The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

AllanStanglin.com

Category: Suffering (Page 1 of 3)

God + Shared Pain = Glory

September 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose… Those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” ~Romans 8:26-30

All of creation is groaning. We ourselves are groaning. And God’s Holy Spirit, seeing all this, watching all this, experiencing all this with his creation and with his people–now the Spirit’s groaning with groans that words cannot express. God’s Holy Spirit lives and works in that shared pain.

“He who searches our hearts” is God. He knows what’s inside our hearts. And I know God comes across things in our hearts we’d like to keep hidden. But God is looking for the sound of his Spirit’s groaning. When we are sharing the world’s pain, when we’ve decided to embrace the world’s pain and sit with it and live with it and groan with it, we realize we don’t have any answers. We don’t know what to do. We don’t even know what to pray for! And that’s where God’s Spirit comes in very obviously. God the Creator, our Father, is always in constant communion with his Spirit who lives in the hearts of his people. God totally understands what his Spirit inside us is saying, even when we don’t. Our God hears and answers the prayers of our heart, even when they don’t feel like prayers, even when it just feels like heartache or hopelessness or inadequacy. When the pains and the groanings of the world weigh heavy on your heart, you become one with the loving and groaning and redeeming working relationship and conversation between the Father and the Holy Spirit.

It’s a mystery, for sure–I don’t understand it. But the Bible says God works through that for glory. For our glory. And ultimately for his.

The present pains and sufferings are not even worth comparing with that coming glory (Romans 8:18). Paul can’t find the words, he can’t describe the difference between where we are right now and the glory that’s coming. Everything he might say falls short. He doesn’t even try.

God has called us and justified us and will glorify us (Romans 8:30).

We know that in all things–even in the sharing of so much pain–maybe especially in the sharing of pain–we know that in all things, God works for our good! For ultimate glory! (Romans 8:28)

We share in the sufferings in order to share in God’s glory (Romans 8:17).

The devil means all of this mess for evil; God our Father is working through it for good. By the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the power of his Holy Spirit, it’s going to be good. As Christians, we don’t shake our heads and wring our hands and say look what’s happening to the world. We open our eyes and lift our hands and say look who came into the world!

All of God’s plans for the restoration of the world, all of God’s promises for glory for us and for all creation–all of what God is bringing about for our good–it’s all “Yes” in Christ Jesus. It’s not sometimes “Yes” and sometimes “No.” In him, in Christ Jesus, it is always “Yes!”

“No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him, the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” ~2 Corinthians 1:20-21

Sin’s dominion over us and over this world is being broken. Our bondage to corruption and decay is coming to an end. And the Church speaks the ‘Amen.’ We say it! ‘Amen!’ We believe it! ‘Amen!’ And we live it! ‘Amen!’

The Holy Spirit guarantees the glory that’s coming because of Jesus. When the politicians say ‘No,’ God says ‘Yes’ in Christ. When the culture says ‘No,’ God says ‘Yes’ in Christ. When your friends say, ‘No,’ when the peer pressure says ‘No,’ when your family says ‘No,’ when your favorite network or website or app says ‘No,’ when your gut says ‘No,’ when all the experts say ‘No,’ our God says ‘Yes’ in Christ every time! Every time! All the time! Yes, yes, yes in our risen and coming Lord Jesus!

Hey, we’ve got a vaccine for COVID and measles and polio. We’ve got flu shots. Pneumonia shots and shingles vaccines. But not for the sin that has plunged God’s world into so much. There’s no shot, there’s no pill, there’s no medicine for this pain that has us and all creation groaning. The only prescription for the pain is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the only cure.

Romans 8:18-28 are about the prescription. This is God’s plan, this is his purpose, to redeem us and shower us with the heavenly glory of his Son and our undying hope in his plan. It’s a divine plan that provides fully for your eternal future. A loving and gracious plan that leads to ultimate glory for all God’s children. And Paul wants us to come away from this passage, not with a bunch of theological questions, but with an increased assurance and confidence that the God who began a good work in us will indeed bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. That’s the promise. That’s the hope.

Everything you do and say, everything people do to you or say about you, every experience you will ever have, it’s all lovingly used by our God for our good. You don’t always understand. You don’t always enjoy it. But we know our groanings are not in vain. They serve an eternal purpose that’s being worked out by the Creator of Heaven and Earth who groans right along with us to make it happen.

We do see sin and the sorry state of our world, but we also see our God’s redeeming love and power. So life for us is not a dreary waiting for some inevitable end to the death and decay, it’s an eager anticipation of the liberation, it’s an exciting hope and joy for the restoration and re-creation that’s already here and is still coming. It’s not a weary defeated kind of waiting. It’s a pulsing, active, vivid expectation and hope.

Hey, the pain and the groaning is real. But so is the glory! We’re not finished yet! God’s not done! He has a plan for you and for the whole world and it is glorious! He has established his risen Son on his eternal throne and the whole world that’s been plunged into pain by the ravages of our sin is being redeemed. The renovation is coming. The new heavens and new earth is coming. This is our Father’s world and he will do whatever he sees fit. And he sees fit to appoint it and us to groaning right now and glory forever.

Peace,

Allan

Share the Pain

September 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We’re looking at the middle part of Romans 8 as it answers three fundamental questions for us today: Where are we? What are we called to do? How is it going to go? Yesterday, we noted that the world is in pain. The world is groaning in frustration over the curse of sin and death. Today, I suggest that all Christians are called to share that pain. As children of God and followers of his Son Jesus, we are called to share the world’s pain.

“We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as children, the redemption of our bodies.” ~Romans 8:23

We are called to share the world’s pain. To join the world’s pain. To bear the world’s pain. Not to ignore it, not to isolate ourselves from it, not to look the other way and pretend it’s not happening. The Church is called to share the world’s pain. We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly.

Wait. Why us?

Because we know. We know things are not the way they are supposed to be. Because we have the firstfruits. We have seen glimpses of the eternal glory. We’ve tasted the way things are supposed to be. We’ve experienced a little bit of what God is doing.

As a church, when we come together to worship, we get a sense of what’s coming. We join that great throng of heavenly witnesses around the throne of God, we’re united together with all the saints–past, present, and future. There’s another scene, there’s another city, there’s another reality beyond our time and space. And sometimes we see it. Sometimes we feel it, if only for a moment.

When we come together around the table and share the communion meal, we are one with God in Christ and we are one with one another. Perfect fellowship. Perfect unity. Perfect forgiveness and acceptance and love and peace. And it’s not ordinary. It’s Christian.

We don’t groan despite having the firstfruits; we groan because we have them. Because we’ve seen it. We know the glory that’s coming. Baby blessings and baptisms. Mission trip sendoffs. Harvest parties and fistbumps. 4 Midland. Small groups. We see and hear and touch and taste God’s healing and cleansing, his joy and unity and forgiveness, his life-changing power and reconciliation and compassion and love. We all experience up close and personal these firstfruits of the Spirit. And it’s not what you find in the ways of this broken world. It’s uniquely Gospel.

To accomplish what’s coming for us, our Lord Jesus had to get out of his comfort zone and put on our pain. That’s the Gospel truth. Christ Jesus left his home in glory, he sacrificed his position and his power, he gave up his rights and his status, and he joined us in our pain. He came to where we are and he put on our flesh and blood, he suffered in the dirt with us. The Bible says he became familiar with our sufferings. He carried our burdens. He became our sin for us, to rescue us from the corruption and decay.

We all share the common human predicament of pain. Of groaning. So, like our Lord Jesus, we intentionally seek out that pain in others. Where is that pain? You look for it. And you don’t have to look hard–we’re all surrounded by it. And we join the pain. We embrace the pain. We live in it. We share it. We stand for and with those who are in pain. We speak up for and with those who are suffering. The Church is called to share the world’s pain. Who else is going to? And if we don’t do it right now, when will we?

Some of you, I know, the pain is too far away. The problems are just on TV. You’ve never been shot by a police officer. You’ve never been discriminated against at work or school or had opportunities taken from you because of your skin color or your accent or where your parents were born. And maybe you don’t know anybody who has. It’s not something you think about or talk about unless it’s on TV.

For some of you, the pain is very close and very real. You do know someone. You’ve experienced it yourself. You think about it and talk about it all the time.

And, yeah, there’s no doubt, you’re all over the map in your own church. You have lots of different viewpoints and opinions, you probably don’t all agree on what should be done and what ought to work and the steps that need to be taken. You’re not all going to be on the same page.

But here’s what the Bible tells us. The world is in pain. The whole world is broken and suffering because of sin. It’s groaning. And, like our Lord Jesus, his Church is called to share that pain.

And you might say, well, I don’t know anything about racism. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know anything about homelessness or sexual identity. I can’t relate to people wrapped up in CPS cases or losing their jobs. I’ve never been to a prison. I’ve never even been in a hospital.

Well, you do know how to love people. You do know how to sacrifice and serve people. You know how to just sit with people, to just be present with people in their pain. To just listen. If it were your daughter, you’d do it.

I’ve seen you. I’ve seen you move heaven and earth, I’ve seen you sacrifice and suffer for the sake of being with your son or daughter. I’ve seen you struggle to build bridges, I’ve seen you lay aside your rights and your feelings to reconcile relationships with people you love. I’ve seen you work so hard and give up so much to heal and restore what’s broken in your own families. To just sit and be present and listen. Yes, you do know how to love people and share pain.

The world is in pain right now. That’s where we are. The Church shares the world’s pain. That’s what you and I are called to do.

Tomorrow, how is the sharing of this global pain going to work out?

Peace,

Allan

The World is in Pain

September 18, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We began this thread yesterday by posing three questions about our situation as followers of Jesus in this day and place in which we live: Where are we, what should we do, and how is it going to turn out? I suggest that Romans 8:18-28 contains the answers to all three questions.

Romans is a letter the apostle Paul wrote from Corinth to the Christians in the city of Rome. Most scholars hold that Romans was written in AD 57, give or take a year, near the end of Paul’s third missionary journey. Evidence within the Scriptures tells us that the church in the Roman Empire’s capital city was more Gentile than Jew. And there were conflicts. There were cultural and racial divisions within this church and there was dissension along theological and church practice lines. One of Paul’s purposes in writing this letter is to reconcile the arguing factions. He wants to bring about unity in belief and purpose. Our unity with Christ and in Christ, he says, needs to stem from the Gospel truth that all people and things are being brought together in Jesus Christ. This union with Christ and in Christ should characterize all of God’s people today and forever.

With that as our backdrop, let me suggest that the answer to our first question, “Where are we?” is made clear in Romans 8:18, but is implied throughout the passage.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us…”

“The creation was subjected to frustration… the creation will be liberated from its bondage to decay  and brought into the glorious freedom…”

“The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

The world is in pain. That’s where we are. That’s what’s happening. The whole world is in pain. Creation is groaning out of frustration. The rocks and trees and animals and birds and rivers and people–it’s all subjected to frustration. All of creation is a slave to decay. The whole world is in bondage to corruption. And it’s groaning. Right up to the present time. Right now.

And it’s groaning because of sin. Everything got messed up when we decided we know better than God. We know what’s best for us better than the one who made us. So when the one man Adam went against the will of the Creator, all of creation was infected with his sin. Everything that exists now is somehow corrupted by sin. Everything we know is distorted, it’s twisted, it’s unable to realize or achieve its God-ordained purpose.

This goes back to the curse in Genesis 3. The groans and pains of childbirth, the hard work and frustration and sweat, women and men struggling against each other for power and control and the man always winning. This is the result of sin. And when sin entered the picture, so did death. Now, everything decays. Nothing is permanent. Everything dies. Everything you know, everything you experience, even all the really good things–all of it is subject to corruption and decay. Relationships, work, our bodies, our marriages, the people and things we love–it’s all contaminated by sin and death. Right up to the present time. This is what’s happening now. This is where we are.

Racism. The discrimination and injustice against minority peoples that part of our fallen nature and built right into the systems and structures of society. Poverty. Selfishness. Greed. Lust. Power. Control. War. Disease. Dictators. Thirty-nine kinds of sexual sin. The sins of our society and our own individual sins separate us from God, they divide us from each other, and they devour our bodies and souls.

So people are hurting. Suffering. People are dying. People are crying out in pain. That’s where we are today. The world is in pain.

What is the Church called to do? How are Christians supposed to respond? We’ll cover that in this space tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

At the Cross

June 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Here’s a good read about scalp-cooling for chemotherapy patients and a call for health insurance companies in the U.S. to begin covering the costs for cancer patients. We are blessed / fortunate to be able to afford the cold caps for Carrie-Anne. Not everybody is. And it matters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve heard most of my life that Jesus died so I don’t have to. I don’t think that’s right. I believe Jesus died to show me how to. How to embrace suffering and rejection, how to faithfully deal with pain, how to understand sacrifice and death as God’s method for saving the world. We see everything much more clearly when we look at the cross.

When you are suffering, it may not always be clear to you why you’re in pain. You may not know the reason you’re suffering. You may be in a terribly dark place of pain and suffering right now and it doesn’t make sense to you. You don’t know the reason or the point. Just like Jesus’ suffering didn’t make sense to his disciples, you can’t figure out why you’re in so much pain.

When you see Jesus on the cross, you can at least know what the reason for your suffering isn’t. When you see how Jesus died, you can at least know what are NOT the reasons for your suffering.

It’s not that God doesn’t love you. He does. Very much. Jesus hung on that cross in agony, but the Father’s love for his Son was not diminished or compromised one bit.

And it’s not that God doesn’t have a plan for you. It’s not that God has abandoned you. The cross actually shows us God’s presence in suffering. And that God is at work and doing marvelous things, eternally significant things, even in your suffering. Even in the middle of your pain and darkness. Even when your suffering doesn’t make sense.

God is present. And he loves you. And he is at work.

Peace,

Allan

The Way

June 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

“Jesus has many who love his heavenly Kingdom, but few who carry his cross; many who yearn for comfort, few who long for distress. Plenty of people he finds to share his banquet, few to share his fast. Everyone desires to take part in his rejoicing, but few are willing to suffer anything for his sake. There are many who follow Jesus as far as the breaking of the bread, few as far as drinking the cup of suffering; many who revere his morality, few who follow him in the indignity of his cross.”

~Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

The Crown Says It All

April 11, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Jesus willingly rode into Jerusalem to be crowned with this crown. This crown of suffering and pain and anguish and shame is an undeniable statement about the kingship of Jesus. This crown represents a completely different way to experience the world, a totally different way to view success, a whole different way to understand the realities of history. This crown says it all.

Jesus does not enter Jerusalem on a gleaming white charger or a jet-black war horse; he’s riding a common, lowly beast of burden. He’s not carrying a bunch of war trophies, there’s not a train of prisoners or captives behind him. In fact, by the end of the week, Jesus will be the One led down the streets and dragged outside the city gates to be executed.

Jesus does not share the people’s hopes and dreams for earthly glory and power. He’s not establishing a Kingdom to rival the Roman Empire. He’s come to suffer. And sacrifice. He comes to die. He comes as a King to be crowned. With this crown.

The King who wears this crown loves his enemies. His righteousness far surpasses that of the Pharisees. He was rich and he became poor for the sake of the world. As he’s dying on the cross, suffering and suffocating on that tree, he shows us what love looks like when he stares the evil of this broken world right in the face and says, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

This crown is not a hurdle or a barrier or a detour on the way to the Kingdom of God. It’s not something we have to overcome or power through to enter the Kingdom. This crown is not the way to the Kingdom at all.

This crown IS the Kingdom of God. This crown is the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. This crown says it all. And the One who wears this crown is our almighty and eternal and all-sufficient and only King.

Peace,

Allan

« Older posts

© 2024 The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑