Genesis 1:26-31 Romans 8:18-23 So here it is, our second Big Question. Why does God allow suffering? This is an issue that many people who aren't Christians find a major problem in believing the existence of a personal God. I know many Christians who have difficulty with this questions too, and some who have been discouraged by it. Today we are going to try and explore some answers to this question. In a purely scientific sense we know why suffering happens. If I suffer it may be my own fault. It may be someone else's fault. It may be one of those things that's no-one's fault. If I were an insurer or a lawyer, in a legal sense, I would be looking for blame. Whose fault is it? Who should pay? Was someone negligent? And if it wasn't, if it was a freak accident over which no-one had control then we are back to the God of the gaps then it's an act of God! But is it God's fault, either directly or indirectly when people suffer? Here's Amy Orr-Ewing, a Christian apologist that begins the answer by exploring how atheism and world religions answer the question. VIDEO WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SO MUCH SUFFERING Suffering - Why does God allow it? If God is the creator and in control of the world, why are the atrocities in Syria and Iraq going on? If God doesn't cause it, then why doesn't He stop it? He's all powerful isn't He? And suffering happens to both believer and unbeliever alike is it really the will of God that people suffer as the Muslims believe, just because it's the will of God? To an atheist like Stephen Fry, the fact God may cause people to suffer, amongst other things makes Him mean minded and capricious - which is one of the reasons Fry is an atheist. WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER? > WHY IS GOD DOING THIS TO ME? And then there's the problem for Christians. Most of us at sometime have asked the question why has God done this to me? After all I am a good person, I've tried to honour Him? Have I sinned and He's punishing me? How could a God of love do this to me, His child? Why didn't God stop this person dying after all, He does do miracles from time to time? Why didn't God do a miracle for me I did pray? This kind of thinking is all based on the idea of merit that people should get what they deserve and if that isn't in line with what we think it should be, then God is questioned or even blamed. Although we have probably uttered many of those phrases at some time, they are all based on on a faulty view of the Bible and of God. The God of the Bible is a God of love, grace and mercy, not a mean minded capricious god who causes pain and murders people. That being said, there's no simple answer to our question this morning. If I manage to satisfy everyone in this room today, then I will be the first preacher in 2000 years to have achieved it anywhere. More likely, and my intention, is to give you some things to pray about, think about, discuss with others, and allow the Holy Spirit to make sense of it for you.
GENESIS If we want to get anywhere near answering the question, we need to go right back to the beginning of the Bible to it's foundation in Genesis 1-3. For many it is a difficult passage. The Bible isn't a scientific book, yet people spend a lot of time on Genesis trying to equate it to modern science that's difficult. The archaeologists try to explore its historicity that's difficult too. The literary people look at the narrative and ask is this history or parable? That's difficult to answer too. Most of all the Bible is a theological book, and the theology of Genesis is relatively straightforward as it gives us the relationship between God and humanity. If we want to understand why human beings suffer, then we need to start here. VERSE Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. Gen 1:26-31 ESV The human race given dominion over the planet or more precisely, of life on the planet (but, if we read on, with the exception of one tree). Dominion means just that. We say the creator is in control of His world, but actually right from the start of Genesis, we see the human race made in the image of God and given God's authority to rule. We were given the knowledge, creativity and the free will to make decisions for ourselves to fill the earth and subdue it. That has never changed since God breathed life into Adam. We have the ability to decide our own destiny here on earth with one major exception and I'll come to that. ADAM & EVE But there's a second thing we learn about the human race in Genesis, and that is with free will comes responsibility for the actions we take. Humans became estranged from God as a result of sin. We did it our way. The early Garden of Eden was about partnership with God, but Adam and Even disobeyed God and as a result brought sin and death upon themselves and their descendants. We can talk about Adam and Eve bringing physical death, but actually more significant was the death of relationship with God. It meant that we had to manage the planet ourselves, with our own wisdom and learning and we can see what a great job we've made of it! ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF GOD'S GLORY Adam sinned and right from that time we have all sinned. All have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory. And with it we have found ourselves responsible for the consequences. Look at all the worst things that happen in the world and it's down to human sin. It brings death and we can't stop it that's the thing we have absolutely no power over. Disasters we create most of them. Most of diseases and genetic conditions can be put down to human action or inaction. I don't have time to look at specific examples of just how virtually all the ills of the planet can be laid at the door of human mismanagement, greed or negligence. For those who suffer as a result, they usually see it as unfair, random, unjust. Why them
particularly if they don't see how they might have caused it. We have all felt it and may all feel it at some point in our lives. Of course, we are all destined to die, and probably suffer in the process life for human beings is 100% fatal. Suffering and death has been synonymous with the human race ever since the fall. It is a consequence of human sin and it is the human race who are responsible. God didn't start it, but should He have stopped it? He could have but He didn't. Why? 8 CORNONATION GROVE Let me give you a little analogy. It's not perfect by any means but Jesus uses a similar means of thinking in His parable that sees the human race as tenants in a vineyard God's vineyard. As many of you know, my wife and I own a house in Swaffham. When we left to come here we put our house in the hands of tenants. We drew up a legal agreement between ourselves and us. The house is ours. We are responsible for it's fabric. Within defined limitations, what those people do inside the house is up to them. They have the freedom to do so, but with certain legal responsibilities to us the owners, which if they are found in breach, we can deal with. When God gave dominion in this world to the human race, they effectively became tenants. He drew up a tenancy agreement which is what we read, or at least part of it as there are further details in the other two chapters. In the days when Genesis was written, the verses we read would have been seen as a covenant. If they broke it there would be consequences. The human race had and has absolute control over all life on the planet to do as they please, how they please and being made in the image of God, we are creative, resourceful and powerful. And as landlord God stepped back: human beings have been given free will to exercise control over the Earth. It started in partnership with God but ended up with the fall: with us doing our own thing and for the human race there were consequences as promised and that was death. To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it, And he said to the man, You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. 18 It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. 19 You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again. Genesis 3:17-19 GNT But as a race we as a race are responsible for this planet, responsible to one another, and ultimately responsible to the landlord, God. Yes God is creator, and He is sovereign over the universe, but He has still ceded some of that that responsibility to us as human beings. And when God makes a covenant, He keeps it. The tenancy like all tenancies, will stop one day, but until then we have dominion over the earth and and we will live and die accordingly because of the fall. And the responsibility and consequences of our actions lie firmly at our door as individuals and as a species. WHY DO WE ALLOW THIS? When we see the suffering in the world today, rather than asking he question why is God allowing this? we should be asking the question why are we allowing this? because most of the suffering in this world right now is preventable. God doesn't kill people. People die. People
kill people. If someone dies unexpectedly it isn't because God has ordained or planned that death. They've died of whatever they died of, however unfortunate the circumstances, because that's the fate of the human race. We die and we don't know when that will be. In the course of life we suffer. And we also know that those consequences are eternal. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. GOD HAS A SOLUTION Is God that cold-hearted landlord that just stands by and watch us do this to ourselves? No! He is a God of love and does not desire that anyone perish and He came up with a solution to redeem the world and its unruly tenants. It's a solution that both answers the question of sin, and respects the free will human beings have been given, by providing them a way they might decide to turn away from their ways and back to God. Right from the fall, any human being who realised that they were trapped in a situation that was their own making could call out to God. We have lots of stories in the OT of people who did just that Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc. But the perfect expression of God's desire to redeem the world was through the death of Jesus. CROSS God in His grace has always been prepared to forgive sins and went to great effort to solve the problem Himself in Christ. So the work of redemption happens one person at a time as people accept and follow Jesus for themselves. And his kingdom extends in that way. As humans we are responsible to Him for our own sin and as a race for our stewardship of this world. God will sort out His unruly tenants one day. Our race will have to give an account of its awfulness. Paul describes the situation that pertains until then in Romans 8:18-23 NLT ROMANS VERSES Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. There is a time in the future when God will put right what thousands of years of the dominion of the human race has damaged and destroyed. Men and women are responsible for their actions and will answer to Him. But right now, every man and every woman has an opportunity in Christ to turn to Him, find forgiveness and hope and a restored relationship through Jesus Christ. Until Jesus returns, creation groans as Paul puts it and suffering goes on in the world. And for as long as we are still part of that creation, we groan too! What's clear from the NT and from our own lives, because our bodies are still physically part of a fallen world, even though we are new in Christ, we have never been given immunity from it. But we do see a good end - And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. WHY DOESN'T GOD RESCUE HIS PEOPLE FROM SUFFERING NOW? Good question. After all, we are a new creation in Christ. Why aren't we just elevated to glory? Let me suggest three reasons to you as I close.
PRAYER MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO OUR LIVES AND IN THE WORLD We are still here to make a difference. To usher in God's work of redemption of His creation. We extend His kingdom. And a critical weapon and means is prayer. Prayer makes a difference. We pray Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven. As God's people we bring that change wherever we are and whoever we are involved with. Prayer makes a difference that's a subject in itself. Want to reverse the effects of the fall? It starts with vibrant prayer because when God's people pray, things really do happen. Lives are changed, communities transformed. Oh that we would grasp just how powerful prayer is when we seek to be like Adam in the garden and move in the will of God. We can be world changers and doesn't the world need it? WE CAN RESCUE OTHERS FROM THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN Secondly we are here to alleviate suffering in two ways by standing for that which is just, and right and free and we are actively involved in that part of the gospel. But best of all, we can tell people about Jesus. In doing so we further God's work of redemption until the day arrives when God fully redeems creation. The kingdom is advancing until that day Jesus returns and we are the army doing God's purpose of changing minds and hearts. WE GROW BY TRUSTING GOD THROUGH SUFFERING But do we really have to suffer the pain of being here? I guess I haven't addressed that much until now, other than to look at the source of suffering. You won't find God at it's source. Because we still have bodies of death, we are not immune from suffering we will die like everyone else: our difference is we have a eternal hope which is true and sure. Let me give you Proverbs 3: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. God never promises us that we will live a life blessed and devoid of suffering rather we are told to expect plenty of it in some way or other because the world may well reject us and persecute us because we follow Jesus. But we are told to do is persevere and trust Jesus as we walk with Him As we submit to Him He makes our paths straight. A straight path may mean a miracle but always assume these the exception and not the rule but more often it's about learning to trust God and understanding ourselves and God in ways we had never imagined. He is a God who can change minuses to pluses in profound ways. So my encouragement to you if you are going through a difficult time today is keep trusting, Jesus will carry you through He will straighten your paths. I've got to say that what defines us as God's people is not blessed lives, but in how we find spiritual resources from God in the most difficult times in our lives and if we trust, follow and persevere, we are drawn closer to God and grow in stature. Some of the godliest people I have never met aren't the ones blessed with much, but those refined in the fire of suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. Preached by Mark Reid MRBCFelixstowe 8/3/15 (c) Mark Reid 2015