Preached Sunday, October 14, 2018
For context read Exodus 3:1-10 and Luke 9:18-27
Does
God suffer? Theologians have been debating this question for centuries. Does
God suffer? Historically theologians have argued that God cannot suffer. If God
is pure light, utterly perfect, and all goodness then there can be no darkness
in God; and if there is no darkness in God then there is no suffering in God. As far back as the 2nd century,
people have argued that God is holy, eternal, perfect, and unchanging.
Therefore God cannot suffer.
You
may wonder, as I did, about the cross. Didn’t God suffer in Jesus Christ on the
cross? Theologians have gotten around this by saying it is the humanity of Christ
that suffers and not his divinity. I, personally, cannot readily separate
Christ’s humanity from his divinity. If Jesus is fully human and fully divine
then God suffered on the cross. Some might argue that it is only God the Son
who suffered. But I simply cannot imagine God the Father being unmoved as God
the Son suffered and died. Without denying that God is holy and eternal and
perfect, I believe God suffers – I believe God not only witnesses, but experiences
suffering. After all, our God is a deeply relational God. How can God be
unmoved by the suffering of humanity?
Just
look at our Old Testament lesson for today. God is speaking to Moses, saying in
verse 7, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have
heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed I know their
sufferings.” God not only sees and hears our misery, God knows our sufferings.
This isn’t just head knowledge; God’s heart has been deeply touched by the
suffering of God’s people, moving God to action. God has chosen to come down
and deliver God’s people through Moses. God suffers when humanity suffers and
longs to diminish our suffering.
I
share this argument with you because our fifth and final purpose for being here
on this earth is mission. Rick Warren says that as a Christian our fifth purpose
is to be sent into the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.
But what exactly does this mean? What does it look like? How are we called to
participate in God’s mission here on earth today? How is God coming down to
deliver God’s people through us today?
My
mission professor at Duke, Bishop Kenneth Carder, asked us this question: What
if our motive for mission is to help diminish the suffering of God? What if
Moses’ motive for going back to Egypt was to help diminish the suffering of God
by freeing God’s people from captivity? What if the reason we are here on this
earth is to help diminish the suffering of God?
Let
me turn this into a mission statement: We are here on this earth to help diminish
the suffering of God so that God’s kingdom will come on earth as it is in
heaven. How would we live our lives differently if these words were printed in
the bulletin each week? We are here on this earth to help diminish the
suffering of God so that God’s kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.
I
suspect this resonates with many of us. This is the reason we opened a food
pantry. This is the reason we provide snack packs for kids at BEJ. This is the
reason for the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund. This is the reason we support
orphans in Zimbabwe and Malawi. This is the reason we are partnering with
Cokesbury United Methodist Church in Stedman following Hurricane Florence. We
long to diminish the suffering of God by alleviating the suffering of God’s
people. We long for that day described in Revelation 21 when the home of God
will be among mortals and God will dwell with us and we will be God’s people.
And God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning
and crying and pain will be no more.” In other words, God’s kingdom will be
here, on earth as it is in heaven.
This
is our goal. This is God’s mission for us on earth. We long to diminish the
suffering of God as we seek God’s kingdom.
So.
This led me to pull out Walter Brueggemann’s book on mission.[1]
Walter Brueggemann is an Old Testament scholar and theologian. I’ve heard him
speak several times and I deeply respect his wisdom. He is quick to point out
that mission is so much more social action. When we embrace God’s mission –
when we truly let God work in us and through us as Moses did – we must hold
together in tension both evangelism and social action. We must hold together in
tension both proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and loving our
neighbors. I love this. Mission is both evangelism and social action.
Diminishing the suffering of God takes both evangelism and social action.
There
is no question that evangelism is a vital part of God’s mission. Just look at the
Great Commission in Matthew 28: “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded.” Evangelism is a command, not an option.
Go! Proclaim the gospel. Share the good news of Jesus Christ. Invite people to
repent, be baptized, and embrace the new life we have found in Jesus.
And
there is no question that mission as evangelism diminishes the suffering of
God. When we proclaim release to the captives and set at liberty those who are
oppressed – when by the grace of God an alcoholic is set free from the chains
of addiction – when by God’s grace someone who is tormented by demons is set
free to be fully alive – when the waters of baptism truly wash away sin and
bring us into new life – then the suffering of God is clearly diminished.
Indeed, God delights every time a person is brought from death to life – as we
sing, “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free! My God, my Savior, has ransomed
me.” This is abundant life! Our mission is to proclaim this good news.
And
yet, diminishing the suffering of God takes both evangelism and social action.
As James writes “If a brother or sister is naked and
lacks daily food, and one of
you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do
not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” Proclaiming the
gospel without meeting the basic needs of others is faith without works – and
faith without works is dead. (James 2:15-17)
Which
brings me back to Walter Brueggemann. He argues that the conservative churches
too readily reduce mission to evangelism risking, in his words, “reducing the
danger of the Bible to confessional safety.” In other words, salvation is
simplified to believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! And liberal
churches too readily reduce mission to social action attempting, in his words,
“to avoid the dramatic system-shattering claim of the gospel.” At an extreme,
liberals embrace works without faith, meeting needs without transforming lives.
He goes on to say that so-called
conservatives and so-called liberals might both do well to embrace the radical,
subversive, risk-taking nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ – embracing the
both/and nature of God’s mission here on earth. After all, we all long for suffering
to come to an end. We all long for the victory of God over death to be a
victory over all creation. We all long for nothing less than the transformation
of the world.
What if our mission here on this earth is to
help diminish the suffering of God so that God’s kingdom will come on earth as
it is in heaven? Do you hear how radical and subversive and risk-taking this
mission really is? It is so much more than telling the world about Jesus. And
it is so much more than feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and visiting
those who are in prison. Genuine transformation – change that shatters the
systems of fear and injustice and power that dominate our world – authentic
conversion to the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, the way of suffering – holds
together both evangelism and social action.
And
we aren’t very good at this. Our hearts are in the right place – we want to
diminish the suffering of God – but we aren’t really willing to take up our
cross. Speaking for myself, self-sacrifice is far from easy. Taking risks is,
well, awfully risky. Standing up for what I believe inevitably upsets someone,
and I’d rather be a peacemaker than a rabble rouser. In addition, I’m much too
attached to my lifestyle and my stuff to truly deny myself and take up my cross
and follow Jesus on this road marked with suffering.
While
I really do want to diminish the suffering of God, I want this work to be relatively
risk-free. While I gladly pray, Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, it
is much harder for me to actually enter into the suffering of others as God did
in the Exodus through Moses, and as God did through so many of the prophets,
and as God did by taking on flesh in Jesus Christ. The truth is that God will
work in me and through me and even in spite of me – if I will only remember
that God is in charge, not me. God is in the driver’s seat, not me. And God
longs to diminish the suffering of each and every person I meet. If only I
would get out of the way and let Him!
We
are here on this earth to help diminish the suffering of God so that God’s
kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. This is our mission. This is our
goal. How is God calling you to
participate in this mission? What does embracing this mission mean for your
ordinary everyday life?
Let
me leave you with an observation from Brueggemann: “The issue [of mission] is
that the life of creation, the fabric of human community, is deeply in jeopardy
among us. The crisis concerning [mission] is a ‘world question’ and not a
‘church question.’ Our common jeopardy is very large in terms of arms and
chemicals, terror, and massive international indebtedness. The jeopardy is very
local in terms of drugs and violence, fear, greed, and isolation. That old
world of alienation can not much longer be propped up, either by the military
will of the super-powers, or by the economic coercion of the markets, nor by
well-meaning ideology that passes for religion.” No, we have been shown a more
excellent way – the way of the cross – where “word becomes flesh, sovereignty
becomes compassion, weakness becomes strength, foolishness becomes wisdom,
suffering becomes hope, vulnerability becomes energy, death becomes life”
(46-47).
And
when we embrace this all encompassing view of mission the suffering of God is
diminished. Thanks be to God!
No comments:
Post a Comment