How Can I Serve My Disabled Friends?

00:00:02.000 | Today's question comes to us from Austin, and it's a trio of questions, really.

00:00:08.440 | He writes, "Pastor John, hello, and thank you for the podcast.

00:00:10.600 | My question is whether or not we should be praying for healing for our friends with physical and cognitive

00:00:16.440 | disabilities such as Down syndrome, autism, or cerebral palsy.

00:00:20.960 | We see Jesus heal people with physical disabilities in the Gospels,

00:00:24.740 | so should we pray for similar healing?

00:00:27.040 | If not, how should we encourage our friends with disabilities with the truth that they are made in God's image?

00:00:31.720 | And will individuals in heaven still have their disabilities to some extent?

00:00:36.640 | Thank you for your insights and your help on this."

00:00:39.480 | So there are three questions here, aren't there? One, should we pray

00:00:43.920 | for healing for our friends with physical and cognitive disabilities

00:00:49.680 | such as Down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy?

00:00:53.080 | Two,

00:00:55.120 | how should we encourage our friends with disabilities with the truth that they are made in the image of God? And

00:01:01.040 | three,

00:01:02.680 | will individuals in heaven still have their disabilities? Now, I'm gonna save that

00:01:07.480 | first question about prayer

00:01:10.280 | for last. I think how we pray is affected by how we answer these second two questions.

00:01:17.560 | So let's start with number two. How should we encourage our friends with disabilities

00:01:24.800 | with the truth that they are made in the image of God? Now, my response may be surprising.

00:01:30.640 | My response to this question is that I don't devote much effort to this

00:01:36.080 | because I think Christians have a far, far

00:01:41.840 | greater gift

00:01:44.920 | to give

00:01:46.440 | to the disabled than to help them know

00:01:50.160 | they are made in the image of God. If I were to try to encourage people that they are made in the image of God,

00:01:57.440 | I would say it involves two things. One,

00:02:00.040 | speaking the truth of God's Word to the effect that all humans are created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26,

00:02:08.840 | 5-1, 9-6, James 3-9, and

00:02:12.120 | secondly,

00:02:13.840 | by treating people,

00:02:16.040 | disabled people, as persons, not projects. That would be my answer to the question, but

00:02:21.560 | let me encourage

00:02:23.640 | Austin and everybody else that focusing on

00:02:26.760 | helping people feel good about being created in the image of God is not a very high goal and

00:02:33.800 | in the end, not a hopeful goal. Think of it. There are two reasons

00:02:39.000 | for why I say this. One is that every

00:02:43.640 | human is made in the image of God, which means that God's enemies are created in his image,

00:02:49.800 | unrepentant rebels are created in God's image, people who are under God's wrath

00:02:56.680 | are created in God's image, people that God sends to hell

00:03:01.160 | for unbelief and disobedience were made in his image. Being in the image of God is not a hopeful condition.

00:03:09.640 | To focus on helping people feel created in God's image is not a saving effort. A second reason

00:03:16.920 | why helping people know they are created in God's image is not a high or hopeful goal is

00:03:25.400 | that Christians have a

00:03:27.840 | spectacularly higher, more hopeful message.

00:03:32.360 | When we offer Christ,

00:03:35.480 | we invite people to be not the created image of God, but the

00:03:41.720 | recreated child of God, a new creation in Christ.

00:03:47.080 | We don't offer the experience of a doomed and defaced image.

00:03:53.400 | We offer spirit-given

00:03:55.840 | conformity to the image of God's Son,

00:03:59.260 | wrought by the Spirit. We offer the forgiveness of sins,

00:04:04.320 | the removal of divine wrath against his image-bearers,

00:04:08.120 | the escape from all condemnation,

00:04:10.800 | the triumph over our sinful nature, the defeat of death, the hope of eternal life with God,

00:04:18.840 | not merely as his image-bearer, but as his loved, adopted

00:04:24.360 | child.

00:04:26.280 | That's what we offer to disabled people, and with it a dignity far beyond

00:04:34.200 | being created in God's image. And if the cognitive

00:04:38.320 | impairment—this is important, this is not just an

00:04:42.680 | afterthought—if the cognitive

00:04:45.480 | impairment is so severe

00:04:48.600 | that we can't tell if our message of hope is getting through,

00:04:55.200 | we remain

00:04:58.000 | faithful to their care, and we entrust their souls to the mercy of God the way we do our

00:05:05.840 | children who die in infancy.

00:05:08.000 | Now,

00:05:09.800 | third question. So start with number two, go to number three.

00:05:13.120 | Austin asks, "Will individuals in heaven still have their disabilities?" The answer is no.

00:05:19.480 | And you might wonder, "Why did he ask that? Isn't that obvious?"

00:05:23.320 | I think there's more behind this question, and I'll get to it in just a minute.

00:05:27.000 | So my answer is no, they won't, and my reason for saying so is twofold.

00:05:32.360 | One part of the reason is that Jesus' ministry was a foretaste of the kingdom, right? He said that when I cast out demons,

00:05:39.640 | the kingdom of God has come upon you. Heaven has come upon you when I cast out demons. And the same thing is true when

00:05:46.160 | he healed people's disabilities, like being blind from birth or being unable to stand up for 18 years.

00:05:53.160 | So the ministry of Jesus is a beautiful

00:05:57.000 | trailer, a foretaste of what the new heavens and the new earth will be like.

00:06:04.560 | He will do away with all sickness and disease and disability.

00:06:09.000 | Now the second part of the reason I think disabilities will be done away with is because

00:06:14.600 | Revelation 21 4 says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

00:06:20.400 | Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain

00:06:25.040 | any more, for the former things have passed away."

00:06:29.320 | The things that brought

00:06:32.200 | painful crying in this world, whether in parents or in the disabled child or a community,

00:06:40.400 | whatever brought painful crying into this world will be

00:06:45.280 | removed.

00:06:47.520 | Now,

00:06:48.640 | it may be that

00:06:50.640 | Austin asked whether people would have their disabilities in heaven

00:06:55.640 | because he sees that in some cases

00:07:00.040 | the so-called

00:07:02.480 | disability, for example with a Down syndrome person, the so-called

00:07:07.400 | disability is so interwoven with the limits and beauties of

00:07:13.760 | the personality that it is scarcely

00:07:17.520 | imaginable that such people would be the same person if the disability were removed.

00:07:23.640 | That might be what's behind his question, which is a very, very good question.

00:07:29.720 | Now my answer to this is that God is God.

00:07:33.720 | It's a short answer. God is God and in his infinite

00:07:39.280 | capacities of

00:07:41.800 | preserving true personhood and

00:07:45.000 | making new personhood, he will preserve

00:07:49.240 | everything good that he created and he will remove everything that the fall distorted and

00:07:57.240 | we will know each other with the precious old,

00:08:01.800 | preserved, but radically renewed.

00:08:06.560 | Somehow he'll do it.

00:08:09.480 | Which brings us now just to this last, I mean the first question.

00:08:14.400 | Should we pray for healing for our friends with physical cognitive disabilities such as

00:08:20.360 | Down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy, he says.

00:08:24.520 | My guess is that when a couple

00:08:28.240 | hears a doctor say that the baby in the womb has a genetic disorder

00:08:34.600 | that will result in a disability,

00:08:38.240 | they do pray and they should pray that God would intervene and heal

00:08:45.360 | that genetic

00:08:47.440 | problem so the baby is born without that disorder.

00:08:51.240 | But in many cases, I suppose we'd all agree,

00:08:56.280 | most cases,

00:08:59.080 | disabilities are sooner or later perceived

00:09:03.200 | by the parents, by the community, by the church, by the child to be God's

00:09:09.040 | sovereign will for the family.

00:09:12.040 | They come to the conclusion and it's not a sinful conclusion.

00:09:16.520 | This is God's appointment for us and for our child. It would not be sin,

00:09:22.000 | I don't think, to pray at any given point along the way for a dramatic transformation.

00:09:26.800 | But neither is it a sin to hear the voice of God saying, "I will strengthen you.

00:09:32.080 | I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand,

00:09:37.080 | and I will do more good through this painful providence than you can even imagine."

00:09:41.640 | But then the question becomes not whether we should pray for the disabled, but rather

00:09:50.040 | how should we pray for them and their families?

00:09:53.480 | Because the fact that God says no

00:09:57.560 | to the

00:10:00.080 | genetic reordering

00:10:02.080 | in the womb

00:10:04.120 | does not mean he says no to a thousand other prayers for this child,

00:10:11.040 | for this family. In the mystery of God's

00:10:14.840 | providences, call them severe mercies,

00:10:18.840 | there is a lavish

00:10:21.640 | willingness on the part of God

00:10:25.360 | to help in ways that at the beginning the families can't even scarcely imagine that they will need.

00:10:33.560 | So the answer is yes.

00:10:36.200 | Yes, pray, pray,

00:10:38.720 | pray for the disabled and their families.

00:10:42.560 | God is in the business of lifting burdens through his people and through the prayers of his people.

00:10:48.520 | He is in the business of providing

00:10:51.160 | shelter in the storm.

00:10:53.800 | The storm that he himself has sent.

00:10:57.560 | When you stop and think about it,

00:11:00.280 | most of us live under the cloud of some great unanswered prayer. That is a prayer for some conversion,

00:11:08.680 | a prayer for a rescued relationship,

00:11:13.280 | some healing, some calamity that didn't get removed.

00:11:20.240 | God said, "No, my grace is sufficient for you," like he did to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.

00:11:27.040 | And we know that under that cloud of

00:11:30.720 | "no,"

00:11:32.760 | "no," there are hundreds of yeses

00:11:36.280 | that God is ready to give to those who trust him and ask him for help.

00:11:42.720 | So I say that just to point out we're all in this together

00:11:49.280 | with the disabled, and the answer is yes. Let's pray for each other. Pray for each other.

00:11:57.480 | Thank you for answering all three questions, Pastor John and Austin. Thanks for the questions and for your concern for your friend.

00:12:03.760 | That's compelling in itself, brother. So thank you for that.

00:12:06.480 | If this episode prompted a question of its own, send it to us at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:12:13.320 | This is episode 1708. If you want to mention it, give a follow-up and

00:12:17.800 | send it to us. Go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. That's our homepage. See the button where you can ask a question.

00:12:25.120 | Well, it's Thanksgiving week here in the States. Next time

00:12:29.080 | we are going to learn from the Apostle Paul, one of the most thankful people of his generation, a man who used the word

00:12:35.480 | "thanks" about 50 times in his epistles. It's incredible. I'm your host Tony Reinke. We will see you back here on Wednesday.

00:12:43.160 | Thanks for listening.

00:12:45.160 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Can I Serve My Disabled Friends?

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