All right, change gears, let's jump into Lamentations 5.
And it is a significant change of gears.
I remember this week particularly well.
It was 2003.
A few weeks earlier, from this particular day,
a young couple at church had given birth to their first child, a girl.
And this child, they were told, had a heart problem.
It was a significant heart problem that the doctors said
they were not able to resolve and the child would die.
It was a very emotional time.
Very emotional time.
On the day that she died,
I walked into a hospital waiting room at Westmead Hospital
to support another young couple
whose doctors were about to update them
on the well-being of their first child.
It was a couple who I had married a few years earlier.
They were not Christians.
This little child was also born with a heart condition.
And at six months of age,
they decided to do surgery, to rectify it.
They said it would be a pretty straightforward procedure.
It went wrong.
It went horribly wrong.
And I sat with this couple as this significant medical team
told them that they were doing all that they could,
but their little boy at this stage had a 50-50 chance of survival.
In that moment of an outpouring of grief,
the mum turned to me and asked me two things.
Steve, why is God doing this to us?
And secondly, can you pray for us right now?
The surgeon agreed that was a good idea.
Any help would be appreciated in this moment.
And if prayers are comfort for you, then let's do that.
And they all bowed their heads.
On the way home from the hospital,
I cried out to God in that moment from deep anguish.
So much so I had to, in fact, pull the car over
to the side of the road
because the windscreen wipers weren't removing the water
that was in front of me.
It was just my tears made everything blurry.
I sat on the side of the road and I sobbed
and I pleaded with God.
I pleaded with him to save a life.
It was not just a simple matter of sorrow.
It was just desperation.
God intervened.
Lamentations is a book
that gets us ready for moments like that.
When the phone rings
and you receive the worst possible news
you could receive.
That's what Lamentations does for us.
As one person,
I heard them say in a moment of terrible hardship
as their loved one was dying slowly,
someone with deep Christian faith,
they said,
you've got to have the roof up
if you want shelter in the storm.
No good trying to put it up in the storm.
You've got to have it up
if you want shelter in the storm.
And Lamentations puts the roof on
before the storm hits.
Gets us ready for those storms of life.
In a world that is as broken as our world is,
ravaged by sin as our world is,
we are frankly naive
if we do not make preparation for loss,
for heartbreak, for tragedy.
It's the case of when,
not if.
So if you've just tuned in to us
at St. Paul's here for the first time,
we've been journeying through this topic of lament.
Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God.
And we've been discovering a whole heap about lament
and in this book of Lamentations.
It's a collection of five poems of lament
by the prophet Jeremiah.
And we're up to the fifth lament.
The whole chapter, in fact,
is a prayer.
And there are three main elements to this prayer.
This prayer is broken into three main elements.
It's got three structures.
And each of these elements is, if you like,
a, let's just take the analogy of the roof thing.
Each of these three main elements
are three support beams
that hold the roof up
for when the storm hits.
The first one, if you go to your St. Paul's app,
you'll see the three-point outline there.
It's just three beams.
The first support beam
is a biblical understanding of sin
and its consequences for everything in this world.
It touches everything.
Sin ruins everything.
Now, Lamentations is written in response
to the devastating siege and destruction of Jerusalem
by the Babylonian Empire in 587 BC.
And we know from earlier bits of Lamentations
that this is a deserved suffering.
God has judged his people
for generation after generation of rebellion.
They spurned God's love.
They rejected his word.
They persecuted his prophets.
And chapter five, as we launch into that,
it's the aftermath of the destruction.
It's like the tornado has gone through
and we are now sitting in the rubble.
This is the weeks and the months that followed,
the siege, the destruction,
the deportation of the elite to Babylon.
And so chapter five is a prayer
from the top of the rubble of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah sits there
as the jackals surround and feed on the human corpses.
It's a moment where the atrocities continue.
There's no UN peacekeeping force here.
So this chapter is intensely human.
These chapters are so much more,
sorry, they are as much about the experience of suffering
as they are about the cause of the suffering.
And so what you see right through Lamentations
is this struggle between the head and the heart
or the theological acceptance of it
and the moral outrage of it at the same time.
It's this emotions and logic going together
all the way through Lamentations.
That's chapter five.
In other words, if we go through Lamentations
and don't feel anything,
we've missed it.
Go back and read it again.
Verse one is a simple plea for Yahweh,
their covenant making God to,
their promise keeping God to simply look and see.
Do not turn your face away.
Look at our disgrace.
Now this is simply more than asking God not to forget.
This is a plea for him to intervene
based on his love and his promises.
And the beginning of chapter two
is a, if you like, not so subtle reminder
to God of his promises.
And it's just there in the word inheritance.
You see, an inheritance is,
it's a gift.
It's not earned.
The land, the city, the temple,
it was all a gift from God.
All that Israel had,
all that they were was God's gift to them.
That's how they came to be here in the first place,
because of God's gift.
It wasn't because they were lovely
that God loved them
and made him his special people.
There was nothing lovely about them,
nothing special about them in the beginning.
And there's nothing lovely about them now.
God had made them his people.
He loved the unlovely.
He loved the small, the weak, the insignificant.
God made them something.
He gave them this inheritance.
And so Jeremiah calls,
with the people left in the rubble,
calls on God not to turn away,
but to look and see your inheritance.
Look at the devastation that lingers on.
And as you go through the first section,
you just see the somber residing of Jerusalem's degradation,
their occupation, abandonment, bereavement, thirst,
their poverty, the inflation, the invasion,
the famine, the despondency, the slavery,
the exposure, the rape, the humiliation, the exhaustion.
Why does this happen?
Verse 7,
Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
God had given them good gifts.
He had given them an inheritance.
He had saved them.
And yet generation after generation,
they had spurned his goodness.
They had ignored his word.
And so God's judgment came upon his people
for their constant rejection.
But the current generation are not innocent, though.
It's not like they go,
well, you know, we're suffering because of those guys.
Verse 16,
The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us,
for we have sinned.
Another way of stating that is,
if only we had never sinned.
They'd taken responsibility.
Sin was the reason Jerusalem had fallen.
God's people had rejected their God again and again.
But this current generation had done it too.
You see,
Jeremiah's prophecy of this destruction of Jerusalem
could not have been any clearer.
Jeremiah 19 lays out the details of the destruction of Jerusalem
because of the sin and the idolatry of the people.
And what happens to Jeremiah as he comes in,
brings the word of God to the people of Judah in these days,
for like four decades leading up to this moment,
what happens?
They beat him.
They put him into prison.
Later,
he's thrown into a sewer.
With the expectation,
he will die.
The people of Jerusalem had turned their backs on God's word
and his prophets again and again.
They arrogantly and tragically forgot.
Everything that they had was a good gift from God.
Everything.
So that's the first beam.
First beam to remember when the storms of life hit,
the Bible makes it absolutely clear that none of us are innocent.
None of us.
Romans 3 tells us that all have gone our own way.
All of us have rejected God.
We have all sinned.
And everything wrong in this world is connected to that.
None of us are innocent.
God created a good world.
He designed humanity to live in obedience to him
and discover joy and freedom forever.
And when the first people rebelled against God,
it broke everything.
Everything wrong in this world is a consequence of sin,
either directly or indirectly.
And so the first beam is crucial here.
A Christian therefore echoes the words of the tax collector in Luke 18,
verse 13,
who beats his chest and says,
Lord, have mercy on me,
the sinner,
the model sinner.
The Christian echoes the Lord's prayer from the heart.
Forgive me my sin
as I forgive the sins of others.
The Christian sees their sin,
however much they have been sinned against.
It's so important to have a healthy theology of sin.
And what generations of rebellion against God has done to this world.
If we do not,
we tend to put our head in a bucket of sand,
declare that we are basically good,
and that God owes me a trouble-free life.
That's naivety.
God owes us nothing.
It is secular humanism that says,
my life should be upward and advancing,
and everything works for my good.
If Lockie and Rosie go into next Saturday,
make promises to one another,
and just say,
in the good and the bad,
or leave out the bad,
just the good,
take everything negative out,
they will not have the resources to endure in marriage.
Every sorrow,
every tear,
all pain,
every loss,
gives evidence
of the brokenness in our world
caused by sin.
Something is terribly wrong with our world,
every culture,
and inside of every single one of us.
And it's crucial that we understand
that God does not owe us an inheritance.
He does not owe us a trouble-freed life.
Secondly,
however,
what's amazing here,
after acknowledging sin
and recounting 18 verses
of consequences of sin,
verse 18 starts with the word,
not in the NIV,
but it starts with the word,
but,
you've got to love the word,
but,
and this,
verse 19 is in fact the center point
of this whole chapter.
And it's the second support beam
of the roof of our lives
when the storms of life hit.
It's verse 19,
you,
Lord,
or,
but you,
Lord,
reign forever.
your throne endures
from generation to generation.
God is in control.
Sin and its consequences
are not the end of the story.
That's the big but.
Everything in this chapter,
in this book,
circles around verse 19.
This is the spiritual reorientation for Judah.
You see,
God's stern discipline of Judah
has awakened in them
a sense of their sinfulness
and their worthlessness
and their helplessness.
It has broken her pride
and humbled her.
It is very,
you know,
it makes sense
that they should be humbled.
They're sitting on the rubble
of Jerusalem.
And yet for sometimes,
it's not so easy for us to go there.
Our lives can be a rumble.
And yet we still wave the fist to God.
Someone owes me.
Sometimes suffering
drives us further into pride.
Self-assurance,
self-confidence.
But here it's humbledom.
And it's only from this humble position
that Judah invokes God's compassion
and his grace.
Jeremiah confesses
that everything works
according to the decree
and the purpose of the creator.
Every event in life
moves towards the fulfillment
of his plans,
the plans that he ordains,
including the destruction
of Jerusalem under his judgment.
The covenant God,
in his sovereign rule,
has destroyed his city,
his temple,
his people
through the conquest
of his Babylonians.
Babylon,
the most powerful empire
in the world,
was simply doing his bidding.
Now we get the same thinking
if you fast forward
to Acts chapter 4
where we are told
the sin of Pilate,
the sin of the Roman soldiers,
the sin of the chief priests,
and the sin of the people
conspired together
to crucify Jesus.
And then we are told
in Acts 4 verse 28,
they did what your power
and will
had decided beforehand
should happen.
Now they're responsible
for their sin.
It's a terrible thing
for which God
will hold them accountable,
but they cannot stop
God being God.
Just think about that
for a moment.
You must be
very,
very powerful
to have your enemies
fulfill your plans
while working against you.
That's incomprehensible
to me.
I had to even think
about that sentence
several times.
And yet this is how
the Bible tells us
to think about God
and his sovereign rule
over all things.
All else may change
and will change,
but God does not.
God's rule
over all things
as opposed
to what
we might call
chance
or fate
or luck
in our society.
Everything
may fluctuate,
our times
and our circumstances
may grow harder
and more difficult,
but God is in control
of the situation.
The presence
of pain,
no matter
how strong,
does not negate
the plan of God.
No matter
how much it seems
that the world
is collecting around us,
God is on his throne
and he is always
fulfilling his plans.
Now it is essential
that we do not
stop there
with just
those two beams.
If we do,
what happens
is
we slip
into a
nothing more
than a fatalism.
In actual fact,
what we do
is we slip
into the theology
of Islam
if we just
stop there?
It's the will
of Allah.
Nothing you
can do about it.
We are just
mere pawns
in his plans.
What's the difference
between,
amongst many
other things,
between Islam
and Christianity?
Beam number
three.
Beam number
three.
relationship.
God
is
good.
He's beam
number
three.
God
comes to us
in our
suffering.
He's not
Aristotle's
unmoved
mover
at a distance.
He comes
to us
in our
suffering
and that's
why
Lamentations
doesn't end
with verse
19.
If it did,
the application
would be
very trite
for us.
It would
be nothing
more than,
well,
always look
on the
bright side
of life.
Nothing
more than
that.
Or,
there's always
a silver
lining,
you just
got to
look for
it,
or,
you will
rise like
a phoenix
from the
ashes.
The Christian
hope is not
just that God
is in control,
but that he's
good.
fundamental
third
being,
he is
good.
And so
in verse
20,
we are
back into
the darkness
and the
death.
Why do
you always
forget us?
Why do
you forsake
us so
long?
And here
we have
a plea
to God's
goodness,
which echoes
verse 1,
and it ends
in the same
kind of way.
restore us
to yourself,
Lord,
that we
may return,
renew our
days as
of old,
unless you
have utterly
rejected us
and are
angry with
us beyond
measure.
One
commentator
says that
lamentation
ends like
it does
because
Jeremiah and
Jerusalem
are in a
position akin
to the
disciples on
Easter
Saturday.
The hope
of the
resurrection
Easter day
is yet
to dawn
for them.
There is
waiting,
longing
for hope
to dawn.
And while
we wait,
we need to
hold both
the sovereignty
of God
and the
goodness of
God in
equal measure.
The plea
in verses
20 and
21 is
simply,
God,
this hurts,
help us.
But the
main words
there are
restore,
return,
renew.
Verse 21,
restore us
to yourself,
O Lord.
This is not
simply asking
God to
change the
situation.
It is,
in fact,
an appeal
for
forgiveness
and a
restored
relationship.
This is
crucial.
my fear
is that
for so
many of
us,
we repent
because we
want to
get a
weight off
our
shoulders.
We want
to feel
better about
ourselves.
And so
when we
do that,
we constantly
live with
an underlying
feeling of
shame and
am I truly
forgiven?
we don't
sense the
freedom of
forgiveness.
What's the
purpose?
In other
words,
when we do
that,
it's
self-orientated.
Our
repentance
is self-orientated.
Repentance
and forgiveness
matters because
of the
next step.
it's
because it
restores
relationship.
That's why
repentance
matters.
If I
wronged my
wife,
Nat,
it causes,
sorry,
when I
wronged my
wife,
Nat,
it causes
a strain,
it causes
a separation,
a break
in the
relationship.
There's
this
barrier,
there's
this
problem
and
depending
on how
much I
wronged
her will
depend on
how great
that barrier
is,
that roadblock
in our
relationship
will be.
Repentance
and forgiveness
matters,
not so that I
feel better
about myself,
it's because I
get Nat
back.
That's why
it matters.
I want
restored
relationship.
And as
they sit
on the
rubble of
Jerusalem,
their suffering
has led
them to
want God
back.
Even if
the rubble
remains,
we want
God back.
This is
more than
just a
prayer of
lament,
it is a
prayer of
repentance,
it's a
prayer for
renewal,
renewed
relationship.
It's
prayer for
restoration,
renewal at
the end
of
lamentations
points us
to something
that only
God can
do.
And yet
for
lamentations,
this is
where it
ends.
This
historic
lament
concludes
without
resolution.
As
some of
us feel
like life
is a
bit like
that at
the
moment,
particularly
in the
moment of
suffering when
the storms
hit,
it feels
like it
just
lingers.
It
ends by
telling us
where to
look in
pain,
but not
giving us the
rest of the
story.
And it
will be
over 400
years before
the resolution
comes.
Just think
about that
for Judah
for this
moment.
There was a
gap of 400
years before
God spoke
again.
We want you
back.
And it
was 400
years before
he spoke
again.
We don't
have that
long now.
At the
beginning of
Matthew's
account of
Jesus'
life,
Joseph is
told that
Mary will
give birth
to a
son.
You give
him the
name Jesus
because he
will save
his people
from their
sins.
First
words.
Jesus is
the one
who restores
us to
God by
taking
God's
punishment
for us.
Just
before his
execution and
his arrest
and his
execution,
Jesus is
in the
garden of
Gethsemane
and he
says this,
identifying
with our
sorrow,
he says,
my soul
is overwhelmed
with sorrow
to the point
of death.
Mark 14
tells us
he was
deeply
distressed
and he
was troubled.
We must
not
minimize
what
Jesus
went
through
on
our
behalf.
If you
have a
very high
view of
Jesus,
we sort
of tend
to think,
well,
he could
cope,
he's God
after all,
he's divine,
he can kind
of cope with it,
he knows what's
going to happen,
he knows the
plan,
but the fact
is it says
here Jesus
is deeply
distressed,
which for him
felt exactly
what it feels
like for you
and for me,
he is
deeply
distressed.
in fact,
more so,
the anguish
that he
bore was
greater than
any anguish
we would
ever face,
any sorrow
that we
would ever
encounter.
He saw
the full
terror of
what lay
ahead,
his prostate
body convulsing
in the Garden
of Gethsemane
and his tears
and the sweat
falling to the
ground like
blood.
The terror
he felt
was not so
much because
of the pain
of the cross
that he was
about to
endure,
but because
of the
human sin
and all
of its
consequences,
the cup
of God's
judgment
being poured
out,
the destroyed
Jerusalem
is about
to destroy
him and
wreck the
Godhead
apart
in such a
way that
the Father
turns his
face away.
He saw
the brutality
of a thousand
holocausts,
all the
prostituting
and idolatry
of human
civilizations,
the blasphemy,
the profanity,
and it was
the cup
that was
full to
the brim
of jealousy
and hatred
and bitterness
and gossip
and greed
and anger,
and it was
his job
to drink
all of
God's
judgment.
He doesn't
want to do
it.
The storm
had hit,
but oh man,
the shelter
was up.
He falls
to the ground
and he
pleads,
if possible,
that this
hour might
pass,
but
not my
will,
but your
will be
done.
Your plan
goes forward,
not mine.
He soaks up
the punishment
of the world.
The greatest
display of
obedience to
the plan
of God,
Jesus took
the cup,
the full
cup of
human sin
and God's
judgment.
he looked
at it
shuddering
deep into
its depth
and in a
stilly act
of trust
and dependence
upon his
good father.
He drank
it all
for you
and for me
so that we
do not
end up
where Jeremiah
is at the
end of
Lamentations
5.
1 Peter 3
tells us
Christ
suffered
once for
all sin
for the
righteous,
the righteous
one for the
unrighteous
one to
bring you
back to
God.
You get
God back.
And so
Jesus,
the cross,
is the
resolution to
the plea in
Lamentations
5.21 and
22.
He's the
one who
brings us
back to
God.
None of
our suffering
makes any
sense.
In fact,
no suffering
in this
world,
whatever your
religion and
philosophical
system is,
makes no
sense
until we
see Jesus
suffering for
us.
God
himself
suffering for
us.
There isn't a
religion or
philosophical
system in
this world
that has any
answer to
human suffering
like the
Christian faith.
And so
we lament.
Because all
the promises
of God
are not
yet
fulfilled.
They have
their yes
and their
amen in
Jesus.
So let
me just
take a
slight
diversion
here.
Particularly
for those
of us in
this room
and watching
on screen
who have
walked with
Jesus for
a while.
The
opposite of
walking
with Jesus
in lament
while we
wait for
the
completeness
of his
promises
is a
cynical
spirit.
That's the
opposite of
lament.
And
I see
too much
of it
in my
own
heart
and I
see too
much of
it,
I believe,
amongst
Christians.
cynicism
is
increasingly
the
dominant
spirit
of this
age
and
too
many
Christians
are
marinating
in that
age.
Many
Christians
stand on
the edge
of
cynicism
struggling
with a
defeated
weariness
but
hiding
it
behind
a
theology
of
God's
sovereignty.
As a
pastor,
in moments
of grief,
I often
say to
people,
how are
you doing?
Trusting
in God's
plan.
Trusting
in God's
plan.
He's
sovereign,
he's in
control,
he'll work
it out.
But how
do you
feel about
that?
And
there's
no
response.
That's
cynicism.
That's
weariness,
not
lament.
That's
not
trust.
That is,
their
spirits
have
begun
to
deaden
but
unlike
their
cynic,
they
haven't
lost
all of
hope.
There's
still a
hope
there.
But the
fear of
further
sorrows
tends to
freeze
them.
Cynicism
and defeated
weariness both
question the
active
goodness of
God,
which is
why we
can't stop
at being
number
two.
Being
number
three is
the
difference
between
lament
and
cynicism.
Cynicism
creates a
numbness
towards
God
and
life,
a
deafening
silence
of
prayerlessness
about
your
heart
and
what's
going
on
in
this
world.
It
may
maintain
a
rigorous
theology
of
God's
sovereignty
while
not
actually
relating
to
him.
prayers
of
lament
engage
with
evil.
They
don't
take no
for an
answer.
Jeremiah
is in
God's
faith
as he
lays
bare
his
heart
hoping
dreaming
asking.
Lament
is not
wallowing.
Lament
is
feisty.
Cynicism
just
critiques
and
languishes
and
wallows.
That's
cynicism.
Cynicism
is
passive.
It is
without
hope in
this
life.
Only
hope for
life
forever.
That
is
the
sorrow
of
life
leads
us
to
the
man
of
sorrows.
The
man
of
sorrows.
The
God
who
knows
your
sorrow.
Under
the
dark
clouds
of
brokenness
God
offers
mercy.
I
sat
this
week
with a
ministry
peer
going
through
a
tough
time.
I
said to
him
what
have
you
learned
in
this
moment.
What's
God
teaching
you?
He
started
to
tear
up
and
he
said
I
just
hear
God
saying
to
me
all
the
time
walk
with
me.
Walk
with
me.
Walk
with
me.
God
the
man
of
sorrows
offers
the
embrace.
Lament
is the
language
of
a
people
who
know
the
whole
story.
Not
just
part
of
it.
The
gospel
story.
The
Christian's
view of
pain
and
suffering
in
this
present
life
is
transformed
because
of the
good
news
of the
man
of
sorrows.
For
I
consider
that
the
sufferings
of
this
present
time
are
not
worth
comparing
with
the
glory
that
is
to
be
revealed
to
us.
And
so
we
along
with
all
creation
groan
as
we
wait
for
the
future
day
when
Christ's
victory
will
be
complete.
We
lament.
We
embrace
this
language
of
sorrow
as
a
road
map
to
God's
grace
and
getting
God
back.
You
can hear
God
call out
to you
at the
moment
if that's
your
position
in life.
walk
with
me.
Walk
with
me.
Let's
pray.
Gracious
Father and
Lord of
all,
sin has
ravaged
your
good
world.
Living
in a
sin riddled
world means
we
accumulate
pain
and
sorrow
and hurt.
Much
of that
is stored
deep in
our
hearts.
We
have
been
touched
by
sin
and
pain
so
many
times
and
in
so
many
ways
it's
hard
to
remember
it
all
but
some
of
those
times
they
are
just
seared
into
our
memories.
We
battle
with
cynicism.
For
some of
us
cynicism
has
crept
in
and
made
us
passive
with
you.
So
we
have
this
trust
in
a
theological
system
rather
than
walking
with
you.
It
is
passive
with
you.
And
so we
ask for
your help
Holy
Spirit
to look
again
at those
sufferings
and discern
your love
for us
in that
very
pain.
Give
us
wisdom
and
discernment
if not
to fully
understand
your ways
but to
trust
your plans
your power
your goodness
the goodness
that saw
you intervene
for us
Jesus.
Father
teach us
to trust
and to
live as
people
who know
that our
final hope
cannot be
in any
earthly
Jerusalem
or in
any
earthly
circumstances
just getting
better
but only
in you.
So grow
our faith
in you
in the face
of adversity
and pain.
Thank you
for the gift
of lament.
Amen.
Horatio
Spafford
was a
prominent
American
lawyer
and
Presbyterian
church
elder
back in
the 1800s.
He knew
suffering
and loss
in his
life
in all
kinds
of
ways.
Certainly
not the
least
that
scarlet
fever
killed
his
four
year
old
son
in the
same
year
that
his
business
was
destroyed
by
fire
in
Chicago.
Two
years
later
the
family
decided
to
take
a
holiday
to
Europe
as
part
of
a
respite
and
rebuilding
opportunity
for
them.
Horatio
was
delayed
because
business
at the
last
minute
he was
delayed
and so
his wife
and his
four
daughters
travelled
on ahead
of him
across
the
Atlantic
on a
ship.
On
the
22nd
of
November
1873
while
crossing
the
Atlantic
their
ship
was
hit
by
an
iron
sailing
vessel
226
people
lost
their
lives
including
four
of
Spafford's
daughters
all of
them
all these
kids
gone
now.
He
got the
news
when his
wife
touched
down
in
England.
Spafford
immediately
sailed
to
England
and
as
he
sailed
over
the
location
of
his
daughter's
death
he
penned
a
hymn.
Let's
stand
and sing
it.