Suffering For Glory 2. Maylands-Mt Lawley Ps 68:11-23; Isa 25; 2 Pet 3:1-18; Matt 24:26-51
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3ZdivRo4SQc&si=xQ8b78U2g3bP7Lds
Introduction [] omitted from spoken sermon
After preaching here last week I was asked for my response to the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Reading up on this since, especially concerning her views on sexuality, I discern that the Lord is answering the prayers of the Church for renewal and revival. We can expect to see across the global Anglican communion a move towards a split/schism (cf. 1 Cor 1:10ff.), that will be trauma causing and ignite much more prayer for mercy and the outpouring of the Spirit of holiness (Zech 12:10; Rom 1:4), such is the fruit of God-permitted suffering. Staying with the international scene, let me switch to America.
At the funeral of political celebrity Charlie Kirk, two voices spoke with tones beyond the human. Widow Erica Kirk quoted Jesus from the cross, ““Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”” (Luke 23:34). Then Donald J Trump apologised to Erica Kirk before defiantly declaring his refusal to forgive: “I hate my enemies” [he arrogantly announced (Rev 13:5). Whilst Kirk does not seem to have been a voluntary martyr,] the response to Kirk’s death echoes Jesus across the centuries, as Trump echoes the long line of vengeful Cain (Gen 4; 1 John 3:12; Jude 11 cf. # Heb 12:24). The refusal to forgive manifests the (transcendent) the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:1ff.), or more profoundly, the wickedness of the anti-Father (John 8:44), for it is God the Father who lovingly puts forward/[sends] Jesus as the remedy for wrath and condemnation (Rom 3:25; John 3:16-17; 1 John 2:22-23; 4:1ff etc.). This radical polarisation between the natural human way of responding and the all-merciful grace of God in Christ (cf. Matt 5:43-48) explains why, though living in an age of great trauma, Western Christianity has long been deprived of supernatural visitations [, signs, wonders and mass conversions]. Today however PTL, [even in Australia], we are beginning to see the Spirit of the Lord opening opportunities which are not naturally understandable i.e. events that cry out for a supernatural explanation e.g. Gen Z conversions. To enter more fully into what God is doing globally we must be embraced by the paradoxical nature of the gospel. [I do believe that the call of God on the Church in Perth to grow in mission will see martyrs emerge, their suffering will break our hearts (Acts 21:12) and produce powerful ongoing comfort in the Lord (2 Cor 1:8ff; Ps 34:18).] Whilst God’s ways with people are uncomplicated intellectually, they are often tortuous in their inner demands for unconditional obedience (cf. Gen 22 etc). Remembering Fr Steve’s visit to the Karen people group on the Thai-Myanmar border, let me get to the essential point of the struggle between good and evil between Satan and God (Acts 26:18).
Failure to Forgive
Myanmar has more than 100 ethnic groups, however about 2/3 of the population are of the “Burman” group. In God’s timing last January, [the fifth time we were in Myanmar], we providentially connected to a godly missionary [to that nation’s sole Muslim majority state (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhine_State),] whose doctoral thesis shockingly reveals that in the largest city in the country, Yangon, (5m) there are no Burman churches (https://www.amazon.com.au/Missions-Amidst-Pagodas-Contextual-Communication/dp/1783689846) Whilst up to 90% of some ethnic groups turned to Jesus upon first hearing the Gospel, with large churches in Myanmar and across the global dispersion, how is this possible? The Burman are conservative Buddhists, whilst most of the ethnic groups were animists, [and like all animists across the world were] far more open to the gospel than Buddhists. [This is not a false explanation,] but look more deeply and widely (e.g. https://missionexus.org/dreams-and-visions-a-biblical-pattern-of-divine-encounter-for-muslims/), and you will encounter the same spiritual stronghold of resistance anywhere to a move of the Spirit of Christ. It is behind the fact that there are virtually no Indigenous pastors/priests leading majority Caucasian churches in Australia. [I could go on to shift focus to the Māori Pakeh/white relationship in NZ, or attitudes amongst South Pacific Islanders to the industrialised nations of the world, like Australia.] The real need for a global revival (Col 1:20) is the foundational need for global forgiveness. There can and will be no national revival in Myanmar until the long oppressed and enslaved Chin, Mon, Shan, Karen (Kayin), Rakhine, Kachin, and Karenni (Kayah) etc. peoples forgive their ancient and contemporary oppressors and enslavers, the Burmans. And the same applies to our need for heart (Matt 18:35) forgiveness from Aboriginal people. (cf. https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php) This is not speculation but spiritual and biblical discernment. I have gone to some of Indigenous Christian leaders and challenged them about their thinly veiled racism e.g. JY to Christian leader re black/Indigenous vs white/Caucasian ants jokes. During the night I was reminded of our visit some years ago to the Holocaust Museum (Yad Veshem) in Jerusalem, it’s images gruesome and shocking, but what came to me towards the end of the circuit was the resentment towards the WWII allies for refusing appeals to bomb the trainlines into the concentration camps. This unresolved trauma explains the history of modern Israel.
Spirit Power
Last week I made passing reference to the thesis, “the body keeps the score”” (Bessel Van Der Kolk), i.e., lasting physical impact of trauma is stored up as physical sensations: [chronic pain, muscle tension, hypersensitivity interfering with the ability to regulate emotions, concentrate, and trust]. As trauma is a complex multilayered phenomenon [mediated/vicarious, multi-generational and pervasive] so divine healing in Christ must be holistic. [In a time when other religions, including secularism, can only provide patch up remedies the earthiness of the Word made flesh for crucifixion and glorification imparts true shalom.] evidence that this is true comes from my personal testimony that the more elevated your title, Rev, Dr, Fr, pastor, chair of board, prophet…, the more likely you are to encounter fierce irrational unpredictable opposition from traumatised people [which is quite demonic]. Such hurting people project, [usually unconsciously, towards] [me, and other] onto “father-figures” their idealistic expectations of what a paternal father figure should be for them! Beghind the psychological sphere the core issue is rebellion against the Heavenly Father (cf. Jer 2:27; John 17:11)!
I’ve had some experiences of “indescribable anguish” which I can only describe as “soul splitting”,[an expression which today has primarily been used of Gaza (https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/first-person/2025/01/06/gaza-palestine-winter-not-just-season) but could equally be used [of the Holocaust and especially of the events of October 7 2023.] but praise God, as I move, slowly and painfully, into the final stage of life, I increasingly realise that every dimension of our suffering has been borne by Jesus in his bearing God’s wrath, [to quote the Heidelberg Catechism], “body and soul” in life and in death. (https://charnockianlogic.blogspot.com/2012/08/heidelberg-catechism-question-37.html Today I realise such extreme pains were needed to give me insight into the suffering of the cross. Around the time of such anguishes a “riot” , with shouting, accusations, finger pointing, weeping etc. took place in a congregation I had planted, which rose up, much like those in the synagogue of Nazareth, to excommunicate Jesus (cf. Luke 4:14-30). This rebellion of our “Christian family” was devastating to my own children; though Donna and I have learned to accept such things as a sovereign choice made in Christ for the greater good of the whole Body of Christ. Such traumas [can be ordained by a loving and gracious God [let alone my normally fatal heart disease and small vessel disease] can only be understood through the lens of the cross as sovereign manifestations of the holiness of God. Praise the Lord over the decades in various congregations there have also been believers moved spontaneously by the Spirit coming asking for forgiveness for their bad heart attitudes towards me. [E.g. MM manipulated by interceding women.] all this is like the intense spiritual dynamic of the New Testament.
Imminence of the Return
Whilst the imminent/soon Return of Christ is eminently biblical e.g. Rev 22:20 and fervently believed by a majority of the world’s poor and oppressed Christians, it is generally viewed with scepticism by highly educated prosperous Westerners (cf. 1 John 3:1-3). To contextualise this let me refer to a comparison between the calm “beautiful death” of [the famed] father of Greek philosophy, Socrates and the indescribable anguish/trauma of Jesus in Gethsemane and crucifixion (https://personal.colby.edu/personal/f/fqgouvea/cullmann.html). Whilst Socrates was a worldly-wise man [for whom God was a perfect being endlessly thinking pure thought], and Jesus had a rural Galilean education, their crucial difference is not at a mental level but between a man who loved himself first (Matt 16:25) and someone who loved us more than himself. (https://recreatedinchrist.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/god-loves-us-more-than-himself/)
Brothers and sisters, we are part of a global Church on the way to the climactic revelation of the Return of the suffering Lamb, who by his voluntary [sonly/filial] submission to God-ordained suffering for his Father’s kingdom refused all temptations to take short cuts to glory (Gen 3:5; Matt 4). Rember dear one “Suffering is not the cost of glory but the means of glory” (Bingham). All this will be clear in the time of the final resurrection when God “will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil i.e. death that is spread over all nations.” (Isa 25:7 cf. 4:2-6; Rev 7:9-14)
Jesus’ calls us to a discipleship like his own, ““If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matt 16:24-26). The way of discipleship involves voluntary immersion in trauma [e.g. weeping in prayer (Rom 8:18-30) for consequent healing,] thanking God for every affliction he has ordained in our lives so that we might be finally restored in his resurrection power (Col 3:15; 1 Thess 5:18).
Conclusion
The central problem of the Western Church is its practical denial of Jesus deity in his humanity, to put this more directly, we lack Christlike humanity. [In seeking to answer every problem rationally in defending the glory of the Lord in his Godhead] we have ignored the importance of texts like Matt 24:36 where Jesus exposes the limits of his knowledge, ““But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt 24:36 cf. John 14:28). With Jesus we must learn to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). By ignoring the Son’s faithfulness to his Father [as the manifestation of his glory] we have denied the fullness of his humanity. [One of the more helpful books on my shelves bears the memorable title “Saving God’s Reputation” (https://www.amazon.com.au/Saving-Gods-Reputation-Theological-Narratives/dp/0567202445) which is a way of talking about how] we fail to understand that in the cosmic plan of God “the endurance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev 14:12) is how God honours his own testimony [before a world of evil powers] and preserves his own honour, “saves his reputation” for eternity.
On the threshold of the Return of Jesus, God will send ““Elijah [to you before that great and dreadful/terrible day of the Lord comes.] 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; [or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.]”” (Mal 4:5-6). This heart turning of older to younger and younger to older [in the power of God] is happening across the globe today. [Peter preached at Pentecost that in a time of traumatic signs, “the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:20-21; cf. 2 Pet 3:10).] Before Christ’s final Return we are told in Revelation [by the Spirit] to expect “preliminary appearances”, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (cf. Rev 2:5, cf. 2:16). We can discern the first rays of such a dawning even now [“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (2 Pet 1:19)]
In hotspots of severe trauma, Iraq Syria….the Myanmar diaspora… Churches across the world are responding in kingdom authority, becoming centres of salt and light total forgiveness and hope (Matt 5:14-16), these are forerunners on the threshold of a global revival (https://www.opendoors.org.hk/en-US/news/latest/bringing-hope-church-in-iraq/; https://www.gjournals.org/2025/02/28/022525029-nganyu/) In like manner, St Luke’s and St Pat’s, are called in Christ to be faithful to their call to be genuine therapeutic communities of hope, healing body, soul and spirit in Jesus name [cf. James 5:13-20].