Pastor Dan Eddy
Job 38:4-18, Romans 8:18-30, and John 9:1-7
How can a perfect
God allow an imperfect world?
8-7-11
I.
Introduction – CLC Thespian Theatre
Opening Skit (Dick and Jim are neighbors
each with looking over their” honey-do” list of items)
Jim:
Good morning,
Dick.
Dick:
Good morning,
neighbor.
Jim:
What’s that you
have in your hand?
Dick:
My “Honey-do”
list. How about you?
Jim:
Same here. Cut
grass, weed flower beds, mulch around the bushes….it just never ends.
Dick:
I know what you
mean, neighbor. I have the same items on my list.
Jim:
I bet you don’t
have this one?
Dick:
What one?
Jim:
Well since your
family goes to church and you guys say you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior….My wife and I wanted to ask you: “If God is perfect…how can a
perfect God allow an imperfect world?” You know with disease, disasters
and 38 troops, including 22 Navy Seals, killed in
Dick:
Good question. So
let me ask you a question, “Why would you
and your wife like to know?”
Pastor:
Let’s give God
praise by giving them a round of applause.
Dick and Jim are
helping me kick off a four week sermon series on “Your neighbor’s questions about God.” This morning’s question
about “How can a perfect God allow an
imperfect world” encompasses a number of questions I’ve received from you.
It may come in
the form of “If God is good, then why is
there so much suffering or evil?” or
“Why did God allow that earthquakes to destroy parts of Japan, tornadoes to hit
the Midwest, South or even down the road in central Massachusetts, to kill so
many people?” or “Why are children
born with disabilities?”
Now if there’s
one thing you’ll learn over the next four weeks. When people ask you questions
like this our first response is not to avoid, or to come up with some cute 15
second “sound-bite” answer, like a
politician running for office, nor is it to get into a argument. We are trying
to win souls away from Hell into Heaven; we are not trying to win debates, but
winning souls for Christ with His Word and Wisdom. We can’t convert a heart or
strengthen weak faith…only the Holy Spirit can through the Word of God. We are
the messenger, the tool, the instrument.
And many times
our first response is to do what Dick did. We respond with the thoughtful
question, “Why would you like to know?”
We do it in a loving way, not “WHY WOULD
YOU LIKE TO KNOW?” Then you listen for the real questions behind the question.
You identify where their real needs are. On the surface it may sound intellectual
and academic…but that may lead to deeper and more personal yearnings.
And, by the way,
if you don’t have an answer at the fence post (hold up prop)…that’s okay. It’s
entirely proper to say something like “Let
me think about what you have said and get back to you with a thoughtful
response.” Then get back to them the next day, week or month with that
response. At the very least you will develop a relationship that shows you care
about them.
“Walk
in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech
always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to
answer each person,” Colossians
4:5-6 ESV
Okay…now where in
the Bible can we begin to look at God’s Word for possible answers?
Well hold onto
today’s bulletin because these three Scripture passages that Jim Hunt and I
read this morning are good starting points. This morning’s sermon will not offer you exhaustive
ways to answer this question…but it will give you some options to consider,
based on what you hear from your neighbors, friends, family members, coworkers
or acquaintances.
II. Job’s situation
(Looking at Job 38:4-18)
Now if anyone in
the Bible had a right to ask this morning’s question it would be our Old
Testament believer, Job. A real man with some real beefs against God.
Here Job is
living a normal life as a rich man really blessed by God. Job had 7,000 sheep,
3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Wealth
in his day was determined more in this way because he lived in a mostly barter
economy. Job also had seven sons and three daughters.
And within a
short period of time he lost it all. His wealth destroyed and all his children
killed.
He was left with
body sores, three well-meaning friends who gave him bad advice, and a nagging
wife who wanted him to curse God and die.
So if anyone has
a right to ask the question “How can a
perfect God allow an imperfect world” it would be Job.
And to make
matters worse…the whole reason why Job lost almost everything dear to him was
the result of Lucifer, the Devil, Mr. Satan. He bet God that he could get Job
to curse God…to fall away, to not believe. You see Satan thought the whole
reason Job had faith in Him was believe of his wealth and family.
The Lord said “You’re on. I will allow you to do anything
except take Job’s life.”
And in his
sorrow, Job’s friend kept asking him “So
what did you do wrong to tick off God? You must have done something.” So by
Chapter 38 Job’s a bit confused as to why all this imperfection is being
allowed from a perfect God. Job wants to know “Why are you allowing this to happen to me, Lord?”
And do you know
what God’s answer was? “I don’t have to
give you an answer…because I am the only God and you are not.” That’s
basically what the Lord is saying in our Old Testament text, and I admit on the
surface it seems a bit cold. God answers Job without ever telling him about the
conversation he and Satan had. And if you ponder the Lord’s wisdom here note
that we are limited in really understanding who God is. Really how can imperfect
beings understand the perfect God? As finite human beings how can we begin to understand
God’s infinite qualities?
In many ways
that’s the essence of our trust in Him. He lets us know what He needs us to
know. And what we want to know beyond is a bonus.
We are the
created. He is the Creator. We are living a dot on the Lord’s canvass. God in
His holiness sees the big picture. He knows us better than we know ourselves,
and does what is in our best interests.
God is not a
philosophical concept who we try to master and explain away.
Job neither gets a bill of
indictment nor a verdict of innocence. However, God does not humiliate or
condemn him…contrary to what Job’s friends were telling him.
Job’s complete faith was
displayed in God’s goodness without receiving a direct answer to his question.
AND Job was ultimately satisfied with that. Even in his darkest moments Job
never abandoned his faith in God.
In fact
his faith in God grew as a result of his suffering. Job provides us the lyrics
to one of the most popular Easter hymns. Job 19:25-26 in his darkness moment of
life Job said: “For
I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus
destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”
Job knew that
despite an imperfect world with death and destruction, there would come a day
he would see His Savior, in the next life, in the flesh, face-to-face.
You and I who
have faith in Christ and believe in His resurrection will join Job in seeing
our redeemer face-to-face.
Sometime we don’t more
fully appreciate God’s perfection until we more fully see our own
imperfections.
Psalm
34:18 ESV “The Lord is near to the
brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
III. Romans Christians (Looking
at Romans 8:18-30)
And
brokenhearted would describe some of the believers in the Church at
And
Paul is saying here the imperfections of the world in this life don’t even come
close to the perfect life ahead in Heaven.
However Paul adds the
dimension that the groanings of
this life, physically, mentally, and spiritually, are the result of Adam and
Eve’s decision not to follow God. He gave them a choice…He did not force them
to follow His command to not eat of the Tree of Good and Evil.
However, human choices today dictate how much evil there
is in the world. We don’t know the full ramifications of our own sinful
actions…and how much that contributes to the overall evil in our world. And
let’s face it a lot of times we don’t face the full ramifications of our own actions.
Just like with Adam and Eve, God is still there protecting us from ourselves,
through our Savior, Jesus Christ. He
kicked them out the Garden of Eden for their own protection. If he let them
stay there and they would have eaten from another tree, the tree of everlasting
life, then they would have been eternally condemned.
Here Paul is saying when all is hopeless
to remember that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness.
Despite
the reasons for an imperfect world, God in Christ Jesus offers a path to a
perfect world, one restored to the perfection of the Garden of Eden, but
better. As we contemplate our sinfulness and the grace and mercy we receive by
faith in Christ Jesus we may want to ask…”Why
would a perfect God send His perfect Son to redeem and save me an imperfect
person?”
Sometime we don’t more
fully appreciate Christ’s perfection until we more fully see our own
imperfections. And then we better understand why He had to suffer and die for
us.
IV. Jesus’ miracle
(Looking at John 9:1-7)
And
that brings us to our Gospel reading from John 9:1-7. Here the Disciples, like Job’s friends, are
trying to explain away why this guy was born blind, not realizing that it
wasn’t a specific sin this guy’s parent committed that caused his blindness…but
the fact that blindness is a byproduct of living in this broken, sin-fallen
creation. That goes for all the diseases, genetic deformities, along with
hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and what not.
And
Jesus provides the perfect answer for why these types of things are
allowed…verse 3…so “that the works of
God might be displayed.”
Here
Jesus, in a small way, restored the image of the perfect God. In this miracle Jesus
is showing you and me that we were not made at birth in the image of God.
Rather we are made in the image of God at our baptism. We were born sin-fallen
but re-created in the image of Christ. In this imperfect world as imperfect
people, we are also saints, perfect, by faith alone in Christ, because Jesus is
in our hearts.
The perfect God made you perfect only by the blood of
Christ so that “the works of God might
be displayed” through you. Your spiritual blindness has been healed to see
the opportunities to bring God’s perfection to others in this imperfect world.
If you think about it for moment…how much attention
did we pay to people over in
The mighty works of the perfect God are displayed as
we help others.
Sometime
we don’t more fully appreciate the mighty works of Jesus Christ until we more
fully see the works of God displayed
through Him at the Cross, given to you this morning in the bread and cup of His
real body and blood to forgive our sins as we see our own imperfections and the
imperfect world we live in…but pass on His perfect love to others.
That means there are things we just don’t understand
about God…but by faith we trust Him even if our reasoning says otherwise.
V.
Conclusion
Our imperfect world and all the suffering in it is God’s
opportunity to bless you and me and others, and draw us closer to Him.
How can a perfect God allow an imperfect world?
Because God provides earthly
deliverance through Jesus Christ. Through
His Son, He IS responding to us today in the midst of suffering.
How can a perfect God allow an imperfect world?
Because God provides eternal
deliverance in Heaven. There IS a
final action to eliminate all evil and suffering.
How can a perfect God allow an imperfect world?
Because God provides extraordinary
deliverance. As imperfect humans, we
cannot perfectly understand Him but we have good reason to trust in Him. He IS
working in ways beyond our ability to understand.
Let us
pray:
Blessed
Lord, You have provided a response to our imperfect world and our sinfulness
through the suffering of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to turn toward You when facing the
evils and imperfections of this world rather than away from You, so that we may
rightly understand You as the loving and powerful God Who is working for our
good in the midst of a life plagued by disease, disasters, sin and death. Help
us convey Your love to others as we look faithfully toward the future and the certain
hope of eternal purity and life. Amen.