Why Firstfruits Must Suffer and Endure

It's wonderful to see all of you this morning and certainly appreciate all the preparation that goes into having services and being able to set things up. So we're here to celebrate one of God's appointed festivals, the Feast of Pentecost. And all of us know, we've studied about it, we know in essence what it's about, about the coming of the Holy Spirit, about how it is that the Church is going to be functioning with the help of the Holy Spirit of God.

And yet, in a sense, we're confronted with a challenge, a challenge that's quite complex, and it may even be difficult for us to understand. As the first fruits of God's spiritual harvest, and we can say that over and over again, but do we really grasp the significance of what that means? You know, it's hard. I don't know that I fully grasp that.

I can see what it is that God is doing. I can see how He's achieving something that in a sense appears impossible, but of course with God, all things are possible. But I mentioned we have a challenge because as the first fruits of God's spiritual harvest, we're trying to obey God.

We keep the commandments of God. We try to serve God. We try to serve one another. We try to love one another. Those are all expectations that God would have of us. And we desire to see God's blessing and His encouragement and His help. I think all of us expect that. Whenever we hurt, we want to be relieved. Whenever we're in trouble, we want to be rescued. Whenever we have financial reversals, we're hoping that that's going to eventually change.

And many of us have gone through those type of things, and God's still with us. He's still helping us. He does provide His blessing and encouragement. But as I mentioned, the contrast is, or we're confronted with a challenge that we have, as we all know, a lengthy list of many, many people who are going through trials.

I sent out to you this morning, for those of you who looked, another update on this young man in, I think it's in Florida. I'll read some of this in a little bit. And it doesn't look very good. It looks very dire. And we might ask ourselves, why does God, who is alive and well, who does know what we go through, why does He allow trials? Why does He allow suffering? And to be able to know why, I think it does tie together with this day of Pentecost.

It ties together with what we are doing as a part of the firstfruits today. You know, in some ways it's kind of frustrating. Even as I think about many of you, I know different ones of you who are going through different trials. I know we continue to pray for faith. And Carol, we want her situation to improve. And I will just mention that faith, hosselton, is needing another procedure. And yet how soon that might come about, they've been given a date somewhat in the future, late summer.

And they're hoping, and I'm praying, that an earlier appointment can be achieved. That's one of the things. I talk to Mrs. Ish regularly. She labors with the cancer on her foot. She doesn't complain a lot about it. She usually mentions it hurts. I'm sure I've realized that. I talk to Mr.

Jabow. I know he's very restricted right now. He would like to be with us, but it's just not something that's able to be worked out right now. I talk to Ramona Warner up in Fulton. She knows she has ALS. She knows what the progression of that's going to be, unless God changes it. I don't want to try to go over all of these, but I want to just remind you of what we're praying about. I mentioned this yesterday that Mr.

Kubik had written this to us. Please pray for one another. Be concerned about one another. We are God's people. We are God's firstfruits. And yet we can sometimes get disillusioned. Why doesn't God solve some of these things? He's quicker than he has. Why doesn't he do that? We had a report here about Mark Wurrum being ill with the lung issue and later now dying. The one I sent out this morning was regarding Jordan Gennaro, down from Tampa, I believe, and it said Jordan is still unconscious and the respirator machine is breathing for him, so obviously he's on life-preserving equipment.

The doctors are not hopeful. After the doctor's examination, their conclusion is that there's no brain function and their definition or by their definition would be clinical death. He's obviously an extremely compromised from this accident that he was involved in. This is from his family. We have faith that God can heal Jordan until the very end, and God is the only one who can make this outcome change. And while Jordan is still allowed to have this breathing machine, we are praying that God would provide his healing.

For that, God has to help him to breathe on his own, and we request that you help us ask him God to intervene. This is all too common. It's almost something that we can become so used to that it's hard to even remember, the different people, although I'm sure you have your own way of trying to keep track. I know I try to write them down or try to have a list, but if you don't update the list every few days or every week, then your list is out of date. I mentioned to you Mr.

Pierwitz finding that he has lung cancer. He was aware that something was wrong, but he didn't know exactly what. Michael Richardson, down in Columbus, Georgia, is still in serious, life-threatening circumstances after five weeks, mostly in ICU. He takes one step forward, the next step backward, but he is finally breathing on his own. He's very lethargic due to failing liver with ammonia levels worsening. Kidney failure continues to worsen, and the family would appreciate your continued prayers.

This is a very similar thing that we have seen and read many, many times. There's a man, aged 33, Brandon Borgna. He fell down a week ago, or looks like a couple of weeks ago now, began to vomit blood, taken to the ER, has a large brain tumor. Marissa Fush. She's in the Nashville area. She writes about ongoing eye issues. I don't believe, I don't think, she's 16 years old. We actually have a number of them that are children of, maybe members or children who attend, probably with their parents. We've had a number of reports about Lisa Shrewsbury, down in the Dallas area. She's only eight, and yet she is in a very serious condition.

And yet, whenever you read the report on her, it's optimistic. It's uplifting. You know, there have been, what they would say, are several miraculous things happening. And they wanted to say, in this report, I guess Mr. Welch is probably writing this, because he went to see her. She recognized him right away, called me by name, maybe called him a number of names. I don't know. I know Mark, so I can say I might call him something else besides Mark.

But hey you, that'd be another name. But he says she has come a long way, with the doctors giving her a 10% chance of surviving her second major brain surgery over a month ago. But I told Lisa that I'd been praying for her, and she, of course, responded, knowing that people have been praying for her around the world. Thank you so, so, so, so, so much. Of course, you know, they've gotten a lot of cards. That's encouraging, whenever you're that sick.

I think most of us, we've had several different reports about Emily Gearhart over in Australia, having had an accident and essentially losing her leg. And then most recently, after numerous other surgeries, I guess initially different amputation levels ultimately enduring a major 12-hour surgery that transplanted skin and flesh over the area where her leg was removed, I think very high up toward her hip. And they had to take from her stomach skin to try to cover that area. We hear about these things, and we can, Mrs. Kellers in Nashville, she's very close to death.

It would appear, just from what her husband reports. As I said, you know, we might ask ourselves, why, why is God allowing that amount of suffering? And I think that one of the answers to that is simply that He is causing, in the lives of His people today, a faith training and a development that doesn't just happen overnight. It's a development of faith, of trust, of looking to God, of actually in many ways seeing how we're kind of at the Red Sea, we don't have anywhere to go.

We have to maintain commitment and faith in God. Now I want us to, I guess there's two things I want to point out about this.

You know, we want to properly view what God says about us. And it has to do with being first fruits. See, first fruits, Mr. Hudson mentioned this, dealt with the first of a large harvest throughout the year. It was, and there was a first of the first fruits, of course, that represented Jesus Christ. So He rose from the dead. He's alive today, and of course He's God, and He has existed in all eternity in the past. He will continue to exist at the right hand of the Father for all eternity in the future. But see, they are doing an incredible work in an order that they have designed. Not me, not you, but they've created an order of drawing people and making available to them an incredible power, an incredible gift from God. Here in James 1, verse 17, James chapter 1, as I think I've mentioned several times, James, it goes over a lot of different topics. It's an incredible book, and of course written by a man who grew up with Jesus. This was written by Jesus' half-brother, James. I'm sure he had some insight. He probably had seen some incredible things. He probably was irritated that his older brother was an awfully good kid. He probably, you know, I know he didn't fully believe initially, but he later would and did and does. Here in James chapter 1, he says in verse 17, like I said, he covers many different topics in the book of James, but he says every generous act of giving, every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

See, every good thing that ever happens to any of us has come from God. He's the one who has that in his power. In verse 18, in fulfillment of his very own purpose, he gave us birth by the word of truth. See, he exposed us in order to be first fruits in this age and in the bigger picture of the entire harvest, a spiritual harvest that God is doing, he said he revealed to us an understanding of a spiritual development and a spiritual birth. That began by understanding the word of truth so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures or his creation.

See, to become a member of the family of God is an incredibly overwhelming task from our standpoint. But from God's standpoint, it's not an overwhelming task at all. He says, I'm doing this, I'm doing it in my way, I'm doing it by giving people the truth. He even goes on here in verse 21, he says, therefore rid yourself of sordidness, sordidness, can't say that, sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your soul.

See, that's what God's doing. He's providing salvation.

He does that through Jesus Christ. He does that under his supervision. He does that in the way that he chooses, the way he determines, the way he decides.

And I think it's incredible when you read these few verses about how God is growing a divine family, how he is working with some. He points out in 1 Corinthians 15 that, and of course chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians primarily is talking about the resurrection from the dead. And Paul is proclaiming there is a resurrection from the dead. You know, that's something to look forward to because, you know, as we might die in this age, God is absolutely faithful. He will resurrect us to eternal life. We know people who have lived and died, people that we have loved, people that we are close to, people that God has worked with, where he is shaped and molded in their lives and perhaps in ours, his divine nature.

And yet, the resurrection from the dead is something to look forward to.

Here Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 15. He says in verse 20, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, and he is the—he's not just one of them—he is the first fruit of those who have died. And down in verse 21, since death came through a human being through Adam, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being, whereas in Adam will die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. But, verse 23, Paul makes it very clear. It's according to his order. It's according to his plan, his design, his purpose, his work in the lives of people that he loves so very, very much. He loves us so much that he's willing to even allow us to suffer. He understands what needs to happen in our lives. But he says in verse 23, each in his own order, Christ, again, the first fruit, symbolized by the wave sheep offering. We haven't really spent a lot of time on that. I've covered it briefly, but that's what it represented. It's interesting when you read that in Leviticus 23 that you see the offerings on that day were a lamb and bread and wine. Now, there was symbolism in that regarding Jesus Christ, but he says the order is Christ, the first fruit, and then at his coming those who belong to Jesus Christ, those who are Christ at his coming. See, that would be first fruits because, obviously, in the future he's going to cause millions and billions of people to rise, and he's going to teach them, and he's going to love them, and he's going to forgive them, and he's going to encourage them to embrace the same trust and the same faith that all of us are being trained in today.

We're being trained in trusting God, trained in having faith in God, even in the face of incredible adversity.

And we read a little bit, Eric read a little bit yesterday, about facing the Red Sea, later facing nothing to drink, nothing to eat.

You know, people, you know, they were a little nearsighted in that, you know, they didn't realize, well, God brought you out here. He's the one who's working with you. I imagine he can figure out how to give you some water. I'm pretty sure he knows something about manna and about coils. I'm sure he knows what is needed. And, of course, you know, they didn't grasp the big picture.

They complained and murmured. And we don't want to fall into that same lot, although at times we do.

We complain and we might murmur, but we then perhaps catch the glimpse of how incredible it is that God is causing us to grow in a divine nature that only he can bring about.

The transformation of a human heart, Mr. Hudson mentioned that this morning, the incredible power of the Holy Spirit can change our heart. It can write the law of God on our heart.

It can transform our mind. It can affect our tongue and our words and our actions.

And that's all good. That's all wonderful. That's an incredible blessing. It's an incredible thing to be thankful for. And whenever we read this, well, let me go on here. Verse 24 says, then comes the end, and ultimately he, talking about Jesus, will hand over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. Again, we're not going through a description of what this chapter is about and the incredible things that are revealed here. But it says there's going to be more. There's more as we read Revelation 20. You know, you see a thousand year period. You see a judgment even beyond that. You see the framework that God is working as he begins a family with firstfruits that exist prior to Jesus' return to earth.

And then as he continues to cause that family to grow throughout eternity. That's what he's doing. But see, we wonder why do we suffer? Why are there so many difficulties? You know, Mr. and Mrs. Allweimer are telling me yesterday about, you know, they up in Spokane, they couldn't even go to church yesterday or today because they've got problems in the building where, you know, I guess plumbing problems and their assistant pastor has a mudslide come down and fill his basement. You know, that's great. I wouldn't like that. I don't even like water in my basement, as you know.

I've mentioned that. But, you know, what are the things that we might go through?

Well, we can't really perhaps imagine. But we can know that God is preparing us for roles of service.

Let's look at Matthew 19, because here Jesus specifically delineates this instruction.

Matthew 19, Jesus again covers a lot of topics.

And verse 27, Peter says, look, you know, we've left everything.

You know, we are completely committed. You are more important than anything else. Any other physical thing, any job, any possession, even any family, we're following you.

We've left everything. We followed you. What are we going to have?

Jesus said in verse 28, truly, I tell you, at the renewal of all things, there's going to be a renewal when Christ returns. The restoration of all things is what it says in Acts 3. We see descriptions of healings and, you know, abundance and blessings everywhere regarding the millennium. And yet he says, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

It looks like he actually knew what's being planned here.

What am I preparing you for? As I said, I think, before, the apostles all went through a good amount of pain and suffering before I'm sure, eventually, they all died.

I'm sure I don't know about each and every one of our lives, but I'm doubt that they were trouble-free. I doubt that they were without difficulty and stress. And we're all going to be subject to that.

But he goes on to say, in every one. He said about the 12 Peter and the others he was talking to, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children, or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Inheriting eternal life is the easy description. That's what we want.

We know the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. We're going to follow him into the kingdom. For in the kingdom, we're going to follow Jesus because he's already the first, the first of the first fruits.

And he is working with us to allow us to grow and develop in his divine nature. The last thing that I'll mention here in the time we've got remaining today is just simply, should we think, or our first fruits, and as a part of God's family, our first fruits expected to follow in the footsteps of the captain of our salvation.

Can we expect to follow in his footsteps? I think all of us know the answer is obviously yes.

And yet, you know, we don't want to have to go through what he went through. We don't want to have to suffer like he did. We don't want to be abused or to be abased. We don't want to be criticized. We don't want to be mocked. That's all what we see Jesus going through. But I want us to look in Hebrews 12. And of course, after Paul delineates the heroes of faith in chapter 11, he says to the people who were then a part of the church and who had a Jewish background, that's where the direction about the book comes from. He's writing to the Hebrews. He's writing to those who are familiar with the Old Testament, who were familiar probably even genealogically, descended from Abraham maybe. You know, they were familiar with Moses. They were familiar with the law. When you read Hebrews, he's pointing out, you know, that wasn't the end product. That was just the beginning. That was just framing everything. And Jesus Christ is who you have to really look to. And so Paul says in verse 1, Hebrews chapter 1, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so clings to us so closely, let us run with perseverance the race that's set before us.

So he said many people have lived and died in faith. We should too. We should expect to live and die in faith. He says run the race that is set before us, looking, verse 2, to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He's called the captain of our salvation in Hebrews 2.10, I believe. But here, he says look to Jesus. He's the one who began. He's the one who is able to finish our faith who for the sake. See, why did he endure what he did? Why did he endure suffering?

Why was he scourged? Why was he in pain? Well, he says for the sake of the joy that was sent before him, he endured the cross. We cover this at Passover, usually at other times. We need to cover it now, knowing, well, you know, are we any better than our master? Are we any better than the one who is the leader and the one who went through what he did for us? You know, he did die so that we could be forgiven. He did die so that our sins can be removed. But he wants us to develop and grow spiritually, and that's achieved through the working of the Holy Spirit, that he gave the church as it began in Acts chapter 2, again almost 2,000 years ago, but he's still working with some firstfruits.

And I want to be one, and I know you want to be one, but we need to understand that Jesus, for the sake of the joy that was sent before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and is now taking his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Clearly a success, clearly victorious, clearly great and powerful.

And he goes ahead to say in verse 3, consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

See, when we see suffering or when we're asked to pray about what seems to be difficult situations, and we don't want to grow weary with that, we don't want to lose heart with that.

It says, is your struggle against sin or in your struggle against sin, you have not resisted to the point of shedding your own blood.

See, that's what Jesus did. That was the perfect example. The first of the first fruits, the first fruit, paved the way for the rest of the first fruits and for the rest of the family of God.

But I hope that we can see that if we follow the example of Jesus, it's not all just a bed of roses. It has many thorns. It has many thorns that can be very difficult.

And yet God knows that, and he knows what he's doing in your mind, in your heart, in my mind, my heart. He knows, he knows better than I do what I need.

He knows that, and of course he wants us to be continually in our faith training.

I want to conclude the sermon here this afternoon. It's afternoon now. Yes, it went from morning to afternoon. Preached all day and all night.

You're going to say, this is a little shorter than usual. What's the deal?

He must have lost a page when he went out to the car.

Well, we want to be back here at 2.30, so I want you to have enough time to eat.

But we have... I wanted to look at Psalm 31 because, you know, this is a Psalm that David prayed and wrote down. And I'm sure people have sung. I didn't look to see if this is in our hymnal, but nonetheless, you know, this is an incredible Psalm that, in a sense, helps us to understand that, you know, God is truly for us. You know, He knows what's best for us. He knows what He can do. And see, even as I read about Jordan being, you know, very, very, very near death, if He doesn't have a ventilator, that's not a problem to Jesus. That's not a problem to God.

I saw Jesus, or I saw Him, I read about it, lay His hands on the man they were carrying out to the grave. He woke up. We read in John 11 about Him causing Lazarus to rise. And He said, I'm doing this, and I'm even doing it this way because I want these people to believe that I have the power to do anything. And we want to continue to grow in a relationship with our Father. Here in Psalm 31, He says, In you, O Lord, I seek refuge. David seemed to get himself in a lot of trouble, some of it his own making, some of it just seemingly from nowhere, some of it from Saul and others. But He says, I seek you, O Lord, I seek refuge.

In verse 2, He says, Incline your ear to me, and rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. See, He understood the relationship that He had with God, obviously didn't take away every little problem that He happened to see or face or create because He says, I'm still looking to you. I'm looking to you as a rock of refuge. In verse 5, He says, Into your hand I commit my spirit.

Did He think God knew better what He needed than He did?

Well, obviously, this was a statement that Jesus would later make, even as He was about to die.

Down in verse 9, He says, Be gracious to me, O Lord, I'm in distress.

My eyes waste away from grief. My soul and body. My life is spent with sorrow.

My years with sighing. My strength fails. Because of my misery, my bones waste away.

I don't know what particular problem He was describing, but it sounds like some of the things that we are asked to pray about for others, and sometimes we ourselves go through.

Verse 11, He says, I'm the scorn of all my adversaries.

Verse 12, I've passed out of mind like one who is dead. I've become like a broken vessel.

I'm crushed, but this is one thing I know in verse 14. I trust in you, O Lord, because you are my God.

And in verse 15, He says, My times are in your hand.

And brethren, if we are going to properly understand, being a first fruit, or improperly understand even the suffering that we endure and that we encourage, try to encourage others by praying and sending cards and things, and we need to fully understand how that our time is in God's hands.

He's the one who knows best. He's the one who knows what we need. He's the one who knows, if he was telling Jesus, was telling the disciples, I'm preparing you to be rulers in my kingdom, and there's going to be need to rule over the tribes of Israel, which of course he talks about in other places, and you're going to be it.

He was preparing them for something, and he's preparing us as well. And so, I hope that we can understand more clearly how that as first fruits of God's selection and in God's order, that we may endure, or we may suffer, and we surely are going to have to endure, but we want to remember, as David said, our time, my time, is in your hands.