Sermon prepared by: Rev. Anthonie Vanden Ende, Strathroy, Ont
Liturgy
Opening Scripture: Psalm 118:1, 8, 9
Silent personal prayer followed by #63 vs 1, 2, 3
God’s greeting: Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied unto you from God, the
Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ in the communion of the
Holy Spirit.
Singing of Psalm 116
God’s will for our lives: page 1016 of hymnal
Proclamation of God’s pardon: Isaiah 1:18
Song of gratitude: #194 vs 1, 3
Congregational prayers
Offerings
Scripture readings: Eccl. 7:1-6
Matt. 18: 7-9
Heb. 11: 35-40
I Peter 3:17
Text: Eccl.7: 2, 3
Sermon: Balm for Bitterness
Applicatory Hymn: #451
Prayer of thanksgiving
Closing Hymn: #572
Benediction: May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal
covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great
shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing
his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him. Through
Jesus Christ, to him be glory forever and ever. AMEN
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Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ:
I remember once, as a child walking past a cemetery with my dad, and seeing the
words "memento mori." I asked what they meant, and my dad said, "Remember
to die" or, "One day we must all die." The expression did not register at the time,
but as I grew older it certainly began to sink in.
There were times, during the Depression, when my parents, faithful and loving
as they were, sometimes had words and misunderstandings. As an eight-yearold,
I did not know what mourning was, but at school, I cried often about the
sadness of the situation and the loss of harmony. When the teacher asked, "What
is the matter?" I could not say.
But on Sundays in church I learned early to listen to and sing the Psalms of
comfort: "I love the Lord, for he has heard my voice" (Ps. 116). "O my soul why
are you grieving, why disquieted in me? Put your hope in God, believing he will
still your refuge be"(Ps. 42). I heard my parents sing with hope and trust in the
Lord’s salvation, and I know now that they experienced God’s balm throughout
the years as a curative for the bitterness in their lives.
Growing up as a teenager, I had to live through the bitter experience of
occupation by the Nazi forces of Hitler. I learned to mourn the loss of freedom
and lack of daily bread. As many, old and young, and especially the Jews, were
deported to perish in the concentration camps, I found it extremely hard to
believe that God could have anything good in mind when our circumstances
were so bitter. I could only experience that goodness in retrospect, after we had
come through the trials and difficulties.
Of course, the knowledge that God provides a balm for our bitter experiences
and losses is a vision of faith and trust given by the Holy Spirit. In Ecclesiastes,
that seemingly pessimistic (but in fact rather realistic) book, much of God’s
wisdom is given. No doubt, we can agree with many of its words of wisdom:
* Better to eat vegetable soup with one you love than T-bone steak with
someone you hate,
- Better to live in a corner of the attic than with a crabby woman, or an ill-
tempered man in a lovely home,
- Better an honest rebuke than hidden love,
- Better to have wisdom than weapons of war, etc.
But then we read in Ecclesiastes 7: "Better to go to the house of mourning than
to the house of feasting, or, It is better to go to a funeral than to a festival." How
can we agree with that? Isn’t the loss of good health, the loss of a loving partner,
the demise of a loving marriage, the loss of security, a most bitter experience?
But remember: death is the destiny of everyone. Don’t live as though there were
no end to life; only fools live that way! We, the living, need to take this to heart.
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The preacher of experience and wisdom is trying to cover the whole of life, and
so he says that, in general, "sorrow is better than laughter." I think he means we
must keep in mind that we live in a broken world. When he mentions "a sad face
being good for the heart" he may mean that bitter grief can help us to become
better children of God, trusting that, as Jeremiah says in the midst of utter grief,
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end,
they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. . ." (Lamentations 3).
Entering the house of mourning every day are people who have to go to the
hospital, people who move from their homes to nursing homes, people whose
marriages break up, people who enter prison or death row. . . . And we cannot
help being reminded of the house of mourning when we read the newspapers and
watch television: we have to come to terms with threats of war, suicide
bombings, famine, epidemics, and natural disasters. Yet we are challenged to
believe that this world in which we live, for all its bitterness, is our Father’s
world.
The Bible gives strong illustrations of that fact. Joseph, as we read in Genesis,
was led into the house of mourning when he was hated by his brothers, terribly
mistreated, and sold as a slave to Egypt. There he got in deeper when, as
Potiphar’s servant, he was falsely accused of sexual assault. He was imprisoned
for many years. His life changed dramatically when he became governor of
Egypt, and all bitterness seemed forgotten, until his brothers, driven by famine,
showed up. He was able to identify with their need and their anxiety about losing
their brother Benjamin, and eventually, though with tears, he was able to
reconcile with them. "You intended to harm me," he said, "but God intended it
for good, to save many lives!" He experienced the balm of God’s love and care
had; it healed his bitterness.
Another illustration that this is our Father’s world comes from the book of Ruth.
Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, driven by hunger, went to live in
the land of Moab. All went quite well for about ten years, and the two sons were
married. But then Elimelech died, and shortly thereafter also his two sons. The
three women, Naomi, Ruth and Orpah, entered the house of mourning. How
bitter was their lot! When Naomi eventually returned to Bethlehem with Ruth
her daughter-in-law, the people asked "Is that Naomi?" She said, "Don’t call me
Naomi – lovely – call me Mara – bitter – because the Almighty has afflicted me
and made my life bitter!" However, we read on to learn of the healing balm of
God’s providence and mercy. It turns out that Ruth married Boaz, Naomi’s
kinsman-redeemer; their son, Obed, became one of the ancestors of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
And so, congregation, we are encouraged throughout the Bible to hang on in
faith, even in the deepest darkness of our experience, since God in his love and
50 mercy is in control. Indeed, he makes all things work together for the good of
those who love Him.
Joni Earickson-Tada learned to believe this truth too, and was able to move out
of her house of mourning. You remember that as a healthy, beautiful young
woman she was paralyzed for life when she dove into a swimming pool and
broke her neck. By and by, with the help of faithful friends, she became a
tremendous witness to God’s grace and healing, even though she remained in a
wheelchair. Today she still witnesses that God can and will cure our bitterness
through the work of Jesus, our faithful friend and life-giver.
Dear people of God, you and I can overcome our personal bitter experiences,
too, by remembering how Jesus wept about human loss and suffering, and yet
trusted in God’s way of healing the world. He is truly our Redeemer, calling
himself the Resurrection and the Life.
Yet when he calls us to take up our cross to follow him, our response is often to
say, "O, not me! That cross is too bitter to bear." Peter did this when Jesus told
him about the path of suffering and death on the cross that God had appointed
for him. Peter said, in effect, "Lord, we are well on our way to the house of
feasting and victory. This must never happen to you!" Jesus’ response was clear:
"Get behind me Satan. You don’t see it yet, but this is God’s better way – follow
me, Peter!" Jesus spoke to Paul in the same vein: "Follow me, Paul. Oh yes, that
thorn in the flesh. Yes, that is bitter, I know. But my grace is sufficient for you."
James Stewart once testified: "the Christian reaction to suffering and sorrow is
not an attitude of self-pity, fatalism, or resentment; it is the Spirit which takes
life’s difficulties as a God-given opportunity, and regards its troubles as a sacred
trust, and wears the thorns as a crown. . . ."
Still, we don’t mind when the Good Shepherd leads us into green pastures and
beside still waters, but when he finds it better to lead us through the valley of the
shadow of death, we cry, "Oh, no" and we cringe. But has God not shown that
especially in troubled times his mercy and goodness follow us; that he restores
our souls, and leads us in paths of righteousness?
Isn’t it also true that even though we are daily faced with misery, we are still
allowed to go to the house of feasting in many ways? Indeed, God gives and
approves of celebration. The preacher of Ecclesiastes says, "A person can do
nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work for this is a
gift from the hand of God; for who can eat or drink apart from him (Eccl. 2:24)?
Our Lord Jesus, too, took the time to eat and drink with sinners, and the writer of
Psalm 30 protests against the house of mourning: "To you O Lord I make my
51 supplication. Lord, what profit is there in my death? If I go down to the Pit, will
the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? O Lord, be my helper." By
the end of the Psalm, the writer acknowledges, "You changed my mourning into
dancing."
And so we go on, another step another day, and no matter how enjoyable and
good life can be, there is always the uncertainty factor: what will be next? Well,
in God’s light, what will be next is always life under God’s protection, for
underneath us are the everlasting Arms!
Yes, a house may burn, a marriage may fail, a beloved child may die, a church
family may split up over an issue – all bitter things – but we must remember that
God our Father in Jesus is in control. He watches over his church, and over you
and me all the time – forever! The lives of God’s children may sometimes be
bitter and unfulfilled, but as Hebrews 11 tells us, God has something better in
mind!
Still we keep saying, "NO," but God keeps saying, "YES. I uphold you, I help
you, I sustain you. The waters will not overwhelm you, the fires will not
consume you, because I, your good shepherd, am with you." And Jesus says, "I
know all about bitterness; I am acquainted with grief and mourning. Come to
me! When I was in Gethsemane I, too, said ‘O, NO.’ But I also said, ‘Not my
will, but yours be done.’ When I told my disciples that I was going away, they
protested and mourned, but I said, ‘It is better this way, because I will send you
the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper, who will remain with you forever.’ "
What is so encouraging for us is that our Lord leads us through the house of
mourning because he himself went through death and conquered it. Therefore,
we may live in hope. So, in all that you and I still have to go through, let us fix
our eyes of faith on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith who, for the joy that
lay ahead, endured the bitter cross, and now sits at God’s right hand for our
good.
Hence all fear and sadness, for the Lord of gladness, Jesus, enters in.
Those who love the Father, though the storms may gather,
still have peace within.
Therefore, since our Lord Jesus lives and is the same yesterday, today, and
forever: Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor, your tears, your pain and trials and bitter experiences
are not in vain in the Lord.
