Sermon Tone Analysis

Freewill and Love

Keep in mind that man is not God.

He was created by God, but is not all-knowing and all-powerful.

In the creation of man, God gave man freewill.

Genesis 2:15-17

Why?

I think it’s because that’s where love comes from and God wanted to love His creation and wanted His creation to love Him.

Love is not love without freewill.

God is love.

1 John 4:8

Man needs freewill in order to love God.

Pain

Pain comes with freewill.

Since man is not all-knowing, not all-powerful, and has the freewill to choose, he sometimes chooses poorly.

God gives man instructions to help him make the right choice, but, along with Satan’s lies to deceive man, man sometimes thinks that the ways that are in opposition to God are the best way.

Genesis 3:6

God knew this before He created man.

So God knew that He was creating something that was going to experience loss and pain, but He did it anyway.

God knew that He was going to have to deal with man’s sin, man’s pain, and man’s lost condition.

That’s where Jesus comes in.

Genesis 3:15

Ephesians 3:10-11

What is Pain?

Pain is defined or viewed in different ways.

Evil

Proof that God does not exist.

Pain or adversity actually can be helpful if viewed right.

Reasons why we have adversity:

Adversity is for our knowledge

Adversity is for our growth

John 15:1-2

2 Peter 1:5-8

Adversity and affliction helps us to keep our eternal perspective

Adversity is our stepping stones to new heights

The sacrifice of Jesus was one of immense pain:

Was it good, or was it evil?

Did God achieve salvation despite the pain, or did He do it through the pain?

Isaiah 53:5

2 Corinthians 8:9

Happiness or Joy

We look at pain and wonder why God allows us to have it?

But where would we be if we did not have it?

Would we have freewill?

Would we have the sacrifice and salvation of Jesus Christ?

What does God promise us?

First, we need to look at some definitions.

Definitions of happiness versus joy:

Happiness is the pleasure obtained through the circumstances of the time

“Hap” is the idea of luck or fortune, coming about by chance.

We might say “I happened upon a coin,” or “It was a fortunate happenstance.”

Joy may be defined similarly to happiness, but it can be defined as a “source” of happiness.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary says, “Closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more a state of being than an emotion; a result of choice.”

Brenda Heyink, “Joy,” ed.

John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Galatians 5:22-23

Do Christians automatically have joy or is it something they must develop, along with peace, love, longsuffering, etc.?

Are Christians automatically happy all-day, every day?

No, because the circumstances cause it to be otherwise.

Can the Christians have joy every day by drawing upon the facts of Christ’s sacrificial death, the salvation obtained, and a promise of a home in Heaven?

Yes, that is the source of happiness that cannot be taken away, no matter the circumstances.

My definition is that happiness is a drink of water, and joy is the well from which you can continually draw and obtain happiness, no matter the circumstances.

So, why does God allow unhappiness and pain?

God knew before He created man that man would experience pain.

God knew that the circumstances of man would cause Him pain.

So, why did He do it?

Why did God give man freewill, if He knew that man would just abuse it and cause himself pain?

We know that without freewill, we would not have true love for God.

God never promised us total happiness.

God does promise joy.

Happiness is pleasure due to the circumstances, joy is overcoming the circumstances, and obtaining pleasure.

God promises joy in Heaven for those who are saved.

Revelation 21:3-4

But how did God obtain that salvation for man?

Through pain.

Through unhappiness.

Can God use something bad to make something good?

Genesis 50:20

I don’t mean to take a passage out of context, but let’s re-read this verse and imagine Jesus saying it to those who had crucified Him.

Responsibility

The answers to questions like, “What is pain?” and “Why do we have pain?” may vary.

Pain is evil

Pain is proof that God does not exist.

Of course, we understand that concluding that pain is proof that God does not exist is ignoring the true responsibility for living in a sin-cursed world.

God created the world perfect.

Genesis 1:31

Mankind was given freewill and instructions on how to maintain the peaceful, non-painful relationship with God.

Genesis 2:16-17

Man chose to listen to the lies of Satan and chose their own path that ignored the commandments of God.

Genesis 3:6

Pain and suffering entered the world.

Genesis 3:16-19

The reason we have pain and suffering in this world is because man disobeyed God’s commandments.

The responsibility falls upon the shoulders of man, not God.

Conclusion

God knew we would have pain and suffering before He created us.

If God is holy, He is perfect and always does what is right.

If God is all-knowing, then He knows everything.

If we put these two attributes of God together in relation to the creation of man, we see that God knew that man would suffer and have pain, and He chose to go forward with creation, which must have been the right choice, because He is holy.

Therefore, concluding that all pain is evil must be assuming too much.

Pain may be sometimes caused by evil, but pain actually can be used for good things.