Lea Sermon on Cancer

I've blogged recently on the Christian response to cancer. I remembered a chapel sermon at Southwestern by Dr. Thomas Lea, who died from cancer in 1999. The sermon transcript is found in the Southwestern Journal of Theology, Fall 2000 issue, pp. 4-9. In it, Dr. Lea shared some principles he had learned through his struggle. Those principles were:

• God is in charge of all the events in our lives, even our sickness, and he is moving it toward something that is good for us.
• God's grace is given to those who know and understand their weaknesses.
• We receive God's grace to be a person who rejoices in it and thanks God for the goodness that he makes available.
• Ultimately there will be a perfect healing on the other side in glory.

"Knowing these things," he said, "is a source of great encouragement to me."

I'm still working on my sermon on this topic to be given soon at Riverside. Dr. Lea's sermon has given me a great deal to think about. He was a man who truly lived out these princples.