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Title: IS GOD UNFAIR? By Pastor Douglas Koehler
Text: Ezekiel 18
A father and mother both are killed in a car accident, leaving behind their three children; there are no other living relatives. Is God unfair? A young man endeavors to become a lawyer, he was born with dyslexia and had to work doubly hard to achieve his goal. Five months after passing his bar, his heart stops for good. Is God unfair? How many times have you heard about or lived out scenarios such as these and truly wondered about the unfair nature of this world or for that matter, of God?
Because we are a family; one Body in Christ we cry out with those who shed tears over any number of trials, none of which can easily be mended with a hearty dose of fellowship and love. We pray and ask God to remove the bad diagnosis, the malformations, the difficult circumstances and then we wait until we have strength to call upon God in prayer once more. Often we see the Lord provide answers; turnabouts that lean toward hope and healing. But there are also moments when we can become completely exasperated with the harbinger of bad tidings. There are times when all of us have looked up to God and felt, even if only for an instant, that we could have handled things better, better than God.
Wouldn’t anyone of us, if given the power to ultimately heal all ailments, immediately place our hands upon anyone we could, just so that they would be restored? If given the power of God would we not remove all weapons from this earth and provide food and fertile land throughout the world? Would we not also provide an equality of resources for every man and woman so that no one would know want. I wonder if serving as God ever became an elected office, how many people would vote in a new candidate for the Almighty’s position.
Imagine the platform of some worldly contender. “If I were God, I would strike down all forms of illness, something that our present God has failed to do. I would extend all lives to enjoy more of what this world has to offer. If I were God, no children would ever have to suffer, and the sins of the father would never fall upon his children ever again.” It’s always easy to believe we could do things better, at least when it comes to moral judgment and good will solutions.
In the movie “BRUCE ALMIGHTY” Jim Carey’s character was given the powers of God for one day. When he was bombarded with prayers, he realized he would never have any personal time because he would be too busy contemplating each request. So in his wisdom he decided to answer “YES” to every prayer and chaos quickly erupted as a result.
Is God really unfair? If he wasn’t why then do we have to pay for the sins of our original parents, Adam and Eve? When a parent is sent to jail for crimes against a neighbor, does our court system also send the rest of the family to prison as well? No! So then why then does God allow it?
In the day of Ezekiel, God’s people were in captivity and considering a similar question. They began to believe that they were being punished unjustly. They were saying of God, “The way of the Lord is not right”
False prophets eventually got wind of these feelings and rose up to convince them that God was indeed on their side and that they would soon be set free. You see none of them at the time owned up to their own sins. They just blamed their present situation on the sins of their parents. There was a popular saying about this form of injustice, it went as follows: ‘The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge.” A more familiar form of that expression can be found in Exodus 20:5, “…I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those that hate me.”
Those words seem unjust and if you read them out of context, they are unjust. Those words have been rebelled against to this very day and the sins of the father have been our scapegoat. A person who abuses others might have at one time been abused and because of that history, finds an excuse to avoid responsibility for his actions. A person born in poverty turns to crime and after the thief is caught claims it’s her parents fault for birthing her in such an environment. Their responses indeed gather sympathy because we believe that everyone should get a fair shake in life. But just because we don’t always catch a break while others seem to have the joys of life handed to them on a silver platter, doesn’t mean we have a justifiable excuse for rejecting personal responsibility for our own actions.
Then again, if anyone of us were living under the wickedness of others we should not resolve ourselves into accepting our fate as most of God’s people were led to believe. Do you remember the question put to Jesus concerning the blind man? The disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he would be born blind?” (John 9:1-3) And Jesus replied, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the work of God might be displayed in him.” The disciples believed it was possible that the parent’s sin fell upon the child.” They might have just as well said right then and there that God was unjust! If you believed that God could unjustly punish you for someone else’s crime, how fond of God would you still be? How deep would your love flow for God? How passionate would you be for his Holy Word? How much reason would you have to live for Him and honor His name with your life?
In the beginning of Ezekiel’s ministry God said to him that He was sending the prophet to a stubborn and obstinate people. God said they may or may not listen to the words He gives him to say. In the weeks to follow, Pastor Nelson is going to refer quite often to the many in our communities that do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I would like to start things off by suggesting that one of the reasons why so many people reject Jesus is because they might feel that God is unjust. They might have the same attitudes as the people, God sent Ezekiel to reach out to. They might feel as if God has done nothing to fix the problems in this world, or in their own lives or in the lives of their loved ones. They might feel that it’s all God’s fault and that they could do a better job in making things right. So why should they consider worshipping one who seems inferior or unjust?
When God’s people said ‘the way of the Lord is not right’ (Ex 19:29) they were forecasting a mindset that is still prevalent today. God’s answer to that question therefore is still purposeful for anyone whom feels they could create a better brand of justice. God responded with a question asking, “Is it not your ways that are not right?” All throughout Scripture He clarifies His position.
First let’s go back to the second part of that Exodus 20 passage pertaining to the sins of the father. Exodus 20:6 says, “But showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments.” It is here that the Lord makes very clear that eternal life will not be kept apart from the Righteous. It will not be kept away from them because of the wickedness of their parents, it will not be kept away from them even because of their own wickedness in so far as they repent of their sins and turn toward God.
In our Ezekiel 18:4-5 God says “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the souls of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die. But, if a man is righteous… he will surely live.” For the sake of time I will not read to you all the examples given of righteous living, you can read that for yourselves. However I will read to you one further verse that sums up the justice of our Living God and proves emphatically that God’s ways are just. Ezekiel 18:20 “The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.”
So now that the Lord has clarified his justice we can see that He is an equal opportunity employer of its administration. We all belong to God! He wants us all to live! Each of us has been given the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ. Our Savior’s Redemptive work will never be withheld from us because of our past sins, or the sins of those before us. No matter what sins we have committed, or what pains we presently endure, the Holy and Righteous washing and cleansing of the Living Word remains ours. There is no better brand of justice.
And so that we will not ever forget God’s Mercy and Grace, He calls us to continue to forsake our old ways and to adopt His ways by continually repenting and turning away from our sins, so that our iniquity will not ever become a stumbling block to us. And God has gifted us with His Holy Spirit to enable us to walk in the ways God has ordained.
Okay, we can see that God’s ways are just in as much as he has saved us by way of Jesus’ death and resurrection. But can we go full circle and agree that His ways are just even when we don’t understand those ways, like when those in this Body suffer? If so, what else can we say?
You have been restored to the promises of our Loving Lord. You know that your trials are not the result of punishment and you know that your sins have been removed and replaced with the presence of Jesus Christ. And since God went completely out of His way to provide us with a renewed hope in the resurrection, how much more will he tend you your physical wounds?
You and I understand that the way of the Lord is right. He can do it better than anyone of us. And yet there is not one here, who if given the power to heal with a touch would hesitate to run to the mom’s, dad’s and children of this congregation who are sick, in order to restore their bodies to full health. None of us want to sit around and just wait things out, life is too precious.
Well here’s even further proof that our Father’s ways are Just. Our Almighty Lord has given us the power we seek. This Power rests in faith, but not in what our faith can do. Rather it rests in who our faith trusts; Jesus. In faith we believe God’s Word to us this morning in that he has healed our spirit and restored our soul. Now in faith we believe another word of God found in Matthew 21:22 which says, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” We Pray!
Dear Father in heaven and most Honorable Justice, we thank you for reminding us that your ways are always right, even though we do not fully understand them. We thank you for desiring that we might all live instead of perishing due to the weight of our own individual sins. You have restored us in spirit. You have restored us in Hope and you have gifted us with the promise of eternal life. But Lord there is one more thing we ask of you today. Please heal the body of those that we love so very much, please restore them now, at this moment. We believe Lord, we believe in Your Will and in Your Word and in Your Love. In Jesus’ name Amen.
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