March 3, 2010 — Third Midweek Lenten Service
“The Right Attitude for Bearing the Cross” — Vicar Mankin
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
Immediately following the end of World War Two millions of Lutherans found themselves trapped behind the Iron Curtain. One Sunday during the middle of a service in Lithuania two KGB officers sneaked into their “forbidden meeting” a worship service. Then in the middle of the pastor’s sermon pulled out their guns and shot him dead. Before he hit the ground one of the elders stepped up and started reading the now dead pastor’s sermon. The officers were so shocked that they put their guns away and left.
When I think about this moment in history I can’t help but wonder. What I would have done in that situation? Would I have jumped up and started preaching or would I have ran for cover? In times of great persecution or suffering I’m sure it would be easy to begin questioning if God had turned His back on me or if He was there at all. The lament of the prophet Jeremiah would not be far from my mouth, "why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?" (Lam. 5:20) Or the words of Peter during the Crucifixion, “I don’t know Him.” People don’t like to be uncomfortable let alone suffer. When we suffer, when the world mistreats us, it is during these times when we begin to think, “This isn’t how I’m supposed to be treated after all I’m a child of God, I’m a member of Christ’s body. Isn’t my life supposed to be easy, after all I’m one of the chosen ones!” Even if your faith is strong it can be easy in times of suffering to think God has forgotten us or worse yet, He has become cruel to us. If this kind of thinking is left unchecked the suffering Christian might become like the seed in Jesus’ parable: ”And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” (Lk. 8:13) How easily our attitude about being a Christian can turn sour when we undergo even the smallest amount of suffering for Christ, let alone watching our pastor shot dead in the pulpit. So how do we grow that deep root of faith? Through the Holy Spirit and the words of the Scripture we grow in our faith and we learn how to endure. So what is the right attitude to have in times of suffering for being a Christian?
Bearing the cross for Christ’s name should not be thought of as God’s wrath for us, after all God’s wrath for humanity was paid for by Jesus on the Cross at Calvary. But, as strange as it sounds, our suffering, our bearing the cross is really a mark of His love for us. ”For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” (Heb. 12:6-7) This sounds kind of strange, how can our suffering prove that God loves us? After all that pastor in Lithuania may have not suffered long but suffered the ultimate price for being a Christian. What did that prove? The nonbeliever or new Christian could see this and easily think of our God “as not all that loving” or even not there. How can our suffering and sometimes even death for professing our faith in Christ Jesus be a mark of God’s love? Let me ask you this, “Would they have shot that pastor if he wasn’t a Christian?” Probably not, those holes in his body were the proof that he was a Christian and that God loves Him. Just like the holes in Jesus showed the world of God’s love for us, those holes in the pastor showed that he was a child of God and that God loved him. Otherwise the world wouldn’t have hated him so much. Bearing the cross for us is a testimony of the Holy Spirit, we are not of this world, but we belong to Christ, we experience all the same treatment that Christ and all of His witnesses experience.
Saint Peter tells us ”If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1 Pt. 4:14-16) When we suffer for being a Christian we are truly blessed, because the Spirit of God is upon us. Saint Paul tells us, “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” (1 Cor. 11:32) When we suffer for Christ name we are becoming like Christ. Suffering for being a Christian is a surest pledge of eternal glory. When the judgment comes, when Christ returns we will not be judged with the world. Saint Paul again tells us ”And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rm. 8:32) When we suffer for being a Christian we are putting on the uniform. We are wearing the colors of our King. We are becoming coheirs with Christ Jesus of the glory that is to come.
So, what is the right attitude for bearing the cross? Rejoicing! Instead of seeking honor or the praise of this world, we should rejoice when they abuse and reject us. After all they abused and rejected Jesus. I’m not saying our suffering will be easy, but look to Christ. The Cross was torture but, through His suffering He overcame death itself and if we suffer for believing that fact, good... no great! We should be like the Apostles who after being flogged and beaten, the book of Acts tells us, “And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” (Acts 5:40-41) So go ahead world reject us, scorn us, hate us, ignore us for the sake of Christ you are just heaping up God’s glory on us. And when we are affair of standing up for the Faith or even fail to do so we are forgiven by Christ’s suffering. But I want you to remember the sufferrngs in this life are just temporary and the glory is eternal for those who endure. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret, I’ve read the back of the Book and Christ wins, therefore so do we. Amen.
