Culture Shock Therapy

KNU International English Church
May 26, 2011
Josh Broward


    These days, we are talking about what it means to be the church.  So far, we’ve talked about hospitality, family, living the mission, and conflict.  Today, we’re picking up an issue that is really important for our local church: Culture Shock.
    I want to start with a simple example.  Words are like bags or containers for meaning.  The words themselves are packages in which we store meaning, and different cultures pack words with different meanings.  Sometimes, we’re surprised at the meanings other cultures pack into their words.
    Here’s one example of how this might work.  Jereme and Adam both went shopping.  They both brought home a bag that says E-Mart. 

• They both bought noodles.  (Jereme shows Korean “glass” noodles.  Adam shows spaghetti.)  They might look a little different, but they’re pretty close.
• They both bought red sauce.  (Adam shows tomato sauce.  Jereme shows red pepper paste.)  Those are going to taste VERY different.
• They both bought something fermented.  (Jereme shows kimchi.  Adam shows sour cream.)  At this point, both people might be saying, “You’re going to eat that?!  Sour cabbage?  Rotten milk?”  And both people are saying, “Oh yeah, that’s good stuff.”
• They both bought fruit.  (Adam shows an apple.  Jereme shows a 참외.)  Sometimes, when you start unpacking cultural differences, you run into a total difference.  One person says, “What is that?  We don’t even have a name for that.”  Actually, the only translation I could find for 참외 is “oriental melon.”  Basically, the dictionary people were like, “Um ... it’s kind of like melons you have in other countries, but not really.”

    This is how words and cultures work.  They are using the same word [E-mart], but they’ve packed it with different things.  Sometimes, they’re pretty similar - like noodles.  Sometimes, they’re different - like “red sauce.”  Sometimes, we are shocked by the way a different culture defines a word or experience.  Other times, we just scratch our heads and say, “I don’t really even understand that.  We don’t have anything like that.”  Then, the best we can say is, “It’s kind of like ... this.” 
    We have these kind of issues as a church.  Even when we’re speaking the same language, we are still packing those words with our own cultural meanings. 

    Culture shock is not all bad.  It can help us learn a lot about ourselves and others.  But for today, I want us to think about culture shock as a disease.  If you break that word down, it makes sense: “dis-ease.”  Culture shock is something that makes us feel not-at-ease or uneasy or uncomfortable.  There are three important things you need to know about the “disease” of culture shock.
    First, there is no vaccine.  Everybody gets culture shock.  If you have any long-term exposure to people of other cultures, you will get culture shock.  As Bill Patch used to say to the new professors, “99% get culture shock, and the other 1% are lying!”
    Second, there is no cure.  There is nothing you can do to make culture shock completely go away.  As long as you are with people from different cultures, you will still get culture shock.  I’ve been here for almost seven years, and I still get culture shock.
    However, there are treatments or therapies.  There are things we can do to make culture shock better, less severe, easier to live with.  And all of these treatments are deeply spiritual, deeply Christian, deeply Biblical.

    The first treatment for culture shock is UNDERSTANDING.  The book of Proverbs is all about understanding.  Let’s read the first part of chapter 2 now.
 1 My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.
 2 Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.
 3 Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
 4 Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
 5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.
 6 For the Lord grants wisdom!  From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
 7 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.  He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
 8 He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.
 9 Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.
 
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.
 
11 Wise choices will watch over you.  Understanding will keep you safe.
    Understanding is a key to life.  Concentrate on understanding.  Ask for understanding.  Understanding will keep you safe.  Understanding is so important for culture shock, that we’re going to spend a lot of time on this first therapy.  We need three different kinds of understanding.

    We need to understand the process of culture shock.  Here’s a quick overview.
 Stage 1: The Honeymoon Period.  This is the stage when everything is new and beautiful and wonderful.  You are soooo excited about your new adventure in a new culture.  Everything is cute or cool.  Isn’t it just so cute how all the little kids point and say some random English thing?  Hello.  My name is.  What’s your favorite color?  This stage usually lasts between two weeks and three months.
 Stage 2: Frustration. Eventually things aren't so cute any more.  Many of those little differences or “adventures” that were so intriguing at the beginning start to become grating and draining.  Don’t you just hate it when the kids point and say some random English thing?!  I’ve got a finger I can point too, kids!  This is the hardest stage of culture shock. We can feel homesick, depressed, angry, and helpless.  This stage can last anywhere from three months to one year.  Some people go home while they are still in frustration mode.
Stage 3: Transition.  You start to learn some things that are helpful.  Maybe you actually start studying Korean, so you can say more than “Anyanghaseo” and “Kamsahamnida.” You can actually use chopsticks without dropping your food all over your shirt.  The key point at this stage is regaining hope.    The transition period usually lasts one to three months.
Stage 4: New Balance.  After a while, you start to get adjusted.  You kind of find your rhythm in a new place, living in a new way.  You feel less out of place.  You find a few groups or communities where you really belong. And amazingly, your focus begins to shift away from culture shock and onto just living life.
 Stage 5: Re-entry Shock.  You thought we were done, right?  Nope.  When we go home, we have culture-shock in our own culture.  Home isn't the same any more – or at least it's not the same for us.  It takes time to get adjusted again.
 Stage 6: Recycle.  You thought we were done again, right?  Gotcha!  Culture shock just keeps coming and coming.  Once you finish one cycle, you just move back into it again.   But once you’ve gone through the process, it’s a lot messier from then on.  You might be in different stages at the same time in different areas of your life. 
    Just knowing where you are in the process can be helpful.  Knowing that there is a process can be helpful and hope-giving.  When you’re in the frustration stage, understand that you are not alone and that it won’t be like this forever.  If you persevere, you will transition and find a new and joyful balance.

    We also need to understand the other culture.  If you want to really thrive in a multicultural setting, you need to become a student of other cultures.  Read some books.  Learn the language.  Ask lots of questions.  Why did that just happen?  What’s really going on here?  What’s the history behind this issue?  For more on this, check out the insert in the bulletin, “How to Learn about Korea.”
    The real key here is listening.  James gives us some wise advice about culture shock.  “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry” (James 1:19).  If we would be a little faster to listen and a little slower to get angry, our world would be a different place.

    Lastly, we need to understand ourselves.  One thing I’ve seen about culture shock is that it forces our darkness to the surface.  Whatever our deepest issues are, they will come out in culture shock. 
    When we get ready to rail on how bad another culture is, we need to take time to heed the ancient words, “Prophet, know thyself.”  Before we go around trying to pick out the “specks” in other cultures, we need to take a long hard look at our own lives, at our own hearts, and at our own cultures.  We might find some rotten old “planks” in places we don’t expect.  (See Matthew 7:3-5.)

   So “tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.  Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.  Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. ... Understanding will keep you safe” (Proverbs 2:2, 3, 11).

   The next key therapy for culture shock is FRIENDSHIP.  For this one, let’s take a look at one of the classic texts on friendship - Ecclesiastes 4:7-12.
 7 I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. 8 This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.
 9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.  Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
   Culture shock and isolation are a dangerous combination.  If you are going through culture shock alone, you are likely to end up depressed and bitter.  Maybe you came to Korea to pay off your debts or to have some adventure, but you can end up saying, “Who am I working for?  Why I am giving up so much ... ?  It’s all so meaningless and depressing.” 
    Isolation is dangerous and difficult for single people and for introverts - and especially for single introverts.  If you find yourself isolated, make your way to a Bible study.  Join the adult Sunday school class.  Get involved in a ministry.  Join a book club.  Do something with other people.  Structure some relationships into your life because they probably aren’t just going to happen by accident. 
    If you are an extrovert, do everyone a favor and adopt an introvert.  Invite them into your social circle.  Bring them with you when you do stuff.  Introverts are pretty cool people, but they usually won’t just walk up and ask to get involved.  You’ve got to ask them.
    One of the 10 Commitments for members of our church is that we will love other people - especially people of other cultures.  In all of our membership classes, I always say that this means becoming friends with someone from another culture.  Become true friends - not just smile and handshake “friends.”  This will go a long, long way to helping us all deal with culture shock. 

    The last basic treatment for culture shock is GRATITUDE.  Sometimes, culture shock leads us into negativity.  We get together in little groups and bad-talk people from the other culture.  “Can you believe he did that?  What was she thinking?!  That’s so rude.  Oh, I know.  I hate it when they do that.  That’s just crazy.” 
    But here’s the thing.  What we focus on usually becomes true.  Our conversations become our reality.  Negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  We expect bad things and frustrations, and guess what we see?  Bad things and frustrations.
   This is why Paul’s advice in Philippians is so important for us.  Let’s read Philippians 4:4-9.
 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
   Listen to how Mark Lau Branson (Memories, Hopes, and Conversations) explains this.
Gratitude is not just a fleeting emotion - it is foundational.  As a response to God’s gracious initiatives, gratitude changes us to our very core.  Gratitude is not first affect (emotions), although it often helps us move from fear or doubt or anger; rather, gratitude is a stance that changes our perceptions, our thinking, our discernment.  When our beginning place is thankfulness - for God, for God’s creation and redemption, for God’s ongoing mercies, and for evidences of God’s grace - then we give attention to all signs of grace.  Our thankfulness, especially when voiced, makes grace more available, more present, more powerful - to oneself and to one’s community.

    We could easily dismiss this: “Sure, it’s easy for Paul and Mark-whoever to say be grateful.  But it’s different for me.  I’m here in Korea, working like crazy or being bored like crazy.”  But Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, whipped, put in an arena with wild animals, and more.  Paul actually wrote these words about gratitude while living in a Roman prison, where he was in chains for his faith.  Yet, Paul was absolutely saturated with the love and joy of God.
    This is the heart of the gospel.  God loves us deeply.  We have rejected God and rejected each other.  But God worked through Christ to reclaim his lost children and to make peace within his family.  God forgave our sins and rebellion, and in Paul’s words:  “Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united [us] into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us...  He made peace between [us] by creating in himself one new people from the two groups”  (Ephesians 2:14-16).

    Sure, we experience culture shock.  Sure, we get frustrated.  Sure, we have hard times, but God is good.  God offers us amazing grace.  We don’t deserve it.  We can’t earn it.  It’s free and limitless.  But God’s grace changes us --- if we let it.  We have so much to be thankful for.  We can start with God’s amazing grace and let that grace open our eyes to the countless blessings all around us. 

    We all get culture shock.  There is no vaccine and no cure.  But there is treatment. 
“Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.  Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.”
Develop friendships that will support you and strengthen you.
Practice gratitude. 
    Remember God’s goodness, and be grateful.  Remember all the blessings that are yours by living in Korea, and be thankful.  Remember all the good things that come from multicultural community, and rejoice. 

The Family of God

Part 1:

    Today we are celebrating several holidays: Children’s Day, Parents’ Day, Teachers’ Day, and Family Day - and while you’re at it, you can throw in Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day.  We had some debate about how we should deal with these secular holidays in our Christian worship service.  However, as we began to think about our series on the Church, we remembered the Christian teaching that God is our Father and that we are God’s family together. 
    Listen to how Paul explains this in Ephesians 2.

 19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners.  You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people.  You are members of God’s family.  20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.  And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.  21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.  22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

    We are one family, one house.  God has carefully joined us together in Christ, so that together we are a temple for God’s Spirit.  When we are together and committed to Jesus, something amazing and mysterious happens.  Somehow, our togetherness and our foundation in Jesus makes God’s Spirit real among us. 
    One of the beautiful things of God’s family is that we are all in God’s family - whether we are single, married, divorced, or widowed.  No one is excluded.  If you have put your faith in Christ, God has given you a new family.  We are all related to each other - like it or not!
    Paul explains this again in his letter to a young pastor named Timothy:

1 Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father.  Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers.  2 Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.  3 Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. ...  7 Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism.
 8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith.  Such people are worse than unbelievers. (1 Timothy 5:1-3, 7-8)
    We are brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers to each other.  None of us is alone.  Last week, we talked about hospitality.  One of the fundamental functions of the Church is to include each other as family - especially those who don’t have any family living close to them.  Christians make new families.  Christians welcome the lonely.  Christians gather the stragglers into small groups.  Christians give students a place to call home.  Christians are brothers to the brother-less, and sisters to the sister-less.  Christian singles band together in new friendship/family groups.  Christian families welcome singles into their family mix, involving them in holidays, family trips, and weekly dinners.  The family of God is always inclusive.  Live out the family of God this week by including someone new.


Part 2 (With Children)
    Christians also celebrate children.  Our children are with us for the first half of the service today.  I want to invite our children and parents to come up to the front.  If you have a child who is elementary age or less, come on up to the front.
 
    Did you guys have a good Children’s Day? 

    Did you do something special with your family?

    Did you get any presents?

    You know, sometimes, big people think we’re so important that we don’t have time for little kids and kid stuff.  Do you ever feel frustrated because your parents don’t have enough time to play with you?  I know Emma feels like that sometimes.
    One time, people thought Jesus was too busy to spend time with little kids.  Let’s read the story in Matthew 19, and see what happened.

 13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
 14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” 15 And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

  What do you think this story means?

    I think it means two basic things.
    First, you are really important to God.  God loves you.  God always has time for you.  God will always listen to you and love you.  Kids are really, really important.  You are really special.  Sometimes, parents and big people can get kind of stressed and busy, but we need to remember that you kids are super important to us and to God.  God loves you, and we love you.  And the most important thing we can do is to love you and to help you feel God’s love for you.
    But second, you have something to teach us.  A lady named Angela Schwindt said something really cool: “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." 

    What do big people teach you?

    What can you teach big people?
   
    Jesus says we need to become like you children if we want to live God’s way.  (See Matthew 18:3-4.)  We need to trust God like you trust your mom and dad.  We need to ask lots of questions like you do.  We need to play with freedom and joy like you do.  We need to love like you do.  If we really want to be like Jesus, we need to hang out with you guys and learn how to be kids again.  That means you’re pretty special, right?!

    So we want to pray for you.  All of our pastors are going to come up here.  (Pastor Matt is in the USA for his ordination interviews - 안수심 - so he can’t be here today.)   Also, let’s bring up everyone who has children here today - whether they are babies, teenagers, or university students.  We want to pray for all of you.  So just come with your family to one of the pastors.  First, the parents pray for your kids.  (Korean is OK.)  Then, if the kids want to pray for the family, they can pray too.  Last, the pastors will pray for each family.  If you aren’t here with kids today, please spend this time praying for the kids and parents in our church - or for your family at home.  (After we pray for your kids, please take them to the children’s room.)

--- Greeting time and Song ---

Part 3:
Proverbs 23:12-26
 12 Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.
 13 Don’t fail to discipline your children.  They won’t die if you spank them.
 
14 Physical discipline may well save them from death.
 15 My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice!
 
16 Everything in me will celebrate when you speak what is right.
 17 Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord.
 
18 You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.
 19 My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.
 
20 Do not carouse with drunkards or feast with gluttons,
 
21 for they are on their way to poverty, and too much sleep clothes them in rags.
 22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
 
23 Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.
 
24 The father of godly children has cause for joy.  What a pleasure to have children who are wise.
 
25 So give your father and mother joy!  May she who gave you birth be happy.
 26 O my son, give me your heart.  May your eyes take delight in following my ways.

    Alright so, there you have it, the message from God today is “Spank your kids.”  Well, not exactly.  Spanking can be helpful for little kids, like when they keep trying to touch the stove or run out into the street.  But as kids grow up, the parenting method needs to grow up too. 
    This passage is really about the heart of parenting.  Listen to what the wise teacher says about the heart. 
My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice!
My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.
O my son, give me your heart.
If you want to be a good parent, if you want the kids in our church to grow into healthy loving adults, then we need to get to their hearts.  “Don’t fail to discipline your children.”  Absolutely, that’s true.  But that word translated “discipline” here might be better translated “correct” or “instruct.”  Do not fail to instruct your children.  That’s what this passage is really about.  Do not fail to teach your children how to live. 
    As adults our greatest obligation is to help our children develop wise hearts.  As parents, our greatest joy is children with wise hearts.  More than anything else, our children need wisdom.  What is wisdom?  Several times, the Bible says, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.  All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).  Wisdom is a deep respect for God that helps us to live well.  Wisdom is God’s life living deeply in our hearts.  Wisdom is living God’s way of life from the depths of our hearts. 
    The simple truth is ... this takes time.  Commit yourself to instruction.  Commit yourself to being there for our kids.  Give our children your hearts through time and touch and talking.  And, I’m not just talking about parents here.  We need everybody to help us guide our kids.  I remember that if the cool young guy at church told me something, I was much more likely to listen than if my mom told me the same thing.  Give our kids your hearts by giving them your time.  Then, you’ll get their hearts, and you’ll be able to guide them in God’s ways. 
    Church, do not fail to help our children get wisdom.  They will be rewarded for this.  Their hope in God will not be disappointed.  Wise children will give you great joy.  Wise children will make your heart glad.  Do not fail to help our children get wisdom.  Guide them well.
    But the hardest truth in this passage is hidden in the last verse.  “May your eyes take delight in following my ways.”  Your children will follow you - not what you say.  They will do what you do - not what you tell them to do.  This is the most difficult part of being a parent.  We have to get wisdom before we can give wisdom.  We have to live well before we can help our kids live well. 
    What do you want for your kids?  What kind of life do you want them to live?  Then, start living that way now.  If you don’t live it, they probably won’t either.  Your kids will follow your ways.  When they have grown up to be just like you, will they be happy about that?  Will they be delighted that they have grown up to be like Mom and Dad?  Will you be delighted if your kids live mostly like you? 
    Do you want your kids to work as much as you do?  Do you want your kids to talk to your spouse the way you do?  Do you want your kids to drink like you do? ... to eat like you?  ... to have a marriage like yours?  ... to pray like you?  ... to relax and to play like you?  ... to use money like you?  ... to feel about themselves like you feel about yourself?  ... to be as close to God as you are?
    Whether we like it our not, our children will follow us.  If you want our kids to be wise, then you have to be wise.  If you want our kids to get wisdom, then you have to get wisdom.  If you want our kids to live a good life, the first step is to live a good life now as their example.  They will follow you.
    Be a good parent.  Be a good teacher.  First, take care of yourself.  Make sure you are following God, loving God, loving people, and loving life.  Then, give our kids your hearts.  Pour yourself into their lives.  They will give right back.  Their joy will fill you with joy.  Their love will fill you with love.  Their hope will renew your hope.  And your wisdom will shape them into wise and loving people. 
    And that is a huge part of what Church is all about.  God loves us.  We’ve all turned and walked away.  Our kids - no matter what we do - will turn and walk away at some point.  The Church is here to keep calling out God’s unconditional love.  The Church is here to keep announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Church is here to help us find our way home again, where we can all be made new together, as the family of God.  Be the Church.  Be family.

Living the Hospitality of God

    The big news this week is the wedding of England’s Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Some 2 billion people watched the wedding on live TV.  That’s nearly a third of the world!  One of the things that has caught my attention is the sheer number and variety of people involved in making this wedding happen.  People from every sort of career and genre are involved in this massive procedure. 
    Just think about musicians as one example.  First, there’s the choir of Westminster Abby, which includes 20 boys, 12 adult singers, a choir director, and an organist.  Then, there’s the Chapel Royal Choir, 10 more boys and 6 more adults.  Next is the Fanfare Team from the Royal Air Force.  The reception will include traditional music from the Prince of Wales’s Official Harpist and a performance by Ellie Goulding, a British pop star.  Finally, after all the formal stuff was over, a celebrity DJ was expected to fill Buckingham Palace with the sounds of classic and modern rock, ranging from The Monkeys and Johnny B Goode to Bon Jovi and Queen, all the way up to Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, and Lady GaGa.
   And that’s just the music.  Think about all the other people helping.  Dozens of people around both William and Kate have devoted most of their waking hours over the past six months organizing all the proceedings.  The royal florist and his massive team are preparing mountains of flowers and at least 8 fully grown trees which will be moved inside Westminster Abby.  The Queen’s army of 21 royal chefs (and countless assistants) prepared a reception for 650 guests, which included no less than 17 Royal fruit cakes - not kidding.  The Royal Wedding Invitation itself, although simple, required a host of designers, printers, and couriers.  A literal army of photographers, journalists, TV reporters, bloggers, and videographers documented every minute detail of the wedding.  Builders and remodelers were put into action for everything from custom flower pots, to stages, to photo backdrops.  Westminster Abby provided a large team of priests to plan and to perform the wedding.  Also, you can be sure that the Royal Family had several offices of accountants and lawyers working full-time on all of the financial and legal issues surrounding this huge event.  I imagine that every hair stylist and makeup artists in London was busy on the wedding day.  5,000 standard police officers took to the streets to ensure order, and that’s not even counting the Royal Family’s personal security team.  And last but not least, women around the world were intrigued by Kate’s dress, but every guest was required to wear uniforms, formal wear, or “lounge suits.”  (I don’t even know what a lounge suit is!)  Needless to say, quite a few tailors have been working around the clock to get ready for this.
   
    Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son” (Matthew 22:2).  Psalm 23 says God prepares a feast for us, anoints our heads with oil, and fills our cups to overflowing.  The prophet Isaiah explains God’s plan of redemption like this: “In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat” (Isaiah 25:6).  When John the Revelator sees heaven, he hears a choir so large it sounds like thunder sing, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.   For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself” (Revelation 19:7).
    God is the great Host.  God has prepared a space for us in his world.  In fact, he has prepared our entire world as a guesthouse for us to live in.  God provides food and company and friendship for us.  With the coming of spring, I’m always amazed at how careful God was to add beauty to our world. 
    But relationship with God is more than living in this created world.  Relationship with God is enjoying the Father’s hospitality on a more personal level.  God has planned a great feast of love and friendship, with God loving people, people loving God, and people loving people.  God invites us into his great wedding celebration to share in his joy and love.  Amazingly, in this great feast, the King himself gets up and serves us.  Listen to how John describes this in our gospel lesson.

John 21:1-17
 1 Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.
 3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”
   “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.
 4 At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?”
   “No,” they replied.
 6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.
 7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.
 10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.
 12 “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.
 15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
   “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
   “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
 16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
   “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
   “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
 17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
   Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
   Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

    This is a beautiful and mysterious text, and we could talk about it all day.  I just want to point out two things. 
    First, Jesus made breakfast for his disciples, and they knew who he was.  Maybe he cooked for them a lot.  Maybe they recognized the special smell from the spices he used.  Jesus cooked for them, and then Jesus served them the bread and the fish.  Remember, Jesus is our perfect picture of God.  When we see Jesus, we see God.  Here we see the resurrected Christ cooking and passing out food.  God loves hospitality.
    Second, Jesus calls us to follow his example.  Three times, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?”  Three times, Peter says yes.  Three times, Jesus says, “Then feed my sheep.”  The point for us is simple.  If you love Jesus, live like Jesus.  If you love Jesus, live God’s hospitality.  Feed others.  Care for others.  Make space for others in your life.  If you love Jesus, practice hospitality.

    In Christianity, there are two fundamental arenas for hospitality - the church and the home.  These aren’t completely separate. 
    The Royal Family planned a huge wedding, a large reception, and a massive after-party.  However, there were tens of thousands of satellite parties happening in ball rooms, pubs, clubs, and homes all around the U.K. and around the world.  You could go on the net and download party plans and recipes for the food at the royal wedding.  They were celebrating the same thing in many of the same ways, just in smaller venues. 
    The church - and especially the Sunday worship service - is like a big weekly wedding party.  We are all coming together, working together, celebrating together that God is in love with us all, that Christ has died for us all, and that the Spirit is working to redeem us all.  To do this party right, we need help from everyone.  Just like the royal wedding, we need artists, musicians, accountants, graphic designers, builders, florists, planners, cooks, writers, photographers, advisors, greeters, priests, theologians, and lots and lots of people to move things and arrange things.  Listen to how Paul describes this huge party we call Church.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31
 12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
 14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
 18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
 22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
 27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
   first are apostles,
   second are prophets,
   third are teachers,
   then those who do miracles,
   those who have the gift of healing,
   those who can help others,
   those who have the gift of leadership,
   those who speak in unknown languages.
 29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.
   But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

    We need you.  You have a role in this party.  You have a gift to bring to share with all of us.  You can come and watch and eat and sing and go home - with your gift still in your pocket.  But if you do, the party will be a little less because you didn’t share.  And WE all will be a little less because you didn’t share.  And YOU will be a little less because you didn’t share. 
    Last week, I had an appointment to talk with one of our new church members about helping me in a special way.  When I finished explaining what I wanted him to do, he asked why I wanted him to do it.  I explained that he has a unique perspective to share.  Because of his place, position, perspective, and personality, he has wisdom and insight that others don’t have.  We need his voice.  Then his face lit up with a big smile.  He said, “I’m so pleased that you asked me.  Now, I know that I have a place in this church.”
    You all have a place in this church.  But there are more than 100 of you.  I can’t go to all of you one by one to help you find just the right place.  I’m working on it, but that will take too long.  We need you to take the initiative.  Step up.  Find a place of service.  Find your place in the party.  If you do, you will make us a better church, and you’ll find joy in the process.
    Our Sunday worship is a huge Jesus party - celebrating his amazing love and power to change our lives.  But there are smaller satellite parties happening all the time.  Any place where we gather with other Christians is a satellite celebration of the big Church party.  We’re celebrating the same thing.  We’re living the same party.  Jesus said, “Where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).  When you are at home, when you take people out to lunch or out to coffee, you are planning a little satellite party of the Church.
    These satellite parties have amazing power.  Listen to how Luke describes the satellite parties of the first Christians.

Acts 2:42-27
 42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity —47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
    Hospitality changed the world.  Jesus laid down his life for them.  Then, he cooked fish for them.  Then, he sent them to share his life with the world.  They met together for the big party meeting in one place for the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer.  Then, they did satellite parties - meeting in homes and sharing meals with great joy and generosity.  They laid down their lives for each other, and they cooked for each other.  And people loved it.  “Each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
    Hospitality is contagious.  When we start loving and sharing and celebrating with great joy and generosity, that changes people.  They want in on the action.  They want in on the love.  People around the world are hungry - but not just for food.  We are hungry for community and generosity, for love and joy.  People around the world are hungry for the Party of God, for the hospitality of God. 
    Ed Rowel is pastor of a church in Colorado, and their has a long-term partnership   with a church in Ethiopia (similar to our partnership with Bangladesh).  Rowel says his American church is learning a lot from their Ethiopian brothers and sisters.  "For them, poverty is primarily about a lack of relationships ...  If they have a little bit of food and a lot of love, they will always have enough to share.  But if you don't have loving community and deep friendships, you are poor indeed.  As busy, disconnected [people], we tend to be resource-rich but relationship-poor... They're teaching us a simple but profound lesson: we desperately need community to grow in Christ.  As a matter of fact, I now think that community may be the biggest missing ingredient in the ... church” in developed-nations.1
    He’s right.  We are “resource-rich but relationship-poor.”  But we don’t have to stay that way.  God is inviting us to the biggest, most powerful party that ever lived.  We can participate in the amazing Church of Jesus Christ.  We can each bring our own gifts - whether it’s flowers, or music, or counting money, or playing with kids, or running PowerPoint, or welcoming new people.  When we all celebrate, and when we all share our gifts, this party blossoms into a world-changing event.
    Then, we can go home from the Big Party to our satellite parties - sharing the same love and grace that we experience here.  We can be little world-changers, simply by sharing some fish or kimchi or coffee. 
    When we become relationship-rich, we really can change the world.  It starts by accepting God’s love, forgiveness, and new life through Jesus.  Then, it moves outward by living God’s party way of life with love, forgiveness, and generosity.  This is the gospel.  This is why Jesus came.  This is why the Church exists.  This is why we exist on this earth.  We are God’s people called to be a loving community that changes our world.

The Great Exchange - 1 Peter 4:1-14

    This week I’m going to do something I don’t usually do.  We’re going to walk through this passage slowly verse by verse.  It really builds on itself, so we’re just going to talk about it bit by bit.  Here’s verse 1:
So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.
    Back to suffering again.  I’ve never preached so much on suffering in all my life, but this was an important topic for Peter and his people.  Peter uses a really interesting word here.  “Arm yourselves.”  This is a battle.  Life is a battle.  The Christian life is a participating in a great, global warfare.  “Arm yourselves.”  Prepare yourselves for the battle.  Don’t go into battle without a weapon. 
    But what is this weapon that is so important?  “Arm yourselves with the same attitude that [Jesus] had.”  Our weapon in this battle of life is the attitude of Christ.  Remember this is the same Christ who “suffered for our sins once for all time.  He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring [us] safely home to God” (1 Peter 3:18).  This is a battle, and get ready to fight, but here is your weapon: innocent, suffering, love. 
    And once you suffer with Christ, that changes things.  It seem that the more we suffer for Christ, the stronger we grow at resisting sin. 

Then: 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
    There are some really important phrases here.  First, “the rest of your life.”  Most of us have a total of 60, 70, 80 years to live.  What are you going to do with the rest of your life?
    The second important phrase here is: “chasing your own desires.”  I love that phrase.  It really catches something important about life - we usually can’t “catch” our desires.  We just go on chasing them but never catching them. 
    A few years ago we went to COEX with the Willey family.  There was this machine that shined a spot of light on the floor.  It would move around in a random pattern.  If you tried to step on it, it would sense your foot coming and move away just before you got there.  I think Ian would have played there for an hour if we would have let him.  He was always chasing the light but never catching it. 
    So much of our life is like that.  Most of what we think we want is only a poor reflection of our true desires.  Most of us don’t even know what we really want.  I’m thinking of Paul’s words in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”   We can chase our own desires and never catch them, or we can surrender to God’s will for us, which is better and more satisfying anyway.

    Next Peter starts to get personal.  3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
    In the Roman world in the 1st century, there were lots of business groups or trade unions - called “guilds.”  There might be the silversmiths guild, the carpenters guild, the import/export guild, etc.  And all the people in these guilds would get together from time to time for these huge feasts, where there would be lots of alcohol and lots of women.  Usually, the feast was kind of a religious celebration asking the gods to bless their business efforts.  The feasts formed the bonds of friendship between the members, and everyone in the guild was expected to participate if they wanted to stay in the guild. 
    This was a natural problem for Christians.  They wanted to keep working as silversmiths or brick layers or whatever, but they didn’t want to get drunk and fool around with prostitutes.  So, they either left the parties early or skipped altogether.  Naturally, this didn’t go over so well.
    Peter says:   4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.
    You can imagine the comments they got: “What - are you too good for us?  You prude!  Don’t you care about us?  Don’t you care about the business?  You’re so selfish.  You’re too uptight.”
    This all sounds uncomfortably familiar.  I’ve heard lots of Korean business men complain about work parties (회식).  Everyone in the office goes out for dinner and drinks.  The dinner is no problem, but the drinks just keep coming and coming and coming.  If you try to say no, people think you don’t like them or say that you’re being unsocial.  If you leave early or skip the party, people think you don’t care about the team.  On the other hand, if you keep drinking with them, you’re likely to ruin your health. 
    A few years ago, I went out to a “business bar” with some Korean business men.  They invited a cute young waitresses in a short skirt to sit at our table in our private room.  After she had been sitting next to me for a little while, and I still hadn’t snuggled up to her, one of the guys said, “Are you a man or what?!”  I said - somewhat awkwardly, “Yes, I’m a married man.”  
    Making good choices is not always popular.  What will your friends say if you decide you can’t, in good conscience, watch the movie they want to see?  What will they say when you have a coke at the pub or stop after one beer?  What will people say when you go home alone again?  One of my friends said she has decided to go home at midnight because that’s when all the crazy stuff starts.  “Nothing good happens after midnight,” she says.  Peter’s answer is simple: “I’ve had enough.  I’ve had enough of that way of life.”
    And Peter has a simple solution when we are experiencing this kind of negative peer pressure: 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead.
    In the end, they’ll have to face God with how they spent their life, and so will we.  People might disapprove and call us names, but God is our judge not people. 
    Peter continues with the same point: 6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead—so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit. 7 The end of the world is coming soon.
    This is another one of those passages that we could debate for the next five hours, but I don’t want to get into what “the end of the world” means.  End times theology an important topic, but not so much for this text. 
    The important part for this text is that our end is coming soon.  We are going to die, and it will probably be sooner than we expect.  We all say, “Time flies.”  How many of you said, “Is it 2011 already? ... Is it April already?  ... Am I 30 already?  Am I really 40? 50? 60?”  It’s like in the old Fiddler on the Roof song, when the adults are talking about their kids who are about to get married:
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears
    Someday, you will wake up and say, “Where did the time go?  What happened to my kids?  What happened to my life?  It all went so fast.” 
    Or even worse, someday you might not wake up.  I heard last week about a pastor who was 50 years old, who had a heart attack and died.  Many of us have loved ones who died suddenly, unexpectedly, too soon. 
    Peter’s message here is simple.  The end is coming soon.  Don’t waste your life.  Stay away from stuff that destroys your life, and cling to the stuff that gives meaning and significance to your life.  Don’t just avoid evil, but, because the end is coming, Peter says we should actively do four good things.
 7 The end of the world is coming soon.  Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers.
    The first good thing is to PRAY.  If you translate this literally it’s “Therefore, be sane and sober in your prayers.”  I like that.  Be sane.  Don’t go crazy with all the stuff this world goes crazy about.  Keep your head on straight.  Stay sober. 
    Now if we think about this specifically with prayer, sanity and sobriety can tell us something important about prayer.  One of the mottos of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step groups is, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” 
    We often pray like this.  We just keep praying in the same old boring ways, and we keep on getting the same old boring results.  We say to ourselves, “This time, I’m really going to pray every day for 30 minutes.”  And that works, for a few days.  Then, one day we sleep in.  Then, the next day, we have an early appointment.  Before the week is over, we’re back to the same-old-same-old.  We think it’s because we aren’t trying hard enough or aren’t disciplined enough.  “It works for other people, so why doesn’t it work for me?”  Maybe you need to try something new. 
    24-7 Prayer is a great way to try some new kinds of prayer.  If you sign up for an hour, you’ll be all alone for an hour.  You can sing.  You can dance.  You can draw, paint, sculpt, color, write, shout, cry, play a drum, read other people’s prayers, or just sit in silence in the presence of God.  Be sane.  Don’t expect your prayer life to be different if you don’t do something different.  Sign up for an hour of prayer and see what happens.

8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.
    Because the end is coming soon, LOVE - that’s the second good thing.  Peter says, this is “most important of all ... for love covers a multitude of sins.”  This is actually a paraphrase of an old proverb: “Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses” (Proverbs 10:12).  Haven’t you seen that?  In your work, when there’s a negative atmosphere, everyone finds something to complain about.  Or, when you don’t really like someone, you’re quick to point out their faults. 
    On the other hand, John Wesley says that when we love each other, we turn our eye away from the other person’s faults, and as far as possible, we try to hide them from others.1  He’s not talking about a systematic cover-up.  He means that love pushes us to see others in the best light possible, and we don’t point out their faults to others. 
    I’ve been challenged by this verse this week.  I’ve been thinking about it like this: if people are going around pointing out my faults, maybe I haven’t spent enough time loving others.  Maybe there isn’t enough of my love out there to cover my faults.   And if I’m thinking mostly about people’s faults, maybe I need some more love.  Sure, I need to work on my faults, but maybe even more, I need to work on my love.
    Peter says, “continue to show a deep, intense, unfailing love for each other.”  This kind of love takes time.  You can’t get deep, intense love for each other by just coming on Sunday morning, so Peter’s next point really makes sense.

9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
    HOSPITALITY is the third good thing we do because the end is near.  Hospitality is the fundamental strategy for deep and intense love.  If you want to love deeply, you’ve got to spend time together.  This week I was talking with someone who recently joined a Bible study, and she said with surprise: “And I like it.  I didn’t think I would like it.  These are people I wouldn’t normally hang out with, but I really like them.” 
    Love takes time, and hospitality is the breeding ground for love.  Hospitality is the greenhouse for love.  Spend time together.  Eat together.  Play together.  Talk together.  Pray together.  Then, you will form the bonds of love that will hold us together and transform our lives.  Time is running out, so open your homes and hearts to each other.

10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides...
    Because the end is coming soon, SERVE.  Don’t waste your life on yourself.  God has created you to do good.  Your purpose on earth is to do good.  What kind of gifts has God given you?  Do you have a way with words?  Then, speak, write, talk, blog.  Do you love kids?  Then, play with ours.  Do you sing or clean or paint or cook or manage money?  Then “use whatever gift you have received to serve others.”  Get involved.  My mom would say, “Don’t just sit there like a bump on a pickle.”  Do something.  If you’ve been coming here for a few months, it’s time to find a job in the church.  It doesn’t have to be much.  It doesn’t have to kill you.  It doesn’t have to drain you. 
    One of the amazing things about helping others is that it often gives us energy instead of taking it away.  If you exercise, you can kind of understand how this works.  Your alarm goes off, and you think, “Oh, man, not today.  I don’t want to do anything today.  I just want to sleep.”  But if you go out there and walk or run or play soccer, you go home feeling refreshed and much more energized.  The point is to find a job that fits you and then do it “with the strength God provides.”
    So let me review.  So far Peter has said, “Don’t waste your life on stuff that tears you down.  The end is coming soon - before you know it - so live well.  Pray.  Love. Practice hospitality.  Serve others.” 
    Now, Peter tells us what will happen if we live like this. 
... so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
    If we avoid evil and live well, then when people look at us, they will praise God.  If we Christians live well, people will see us and say, “Wow, if they are like that, God must really be good.”  If we live well, God will get all the glory.  And God should get all the glory because - remember - we are doing all of this “with the strength God provides.” 
    As much as we want to live well, we can’t - not on our own.  We can only live well as we live in the heart of the gospel.  Before the creation of the world, God loved us.  We turned away from God’s love, going our own way.  But God brought us home through Jesus.  When Jesus died, we died - to ourselves and to sin.  When Jesus was raised, he brought us up out of the pit with him.  Now, if we put our trust in Jesus, we can live a free life.  Jesus can put his Spirit in us and give life to our dry bones and our dead places (Ezekiel 37).  If we put our trust in Jesus, we can live well.  If we put our trust in Jesus - even if that means suffering, then in the end, we will be able to say, “Yes, I lived well.  I prayed.  I loved.  I opened my heart and my home.  I served.”
    And there’s one more amazing, mysterious thing about God’s way.  If we give up finding glory for ourselves, if we admit that we can’t do it in our own power, if we always live in a way to build others up and to give God glory, then we will experience this amazing, mysterious blessing: “the Spirit and glory of God” will rest on us.  Even as we try to reflect all the glory back up to God, and even as we try to live our lives to help others, God’s glory and God’s Spirit will settle in on our lives, and we will become people rich with God’s presence. 
    This is the great exchange.  Give God everything you have - which isn’t very much - and God will give you everything God has - which is a whole lot.  Give God your sinfulness, and God gives you God’s holiness.  Give God your little self, and God will give you God’s great big amazing Presence.  Give God whatever glory there is in our lives, and God gives makes his Great Glory settle in us and around us.  This is the great exchange.
    Life is short.  Time is running out.  What do you choose?

Ghosts, Zombies, Hell and Jesus - 1 Peter 3:13-22

    Today is survey day.  I have three questions, and I want you to vote your opinion on each of these three questions.  You can vote: yes, no, or I don’t know.
    First question: Do you believe in ghosts?  Do you believe there can be contact between the dead and the living?  I want you to actually raise your hands.  It’s OK.  Nobody’s going to judge you one way or the other. 
    Everybody who believes that there are ghosts and/or contact between the dead and the living, raise your hand. 
    If you don’t believe in ghosts or any contact between the dead and the living, raise your hand.
    If you don’t know, raise your hand.
    OK, let’s go to our Old Testament Lesson: 1 Samuel 28:3-18.
 3 Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. And Saul had banned from the land of Israel all mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
 4 The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the army of Israel and camped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. 6 He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots or by the prophets. 7 Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”
   His advisers replied, “There is a medium at Endor.”
 8 So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.
   “I have to talk to a man who has died,” he said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?”
 9 “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has outlawed all the mediums and all who consult the spirits of the dead. Why are you setting a trap for me?”
 10 But Saul took an oath in the name of the Lord and promised, “As surely as the Lord lives, nothing bad will happen to you for doing this.”
 11 Finally, the woman said, “Well, whose spirit do you want me to call up?”
   “Call up Samuel,” Saul replied.
 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”
 13 “Don’t be afraid!” the king told her. “What do you see?”
   “I see a god coming up out of the earth,” she said.
 14 “What does he look like?” Saul asked.
   “He is an old man wrapped in a robe,” she replied. Saul realized it was Samuel, and he fell to the ground before him.
 15 “Why have you disturbed me by calling me back?” Samuel asked Saul.
   “Because I am in deep trouble,” Saul replied. “The Philistines are at war with me, and God has left me and won’t reply by prophets or dreams. So I have called for you to tell me what to do.”
 16 But Samuel replied, “Why ask me, since the Lord has left you and has become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done just as he said he would. He has torn the kingdom from you and given it to your rival, David.”18 The Lord has done this to you today because you refused to carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites.

    So if you ask me, “Do you believe in ghosts?”, I have to say, “I guess so.  The Bible seems to believe in ghosts.”   In several places, God condemns mediums - people who consult with the spirits of the dead (Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 20:27 and Deuteronomy 8:9-14).  It seems that it is actually possible to consult the dead, but this practice drives people to trust in the dead spirits rather than to trust in God.
    But at the same time, I would say that the existence of ghosts is not such an important question.  In fact, it’s not even the main point of this story about Saul.  If we look a the wider context here, we see that it fits with God’s main concern about mediums and ghosts.  Saul was trusting in ghosts instead of trusting in God.  The main point is to trust in God and to obey God, no matter what.

    Second question: Do you believe in zombies?  Do you believe in people who are dead becoming undead - returning to life or something like life again? 
    Let’s do a show of hands again.  Everybody who believes in zombies, raise your hand.
    Everybody who doesn’t believe zombies are possible, raise your hand.
    If you don’t know, raise your hand.
    OK, let’s turn to our Gospel Lesson.  This is Matthew chapter 27, and our passage starts with Jesus’ last moments on the cross.
 50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, 52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. 53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

    Didn’t know that was in the Bible, did you?  To be honest with you, I really don’t know what this text is trying to say.  I don’t think these are zombies like in the horror films.  On the other hand, it doesn’t sound like these people were completely resurrected - at least not permanently.  If we just focus on dead bodies walking around, that can take us to some very weird places.  What happened?  Were they actually alive?  What were their bodies like?  What would have happened if ...?
    But if we focus on the larger context, this is actually a pretty amazing picture.   Tom Noble, one of my theology professors, explained it like this.  When Jesus - the Author of Life - died, that disrupted the barrier between life and death.  It’s like in the sci-fi movies, when some huge event happens, the picture ripples and gets blurry.  That big event sends out ripples that alter reality.
     In other words, think of throwing a big rock into a puddle.  It makes a splash and knocks some water out of the puddle.  It seems like that’s kind of what happened when Jesus died.  When Jesus - the Rock of Ages - went into the grave, into the place of the dead, it made such a big splash that some of the dead people kind of popped back up on earth - at least for a while.  And then, we Jesus came back up out of the grave, it caused more ripples.  Jesus is that big!  Jesus really died, and Jesus was really raised, and this altered the reality of our world.

    Third question: Do you believe in hell?  Let me be more specific.  Do you believe in a hell of eternal punishment from which there is no escape?  Let’s do the show of hands again.  By now, you might be thinking that I’m trying to trick you.  I promise I’m not.  I’m not going to come looking for you to talk about why you answered what you did.  OK, let’s have it.
    All who believe in an eternal hell with no escape, hands up.
    If you don’t believe in an eternal hell with no escape, hands up.
    If you don’t know, put your hands up.
    OK, now it’s time for our Epistle Lesson: 1 Peter 3:13-22.
13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?  14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it.  So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats.  15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.  And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.  16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way.  Keep your conscience clear.  Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.  17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
 18 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time.  He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God.  He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
 19 So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—20 those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.  21 And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
 22 Now Christ has gone to heaven.  He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.
    Another one of my professors, Roger Hahn, says that “Verse 19 is one of the most difficult verses to interpret in the New Testament.”  Martin Luther, who had an opinion about just about everything said, “A wonderful text this is, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means.”  Great. 
    This verse has been the source of all kinds of controversies and it taps into the great debates about heaven and hell.  Verse 19 is short: “So he went and preached to the spirits in prison.”  But it leaves us with all kinds of questions.  When did this happen?  Where did Christ go?  What did he preach?  Who was he talking to?  What is this prison?
    In my research on 1 Peter, I’m using four different commentaries.  Guess how many answers I got on this verse?  Four.
    1. One guy said this verse is actually talking about the “pre-existent Christ” who preached through the mouth of Noah in the time just before the flood.  If so, Peter’s point would be that Christians should also tell people how to be saved, no matter how few people are listening.  We should speak with boldness, with full confidence that God will save us, just as he saved Noah.
    2. Another guy, William Barclay, is wonderful old school expert my pastors loved to quote when I was a kid.  He gave a surprisingly liberal view.  He says, “There is in this passage the solution of one of the most haunting questions raised by the Christian faith - what is to happen to those who lived before Jesus Christ and to those to whom the gospel never came?”  Barclay quotes Justin Martyr, a Christian preacher from the 2nd century, and says Jesus actually went down into Hades or Hell and preached the Good News to people who have already died so that “there is no corner of the universe into which the grace of God has not reached.”
    3. Then, the third guy said basically - Hold on a minute.  That sounds great, but that is probably not what the text actually says.  The word used for “spirit” here almost always refers to non-human beings like angels or demons.  And the word for “preached” usually means to “announce” not to “give the good news.”  If we put all of this together, what we see is that when Jesus died, he went to the spiritual “powers” and “authorities” of darkness and announced their defeat.  They killed him and drug him down to death, but Jesus shouted out, “You can’t keep me dead.  I’m busting out.  I’m defeating death.  We win.  You loose.”
   4. The fourth guy was very democratic about it.  He listed all three of these views and said ... um ... yeah ... they could pretty much all be right.  But then he said that we have to be careful here.  We can get lost in the controversy of the difficult verses.  When we have really hard verses, we need to do two things.  First, “be humble about ... passages that are ‘clearly unclear.’”  Second, we need to make sure we see the passage in its overall context.

    So what is the wider context?  The wider context is a community struggling to be faithful to Jesus in a difficult situation.  This text has some really beautiful passages. 
Peter says, “Who will want to harm you if you are passionate about the good?”  Some people are aficionados of a baseball team, or cars, or cigars, or coffee.  Peter says, “Be an aficionado - a passionate lover - of goodness in all its forms.”  Then, you’ll probably be OK.  But even if you’re not OK, even if you still suffer, don’t worry too much about it. 
    Then, there’s this beautiful line: “Don’t fear their fears.”  Don’t be afraid of the same things as other people.  Don’t let their fears take over your life.  Instead, keep Christ first in your life.
    Next, is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  “And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.  But do this in a gentle and respectful way.”  Live with such incredible hope that you provoke questions.  Live with such beautiful goodness that people ask why.  Then, have your answer ready, “I live like this because God has changed my life through Jesus Christ.”  And in the living and in the answering, do everything with gentleness and respect.  Don’t disrespect the other person when you talk about Jesus.  Every conversation is holy.  Every conversation is an opportunity to live the gentle character and love of Jesus.
    But even if we do everything right and live exactly like Jesus, we still might get treated exactly like Jesus.  People might “speak against” us, and we might “suffer for doing good.”  According to Peter, that’s not all bad.
    Jesus suffered for us.  Jesus was innocent, but he paid for our crimes.  Jesus walked into suffering to walk us home to God.  Jesus went all the way down to the grave, to the place of the dead, to the place of no return.  Jesus experienced the absolute worst of human life and death.  And God raised him out of it.  He was completely dead, and God returned him to total and absolute life.  He went all the way down, and God brought him all the way up.
    Baptism is a picture of this U-shaped path.  We go down with Jesus into the water - into the grave.  We come up with Jesus into new life.  We die with Christ and we are raised with Christ. 
    And where is Christ now?  “Now Christ has gone to heaven.  He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority” (3:22).  Jesus has gone full-circle.  He has completed the journey.  He was in heaven, at God’s right hand, part of the Trinity.  He left heaven and came to earth.  He was obedient to death, going into the grave, the lowest parts of the earth.  Then, God raised him from the dead to life on earth again.  Then, God raised him up to heaven to rejoin the Father on the throne.  Now, Jesus has conquered sin and death and every spiritual power that has rebelled against God.  All powers bow before his throne and accept his final authority. 

    All the experts say that verses 19 and 20 are extremely difficult.  In fact, these verses are so hard, that we can get lost in trying to figure out what they are supposed to mean.  However, most of the experts also agree that the overall point of the passage is clear.  Peter is saying something very simple and yet very profound.  If you hold on to Jesus no matter what, you’ll be OK.  If we just hold on to Jesus wherever that U-shaped journey takes us - even into suffering and death and hellish circumstances - if we hold on to Jesus and his gentleness, Jesus will push through that suffering and death and hell and pull us out with him into life and finally into heaven. 
    Don’t get lost in the controversy.  Yeah, it’s OK to talk about heaven and hell.  It’s OK to ask questions about ghosts and all the weird stuff in the Bible.  But don’t miss the context of those passages.  And don’t miss the overall point of the Bible. 
    God loves us.  We have all rejected God’s love, but God loved us so much that he suffered and died for us.  God endured hellish pain on the cross to bring us out of our personal hells into his Kingdom of Heaven.  If we respond to this amazing love, God will transform our lives.
    God doesn’t push or force his way.  God’s love is like the gentle beating of the ocean upon our souls.  I love you.  I love you.  I love you.  You can push me away, and still I will love you.  You can say bad things about me, and still I will love you.  You can beat me, and still I will love you.  You can even kill me, and still I will love you.  You cannot get rid of me.  I will always love you.  Forever, I love you.  I love you.  I love you.   God wears us down with his persistent, gentle, suffering love.
    And God calls us to the same persistent, gentle, suffering path.  I will do good no matter what.  I will love Christ no matter what.  I will love you no matter what.  You can push me away, and still I will love you.  You can say bad things about me, and still I will say good things about you.  You can beat me, and still I will be gentle toward you.  You can even kill me, and still I will love Christ and love you.  You cannot really get rid of me because I live in the Spirit of Christ, and we will always love you.  Forever, we love you.  We love you.  We love you.  And this will completely change our world with God’s persistent, gentle, suffering love.

Weaving with Peter - 1 Peter 2:11-25

    Sarah is learning how to knit.  When she found out she was pregnant, she got some yarn and knitting needles and started watching Youtube videos about how to knit.  So far, she’s finished enough to cover the baby’s left leg pretty securely.  Not bad for her first attempt!   But her goal is a beautiful striped blanket that looks something like this.  She still has about five months.

    During Lent, we’re preaching through 1 Peter, and I’ve learned something over the past few weeks.  1 Peter is a difficult book for preaching.  Peter takes these really, really dense theological topics and packs them all together into a few close verses - or even in the same sentence. 
    For example, listen to just one verse from Michael’s text last week: “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people.  You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.  As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).  That’s about five sermons, right there! 
    Peter packs in heavy words and complex theological topics.  Last week, Michael talked about picking out different grains of rice.  This week a better metaphor might be to see the different colors of yarn.  First, Peter puts all his yarn on the table.  He describes each color.  Then, at the end, he weaves it all together.  To help us see the individual colors of this text, we’ll just work our way through the text bit by bit.
  
    The first color in Peter’s cloth here is green - alien green.  And, I like alien because I myself am an alien.  In fact, Sarah is giving birth to an alien.  So aliens are near and dear to my heart.  Now, I don’t mean “alien” - like 외계인, someone from outer space.  I mean “alien” - like 외국인, someone from another place. 
    The old English beginning of our passage is: “Beloved, I warn you as aliens and sojourners ...”  About half of us in this room are legally “aliens” in Korea.  We even have Alien Registration Cards.  Last week, I renewed my visa, and I checked the box, “Extend period of sojourn.”  Even so, a newer translation might be helpful here.
 11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

    In my first four years here, I was bi-vocational.  In addition to pastoring, I also taught English at KNU.  I always had fun with the word “foreigner.”  My students would say, “I want to learn English so I can talk with foreigners, especially when I go to another country.”    I would say something like, “You can talk to foreigners in English in Korea, but if you go to Canada and talk to Canadians, you aren’t talking to foreigners.”  They just gave me that blank confused stare with the head tilted to the side, “Huh?”  “If you - a Korean - go to Canada.  The Canadians aren’t the foreigners.  You are!”  That just blew their minds.  Yes, 한국인 (Koreans) can be 외국인 (foreigners) too. 
    Why?  Because we can all be “temporary residents and foreigners.”   We can live in one nation but have our citizenship somewhere else.  Our family has lived in Korea for almost seven years, but we are still Americans.  We still eat a lot of American food.  We still speak English in our home.  We still maintain many American customs.  Koreans do the same thing when they live abroad.  They usually speak Korean at home, eat kimchi, and celebrate Chuseok.  Foreigners live in one place, but maintain an identity and culture from another place.
    The first thing Peter is saying here is, “Look folks, we don’t belong here.  We are foreigners.  We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and we follow Christ not Caesar.  So live like a Christian.  Live like heaven - even as you live on earth.  Be different - because you are different.  Keep away from soul-destroying stuff, and live with such active goodness that people will see your goodness and believe in God’s goodness.”
    Patricia told me that Sendai Church of the Nazarene in Japan was featured on the radio this week.  Christians from the Sendai church were walking through one of the shelters giving out blankets, food, and water.  Some of the people asked, “Who are you?”  They said, “We are from the Christian church.”  Then, the people said, “Christians do this?!?”  Yes, Christians do this.  And Christians in Korea - here in our church - have given about 1,700,000 (170 만) won to help Christians in Japan do this.  They will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God. 

   The next thread Peter puts on the table is respect. 
 13 For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed.  For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
 15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.  16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.  17 Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters.  Fear God, and respect the king.  18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect.  Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.
    Peter does not want anarchists.  That is not living like heaven, and it certainly will not give honor to God.  Peter calls for respect for the government, respect for the king, respect for our bosses, and in fact, respect for everyone.  Every boss ought to want  Christian employees because she knows they will be people of integrity who work hard and show respect.  Every government leader ought to want Christian citizens because he knows they will be people of integrity who will strengthen the community. 
    This is actually happening in China.  A few years ago, I had the opportunity to talk with some missionaries in China.  I asked, “Are you afraid?  Do you ever have problems with the government?  Do people in your area experience persecution?” 
    The answer surprised me.  He said, “No.  In our area, the government has learned that Christians make the community better.  Christian businesses are honest and fair.  Christian people help others.  Many public schools and universities in China are specifically looking for Christian teachers because they have learned that Christians tend to be better employees.”  For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority.

    Inside this passage, there’s another color that’s kind of hiding out.  It’s freedom. 
16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.
    In God’s economy, no one is a slave.  In God’s Kingdom, everyone is free.  We are live in this world under all kinds of human authority, but we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, where we are eternally free. 
    Think of Jesus before Pilate and the chief priests.  They are the symbols of human authority - political and religious authority.   And yet Jesus stands before them as a free man.  He does not answer.  He does not fight back.  He does not claim his rights.  Why?  Jesus gives us his answer in the Gospel of John: “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.  ...  But my Kingdom is not of this world.  ... You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from [heaven]” (John 18:36, 19:11). 
    Jesus is listening to a different song.  Jesus is dancing to a different tune.  Jesus is a free man even as he is condemned to die.  Like Paul and Silas who sang praises in the jail cell (Acts 16:22-25) ... like Michael’s brother who has found new life within the prison walls ... we are also free. 
    We are not slaves.  We are fundamentally free beings because Jesus has freed us.  And “if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).  No one can make us do anything.  Whatever we do, we choose to do.  We submit to authority because we are freely choose to obey God and to respect people.
    But we can also resist.  Because we are free, because we are not slaves, we can resist.  Because of Jesus, the king is not our master.  The president is not our master.  The policeman is not our master.  The boss is not our master.  The teacher is not our master.  Even, the parent is not our slave-master.  Paul says in Ephesians, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1).  We obey all those in authority as long as it is possible to obey people and God. 
    But we are the free-slaves of God, not people.  If the authority becomes crushing, if the authority itself wages war against our souls, if the authority is leading us to sin, if the authority is leading us to live in destructive ways (ways that are destructive for us, for our family, or for others), we can resist.  “No.  No, I will not do that.  No, I will not neglect my family.  No, I will not cheat.  No, I will not abuse others.  No, I will not destroy the environment.  No, I will not work 16 hours a day or seven days a week.  No, I will not make my child do that.  No, no, no.”  Because of Jesus, we are free.  Because of Jesus, we have the power to say no.  Because of Jesus, we are free to do good when everyone else is doing wrong.

    However, don’t be fooled into thinking this will be easy.  The next thread in Peter’s tapestry is suffering.
... not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong.  But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.  21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering ...
    We won’t just say, “No,” and everyone else will say, “OK. That’s fine.”  Sometimes, if we say “No,” we may go to prison.  We may have problems at work.  We might lose money.  We may have problems with our families.  They might shout at us or curse us or even hit us.  They might “accuse us of doing wrong” or make “foolish accusations” against us. 
    If any of this happens, we are in good company.  The author of Hebrews tells of the giants of God’s people, people who did great miracles, the heros and heroines that we all want to be like.  Then, he tells the rest of the story:
    But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free.  They     placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.  Some were jeered at, and     their backs were cut open with whips.  Others were chained in prisons.  Some     died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword.      Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed     and mistreated.  They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and     mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35-38)

    Many “ignorant people” made all sorts of “false accusations” against the first Christians.  Christians were called atheists because they rejected the Roman gods.  Christian worship services were called orgies of incest because Christians held “love feasts” where “brothers and sisters” “greet one another with a holy kiss.”  Christians were accused of sorcery and dark magic because people were healed by their prayers.1    No wonder the government tried to shut them down!  (By the way, the same thing is happening today within the Church.  Christians are attacking Christians because they are using words in new ways.)
  
    What is Peter’s answer?  How should we respond when people say all kinds of bad things about us?  What should we do when people punish us for doing the right thing? 
20 ... endure it patiently ... 21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.  He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
 22 He never sinned,
      
       nor ever deceived anyone.
 
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,

      nor threaten revenge when he suffered.

   He left his case in the hands of God,

      who always judges fairly.
 
24 He personally carried our sins 

      in his body on the cross

   so that we can be dead to sin

      and live for what is right.

   By his wounds

      you are healed.

 25 Once you were like sheep

      who wandered away.

   But now you have turned to your Shepherd,

      the Guardian of your souls.

    The last four verses here are written like poetry because they probably are.  This was so important to the early Christians that they made this into a song or a creed to use in their worship services.
    Jesus is the fabric that wraps together all our themes.  Because our home is in Christ, the Guardian of our souls, we are aliens and strangers in this world.  Because we are different, we live different.  Because we submit to God, who always judges fairly, we live with respect for others.  Because of Jesus, we live with the freedom to do what is right no matter the cost.  Because Jesus has suffered for us, we too can patiently endure suffering as we follow Christ.
    The first Christians understood a few things about suffering. 
They understood that suffering is not the worst thing in the world.  It is much worse to be unfaithful.
They understood that Jesus has already suffered before us.  When we suffer, we are brought into Jesus’ suffering.  Somehow, in a great mystery, our suffering wraps us closer into Jesus’ suffering and death. 
They understood that Jesus’ suffering works for our healing.  “By his wounds you are healed.”  “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.”  Because he died for our sin, we can die to our sin.  Because he died, we can live. 
They also understood that suffering drives us into the arms of our suffering Christ.  Suffering breaks our illusions of independence.  Suffering proves our powerlessness.  Suffering breaks the hard shell around our hearts and invites us to bleed with Christ and to be made whole with Christ.  Suffering breaks us and gives Love the chance to heal us. 

    Like Israel in the desert, we will also suffer.  Sometimes, it’s our own fault.  Other times, we suffer for doing good.  In the desert of suffering, we have a choice.  We can get bitter and complain against God.  Or, we can hold on to the cross.  We can let our hearts get broken and bitter, we can let our hearts get broken and loving.  Either way, our hearts will break.  In this world, at some point, our hearts will break.  Jesus is the path forward.  The suffering of the cross is the only fabric that weaves together all the broken strings and pieces of our world.  Only the cross can heal our deepest pain.