Is It True That.? June 5, 2016 Deuteronomy 30: 19-20a 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. Have you ever been in a situation where something terrible, something tragic has happened and someone very well meaning comes up and says to you, Well, everything happens for a reason! You know that they meant to be comforting, but perhaps you found those words less than comforting. Or perhaps, you have offered these words to someone else in a time of great difficulty. But is it true that everything happens for a reason? I have a friend from seminary who is a pastor in Mississippi. He and his wife have 3 beautiful 3 daughters. Daughter Hannah Rose just spent 6 weeks in Denver in an inpatient treatment facility for anorexia. In the broader scheme of things, did that happen for a reason? Or how about my friend, Scott Ortis from Up with People whose 16-year-old son died last year of osteosarcoma (bone cancer)? Did that happen for a reason? How about a mother of 4 dying of complications from MS or a young Navy pilot dying when his fighter jet crash lands at an air show? Did all those things happen for a good reason? Well, we do live in a world of cause and effect, so somethings do happen because of our actions our poor decisions and those of others. A talented musician dies because he overdoses on pain medication cause and effect. A plane crashes because of mechanical failure cause and effect. But a child dying of cancer? A teenager dealing with anorexia? What s the cause and effect there? So, today we want to begin looking at some scripture references and the overall narrative of scripture to try to see if we can flesh out what s behind some of these popular sayings in our culture among well-meaning people. We have to remember as we read scripture, that we can never just pick one passage out of the Bible and paste it into a certain situation. We must read scripture in light of its context and the Bible s broader context and themes. We must look at passages in the overall scheme of what the Bible tells us. In today s passage from Deuteronomy, Moses was preaching to the Israelites that he had led out of slavery and Egypt. He has spent 40 years trying to teach these people about what it meant to be followers of God. They are about to enter into the Promised Land and Moses is once again recalling the message from God for the Israelites. Moses is reiterating the need for the people to follow the commands that God has given to them. Moses says, follow God and you will be 1
blessed. Wander away and you will suffer. They have a choice. Moses is telling about cause and effect. But when we say that everything happens for a reason we re usually not talking about cause and effect. We are speaking in response to someone s suffering. My point today isn t to be critical of people when they are trying their best to comfort someone and just don t know what to say. But perhaps we need to explore what we mean when someone dies and we say, It must ve been their time or It must ve been a part of God s plan or It was God s will or God has a reason. What we are saying when we say things like this are that God s in charge of everything so if it happened God must ve willed it. So, then it must be true that: God meant for the Broncos to win the Super Bowl God means for the Rockies to be on a losing streak God meant for that Air Force Thunderbird to crash on Thursday after graduation at the Air Force Academy. It was God s will for your family to forget your birthday or for your spouse to divorce you. It was God s will for 6 million Jews to die in the Holocaust. It was God s will for professor to die at hands of disgruntled student at UCLA this week. Really? Well, if we believe that God causes everything to happen that God has a reason for all that happens, then yes the above is true. But perhaps it is more of a half-truth that everything happens for a reason. The problem with thinking that God causes everything that happens to happen and that God has his reasons for doing what he does is multi-faceted: 1. It eliminates the concept of taking personal responsibility for our actions. a. God needed me and wanted me to do it, so I had no other option but to drive 100 mph and get in an accident, shoot my neighbor who was annoying me. I can t be held responsible for my actions, God willed me (i.e. made me) do it not the devil, but God. 2. This makes God responsible for everyone s actions. God s responsible for the pilot who flew a commercial jetliner into the mountain killing everyone on board (must ve been their time). a. Tragedies don t happen in spite of God s will, but because of it b. Egypt Air flight disappears crashes into ocean because it is God s will But, how does this fit with what we know about God and God s love? Does God really want these terrible things to happen? Does he orchestrate them? 3. Notion that everything happens for a reason and that it s all a part of God s plan ca lead to fatalism and indifference. a. When it s your time, it s your time. 2
b. So don t exercise or eat right or quit smoking. c. Don t go through treatment for cancer, because God wanted you to have it. OK. But think about God s providence and sovereignty. Christians believe that God superintends the universe and oversees what happens on our planet. We also believe in the sovereignty of God. In other words, God is the highest power there is. He depends on no one else for his power. Some believe that God is a micromanager, orchestrating ever move we make. Some believe that God has a hands off approach. He s an absentee landlord. Created the world and everything in it and then left it all to run by itself. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. John Calvin whose theology the Baptist and Presbyterian church follow was a lawyer, theologian, and pastor in the 1500 s. In Calvinism God s sovereignty requires that everything is under God s daily direction. Believes God has predetermined everything that happens life unfolds according to a script God has already written = predestination Before we were born, predetermined who would go to heaven (be saved) and who would go to hell nothing we can do about it. Contrast Calvin with John Wesley founder of Methodist movement in 1700 s - who said God wills all humanity to be saved. God works in all of our lives through prevenient grace to draw us near him. We can choose to accept or reject God s grace. You see, as Methodists in the Wesleyan tradition, we believe that God s knowledge of something is different than God s commanding something to happen. Like a parent, God gives us guidance and instruction, but in the end we make our own decisions as to how to act. Think of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1. God create the universe and everything in it. He set the natural laws and then gives Adam and Eve dominion-allows them to be in charge of what happens in the world God s created. We are God s stewards, not his pawns. Adam and Eve got to choose whether to follow God s instructions or not. If God controls everything that happens, then Adam and Eve and all of us who followed afterwards are just God s puppets. I don t believe that s true and the position of the Methodist church doesn t hold that to be true. In Deuteronomy 30: 19-20a passage, Moses lays before the people the choices they have. They can choose life or death. If they choose to follow God and his commands they will live long in the land God gives them. 3
We can t blame God for things that happen because of our choices. We can choose differently. In his book entitled Half Truths (p. 37) Adam Hamilton writes God gave us a brain, a heart, a conscience, his Spirit, the Scriptures, and the ability to interpret them as guides to help us select the right path. In the Methodist Church, we believe that we really do have free will and the ability to choose the path we take in life. There are also those who believe that God created the universe and then left it alone (Deists). Again, as United Methodists, we would not ascribe to this theory. We believe that God is involved in our world today, but not micromanaging it. Adam Hamilton writes (p. 39) Christianity asserts that God does seek to influence us. God does work in and through us. God did send Jesus to save and deliver us. And God does, on some occasions and for reasons we may never fully understand, intervene in the worlds affairs in miraculous ways. Just read the Gospel stories of Jesus miracles in the New Testament and you ll see some of these miraculous interventions. So, do you see God working in and through you? Do you see in your life how God is trying to communicate with you to guide your choices while leaving the decision up to you? What if we prayed each morning? Here I am, Lord. How do you want to use me? and then paid attention each day to where God is leading. Sometimes, I am a slow learner of things like this. But, I try to be aware of where it is I am prompted to act, where I am to be because I have come to find that those promptings are often God s Holy Spirit speaking to me. It can be very simple. One night, many years ago, I was talking a walk. I had a certain route that I liked to walk and I was almost at the end of that route one night when I felt that I should take a lap around my whole apartment complex before I went into my apartment for the night. I never did that. But I took that last lap and as I rounded the corner to my apartment, I encountered my downstairs neighbor. Now I didn t know her very well I d really only talked to her that first time she came to my apartment just after I moved in and told me that my shower was leaking into her apartment. Oops! But there she was sitting on the curb outside our building with tears running down her face. Oh my! So, I walked over and asked if she was ok. She wasn t. Her mother had just attempted suicide and was in ICU and they weren t sure she was going to live. Darla needed someone to talk to and God sent me right to her. If you feel a prompting, don t ignore it. It s not a co-incidence. It may just be a God-incidence! Many things happen in our lives not because God wills them, but because of what we ve done decisions we ve made or the laws of nature. 4
But there are things that happen that we can t explain (why someone dies in a seemingly random act of violence or a non-smoker dies of lung cancer or a house fire takes a life). While the Bible story of how much God loves us and wants the best for us doesn t seem to fit with the idea that God must have caused these things that God must have a reason, we know that the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:28 has said We know that God works all things together for the good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. Paul doesn t say everything happens for a reason or that God causes all things to happen, but that God tries to bring good out of whatever happens. In other words, God has a way of forcing something good to come from the most tragic situation, if we are paying attention and we trust God. Cornelius J. Rempel, a Mennonite pastor in Canada, once wrote Suffering is not God s desire for us but it occurs in the process of life. Suffering is not given to teach us something, but through it we may learn. Suffering is not given to punish us, but sometimes it is the consequence of our sin or poor judgement. Suffering does not occur because our faith is weak, but through it our faith may be strengthened. God does not depend on human suffering to achieve his purposes, but sometimes through suffering his purposes are achieved. Suffering can either destroy us or it can add meaning to our life. Sometimes we don t know why things happen. A child dies of cancer. A plane crashes. But we trust in words of 1 Corinthians 13. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. We don t know why some things happen in this world. But we know that God loves us and wants the best for us. Someday, we ll understand when we see God face to face. In the meantime, we need to understand that God isn t gunning for our destruction. He s not willing the pain and tragedy in our lives. He is aware of it and he grieves with us. One day we ll see face to face and understand. In the meantime, we may not be able to know what or if there is a reason for things that happen. Perhaps it is better to say, I don t know why this has happened, but I am here for you. Let s pray 5