Is God good? Sovereignty
Is God good? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Yes, God is good!
Yes, God is good!
Last week…
Is God good?
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, murderers roam free, the corrupt continue to rule, so much injustice
The glory of God, his goodness is shown in his love, to bring mercy and justice… ultimately seen at the cross, where mercy and justice meet, so that those who faith in Jesus may be forgiven, but God’s righteouse justice is also fulfilled.
The cross and resurrection also point us to the justice and judgement to come, so that when we consider the injustices of life, we know that Jesus will make it right, he will hold all accountable.
Today as we think about this question...
Is God good? or How can God be good if - Thousands upon thousands die in an earthquake in Turkey and Syria, innocent children diagnosed with terminal illness, 50 years of chronic pain, loneliness, depression, anxiety...
We will consider the sovereignty of God. Why? If God is sovereign, why doesn’t he just intervene and stop the stuff, intervene and remove disease, sickness and death?
Pray
Our sovereign God
Our sovereign God
Yahweh - The LORD
I am who I am, I will be who I will be… loyalty to his people and faithfulness (infallible) to his promise.
He is sovereign...
Over creation
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
human government
35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
Salvation
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Sufferings of Christ
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Suffering of Christians
29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,
life and destiny
21 But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
over smallest details
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.
God reigns in His universe...
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. 11 I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. 12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God. 13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”
Trinitarian sovereignty!
The Father is Lord - Jam 3:9 “9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.”
The Son is Lord - Heb 13:20 “20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,”
The Spirit is Lord - 2 Cor 3:17 “17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Omnipotent | Omnipresent | Omniscient
Omnipotent | Omnipresent | Omniscient
Omnipotent - he is all powerful
Omnipresent - he is everywhere present
Omniscient - all knowing
So if this is who God is, why can’t he heal the child diagnosed with terminal illness, remove 50 years of chronic pain, deal with loneliness, heal depression and anxiety, make people with disability whole..
after all
6 The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
and
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
he is good!
Why can it not be “It pleased the Lord to heal, remove, make whole”?
Answers from major world religions…
Answers from major world religions…
Suffering in ____ is all about _____ : (note I am not an expert on these and we don’t have time to dive deeply)
Hinduism: balance (karma);
Buddhism: desire (enlightenment);
Islam: Allah’s will (submission);
Atheism: natural
So, for example:
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
If I were Hindu, there is no God, I would accept that in some former time or life I had done something deserving of the suffering;
If I were a Buddhist, this sort of questioning would indicate my unenlightenment (have not bee able to master desire);
if I were a Muslim, it would border on blasphemy, because you must submit to Allah;
if I were an atheist, it would be meaningless, there is no God, suffering is a natural part of life.
Would you feel uncomfortable repeating the ideas of this psalm?
“Sometimes we in the church feel we must declare “The Lord is my shepherd” even if the Shepherd seems to have gone walkabout. But faith isn’t like that, at least biblical faith isn’t like that. Faith is not the denial of reality, nor does it involve repeating a mantra to dispel the doubts.” (If I were God…, John Dickson)
How does Christianity then deal with Psalm 22:1-2 “1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.”
Firstly, we need to consider our own will… The human will… rebellion
The human will
The human will
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Humanity sought independence from God. We have desired to be a law unto ourselves. We wanted to be autonomous… all of this is seen in the rebellion in the garden.
Our forsakeness is all about our rebellion. So, in humility we need to see that forsakeness as the fruit of our own sin. But in do so, we see further fruit as we harm each other, destroying relationships, oppressing people, taking advantage of others… murdering others.
What is the solution?
If the problem is our will, why doesn’t God just simply over rule our wills?
The best way to respond to this question is with another question: If God did step in to bend our wills every time we mistreated one another, would the world, in fact, be a better place? At one level the answer is, of course, 'yes'. We wouldn't be fighting each other, we would be generous, and so on. But at the more profound level, the answer must be 'no'. If God intervened each time a crook pulled the trigger of a gun, every time a husband thought about betraying his wife, every time a woman withheld money from the poor, or any other large or small ill-intentioned act of the will, would this improve our quality of life? Only at the superficial level. If God did consistently impose his will over and against our own, wouldn't we accuse God himself of tyranny? It would reduce human dignity to that of a computer or robot; pre-programmed, with no expression of its own.
John Dickson, If I were God, I'd end all the pain
#kindlequotes
The answer though, as we saw last week, and I will briefly repeat here...
Justice/judgement
… from love (justice for people he loves… as complex as it will be)
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
… with patience
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Pledge of future justice implies encouragement make use of this time to get spiritually right!
Are you spiritually right with God?
It only comes through faith in Jesus? As we see our sin, our just deserving of death, we see Jesus and what he has done for us, we repent, turning from our sin, trusting in him for forgiveness and new life.
Secondly, as a result of that first human rebellion against God, we now live in a
Corrupted world
Corrupted world
17 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,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Suffering is the result of living in a fallen world.
Earthquakes, famine, flood, fire, tsunami, storms, volcanoes, rogue waves… as the insurance companies have described them ‘an act of God’ … well they are all just symptoms of living in a fallen world.
These symptons are actually pointing to a future reality and correction which will make all things new...
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Suffering is the result of living in a fallen world.
Yet, with judgement; with Jesus coming again to hold people accountable at his second coming; Jesus will renew everything… even the world around us enjoys renewal at Jesus coming.
So in suffering, we have hope for a future without disease, famine, fire and flood; without cyclone, earthquake and tsunami.
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
In Hinduism & Buddhism…the goal of nirvana, is a spiritual reality distinct from the physical world… much like Plato - the physical world is a poor reflection of a pure spiritual reality.
Is that the afterlife we expect? Clouds, Philadelphia cheese, harp music, wings and/or ghosts… a Hollywood image?
Biblically we see a physical new creation!
Not devoid of life, but full; not completely distinct from this life, but better; not a weird happy reality, but true lasting joy… with our sovereign creator, saviour and Lord.
This is a future I can get excited about. It is life in the fullest sense of the word, a reality in which the moral and physical tensions of our current world will be resolved through an extraordinary act of divine recreation. And when I find myself doubting that such a fantastic hope could ever become a reality, I need only go down to the beach near where I live or look up at the glorious night sky and remind myself that God has already done it once: the proof is right there before my eyes.
Why should I question his ability to do it a second time?
John Dickson, If I were God, I'd end all the pain
#kindlequotes