30th of July, 1967, when she was 17 years old,
Johnny Erickson broke her neck diving into shallow water.
During the two years of her rehabilitation in hospital,
she said that she experienced anger, depression, suicidal thoughts
and serious doubts about her faith in Jesus Christ.
She's written over 40 books since those days
and a regular conference speaker, advisor to US presidents,
so on and so forth, but she wrote this in a foreword
for another book around about five years ago.
When a broken neck ambushed my life and left me a quadriplegic,
I felt as though God had smashed me underfoot like a cigarette.
At night, I would thrash my head on the pillow,
hoping to break my neck at a higher level
and thereby ending my misery.
After I left hospital, I refused to get out of bed.
My paralysis was permanent and inside I died.
You don't have to be in a wheelchair to identify.
You already know that sad situations sometimes don't get better.
Problems don't always get solved.
Conflicts don't get fixed.
Children die.
Couples divorce and ultimate untimely deaths
rock our world and shake our faith.
When we feel utterly overwhelmed,
we try soaking in the tub,
sweating on the treadmill,
splurging on a new dress
or heading to the mountains for the weekend.
We smile and we say we are trusting God,
but deep down we know it's a lie.
We're only trusting that he won't load us up with more.
A remarkable woman
who has helped countless people
through the process of suffering
and navigating suffering.
She is the woman who once said,
I would rather be in a wheelchair for life with God
than on my two legs without him.
If you've just tuned in for us for the first time,
we're in our vision series,
annual vision series on new life.
The new life that we have in Jesus.
What we're doing is we're building up to Easter
where we are looking at resurrection life,
what it looks like for us right now
and how this new birth, new life in Jesus,
how it changes and transforms every aspect of our lives.
And today we're looking at a new way of viewing suffering,
managing suffering, experiencing suffering,
processing suffering.
So I've got four points on the St. Paul's app
if you want to go there.
The first one is the certainty of suffering.
I get that from verse six.
If in all this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials.
Notice how that reads.
You may have had to suffer grief.
That statement is communicating a term
from the original language,
which means it is necessary to suffer grief.
It is necessary.
It's a certainty that you will suffer grief.
Peter is saying that suffering is a certainty
rather than a possibility.
That is, we live in a broken world
and so we should expect it
rather than be shocked when it happens.
Chapter four, verse 12, Peter says,
do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal
that has come upon you to test you
as though something strange were happening to you.
We should be prepared for suffering
because if we are not prepared for suffering,
then we're in fact not prepared for life.
We're not ready for life itself.
There is no way possible in this world
to create some kind of designer life
that is free from bereavement, illness,
financial challenges, personal betrayals,
and whole range of other trials.
Even Jesus, the perfect man,
suffered terribly to bring about God's redemptive purposes.
So why would we expect anything different for ourselves?
Sometimes I reckon that half of the pain
that I personally experience
when I suffer from a trial
is from the shock of actually going through it
in the first place.
It's because they're not expecting it.
And yet this world is deeply broken,
deeply, deeply broken.
So that raises the second point,
which is the problem of suffering.
Every single culture,
every single worldview
has to have some kind of response
to the reality of suffering,
the reality of trials
and the brokenness of this world.
If a worldview does not have a response to it,
it's a defective worldview there and then.
It's the issue
that every single human being faces,
rich or poor,
no matter what culture you are from.
So how does it deal
with the big question of suffering?
Human suffering poses questions like,
for instance, the Christian,
how could a loving God allow so much suffering?
How can the hypothesis of a loving, powerful God
stand against the crushing weight
of human suffering?
What's your worldview?
What's your answer to that question?
Well, the famous atheist Richard Dawkins
looks at all the weight of human suffering
and declares that our universe
has precisely the properties
we would expect,
we should expect,
if there is at bottom
no design,
no purpose,
no evil,
no good,
nothing but blind,
pitiless indifference.
That is the secular human response.
The atheistic response to human suffering
is that there is no meaning at all.
At all.
So what Dawkins does,
and Sam Harris and other,
you know,
more prominent atheists do,
and the atheistic worldview,
is that if you remove God
from the equation,
then what you have is relief.
The problem with human suffering
is God.
So take God out of the equation
and somehow you will have relief.
In other words,
there is no meaning,
there is no reason,
there is no hope,
so stop worrying about
trying to find some greater purpose in life
when you're in the midst of trauma and trial
and you'll feel better about yourself.
Already feeling relieved.
But it is an incredibly bleak view
of the universe.
It in fact erodes the very foundations
of which we balance life
and our humanness itself.
If there is no good
and there is no evil
and there is no purpose to it at all,
why is there in the human heart
an instinct to lament
in the face of suffering?
Why has evolution not removed that?
If that's all we are,
byproducts of evolution.
If human sympathy for others
is just simply a byproduct
of evolutionary kinship,
which is evolutionary biologists claim,
then why do we empathise
with the suffering
of those outside of our tribe?
Why do we even empathise
with suffering
even in the natural world?
Especially weaker beings
than human beings.
Why do we care about that?
You see, the irony is
that today
at the core of secular humanism
is that they don't actually believe
in human beings
any more than they believe
in a creator God.
That's the problem
with secular humanism.
The secular humanists,
for them,
both God
and humanity
is a delusion.
When you remove meaning
from suffering,
it doesn't
solve the problem.
It unravels
our humanity.
It unravels
our very sense of self.
secular humanism's
answer to suffering
leaves you
with no hope
whatsoever.
Human beings
are nothing more
than little kids
trying to build
sandcastles
in the face
of a relentless
rising tide.
Your life
is purposeless.
And so let me just say,
and I say this
with all gentleness,
but with intention,
if that is your worldview,
and especially right now,
and I say this pastorally to you,
if that is your worldview,
and right now
you are in the face
of suffering,
can I please
encourage you
in this moment
not to reach
for the placebos
of false hope?
Too many
who hold to
the secular human worldview
will still say
things like
the universe
has got some kind
of plan in this.
It's not
God's got some kind
of plan,
but the universe
has got some kind
of plan
in my suffering.
It's a placebo
and nothing more
for you
in the face
of suffering.
If there is
no God
and we still
suffer,
there is
no universe
to care.
There is
no purpose
in the universe
for your suffering.
There is
nothing but
blind,
pitiless
indifference
for you
in the face
of your suffering.
And I'm saying
this gently.
You are doing
yourself
an enormous
favour
in the midst
of your suffering
as a secular
humanist
to stare
in the abyss
of your worldview.
Do not reach
for placebos.
Stare
into the abyss
of your worldview
and all
of its
implications
rather than
reaching for
platitudes
that are
inconsistent
with your
worldview.
Well,
that's
one side.
One other
alternative,
one of the
favourite
options
in the
Western world
these days,
those who
are dissatisfied
with Christianity
on the one
end,
but not wanting
to jump
entirely
into the
bleakness
of a secular
humanist worldview
on the other
end,
is to go
middle way
and go for
Buddhism
and its
response
of suffering.
Buddhism's
response
to the
inevitability
of suffering
is to
break the
ties of
attachment
that bind
us to
life.
In other
words,
in Buddhism,
to love
is to be
vulnerable
and to be
vulnerable
is to
hurt.
To desire
and to
strive for
things is
to risk
disappointment.
I won't
go into
unpacking
it all,
but again,
you end up
with the
same problem.
to detach
yourself
from love,
from striving,
from desire,
is in fact
to detach
yourself
from everything
that's joyous
in life,
purposeful
in life,
and therefore
detach yourself
once again
from your
humanness.
So let me
just jump
to my
third point.
What's the
Christian
response?
I want to
say the
Christian
response
is very
broadly
a good
potential
for
suffering.
Despite
the
inevitability
of
suffering,
Christianity
declares
there is
a good
potential.
The
Christian
worldview
says
that we
can
pursue
desire
against
Buddhism,
we can
pursue
desire,
we can
cling
to
attachment,
we can
strive
for good
things,
while also
finding meaning
in the
suffering
that comes
to us,
as well
as hope
for the
future
in the
midst
of that
suffering.
Peter
gives us
a really
helpful
image of
suffering
here,
and it
would do
well for
us to
reflect on
it for
a moment.
Verse 7
of chapter
1.
Gold,
I don't
know really
anything about
mining,
so this
is Google
for you,
right?
Gold
goes through
a furnace
and is
purified.
What Paul
is saying
here is the
same thing
happens to
our faith
and to
our lives,
to our
character,
when we
go through
suffering.
It's good
because our
faith is
far more
valuable than
gold,
so we
should want
to go
through it
because it's
more precious
than gold.
Gold,
in the end,
will disappear
like everything
else on the
face of this
earth.
earth,
but faith
in Jesus
Christ will
not disappear.
It will be
on for
eternity,
so this is
a good
process for
us,
preparing us
for that
day in
his presence.
The
furnace,
the gold
furnace,
does not
destroy the
gold,
but it
deals with
the impurities.
The
furnace
separates
the valuable
gold from
the worthless
impurities.
It
separates the
impurities in
such a way
that what it
does is it
brings the
impurities to
the surface
so they
can be
seen and
removed.
What Peter's
saying here
is that our
faith and
our lives
have lots of
impurities in
them.
In so many
cases, we
have this
mixture of
faith in
Jesus Christ
and yet at
the same
time, faith
in other
things as
well.
Faith in
relationships
and in
status and
in children
and our
financial
security and
the list
goes on
and on
and on.
The New
Testament, the
Old Testament
refers to it
as idolatry.
We worship
God, but we
also worship
these other
things as
well.
We look to
these particular
things to
give us
meaning, our
self-worth, our
self-esteem, our
self-image in
life.
Whatever it
is, that's
what we trust.
That's where
our faith is.
They can even
be great
things.
But we
overinvest
our hearts
in them
and they
become things
that we
hope in.
And whenever
any of those
things, whatever
it might be
for us,
whenever any
of those
things are
rocked, we
feel so
fragile in
life.
We feel
fragile because
the things
that we have
our trust in
are so
fragile.
Their
impurities
rising to
the surface.
They're
fragile because
everything in
this world is
fragile.
And the
furnace of
life, suffering,
rises to the
surface, the
fragility of
what we have
put our hope
in.
The furnace of
life shows us
just how little
we actually
trust in
Jesus Christ.
suffering shows
us that
his love
and his
power is
often not
real to us.
And when
this happens,
there's really
only two ways
to respond.
Either it's
the case of
God, you
are not
enough for
me right
now, and
I've got to
also have
my wealth,
I've also
got to have
my reputation,
I've got to
have my
beauty, I've
got to have
the accolades,
I've got to
have the
status.
Or it's a
case of
holding on
to God and
asking him
to purify
you so
that he is
your greatest
wealth, he
is your
greatest
stability, he
is your
acceptance, he
is your
love, he
is your
status.
And in the
midst of
suffering, you
hold on to
him, I
want to know
you, God,
in a way that
I've never
known you
before.
And that
is why
suffering has
the potential
to turn us
into pure
gold.
For
instance,
suffering
humbles you
and gives
you a far
more self-knowledge
than you've
ever had
before.
Suffering
teaches you
not to
over-invest
your heart
into good
things in
such a way
that they
become ultimate
things.
Suffering
significantly
enhances your
experience of
God's love
in his
presence.
Suffering
makes you
more wise
and compassionate,
loving and
generally,
and might I
say this as
well,
generally more
useful to
other people,
especially
those who are
suffering
themselves.
A couple
of weeks
ago I
used the
illustration
of the
forester
going in
to cut
trees
and there's
a bird
building a
nest and
he's
whacking
on the
tree.
Get off
there.
This
tree's
about to
fall.
I'm
going to
cut it
down and
the bird
flies to
the next
one.
So he
whacks on
that tree
and whacks
on the
other one
and then
whacks
on the
other one
and sometimes
we have
the experience
of that
with God.
God,
what are
you doing?
Like this
little bird,
what's your
problem,
lumberjack?
What are you
doing here?
And what
he's doing
each time
is he's
moving us
from every
tree that's
going to
fall until
we eventually
land.
And the
bird notices
when the
bird sits
on the
rock and
builds its
nest on
the rock.
Lumberjack
leaves him
alone.
That's what
God does
for us in
life.
That's what
suffering
moves us
to a
deeper,
deeper
security.
The only
hope is
Jesus
Christ.
Malcolm
Muggeridge
was an
English
journalist
in the
last
century.
He was
an
agnostic
most of
his life,
but he
became a
Christian
late in
life in
his 60s.
When he
was 75
and reflecting
on the
numerous
challenges
that he
faced in
life,
some,
in fact,
I would
probably say
many were
self-inflicted
challenges he
faced in
life.
He wrote
this,
I can
say with
complete
truthfulness
that everything
I've learned
in my 75
years in
this world,
everything that
has truly
enhanced and
enlightened my
existence has
been through
affliction and
not through
happiness,
whether pursued
or attained.
In other
words, if it
ever were to
be possible to
eliminate affliction
from our
earthly existence
by means of
some drug or
other medical
mumbo-jumbo,
the result
would not be
to make life
delectable,
but to make
it so banal
and trivial
to be
endurable.
This, of
course, is
what the cross
signifies,
and it is the
cross more
than anything
else that has
called me
inexorably to
Christ.
So my last
point is how
do we pursue
this good
potential in
life?
Notice
there's three
things in
some verses
here that I
want to pull
out, and
there's multiple
things, I
just want to
mention three.
These are, if
you like, three
disciplines to
pursue in
order to
experience the
positive outcome
of suffering in
our life.
The first
thing, really
simply, is
cry.
Is cry.
Verse six,
in all this
you greatly
rejoice, even
though now for
a little while
you may have
to suffer
grief in
all kinds
of trials.
When Peter
writes, in
all this you
greatly rejoice,
he's referring
to what he
said previously
here, all the
great things
that are gifted
to the
Christian,
gifts of
new birth, a
living hope in
Jesus, resurrection,
all the stuff
he's referred to.
And then he
writes about all
the kinds of
trials in the
present, the
bad things that
are happening,
loss, bereavement,
relational
breakdowns,
betrayals.
In all these
bad things, he
says we
suffer grief.
And the
word that he
uses there for
grief is a
word that
means agonising
pain.
Agonising
pain.
He says we
hurt.
We hurt
deeply.
And yet at
the same
time we
hurt deeply,
he's saying
that the
Christian is
rejoicing.
They're in
searing pain
and rejoicing.
And both
words are
present tenses
in the original
language.
They are
happening at
exactly the
same time.
Rejoicing and
searing pain at
exactly the
same time.
time.
I think
too many
Christians think
that rejoicing
in the midst
of suffering
is what
some Greek
philosophers would
be called
stoicism.
The
stoics in
Greek culture,
and in fact I
would say many
shame and
honour cultures
that exist
today,
work with
the view
that when
trials come
you just
simply don't
let it get
to you.
Don't let
it get to
you.
I can't
tell you how
many people
I've heard as
a pastor when
in the midst
of trial and
suffering I've
asked them
how are you
managing,
I'm not
letting it
get to
me.
The point
of 1 Peter
is let
it get to
you.
Let it
get to you.
It's not
Christianity,
stoicism is
not Christianity
and secondly
it's not
even healthy.
Read the
book of
Job.
It's a
great bit
of advice
in the midst
of suffering.
He
wrenches
his robes
and covers
himself with
ash.
Seven days
he sits on
an ash heap
mourning
in such a
way,
in such
mourning
that his
friends see
him and
don't even
recognise
him.
They
don't even
go near
him.
He
wrestles
with God
throughout
the book.
He
complains
to God
throughout
the book.
He
didn't run
from God,
he directed
it all
to God.
He was
pouring his
life out
to him and
at the end
of the book
God vindicates
him.
It's a
remarkable
thing.
At the end
of Job,
God slams
his mates
and says
that my
servant Job
was faithful
to me.
The first
principle is
when you
hurt,
hurt.
Cry.
Cry out
to God.
Stoicism
is not
Christianity.
The second
principle,
is keeping
a clear
conscience.
I get
that from
chapter 3
verse 16
that Merle
read out
for us.
Do this
with gentleness
and respect,
keeping a
clear conscience
so that
those who
speak
maliciously
against your
good behaviour
in Christ
may be ashamed
of their
slander.
What's the
connection
here?
Chapter 3
is talking
about suffering.
The suffering
of being
persecuted.
It's a particular
kind of suffering.
The suffering
of being persecuted
because of
your faith
in Jesus
Christ.
It was
very real
in Peter's
day and
for those
who are
reading this
letter for
the first
time.
So the
instruction
here
basically
is do
not return
like for
like.
Don't lie,
don't attack,
don't destroy
reputations.
Keep a
clear conscience.
Continue to
live the
Christian life,
obey God.
Now one of
the things that
happens,
the reason I'm
raising this
as a
principle,
one of the
things that
happens,
and Johnny
Erickson has
already raised
this in the
quote that I
just read out
to you earlier,
is that when
something happens
to you,
self-pity
kicks in.
And self-pity
justifies
everything.
Self-pity,
the sweating
it out on
the treadmill,
the escapes
to the
mountains,
whatever
Johnny Erickson
said,
all those
things,
the purchasing
of new
items,
because of
this,
what I've
been through,
I deserve
a new
couch.
I deserve
this.
And as a
pastor,
let me tell
you that I've
heard people
over the
years justify
even
adultery.
because of
their suffering
in life.
Keep a clear
conscience.
Run to God.
When you're
going through
trial, be very
careful about the
voice in your
head that says,
I deserve this.
All that I've
been through,
my, you know,
all of my bad
choices right now,
my bad behaviour,
it's all warranted.
I deserve
this.
So cry,
but keep a
clear conscience.
Trust and obey.
Keep doing
things that God
requires you.
Keep taking
your next steps
of faith.
Again,
as a pastor,
over three
decades,
the number of
people in the
midst of suffering,
how much they
pull back.
how they pull
back out of a
community group,
pull back out
from church,
pull back from
I'm just going
through a hard
season right now.
And so they
pull back and
pull back.
Be careful of
those voices in
your head that
say, right now,
because of what
I'm suffering,
I deserve
this.
The third
principle to
pursue suffering
is to look to
the suffering of
Jesus Christ.
Take a look at
chapter 3,
verse 18.
For Christ
also suffered
once for sins,
the righteous for
the unrighteous to
bring you to
God.
Now,
we've been
talking here,
Peter's been
talking about
gold being
refined in
fire,
in a fiery
furnace.
The Bible
tells the story
of the fiery
furnace in
Daniel chapter
3 in the
Old Testament.
It's the
story of
three young
Jewish men,
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego.
A decree
had been
put out
through the
entire Babylonian
empire,
where they were
captives at this
particular point,
to bow down and
worship an
image,
an idol made
of Nebuchadnezzar.
And so,
Rakshak and
Benny refused
to do it.
They refused to
bow down to
this image,
and Nebuchadnezzar,
the king,
was absolutely
livid.
He gave
instructions for
these three
guys to be
bound up,
tied up,
for the fiery
furnace to be
heated beyond
it had ever
been heated
before,
and for the
three of them
to be thrown
in and burnt
to a crisp.
The fire was
heated so hot
that the
soldiers who
grabbed them
to throw them
in were
instantaneously
killed.
And so
Nebuchadnezzar
gets to a
point,
he expects
to see
these three
guys sizzling
in the
barbecue,
but instead,
instead we
read this,
Nebuchadnezzar
leapt to his
feet in
amazement and
asked his
advisors,
weren't there
three men
that we tied
up and threw
into the
fire?
They replied,
certainly,
your majesty.
Look,
I see four
men walking
around in the
fire.
They're unbounded,
unharmed,
and the
fourth looks
like the
son of the
gods.
Notice,
didn't we tie
up three?
Well,
I'm now
noticing four
untied and
unharmed.
In the Old
Testament,
there's a
figure called
the angel of
the Lord,
not a
angel of the
Lord,
but the
angel of
the Lord.
And when
that figure
turns up,
he speaks
as God
and embodies
God.
Now,
most commentators
agree that
it is a
manifestation
of Jesus
Christ,
the Son of
God in
the Old
Testament.
And the
point is
simply this,
very simply,
when Jesus
walks with
you through
the furnace,
when he is
with you in
the furnace,
the only
thing that
comes off,
the only
thing that
comes off
is the
shackles that
bind you and
imprison you.
that's the
only thing
that comes
off.
The
impurities
rise to
the surface,
the things
that controlled
you,
the things
that addicted
you,
the things
that are
too important
to you.
If Jesus
is with
you,
you will
only come
out of
the furnace
free,
unharmed,
pure gold.
That is the
only thing
that will
happen to
you.
And how
do we
cling to
him in
the midst
of the
furnace?
Verse 18,
for Christ
also
suffered.
Christianity
is the
only religion
in the
world that
says that
God knows
personally and
firsthand the
fiery furnace
of suffering.
The only
one.
The Greek
philosopher
Aristotle once
said that it
would be
impossible for
there to be
any friendship
between a
God and
a human
being because
they don't
have anything
in common
at all.
Christianity
says the
exact opposite.
The God
who made
all things,
who took
on human
likeness in
the person
of Jesus
Christ,
suffered.
He knows
betrayal.
He knows
abuse.
He knows
rejection.
He knows
death.
He knows
physical
suffering.
He knows
it all.
He knew
what it
was to be
abandoned on
the cross.
Jesus
Christ and
him alone
can be our
consoling
friend and
our sure
hope in
the furnace
of suffering
in life
because he
himself went
into the
ultimate
furnace.
for Christ
also
suffered
once for
all for
the sins
of people,
the righteous
for the
unrighteous
to bring
you to
God.
That's the
ultimate
furnace.
The
white hot
anger of
God for
our rejection
of God.
The only
sinless one
suffered for
our sin.
He got
everything we
deserve.
if we
see him
going into
the ultimate
furnace for
you, if
you can
see that,
then you
can know
that he
is your
safety in
the furnace
of life.
If he
suffered
infinitely for
me,
then the
reality is I
can suffer
infinitely for
him, or
sorry,
finitely for
him right
now.
He is
reliable,
he is
trustworthy,
his word
is true,
and as we
journey through
the Christian
life with
a sure
expectation of
trials and
suffering,
our posture
is to be
one looking
to him
and him
alone.
A posture
that might
pray something
like this,
Jesus, you
came into
this world,
you identified
with me,
you went
into the
ultimate
furnace for
me,
you suffered
and you
died for
me,
glory,
but you
also rose
triumphantly
in spectacular
glory,
you triumphed
over sin
and evil
and death
and because
of your
triumph,
you promise
a time
is coming
just around
the corner
where in
your presence
there will
be no longer
any fiery
furnaces,
just the
cool,
sweet,
delight of
your presence
and your
purity.
And so in
the midst
of this
suffering right
now,
Jesus,
hold me,
teach me,
strengthen me
to obey you
and walk
with you
until the
great day
of blessing
comes.
Amen.
Maybe pray
a prayer like
that.
Every day.