The Best Offense…

It’s A Messed Up World!

I John 1:8&10

A 15-year-old boy, enraged by the rape of his mother by a rival gang member, gets a semi-automatic weapon and seeks his revenge on the streets of Milwaukee, shooting two police officers in the ensuing gunfight.

A 14-year-old boy at his first practice as a free safety in middle school, throws a tackle into one of his team mates, and by a freak accident is left paralyzed from the waist down.

A 25-year-old mother of two is hit with a muscular dystrophy disease that slowly robs her of her mobility and will eventually take her life.

It’s a messed up world!  There injustice, violence, sickness, accidents, and oppression all around us.  The world is unfair.  The world is messed up.  Last week we talked about the claims and evidence that point to Intelligent Design – a Master Planner who created this universe, the world and all that inhabit it.  We further stated that God created it Himself, for Himself, by Himself, because He wanted to.  He wanted to have many children share His glory.  God wanted a family.  God wasn’t lonely.  He didn’t need us.  But He wanted us.  The Bible says that God is love and that we were created as objects of God’s love.  We were made simply so that God could love us.

OK – so why, if we live in a world that God created and populated out of love, is this world so messed up?  If God’s motivation was love, why is there so much hate?  Why is there so much evil?  Why is it so unfair?

David Hume, a Scottish Philosopher from the 18^th century, asked it this way,: 

Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?

These are some of the most difficult questions that Christians have to answer as we defend the truth of a Biblical Worldview.  If there is an all-powerful, all knowing, all good God, who is in His very nature Love, the why is there sin and suffering in the world?  Last week we quoted Albert Einstein, who said that creation and science showed “an intelligence of such superiority….” believed in God.  But he also said that he could not believe in the God of the Bible because he believed that God could not be all-perfect and all-loving while at the same time allowing suffering and injustice.

We’re in this series on worldview.  Seeing the world and seeing my life as it really is.  Not as we’d like it to be but as it really is.  We’ve already looked at the first week, “Does it really matter what I believe?”  And we’ve said, “Yes it matters!”  Then the second week we looked at how do I know what’s really true?  There are absolutes in the universe from gravity to morality.  Then last week we looked at Origins, “Who am I and where did I come from?”  If you missed any in the sessions I’d encourage you to get the CDs or the tapes.

Today we’re going to look at this fourth question: “How did the world get so messed up?”  In the world of Philosophy, this is called “the problem of evil.”

Perhaps, deep down in the innermost part of your soul, where no one ever goes, there’s this gnawing question as well.  Maybe you’re willing to proclaim, as we did two weeks ago, that there are absolutes in this world – there is absolute Truth – right and wrong, good and evil, truth and lies.  Maybe you are willing to defend, as we discussed it last week, the biblical view that God created the world.  You feel more or less comfortable believing and defending the notion that the complexity of our world points to an intelligent, purposeful, master designer.  But maybe this question causes you to squirm.  “If your God is so powerful, why is this place so messed up?” 

Today’s message is not going to be as full as last weeks’ message on Origins.  We’re going to look at the reason it got messed up.  Then we’re going to look at the results.  Then we’re going to look at God’s rationale.  Why did God allow this to happen?  Then finally, our response.

First, the reason: How did the world get so messed up?

The reason is this: We’ve all sinned.  We have all sinned.  When we sin it brings evil into the world.  What is sin?  Sin is any attitude or any action against God.  It may not be real PC to talk about sin, but that’s what it is.  Let me ask you:

q     Have you ever said something that wasn’t the truth?

q     Have you ever wished you could have something that someone else has?

q     Have you ever taken a paper clip, stamp, or piece of candy that belonged to someone else without asking?

q     Have you ever looked longingly at a woman or man that was not your spouse?

IF you said yes to any of those, (or all of those!)  Then you are a sinner!  And if you could, somehow, honestly say “no” to those, trust me, there’s something that you’ve done that God calls “sin.”

So where did it all get started?  It started back with the very first couple – Adam and Eve – back in the Garden of Eden.  Romans 5:12 says, “Sin entered the world through one man… ”  There was no death prior to this but it came into the world with sins.  And it didn’t just stop with Adam and Eve.  We’re all been culprits too.  “There is not a single person in all the earth who is always good and never sins.”  That’s kind of a no-brainer.  I’ve never met anybody who’s ever claimed to be perfect.  Not one.  I don’t measure up to my own standards, much less God’s – a perfect God.  I disappoint myself.  I disappoint others.  Much less not living up to a standard of perfection.

So sin is a universal problem.  One hundred percent.  The Bible says “all have sinned.”  That includes me.  That includes you.  That includes the pope. That includes, yes, Mary.  It includes everybody who’s ever lived.  All have sinned.  The Bible says “There is none righteous, no not one.”  The Bible says “If we claim we have not sinned we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  In other words if you say you’ve never sinned, you’re just lying.  Because the fact is all of us have had attitudes and actions against God.

So what is the result of this sin?

The result of sin in our world is death.  Romans 6:22 says, “The wages of sin is death.”  In Romans 5:12, it says, “So death passed upon all men, because all have sinned.” Our physical bodies get sick, deteriorate, and die as a result of sin.  So do our cars, computers, and clothes dryer.  It’s all due to physical death and decay.  But it’s not just physical death - it’s Physical, Natural, Emotional, Relational and Spiritual death and decay. 

Nature doesn’t always act in a rational way.  There are natural disasters.  When people ask “Why are there hurricanes?  And why are there droughts?  And why are there earthquakes?  And why are there tidal waves?”  The answer is very simple.  The planet is broken.  It’s fallen.  This is not a perfect place.  The Bible says that very clearly that it’s not perfect any more.  In Romans 8:20-22 we read, “all creation was subjected to bondage and decay through sin.”

There’s emotional death and decay, too.  Why do you get stressed out, disappointed, or depressed?  Because you live on a fallen planet!  You live in an imperfect world because evil and sin exist.  And stress is the result of living in a damaged, disappointing sinful world.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not but most things don’t live up to their hype.  I mean, it’s one thing to be disappointed when you go to see the new Brad Pitt movie, but for most of us the disappointments we face are a lot worse than that.  It’s all due to sin.  People lie, they tell us what they think we wan to hear, they break promises. We build up all this hope, only to be let down. Job 6:20 says, “They are distressed because they had been confident.  Then they arrive only to be disappointed.”   Our emotional decay is a result of sin.

Relational death occurs as a result of sin.  In Genesis, the very first result of Adam and Eve disobeying God was,  “They realized they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”  The very first result of sin was that the first husband and the first wife began to put up barriers.  There was no transparency – there was lost intimacy – there were attempts to hide things from each other.  That relational death and disease has been a part of every relationship ever since.

Then there’s Spiritual death.  Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your sins have separated you from your God.”  Death, at it’s most basic definition, is separation.  Physical death is separation from life.  Relational death is separation from each other.  Spiritual death is separation from God.  God is love, most of us are willing to acknowledge that, but God is also holy, which means that He cannot, and will not allow sin in His presence – for anyone – not even His own Son.  When Jesus took your sins and mine on the cross, God had to separate Himself from His own Son, and Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, Why have you left me?”

The results of sin: comprehensive, universal death.  OK – But that still doesn’t answer the question of “WHY?”  Why is it like this?  Why did God allow this?  What was He thinking?

That’s the Rationale.  What, indeed is God thinking?  Well, the answer is found in the Bible.  Deuteronomy 30:15 says, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.”  God wants us to have a choice.  Remember last week when we said that God created us because He wanted us to be in His family?  He created man because He wanted objects of His love and to be loved?  Well, love is impossible without the opportunity for rejection.  I can’t say that I really love you unless I have a choice to not love you.  By choosing to love you, then it’s voluntary.  In other words, I couldn’t make my wife Carol fall in love with me.  I can’t make her stay in love with me.  It’s her choice.  I can’t force it.  God says “I’m not going to force you to love Me.  I’m not going to force you to be a puppet.  I’m not going to force you to worship Me.  You can either love Me or not love Me.  You can believe in My Son, Jesus, or you can reject Him.  I’m going to give you that choice.” 

That’s the good news.  Now here’s the bad news.  We have to live with the consequences.  While you’re free to choose anything you want to do in life, you are not free from the consequences.  I’m free tonight after church to go out and shoot up some drugs.  But I’m not free from the consequences of it.  I’m free to go cheat on my wife but I’m not free from the consequences of it.  I’m free to go murder somebody but I’m not free from the consequences of it.  I’m free to turn my back on God, do my own thing and just forget God.  But then I have to live with the consequences for all eternity.  The Bible says this in Ecclesiastes  3:17 “In due season God will judge everything man does both good and bad.”  There’s going to be a day of accounting where you explain to God why you made the choices on earth that you did.

Evil is the result of free humans making choices to rebel against God.  God “allows” it because it’s the only way we can truly love Him.

Another reason why God “allows” bad stuff to happen is that it shows us our need.  Think about it – when do you pray most?  When do you seek God most diligently?  When do masses of people flock to churches – other than Christmas and Easter?  It’s when bad things happen!  When hate-filled terrorists fly planes into buildings, and launch mass attacks on innocent people on the streets, politicians gather on the steps of the Capital building and sing “God Bless America!”  Church attendance skyrockets, people fall to their knees.  On Tuesday of this week, with the South Eastern US is in a sever draught, the governor of Georgia and a bunch of the state legislators gathered on the state capital steps to pray for rain (which came on Wednesday!)  [By the way, a group of atheists gathered to protest the prayers – but you see they don’t need rain, because they live in a river called “DeNile!” 

It happens on a large scale, like an entire nation, and it happens a local scale, like a city, and it happens in your home – when we are being victimized by evil, we turn to God – and He does not resent it, that’s part of the reason he allows evil!  Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Those who are unaware of their need will not seek God – but those who are suffering.  That’s part of the reason God allow suffering – it shows us our need.

There’s one more reason why there is suffering and evil and trouble in our world – because of God’s grace.  Sometimes people say, “I can’t believe in a God or worship a God or love a God who would callously stand by, unmoved, and watch little children suffer, women be raped, and thousands die in disasters.”  You know what?  I don’t believe in that kind of God either.  In fact, the God of the Bible isn’t that kind of God.  In fact, you have no idea how much it hurts God when He sees all the sin on earth.  It hurts Him more than anybody else.  And He grieves and He says, “Look at what My children are doing!  They’re abusing each other!  They’re killing each other!  They’re being evil to each other!  They’re hurting each other!  They’re gossiping about each other!  I didn’t mean for them to do that!” 

It hurts God.  And God feels it and cares about it every second.  He’s grieving.  The only reason you breathe is because you’re made in God’s image.  God has emotions and He gave you emotions too.  And God feels it much more intensely and He feels it far more than you ever will.  He’s far more worried about women who get raped than you are.  You don’t think about it all the time – He does.  He’s watching it and He cares about it and He hates it.  He hates it with a passion.  Read the Old Testament, and you’ll see that His holy grief sometimes turns to holy anger – and He’s tempted to step in and end it all – violently!  But in his grace, He holds off.  He waits.

I believe in a God who one day is going to stop evil dead in its tracks.  There’s going to be an accounting.  One day He’s going to shut down this planet and He’s going to judge all evil and all evildoers with a holy wrath of justice to settle the score.  He’s going to bring those who love Him and are His children, who put their faith in Him to live with Him forever in a perfect place.  And He’s going to unleash His wrath on those who refuse Him, and they will spend eternity separated from Him in the torment of Hell.  That’s what God’s going to do. It’s going to happen, and when it does, all options are closed – that’s the end of the line.  When tempted to ask, “Why doesn’t God stop all this?”  Ask yourself, “Do you really want him to close that door now?  Do you want Him to bring a close to His grace and patience NOW?”

2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  The only reason He’s holding back His fierce, angry judgment on evil and what it’s done to the people He loves and the people He created and all the hurt that it’s caused this planet, the people He’s loved and died for, is He’s waiting for you. 

Which brings us to the bottom line – Our Response.  God has given you a choice – accept Him or reject Him.  Allow the difficulties of this world to draw you closer to Him, and to experience His grace; or reject Him, be embittered by your struggles, and face his judgment. 

When things go wrong in your family, you can blame God, and ignoring the role you yourself play in it.  You can blame Him for the bad choices that you, your spouse, your parents or your children have made.  When things go wrong in the world, you can blame God, and refuse to see the evil choices of human being that lead to starvation, death and disease.  You can blame God and allow them to push you away from Him.

Or you can see these things for what they are – the results of sin – the results of rebellion against God and His truth.  You can look with awed amazement at His love, which allows us to make these stupid decisions, these rebellious choices, and yet still longs to redeem us. 

He’s waiting for you.  You can’t respond for anyone else – only for yourself.  You can’t make that rebellions son or father accept His grace. No one else can respond for you – you have to receive His love and redemption for yourself - and I pray you will.