God Is Good...but Life Stinks Sometimes! Series

“GOD IS GOOD, BUT LIFE STINKS SOMETIMES”

FBCF – 9/19/23

Jon Daniels

INTRO – A few things we all have in common w/ each other:

- All of us have a mother & a father.

- All of us are breathing oxygen right now.

- All of us need water to live.

- All of us will suffer in this life – To put it bluntly: LIFE STINKS SOMETIMES!

Lot of reasons for the suffering we go through:

- We live in a fallen world. Paul said it this way in Romans 3:10-18: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

- We or someone we know & love can be victims of a crime – Watched documentary of the ambush on Dallas police officers back in 2016 at the end of a peaceful protest march – 5 LEOs killed – Lives destroyed – families ripped apart – a PD that will never be the same.

o People live in warzones & suffer b/c of violence.

o Many of us remember where we were on 9/11/01.

o Christian pastors in countries around the world are regularly persecuted & murdered.

- We all get sick or injured, many times in a lethal, life-altering way.

o We’ve got church members in battles right now w/ all sorts of sicknesses & diseases – heart issues, cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, addictions, etc.

But in the midst of all of this – through our tears – through our pain – through our agony & anxiety – one truth comes ringing through: GOD IS GOOD! As the saying goes: God is good all the time, & all the time God is good!

EXPLANATION – Stand & read these verses out loud w/ me:

- Ex. 34:6

- 1 Chron 16:34

- Ps 23:6

- Ps 25:8

- Ps. 27:13

- Ps. 145:9

- Mk 10:18

“DEEP-Construction” sermon series: Wrestle w/ difficult issues related to the phenomenon known as “deconstruction.” End on Oct 29 – Dr. Wayne VanHorn – Over next few weeks, write your questions on these cards that we are providing for you. We will try to answer them.

DEFINITIONS: Gave some definitions of deconstruction last week. Here are a couple more:

“Deconstruction is the process of systematically dissected & often rejecting the beliefs you grew up with. Sometimes the Christian will deconstruct all the way to atheism. Some remain there, but others experience a reconstruction. But the type of faith they end up embracing almost never resembles the Christianity they knew before.” (Alisa Childers, Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity, 24)

“…a process of analysis that Christians who want to follow Jesus engage in b/c they ‘doubt the faith they’ve received is the fully refined good that God intends & are seeking to sift out the dross & keep what is most precious.’” (Peter Schuurman, https://www.faithtoday.ca/Magazines/2021-Sept-Oct/Deconstructing-Faith-Growing-Up-In-Christ)

Remember that deconstruction is not always a negative thing, as that definition says to us. The Church needs to come alongside those who are struggling w/ faith questions & walk w/ them, not run over them, or push them aside. Deconstruction is not a wrong thing or a bad thing as long as you REconstruct the right way on the strength of the Gospel, the sovereignty of God, & the singular message of the cross.

FACTORS THAT LEAD TO DECONSTRUCTION:

- DISTRUST – of the Bible, people in authority, the Church

- DISAPPROVAL – of the beliefs of conservative evangelical Christianity; some of the hypocritical actions & behaviors they see & experience in the Church; spiritual abuse in the Church; of anyone telling them how to live their lives.

- DISAPPOINTMENT – that no one is willing to let them ask questions, no one is willing to talk to them & interact w/ them, that they get pushed aside & treated as an outcast.

- DISILLUSIONMENT – for a lot of reasons, but one in particular: suffering & why it comes into our lives. Blogger named James – “wore the ‘evangelical’ label for many years, until 2000 when his mom passed away. “Suddenly the God I had known & grown up w/ was no longer big enough. I had questions & doubts & nowhere to take them.” (https://www.premierchristianity.com/features/deconstructing-faith-meet-the-evangelicals-who-are-questioning-everything/267.article)

That’s where I want to park today & try to deal w/ some of the disillusionment that comes when we are knocked down in a season of suffering b/c…