Hope and Healing
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: There is hope and healing in Jesus that is found nowhere else in the world.
The World in Turmoil
The God who Allows It
Eternal Hope and Healing
Romans 8:18-30 ESV
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
The World in Turmoil
People daily feel the strain of a world that has chosen to be separated from God.
God did not walk out on us - humanity walked out on God through a lack of trust and obedience, which is the foundation of sin.
I think that taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever is achieved must be achieved with the full exercise of passion, of vision, of pain, of fear, and of sorrow. How do we know, that our part of the meaning of the universe might not be a rhythm in sorrow?
-Ernest Becker
To deal with the world successfully is to acknowledge our brokenness.
To learn how to navigate it is to understand why.
The God who Allows It
In the midst of the separation, God allows frustration that we might yearn for the solutions that are only found in him.
There is purpose in the pain.
In allowing suffering we are driven to a search for justification, sanctification and glorification that can only be found in Christ.
According to Ernest Becker, the main task of human life is to become heroic:
“Since the main task of human life is to become heroic and transcend death, every culture must provide its members with an intricate symbolic system that is covertly religious…. Making a killing in business or on the battlefield frequently has less to do with economic need or political reality than with the need for assuring ourselves that we have achieved something of lasting worth…. Our heroic projects that are aimed at destroying evil have the paradoxical effect of bringing more evil into the world. Human conflicts are life and death struggles – my gods against your gods, my immortality project against your immortality project. The root of humanly caused evil is not man’s animal nature, not territorial aggression, or innate selfishness, but our need to gain self-esteem, deny our mortality, and achieve a heroic self-image.”
-Ernest Becker in The Denial of Death
In this quest for perfect heroism, we all ultimately fail.
We find disillusionment a familiar friend and that the most terrible state is as the apostle Paul wrote is to be without God and without hope in the world.
We find that we are all in need of a savior, a healer who redeems our broken lives full of disappointment and regret.
The pain of life is to ultimately lead us to Christ’s suffering at the cross and the hope of healing that comes from his resurrection life.
Eternal Hope and Healing
Through Jesus Christ, God offers the eternal hope and healing that the world so desperately needs.
The complete heroism that we need is found in Jesus alone.
Hurt can lead to hope if we turn from putting confidence in our idols and look to Jesus Christ.
Hate can turn into healing if we come to the end of ourselves, turning from our sins to find Jesus at the cross where enemies are reconciled through repentance and Christ’s cleansing blood.
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world....No doubt pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. it removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Through Christ’s sinless life, Jesus provided the hope of being justified before a holy God who will hold us accountable for our sins.
Through Christ’s cross, Jesus offered the hope of sanctification that these sins could be forgiven through repentance and faith in his atoning work.
Through Christ’s resurrection, we have the hope of glorification, bringing the eternal healing that we need for our minds, emotions and ultimately bodies.
This is the reason for the Advent season, why we have so much to be thankful for and why we celebrate the coming of our king.
Second City Church