Why, God? Why?!
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INTRO: Life moves at a funny pace, and at a weird pace sometimes.
Last Sunday, I remember thinking we had a great morning service; it’s always awesome when someone gives their life to Christ, or re-dedicates their life (as one did last week), and when others come to the altar to take care of business with God.
And so last Sunday afternoon I was feeling really good about what God had done, and looking forward to our Sunday evening study on The Ministry of Biblical Reconciliation.
Then just before I come out of my office to attend choir practice, I saw the headline on my computer screen that read something like “Texas Church Massacre,” or “Mass Murder at Texas Church,” or something to that effect (can’t remember exactly).
Of course, having just glanced at the headline, and not taking time to actually read the story yet, I had no idea until much later that night what had really happened; no idea the extent of the evil that was demonstrated there.
And after checking out the news about what had taken place, I was not in the same mood then that I was in just after Sunday morning service.
26 people gunned down, ages ranging from a baby in the womb to a 77-year-old.
Then, of course, almost immediately come the common refrains from the left and the right, seeking, as they always do, to politicize a tragedy such as this.
Wanting to use it to push their own agendas forward, and not caring, on either side, that they are missing the point completely.
The aftermath of this tragedy got particularly nasty in America this last week as some politicians and Hollywood-types challenged the notion that prayer does anything helpful in a time like this.
To the notion that prayer helps at all, one actor even said of the victims, "They were in church. They had the prayers shot right out of them. Maybe try something else."
Truly a grotesque response, one that, I am sure, grieves a Heavenly Father who loves us all, even that particular actor.
These events certainly bring out the best, and the worst in people.
But there’s something else that happens in a time like this, something that we are not only uniquely qualified to deal with, but something that we are called to deal as God’s people.
In the midst of all meanness and politicizing that goes on, there are those who are legitimately confused as to why God would allow such an evil thing to happen.
There are people who are looking for answers at a time like this, and we, the Church, sometimes fail miserably at providing them.
Why do these things happen? And why doesn’t God stop them?
Why do these things happen? And why doesn’t God stop them?
First, this world, and the way it is now, was never God’s plan for it, nor us.
God created a perfect place, and two perfectly healthy and blameless people to occupy it.
there is a very large book that tells this story, but there’s something we need to know about scripture.
The Bible is not a book about how you get saved.
The longest point today is...
1. The Bible is, primarily, a book about the mess the world is in, and what God is going to do about it!
1. The Bible is, primarily, a book about the mess the world is in, and what God is going to do about it!
So when we, as humans, start thinking that the Bible is an ancient book that is irrelevant to us today, it plays directly into the hands of the enemy.
And many people, in our modern times, don’t want to hear about, nor admit that the Devil and his demons are active in the hearts and minds of men.
In The Screwtape Letters, a C. S. Lewis book, he writes,
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” - C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” - C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters
There are holy AND unholy spiritual beings at war around us.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
At the same time, many of your life’s bad decisions are not because “the Devil made me do it!”
C.S. Lewis was saying don’t discount this spiritual reality, and don’t blame it every time you make a dumb choice in life.
The Devil and his lesser devils spend less time trying to manipulate people into bad financial or relationship choices - especially since we do a fine job of that without help - and they spend considerable time, I think, trying to, for example, manipulate a mentally ill man into killing a church full of people.
They spend time speaking to the deepest part of our minds in an attempt to do real, longterm damage to our lives.
And sometimes that damage manifests in ways that destroy many, many lives.
Evil exists in its most damaging form in the realms of those who don’t even believe in the Devil.
In seminaries, professors are encouraged to deny Jesus’ miracles, and the Devil’s influence.
“How can science and these things exist together in this world, they ask.
One noted theologian named Bultmann has said, ““It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of demons and spirits”
He is saying we are beyond believing in the Devil; we have microscopes, and wireless phones, and space travel, and we are too smart to fall the spiritual stuff on the NT.
Meanwhile, the Devil laughs at how proud and foolish we are to ignore him.
A line from the movie The Usual Suspects rings more and more true with time, which said,...
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”
Throughout the Scriptures, we see Satan and demonic powers at work frequently.
God wants us to know that we’re in a spiritual battle that spills over into our physical world.
In an age when there is great reticence to draw lines between right and wrong, we must never forget that there is good and evil.
Behind good is God, behind evil is God’s Enemy and our Adversary.
We know that he is at work when murder occurs.
Jesus says to people plotting his murder in...
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
These things happen because people are believing the father of lies instead of the Father of Life!
The great scholar N.T. Wright says...
“Evil is a distraction from the real work that has to be done.” - N.T. Wright
“Evil is a distraction from the real work that has to be done.” - N.T. Wright
As Christians, we can let this world and the evil that exists distract us from the message of the cross, from spreading the gospel. How do I know?
After September 11, 2001, President Bush talked of the Axis of Evil, and many other world leaders talked about the evil in the world, as though it was a surprise that in our modern world such evil could exist.
They set about to convince us that we only need to start dropping bombs in the Middle East and evil would be defeated.
And the number of Christians who became distracted from the message of the cross with the bombs of military strength was VERY evident in our country.
When, during the Obama administration Usama Bin Laden was finally tracked down and killed, the reaction among many Christian people was glee.
I’m not sure the mind and heart of Christ in us ever means celebrating when an enemy gets a bullet in the head.
I know that’s arguable, perhaps, but the point should be at least examined.
What should our response be to evil in the world?
The world’s method to deal with evil is to drop bombs on it, or put a bullet in its head.
But...
God’s method to deal with evil is the changed heart!
God’s method to deal with evil is the changed heart!
The solution, in other words, is the work of the Church.
The forgiveness, the healing, the love that comes through the work of Christ on the cross IS THE SOLUTION!
The answer to evil lies in the forgiveness and healing offered to the world through God’s Church.
So when someone asks, “Why doesn’t God do something about all this evil?” your response should be, “Why don’t we?!
WE ARE THE ONES WHO DO THE CONTINUING WORK OF THE CROSS IN THIS WORLD!
2. God cares about ALL LIFE, and the enemy cares NOT AT ALL!
2. God cares about ALL LIFE, and the enemy cares NOT AT ALL!
God says in...
“Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
God cares about ALL LIFE!
Human life, however, is different than animal life.
Humans are bestowed with dignity, and worth.
Human life alone is made in the image of God.
That’s why human life is sacred.
Human life comes from God, belongs to God, and will give an eternal account to God.
When we hear about a tragedy like last Sunday’s mindless killings, the reason we feel so deeply affected by it is because deep down we know, with everything we have, that life is sacred.
It is given to us by God, and no one should feel justified in taking it away in a senseless act of murder.
When we come to church, we are not expecting to have to duck behind the pews to avoid gunfire because someone doesn;t understand how sacred and precious the gift of life is.
Human life should be safe in the mother’s womb or the father’s church.
And when human life is taken in such a way, it grieves God as much or more than any of us.
My next point is not in any way intended to diminish the horror of last Sunday’s massacre. Rather it is meant as a reminder of the hope we have in Christ...
3. Physical death does not really end life, and death has been defeated, anyway.
3. Physical death does not really end life, and death has been defeated, anyway.
Not only did our God Jesus die, he also rose.
This is why Christians worship on Sunday – because it is the day of Jesus resurrection.
Jesus was murdered, and he rose from death in physical, total, and eternal triumph over death.
This is the central issue in all of Christianity.
If Christ is dead, then our hope is dead and the Christian faith is a dead end.
But, if Christ defeated death, then our hope is alive and the Christian faith is alive.
After death, resurrection life will be experienced by the Christian as it was for Christ.
On days like this, we need that hope.
Without hope, there is only death, destruction, and damnation.
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Paul is actually mocking death here, since in the death of Jesus, death itself was put to death.
For the Christian, Paul says in
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Gain means better, fuller, richer, freer life that never ends.
Death does not get the final word in these lives that were lost last week, God does.
For the Christian, this life is as close to hell as we will ever be.
For the non-Christian, this life is as close to heaven as they will ever be.
The worst thing is not dying.
The worst thing is dying without belonging to Jesus.
Let me be lovingly frank: without Jesus, death is hell.
With Jesus, death is heaven.
Do you belong to Jesus?
Have you accepted his death for your sin?
Or, are you planning on dying for your own sin?
CLOSE: If we do not let these episodes distract us, we can do something about the evil that exists in this world. We can be the answer, and in fact, THAT is what this life is about, acting on God’s behalf to counter the evil all around us.
Until Jesus comes back, we can expect more mass murders, more evil manifesting in grotesque acts of human depravity.
But I leave with this assurance: when it’s all said and done in this world...
Evil loses; Love wins!
Evil loses; Love wins!