If God Is Good, Why Is There Evil?
You Have Heard It Said • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Scripture Reading: John 16:33
Scripture Reading: John 16:33
You Have Heard It Said
You Have Heard It Said
For the next few minutes…
This auditorium is a court room
And you all are the jury
A local police officer has been called to the stand…
To be asked a series of questions by the prosecutor
This officer is being charged with “Neglect of Duty”
A violent crime took place under his watch…
And he did nothing to stop it
“Would you consider yourself a ‘good’ cop who cares about the people of this town?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Did you know the crime was taking place?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did you have the power to stop the crime from happening?”
“Yes, I did.”
The prosecutor then turns to the jury & says:
“I want you to notice the contradiction.”
“He says he is a ‘good’ cop who cares about the people of this town.”
“He says he had knowledge that the crime was taking place.”
“He says he had the power to stop the crime from taking place.”
“Those things don’t seem to fit together.”
“If he did have knowledge of the crime & had the power to stop it…”
“And yet he did nothing to stop it…”
“Then how could we possibly call him a ‘good’ cop?”
Assuming the defense has no evidence to the contrary…
What would the jury’s verdict be?
On the charge of “Neglect of Duty”…
Is this police officer Innocent or Guilty?
This is how many people see God
This is how many people see God
They know that the God of the Bible is said to be:
Omniscient (All-Knowing)
He’s aware of all the evil, pain, & suffering we experience
Omnipotent (All-Powerful)
He’s able to stop all the evil, pain, & suffering
Omnibenevolent (All-Good & All-Loving)
He’s cares enough to stop all evil, pain, & suffering
But then they look at the state of the world we live in…
And how it is filled with:
Murder
Sexual Violence
Slavery
Abuse
Human Trafficking
A Host of Sicknesses & Diseases
Earthquakes
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
Tsunamis
Alcohol & Drug Addiction
War
Genocide
Racism, Bigotry, & Hatred
Starvation & Dehydration
Droughts & Famines
Loneliness
Injustice
And Ultimately, Death
And when people see a world filled with all these things…
They naturally ask the question:
If God Is Good, Why Is There Evil?
If God Is Good, Why Is There Evil?
To Philosophers & Theologians…
This is called “The Problem of Evil”
And it’s a serious question
This isn’t just a question asked by skeptics & atheists
Faithful people have wrestled with it for thousands of years
And we don’t have to be afraid to ask difficult questions
David said: 1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Habakkuk asked: 2 How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, “Violence!” But you do not intervene! 3 Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife. 4 For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted.
If we believe that God is omniscient, omnipotent, & omnibenevolent…
Then there are going to be times…
When we wrestle with the fact that God allows us to suffer
But we need to be careful…
About the assumptions we bring into our questions
“Why does God allow evil?”
That’s a good & legitimate question
“Why did God create evil?”
That’s a different question
It assumes something the Scriptures never teach
When it comes to answering the question:
“If God is good, why is there evil?”
I don’t think any of us have all the answers
Why each individual suffers in the ways they do…
Will likely never be answered for us
But there are questions we can ask that the Bible does answer
And having the answers to these questions…
Can be a big encouragement to us in times of evil, pain, & suffering:
Did God Create Evil?
Where Did Evil Come From?
What is God Doing About It?
1. Did God Create Evil?
1. Did God Create Evil?
In the creation account…
We find God describing His creation with the word “good” 7 times
The 7th time He said “very good”
His brand new creation was filled with:
Life
Order
Goodness
Potential
From the information we’re given…
We can safely say that everything God created was good
All that we know as evil was absent from God’s original creation
2. Where Did Evil Come From?
2. Where Did Evil Come From?
If God didn't create evil…
Then where did all the brokenness & suffering…
Of our present world come from?
After the serpent deceives Eve…
And Adam follows Eve to eat the forbidden fruit…
God pronounces curses on:
The Serpent, Eve, Adam, & the ground
We see the beginning of:
Pain
Shame
Alienation from God
Alienation from one another
Hard work & frustration
Creation rebelling against humanity
Death
All the evil that people do to one another began here
The rest of Genesis & all of history is filled with:
Murder
Lies
Sexual violence
Kidnapping
Abuse
Hatred
War
Injustice
And the effects of humanity’s rebellion didn’t stop with humanity
In Romans 8:19-22, Paul says that creation was subjected to futility…
And that it groans & suffers in pain…
Longing to be set free from its corruption
It isn’t just human beings who are broken
All of creation is now broken
And that leads us to our next question:
3. What is God Doing About It?
3. What is God Doing About It?
This question really needs to be divided into 3 tenses:
What has God done about it?
What is God doing about it?
What will God do about it?
a. What has God Done About It?
a. What has God Done About It?
Instead of abandoning His rebellious creation…
He set forth a plan to redeem it
And it began with a man named Abram
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God chooses to Abram to:
Go to a special place
Have a special child
Who will go on to become a special family
Who will eventually grow into a special nation of people
And the original goal & mission of these special people…
Was to be blessed by Him…
So that they in turn would be a blessing to the rest of the world
God wanted to bless His cursed & fallen creation
And He would do so through the conduit of the nation of Israel
Many would come to know & fear the God of creation…
Through their interactions with the people of Israel
But Israel was only Phase 1 of God’s plan
The ultimate goal was for God Himself to enter into His broken creation
God became human in the form of Jesus
And He confronted the effects of evil…
And reversed the curse everywhere He went:
He healed the sick
He gave sight to the blind
He made the lame walk
He fed the hungry
He cast out demons
He welcomed the rejected
He forgave sinners
He raised the dead
Through Jesus’ teachings & miracles…
The Kingdom (reign & rule of God on earth as in Heaven)…
Began to invade this broken world
But Jesus didn’t just tell people that God would restore His creation
He gave them glimpses of what that restoration would look like
And then the Messiah, Anointed King, our Savior did the unthinkable
He allowed the evil we brought into His good creation…
To do its worst to Him
Betrayal, violence, injustice, hatred, & death all converge on Jesus
The crucifixion tells us that God doesn’t ignore evil, pain, suffering, & death
He cares so much that He willingly entered into it Himself
14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Imagine a God choosing to die for His creation…
To save them from the consequences of their own actions
The crucifixion tells us that God cares
The resurrection tells us that evil doesn’t get the last laugh
God has declared victory over all evil, pain, suffering, & death
He has defeated sin
He has defeated death
He has defeated evil
That is what God has done
b. What is God Doing About It?
b. What is God Doing About It?
After Jesus ascended to Heaven…
He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within His followers
And now God, through the Spirit…
Works to bring about His will through Christians
Contrary to the way many Christians live…
Christianity is not a “sit back & wait for God to fix it” religion
We are to continue the mission of Jesus by:
Loving our neighbor as ourselves
Feeding the hungry
Caring for the sick
Visiting the lonely
Protecting the weak & vulnerable
Giving to those in need
Advocating for justice
Forgiving
Reconciling
Serving
It is our mission to push back against the effects of sin & evil
We’re to expand the borders of God’s Kingdom (reign & rule on earth)
We’re to live in this present broken world…
As if we’re already in the world to come
“On earth as in heaven”
We walk in the Spirit after the example of King Jesus…
Until the day He returns to finish what He started
c. What Will God Do About It?
c. What Will God Do About It?
In 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, Paul tells us:
Death came through Adam & resurrection life comes through Jesus
Whenever Jesus returns, all His followers will be resurrected
He will defeat & place His foot on the neck…
Of all that dared to set themselves against Him
And last of all, He will conquer death for all His people
No more sin
No more suffering
No more evil
No more death
All will be restored & made right
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 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. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Creation itself is eagerly waiting to be set free & redeemed
All things will finally be made right once again
That’s the grand story that we are all a part of:
God created all things good
Humanity rebelled & evil entered into creation
And God has been working ever since to redeem & restore His good creation
And one day that redemption & restoration will be complete
If God is good, why is there evil?
If God is good, why is there evil?
I don’t have the answers to all of that
Why is God allowing your to suffer the way you currently are?
I don’t know the answer to that either
But I do know this:
God is good
God didn’t create a broken world
He didn’t abandon a broken world
He entered a broken world to redeem it
He’s working through His people to fight against its brokenness
And one day He’ll restore it completely
Every analogy breaks down somewhere
Obviously, God is not like a police officer
It’s the responsibility of a police officer to protect those under his care
But it isn’t God’s responsibility to prevent every bad thing…
From happening to us
And just because we suffer…
Doesn’t mean God is neglecting us
He isn’t like the good cop…
Who had knowledge & power but did nothing
He has been actively working since the fall…
To restore the goodness He once created
We may not understand why He allows every instance of suffering
But we do know He isn’t doing nothing about it
He didn’t create evil
He hasn’t abandoned us to evil
He has willingly experienced the evil Himself
And He will ultimately destroy all evil
And until that day…
We can rest assured that He is good…
And worthy of our trust
