From John 18-19, Morning Praise (2)

In one paragraph

This Palm Sunday message from Pastor Mark worked through the whole Bible to show that suffering is not a sign of God's absence or failure. He held together the free choices of people, the evil they do to one another, and the unshaken sovereignty of God. Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, and the arrest and trial of Jesus in John 18 and 19 were all brought into the picture. Pastor Mark opened by picking up...

Read together

1. Job 1:1 Job described as upright, loving God and shunning evil
2. Job 1:21 Naked I came from my mother's womb, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord
3. Romans 8:28-29 God working all things together for the good of those called according to His purposes
4. Psalm 118 Source of the Hosanna crowd's words, save now I pray, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
5. Luke 9:21-24 Jesus warns the disciples the Son of Man must suffer, and calls all to deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow Him
6. Psalm 22 Prophetic song of the suffering Messiah, my God my God why have you forsaken me, they pierced my hands and feet, cast lots for clothing
7. Isaiah 53 Song of the suffering servant, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, led as a lamb to the slaughter
8. John 16:33 In this life you will have tribulation but take heart, I have overcome the world
9. John 18:1-19:22 Narrative of the arrest, trials before Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate, Peter's denials, and the crucifixion sign king of the Jews

Talk about it

1. The pastor spent time on Alan Jackson's song 'Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)' and what it captured about people's hearts after September 11. What do you remember about that day, and what did that event make you think or feel about God?
2. The pastor said that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, and that from the very beginning God's people knew He sometimes allows things to happen that we do not understand. Job's response to catastrophic loss was 'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' What makes that kind of response possible, and what makes it hard?
3. The pastor pointed out that Jesus told His disciples plainly that following Him meant taking up a cross daily and that suffering was part of the Christian life, not an exception to it. How does that sit with you, and how does it compare to the way you have heard the Christian life described elsewhere?
4. The pastor said that competence and character give you credibility, but that suffering adds to that credibility in a way nothing else can. He gave the example of counselors who have been through addiction or abortion themselves. Can you think of a time when someone's own suffering gave them a kind of authority to speak into your life that another person could not have had?
5. The anonymous poem the pastor read describes God hammering, goading, fretting, and disappointing the person He is shaping, and says God knows what He is about even when that person does not understand. Where do you find yourself right now in that picture, and what does it mean to you that God is described as both sovereign and benevolent at the same time?