MERCY AND THE RELIEF OF HUMAN MISERY

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 ESV

This past week over 58 million views have taken place of Jason Russell's video about the murderous African warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children for exploitation as soldiers and sex slaves

There is so much suffering in the world today. My heart aches when I think about Germans killing Jews during World War II (6 million); Turks killing Armenians, 1914-1915 (1.5 million); the Khmer Rouge killing Cambodians, 1975-1979 (2 million); Saddam Hussein's troops killing Iraqi Kurds, 1987-1988 (100,000); Serbs killing Bosnian Muslims, 1992-1995 (200,000); Hutus killing Tutsis, 1994 (800,000); Americans killing unborn children, 1973-present (40 million). Not to mention the 60 million people killed by the Communist regime mainly under Stalin. There were others.

Add to this the suffering owing to natural disasters like the tropical storm in November, 1970 that killed about 400,000 people in Bangladesh, or the earthquake of Gujarat, India in January, 2001 that killed 15,000, or the AIDS epidemic in Africa that has taken the lives of 2.5 million people or the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004 that killed 165,708 in Indonesia alone, probably 250,000 worldwide or the massive earthquake and Tsunami in Japan last year that so far has reported over 19,000 deaths.

Add to this the one billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.

Then add the sadness and pain of molestation, abuse, abandonment, hate crimes, unemployment, injuries that cause permanent disabilities, divorce, broken dreams and hearts, hopelessness, homelessness, poverty, and death of those close to you and the eventual death of your own family.

I have deeply contemplated the massive amount of great, global, local, and personal suffering that there is in this world. When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, ordinary, shallow, untroubled American life.

I am thankful for the promises of eternity like Revelation 21:4,"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." But in the mean time I believe the church and myself need to magnify the mercy of God by doing all that we can to relieve human misery!

For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated, who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated

Galatians 6:10 puts it like this: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The “especially” is because there is the added delight of affirming in them what God has already done in saving them. So in the massive suffering that goes on all around us we are carried by two motives: on the one hand, the desire to confirm and honor the Christ-exalting faith of a brother or sister who is suffering by giving them relief and help; and on the other hand, the desire to waken Christ-exalting faith in suffering unbelievers by giving them relief and help in Jesus’ name and with Jesus’ gospel.

Consider two teachings of Jesus. First, the teaching of Matthew 25:31-46, the great judgment when Jesus comes and separates the sheep and the goats and sends one group of people to hell and the other to heaven. Verse 46: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

What’s the difference between these two groups? The difference Jesus focuses on is how they treated his brothers, that is his disciples. And the issue is alleviating the suffering of others in the world: Verse 35ff: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger [refugee] and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then in verse Jesus explains how they were touching him: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.’”

We see the very same teaching in Mathew 10:42, “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” In other words, Jesus says that true Christians try to alleviate suffering of other Christians because they are Christians, and that’s one of the main ways that your Christianity is shown to be real.

James explains how this fits with faith as the way of salvation: James 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister [a disciple!] is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Jesus point is that if we don’t ever bear the fruit of practical love toward brothers and sisters, the least of them, our faith is dead and we are not saved.

Unbelievers should get our mercy to alleviate their suffering as well. In fact Jesus was very strong on this matter. He said that if we only love those who love us, if we only do good to those who do good to us, we are no different than unbelievers. So yes, show mercy to your brothers and sisters when they suffer; this is what true families do. But if you only love your family, if you only sacrifice to relieve the suffering of your family, you are no better than an unbeliever.

Listen to Luke 6:27-28,31-36 where Jesus says,

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

I am praying that we will reflect and ask God to show us ways that our lives can count for the relief of suffering in our churches, communities, and the world. Seeing suffering and experiencing suffering has a way of making us wake up to the endless suffering of people all around us.

There are three dimensions to ministering mercy and compassion to others suffering:

1.We see distress
2.We respond internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress
3.We respond externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress
Do you see how they all fit together in sequence? It does not do any good to see suffering, feel compassion towards thse who suffer, and not do anything about what you see and feel, if it is within your ability and means.

Oh reader, you have one life. One very short life. "Only one life, will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." Does not the suffering in this world seem inexplicable to you? Does it not break your heart and grieve you? Is not the great global, local, and intensely personal suffering a call to magnify the mercy of Christ by how we respond? Shall we not then live our lives,and prepare for heaven, by opening our eyes, our hearts, our lives, our time, our money, our energy, and our resources to relieve suffering (now and forever) for the glory of Jesus?

I pray that we may receive the grace to cause us to love and live our lives open, aware, and willing to relieve suffering for the glory of Jesus.


Pastor Bill