SERMON: DOES GOD CARE ABOUT ME?

7 September 2014

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Galatians 4:13-14

Galatians 4:13-14 (NIV)
¹³ As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.
¹⁴ Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

            -- Do you ever feel like God is not aware of you? -- or if He is aware, that He just doesn't care what you are going through?

            -- I think all of us have had that thought at some time in our lives -- we go through life trying to be a good Christian -- trying to do what is right -- we don't steal -- we don't cheat -- we don't do bad things -- we try to help others -- we go to church -- we read our Bible -- we pray -- but it just seems like things always go wrong

            -- the more we help others, the more it seems like we suffer -- the more we give, the worse our financial situation -- the more we try to do right and go to church and be good people, the worse our lives get, while others, who seemingly aren't living good lives, just skate through life without a care in the world

            -- it's almost like it doesn't matter what we do -- things are going to go wrong -- we are going to suffer

            -- it just doesn't seem fair -- it just doesn't seem right -- Does God even know what is going on? -- why is He letting all this happen to us?

            -- or, to put it another way, why do bad things happen to good people?

            -- let me give you a case in point -- a few years ago, a friend contacted me and asked me to pray for some dear friends of his, Todd and Jane -- you see, Jane was three months pregnant with their second child when she was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer, and the only way she would survive would be massive treatments of chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant

            -- without this treatment, she would die, and it needed to be started immediately if she was to have any chance of survival -- but, if she started the treatment, her baby would either be killed or severely damaged by the chemotherapy -- so the doctor recommended they abort their baby and start the treatment immediately

            -- However, Jane and Todd were strong Christians, and they replied, "No, our only choice is to let God save our child." -- They made the decision to not have an abortion -- instead of starting the whole-body chemotherapy as recommended, Jane had a mastectomy and began limited, targeted chemotherapy so they could minimize the risk to the developing baby and extend Jane's life until the baby was born

            -- so my friend contacted me and asked me to help pray for them -- we had no doubt God would act -- that He would save Jane and allow their baby to be born healthy -- I mean, Todd and Jane were good people -- good Christians -- missionaries -- they served God -- and with hundreds, maybe thousands of people praying, surely God would intervene

            -- here was a Godly woman who was choosing life for her unborn baby over medical treatment for herself -- just think of the example of this family -- just think of how their life and their struggles witnessed not only to those who were praying for her, but also to the doctors and nurses that treated her -- we just knew God was going to heal her

            -- and then a miracle of sorts did happen -- Todd and Jane's story was picked up by the national media and Focus on the Family interviewed them on a radio show for their act of sacrifice and Godly witness in this situation -- and what that meant was that no longer were there hundreds of Christians praying for them, but millions of people praying for Todd and Jane and their baby

            -- And in May 1997, Jane and Todd's second child, a healthy daughter, was born -- Jane immediately underwent a bone marrow transplant and the doctors started massive chemotherapy, but it was too little, too late -- Jane died two years later, leaving behind a grieving husband with two small children and millions of Christians asking, "Why?"

            -- "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  -- Why did God allow Jane to die? -- Why didn't God heal her? -- We had prayed. -- We had pleaded. -- We had asked God to save her life to glorify Him on earth. -- Why didn't God do something? -- does He not even care?

II.  Theodicy

            -- these questions are not unique to us -- as the Bible shows, ever since the dawn of time men and women have looked to the heavens and asked these very same questions as they sought solace for the pain and suffering in their lives -- as they sought answers for the devastation of natural disasters and war and crime and violence in their lives

            -- the theological term for questions such as these is "theodicy" -- it comes from two Greek words that mean "God" and "justice" -- but it comes down to this -- how do we reconcile the presence of evil in this world and in our lives with a God who is good and right and just and loving?

            -- or, to put it another way, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" -- How can an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God stand idly by and allow pain and suffering in the lives of His people?

            -- this question inevitably leads us to one of four possible answers:

            1.  There is no God

            -- that is, of course, the answer of the world -- the answer of the atheist -- they would tell us that both good and evil exist and occur at random times and in random places for no reason at all -- it's just part of life -- and since there is no God, there is no one who can stop evil from occurring

            -- of course, as Christians -- as those who have experienced the living God in our own lives and in the world -- as those who believe in God's word -- we reject this answer to the question of theodicy as invalid -- but you still hear this as the reason why pain and suffering happen in life

            2.  God is not all-powerful and can't stop the evil from happening

            -- in other words, God only has a limited ability to affect other people and this world -- He can't prevent people from doing evil things any more than He can prevent nature from sending hurricanes into communities or wildfires into our forests -- all He can do is watch as it happens and cry with the victims who have been affected

            -- of course, this vision of a limited deity -- of a God who is not all powerful -- does not square with the message of the Bible -- surely a God who can create the universe and all that is in it in six days can control a hurricane or stop a wildfire -- surely a God who created man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life would be able to control what he does

            -- a God who is not all-powerful would not be able to create this universe or save the world from their sins -- so we cannot accept this answer to the question of theodicy as valid either

            3.  God does not care or, to put it in a different way, God is not actively involved in the lives of the people on earth

            -- you will hear people say that God is not invested in His creation -- that He made the earth and the universe and put everyone and everything here, but then He just stepped back and let it unfold as it will

            -- some people say He's not in control of our lives or this universe -- not because He can't be -- He just has chosen to let it happen naturally, without His interference

            -- but I think it's safe to say the Bible and our experiences clearly demonstrate the opposite -- God is actively involved in the life of His creation -- God does care for us

            -- the entire message of the Bible -- the entire message of Christ -- is that God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross in our place -- to offer Himself as an atoning sacrifice for our sins -- God intervened in our lives to bring us salvation, and He intervenes in our lives every day

            -- whether you realize it or not, God blesses us every day -- the Bible says He makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust -- He puts breath in our body and gives life to our souls -- He has promised to never leave us or forsake us -- He has even placed His own presence within us who believe in Him for salvation -- He is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path -- He cares for us -- He loves us -- He intervenes in our lives

            -- so that is not the answer to the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

            -- which leaves us with one other possibility -- if we concede that God does exist and that God is all-powerful and that He loves us and cares about us and actively intervenes in our lives, then the presence of pain and suffering in our lives -- the presence of evil in this world today -- means one thing:

            4.  God has chosen to allow pain and suffering to occur for His own reasons

            -- this answer, while the hardest to accept, is probably the closest to the truth that we will ever arrive at as humans

            -- there are just some things about God and His ways and His purposes that we will never understand -- as He told the prophet Isaiah -- " "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways -- As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

            -- there are just some things that we can never know or understand about our God -- why does God allow evil to exist? -- why does God allow natural disasters to come upon us? -- why does God allow good people to suffer and get sick and die?

            -- I think part of the answer to this question lies in the mystery of free will -- God has given us freedom -- freedom to choose how we will live -- freedom to choose whether we will respond to His offer of love or whether we will reject Him -- freedom to choose to walk in obedience or to walk in sin -- freedom to choose our own path

            -- it was this freedom that allowed Adam and Eve to disobey God in the Garden of Eden -- and it was this freedom that allowed them to repent of their sin and turn to God in their darkest hour

            -- it's not that God doesn't care about us -- it's that He has given us freedom to make our own choices -- and with those choices, come consequences

            -- some of the pain and suffering we experience in our lives comes because of the consequence of sin -- either our sin or the sin of others -- without a doubt, we are affected by the actions of people around us

            -- if a drunk driver kills someone in an automobile accident, it wasn't that person's fault that caused them to die -- it was the consequence of the actions of the drunk driver -- the drunk driver's sin affected another person -- this is all too common in our world today

            -- some of the pain and suffering we experience in our lives comes from just living in a fallen world -- a world that is not right any longer -- a world where natural disasters and sickness and death exist contrary to God's original intent

            -- and just as we have free will to choose our own course, so God has free will to choose what He does -- in some cases, God reaches down and protects us from evil and pain and suffering -- we will never know how often God worked in this way in our lives until we go to heaven

            -- just this week, on the way home from a meeting, I happened on a wreck that had just occurred -- a vehicle on its side -- broadsided in the middle of the street -- if I had been in that intersection one minute earlier, could that have been me? -- did God slow me down at a red light to protect me? -- I don't know -- I can't know -- this side of heaven

            -- but, there are times when God chooses not to act on our behalf -- to not protect us from evil or pain and suffering -- when God chooses to allow mothers to die of cancer even after making a Godly choice to save her baby -- when God chooses to let our loved ones die even after we pray and beg Him for healing -- when God chooses to let us get hurt or sick for some reason of His own

            -- sometimes we can guess God's reason -- but sometimes we go through life never knowing why we suffer and experience pain in our lives even though we are trying so hard to do right

            -- look back at this passage in Galatians and lets try to bring this home -- Galatians 4:13-14

Galatians 4:13-14 (NIV)
¹³ As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.
¹⁴ Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

            -- now think about what you just read -- Paul got sick while he was in Galatia -- and evidently it was a serious illness -- Paul says it was a trial to the Galatians -- it wasn't easy -- he may have even been at the point of death -- some scholars have suggested that maybe Paul had malaria or some other serious life-threatening illness -- but regardless of what happened, the fact remains, Paul got sick

            -- before you gloss over that, think for a moment what this meant -- this is Paul -- the Apostle Paul -- the man single-handedly responsible for carrying the gospel of Christ throughout Asia minor and Europe -- the man who started churches from Jerusalem to Rome -- who reached out to the Gentiles -- to us -- with the message of the cross -- the man who wrote the majority of the New Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

            -- now we all get sick from time to time -- it's part of life, whether we understand it or not -- but why would God allow Paul to get sick? -- why would God allow His chosen servant Paul to be bed-ridden when there was so much work to be done -- so many people to reach? -- why would God allow Paul to suffer in this way when he was such a Godly man doing such a Godly work? -- why do bad things happen to good people?

            -- how do you think Paul felt when he got sick -- when he was hampered in his evangelistic efforts? -- what do you think passed through his mind -- through his prayer? -- what would you have thought?

            -- "God, what is going on? -- why am I getting sick? -- I was headed to Rome -- I was going to carry your word to the people in the capital of the empire -- I was doing good things for you -- why did I get sick?"

            -- "I am surrounded by all these pagans walking around in perfect health -- they don't know You -- they don't care about You -- why am I suffering when I am trying to do good and they're just getting by without a care in the world?"

            -- you ever thought that? -- you ever prayed that?

           

            -- look what Paul says in verse 13 -- "it was because of an illness I first preached the gospel to you" -- do you see what he's saying there? -- could this be the reason God allowed Paul to get sick? -- to preach the good news to the Galatians? -- to reach them with the truth of God's word?

            -- could God have been more concerned about the spiritual destination of the Galatians than Paul's temporary physical comfort on earth?

III.  Closing

            -- why do bad things happen to good people? -- why do bad things happen to us?

            -- I don't know -- I can only offer you this -- in Romans 8:28-29 we read, "In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose"

            -- "in all things" -- the good and the bad -- "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him" -- it doesn't say He necessarily works for the good of us in every circumstance and situation -- it could be God sometimes chooses to allow us to go through pain and suffering to reach someone else, just like He apparently did with Paul in this passage

            -- so what do we do with this question? -- what do we do with the question of why bad things happen to good people?

            -- our only response to pain and suffering and evil in our lives and in this world is to trust in Him in all things -- to know that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving -- to trust that He cares about us and to trust that He has allowed this trial into our life for a reason that we may never understand

            -- James tells us in James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

            -- we can only rejoice in our trials when we trust God in all things and believe in His promises -- when we believe that God will remain true to His word and bring us safely home to His presence

            -- and we must remember that God's focus is always eternal and not temporal -- as Paul said in Romans 8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us"

            -- we are always more concerned with what is happening to us now rather than what will happen to us in eternity -- but that's not God's focus -- and we need to learn to see our lives in the light of eternity rather than focusing on our temporary sufferings in this world

            -- let me leave you with this thought from Joni Eareckson Tada that speaks to this subject -- if you don't know, Joni was injured in a diving accident when she was 17 and has been a quadriplegic ever since -- but instead of getting bitter about being totally paralyzed her whole life and blaming God for her accident, she has continued to praise Him and to thank Him for all that He has done and made possible in her life -- and God has used her to touch the lives of so many people in this world in a way that would not have been possible if she had not been afflicted in this way in the first place

            -- Joni wrote: “Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but in understanding His character, in trusting in His promises, and in leaning on Him and resting in Him as the Sovereign who knows what He is doing and does all things well.”

            -- let us pray