Traveler or Balconeer?
• Why evil and suffering?
o No surprise that many of you wrote asking about this
o #1 in poll asking “If there was one question you could ask God…?” – 17%
o “If God is loving and if He is all-powerful and if He is good, then surely all of this suffering should not exist. And yet it does!”
o “The problem of pain is the question mark turned like a fishhook in the human heart.”
• Dilemma is – how to answer?
o Not just because I only have one sermon
o Not just because so deep and intricate
Millions upon millions of pages written and words spoken on this topic
Every religion struggles with it
Oldest written book in Bible – Job – 4,000 year ago – about this agonizing theme
o It’s difficult because not just an intellectual issue – it’s a deeply personal one as well
• J.I. Packer in “Knowing God”
o 2 kinds of interest in all questions of faith, especially when it comes to God and suffering and evil
“Balconeers” and “Travelers”
o Balconeers love to sit above it all and take it all in.
They ask a lot of why questions
They watch the poor souls struggling down the road of life and ponder the why questions
• “Where is God? Why doesn’t He stop the pain and suffering? Why doesn’t God care? Why doesn’t He help?”
But they are onlookers, and their problems are theoretical only.
o Travelers face problems which, though they have their theoretical angle, are essentially practical
“How do I make it through today?
“Where do I get the strength to survive?”
Problems of the “which-way-to-go” and “how-to-make-it” type
Problems which call not only for understanding, but for decision and action, too.
o The balconeer’s quest is to find an intellectual explanation of how evil and suffering can coexist with God’s power and goodness
But the traveler’s problem is how to make it through today and tomorrow.
• We’ll be looking at both today
• Not answer everything in 45 minutes – obviously
• Prayer is that you will take home something to hang onto; that God will touch your mind and heart in a deep way; that you will experience the God who knows your questions and pain and will meet you wherever you are at.
PRAY
1/ For the Balconeer – the “Why” Questions
1. Is the evidence of suffering against God?
o Certainly, there is evidence in our world and experience against God – but it isn’t necessarily certain or conclusive
o There is evidence for and against God
“If there is no God, why is there so much good? If there is a God, why is there so much evil?” Augustine
o Evil’s presence can work as evidence for the existence of God
If no God, why not more evil
Where does our objective standard of good come from?
2. Is suffering the result of sin?
o Some, but not all
John 9:1-3
Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.” (Msg)
How the world works
• “Hot” means some will be burned
• “Gravity” means some will fall
• “Chocolate” means some will gain weight
3. What about free will?
o God is all-powerful, but can’t create self-contradictions
Not logically possible to give free will and no possibility of evil
A self-contradiction – a meaningless nothing – to have a world where there’s real choice and no possibility of choosing evil
• Like colorless color or a round square
o Once He allows human beings to be free:
It is up to us whether we follow Him or sin
He allows the possibility that we will spoil our lives and the world
• Would a couple want kids or puppets? Kids can love and be loved, but can also be a royal pain.
So the door is open to people choosing evil over God, with suffering as a result
o Source of evil not God’s power (or lack thereof), but our freedom (and its misuse)
Let me give you an example: We ask, “Why does God allow famine and hunger?”
The experts at World Vision – who make famine relief their full time job – say that famine is almost never caused by drought alone. It is almost exclusively caused by civil war. And civil war is something we choose to do to each other, not something that God chooses to do to us.
Why doesn’t God stop it? Well, I don’t know fully, but I do know this, God gives people dignity and responsibility to make choices. The only way that God could fully save us from this kind of bad thing is to take away our freedom to make choices. God could turn us into robots and make us “be good.” But then life would have very little meaning, wouldn’t it?
People choose to do evil to us. And we choose to do evil to other people. And we need to be careful blaming God for things that we, not He, choose to do – things that He is opposed to and weeps over.
o Try to create a utopia – the more force you use to prevent evil, the more you take away freedom. You might end up creating a world of precision an engineer would love, but lose the world a Father wants.
o “Bruce Almighty” – saying yes to every prayer
4. What about natural disasters and catastrophes?
o Understand that in the beginning God created everything good. There was no suffering. Even the animal world was free of the agony that it now endures. Unfortunately, humanity rebelled against God. That first sin had a global impact.
Genesis 3:17,18
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you…” (NIV)
Now please don’t misunderstand what this says. It’s not as if God is casting an evil spell on the earth because of mankind’s wrong choice. In Bible times blessings and curses were not magic spells.
o A blessing happened when the father of a tribe would place his hands on the heads of his children and pronounce a good life on them and then back it up by providing for their needs.
o A curse, literally, was the lifting of the hand of the father. No blessing is given and the child is left to fend for itself.
o That is essentially what God did. We wanted to do things our own way, so he removed his hand of protection and provision. The cursing of the ground was just God allowing mankind total freedom with all its consequences. Notice how the book of Romans puts it.
Romans 8:20-22
Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (NLT)
This is why animals now consume one another and sometimes us. It’s the reason for natural disasters and plagues and famines and droughts. God lifted his hand and gave us exactly what we asked for in our rebellion.
5. We don’t have any full or final answers to many troubling issues of life
o God does not fully answer why questions
o He is sovereign – He has the right to do what He wishes.
o Arch in St. Louis - if you see it in the fog, all you see are 2 bases. The rest is lost in the clouds. Now you know that up there somewhere they meet. But you don’t know where or how. That’s the way it is with us and seemingly contradictory truths. Somewhere up there - with God - they meet. We won’t understand it until the fog lifts, till we’re with Him.
o Be careful! We can easily slip into saying: “If I were God, I wouldn’t allow this much pain; God couldn’t possibly disagree with me; God did allow this pain; therefore there is no God.”
Words from a woman dying of cancer:
You know, people often ask “Why?” questions when it comes to suffering. But for me, after struggling with cancer for so many years, and knowing that I’m dying, the key question I struggle with is WHY people would choose to go through it without God? Because I know I’m going to a real place, to heaven -- where there is no more suffering and pain. And I know -- that as hard as it is -- Jesus will take care of my family. And I truly don’t know HOW people go through things like this without Jesus.
Suffering is part of the biography of God’s people. Sooner or later all of us will be traveling this road. Another way to put it, we’ll all eventually sit where Job sat – on the ashes of human loss and inexplicable pain. When we have been knocked helpless by the unexpected or felt the numbness of a senseless loss…what do we do? How do we cope?
Video
(here we showed a video of a woman with liver disease who still has amazing faith and impact on others)
2/ For the Traveler – the “How” Questions
Resources to cope with pain and suffering – and gain victory:
1. God will use whatever pain we experience to make us more like Jesus
o “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” Helen Keller
o My category: “I’m so thankful at what I learned through all of this, but I sure hope I never have to go through something like this again!”
2. Suffering can be a stepping-stone to ministry
o Phil. 1:12
And I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.
(NLT)
o Get involved!
2 Cor. 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. (NIV)
Turtle cartoon Strobel, 68
One says, “Sometimes I’d like to ask why God allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it.”
The other turtle says, “I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.”
Those who have Jesus’ heart toward hurting people need to live out their faith by alleviating suffering where they can, by making a difference, by embodying His love in practical ways.
Examples of practical ways we do this - e.g., contributing to a Compassion child.
3. We can be real with our pain before God
o Psalm 62:8
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (NIV)
“Pour” = spill forth (blood), gush out, dump
o We never suffer alone
4. Our suffering won’t last forever
o Romans 8:18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (NIV)
o God has an eternity to set right what has gone wrong. He can be trusted!
5. If we can’t change the situation, we can change our attitude – through faith
o 2 Cor. 12:7-9
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that and then he told me,
“My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. (Msg)
o Swindoll:
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life...It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.
o My Heb. 11:6 struggle - to believe that God exists (He is who He says He is) and that He will reward me if I earnestly seek Him. Do I trust Him enough to live this out daily? That was my wrestling match with God a few years back. He won!
o “Trust in the dark what you know to be true in the light.”
-- Bob Munger
o Habakkuk 3:17-18
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in God my Savior. (NLT)
• Bottom line – if you’re looking for words, not really a complete, satisfying explanation of this millennia old problem.
o What He does give us is His Presence!
o He offers us a promise that God is sufficient – no matter what we encounter!
• Ultimately, the best answer of all!
3/ The Ultimate Answer
• We want presence more than a book or list of answers
o Advice to people wanting to know what to do for friend who has lost a loved one - just be there! You don’t have to say a word!
o Heb. 2:17-18
That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then…he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed. (Msg)
Heb. 4:15
We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all – all but the sin.
• God’s best answer – to offer Himself! Strobel, 63f
o Strobel’s book
"Where is God? God’s answer is the Incarnation. He himself entered into all that agony, he bore all of the pain of this world…
"Just imagine every single pain in the history of the world, all rolled together into a ball, eaten by God, digested, fully tasted, eternally. In the act of creating the world, God not only said, let there be pretty little bunny rabbits and flowers and sunsets, but also let there be blood and guts and the buzzing flies around the cross.
"If he just sat back (after creating the world) and said, ‘Well, it’s your fault after all’ - although he’d be perfectly justified in doing that - I don’t see how we could love him…He went beyond justice and quite incredibly took all the suffering upon himself… how could you not love a being who went the extra mile, who practiced more than he preached, who entered into our world, who suffered our pains, who offers himself to us in the midst of our sorrows? What more could he do?"
"In effect, then, the answer to the question about how God could bear all that suffering is - he did! God’s answer to the problem of suffering is that he came right down into it. Many Christians try to get God off the hook for suffering; God put himself on the hook, so to speak - on the cross. If we want to be with God, we must go where he is and the cross is one of the places where he is. And when he sends us the sunrises, we thank him for the sunrises; when he sends us sunsets and deaths and sufferings and crosses, we thank him for that.”
• Suffering God
o “I am the God who suffers for you and with you!”
o “I am always with you – I have always been with you – I will always be with you!”
Conclusion Strobel, 69f
(Referring to the turtle cartoon) "That cartoon reminds me of the way God likes to turn questions around," I commented.
"Yes, he’s constantly doing that. This happened to Job. Job was wondering who God was, because it looked as if God was a cosmic sadist. At the end of the book of Job, the all-time classic on the problem of suffering, God finally shows up with the answer - and the answer is a question.
"He says to Job, ‘Who are you? Are you God? Did you write a script? Were you there when I laid the foundations of the earth?’ And Job realizes the answer is no. Then he’s satisfied. Why? Because he sees God! God doesn’t write him a book. He could have written the best book on the problem of evil ever written. Instead, he shows himself to Job."
"And that satisfied him?"
"Yes! It has to - that’s what’s going to satisfy us forever in heaven. I think Job gets a foretaste of heaven at the end of the book of Job, because he meets God. If it were only words that God gave him, that would mean that Job could dialogue and ask God another question and God would give a good answer and Job would ask another question the next day and the next day, because Job was a very demanding philosopher. This would go on and on and never end. What could make it end? God’s presence!
"God didn’t let Job suffer because he lacked love, but because he did love, in order to bring Job to the point of encountering God face-to-face, which is humanity’s supreme happiness. Job’s suffering hollowed out a big space in him so that God and joy could fill it.
"As we look at human relationships, what we see is that lovers don’t want explanations, but presence. And what God is, essentially, is presence!"
"The answer, then, to suffering, is not an answer at all."
" Correct! It’s the Answerer. It’s Jesus himself. It’s not a bunch of words; it’s the Word. It’s not a tightly woven philosophical argument; it’s a person. The person. The answer to suffering cannot just be an abstract idea, because this isn’t an abstract issue; it’s a personal issue. It requires a personal response. The answer must be someone, not just something, because the issue involves someone - God, where are you?"
"Jesus is there, sitting beside us in the lowest places of our lives. Are we broken? He was broken, like bread, for us. Are we despised? He was despised and rejected of men. Do we cry out that we can’t take anymore? He was a man of sorrows and appointed with grief. Do people betray us? He was sold out himself. Are our tenderest relationships broken? He too loved and was rejected. Do people turn from us? They hid their faces from him as from a leper.
"Does he descend into all of our hells? Yes, he does. From the depths of the Nazi death camp, Corrie ten Boom wrote: ‘No matter how deep our darkness, he is deeper still.’ He not only rose from the dead, he changed the meaning of death and therefore of all the little deaths - the sufferings that anticipate death and make up parts of it.
"He is gassed in Auschwitz. He is sneered at in Soweto. He is mocked in northern Ireland. He is enslaved in the Sudan. He’s the one we love to hate, yet to us he has chosen to return love. Every tear we shed becomes his tear. He may not wipe them away yet, but he will.
"In the end, God has only given us partial explanations. Maybe that’s because he saw that a better explanation wouldn’t have been good for us. I don’t know why. wish he had given us more information.
"But he knew Jesus was more than an explanation. He’s what we really need. If your friend is sick and dying, the most important thing he wants is not an explanation; he wants you to sit with him. He’s terrified of being alone more than anything else. So God has not left us alone. And for that, I love him."
Psalm 27:13-14
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord. (NASB)
o Prayer ministry – people ask “Where is God?” as you pray through their lives and hit traumas.
He always reveals that He was there all along!
PRAY
