Praise Him in the Process
To start, I just want to give a massive thank you to this congregation for the support and love poured out
on Lauren and I. Your thoughts, cards and prayers are cherished. It’s amazing
to me what good can come out of dark moments. For those of you who are unaware
of what has occurred, in late October of 2015, a CT scan revealed a mass in my
third ventricle which would later be diagnosed as an ependymoma (a lower grade
cancer). Two brain surgeries later, I’m still here and nearly 100% recovered.
God has allowed me return to full time ministry and for that I’m thankful.
Prior to and after both surgeries, I was regularly asked if
I was afraid. A nurse at Harborview even asked me this, to which I responded,
“there’s a verse in the bible that essentially says, to live, is to live like Jesus- to die, is to be with Jesus. Either
way, I’m winning.” For me, resurrection hope changes everything. Death isn’t something
to be feared for the Christian. Is it heartbreaking? Absolutely! Should we fear
it? No. In the weeks leading up to my first emergent surgery, I know God had
been preparing my heart for the days ahead.
Maybe we have heard someone say, “thank you Lord… it wasn’t cancer,” and we rejoice with that
person. The flipside of this is also saying, “thank you Lord, it is cancer.” Cancer in and of itself is a
wretched killer, with zero beneficial qualities. Cancer is just one of the
natural results of humanities separation from a life giving God. This is not to
say that cancer is a punishment for something we did to offend God (I’d deserve
far more than cancer if that was the case!). Christ absorbed all the punishment
I deserved on the Cross when he died for the sins of the world. Because of
resurrection hope, we know that God can bring good out of the most hopeless
situations for those who love him and are called to His redemptive purposes.
Before whatever trouble comes our way, we should resolve in our hearts to say,
“thank you Lord,” knowing that He will bring good from whatever he has allowed
to occur. He’s completely in charge. Nothing catches him by surprise.
One of my favorite quotes is from Lesslie Newbigin. Newbigin
states: “I’m neither an optimist or pessimist, Jesus Christ is risen from the
dead.” To me, it summarizes the heart of what we as a Resurrection Community
live out. Our Lord and Savior said to his disciples in John 16:33, “In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” These statements
aren’t meant to minimize our sufferings but give us resurrection perspective.
Never say, “because I don’t have… [fill in the blank situation] like that
person over there, I should just cheer up.” Never compare your suffering with
another’s. When you do suffer though, look to Christ and say, “help me to
praise you through this process.” Know that he will bring glory unto Himself
through it even when the darkness surrounds us. This is a resurrection
perspective that will shine resurrection hope on a dying world.
Easter Changes Everything
Easter changed everything. Prior to Easter, no one actually believed in Jesus. Ponder that for a
second. He had followers who fled, but not believers. We know this from the
scriptures that none of his disciples were outside the tomb with a stopwatch
counting down the days to observe him rise in person. When the women showed up with
spices, they came prepared to lovingly doctor a corpse the best way they knew
how. No one expected Easter. Easter changed everything. Even if you think this
whole Easter thing is a figment of Christians misguided imaginations, you must
recognize that in the first century, the proclamation of a mans resurrection
from the dead exploded across the Middle Eastern landscape. Also keep in mind
that no one believed in him while his body lay in the tomb.
Easter is the highlight of the Christian calendar. I feel it
gets overlooked with all the commercial pomp ascribed to Christmas and I
believe we as the Church need to reclaim and celebrate it in a bigger way. Some
years ago in New Zealand, I was riding my bike home from my congregations
Easter celebration. Passing by a local park I discovered a group of Hindu’s
celebrating color. They did this with food, festive music and dancing. It
dawned on me that their celebratory joy about color, externally dwarfed what I
mustered that day for the defeat of death and ultimate hope for the world.
However you celebrate Easter, may it resonate in our beings that this day in
time changed the world.
A man who hated and persecuted the first century
resurrection community had a radical encounter with the resurrected Christ and
later wrote these words:
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal
glory that far outweighs them all.”
The context this verse comes from is 2nd
Corinthians 4. I urge you to read it after finishing this article and praise
God for it. Remind yourself of its truth daily as you pray. When trials come
for yourself or those you love, approach them with a resurrection perspective.
As devastating as they feel now, how might you feel in 10 years about this same
situation? Perhaps in 10 years it will still be heartbreaking… but what about
in 10,000 years? How will we feel about our earthly trials and sorrow 10,000
years from now when we are standing next to our resurrected savior in all His
glory? If you’re reading this right now, it means you’re in the same spot I am
at the moment of writing. Alive. We are people in process, experiencing all the
joys and sorrows this life brings. To know
Jesus is to know life, life eternal. May we daily live out our resurrection
hope through the strength of Christ.
His,
piper
