Keynote Charles Ware
Sharon and I have six children, four biological, two adopted, we have a son-in-law, we have two daughter-in-laws, and we have two grandkids, and it is a delight to be here with you and share this time together. People from all over the world, I was thinking, when they were speaking about, I think, 40- something nations represented here, I had the opportunity in 20 2004, to go to Thailand. We went there with the liaisons committee and I was on the part of a group, it was like 48 of us, and our discussion was racial reconciliation, bringing tribes together, racial groups together, all these different groups that have been separated by wars and factions. And the question was, Is the Gospel powerful enough to bring these people together? And as we had different discussions, I was moved by people who would say that a tribe was overran by another tribe and all the men were killed, or other horrible things that was going on, genocide here and there, and I remember one time that one of the brothers, in the midst of that discussion, just stood and said, The Gospel of the West is too weak to help us. And as we're thinking about what we're talking about here, people with disabilities and the whole concept of suffering and theology and the whole idea that we're coming to a place where disabilities and opportunities meet, and I've been given the text of Isaiah chapter 53, and Isaiah's a great book, Isaiah means The Lord is our Salvation, and the book breaks down in two natural sections. Chapters 1-39 speak of judgment, God is bringing judgment on the people of God because of their disobedience. And then 40-66 speaks of forgiveness and restoration. And as I thought about speaking on this theme tonight, I thought, Here's the theme: Jesus Christ became one of us in order that He might die for us, in order that He might save us. And I was thinking about, What is the greatest, what is the greatest illustration of disability? The greatest illustration of disability is when Almighty God became a man. Somebody says, But, no, no, no, but Jesus, He was God. He doesn't understand what it means to have your legs crippled and not be able to walk. My friends, you don't understand what it's like for all eternity never having to have walked. That's a disability. Somebody says, But Jesus, He doesn't have mental problems as mine. It works right, and the neurons wasn't frying there. But, you don't know what it is to be a God who never needed to think. The greatest disability in the world is when Almighty God identified Himself with us and our humanity. And one of the things that Isaiah 53 is going to shout out to us: that in His identity, He Charles Ware Page 1 of 9
suffered like us, He understands what it means to suffer, and yet He went through it. And He arose from the dead and He's alive today and He offers hope to you and me, no matter who you are, where you come from, what's your physical ability. I want to tell ya, there's a God in heaven that loves you, that saves you, that indwells you in the Spirit of God, and will use you for the glory of God to advance the Kingdom of God, because He understands you. I want you to look with me quickly here in Isaiah chapter 53 and I want you to note, this suffering servant, this servant of the Lord, who is spelled out here as the One who ultimately dies for us in Isaiah 53 verse one, it says, Who has believed our report? He said not many people are going to believe this report. And To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? People are going to reject this report. Why? Verse 2. For He, that is the suffering servant, this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ, He should grow up before Him as a tender plant, He came from the line of David, and then, as the root out of the dry ground, that is, spiritually dry ground, not a lot there. He had no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Now that's talking about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He became incarnate, when He became man. I want you to read a Scripture alongside of this as I go through Isaiah 53. I want you to look at Hebrews, chapter 2. And Hebrews chapter 2, what I'm doing with this Scripture, I'm running it right alongside of Isaiah 53 for you and I to get this concept that He became one of us in order that He might die for us, in order that He might save us. In Hebrews chapter 2, it says in verse 10, For it is fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will declare to you I will declare your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you. And again, I will put my trust in him, and again, Here am I, and the children whom God has given me. Inasmuch, then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the Incarnation. That is, He knows something about suffering. Beloved, I'm not going to give you a total, a total theology on suffering. Some suffering is just because we're living in a broken world. Some suffering is the consequence of our sin. Some suffering is put on us by the devil. Some suffering is for the glory of God, He's going to heal. Charles Ware Page 2 of 9
But, I want to talk about that what bothers you and I most, that is the suffering that God doesn't seem to release us from. And I want you to understand that God is not ignorant to that, but God has participated in that, and God understands you and God has sympathy, sympathy towards you, and God can minister to you, even in the midst of your suffering. Because He became one of us. I mean, I just can't get over that. How could Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, He who knows no, no concept of time, He whose strength is beyond measure, how is it that He could be born of a virgin and become a baby? How is it that He could become a human being? He became one of us. And I want you to understand, beloved, He became one of us not because He was forced to become one of us, but because He chose to become one of us. See, you and I, we might say, If I had the choice, I would never have this sickness, I would never have this infirmity, I would never have this disability. If it was up to me, I'd never live in a broken world. But, Jesus chose His disability. And I want you to note that He chose it for a reason. Notice back in Isaiah 53. The Scriptures speak about this suffering servant and some of the things He went through as He became one of us, in order that He might die for us, in order that He might save us. The Scripture says, in verse 3, And he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Can you just think with me for a moment, how is it that Almighty God, the God our Creator, the sovereign One of the universe, how is it that He can be a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief? Indeed this is a disability for a God who knows nothing but tranquility and peace and holiness and righteousness and wholeness and fullness. He is a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. In other words, we rejected Him the same way our churches tend to reject those with disability. We didn't want Him there. He was a bother. He didn't lift our pride and our esteem by ourselves. We rejected Him. The Bible says in verse 4, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded not for his transgressions, but our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Charles Ware Page 3 of 9
You had a discussion about healing I think this healing is ultimately spiritual healing, ultimately will be the healing of the body, but that's ultimately in a place called Heaven. I remind myself, no matter who it is, everyone that God has physically healed in this world only lived to die later. You're going to hit it sometime. It's appointed unto man once to die and then comes judgment. And I thank God when He chooses to heal, but God doesn't always choose to heal down here. But, beloved, this is Almighty God. He became one of us and He's going through all this. Verse 6 then says, All we like sheep have gone astray and we've turned, every one, to his own way. And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Think about it. Almighty God. If there was ever somebody who didn't deserve to suffer, who didn't deserve to go through these things, who didn't deserve to be smitten of God, who didn't deserve to have the transfer, it was the sinless Son of God. He didn't deserve it. But, He chose it. He voluntarily chose to become one of us. To enter into our sufferings. To know what it's like to be human, to suffer. To be stricken, to be rejected of God, because of sin. To have the experience of living in a broken, fallen world. The experience of being looked at, belittled, bullied, put down, falsely accused. And horribly beaten. Hebrews chapter 2 speaks of He wanted to enter into our suffering. He's gone through all this, He became one of us, He's tasted of it all. And we say Why? Why would Almighty God, who hasn't experienced this, why would He enter into it? Why would He go through it? Isaiah 53 says in verse 9, And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death. Supposedly, we believe that the soldiers thought they were going to bury Him with the transgressors, the other two thieves on the cross, but Joseph of Arimathea gave his tomb, a rich man's tomb. It says, Because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in him, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief, when you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper his hand. He died. I don't understand it. How could Almighty God die? I don't know. But, the Scripture says He did. Hebrews chapter 2 says of this, verse 14 again, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death - through death - he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He became one of us, voluntarily, with the purpose of identifying with us and then dying for us. Do you realize that God Almighty, in the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, died for you? Charles Ware Page 4 of 9
Beloved, I don't know what it is that disturbs you, I don't know what physical disability you have, but somebody mentioned the greatest disability we can have is death itself. And the Lord Jesus Christ did not fight death, He did not triumph over it, until He tasted of it. It was like when He said He was led away as a sheep to a slaughter, it was like when it was, when Jesus' time to die came, He kind of told Satan and everybody else, Take your best punch, I won't even fight. Go ahead, I'll take it all. Go ahead, do what you want to do, I'm yours. And Satan, I'm sure he thought he'd won the battle when the Lord Jesus Christ hung on that cross, and He said, It is finished. His body was laid in the tomb. I like to think that Satan got all the little demons together and he said We finally did it! We finally did it! He s dead, thank God He's gone. We don't have to worry about Him no more. Let s have a party! And they partied all Friday night, they partied all Saturday night, they had their Bud Light out, they were having a good time, because Jesus was gone. But, lo! On the Sunday morning, thank God He arose! Somebody went there, looked for Him He's alive! He's alive! He saved you! He saved me! I want to tell you that He became one of us that He might die for us, that He might save us. Beloved, He has released us from death, and no longer do we have to be bound in bondage by Satan, because God has defeated Satan. Christ has come, He's died, He's buried, He's gone again. He's coming back for us. It's a wonderful thought. In Isaiah 53 it talks about that same thing. In verse 11, it says, He shall see the labor of his soul - that is, His people are going to be saved - and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great. And He shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with transgressors and he bore the sins of many and made intercession for transgressors. Thank God that this is a global reach! Because the God that we're talking about, that came in the form of a man, tasted the sufferings that we've went through He's been buried, He's rose again, and now we preach a gospel to every creature throughout the whole world. Red, yellow, black, or white, whether they're physically able or physically disabled, mentally able or mentally disabled. However we want to define it, God we have a gospel that says there's a God in Heaven who loves you, who became one of us, died for you, rose again, offers you salvation. He loves you. That's the message. Suffering, His suffering. Oh, I want to just tell you, I ain't got time to do it all, but I just wanted to give you one Scripture to bless your soul, Hebrews, chapter 4. And Hebrews chapter 4, and I want you to start at verse 14. It says, Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has Charles Ware Page 5 of 9
passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but in all points was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Oh, Sharon and I, we went through a time like this. It was way back in February 1998. Our then 16-year-old son, he was practicing with the basketball, practicing for a basketball game. He saved the ball from going out of bounds, he lunged into a brick wall, his head hit the brick wall, the pressure went to his neck, the fourth vertebrae exploded, and his spinal cord was severed. One moment he was running down the basketball court, the next moment he's on the floor. I was out in Seattle preaching. They call my wife, Sharon. She went over to the school where he was. When she got there he was on a stretcher, they were taking him to the ambulance, and she ran to him and she was crying and weeping. There he was, her athletic 16-year-old boy, and there he was, he was paralyzed, and she was weeping and crying, and he looked at her and said, Mom! Pull yourself together! Remember God's in control. I want to tell you something, that was the beginning amen? That was the beginning of the grace of God. That was the beginning of the sympathetic high priest. Because I want to tell you, as we went through this journey and he's never walked. I prayed for him to walk. I was on television news talking about, I've asked God for him to walk, I know God has an ability to walk again, but God hasn't given him that ability to walk again. But I'm going to tell you what God did do. God worked so much through his life and through his testimony. Professional athletes, all kinds of people, were going into his hospital room to encourage him, said they came out to encourage. He was on the front page of the Indianapolis Star twice, he was the lead story on the nightly news for a week, his testimony went everywhere. Because, you see, when he told my wife Sharon, Pull yourself together and Remember God's in control, a sports reporter was on the scene. He heard a young athlete had been hurt. And the next morning in the Indianapolis Star, the headline was Young Athlete Injured, But Not His Faith. I want to tell you, that went everywhere. Amen, that went everywhere. That went literally around the world. People were talking about that in, he gave a testimony for Billy Graham Crusades, he was written up in magazines, he was on the radio shows. In fact, he was the lead story in the Indiana women's magazine, I don't know how that happened. But, prisoners were getting his story. Charles Ware Page 6 of 9
I mean, God was using this, and our family, we didn't know what we were going to do, I didn't know what we were going to do. I said, Lord, I guess I'm going to have to leave my job, I'm going to have to get 2 or 3 second jobs, I got to take care of my son, I don't know what to do. And God worked it out so that the church we were in said, We want to take up an offering for The Matt Ware Trust Fund. We want to start that fund and help the Ware family. They took up $167,000 on a Sunday night for our family. Praise God, Amen. I want to tell you something. He's a sympathetic high priest. He's able. He's able. I prayed that he'd walk, he ain't walking yet, but we got $167,000, and then some business people, they said, We want to help you, we want to help your son, so they had a banquet. The mayor of Indianapolis was there, he declared a Matt Ware Day for the city, and some professional athletes there, ministries, they took up 140-something thousand dollars, part of which was a brand new 1997 Dodge van completely handicap adapted, and gave it to us scot free, praise God. I've got a living God, He's almighty. But Matt's not walking yet, you understand what I'm saying? We needed a house, and some Christian construction people said, You need a house, we'll help build you a house. And so we said, Okay. They said, Go down to our subdivision, find a plan that you like, we're going to build it at cost or below cost. We couldn't find a house there, we asked them, Would you build a house on a private lot? They said, We don't build houses on private lots, but for the Ware family, we'll build you one. We got a 10-acre plot of land, we got over 3,000 square foot house with five bedrooms, handicap adapted, and we moved in debt free, praise God. I know He's able, but Matt's not walking yet, you see what I mean? I'm praying that he'll walk. And God went on, and God blessed all these I mean, we've had horrible times of calling 911, we think he's going to die and all the rest, but I want to tell you something. Last July, a year ago, Matt got married, praise God. Got a grandchild, amen. Built a house. Now I'm telling you all this, but my prayer is that he would walk. He ain't walking yet. But, I want to tell you one thing, we've got a merciful and sympathetic high priest who went through our suffering, know what we're suffering, and I can, I can come boldly to the throne of grace, and ask, God, gimme some grace. I want to tell you something, when I'm down, I will ask, I will. James says you have not because you ask not. No, I'm asking. But, sometimes you ask and God says no. He ain't walking yet. But, I know God is alive, I know He's risen, I know He loves me, I know that He's taking care of me. Charles Ware Page 7 of 9
You know, I kind of figured out some of our problems as we go through this whole thing about suffering. Sometimes we just haven't asked, as James 4 tells us. And sometimes we have to realize it's not all about you. I mean, we've heard so much stuff it's not about you, it's about Jesus, it's Jesus, it's Jesus. It's not about you. Except that, in James 1, we're told, Count it all joy when you fall into many different kinds of trials, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Let patience have her perfect- or entire- work so that you be perfect- and entire- lacking nothing. God sometimes is working on us. He want us to see how good He is without our strength. We want to show Him how strong we are and how we can do the job, and sometimes He says, No, I want you to trust me, by faith, and I'll make it work. Matt's not walking yet, but God's almighty. We need to learn to talk to the God who understands. When we cry out to Him in faith, and we put our faith out, if He says no to us, we don't doubt His love for us, and we stop asking why and we start asking, Who? Who's in control of this situation? You're not in control of it. If you were in control of it, you wouldn't be in this situation. So, who's in control of it? There's a God who loves you, who suffered like you, who died for you, who arose again. He has all power over you, He is sovereign, stop asking why? and start asking who? God's in control. And then I want you to do something else. When you think of suffering, stop asking why? and start asking what? What is it that God wants to do to your life? You can think of all the things you can't do, but what is it He wants to do? We've heard testimony after testimony since we've been here of people that other people said they're no good, they're worthless, they have nothing to give to society, they thought they were worthless. But, Almighty God, who suffered like they did, indwells them in the Spirit of God, has gifted them and has brought out of them to serve Him in a way that they thought was impossible. I want to tell you something. Ask Him what, what does He want, what does He want you to do? And then I also thought that, you know what, maybe the greatest problem we have in the Church of America when we think about this whole thing of inviting disability, people with disabilities in our church, maybe our greatest problem is, is the Church is too strong. We're too strong. You see, Paul said in II Corinthians chapter 12, he had this thorn in his flesh. Three times he asked God to remove it. And three times God said My grace is sufficient for you. And Paul learned a lesson through a process. He learned that when he's weak, he's made strong, and he came to a place in his life he said, I'd rather be weak then strong, because when I'm weak I experience the power of God. Charles Ware Page 8 of 9
And maybe the problem with our Church is we're so strong that God can't show His arm. And maybe when we get weak enough, maybe when we're disabled, maybe when we're rejected by society and considered small and rejects and have nothing to give, maybe, just maybe then God will show us His power. Suffering. Suffering. A theology of suffering. I want to tell you that the Cross is where disabilities and opportunities meet. And I want to tell you that as I walk through Isaiah chapter 53 and as I correlate it with Hebrews chapter 2 and Hebrews chapter 4 and this merciful, empathetic, sympathetic high priest who suffered on all points like as we are, I just want to leave you with this testimony. Our son Matt ain't walking now, but one day in Heaven he'll be walking. But I want to tell you, while he's down here now, God has done things through our family, with a quadriplegic son, that he never could have did without him. He's opened up doors for us. I remember shortly after he was injured I was flying someplace and Sharon and I both was booked on that flight, and because of his condition and something happened with him, the doctor said no, you should probably stay home. She stayed home, I went to the airport, and I was going to change my, change her flight. Seventy-five dollar fee. I knew it was coming up, so I went up there and I told the guy who I was, behind the register, and he said That'll be $75, sir. I said, I know, I said, My wife, you know, something just come up, she had to stay home. He went back, he turned around, he said, Ware? Ware? Was your son injured, was he in the papers? I said, Yes, sir, he broke his neck. He said, I thought I knew that name! He said, I'm waiving your fee and you're flying first class! Amen, glory. Sometimes you have to get weak in order to get the power of God. And so he ain't walking, but we still benefiting. Amen, amen. You got a Savior who knows what it means to suffer. You haven't suffered anything that compares to Almighty God becoming human. But, beloved, mark it down. He became one of us by choice, that He might die for us by choice. That He might save us by choice. You are His, He has purchased you, He loves you, He indwells you, He wants to use you. You are gifted, cry out to Him and let Him take your suffering and turn it into a triumphant ministry for the glory of the living God. God bless you. Charles Ware Page 9 of 9