Tag Archives: troubles

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Adversities & Adversaries

Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 15-minute message, which was delivered on 23 June 2024. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 27 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.

Our readings today (23 June 2024) point to and illustrate the adversities and adversaries that we encounter in like. Adversities are difficult situations and adversaries are difficult people – often these collide. Here is a summary of these challenges in the readings:

  • Mark 4:35-51 has the disciples and Jesus in a boat in a wild storm on the lake. This is an adversity – a situation. Many of the disciples were fishermen and familiar with storms at sea, so this must have been an exceptional storm to stir up such terror.
  • 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 has Paul recounting many of the challenges he has faced in life: troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger, dishonour, bad reports, impostors, unknown, dying, beaten, having nothing. It’s quite a list!
  • 1 Samuel 17:32-49 presents young David going up against the tremendous Goliath in single-handed combat. He didn’t stand a chance against such a formidable adversary!
  • Psalm 9 describes the Psalmist’s enemies and wicked people – many adversaries!

We may resonate with these challenges and adversaries. We often face challenging situations and difficult people. And sometimes that overwhelms us, as we wonder where God is in this.

But despite the challenges, scripture presents God as more powerful the any adversary we may face, and on our side when we face adverse situations. We are encouraged and urged to put our faith and trust in him:

  • Mark 4:35-51 describes Jesus standing up in the boat and commanding the storm: “Quiet! Be still!” and it was so – the storm dissipated. The disciples found themselves being more terrified by Jesus’ power over the elements than they had been by the storm itself! A real turnabout.
  • 2 Cor 6:1-13 has Paul affirming that despite the litany of adversities, he remains always rejoicing and possessing everything. All of these adversities are, for him, ‘nothing’ compared to the blessing of being God’s child.
  • 1 Samuel 17:32-49 recounts David’s plucky engagement with Goliath – he has bested bears and other wild animals – surely he can best this giant. And with a flick of his wrist and little catty, a stone embeds itself in Goliath’s head and he falls down dead and David decapitates him. God is on his side.
  • Psalm 9 intersperses its complaints about wicked enemies with affirmations of God’s allegiance: The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble … Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you … he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted … The Lord is known by his acts of justice … But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

Let us take heart in these affirmations. Let us strengthen our resolve in times of adversity. Let us not be cowed by adversaries. Let us trust in the Lord’s strength and love to take care of his own.

But there is a warning here also: let us not be the adversary to someone else and let us not cause adversity for others. God is on the side of his children, but he will not stand by us when we harm his other children. God expects us to emulate him, by standing up for people and by not being an adversary. The warnings are severe in Psalm 9 for those who make themselves enemies of God: “The wicked ensnared by the world of their hands. The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the people that forget God. … Let the nations know they are only mortal.” We do not want to become enemies of God! We want to keep on God’s right hand – his hand of power and protection – we do not want to fall under God’s wrath.

Instead, walk in God’s ways – the way of love, of justice and mercy.

Featured image from https://i.swncdn.com/media/980w/via/11268-woman-tucked-inside-bible-at-night-with-flash.jpg

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Beleaguered

Click here to listen to this 24-minute message.

Probably all of us go through times, at least now and then, when we feel beleaguered (click here for a definition of this word).

Jesus certainly did. The closer he got to the cross, the more the leaders of his time circled him, plotted against him, slandered him, entrapped him. By the time Judas became willing to betray him, Jesus had scores of vultures circling him. Our reading for today, from Luke 21:5-19, comes at just this time in his life. In it, Jesus speaks about the future – both the near future of the time of the destruction of the Jewish (second) temple, which would take place about 40 years later in AD70, and the distant eschatological future of the End Times, when Jesus prepares to return. In both times, followers of Christ will suffer persecution. They will be beleaguered.

Even though we are probably not living in the End Times, we as Christians may already have experience of being beleaguered. Sometimes we become beleaguered in our workplace, when we stand up for Kingdom values: integrity, honesty, fairness, justice, inclusion and vulnerability. Or in families, someone who converts from the family’s faith into the Christian faith may be ostracized, even expelled and cut off. Churches are attacked and people at workshop are killed, as in Sri Lanka on Easter Day 2019. Even within the church, people can become beleaguered by leaders who are threatened by their vision, their Spirit-filledness, their willingness to ask for change and their desire for greater inclusion. Much as the church ought to be a place of sanctuary and community, it can become a place of persecution and exclusion.

In Luke 21:5-19, Jesus presents four words of advice – words of wisdom – for those of us in such situations.

  1. Know that God knows. Sometimes, when we are under such pressure, we feel alone and abandoned. But Jesus emphasizes that God knows and is mindful of our situation. In v9 he says, “When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” In other words, since God knows what is still to come, such as the destruction of the Temple, God also knows your situation. God knows. God cares. God is present. God is in control. Psalm 121 reminds us that “he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
  2. Persecution is an opportunity for witness. He says in v13, “And so you will bear testimony to me.” While we are being persecuted and beleaguered, witness might not be uppermost on our minds, but Jesus says that this is the time to embody Kingdom values. But our capacity to witness is not something we do alone – no! He emphasizes that we need not stress about what we will say as witnesses (v14), because “I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.” We see such inspiration particularly in the life and death of St Stephen, in Acts 6 and 7.
  3. God protects his own. With God at our side, we have God’s protection: “But not a hair of your head will perish” (v18). Jesus appears to contradict himself here, because just two verses earlier he said, “they will put some of you to death“. We get some clarity about this from another passage that also speaks about the hair on our head, Luke 12:4-7, where he says, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” This follows a passage in which Jesus distinguishes between the death of the body and a more permanent death (which he there refers to as being thrown into hell). Jesus wants us to understand that to die does not mean to perish. Our bodies may suffer and even die, but we do not perish – those who are in Christ continue to live in the presence of God. (See my previous sermon on this passage in Luke 12.) So, yes, may may suffer when we are beleaguered and persecuted, but God protects us when it counts most.
  4. We are called to endure. Jesus concludes this passage saying, “Stand firm, and you will win life.” We are called to stand firm, to endure, to persevere, to be resolute, to hold the faith and (in South African idiom) to vasbyt (literally, to bite tightly). Paul says something similar in Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” This endurance is more than just standing still; it is about continuing to do God’s work. In Luke 8:15, in the parable about the seeds the fell on different types of ground, Jesus says, “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

Jesus never promises us an easy life, despite what many pastors and churches preach. Indeed, if anything, Jesus promises us that life will be difficult. But he provides us with the reassurance that God knows what we are going through and is present and in control, and that God will protect us, and ultimately whatever happens we will fall into his arms. He calls us to use these opportunities to witness to his values and Kingdom, and he calls us to stand firm and to produce good fruits, not matter what is going on around us.

If you are in such beleaguered circumstances, please know that I do not aim to diminish your suffering – not at all. Rather, I hope to encourage you with the words of Jesus, who suffered much, that God is right there with you and holding you through it all.

 

2019.11.17_Beleaguered churchFeatured photo of St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, which was bombed on Easter Day, 21 April 2019. May the souls of those who died rest in peace in God’s loving embrace. From https://ie.gofundme.com/f/victims-of-st-sebastian-church-negombo-sri-lanka