FCA - 12/8 Message

Introduction

Who here has ever been in a situation where something bad happened to either you or someone else and your first thought was, “That’s not fair?” We’ve all been there a time or two, if we’re being honest. We expect things to be fair in our world. If you do something bad, we have laws and courts and rules that punish you - because that’s fair… but if you haven’t done anything wrong, if you’ve done lots of good, then you shouldn’t be punished because that’s not fair. How many of you either like to play or follow College Football? If so, you know that there was a pretty big controversy this week whenever the final College Football Playoff rankings were revealed. Michigan went undefeated and was ranked #1, Washington went undefeated and was ranked #2, Texas won the Big 12 and lost 1 game and was ranked #3, Alabama won the SEC and lost 1 game and was ranked #4… Who was left out? Florida State - the undefeated champion of the ACC. They never lost a game. They won their conference championship. But they didn’t make the final 4 and will not play for a national championship. Over the last few days what has everyone been saying? That’s not fair. It’s not fair for a team to win all of their games. Beat some really good teams. Win their conference. And not play for the national championship. It would be like Salem going undefeated and not being allowed to play in the state semi-final - that just doesn’t quite make sense. It’s not fair.

We look around our world and we see things that just don’t seem to be fair. We have friends who have bad things that happen to them and we think that that’s not fair that they suffer and someone else does something way worse and they don’t have any consequences. I’ve heard lots of people ask this question, “Why does God let bad things happen to good people? If God is good, that doesn’t seem fair!” Have you ever asked that question or have you had someone ask you that question? I’ve heard it an awful lot. Let’s look this morning in Ephesians 2:1-10 and see what the Bible says about where we’re at and what God has done

Ephesians 2:1–10 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Lots of people say that they are “good” and that they don’t deserve bad things to happen to them because that’s not fair… what does Ephesians 2 tell us? Are we honestly good?

No, we’re dead in sins, walking in darkness, and children under wrath

We’re the opposite of good - we’re bad

We all have done something called sin - anything we think, say, do, or don’t do that displeases God… and we’re all guilty. This means that for God to be fair, what do we deserve? To be punished because of our sin. Some people struggle with this. They don’t understand why sin is so serious… think about it like this. If you were really mad about something that happened and you went outside and grabbed a rock and you scratched a 1990 Ford F-150 with a million scratches and bumps on it, what will happen? Probably nothing other than the owner of that old truck being a little upset with you… but what if you went and scratched a brand new 2023 Ford F-150 with that same little rock? Now you’re talking about getting a fine and having to pay out of your pocket for that truck to get fixed… that one little action with one little rock might cost you $10,000. But let’s say that someone in Salem has a Ferrari that cost over $2 million and you take that little rock and you purposefully scratch it. What now? Now you’re looking at going to jail. The rock stayed the same and your action stayed the same, but the value of the thing that you wronged increased and that means that the consequence increased as well.

This is how it is with God. It’s not like you and I have just disobeyed a teacher or a coach or a boss or a parent… we have disobeyed the Creator and King of the Universe. He is infinitely valuable and this means that just one offense means that we’re deserving of a severe consequence - the Bible tells us that this consequence is separation from Him forever. That’s serious stuff. That might not seem fair, but it’s absolutely fair. It’s what we deserve. See, we don’t want God to be fair with us… because if He were to be, we’d all be in a bad situation right now with no hope. We need God to be merciful and forgiving… this is what Ephesians 2 tells us that God does. He is rich in mercy and rich in love - He makes us alive with Christ and saves us by His grace, not our works!

This is the best news of all! But some don’t understand it.

They fundamentally don’t understand how serious of a situation they are in. They want good news without understanding the bad news. Think about it like this: 3 patients have heart disease and they go to their doctor for a checkup. The doctor comes back to each of them with the results of the scans and says this, “I have good news for you… but you won’t understand the good news unless I give you the bad news first. You have a serious complication because you chose to smoke and before you chose to smoke, you lived as a child in a smoking household and all of that smoke has impacted your lungs so severely that you will likely be dead within a year, unless you have a major surgery which, good news, we can do right away.”

The first patient says that this is outrageous news that has ruined his entire day… he immediately leaves the examination room.

The second patient says that this news isn’t accurate and that he is going to go to another doctor to offer another opinion because he doesn’t feel that bad and he knows plenty of people who have smoked longer and more than he has and they haven’t had serious problems or required surgery.

The third patient looks the doctor in the eye and says, “Doctor, I really don’t want to have this surgery… but I’m thankful that you told me the truth. I’m thankful that there is a treatment to my problem, please tell me more about it so that we can treat the issue!”

See, we have a serious situation here. Sin is like a cancer that progressively kills us and left to ourselves we have no hope. We are rebels against God and the wages of our sin is death. But God is so loving and merciful that He sent Jesus, His one and only Son, we celebrate this in a few weeks on Christmas as we celebrate the coming of Jesus as a baby who would grow up and die for sinners on the cross. Jesus comes and God promises to forgive all who repent and return to Him. See, the only time that something bad happened to someone good was the cross as Jesus who never sinned, died for sinners. But Jesus went to the cross willingly to take our place and to take our sin. That’s not fair - but it’s grace.

Jesus calls on us to trust in Him. To repent and believe.

1 John 1:9 CSB

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God’s ways don’t always make sense… but His ways are always better than ours and He has our best interest at heart. He wants us to look more like Jesus. That might mean that things don’t always go our way, but as a Christian you can trust that He will be with you each step of the way.

As you finish this semester, pray that God would give you opportunities as Ephesians 2:10 says, to do the work of God and to share the hope that Jesus gives to you with your classmates in this school. There is so much brokenness in our community and in our whole world and the reason why is sin. Sin is our problem, the Gospel is the solution. God has a perfect plan for you. Trust in Him. Point others to Him with what you say and how you live. Stand on His Word. Watch Him Work!