When Life Tumbles In, What Then? Jeremiah 12: 1, 5 Rev. Michael D. Halley August 27, 2017 Suffolk Christian Church Suf folk, Virginia Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The title of this sermon is taken from a very famous sermon preached by the Rev. Arthur John ( AJ ) Gossip, at Beechgrove Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, ninety years ago, in 1927 1. It was his first time in the pulpit after the dramatically sudden death of his wife. Listen to the Rev. Mr. Gossip as he ponders God s answer to Jeremiah: Here is a man [Jeremiah] who, musing upon the bewilderments of life, has burst into God s presence, hot, angry, stunned by His ordering of things, with a loud babble of clamorous protest. It is unfair, he cries, unfair! And frowningly he looks into the face of the Almighty. It is unfair! And then suddenly he checks himself, and putting this blunt question to it, feels his heart grow very still and very cold. For after all, he asks himself, what is it you have to complain about so far? Nothing that everybody does not share. Only the usual little rubs and frets and ills of life that fall to every one, no more. And if these have broken through your guard, pushed aside your religion, made you so sour and peevish and cross towards God God help you, what will happen when, sudden as a shell screaming out of the night, some one of the great crashing dispensations 2 bursts in your life, and leaves an emptiness where there had been a home, a tumbled ruin of your ordered ways, a heart so sore you wonder how it holds together? If you have caught your breath, poor fool, when splashing through the shallow
waters of some summer brook, how will you fare when Jordan bursts its banks, and rushes, far as the eye can see, one huge, wild swirl of angry waters, and, your feet caught away, half choked, you are tossed nearer and nearer to the roaring of the falls, and over it? Suppose that, to you as to Job, suddenly, out of the blue, there leap dreadful tidings to disaster, would you have the grit to pull yourself together and to face it as he did? The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.... Page 2 Suppose that to you, as to Christ, it became evident that life was not to give what you expected from it, that your dreams were not to be granted, that yours was to be a steep and lonely road, that some tremendous sacrifice was to be asked of you, could you make shift to face it with a shadow of the Master s courage and the Master s calm? For there is no supposing in the matter. To a certainty to you too, in your turn, some day, these things must come. Yes, unbelievably they come. For years and years you and I go our sunny way and live our happy lives, and the rumours of these terrors are blown to us very faintly as from a world so distant that it seems to have nothing to do with us; and then, to us too, it happens. And when it does, nobody has the right to snivel or whimper as if something unique and inexplicable had befallen him. Never morning wore to evening but some heart did break 3 hearts just as sensitive as yours and mine. But when yours breaks, what then? It is a bit late in the day to be talking about insurance when one s house is ablaze from end to end: and somewhat tardy to be searching for something to bring one through when the test is upon one. And how are you and I, so... easily fretted by the minor worries, to make shift at all in the swelling of Jordan, with the cold of it catching away our breath, and the rush of it plucking at our footing? So began Mr. Gossip that first Sunday after his wife s death. What will you do in the swelling of the Jordan? It will come at some
Page 3 point in your life, no doubt. The history of humanity is an ongoing chronicle of pain, suffering, and loss. I m not trying to be morbid, just realistic. So, when life tumbles in about you, when the swelling of the Jordan threatens to overcome you, what then? It happened to our friend Job, of course. I am so glad the Holy Spirit included this wonderful book in our Bible. It is difficult reading, but it is essential reading if we are to come to grips with tragedies in life. Job did not like his predicament any more than we like the things we suffer. In fact, Job argued with God, challenging God to answer his questions. And when God finally answered Job, God came to him out of the whirlwind and said, Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you re talking about? Pull yourself together, Job! Up on your feet! Stand tall! I have some questions for you, and I want some straight answers (Job 38:2-3, MSG 4 ). And then God proceeded to ask Job where he was when the world was created and why Job was acting as if he were God. Do I understand all this? Do I comprehend the mysteries of life? Can I explain why it seems the wicked prosper and the godly suffer? No, I do not fully understand and I cannot explain the mysteries of life. Does that make my Christian faith null and void? Of course not! I recall a conversation Jesus had with his disciples, recorded in John, chapter 6. Verse 66 tells us that many of Jesus disciples turned away and stopped following him. Then Jesus asks the twelve, Do you also want to leave? Of course it was Peter who stood for the others and answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.
Page 4 And so to those who would walk away from Christ, I can only ask Where will you go? As the Rev. Mr. Gossip put it, [I believe that] faith works, [it] fulfils itself, [it] is real; and that its most audacious promises are true. Always we must try to remember that the glorious assertions of the Scriptures are not mere suppositions and guesses. There is no perhaps about them. These splendid truths are flowers that human hands like ours plucked in the gardens of their actual experience. Why is the prophet so sure that as one whom his mother comforts so will God comfort all hurt things? How did the Psalmist know that those who are broken in their hearts and grieved in their minds God heals? Because, of course, it had happened to them, because they had themselves in their dark days felt his unfailing helpfulness and tenderness and the touch of wonderfully gentle hands. And it is true. When we are cast into some burning fiery furnace seven times heated, we are not alone, never alone; but there is One beside us, like unto the Son of God. When our feet slip upon the slimy stones in the swelling of Jordan, a hand leaps out and catches us and steadies us. I will not leave you comfortless, said Christ. Nor does He. There is a Presence with us, a Comforter, a Fortifier who does strengthen, does uphold, does bring us through somehow from hour to hour and day to day. The road is too rough, I said, Dear Lord, there are stones that hurt me so. And He said, Dear child, I understand, I walked it long ago. But there s a cool green path, I said; Let me walk there for a time. No child, He gently answered me, The green path does not climb. My burden, I said, Is far too great, How can I bear it so? My child, He said, I remember the weight;
Page 5 I carried My cross, you know. But I said, I wish there were friends with me Who would make my way their own. Oh, yes, He said, Gethsemane Was hard to bear alone. And so I climb the stony path, Content at last to know That where my Master had not gone, I would not need to go. And strangely then I found new friends, The burden grew less sore; And I remember--long ago-- He went that way before. 5 We are not alone in this. We don t have to find our way by ourselves. That is why we have our Christian friends, friends who will gather around and pray for us and support us with their presence and their love. I don t know how people face the storms of life without such a fellowship. I don t think you need be afraid of life. Our hearts are very frail; and there are places where the road is very steep and very lonely. But we have a wonderful God. And as Paul puts it, what can separate us from His love?... [S]tanding in the roaring of the Jordan, cold to the heart with its dreadful chill, and very conscious of the terror of its rushing, I, too, can call back to you who one day in your turn will have to cross it, Be of good cheer, my brother, for I feel the bottom, and it is sound. Let us pray together: Heavenly Father, you are a great and glorious God. We don t always know your ways, we don t always understand the twists and turns of life, but we do know that you love us and that you have a wonderful and perfect plan for us. May our lips continually speak praises and may our steps always go in
the paths of righteousness. We pray this in the name of our Saviour Jesus. Amen. Page 6 +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! +==+==+==+==+==+==+ 1. The full text of this sermon can be found at www.brianiscool.com/arthur-john-gossip.html. 2. Dispensation means the divine ordering of the affairs of the world. 3. From In Memoriam, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: That loss is common would not make My own less bitter, rather more: Too common! Never morning wore To evening, but some heart did break. 4. The Message (MSG), copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. 5. Written by Olga J. Weiss, found at Sorrow, www.sermonillustrations.com.