Profound Hope for our world has been unveiled in Christ. Now the Bible speaks of the world in two senses: There is the people-side, and there is the planet-side. When I was a teen, the “USA for Africa” famine-relief campaign was all the rage. The biggest stars came together and sang: “We are the World.” Lyrics: “There comes a time when we need to heed a certain call. When the world must come together as one. There are people dying. Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life, the greatest gift of all. We can’t go on pretending day by day. That someone, somewhere will soon make a change. We are all part of God’s great big family. And the truth, you know, love is all we need.” We are world… for God so loved the world!
But the Bible also speaks to the planet-aspect of the world. As a teen, fear of imminent, climate catastrophe began sweeping through our schools. Churches began to emphasize “creation care” and “environmental stewardship.” You’d send kids off to a conference, and they’d come back wanting the church to start a recycling program to “save the world!”
It’s self-evident. Our world has two fatal flaws: A people and a planet-flaw. First, we don’t love one another so well. There is so much evil and cruelty. People go from bad to worse. The inclinations of our hearts become progressively evil over time. We stop seeing and treating one another as a great big family. We disregard one another, putting ourselves first.
In Genesis, marital hostilities (Adam & Eve), spill over into brotherly hostilities (Cain& Abel), which spill over into generational hostility (in Genesis 4 Lamech sings his song of vengeance!). Soon, nobody is seeking God or what’s good. By Gen 11, people aspire to be their own gods. Once the human train begins to get off the rails, little can be done to “right it.” Once a marriage, a family, a generation, a city, a state, a nation begins that slide… there is little hope to be found this side of heaven. All the money, technology, knowledge of world hasn’t healed our world’s fatal people-flaw. Every generation hopes to right humanity, but none succeeds.
And in addition, our world exhibits a fatal planet-flaw. Yes, there is such kaleidoscopic beauty in this world. An endless smorgasbord of pleasure exists to be enjoyed. There is so much more to life than doom scrolling! The deepest of pleasure is found creating, building, exploring… studying, organizing… planting seeds, cultivating life, reaping good things. The purest of joy is found in dating, marrying, parenting, building family. In Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve “Go and subdue the earth! Flourish!” There is no excuse to ever be bored.
But just like our world has a people-flaw, it has a planet-flaw. In this world, we’re subject to evil and cruelty from one another… our bodies are subject to pain and suffering. The ground is at once good and hospitable… but it’s also ridden with disease, viruses, disasters, daily tragedies. Every Spring it seems that some tragic loss visits our community. And tragedy doesn’t discriminate! It’s just as apt to visit a mother’s womb, as an after-school program on a sunny day, or an interstate.
We want to put on a strong face in the midst of such gut-wrenching pain—but everyday this world exposes our vulnerability. When bad things happen, we’re left thinking, “that could have been me…” and we’re certainly not wrong. In Ecclesiastes 7:15, Solomon reflect, “In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives a long life in spite of his evil.”
In Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 he says, “Everything is the same for everyone: a single fate awaits the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, the one who offers sacrifices [i.e. the religious] and the one who does not sacrifice [i.e. the irreligious]. As it is with the good [person], so it is with the sinner; as it is with one who takes an oath, so it is with one who fears an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone.”
A dose of Biblical Realism… we don’t live in a bubble. We don’t live in orbit, far above the loveless cruelty or planetary pain this world throws at us. At any given moment, on any given day, we’re just as apt to be the headline as the next person. I struggle mightily against the myth of Christian exemption. We imagine ourselves exempt from bad things happening to us. But we can only nurture such hope for so long. Because (sorry Joel Osteen…) bad things do happen, and will happen. To Christian people… the Churched… to faithful-loving-good-young-old-unsuspecting people. And this is not to say God doesn’t intervene, or can’t intervene, or won’t intervene. Job prayed for his family every day and yet Satan snatched them away in a whirlwind. But neither does it mean we should attribute pain, suffering, and cruelty to God. God doesn’t desire any to perish, he delights not in the death of the wicked, he’s a good Father.
If we’re not exempt from pain and suffering… what then does hope and healing look like for world? Listen to the realism with which Paul describes Christian hope in Romans 8:18-25. First, he speaks to the planet-side (Our classical problem of pain and suffering). Let every syllable speak to you! There is no denial of reality of suffering. “18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it [Creation! Planet!] will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
And then Paul speaks to the people-side (the problem of sin and suffering): “23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.”
What most leaps out to me is the word “groaning.” Unless you live under a rock, you’re groaning. We wish ourselves to be exempt from the evil cruelties of others as much as the curses from the ground. This world is NOT now as it should be—but it will be! Our planet will be liberated from death and decay. Our bodies will be liberated from sin and suffering. Wake up O Sleeper! Hope is on the horizon! Yes, the birth pangs of this life are sharp and agonizing… but our new bodies… indeed, a new heaven and earth are about to be unveiled! In Romans 8:24-25 Paul says, “We were given this hope when we were saved…” And I love what Paul says here, “(If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it…” Boom. And he adds to this, “But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”
Another word that jumps out at me is the word “foretaste.” In Christ Jesus, we have a foretaste of what’s coming, of what’s possible. And all things are possible with God! In the gospels Jesus did indeed heal people immediately, completely. He even raised people from the dead, and was Himself raised from the grave. These miracles were a foretaste. Our hope isn’t in “exemption” from pain and suffering. It’s in something greater called “redemption.” I should wish myself exempt from hardship but that is not my hope. My hope is for God to redeem my life from sin, suffering, evil, and cruelty… redeem my body from death, decay, cursedness of ground. And in Jesus’ life and mystery we not only see God’s power, but willingness and ability to take bruised reeds and mend them. To take smoldering wicks, and rekindle them. To take our mortal, corruptible, weak, frail, limited, bruised, diseased, ravaged… yes vulnerable and lowly bodies… and transform them into a more glorious body! The gospels give us a “foretaste…”, they wet our appetite, they stir within us an even deeper longing and hope.
On the cross, Jesus didn’t show himself exempt from pain and sorrow. We don’t worship a God who orbits above our pain, watching from distance! No, we worship a God who descended right into the midst of pain and suffering, who took on our sorrows, who wept bitterly at time, alongside us! But he didn’t leave us weeping. Our message isn’t that God merely sees us and empathizes alongside us. No, Jesus promised that if we’d trust him, he’d give us eternal security. For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life! In Romans 8:28 Paul says, “We know that all things work together for [this] good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Whatever the world throws at us… Romans 8:37-39, “37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Our present pain is indeed sharp, and real, and terrible. But it isn’t final. As we wait for redemption, Paul says in Romans 8:26 that, “the Spirit also helps us in our weakness.” The Spirit of God stands beside us, strengthening us, translating our groans into prayers. He gives us assurance as sons and daughters. In every way there is an advantage to being a believer in life. But for whatever disadvantage we feel, not being exempt from pain… our hope is in future redemption, a creation full redeemed, our lives and these bodies fully redeemed, our souls resting secure in God’s salvation. The planet and bodies liberated from death and decay. Our lives, liberated from sin and suffering. God’s love on full display-- for God so loved the world, whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life! We groan now, but one day soon God will satisfy and silence our groanings on day of Christ Jesus.
What it our duty as Christian’s as co-sufferers in this world? First, its to hold out the words of life. To help people Explore Hope!
Second, its to do the good works God created us to do as a people, Church. We don’t retreat from darkness, tragedy. We step in. We comfort with the comfort we ourselves have received, and are yet to receive on day of Christ Jesus! We use our gifts, abilities to show God’s love… We’re not just “fair-weathered” church friends present when everything is good… but “foul-weathered” church family; people also show up in storms and darkness. Explore Partnership!