The Downtown Presbyterian Church

Sermons

Nobody Wants It, But What Are You Going To Do With It?

Exodus 17:1-7; Romans 5:1-11

Rev. Kenneth M. Locke

February 27, 2005

Some of you know one of my favorite television shows is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s a comedy/horror show about a high-school student whose destiny in life is to kill vampires, demons and the forces of darkness. Into every generation a chosen one is born, and Buffy is the chosen one.

It’s good Buffy is the slayer because Buffy’s town of Sunnydale California sits on a hellmouth, the literal mouth of hell, so vampires and demons and such are regularly pouring out and ravaging the town.

Buffy doesn’t want to be a vampire slayer, and periodically she fights against her destiny, but she doesn’t have to face it alone. She has friends at school who help her and the school librarian watches out for her and makes sure she is trained and up to the job. Buffy caries the power of her friends and her watcher with her all the time, and that is what enables her to do her mission in life.

I don’t want to suggest there’s an exact parallel, but Moses too has a calling he never asked for: leading the Israelites out of Egypt and onward to the promised land. It wasn’t his idea and sometimes he chafes at it, especially when the people complain. But Moses is not alone – he has the elders with him. He also has the staff of God, the staff he used when God was plaguing the Egyptians and Moses struck the Nile and turned it to blood. Moses has a hard job, but he carries the power of God with him.

You and I are not Buffy and we are not Moses, but we know a thing or two about the demons of sin, addiction and disease. Fighting the devils of poor relationships and frustrating jobs is something we know all too well. We know about the dark forces of pride and selfishness and anger. Sometimes it is the darkness of others attacking us. Sometimes it is our own. We didn’t want these sufferings to come along. They weren’t our idea. But they are here, and we have to face them.

But like Buffy, and like Moses, we are not facing these forces alone. We have one another. We have our church family. More importantly, we have Christ with us. We do not have to prove ourselves to God by overcoming these dark, dangerous forces. While we were still sinning Jesus died for us, making us right with God, and now God is with us.

Paul’s language about the righteous and the good person is a little confusing but his point is clear – we weren’t righteous, we weren’t good, when Jesus chose to die for us. We were still sinning, still borrowing fig leaves from Adam to cover ourselves before God.

But in Jesus Christ we don’t have to do that. In Jesus Christ we have the power of God with us to face the realities of life. The power of God doesn’t mitigate our suffering, but it enables us to face and endure and grow from our suffering. As Christians we aren’t looking for suffering, we’re not praying it will drop into our laps, but when it comes we can face it with the power of God with us and use it as a chance for growth.

Growing from suffering was something that really struck home for me when I read the life of Viktor Frankel. Viktor Frankel was a young neurosurgeon in Vienna when the Nazis came in and rounded up all the Jews. Along with his entire family he was sent to the death camps. They all perished except Frankel. After the war and his liberation, Frankel wrote a book about his experience called “Man’s Search for Meaning.”

Frankel’s thesis is suffering is part of life. It’s not that we suffer. That’s to be expected. It’s what we do with the suffering. Frankel says we can turn inward, hate the world and ourselves and die miserable and unhappy. Or we can take the suffering and grow from it, blessing others with our wisdom and courage and insights.

And that’s what the Apostle Paul does. Paul knows about suffering. He’s been beaten, stoned, thrown out of synagogues, left for dead, shipwrecked and imprisoned. And Paul accepts this as part of life. But Paul also knows fighting the demons of life leads to spiritual endurance. And spiritual endurance builds character. And character builds hope. And hope does not disappoint.

Hope does not disappoint. Hoping in the Lord, that God is with us, enabling us to hold our own against the evil forces around us, hoping does not disappoint. Because Jesus is with us, even when we are still sinning.

Being sick, friends disappointing us, loved ones dying: sometimes we all feel like we are living on a hellmouth.

But what are we going to do with that suffering? Should we give in to the demons from the hellmouth, should we let the people stone us, should we lie down and die when the enemy marches into our town?

Maybe you identify with Buffy and her world. Maybe Moses is more your speed. Or perhaps you feel a kinship with Viktor Frankel. But whichever one you relate to remember Paul’s encouraging words. Suffering comes, and nobody wants it, but with the power of Christ with us, loving us while we are still sinning, we can face our hardships with hope. And hope in Christ Jesus never disappoints. Thanks be to God. Amen.