Sermon Tone Analysis

We are in a series called “I Wonder...”

and you all submitted questions and concerns that you wonder about...

and we got about 110, and I would say about 10% of those questions will in some way be addressed today in this one category...

Here’s how some of the questions go:

Why do good people get sick?

(cancer, alzheimers, covid)

why does God allow so much hatred and war in the world?

another person says why do bad things happen to children, particularly immigrant children?

and then the questions get very personal:

Two different questions anonymously say I am struggling as to why some of my family cannot have children and that it seems like other people, having been blessed with children, harm them or even kill them.

(that doesn’t seem fair—why would God allow that?)

One person even says, and I love the honesty, “I don’t like Jeremiah 29:11—If God has plans to prosper us and bring us hope and a future..why do bad things happen to people?

Why do young people die?

This verse was given me to comfort when I lost a close friend…when we were young.

It made me mad because that person did not get a future.

The person was harmed.

It truly makes me feel like the verse isn’t true.

What does Jeremiah 29:11 say?

that is on every graduation card—graduates...

but if that is true…why is there so much suffering and evil?

Is Jeremiah 29:11 really true?

Let’s try to answer that with some statements.

We will look at Jeremiah 29 passage in a second.

but step back and consider this statement—this is from the world of philosophy.

Title: Is Jeremiah 29:11 true?

Statement #1: The problem of suffering and evil is a problem for EVERYONE.

(In other words, it is a problem for everyone, not just Christians—but non-Christians, non-believers)

one thing I appreciate about the Bible is it is honest that suffering and evil exist.

it is honest about the hard things we go through—murder, floods, rape, polygamy, family drama, difficulty, disease…war, famine, the Bible is honest about it.

but this reality of suffering does present a problem.

the problem of evil and suffering is usually stated like this as Christians—if God is all powerful (fist) and all-loving (fist) yet suffering and evil exist…then maybe he is all-loving but not all powerful—because he can’t end suffering…or maybe he is all-powerful but he just doesn’t care…must not be all loving.

yes the problem of suffering and evil is a problem…but it’s also a problem for non-believers.

what do I mean?

if you don’t believe in God—or the God of the Bible—you often still believe that suffering and evil exist.

and you believe, and our culture strongly believers in the concept of justice, fairness, equality, giving people their fair due.

we are all about RIGHTS today.

but the question is this—if you don’t believe in God—what are you basing your sense of justice on?

how do you know something is right or wrong?

what if you disagree with someone else about that—whose to say that you are right and they are wrong?

Christians at least can say—we get our sense of right and wrong from God—His Word and Law—that is our basis—but what’s yours?

if you say “well it is obvious—from nature...” nature is not always nice.

nature is filled with the strong eating the weak…National Geographic—when a male lion takes over a pride of lions, he will often kill the cubs so he can start a family with his genes.

For the longest time I personally struggled with this—but CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity helped me—he has a quote that says this:

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust.

But how had I got this idea of "just" and "unjust"?

A man does not call a line crooked unless he has an idea of a straight line.

What was I comparing this universe to when I called it "unjust"?

If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it?”

A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet.

Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own.

But if I did that my argument against God collapsed too - for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to place my fancies.

Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless - I found that I was forced to assume one part of reality - namely the idea of Justice - was full of sense.

Consequently, atheism turns out to be too simple.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there was no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark.

Dark would be a word without meaning.”

so this is a problem for EVERYONE—CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIANS.

STAND

let’s now look at Jeremiah 29:1

do you see what is going on here?

The prophet Jeremiah who ministered about 600 years before Christ came—wrote a letter to the Israelites’—God’s people in the OT—who had been taken as slaves and into exile and captivity by the mighty Babylonians.

THESE are people undergoing massive suffering.

Look at Jeremiah 29:4

Now what would you expect God to say?

so is Jeremiah 29:11 really true?

How do I make sense of suffering and evil?

3 more statements...

Statement #2: Remember God is in control of the diverse causes of suffering.

(vs.

4, 7, 14)

that is a big statement.

What do I mean?

the causes of suffering are diverse in Scripture and our lives.

Why do you and I experience suffering?

because we live in a Fallen world—ever since Adam and Eve ate of the—that God told them not to—it introduced decay, disease, and death.

so sometimes we experience suffering simply b/c we live in this fallen world.

not because we have done anything wrong at all.

but sometimes we experience suffering as a natural consequence to sin in our lives.

what do I mean?

this passage in Jeremiah 29—the reason the Israelites were led into captivity—is God had warned them.

If you obey me, you will stay in the land, but if you do not, I will bring in a foreign nation…who will take you captive…these consequences will happen.

in other words, sometimes we reap what we sow (Lev.

, Deut., Galatians).

but I want to be careful here—not all suffering in your life is because you messed up.

there is a lot of mystery in suffering.

think of Job—Job suffered not because he was evil or immoral but because God allowed it.

if you look back at Jeremiah 29—Yes the Israelites were experiencing the consequences for their sin—by going into captivity—but God was still in control of all of it.

now that may be a little troubling to you, and I wrestle with that—but it is meant to be encouraging—b/c even though they messed up—it wasn’t the mighty Babylonians in control—it was God.

He carried them into exile.

and even in our suffering, horrible suffering—we are to look to the one who is mightily in control, even when we don’t understand it.

and He is the one who can do something—He will bring them out of it.

even though the Israelites got themselves into that mess—He will bring them out of it—eventually.

and He would use it.

that’s how much He cares—but it would take some time—70 years...

even if you have screwed your life up majorly—God is still in control

one of the amazing things that God is doing here, and he does it with all suffering—even though it doesn’t feel amazing—even in this passage—though God is allowing them to go into captivity—His purpose for this is ultimately to restore them.

It is ultimately to show them that they are not the center of the universe—but God is—it is to drive them deeper and closer to God. to show them that they need God—and only in God is there life.

so even if you have made a big mess of your life—even if you are one of the ones who recognize that some of your suffering is b/c you made some bad choices—God can still use it—He is still in control of it—and He can do something about it.

Is Jeremiah 29:11—true?

Yes—b/c God is still in control…that may cause problems...

in the meantime—what do we do...

Statement #3: (Wait on the Lord and work to the glory of God.)