Why Are There So Many Disappointments?

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

INTRODUCTION

We remember one day when our first child, Johnny, was seven-years-old, almost eight, he was upset by something that wasn’t going as he wished. He said to us, with sorrow, “I wish I’d never been born. There’s so many disappointments.”

It doesn’t take long for even a child to learn that life is no picnic. There’s sickness, and failure, and disappointments, and losses.

Friends disappoint us. We disappoint ourselves. Enemies torment us. We have money problems and health problems. People we love die. And finally we face the reality of our own death.

People ask “Why? Why? Why?” And sometimes they say, “Why, God?”

We think we could bear our troubles if we just could know “why”?

Especially we want to know why we suffer—or when someone dear to us suffers.

I’ve known people who turned away from God because they blamed God for their troubles.

The godly men and women who came before us had the same troubles that we have—and, I think, even more troubles. They were less healthy; they lost more babies; they lived shorter lives; they had fewer comforts.

And—just like us—they wondered “Why”?

The holy people who wrote our Bible had these same questions.

They brought their troubles to God—just as we should.

Here are some of the prayers of desperation we find in our Bible:

Psalm 22:1-2

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Why art thou so far from helping me,

from the words of my groaning.

O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer;

and by night but find no rest.

Psalm 130:1

Out of the depths I cry out to thee, O Lord!

Lord, hear my voice!

Let thy ears be attentive

to the voice of my supplications!

Psalm 6:2

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;

O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

My soul also is sorely troubled.

But thou, O Lord—how long?

The great apostle St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Christian believers in the Greek city of Corinth about an affliction he had recently suffered. He wrote, “We were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).

We need to remind ourselves that others suffer as we do, and some have greater sorrows than we can even imagine.

One believing woman in a nursing home told me: “I don’t ask, ‘Why me?’ I say, ‘Why not me?’” That’s one way to look at the problem.

Others suffer; why should I be exempt?

That’s a helpful way to look at the problem.

We wish God had made a happier world. After all, if he’s all-powerful, and if he’s all-loving, he should have made a happier world for us to live in.

You can read the Bible from cover to cover, and you won’t find a complete answer to the “why” question.

But you’ll find a lot in the Bible that will help you to deal with your troubles.

You’ll find a lot to assure you that God is with you in your troubles.

You’ll find ways that you can honor God, especially because you have suffered.

You’ll be encouraged to offer your pain up to God and let him use it to bless other people.

You’ll find that, while this world seems to be a “vale of tears,” there’s another world in which our Lord will wipe away all our tears.

I. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians Paul tells of an amazing experience he had had 14 years before.

A. He had been caught up into heaven and seen wonderful things—things that were too astonishing to tell about.

If Paul had been writing nowadays, he might have been tempted to write a book about his experience, and it maybe would become a best-seller and make him rich.

But he knew that what he had seen and experienced wasn’t something to boast about.

And then he had a setback. He tells about it in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

“And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me.”

We don’t know what Paul’s affliction was. Some think that he had malaria. Some think it may have been partial blindness, or chronic fever, or maybe an affliction of the mind.

But we know that it was something very painful, because he calls it a “thorn in the flesh.”

He didn’t call it a “sticker,” he called it a “thorn,” and thorns are very painful.

Maybe you have a thorn in the flesh—some kind of pain or affliction that torments. Most of us do, if we’ve lived as long as we have.

B. Notice, Paul didn’t blame God. He says, “A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me…”

Some people think that it is God who afflicts them. Maybe sometimes it is.

Maybe sometimes God gives us pain to get out attention, or to correct some sin in our life.

But Paul doesn’t blame God. He puts the blame on Satan.

But Paul figured out a purpose for his “thorn in the flesh.” It was to keep him from being too elated. It was, in other words, a lesson in humility.

One of the best things we can do when trouble comes is to ask ourselves: “What can I learn from this affliction?”

Maybe we can say like Paul: “It will help me to be humble.”

Several years ago my young granddaughter was talking about her grades. I said, “It’s good for you to get a bad grade now and then. It will help you to be humble.”

She said, “Grandpa, I’m humble enough.”

We may think we’re humble enough, but the truth is that we need constantly to learn that lesson.

Humility is not to think about ourselves more highly than we ought to think.

Humility is to constantly depend on God.

II. So Paul prayed about it. Paul was powerful in prayer, but this time he got an answer that surprised him.

A. Paul writes, “Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but God said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power if made perfect in weakness.’”

I don’t know whether God spoke to Paul in a voice Paul could hear with his ears, or whether God gave Paul an impression in his heart.

God has never spoken to me with a voice I could hear with my ears, but he has spoken to me in the Bible.

He has spoken to me by things wise people have told me.

He has spoken to me in books I have read.

And sometimes he speaks to me in my thoughts while I’m lying awake at night.

And through this story, God also speaks to us. He says, “My grace is sufficient or you…”

“Grace” is one of the great words in the Bible.

“Grace” is the powerful word that includes the entire story of God’s love, active in Christ and the Spirit to do for us humans what we could never do for ourselves.

B. Our afflictions weaken us. And God works in our weakness.

That is why God says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

When we are feeling strong and capable, we depend on ourselves. We don’t have to depend on God.

When we are weak we have to depend on God.

And so Paul says, “I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

APPLICATION

There’s nothing I can say—or anything you can read in the Bible—will take the sorrow out of your life.

But there are ways of looking at your troubles, and pains, and losses that will help you to bear them.

When we hold tightly on to God and don’t give up on him, we prove that our faith is real.

We become stronger believers.

We become an example for the weaker ones among us.

When we suffer, we understand better the sorrows of other people. We are able to comfort them because we understand something of what they are experiencing.

When life is good and everything is rosy with us, we hardly need God.

But when our bodies are full of pain and our lives are full of disappointments, we know we need God. These things can make us cling tightly to God.

There’s a saying, “The only whole heart is the broken one.” When our hearts are broken, that is when God can come in and heal our hearts.

I don’t mean that the pain will go away, but God will comfort us and heal our souls and help us to find peace in God.

When our bodies are full of pain and our hearts are full of sorrow, we long for that Better Land where Jesus is, where he has prepared a home for us to be with him for ever.

This world is not our home. We’re not supposed to be totally comfortable here. God is preparing us for glory.

This world isn’t a resort for our pleasure.

It’s more like a hospital for our healing.

It’s more like a school for our learning.

Paul wrote in this same letter to the Corinthians (4:16-18):

“So we do not lose heart.

Even though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

For this slight momentary affliction

is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.

because we look not tat what can be seen but at what cannot be seen;

for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”

Angels and Shepherds and Christmas

Luke 2:8-20

INTRODUCTION

A favorite Christmas picture is the scene of the shepherds sitting among their sheep on the hills at night and watching in amazement as a choir of angels appears to them in the distance, lighting up the sky as they sing “Glory to God in the highest” to the amazed shepherds.

I would like this afternoon to talk about that scene and to try to make it come off the Christmas card and into our hearts and lives, so that we can understand why what happened that night is such an important part of the gospel story.

Luke 2:8-20:

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.

And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child: and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

I. It is remarkable that the people who were privileged to receive this stunning announcement were lowly shepherds.

A. Shepherds were not highly regarded in ancient Palestine.

It is true that King David had been a shepherd, And a favorite psalm said, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” And Jesus himself called himself “the Good Shepherd.”

But in reality, shepherds were among the least respected of the people. They had a hard job. They lived on the fringes of society. Their work kept them away from the temple rituals that were so important in the worship of the time.

We don’t read of any shepherds among Jesus’s disciples.

But I think that God chose these people to receive this glorious announcement exactly because they were humble people.

B. Let’s imagine the scene.

For some reason, on this night the sheep were spending the night in the field. They have not been brought into the sheepfold, as would have been usual.

The shepherds are watching them—guarding them from wolves and thieves, and watching to make sure none of them wander away.

Shepherding must have been a dull job. What would you do all night, except try to keep awake?

But this night was different; suddenly an angel appeared!

 I have never seen an angel—and actually I don’t want to; every time we read in scripture of an angel appearing to anyone, that person is filled with fear. Sometimes we read that they fall down like dead men. And the angel always says, “Fear not.”

In this story the angel gives the message about the Holy Child, and suddenly the sky is full of angels.

It seems to the shepherds that the stars all come trooping down as a great army of angels (that is what an “angelic host” means), and they say:

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.”

(I know that isn’t the way you remember it. You remember the words: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Peace, goodwill to men.” But all the scholars agree that the original wording was, “Peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased.” The peace that was brought to earth on that first Christmas day was for God’s people—for those who responded to God’s love and welcomed the Savior.)

C. As soon as the angels departed, the excited shepherds headed to Bethlehem to see this thing that had been made known to them, and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby, and they told Mary and Joseph what they had been seen and told.

I suppose that Mary and Joseph were as surprised as could be to hear of what had happened.

Mary and Joseph knew this baby was special, and the message the shepherds told them from the angel gave them plenty to think about.

We read at the end of the story that “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

II. Now let’s consider what the story means.

A. After the angel told the shepherds, “Fear not,” he told them that his message was “Good news of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

Of all the good news that humankind has ever received, the most joyful news that ever came to earth was the announcement of the birth of the Christ.

I think of the good news that came to me in a letter from Charlotte agreeing to marry me.

I think of the good news that came when World War 2 ended.

But no good news was ever so good—or so joyful—as the good news that the Savior was born into our world.

And this was good news—not only for a lucky few—but for “all people.”

B. “For to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.”

This baby was announced to be a “Savior.”

The chapter began with these words: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.”

Did you know that the emperor, Caesar Augustus, was known throughout the empire as “Savior” and “Son of God”?

So there are two “saviors” in this story—one who was famous and powerful, and one who nobody had heard of yet.

One point of the story is to show us that a confrontation was about to take place between the one the world called “savior” and “lord” (that is, Caesar Augustus) and the true “Savior” and “Lord” (who was Jesus).

“Savior” to the Jews was a word full of meaning.

A “savior” was one who saved people from the dangers of life—he was a preserver and protector.

A savior could be a heroic man. But more often in the Bible the savior was God himself.

But here the angel applies that title to Jesus.

“Savior” tells us that Jesus is the one who heals our souls from the sickness of sin.

“Savior” tells us that Jesus is the one who redeems us from the guilt and punishment of sin.

“Savior” tells us that Jesus is the one who frees us from the power of sin and evil in our lives.

“Savior” tells us that Jesus is the one who will bring us through all our troubles and trials of this life and welcome us to our home in glory.

The angel said, “…a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”

The name “Christ” means that Jesus was the promised Messiah—the long awaited King.

“Lord” tells us that Jesus is the Almighty God of the Universe—the God of history, and the God who deserves our obedience and trust.

C. And then the angel gave the shepherds a sign by which they could identify the child who was Savior and Lord.

The angel said, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

When they got to Bethlehem they would look around and finally find a child that fit that description.

There would have been only one child in Bethlehem who was lying in a feeding trough for animals, and that would be Jesus.

D. The shepherds made the announcement throughout the neighborhood of the announcement of the angels and returned glorifying and praising God.

And that’s all we know of the shepherds. We don’t know whether any of them met Jesus again 30 years later when he began his ministry. We never read in the gospels that Jesus made any visits to his birthplace of Bethlehem, although I don’t see why he wouldn’t have.

If we take all we know of those three years of Jesus’s ministry, we really know only what happened on a few of the days of his public life.

CONCLUSION:

It is remarkable that when God sent his Son into the world, he chose for his parents insignificant people.

Jesus was born “on the road”—to homeless parents—not even in a proper house.

Only a few people in the world would have noticed.

God sent the big announcement to humble, lowly shepherds and let them get the word out.

Probably the first time anyone important heard about Jesus was when the wise men came to Jerusalem and told about the star.

And that was later—maybe as much as two years later—because we know that they arrived two years after they had seen the star, and by that time the holy family was living in a house.

And that event seems to have been quickly forgotten. We read no more about Bethlehem or the wise men in the gospels or in histories that were written of that time.

So what is God telling us?

He is telling us, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” (Those are the words of Jesus in Luke 6:20.)

He is telling us that God humbled himself to come to the lowliest of the low, and that tells us that Jesus is the Savior of everyone—not just the rich or powerful or privileged.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us put everything else in the background and think about the Christ who came into the world to be our Savior and Lord.

Let us remember that the baby is just the beginning. The important part comes at the end when our Savior ascends to the Cross and gives his life for the sins of the world.

And when he is laid in the tomb…and when he is raised from the grave…and is taken into heaven.

This is the great God whom we worship.

There is so much to distract us at Christmastime.

The world has made a spectacle of it.

The merchants have made it a thing to make money off of.

Sometimes amidst the family celebrations, Jesus is crowded out.

But Jesus belongs in the center of the celebration.

Let us bow down before our Great Savior and Lord and give him our life and our all.

Let us learn to trust him and to obey him and to follow him to the end.

“Arise, Shine; for Your Light Has Come”

Isaiah 60:1-3

INTRODUCTION

Some of you grew up on farms without electricity, as Charlotte did, can remember how dark the nights were when there was no moon. If it was a clear night, the stars gave a little light but not much. If it was cloudy, then it was really dark.

Some of us have visited caves. When the guide had led your group into the biggest cavern of the cave, he warned you that he was going to turn off the lights for just a minute so that you could experience the darkness. And when that total darkness came—so that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face—then you could even feel the darkness. A child would cry, and then the guide would turn the lights back on and everyone would heave a sign of relief.

Darkness—as a metaphor—represents evil, danger, and ignorance.

In ancient times, darkness meant danger from thieves or bandits.

If there was no moon people didn’t go out at night unless they had to, and, if they had to go out, they went in a group, and they carried torches.

I. Listen to this prophecy from the prophet Isaiah—written 500 years before Christ:

(Isaiah 60:1-3)

“Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples:

but the Lord will arise upon you,

and his glory will be seen upon you.

And nations shall come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

We like to think that knowing God means that we will always be happy people.

Do you remember those Sunday school songs—

“I have the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart,”

and “Joy, joy, my heart is full of joy,

and “I’m in-right, out-right, up-right, down-right happy all the time”?

But it isn’t true, and we shouldn’t have taught our children those songs, because they would soon learn, if they didn’t already know, that having Jesus in our hearts doesn’t mean we’re going to be happy all the time.

We repeat the verse—

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…”

Some modern translations read that verse:

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil; for you are with me…”

Discouragement can seem like the deepest darkness—or as Isaiah calls it: “thick darkness.”

Some of us have been there.

This world is a world of darkness for many, many of its people.

It is a world of sin and evil and trouble and disease and suffering, and death.

The worst kind of darkness is the darkness of a life without God.

II. But Isaiah also spoke of the light.

The words I read began with this:

“Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

Light in scripture represents love, joy, peace, hope, and salvation.

Do you remember the story of how Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Temple when he was just a few days old, and an old man named Simeon took the child into his arms and said:

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word;

for mine eyes have seen thy salvation

which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to thy people Israel.”

(Luke 2:29-32)

I think old Simeon was thinking of those verses in Isaiah in which God had promised so long ago a Savior who would be a light for all people in the world.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

That is why we light candles at Christmas time.

In the old days, candles were all the light there was in a church at night.

Sometimes each worshiper would bring a candle and insert them in candleholders in candleholders at the ends of the pews. And that would be the light in the church.

And light in scripture is a metaphor for goodness and joy and wisdom and salvation and glory.

CONCLUSION

Sometimes people call this world a “Vale of Tears” because there is so much sorrow and sadness.

For many, many lives there are far more tears than there is laughter.

And all of us have experienced the darkness.

Even some times when we walk with God, trusting with all our heart—we walk in the darkness.

But there is never no light at all for a believer, because darkness can never overcome the light that is Jesus. Even a little bit of light will help dispel the darkness.

The light that is Jesus is a living hope—the hope of eternal life in glory.

In Colossians 1:13 we read,

”He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness

and  transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Darkness may be all around, and we may sometimes feel ourselves to be in darkness, but there is always light if we belong to God.

We read, “In him—that is, in Christ—was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).

Light can overcome darkness, but darkness cannot overcome light.

Even the light of a candle can overcome the darkness.

But no amount of darkness can overcome the light of the candle.

When we were in Korea we were told never to strike a match in the open at night, because even that tiny flame could be seen for miles away and let the enemy know where we were.

We may feel that we are in the darkness, but if we have Jesus, we have light.

We know that glory lies ahead.

And in Ephesians 5:8 we read: ”Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.”

Take heart. Be of good cheer.

You are children of light. Live in hope…rejoice in the Lord.

Think about what God has in store for all of us who belong to him.

We read in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible a description of the Holy City that will be our Eternal Home with Jesus:

“There shall no more be anything accursed,

but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it,

and his servants shall worship him;

they shall see his face,

and his name shall be on their foreheads.

“And night shall be no more;

they need no light of lamp or sun,

for the Lord God will be their light,

and they shall reign for ever and ever.”

Think about this. Look forward to it. Live in expectation…and desire…and hope.

And whenever you see a Christmas candle, think about Jesus, the light of the world, and the light of your life.