I think we’ve ALL been shocked and horrified by the events that have been unfolding in Kosovo, and the scenes we have witnessed of tens of thousands of refugees pouring into the surrounding countries as a result. People driven from their homes; families separated; stories of widespread murders and destruction.
And this crisis in Kosovo is just the latest in a continual stream of global crisis. So often the news cameras bring into our living rooms pictures of terrible attrocities - whether it be Kosovo, or Rwanda a few years ago - Somalia before that. And on and on. In so MANY places across our globe people live in suffering and hardship because of famine, war, or disaster.
When I was just a teenager I had the eye-opening experience of visiting the third world with my father. Like the missions team that went from our church last year, I stood on the streets of Bombay, India - one of the most indelible memories of my life - seeing the thousands of people (masses of humanity) that live in conditions that we wouldn’t be allowed to keep animals in. Living in sewers. Begging for food. Dying of disease.
I walked the streets of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and saw blind children on the street corners - the only reason they are blind is because when they were babies, their parents bandaged beetles to their eyes which would eat into the sockets. The reason they did that was so that, as blind children, they could beg on the streets and bring some income to the family.
I saw other children there with deformed limbs. Deformed not through birth, but because their parents had repeatedly broken them (again when they were babies) in order to be able to use their children to beg.
We cannot comprehend the degree of suffering that would drive people to doing such things. But that exists in our world today.
In the light of such tragic situations, many people cry out to the church: “WHERE IS YOUR GOD? You say He is a loving, concerned Creator. Then why does He not do something about all this suffering?” People will be saying it now because of the scenes coming out of Kosovo.
And the question is legitimate. What are we to say in response? Do we HAVE an answer?
Well, the only source that we can go to for God’s answer is the place where He has chosen to reveal Himself - His Word - the Bible. You ask me do I have any answers? YES - in the Bible.
I want us to look briefly at this issue today (which IS an important one!) as we ask the question: “What, in the world, is God doing?”
READ: Genesis 3:6-19; Romans 5:6-8, and 18-21; Revelation 21:1-4
What in the world is God doing?
In our consideration of this question, we firstly need to look at:
1. THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING.
Have you ever had a toothache? You can do whatever you like to take away the pain - you can stuff cotton wool up in there, take half a dozen Panadol forte, etc. - but though you may find a moments relief, you can’t permanently rid yourself of the ache until you have the offending tooth removed.
I remember when I was about 12 years old, having my appendix out. You know before I went off to the doctor I was having these terrible pains in the stomach, and - as usual when a child has a tummy upset - my mother gave me all the normal remedies. but nothing was going to work was it, because this was no simple ailment caused by eating the wrong food before I went to bed - THERE WAS AN INFECTED, CORRUPTED ORGAN INSIDE ME THAT WAS CAUSING THE PROBLEM! The thing had to be cut out of me. And, boy, am I glad that when I went to the doctor he recognised what it was. He didn’t just give me some medicine to relieve the problem: HE GOT RID OF THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM.
Now, the Bible is clear on the point that we live in a fallen world - a world that has been corrupted and retarded by sin. We read a moment ago of what happened when man rebelled against God by his disobedience in the Garden of Eden; that is the God-authorized account of how sin and evil entered into the world. And all of the suffering and pain which are all about us in this world are the tragic symptoms of this much greater problem - SIN!
The Bible begins, way back in Genesis, with God creating the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1-2). Repeatedly, God’s verdict is that all of His handiwork is “VERY GOOD”. There is no sin and no suffering. The Garden of Eden brings forth food without the sweat of toil being mixed into the earth. BUT the first human rebellion (Genesis 3) marks the onset of suffering, toil, pain, and death (as God had warned). A mere two chapters later (chapter 5) we read the endlessly repeated and hauntingly pitiful refrain, “then he died . . . then he died . . . then he died”.
Sin has overthrown the balances of God’s creation; it has brought a distortion to the very creation itself. (Romans 8:22 tells us that the whole creation is actually “GROANING” under the weight of the fall.) And what you and I must understand is that every child born into this world is filthied by this same corruption, and as such we are naturally an offence to God. An affront to His holy nature. [QUOTE: Romans 3:23.]
So, here then, is the real problem! We impudently ask: “Why doesn’t God do something about suffering?” But we fail to understand the real issue in the balance! EVEN IF GOD WERE TO INTERVENE AND ERADICATE SUFFERING FROM THE WHOLE WORLD TODAY (by some miracle), IT WOULD BE RAMPANT AGAIN BY TOMORROW, BECAUSE IT’S ONLY A SYMPTOM OF A GREATER EVIL. The two are inseparably linked.
[ILLUS.] Let me give you just one very practical example of how sin is the cause of suffering. Many people are under the misapprehension that the world hunger problem is cause by over-population. That there simply is not enough food to go around - the planet cannot support 5 1/2 BILLION people. But that is simply NOT TRUE. The World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) and the World Food Bank (W.F.B.) confirm that the world presently produces enough food to feed in excess of what is required. In fact we could feed around 10 billion people - without increasing production significantly. POPULATION is not the problem - the problem is DISTRIBUTION. Most of the food available is in the west, and not available to the Third World. And the underlying root cause of the distribution problem is MAN’S GREED. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tons of surplus grains are tipped into the ocean, rather than going to where they are needed. Why? To protect the price of the grain, and to avoid transport costs. The bottom line is that we in the west care more about profit margin than about starving people. Greed!
AND over-consumption in the west. (We are A SOCIETY OF GLUTTONS) - Australia (18 million people) presently makes DOUBLE the impact on world resources than Africa (640 million) does!)
So, suffering is the symptom. The root problem is SIN. The world is suffering from a kind of “spiritual appendicitis”, and it doesn’t matter how much you treat the symptoms, the root problem is still the same - and it needs to be cut out!
[PAUSE.]
“Well, if that’s true, preacher, why doesn’t God DO something about the ‘root problem’?”
My friend, I’m so glad you asked me that. PRAISE GOD, HE HAS!!! To think that God would leave this world as it is, is to have no understanding of His nature - as He is revealed in the Bible. He is absolutely pure and holy, just and true in all His ways. And shortly we’re going to see exactly what God HAS done.
But let me just pause at this point to challenge you, personally. Have you yet come to the place where you have realized that, without God, you are a sinner? We all are. We have offended God; and we have withheld from Him the honour that He is entitled to from our lives. If you need any tangible evidence of the fact of our sinfulness - it’s all around us in this suffering world tonight. Have you realized your need of a Saviour?
I’m not asking how many church services you’ve attended, or any other such thing - you cannot understand ANYTHING of Christianity, of your need of Jesus Christ, until you have come to this place of understanding that you are a sinner, and as such the judgment of God is impending upon you, and you are hopelessly separated from Him.
2. THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO SUFFERING.
Before we come to looking at God’s answer to suffering, we need to examine this.
If suffering is the symptom of sin, and if, therefore, it will never be eradicated until sin is eradicated, does this then mean that the church should ignore the needs around us - write them off as “hopeless”? Surely there’s no point even trying?
GOD FORBID! That is an entirely UNCHRISTIAN notion! We have the example of Jesus, Himself, in this. He came to earth on a mission of far greater consequence, with the whole world in the balance, but He never lost sight of the individual. He ministered to all those that He could. He healed the sick, He comforted the bereaved, He fed the hungry. In short, He LOVED people - even at the expense of His own reputation.
No true Christian will divorce themselves from human need. Suffering should not evoke from us mere philosophic speculation, still less self-righteous fatalism, BUT RATHER compassion and material support.
God reveals what He desires of His people in this in Deuteronomy 15:11 [READ].
Micah 6:8 says - "God has shown you, O man, what is good; what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God."
James 1:27 - "Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
Church, for the love of our Saviour we need to be reaching out to those who are in need in whatever ways that we can.
3. GOD’S ANSWER TO SUFFERING.
Finally, I come to the very heart and centre of my message this morning, WHAT IS GOD’S ANSWER TO SUFFERING?
As I intimated earlier, GOD HAS DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THE VERY ROOT CAUSE OF IT ALL - SIN. In one great plan He has provided for the destruction of the power of sin and death! You ask, “What is God doing about suffering?” The Bible answers you by pointing to a blood-stained wooden cross.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ (the eternal God incarnated as a man) has paid the ultimate price to satisfy the justice of a holy God who is offended by sin. Sin has been atoned for - it’s power has been smashed!
a.) THE CROSS IS THE TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE AND LOVE.
John 3:16 - "God so LOVED the world ..."
Romans 5:8 - "God demonstrates His LOVE for us in this fact - while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The Cross is the most totally committed act of love in the history of the universe. The offended God gives His life as a man in the most agonizing death, facing the trauma of actually taking the weight of our guilt upon Himself (who knew no sin), for no other reason than that HE CHOSE TO LOVE US!
But, lest we should fall into the error of thinking that the cross was ONLY a “display” of God’s love, the Bible is clear that God’s justice HAD to be satisfied - and that is what is taking place upon the CROSS. The Apostle Paul says that it was GOD HIMSELF who presented His Son as a sacrifice of atonement
(Romans 3:25).
We are sinners (that is clearly evident, and the Bible confirms it) - the penalty for sin against God is DEATH - Jesus paid that price for all who would come to Him in faith and accept His work on the cross as being for them.
The Cross, then, is the place where God’s LOVE and His JUSTICE meet. God retains the integrity of His justice; God pours out the fullness of His love.
b.) THE CROSS MEANS AN END OF SUFFERING FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.
Ephesians 1:9-10 [READ]
On the Cross of Calvary God has dealt with sin. He has now prepared a place for all the evil in the universe - one refuse dump - a place called hell. There is coming a day (and by all accounts it is fast-approaching) when ALL THINGS will again be drawn together in Christ. A state of order and perfection will be restored to God’s creation, and SUFFERING will be finished for all that are called of God.
The Bible says that: The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever! (Revelation 11:15)
God will restore all things in harmony under the Lordship of His Son, Jesus. Right now, the circumstances of this world obscure that eternal destiny (if you don’t know what the Bible promises). Hebrews 2:8 says: “But now we do not yet see all things put under Him. BUT. . . (the writer goes on to say) . . . BUT WE SEE JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour . . .”
Right now, Jesus is poised ready for the final movement of history. The Father has said: “Sit at my right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool” (Hebrews 1:13).
And when He assumes sovereign control of all things, we read earlier about the glorious kingdom of His reign . . . [RE-READ Revelation 21:1-4].
You ask why doesn’t God step in, in Kosovo? I say He already Has! Because of the Cross of Jesus, they will soon be but a memory.
[APPEAL.]
