Sermon Tone Analysis

My God, My God, Why?

There was an emergency room doctor in Kentucky that told this true story...

A guy came into the ER after being in a car accident and the guy had burns all the way around his neck.

The doctor looked and said, “How in the world did you get burns around your neck after a car accident?”

The guy said, “Well, the wife and I were sitting down on the porch and we had one of them new dog collars.

You know, the ones with the little zappers on it.

I told the wife that I would put the collar on my neck, drive my pickup over the hill, and when I get to a certain place honk the horn.

When I honk the horn, press the button and we’ll see if it works from a distance and how it feels.”

So he got in his truck, disappeared over the hill, then laid on the horn.

His wife pressed the button and it zapped him so hard that he almost passed out!

He started to swerve all over the road as he was screaming in pain.

While he was swerving everywhere a car that was coming toward him in the other lane did what anyone would do in that situation and started honking at him.

His wife thought that it must not have worked the first time, so she hit the zapper again.

He screamed again and kept swerving.

The more the car honked, the more she pressed the button.

Why do people do crazy things?

Why do innocent people have to suffer consequences of someone else’s actions?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

There are so many questions in life that don’t seem to have answers.

So many bad things that happen to good people.

So much corruption in organizations that were created to do good.

Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why?”

There is a couple at the church we went to in OKC that our pastor, Craig, would talk about sometimes.

They met at Life Church, dated, got married, wanted to get pregnant but couldn’t, finally one day they got pregnant, nine months later they had the baby, but then the baby died.

Why?

When I was in high school, one of my teachers told us about her family.

Her husband and kids went with her to purchase a vehicle one day.

When they left to go home the kids wanted to ride with their dad in the new vehicle, so she followed behind in their old car.

At some point on the way home a drunk driver slammed into their new vehicle killing her whole family while she watched.

Why?

Do you ever ask these questions?

Why do people who value their relationship with God and their spouse still end up getting divorced?

Why do I feel so alone sometimes?

Why do I feel like God is so far away?

Why did Chad tell that stupid story earlier?

I know I’ve asked questions like this before.

Such as, why did my dad have to die so young?

So many questions in life that don’t have easy, good, or even simple answers.

Have you ever felt like that?

Have you felt like what Jesus must have felt like when He was on the cross and cried out, “My God! My God! Why…?”

We are looking at some of Jesus’ famous last words when He was on the cross.

Last week we talked about His plea to God to forgive the people who were senselessly beating and killing Him.

He said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Today we are looking at the moment when Jesus asked His Heavenly Father, “Why?”

If you are following along in your bible’s, turn to Matthew chapter 27.

We’ll pick up the story in verse 45...

Your bible might say, “from the sixth hour until the ninth hour.”

In the middle of the day, when it should have been daylight, darkness came over all the land.

Jesus became sin for us.

When He became sin, the Heavenly Father turned away, withdrew His presence, and the world became dark.

Jesus, who had spent His entire life in God’s presence, suddenly had this void as the God who had always been near to Him felt so far away.

In this foreign feeling of destitution, Jesus says some of the loneliest words in all of the Bible…

There are a lot of things that happen in life that just don’t seem to have a good reason as to why.

Good people die young.

Bad people have all the success.

Why does it seem like God answers some prayers, but not others?

Why do some people who desire to find that special someone have to keep going home alone?

Why is it that some people who really want kids are unable to get pregnant?

Someone once said...

Why is my life so empty?

Why do I wake up everyday in the same old bed, walk into the same old kitchen, eat the same old breakfast, read the same old paper, drink the same old cup of coffee, kiss the same old woman, get in the same old car, drive to my same old job, see the same old people, get the same old paycheck, go back to the same old house, walk into the same old kitchen, sit at the same old table, eat the same old meal, sit in the same old chair in the same old living room, watch the same old show, go to the same old bedroom, look at the same old wife, as her the same old question, get the same old answer?

Go to sleep, wake up the next day and do the same old thing.

Why? Isn’t there more to life than that?

As Christ followers, we tend to oversimplify answers to these complicated questions.

There are 3 common answers to complicated questions that you will oftentimes hear people say.

Though they CAN be true, trying to explain all of our complicated situations with these simple answers can leave us feeling guilty, inadequate, or even empty.

Sometimes trying to answer complex questions with simple answers will only make the question more confusing.

If you are facing difficult questions in your life right now, or the next time you encounter a difficult situation, you may hear these simple answers...

EASY ANSWERS FOR HARD TIMES: IT’S YOUR FAULT.

Maybe you have been in a rough time and someone comes up and says, “the reason you are going through this is because it’s your fault.

If you didn’t have sin in your life.

There must be some secret sin in your life!

If you had a little more faith this wouldn’t be happening to you.

Another person may come up to you and say, “Well, it’s Satan’s fault.”...

EASY ANSWERS FOR HARD TIMES: IT’S SATAN’S FAULT.

Think of Bobby Boucher’s (Boo - shay) mamma who would tell him that “Foosball is of the devil.”

“Who was behind the wheel of our Lincoln town car when we drove into that crazy 8 motel?

Who could it be?

Could it be..... SATAN?”

The truth of the matter is that the evil one does attack and you could be in a hard time because it’s partially your fault.

But then another person will walk in and say, “You know it’s God’s will.”...

EASY ANSWERS FOR HARD TIMES: IT’S GOD’S WILL.

So which is it?

Is it my fault?

Is it Satan’s attack?

Is it God’s will?

Is it some combination of the two of these?

Is it all of them?

The problem with the easy answers is that oftentimes very complex situations just can’t be explained with simple answers.

As we look to Jesus on the cross, it’s hard to really grasp the complexity of the situation he was facing.

From looking at His life as a whole, we know that from the time He was born, Satan, the spiritual enemy, attacked Jesus.

Often times he attacked through people.

Even when Jesus was a baby, Herod sought to have him killed.

In His hometown, Jesus was known as a prophet without honor.

Once when He was teaching in a synagogue, the people didn’t like what He was saying so they drove Him out of town and to the top of a hill so they could throw Him off a cliff.

People called Him a heretic, a fanatic, said He was demon possessed, that He was a drunk, a glutton, that He would hand out with the wrong kind of people.

He was falsely accused, tortured, and beaten.

He suffered all of this even though the prophesies about Him warned the people this would happen.

They did it anyway.

Even so, Jesus never once complained.