his health deteriorated and he lost his money. His so-called friends were anything but friends. When he finally got to speak to God he asked why it was happening to him. [3] God merely replied that Job would not understand the answer. No easy answer! God pointed him towards creation but it is hard to smell the roses on the river bank when you are up to your neck in crocodiles. [4] Nature can indeed be beautiful but it can also be cruel. The lion eats the wilderbeast. The majority of people who have lived and died have suffered from malaria. Let us look at Lamentations chapter 3 and read verses 21 to 33. The Babylonians had just conquered holy Jerusalem. They fought house by house and wall by wall. They had set up a siege and the inhabitants had turned to cannibalism. They cooked and ate their children. Jeremiah was thrown down a pit. Look how he felt: his prayers were unanswered (v8), he was a laughingstock (v14) and look at his anguish in verse 16. But then his whole attitude changes [5] "Though [God] brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love" (v32) "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed...the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him" (v22, 25). Ultimately we can never understand what is going on. [6] All we can do is wait patiently for God (v26) because He alone is in control.
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Web page last updated 24 Oct 2006 |
