Turn your Bibles to Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Introduction
Across the globe…
- 6,525 natural disasters in just 10 years...1M people died in these natural disasters.
- 400,000 to 500,000 people murdered each year…1 every 70 seconds
- 90,000 Christians killed for their faith around the world …1 every 6 minutes
- 800,000 people commit suicide each year across the globe...1 every 40 seconds
- 1.1M die of AIDS related illness each year...1 every 28 seconds
- 1.7M die of lung cancer each year…1 every 19 seconds
- 3.2M die of a low respiratory disease each year…1 every 10 seconds
- 6.2M die of a stroke each year…1 every 5 seconds
- 8.8M die of heart disease each year
- 40+ M cases of child abuse and neglect occur each year...more than 1 every second
- 40-50 million babies aborted each year around the world...3 babies every 2 seconds.
That is a lot of pain and suffering in this world.
In Shawnee…
- Our crime index is 3, meaning Shawnee is safer than 3% of US cities…
- Chances of becoming a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 110.
- Chances of becoming a victim of property crime is 1 in 18.
There is a good chance you will become a victim of a crime in our city
“The atheist argues, "If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore, God lacks either goodness, or power, or both."" (C.S. Lewis, “The Problem of Pain,” 570)
I. Why does an all-powerful, perfectly good God allow so much pain and suffering?
A. God's Divine Omnipotence
The word omnipotent comes from the Latin, omnipotens or ‘almighty’, 'all-powerful'.
Webster's defines it as, "Able in every respect and for every work; unlimited in ability; all-powerful; almighty."
Jesus said, "With God all things are possible.” ( Matthew 19:26)
Job said "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2)
The psalmist said, "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made…he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm." (Psalms 33:6, 9)
Dilemma#1: "If God is almighty, if God can do all things, and God created all things, then why all this pain and suffering?"
Consider this hypothetical situation. If a passenger were to tell his driver to turn right and turn left at the next corner, would a driver be able to do both? This is an obvious impossibility no matter how skilled the driver. In fact, a rational person would say that it is nonsense.
Now look at the all-powerful, divinely good God. If one were to ask God to lie, he would be unable to do so and remain divinely good. The rational person would say that this is also nonsense.
C. S. Lewis refines the definition of omnipotence to read, "Power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit on His power."
We must understand an all-powerful God in concert with all of His other divine characteristics and will.
This leads us to something called man's free will.
B. Man's Free Will
'Free will' is the freedom of humans to make their own choices.
We all make choices every day. I choose when to get up, what to eat for breakfast, what I am going to wear, and whether or not to go to work each day. You made numerous choices today. You decided to come to church and listen to me preach. You decided whether or not to worship God today. You decided what you were having for breakfast and lunch. Most of you men decided to wear that today... Maybe some of you should let your wife pick your clothes…just sayin.
People choose who they marry, where they work, whether to turn left or right, and whether or not to believe in God. If one chooses to quit going to work, he will likely get fired from the job. If one chooses to eat unhealthy and overindulge, he will likely become overweight. If one choses to rob a bank, he may eventually end up in jail. If one chooses to murder his neighbor, he will surely be severely punished. Any rational person will see that humans do, in fact, have free will; and, with free will come consequences.
C.S. Lewis argues that "If you choose to say, ‘God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it’, you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to the two other words ‘God can’." (Lewis, “The Problem of Pain,” 561)
In other words, if humans have free will then there will be some amount of pain and suffering in the world caused by humans making bad choices. God’s power is not limited. It is merely intrinsically impossible for Him to prevent all pain and suffering and, at the same time, allow His creatures free will.
This leads us to the next dilemma…God’s goodness.
C. God's Divine Goodness
1 John 4:8 says, "God is love."
The psalmist said, "For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:4-5),
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." (Psalm 107:1)
"The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made." (Psalm 145:9)
Genesis 1:31 says, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."
Dilemma#2: “If God is good, everything he made was good, and if God is love, then why all of this pain and suffering?”
It really depends on your definition of ‘good’.
Webster’s says, “That which possesses desirable qualities, promotes success, welfare, or happiness, is serviceable, fit, excellent, kind, benevolent, etc.;—opposed to evil.”
Matthew 7:11 says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Consider a good father who gives good gifts to his son. The good father would never give his son something that would later hurt him. However, the good father may allow his son to experience some short-term pain for his long-term good. The good father may take his son to the doctor to get a vaccination to later protect him from contracting a deadly disease. The needle really hurts and the son shows it when he cries out in pain. At a young age, the son does not understand why his father allowed the doctor to hurt him. Yet, when he grows up he will fully understand.
The same is true with a divinely good God. God knows what is best for His children. Divine ‘goodness’ differs from ours, but it is not completely different. It differs from ours not as white from black but as a perfect circle from a child’s first attempt to draw a wheel. (Lewis, “The Problem of Pain,” 568) Our human goodness does not always line up with His divine goodness. We think that we know what is best…what is good. But only God truly knows what is best…what is good. One may experience temporary pain and not understand why God would allow him to suffer. Being divine, God knows what is best. The suffering that seems bad today may later prove to be for long-term good.
An all-powerful, divinely good God can, in fact, exist with pain and suffering in the world once the terms ‘all-powerful’ and ‘divine goodness’ are clearly defined and ‘free will’ is added to the equation. Now we must further explore the reasons for pain and suffering.
II. Reasons for Pain and Suffering
A. Human Wickedness
All people are inherently wicked. This wickedness is the cause of much pain and suffering. “We have used our free will to become very bad.” (Lewis, “The Problem of Pain,” 579) A person might argue, “I have never murdered anyone or stole anything. I generally treat others well and give money to charity. I am not that bad.” However, if a reasonable person examines all of their motives, actions, and thoughts throughout each day, we will find faults and imperfections--wickedness. Everyone is born into this world wicked.
Paul wrote, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (Romans 1:29-31) and “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…” (Rom. 3:23)
Humans use free will to do bad things to themselves and to others. Our prisons are full of people who murdered or harmed others, who abused drugs or alcohol, or who cheated or robbed. Historians have written volumes about horrendous dictators who killed millions through genocide and war. A person just needs to open up google news or turn on the local news to find evil people doing terrible things to others.
Why so much bad behavior if a good God made a good creation? The Bible says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1:31) If God created everything ‘very good’ then what happened? God gave the human creature free will with the possibility that the creature might chose, through his own free will, to do bad things. When people do bad things, they cause much pain and suffering—to others and to themselves.
So, one reason for pain and suffering is human wickedness.
Another reason is punishment.
B. Punishment
Some pain and suffering is punishment for the initial fall of man. The Bible documents the fall of man in Genesis Chapter 3. Adam chose to disobey God and eat from the one tree for which God forbid him to eat. Due to Adam’s disobedience, God said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:17) In the beginning, humans were good, but they chose to disobey God. Because of this disobedience, all other humans must endure hardships. Some amount of pain and suffering in the world is punishment for sin.
Secondly, when a bad man commits a horrendous crime, reasonable people believe that man needs to be punished. The laws of any civilized country demands punishment for wrongdoings to others. Governments use fines, prison time, and even death as punishment. From the first man’s disobedience up to today, God allows some pain and suffering as punishment for disobedience.
One reason for pain is human wickedness. Another is punishment.
A third is for our greater good.
C. Our Greater Good
We have already established that at least some short-term pain and suffering is the result of God’s love towards His creation. God shows love towards people similar to the way earthly fathers show love towards their children. Out of love for their children, good fathers cause short-term pain to correct the behavior of their children. Some children may behave worse than others may, but all children behave badly at times. A good father will punish their child’s bad behavior in order to alter it and prevent them from much worse consequences in the future. A good father will also allow his child to suffer knowing that the short-term pain will bring long-term alterations in behavior. In much the same way, God allows people to experience pain in order to alter their behavior.
1. God uses pain to get our attention.
When a reasonable person feels pain, they eventually find a way to alleviate that pain. If a child touches a hot stove, the child immediately removes the hand to stop the burning. If the burning continues, a parent treats the child’s wound by holding it under cold water or giving the child pain medication to ease the pain.
C. S. Lewis writes, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (Lewis, “The Problem of Pain,” 604) Through his divine love for us, our Heavenly Father allows suffering to steer his children back to Him. We see example after example in the Bible. When the Israelites and their leaders, God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, disobeyed the Law, he allowed great pain and suffering. He allowed foreign nations to defeat them in battle and eventually allowed those nations to take them into captivity. This would eventually steer them back to God and He would deliver them from their enemies.
God’s will is that all will be saved. Paul’s letter to Timothy says, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:3-4) God desires that all people accept Christ as Lord and Savior. He does not want anyone to perish. He cares enough to send a storm our way to rouse us and steer us back to Him.
2. God also uses pain to test our faith.
Abraham’s faith was tested when God told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Job’s faith was tested when God allowed him to lose everything; his wealth, family, friends and health. Daniel’s faith was tested when he was thrown into the lion’s den. Paul’s faith was tested when he was shipwrecked, imprisoned, and beaten.
God does not promise pain-free living, but He promises to take care of us eternally for our ultimate good if we will put our faith in Him.
3. God uses pain to align our character with that of Christ.
James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
Paul writes to Timothy, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).
Remember my opening text? Paul writes to the church in Rome, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)
Hawk Nelson’s song, “Diamonds,” talks about how God purifies us and refines us through persecution:
Here and now I'm in the fire,
In above my head
Being held under the pressure,
Don't know what'll be left
But it's here in the ashes
I'm finding treasure
He's making diamonds, diamonds
Making diamonds out of dust
He is refining in his timing
He's making diamonds out of us
Conclusion
Are you experiencing pain and suffering today? You are not alone. Jesus Christ suffered greatly. He died the most horrific death.
1. Jesus suffered great anguish and stress, so much that his sweat became like drops of blood (Matthew 26:37, Luke 22:44)
2. Jesus was arrested, mocked, spat upon, and struck in the face (Matthew 26:67)
3. Jesus was interrogated and falsely accused (Matthew27:1-2).
4. Jesus was flogged (Matthew 27:26)
5. Jesus was mocked and a crown of thorns was placed on his head (Matthew 27:28-29)
6. Jesus carried his own cross (Matthew 27:31)
7. Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27:35)
8. Jesus was publically humiliated and insulted (Matthew 27:39)
9. Jesus was forsaken by God the Father (Matthew 27:46)
10. Jesus died (Matthew 27:50)
If you are suffering today, draw closer to God and he will draw closer to you. He does not promise a pain free life in this life, but he does promise one in the future.
"Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven." James 5:14-15
References
C. S. Lewis, "The Problem of Pain," in The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics (New York: HarperCollins), 2007.)
LaVonne Neff et al., "Do Christians Have to Suffer?" Practical Christianity, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1987), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 317.
