This week will begin a new series on suffering. As I wrote last week, I have been reading extensively through 1 Peter which is a letter all about suffering well for the sake of the Gospel. I recently read a blog by Tim Keller who stated the five things the local church needs to address and deal with in order to grow.
-Be in the business of Culture-making not culture following
-A renewal of apologetics
-A greater variety of church models
-Develop a far better theology of suffering
-A critical mass of churches in major cities around the world
I will attempt to tackle suffering this week and hope to get your thoughts on a few of the issues. Today I'll deal with the culture's thoughts on suffering.
Typically, Americans don't suffer well...here in the bible belt anyway (kind of ironic). Suffering of any kind is looked on not as a building of character or integrity, but as something no one in their life should ever experience. For most Americans, even after a natural disaster or terrorist attack, the idea of suffering angers us and causes Toby Keith to write lyrics like, "We'll put a boot in your a@# it's the American way". Suffering is viewed as unjust (more than likely it is), unfair, wrong and blameworthy. However, I don't disagree with any of those ideas, it is the way in which people react to the idea of suffering. People turn to the legal system and sue each other, they resort to irrational behavior and language and find anyway possible to blame whatever they are experiencing on someone or something else. The very definition of suffering has behind it the idea that one is undergoing something difficult. And to me, this screams the exact opposite of our microwavable, "Easy Button" culture. "Anything difficult...no thanks. I'll lie to my spouse, cheat on my taxes, and gossip about my so-called friends. That's easier. I'll avoid any chance that I might actually undergo something difficult." Suffering well is hard. It's not easy. It has caused countless Christians to lose their faith in God. What do you think? Has the church bought into the culture's idea that we should avoid suffering at all costs?
Hi Derek! I've stumbled across your blog a couple of times, but I think this is the first time I've commented.
ReplyDeleteOur church has had a few classes and sermons recently that talk about this subject a little, so I've been thinking about it a lot. I think one thing that people don't realize (non-Christians and even Christians) is that God's priorities aren't our priorities. In the world, our god is our stomach so anything that causes discomfort or pain is seen as the ultimate evil, and we often blame God. Now, God does care about our physical well-being, but his plan is much bigger than making sure we feel good at every moment. His plan is Redemption and Salvation and having a relationship with all human beings. And when we have pain or discomfort in our world, our point of view is so small that we don't see God's big picture and big plan, and our only concern is that we are feeling sadness or pain.
We've been watching this video series called Past Meets Post, talking about how churches can minister to postmodern-minded people. In the last video, he painted a picture of a guy who walks home and sees cold, homeless people sleeping on the street and is enraged. Then he walks into his house and hangs up his coat next to his 9 other coats and goes to sleep in his warm bed, shaking his fist at God for the injustice of homeless hungry people. But don't you think God has every right to shake his fist at us and say what are YOU doing? We are supposed to be his hands here on earth. And like I said, I think God does care about our physical needs and well-being, but not as much as we care about our own selves. As a matter of fact, I don't think Jesus planned on healing anyone in his ministry. My opinion is that he ONLY healed because of the love and compassion he felt for the people he was ministering to. His ministry, though, was to preach the gospel. To redeem the world. Not to heal the sick. And we shouldn't forget that suffering is in the world in the first place because of sin. Not that all suffering is a direct result of a specific sin, but God didn't create us to sin and suffer, we brought that on ourselves.
So yeah, I think that suffering in this world is horrible, but I think that we mainly think it's horrible an blame God because we don't have God's wisdom and perspective. Would God let a good righteous person suffer if it meant that their suffering would save just one unrighteous person. You betcha. Look at the parable of the 99 sheep. One is lost, and the shepherd has no problem leaving the ones that are doing what they should be doing to go find the lost one. He's risking their well-being by not tending them because his priority is on the lost sheep. And though it is counter to our typical world-view, I think that God is willing to use Christians in ways that may cause us discomfort in an effort to accomplish his REAL purpose.
Thanks so much for the time and thought you put into your comment. Much appreciated. We are a selfish people and don't like the idea that God might cause us discomfort to display his mercy on others. So much to be addressed and talked about here-I plan on addressing much of it later on this week. Thanks again.
ReplyDeletederek,
ReplyDeletei think we've not just bought into it, but avoiding suffering in many cases is viewed as the "christian" thing to do. Don't go into "bad" neighborhoods. Don't help or even talk to "shady characters" (because they're sinners you shouldn't associate with anyway). If there's unpleasant work to do or unpleasant people to deal with, we should hire a full-time clergyman to do those kinds of things for us. Any threat to personal safety exempts you from having to be Christ-like to people. (This was said in not so many words at the table i was at during one of our recent Sunday night discussions about helping the homeless.)
In Philippians it seems pretty clear that suffering the way Christ suffered was something Paul was *pursuing*--something he thought of as a valuable goal. In Acts 5, the apostles clearly considered it worthy of gratitude and celebration that they got to suffer for the cause of Christ. If you read second century martyrdom accounts, it's clear those early Christians thought of suffering for the sake of faith a blessing--something they *wanted* to experience. When people warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem for fear of his life, he basically acted like that was *all the more reason to go.* [i already told you my rant about us skipping mexico a couple years ago, but i felt i had no room to talk since i've never gone.]
Bottom line, as a trend, the church's 21st century attitude toward death and personal safety fails to restore the first century attitudes toward such. And i can't help but think that the 1st century church's radical perspective toward death and suffering is a significant part of why they were so radically effective in their own time and culture.
--Guy
The thought of actually pursuing suffering scares me quite a bit. This must have been one of the main ingredients to a successful church in the 1st century (since we are always trying to figure out how to "grow" a successful church). I'm sure a book on that right now would be a really popular one. "Want to grow your church? Pursue suffering."
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