QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
EVIL AND SUFFERING
COMMUNION SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 16:33
FEBRUARY 24, 2008
The universe is wonderful and dangerous. When you look into the heavens on a starry night, you see the glory of God. The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” But as you look into the heavens there are also things seen and unseen that are dangerous. There are black holes so powerful that they are quite literally sucking stellar material into the void. Everything that moves beyond the Event Horizon just disappears. Even light that moves at the incredible speed of 186,000 miles per second cannot escape a black hole. It’s light just turns to darkness as it’s sucked into the void.
Of course, in the universe and in the Cosmos, in the Creation, there are stars going nova and stars going supernova. There are stellar explosions that literally destroy planetary systems. The universe is at once both glorious and dangerous. And here we are. Here we are on a planet called earth and we’re in a relatively stable solar system where our planets revolve around our star that we call the sun. The sun is wonderful, and it gives life and it takes life. The sun is dangerous. The surface of the sun is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The surface of the sun is just a world of activity. We have solar storms and solar explosions and these storms and these explosions on the sun affect our weather. Over time, solar activity has ushered in ice ages. Over time, solar activity has brought global warming, global cooling, apart from any activity of man. The power of the sun. At the core of the sun the temperature is 27 million degrees. That’s dangerous. That’s where thermonuclear fusion is taking place. The sun is literally a thermonuclear furnace.
Of course, there’s a planet called Earth. It’s not safe either. It’s not safe meteorologically. It’s not safe geologically. There are earthquakes, the shifting of continental plates. There are volcanic eruptions and of course storms at sea, hurricanes, and on earth, tornadoes. It’s a dangerous place. This is also a world where there is disease and there are infections and there are microorganisms. And of course there’s man, and man is not safe. As we saw just last week, man has fallen and in the fallenness of man there is sin. Man brings his own evil into this world and onto this earth. It’s not a safe place.
You’ve written questions, all kinds of questions about evil and suffering. I’ll give you an example. “God created everything so it’s logical to say that He created evil and knew what it would mean. Six million Jews? Columbine? What’s going on?” “Why does God allow children to die before their parents? Children have to suffer so much.” “I’m struggling with the concept of evil and why we have to live with it and where it came from.” “Why would God let innocent people, young and old, die before their time?” There is just question after question from you, the congregation.
Of course, these questions have been posed by people over the centuries. Certainly, some of the evil and some of the suffering that’s in our world is caused by our own misconduct, by the abuse of our own freedom. God gave this incredible gift to us called freedom, but it’s dangerous. When we misuse freedom, we cause pain. Of course, other suffering comes from the dangers inherent just physically in a glorious creation. The world of nature has great unpredictability. There are lots of reasons for suffering.
What I’d like to do this morning on this Communion Sunday is just look briefly at two things. First of all, I’d like to look at an instruction from God. Then secondly, I’d like to look at a promise from God. I want to begin with an instruction from God and then a promise from God. The instruction from God is this: Seek justice. In this world of evil and suffering, seek justice.
The Word of God is found in Micah, chapter 6. “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with a burnt offering or with calves a year old? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? No. God has told you, oh man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you but to seek justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”
Seek justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly. The word for justice is the Hebrew word, “mishpat.” It’s the equivalent of the Greek word “dikaiosune.” These words are various in their meanings. They can mean “justice.” They can mean, “righteousness.” They can mean “fairness,” but the will of God is that we would seek to make this world more fair. It’s not fair. Mankind is fallen. Nature is unpredictable. There is evil and suffering on earth. But His instruction to us is, “Seek to make the world a better place. Don’t just curse the darkness. Light a candle.”
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. walked out of his hotel room and onto his hotel room balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, April 4, 1968. It was 6:01 PM and Martin Luther King, Jr. would not live to see 6:02 PM because his life would be snuffed out by an assassin’s bullet. In the aftermath of King’s death there was rumor and speculation and conspiracy theories. James Earl Ray was arrested. He was convicted. He was incarcerated. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. And of course James Earl Ray died in a prison hospital of liver cancer.
What was Martin Luther King, Jr. seeking? He was seeking justice, justice in the world. He was seeking a fair world, a fair world for his kids and for his kids’ kids and for generations to come, a fair world for his people and for all people. He had a dream. It was a dream of fairness. It was a dream of justice. God wants us to share that dream. It’s part of what it means to seek justice in a world that is not fair.
On June 6, 1944, allied forces stormed the beaches at Normandy. It was D-Day and blood covered the sand. Blood covered the sand that day and colored the water. Men gave their lives, and why? They were seeking justice, seeking to stop a madman named Adolph Hitler who was gassing and incinerating millions of Jews. It’s not safe to seek justice, but it’s the call of God and sometimes it’s costly to seek a fair world.
We seek to make the world safe, don’t we? We seek to make the world safe. We seek to make our little world safe. We put on our seat belt when we get in the car. We put on sunscreen when we go to the beach. We wear a helmet when we get on our bicycles. We teach our children to do all of these things. We build hospitals. We train doctors. We create antibiotics to ward off bacteriological infections. We create vaccines to ward off viral infections. We establish law enforcement agencies. We train law enforcement officers that they might apprehend criminals. We establish judicatories that people might be fairly judged and sentenced. We build prisons that criminals might be incarcerated and society kept safe. We try to make the world safe, but of course the world is not safe. We all know that. As we sit here together, we know the world is not safe. But it’s good that we try. It’s good that we try to make the world a little safer. It’s good that we try to make the world a little more fair.
Of course, as Christians the call of Christ is upon us. Those of us who have taken Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to go beyond what other people do and we’re supposed to reach out to the poor and the oppressed. We’re supposed to reach out to the Two Thirds World and all who are suffering. We are constantly as a church, the church of Jesus Christ, inviting you to join us in seeking to make this world a little bit more fair.
We invite you to go into the inner city and tutor a child, tutor a child with Whiz Kids or with Save Our Youth, two of the twenty ministries that we hold hands with in the inner city. We invite you to go and help a single mom or go and minister to somebody in prison. We invite you to join with us when we send teams to the south in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina or when we send teams to Indonesia and India in the aftermath of the tsunami. We send short-term missions groups around the world to much to the Two Thirds World as we support relief agencies and we also seek to take the love and the gospel of Jesus. All these things have to do with seeking justice in a world that is not always fair, in a world where there is evil and suffering. We have this clear instruction from Christ to seek justice.
Christ also tells us to repent, to believe, to fear not and even to rejoice. How can that be in the midst of a world where there’s evil and suffering? We understand when we look at the promises of Christ. So, what I’d like to do as we conclude is take a look at some of the promises of Christ in the midst of this world.
First of all, we have promises that are eschatological. Some of the promises of God are eschatological. They have to do with the Eschaton. They have to do with the last things. They have to do with the consummation. They have to do with the future. God is going to create a new world, a better world, a fairer world. And so we have the promises of scripture. I love Revelation, chapter 19, where, in apocalyptic language, we have a description of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In Revelation 19, John writes, “I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse. He who was set upon it was called Faithful and True. In righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are like a flame of fire. On His head are many diadems. He has a name inscribed which no one knows but He Himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood. And the name by which He is called is ‘The Word of God.’
“The armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, follow Him on white horses. From His mouth issues the sharp sword with which to smite the nations. He shall rule the nations with a rod of iron. He shall tread the winepress of the wrath of the fury of the Lord God Almighty and on His robe and on His thigh a name is inscribed, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.” The Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He will come to judge the nations, Revelation 19.
In Revelation 22, the words of Jesus are, “Behold, I’m coming soon, bringing my recompense to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the Almighty.” Revelation, chapter 1: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds. Every eye shall see Him. Everyone who pierced Him and all the nations of the earth will cry out on account of Him.”
Matthew 25: “The Son of Man shall come in all of His glory and sit on His glorious throne and before Him shall be gathered all the nations and He shall separate them one from the other as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” There is evil in the world but there’s going to come an accounting.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 4: “The Lord Himself shall ascend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise. Then we who are alive, who are left until His coming, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and we shall always be with the Lord. So comfort one another with these words.” He will not simply come to judge the nations, but to receive His people to Himself.
Revelation 21: “Then I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from the heavens, from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her bridegroom. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. And God shall be with them and they shall be His people and He shall be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more. For behold, I’ll make all things new.’”
Isaiah 11: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. A branch shall grow out of its roots, the Messiah. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not decide by what His eyes see nor judged by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He shall judge the poor and He shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His waist. In that day the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard and the kid shall lie down together and the calf and the lion and the fatling together. A little Child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed, and their young shall lie down together. The lion shall eat straw like an ox. A suckling child shall play over the hole of a venomous snake and the weaned child shall place his hand in the adder’s den and they shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the oceans cover the sea.”
A new day is coming. So we have the promise of God, the promise of Christ, that at the Eschaton there will be a new world and all things will be made right. But there are also promises from God that are not eschatological but existential. I use the word “existential” not in the philosophical sense where existence is distinguished from essence, but I use the word existential in the sense of our daily existence. God had made promises to us NOW in our daily existence. There are promises from God in the midst of this world where there is suffering and evil.
Palm Sunday is coming up. On Palm Sunday Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives towards the Gate Beautiful, towards the Golden Gate, and crossed the Kidron Valley. As Jesus rode towards the Holy City, crowds lined the street, threw palm branches on the road, and threw their garments on the road before Him. The people shouted, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” The etymology of that word is uncertain but most likely it means, “Save us NOW! Not in the future, but NOW! Save NOW.”
Of course, the amazing thing and what the people didn’t understand was that He was coming to save NOW. He was coming for the cross. For this He was born, that He might die. And He was coming to give His life for the people that were in Jerusalem that day and for all people in all generations for all time. He came to give His life that He might save, that all who believe in Him as Lord and Savior would have their sins forgiven and be washed whiter than snow, that He might take the sin of the world upon Himself, that He might save our souls. He offers to secure the soul now. This is the promise of God. He will secure your soul now and seal you for heaven if you would embrace His Son and believe in Jesus. What an amazing promise. Hosanna!
Matthew 28: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” There’s a new age that’s going to come, but even now God is with His people. The Shekinah, His Presence. He’s with us now. I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what hard stuff you’re going through, but I know that Jesus is with His people and He cares. He loves you and He loves me.
John 14: “Peace I leave with you,” Jesus said. “Peace, I give unto you. Not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” These are the promises of Christ that He would be with His people.
Of course, Romans, chapter 8, verse 28, we’ve seen before. What a promise from God. “We know that in everything, God works for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” What an amazing promise. It doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen to the people of Christ, but there won’t be any meaningless pain because God is in everything. Even the bad things in our lives, God’s at work for good to accomplish something good. We have this promise that there is no meaningless things in the life of Christ’s people.
Of course, sometimes Christ intervenes selectively. I read many years ago about a church in Beatrice, Nebraska. This church was called the West Side Baptist Church. The date was March 1, 1950. It was 58 years ago. On Saturday night they were having choir practice at West Side Baptist Church. The people always came early at the West Side Baptist Church. They always came early for choir practice because, like our choir, they love to sing and they love the friendship and the fellowship that they had together and they loved the food. They would come at least by 7:00. The choir director always wanted to start choir rehearsal exactly at 7:15. He was very punctual. At 7:25, ten minutes later, there was a tragic explosion in the basement with a massive gas leak. The whole building, West Side Baptist Church, just blew up.
It was March 1, 1950, but nobody died that night. The amazing thing was nobody was there. Nobody was at choir practice even ten minutes after it began. Nobody was there. The pastor and his wife were late because they’d been having dinner with their daughter and their daughter had spilled the whole plate onto her outfit and they were getting her cleaned up and they were late. The choir director was waiting for his daughter to come home, and she was running late, and he was worried and so he arrived late. The pianist fell asleep. He had never fallen asleep any other Saturday night at 7:00, but he fell asleep and he was late. As they went through every single member of the choir, there were similar stories. Everyone had something strange, something unusual happen, and nobody was there at the church.
You might say, “Well, just coincidence,” but I think not. God intervenes selectively, but He intervenes. I know we can see it biblically. God intervened when Daniel faced the lions. God intervened when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the fiery furnace. God intervenes. I know most of you are probably like me. You’d like God to intervene every time. Isn’t that right? Every day I say the Lord’s Prayer, “lead me not into testing or temptation, but deliver me from evil.” Every day I say that prayer and I think God does intervene and I think God rescues us in ways we’ll never know this side of heaven. I also know that sometimes God does allow bad things to come our way with the promise that He is with us, with the promise that He will be working for good in the midst of it. But He does allow bad things to come our way.
You look at Peter and Paul and so often God rescued them though they suffered. God rescued them and intervened time and again, but there came a time when God took them home. Peter was crucified like his Lord in a place where the obelisk now stands before the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City. That’s where Peter was crucified. By church tradition, he was crucified upside down. He suffered for his Lord. Then of course Paul, that same year, was beheaded by order of Emperor Nero on the Appian Way and Paul died. So often God had intervened and rescued Paul, but now God was ready to take Paul home. We don’t know how old Peter and Paul were. They might have had 20 or 30 more years of life, but God allowed their deaths with the promise that He was with them and that they would be with Him forever and with the promise that He would use it for good. We’re here today because God has used it for good.
I love the promise of Luke 22 where Jesus is talking to Peter and Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, the devil demanded to have you. The devil has demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed and protected you.” To sift like wheat is an agricultural Hebraic expression that has to do with sifting or sorting the useful from the useless, the good from the bad. And the devil wanted to take all that was useful away from Peter, all that was good away from Peter. The devil wanted Peter’s soul and Jesus is the Guardian and Shepherd of our souls. The strange thing about that passage in Luke 22 is when Jesus speaks to Peter and says, “the devil wanted to have you.” The “you” is plural, and scholars don’t understand that. But the thought is perhaps there is some sense in which we’re included in all of this. The devil wants all of our souls, but Jesus is the Shepherd and the Guardian of our souls. Despite what you might be going through in your life or what I might be going through in mine, our souls are secure in Christ. What a promise. What an amazing promise.
The scriptures tell us, “When you experience suffering or trials, count it all joy.” Jesus said, “In the world you’ll have tribulation, but be of good cheer.” He’s made promises and some of them are eschatological. He’s going to create a new world. He’s going to judge the nations. He’s going to receive His people. Death will be no more. No more crying. No more tears. A glorious future. But in the now He promises to save our souls and to secure us for heaven. He promises to be with us at all times. He promises that He will, on occasion, intervene and He also promises that when bad things happen, He will use it for good and then at the right time take us home.
So, we come to the Lord’s Table. We come to communion, and we want to thank Christ for loving us so much that He died for us. In His mercy and His grace, His body was broken and His blood was shed. Let’s pray.