Five Good Reasons Why There Is Suffering Pt. 1

[Music] all right so once again welcome to the five good reasons seminar we are super excited that you are here as the title of the seminar suggests five good reasons every night what we're doing is looking at five good reasons for the specific allocated topic of that night with tonight being an exception tonight you're only going to get one good reason and I'm not kidding the reason for that is is that tonight is part one of a two-part series so it's sort of in the middle of our 13 part series here we're gonna do part 1 and part 2 and so tonight we're gonna look at part number one and then tomorrow excuse me reason number one then tomorrow we'll look at the other four reasons for a total of five this is the only one of its kind in this five good reason seminar the only one that has a part one and a part two so typically you would get your money's worth and you would get five reasons but tonight you're just gonna get one reason but trust me it's a really really really good reason it's the best possible reason you'll see that in just a little bit in every one of these seminar sessions so far we have opened up with Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 this is God's invitation to us in the book of Isaiah come now and let us what's that word there that key word let us reason together and as I've said before and I'm just gonna say it again because the idea just doesn't get old I've been a follower now of Jesus for more than twenty years in fact just yesterday was my 20th anniversary my wife and I were married 20 years yesterday right yeah you go ahead go ahead I'll take it I'll take it yes yes so so I've been a follower of Jesus now for just over 20 years and this idea of God's not only inviting inquiry but of God's desire for us to come to him to ask the hard questions and to not be satisfied with platitudes God's like look ask all the hard questions you want there's books like the book of Job and the book of Ecclesiastes these are books where clearly the writers and other passages as well Isiah himself and Jeremiah lamentations where God is extremely comfortable with people coming to him and to use a modern term unloading right asking hard questions saying yeah but what about this and and I don't understand that and God let's be honest God does not always give answers not in Scripture and not in answer to prayer that are exactly precisely the kinds of answers that we find completely satisfactory right if for example in the case of the book of Joel which I just mentioned a moment ago you know Joe basically raises chapter after Chapter after Chapter after Chapter of frustration and angst and question about to God about the situation that he's found himself and his family has died and as his house is basically leveled and you know all of his fortune is gone and he asks all of these questions and then God finally answers like around chapter 38 and God doesn't say okay you've asked a lot of really great questions really great questions here's all of the answers in ways that you will find perfectly satisfactory actually what God does is asks his own series of questions and so when we come to God in invitation to the in response to the invitation come let us reason together we should not always expect to have every aspect of our questions of our inquiry answer to our absolute satisfaction and expectation know God is totally within his parameters and within his will to surprise us and to give us answers that we might find a little surprising and I think we're gonna find that when we turn our attention in part 1 in part two to this question five good reasons why there is suffering because at the heart of the issue of suffering is always this why question right like like whether you're a believer or not a believer whether you're a I suppose if you were a devout atheist and we'll talk about one of those here in just a moment but but for for people who are basically everything except the most devout and most committed atheist when we find ourselves in a time of significant trial whether it's a physical trial or a financial trial or a marital trial or some stripe of trial or difficulty a cancer test comes back positive a dear friend dies unexpectedly somebody is seriously injured in a drunk driving accident a friend of yours is you know seriously injured by a drunk driver it just naturally the the the human impulse in situations like these and many others is to say why there's a moral come a compulsion to want to understand yeah but but why this situation and why now and why me and why and so we're going to explore that and I'm going to be really upfront with you I've actually written a book on this very subject a book that's almost 300 pages long and and really in many ways the punchline of my book is gonna be the punchline of this presentation part two tomorrow we'll get into in earnest and the title of the book is God in pain God in pain and I want you to just to listen to that title God in pain and those three words those three syllables give give away everything they give away the whole thrust of the book and the whole thrust of tonight's presentation and tomorrow's presentation and so it's going to be impossible for us in the time that we have to approximately 1 hour sessions to exhaust this topic but we can explore it and we're gonna highlight some things that you may or may not find satisfactory but which frankly I find really persuasive really satisfactory now having said that it doesn't mean that I have every answer to every possible inquiry with regards to the nature of suffering and pain and sickness and death in the world not even close but I do have some things that I find really persuasive really helpful really enlightening and I'm hopeful that you will find them similarly helpful and enlightening and persuasive and so God invites us come let us reason together and so we find ourselves at the table with the god of Scripture asking arguably the hardest question of all God if you are as good as scripture announces and as Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the father jesus said if you are that good that awesome that amazing that benevolent then why pray tell why please is the world like it is right why is the world that way we're gonna try and answer this we're gonna start before we even get to reason 1 we're gonna spend about the first half of our time tonight setting the table and then we're gonna get to reason 1 and then in part 2 which is our next session we'll spend all of our times on reasons 2 3 4 and 5 so let's just sort of set the table here big picture because we are ha we are proposing to leap into a giant topic a dangerous topic and frankly a topic that I come to you tonight with no small degree of trepidation you know that I would that I would imagine that I would have some meaningful contribution to make to this conversation it's frankly terrifying and I'm gonna do my best and I'm not standing on David's you know education or David's you know IQ or you know David's you know credentials I'm gonna really try and stand on Scripture tonight and again I think you'll find it really persuasive we start by asking a question that's at the heart of this the heart of the moral question the heart of the the why issue and that is this suffering and pain are real now even just having said that we have already stepped into a very well defined world view a world view that says that suffering and pain actually exist that their actual real and they are actually substantive there are and time does not allow us to explore it here there are whole worldviews and even religious systems that proceed on the idea that pain and suffering are not actually real they're illusory they are perceptual right that it's not actually happening it's it's perceivably happening and in fact the the great truth of the universe is for you to discern that that suffering is merely basically the result of desire and the result of the sort of perceived diversity of the universe in fact everything is one and anyway I'm over explaining already but the point is this the idea that just saying that pain and suffering is real is already a leap for some people it's it's not an assumption that doesn't require some substantiation but for the vast majority of people and I would imagine everybody in this room if you just say that pain and suffering are real you'll get a knowing nod from most people can I get a knowing nod from the people in this room that can affirm that you believe in the reality of pain and suffering ok I'm gonna take that as permission to proceed so the question is ultimately then is our pain and is our suffering meaningful or meaningless right when we ask the question why is there an answer is there a satisfactory answer is there a persuade answer to that question so it's our suffering meaningful or meaningless this is a screenshot of the Twitter page of arguably the world's most famous scientist right probably that that title would have been held by Stephen Hawking up until his recent death but this is the Twitter page of Neil deGrasse Tyson right you can see there it might be a little difficult to see but he has thirteen point two million Twitter Twitter followers he's a larger-than-life personality he's an astrophysicist he's an author he's a television show host lots of people know who this guy is hugely popular very articulate and just yesterday conveniently enough it's difficult to see there but just yesterday on April 3rd and I'll put it up here on the screen so you can read what he tweeted right he tweeted this out the universe is blind to our sorrows and indifferent to our pains have a nice day well an answer to the question that we just posed a moment ago that pain and suffering are real and the real question is are they meaningful or is our pain and suffering in in some larger cosmic sense meaning less Neil deGrasse Tyson says completely meaningless the universe is blind to your sorrows it is indifferent to your pains and go on and have a nice day Tyson here is expressing what is called is in terms of a philosophical viewpoint nihilism nihilism comes from the word meaning nothing the idea that there is nothing of substance or of significance or of morality out there I'll give you two quick definitions of nihilism number one the philosophical viewpoint that suggests the denial or lack of belief toward the reputedly meaningful aspects of life there is nothing out there right in in the most emphatic sense of course there are things that are extended in space but nothing of significance nothing of any religious or moral importance and here's the second definition of nihilism the rejection of all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is ultimately meaningless so this is deGrasse Tyson's point right like the universe doesn't care about your sorrows doesn't care about your sadness doesn't care about the death of your child heaven I stay right I'm sorry to tell you there is no benevolent superintending force out there you know overlooking the thoughts and and circumstances and situations and pains of humanity there is no God and deGrasse Tyson is is a well known atheist a popular atheist now we've already spent time going over our five good reasons to believe that God exists and they are here on the screen for you time-life mind ought love every one of those single syllable words encapsulating an argument every one of them encapsulating a case that can be made for the rationality the believability of God and his existence and every one of those time life mind not friend and for those of you that weren't here for that session you'll want to get your hands on it or you just can watch it on the YouTube channel it should be up in about a month's time that the point is where you can watch it on the hope Channel here's the key every one of those time life mind not friend is tapping into what we might call in theological circles or philosophical circles the big four it's funny I hold up five fingers the big four sorry the big five right the big man I can't get that right let me try that again this is a little trying to synchronize here the big four okay there we did it the big four our origin meaning morality destiny these are the questions that every culture every civilization every church every religious system every person every individual who is capable of sequential thought intelligent thought logical thought will at some point in his or her life and probably in the case of most people at many many many many many many points in your life you will wrestle with some combination of these questions origin meaning morality destiny origin where am i from meaning why am i here morality how should I live destiny where if any where are we going so as we set the table here in preparation for the question of suffering and reasons for suffering let's let's sort of unpack each of these in there order let's start with the question of origin where am i from now I give a very different answer than then the Neil deGrasse Tyson would give he he would give an atheistic answer he would give a materialist answer he would give a reductionist answer all that the universe is is matter in motion we'll come back to that in just a second well I say no actually there's more at stake here we are according to Scripture created in some significant sense in the image of God and all-knowing all-powerful infinite eternal loving God and we've already noted this but it's just so good that I couldn't leave it out I wanted to include it in the second presentation a lot is at stake in this question of God's existence or non-existence and this is really well articulated by author randy Alcorn we've quoted this before but it's just too good to not quote at least a second time randy Alcorn says it this way you are in sort of option a Exhibit A the Neil deGrasse Tyson version of reality it looks like this you are the descendant of a tiny cell of primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach three and a half billion years ago give or take you are the blind and arbitrary product of time chance and natural forces you are a mere grab bag of atomic particles a conglomeration of genetic substance you exist on a tiny planet in a mining solar system in an empty corner of a meaningless universe you have no essence beyond your body and at death you will cease to exist entirely in short you came from nothing and are going nowhere to which the neil degrasse tyson's and other atheist atheists of the world would give a resounding amen that's the great truth the great truth of the universe is that there is no great truth nihilism nihilism there is the great nothing of which you and your consciousness and your awareness and your pleadings in times of great difficulty and pain and your joys when your first child is born when you're married when you meet your first grynn daughter all of that is nice it's nice and it's cute and it's fine but it's ultimately meaningless okay so randy Alcorn says that's Exhibit A here's Exhibit B you are the special creation of a good and all-powerful God created in His image with capacities to think feel and worship that set you above all other life-forms you differ from the animals not simply in degree but in kind and I love this this is my favorite part not only is your kind unique but you are unique among your kind your creator loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and affection that he has a perfect plan for your life in addition God gave the life of His only Son that you might spend eternity with him if you are willing to accept the gift of salvation you can become a child of God I love the amens there that's great right in in Australian vernacular these two options are as different as what am I gonna say chalk and cheese write chalk and cheese it's just it's just absolute opposite ends of the spectrum right opposite ends and basically what this boils down to is is the universe meaningful or is the universe meaningless which transitions us naturally and necessarily from origin where am i from to the question of meaning why am I here right a committed atheist a committed reductionist would say the question itself is almost it's unnecessary and not only is it unnecessary it's not even it's not even really a meaningful question because there is no answer that can be given apart from perhaps a resounding no and so the question of meaning why am I here then the question of morality how should I live in our five good reasons to believe that God exists we had time-life mind aunt Oh what's the what's the word everyone that I'm saying what's the word aunt the word aunt what's a synonym for aunt you ought to you you should and contained embryonic lee in the idea of an aunt or of a should is an essential moral imperative there are ways that you should behave and by extension there are ways that you should not behave and so an answer to the question morality well the Atheist would say are they give lots of different reasons for morality and lots of different you know constructs for morality but at the end of the day it's it's basically some contrivance or some formulation that says try not to inflict pain because you don't like it when people inflict pain on you right where the biblical formation of reality is this whole wild wonderful idea that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul and the second one is similar to it you should love your neighbor as yourself and Jesus said on those two branches hang all of the law and the prophets all of the leaves all of the fruit all of the flowers of moral behavior hang on these two basic ideas supreme love for God and genuine love for those around you these are two very different moral systems and moral situations and then finally destiny in answer to the question where are we going the neil degrasse neil degrasse tyson's of the world would say you're going you're going nowhere this implies directionality it implies trajectory it implies purpose they're not going anywhere in fact if time lasts long enough which of course it will all of the universe is headed toward what physicists sometimes call the theoretical heat death of the universe where all of the useable matter in the universe has just sort of burned itself out like a campfire that's burned itself out and all you have is a bunch of you know embers there that everything will eventually just reach a sort of steady state eternal I suppose semi eternal period of steady state mmm sameness right where everything burns out there's no people there's no planets there's no stars there's nothing all of the energy has burned out the theoretical heat death of the universe right and so that's a fairly dismal fairly pessimistic view of reality and to speak about where you're personally going well you're gonna go where all matter goes back to the illustration of the campfire in the logs campfires in log you know you put a log in the campfire it burns what's gone turns into ashes you are similar right there is near that logs don't go to log heaven right they don't you know go spend time that does happen and no more for you this is what the reductionist would say the atheist would say right randy alcorn just a moment ago said at your death you don't go anywhere and so these big four questions origin where am i from meaning why am I here morality where how should I live Destinee where if anywhere am I going and even though Neil deGrasse Tyson is a very intelligent man and as I've already made very clear in this five good recent seminar this isn't you know it's not an arm wrestling contest it's not a whose biceps or bigger contest because there are very intelligent people on the side of the spectrum that say there is a God and he is good we're going to give you two of those here in just a moment and then there are very intelligent people very educated people who are on the other side and say there is no God and it's absurd to believe so so so it we can't solve this we it's too important to leave to the experts we can't just solve this by saying well you know how many and how many smart people believe there is a God and we'll put them in a scale and how many smart people say there isn't a God we'll put them in a scale and we'll sort of measure it that way no that's not how it's gonna work but there are some really smart people out there people like Albert Einstein who gave us a hint and while he himself was certainly not what you would call a Bible believer he strongly affirmed the essence of mystery in the universe and concomitant with the idea of mystery is the idea of suggested meaning that there's something something almost palpable tangible in the air that there's some sense that something is going on out there and most of us that have looked up at the stars or stood at the edge of the ocean have had some sense that something bigger than me something you know bigger than just this planet is going on out there and so Einstein famously observed he had many quotations that were like this but he famously observed the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility the fact that it is comprehensible is he said a miracle this is a hint a suggestion the fact that the universe has meaning is a hint or a suggestion or I've given away the whole point there the fact that the universe appears to have some mystery and meaning Einstein is saying surely ought to raise our suspicions it ought to raise our suspicions about the nature of reality now from deGrasse Tyson who is a committed atheist Einstein to who you might say was a bit of an agnostic leanings maybe theistic to somebody like dr. Owen Gingerich was an astronomer at the Smithsonian and Harvard Astrophysical laboratory who is a committed Christian wrote a number of books one book I read years ago really great book called God's universe he is on this very clearly and very passionately on this end of the spectrum and he says things like this I am personally persuaded that's a key phrase there personally persuaded we'll come back to them I am personally persuaded not the sense of mathematical proof but I am personally persuaded says dr. Gingrich that a super intelligent creator exists beyond and within the cosmos and that the rich context of congeniality shown by our universe and this is the key phrase here permitting and encouraging the existence of self-conscious life is part of the creator's design and purpose this was Einsteins point to this was Einsteins point to it's not just that the universe is astonishing and beautiful and unlikely it's that we have brains that are sufficiently complicated and sophisticated to know that the universe is beautiful astonishing and highly unlikely right the cosmologists and the astrophysicists in the theoretical physicists of the world whether they are of the atheist persuasion the agnostic persuasion or the believing persuasion they all tell us the same story and that story goes something like this this universe the chances of this universe emerging are vanishingly small highly unlikely by all odds mathematical odds we should not be here in fact we are positioned and and poised so precariously on a Razors Edge that some creative physicists and scientists and others have suggested that this couldn't have just happened I mean it just it just smacks of mystery it smacks of meaning the odds are astronomically against it and so they have proposed this radical notion for which there is no evidence in fact there can't even be any evidence I'll get to that in just a second of not a universe you know one like a unicycle there is in fact a multiverse there are lots of yoona in fact some have suggested that there might even be an infinite number of universes and lucky yes lucky us we just happen to be in a universe that has life and has meaning and has mangoes right well it's just it's just awesome not just that there are mangoes with that there are mouths to eat those mangoes and mouths that can appreciate it right whoo lucky us and so you've got to go to some pretty sophisticated lengths as one Christian observer one Christian Scientists observed he said look at some point we've got to get to what's called Occam's razor which is the threshold of believability at some point we have to ask the question how difficult is it to keep God out of his universe what's more what requires more faith what's more difficult to believe that there is an infinite number of unknown and unknowable universes or just one God the answer is it's probably easier just to believe in one God than an infinite number of universes and yet physicists of all stripes tell us that we are positioned and we are perched very precariously and very unlikely in a place where if you just look at the data it looks like life has meaning it looks like someone has monkeyed with physics someone has monkeyed with the the biology and that there is a scientific reason an evidence-based reason for what we all sort of take for granted and that is that something is going on out there life has meaning and so with all due respect to mr. Tyson dr. Tyson when he says the universe is blind to our sorrows and indifferent to our pains have a nice day he is purposefully mocking he knows he's intelligent enough to know that he is purposefully juxtaposed and extremely pessimistic and I holistic view of the universe with with an almost taunting invitation to have a nice day life is meaningless everything there is no superintending benevolent force you know overseeing your life or any of your loved one's life have a great day you're from nowhere and and your friend nothing going nowhere have a nice day he knows that it's taunting he knows that it's taunting and yet we hold that in one hand that life is meaningless and let's be honest let's be really honest here all of us have felt that way at times all of us at times have thought what is going on if there was a good God then surely this wouldn't have happened and then maybe a year later this wouldn't have happened I mean all of us have wrestled with the existence of God what we might say the invisibility of God the absence of God experientially I'm suggesting here and yet in one hand we have this sort of atheistic reductionistic view and then in the other hand we have passages of Scripture that say things like this Isaiah 53 verse 4 that great messianic prophecy surely he has kept born that word means to carry he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows that stands in strong tension not just in juxtaposition but in tension - neil degrasse tyson's idea that there is no meaning and your sorrows are basically know at whatever the universe is indifferent and yet yet here the prophet Isaiah is seeing in prophetic vision and seeing a messiah figure God in human flesh and God carries our sorrows and bears our burdens and our griefs we could transition to the new testament and people like the Apostle Paul actually infused suffering and infused pain with meaning watch this this is so cool such a great progression here romans chapter 5 verses 3 to 5 and the english standard version watch this this is just paradoxical it's crazy it's ironic it's absurd he says we rejoice in suffering to which we want to say will you do you do because most of the people that I means do not rejoice in suffering now what Paul is going to say here is that you can learn to rejoice in suffering but let's be honest our instinctive you know knee-jerk reaction to suffering is not to say whoa yes amputation yes Oh got my teeth knocked out yes my son has cancer man God is good right I mean really and so there's a certain absurdity in this and yet watch where he goes with this we rejoice root word of rejoice of course is joy we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that now watch this watch this little trail that he takes us on this little crumb trail suffering produces endurance endurance produces character character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame even in the midst of suffering well why not because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that's been given to us so notice the sequence here he says suffering teaches us endurance endurance enables us to have a character that we couldn't otherwise have that's what I'm gonna talk about to mom Big Ideas tomorrow big ideas tomorrow endurance produces character character produces the idea when we become better versions of ourselves in the midst of suffering Khalil Gibran the great lebanese poet famously said in his book the prophet the waters of our happiness are only as deep as the well of our sorrow the waters of our happiness are only as deep as the well of our sorrow and so character is produced we become the best versions of ourselves not always when everything's going great there's lots of money in the bank and there's lots of food in the fridge but in those times of trial in the vicissitudes the UPS the Downs the sufferings of life we become a better version of ourselves and when we become better versions of ourselves more grace more empathy more humility more understanding more basic mutuality and commonality with those around us just quickly by way of illustration I hate motorsports I just don't I'm not into motorsports at all I'm into human powered sports right I like rock climbing I like surfing I like backpacking I like I like human powered sports and I really try to avoid things with motors except out of total necessity like driving a car but that's just a utilitarian for me I don't no offense by the way if you're super into motorbike so whatever I'm good for you I can't I can't do it when my when Landon was young he used to call the murder cycles right because he couldn't pronounce motorcycle and and we were like exactly exactly murder cycle right so so several years ago probably four years ago now I was there at the lake in Redding California and in Redding California it gets stupidly hot like a hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit that's like 50 degrees Celsius right it's just dumb right I don't know why anybody lives there but my whole my wife's whole family lives there right and they're like oh you moved to Australia it's so hot not where I live not like that what anyway so we're at the lake there and and all of these otherwise reasonably intelligent people are getting pulled around by a boat like and not just an ordinary boat but like a super-fast souped up I don't know we don't know anything about boats but a big fast boat right and and at some point they think oh we got a great idea let's put a bunch of inner tubes out the back and let's tow a bunch of people around and they can like wrestle with one another and fight with one another on we'll get it on video and just hopefully somebody doesn't die right and they are out there just all afternoon having a good time I'm reading a book in the shade right I mean I'm not I'm not I'm reading a book in the shade occasionally taking a dip I go to read my book I read and there and my son my terrible son and my other terrible son whatever he is and all of their cousins are like oh come on come on dad come on uncle go I'm like ah no I don't I hate that thing I'm not now they're like come on finally I just I'm like okay whatever so I get on one of these stupid inner tubes and the person that's driving it is a woman and I think she's doesn't like me it's not my wife it's somebody else's wife and you know there's the old saying woman drivers no survivors I didn't make that up I didn't make that up but at least in this case that's what she was going for she wanted no survivors no you know residual people hanging onto these little and so it's like going around the corner and it's not just that but you've got like the point I guess of the game is you'll see I'm going somewhere with this is actually a good point hang on for the ride I'm hanging on in the story and not just that you're but now you've got like your son is like trying to kick you off of his inner tube and it's all fun and games everybody's having a blast but me I just know I'm gonna get hurt I just know I'm gonna get hurt cuz I just think I get hurt look my son's over here laughing he thinks it's funny well sure enough you know you get going and and then you know as the the the tube the Rope spins out around you're going like a hundred times faster than the boat and then all of a sudden you're off right I'm just like lord save me I perish and just took it and I come up and I I've hit my knee on something I can just I can just I can just tell this is very bad and I I'm just in a lot of pain and I'm a bit of a wuss I freely admit that but this is actually a real pain okay I'm like you know wincing and holding it was like you know the balls like off into the horizon and I'm in this like lake and anyway long story short cut a long story short they come back and get me I can barely climb into the boat and I have hey I wouldn't find out for four weeks but I end up with a serious medial collateral ligament contusion or something like that anyway bad stuff and I made the mistake of you know it like really hurt to straighten it out so I left it like this for a long time like four weeks a long time which when I got back to Australia my physical therapist like yeah really bad idea what might have been like a four week recovery is gonna be now like a four month recovery and long story short I was in so much pain and again I'm a Wes I freely admit that I have a low pain threshold but you know what happened this is crazy I'm an energetic active person I you guys might even remember some of you that are members of this turf ever I came back I had that I had that leg brace on I'm hobbling around here you know looking for sympathy here's the point I started noticing other people on crutches and in wheelchairs in ways that I had never noticed before I was on crutches for four months I mean those people had been there before I iced I suddenly started being aware that if you can't just stand up and go get a bowl of cereal easily or go take a walk in the park or go rock climbing that that's a that's a real sad thing it's a bad thing it's it's unfortunate it's terrible and and my I became a better person my empathy went up my my understanding of the human predicament went up my patience went up I benefited from that situation from that suffering and those around me you know despite all the whinging which there was plenty of that they benefited as well I became a better version of myself a softer more understanding more sympathetic more humble more grace-filled more aware version of myself suffering produces endurance which creates in you a better person a better character than you would otherwise be and when you see yourself becoming a better version of yourself that gives you hope that maybe life has meaning and all of the pain and suffering and sickness and death in the world might actually be directional it might be intentional it might be providential and then he says the reason is is that this hope we have this hope because the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts and tells us that God loves you I mean really what would you rather have if you in it doesn't work like this you don't get to choose reality you don't get to choose the narrative of the universe but but if you did just for a moment here I mean what would you rather have a universe with significant but meaningful pain and a loving God or a universe in which you get to be a multi bazillionaire you have no pain you have no needs you have no wants and there is no God right you're not going to become the best version of yourself if you don't have trials if you don't have pain and you don't have suffering because suffering produces endurance endurance produces character character gives hope and hope creates a situation where the holy spirit comes into your life and says God loves you contrast neil degrasse tyson's the universe is totally indifferent to your pain and suffering with this amazing sentence that I have read just recently read as I'm going through the classic on the life of Christ the desire of Ages by Ellen White she says and I love this not a sigh is breathed not a pain is felt not a grief pierces the soul but the throb vibrates the heart of God even if you don't believe that's true don't you want that to be true now I'm gonna give you five good reasons to believe that's true but but surely that's what you'd want to be the case you'd want there to be some resonance caring father figure out there and so the question that we're asking is can we rationally believe in a world in which both the reality and the meaningfulness of suffering are affirmed and I think the answer is yes and I'll give you my first of five reasons in this session we'll go through one in our next session we'll go through the next four and it's really simple it's three syllables and yet it contains the greatest good news and the greatest profundity in all the universe and that is this three syllable phrase say it with me if you would that God is love which sounds really frankly weird I'm gonna give you five good reasons why there is suffering and my first reason is that God is love if you're a believer or if you're if you've been raised in a Christian community or in a biblical context you might be able to draw the line from A to B and B to C and C to D you might be able to see where I'm going with that if you just came in here and you're not a believer you have no biblical background of context that sounds crazy to you I know that because I became a believer in my early 20s and if somebody had said that to me I would have said that sounds crazy that sounds weird weird maybe it's a better way of saying it's it's not it's what's sometimes called a non sequitur it doesn't it doesn't sequence how is the fact that God is love in any way a good answer to the existence of suffering well let me try and explain that to you what would a universe look like if God is love and man I cannot wait to talk to you about some new things that I've just come across new ideas new thoughts tomorrow morning about this very point right because we sometimes think I'm gonna resist I'm gonna resist tomorrow morning I'll talk to you about it tomorrow morning first John chapter 4 verse 8 whoever does not love does not know God for and here it is right in Scripture for say it with me again God is love not merely love Ving which would be an adjective describing a behavior or a characteristic he gives us a grammatical theological equivalence here God yes is yes love a noun something about the essence of who and what God is is synonymous with love okay David fine I grant that at least provisionally for those of you that are seekers how in any way does that inform meaningfulness and suffering well let me share with you a quotation that I came across probably 10 years ago now written by a man who was at the time the president of the evangelical theological Society and when I read it I immediately thought yes yes yes he just captured a thought and idea that's how you know you're reading really good writing when you think I've had that exact same thought before but I could have never said it that well right and and here's what Miller J Erickson says if reality is fundamentally physical if if at the most rock-bottom bedrock of what reality isn't isn't if it's primarily physical material atomic he says then the primary force that's keeping reality together is electromagnetic make sense you have what the four great physical forces electromagnetism gravity what's called the strong nuclear force the weak nuclear force and these are the forces that basically keep the universe Co hearing stuck together so Erickson says if if reality is mainly this kind of stuff if it's if it's fundamentally stuff extended in space whether carbon or a stool or a person he says then the thing that's keeping everything together is one of those five fundamental forces its electromagnetism okay fair point if however reality is fundamentally social then the most powerful constituting force is that which binds persons together namely love now this is big stuff there's a big ideas here no one denies that there are atoms subatomic particles protons neutrons electrons nucleons that we know that know but nobody denies that but the question that Erikson is asking is and at its most fundamental bedrock is reality material or is reality social and spiritual and so you could sort of draw that up like this we got options here right we got options it's either physical and material or its social and relational spiritual right because God is love God by definition is the first being he's the unmoved mover he's the uncaused cause of all other causes right he's the first thing he makes things extended in space he makes universes and galaxies and people in stools of course he didn't literally make the stool but he makes the things that make the stool okay if that is what reality is at its most fundamental level god divine social spiritual then Erickson says then the thing that matters most the thing that's holding everything together is not electromagnetism it's love Jesus was sitting with a woman at a well in John chapter four and one of the things he said to that woman again it's just three words it's also an equivalence like got his love and Jesus said God is spirit God is spirit what is a spirit fascinating we have no idea we don't know we know what a hippopotamus is we know what an elephant is we know what a chihuahua is unfortunately we know we know what a human being is but we do not know what a spirit is in fact all we know is what a spirit isn't we for example Jesus one day was you know his disciples were in a boat and and Jesus came walking on the water and his disciples saw him and said hey it's a ghost and they were afraid and then Jesus said it's not a ghost I'm not a spirit and then he said touch me and feel me because a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones like you see me here the word that's used for this is immaterial not made of matter not extended in space and so we don't know what a spirit is but we know what it isn't trying to define a spirit is like trying to define a Quizzle I don't know what a Quizzle is and we don't know what a spirit is either we know what it isn't it's not extended in space and Jesus was speaking to that woman there at the well and he said God he's different than you and I God is similar because we're made in His image but he's fundamentally different God is a spirit in fact in the beginning God created the heavens in the earth the very next verse says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep God as a spirit made matter now watch this back to our little verses here we're either dealing with something that it's basic level is physical and material or something that it's basic level is social and relational and spiritual you've really it's really a chicken or an egg thing right because Neil deGrasse Tyson would say it's your mind and the infinite near infinite complexity of the human brain you know 100 to 200 billion neurons you know an astronomical number of pathways in the brain that create the illusion of identity and spirits he would say matter create spirit Jesus speaking to the woman at the well said oh no no no no spirit made matter spirit came first reality is fundamentally spiritual reality is fundamentally divine Father Son and Holy Spirit God is love and according to Erickson the thing that's causing everything to stick together to cohere together is love several years ago I conducted an evangelistic meeting in the heart of downtown Sydney at a movie theater there and on one of the nights we left the movie theater and we went probably about a half mile walk right through the CBD of Sydney and we want went to a university there I should remember what it is but some University in downtown Sydney and there was a lecture that was going on and it was a lecture it was a debate actually between dr. John Lennox who is a I think he's an I get Oxford and Cambridge confused I think he's an Oxford scholar or a Cambridge he's a math is it Oxford he's an Oxford scholar mathematician he's a brilliant guy a devout Christian and a guy named Michael Shermer who is a neurologist and a devout atheist and they were debating was a debate does God exist between John Lennox and Michael Shermer and we went in and we sat in on the debate and at the end of the debate was fan it was fantastic the debate was so he can actually you can actually google and listen to it and at the end of the proper debate one had an opening speech then there was a rebuttal than a secondary opening speech than a rebuttal to question an examination cross-examination parades and then they opened up for questions and answers to the audience I sprinted to the microphone I was the few listened to the debate you can actually watch it online I'm the first guy to ask a question and I didn't need to ask John Lennox a question because I believed what he believed I asked Michael Shermer a question and his answer was terrible I won't go into that right now he gave a terrible answer but what I loved was his answer he dr. Lennox the Christian immediately detected how bad Michael schirmer's answer was and he said he said I admire this man's faith oh and then the the moderator of the debate some famous Australian guy said oh don't use the f-word John was quite cute in response to the question that I had asked I'll never forget dr. John Lennox the Christian said these words he said look it boils down to this you either believe what scripture says in the beginning was the word or you believe in the beginning was the particles and if in the beginning was the word the most powerful constituting coherent force in the universe is love that thing that you feel for that special someone in your life that thing that you feel for your children and your children's children and your brother and your sister if however in the beginning it's about particles then the most powerful thing that's binding everything together is not love and it's not any social connection it's electromagnetism these give us an insight into what we're actually dealing with when we open the pages of Scripture and this is going to bring us right to the end of our first session when we open the pages of scripture from Genesis to Revelation we can parse we can divide we can we can make sense out of Scripture by understanding three basic concepts that are found in three words that I'll start with the letters C and they're on the screen they're creation conflict covenant that's what's at the heart of this book I don't know how familiar you are with Scripture you might be very familiar you might be more familiar than I am I've only been studying scripture for about 2223 years what I have found in my study is that at the heart of the story and it's a story 66 books lots of stories making up one big story like lots of puzzle pieces make up one picture the story that's being told here orbits around three basic axes but they're really all one axis and that's the axis of love but those those those three ideas are creation that God is the creator conflict that conflict is is woven into the very fiber and fabric of life as we know what we've discussed this a little bit both internally and externally we know conflict as intimately a part of reality and then this idea of covenant or promise that God has made and he will keep a promise now let's just spend a moment on each of these or maybe on one of them and then we'll pick up tomorrow where we've left off so when you open up this book it's basically telling a story that goes like this three words God created stuff there was an external conflict - god stop right there how can God be resisted God is infinite God is omnipotent God is in possession of all the resources and all the power that's available in the universe how can God be resistant and the answer is only if he consents to be resisted only if he creates a venue a situation and a circumstance in which he can be resisted and you might remember that this is what CS Lewis called the greatest of all of the acts that we attribute to deity that God could be resisted by his own handiwork and yet right right it right at the heart of scripture from Genesis to Revelation from Genesis to Revelation is this idea weird as it might sound that God is in conflict not an internal conflict that God is at war with himself that God is in some sense schizophrenic no God made creatures that rebelled against his good government his good character and his good will and the great punchline of the biblical story is that God will meet the terms of that conflict and solve that conflict not by the strength of his nature but by the beauty of his character that in some way he will solve the problem of the universe the conflict at the heart of the universe that brings suffering and pain and sickness and death and disease and trial and heartache that God will solve that problem not with the strength of Steel but with of his character you might remember when Jesus was about ready to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane if you're familiar with the scriptural story if not just let me tell you the story Jesus is about ready to be arrested and one of Jesus main disciples Peter pulls out a sword to try and defend Jesus against the the you know the approaching mob and Jesus words were absolutely astonishing jesus said Peter put that sword away because those that live by the sword will die by the sword and then he says this is like axiomatic those who live by the sword die by the sword and then he said Peter don't you think don't you think that even right now I could pray to my father and he would send me legions of angels to deliver me from this situation let me translate that for you here's what he's saying Peter don't you think that with all of the resources of omnipotence at my disposal and my father's disposal that that a violent or a forceful exit is available to me right now I don't need your sword with all due respect thank you can put that back away because there's a larger principle at stake here he says if you try to bring this kind of deliverance by a sword any kind of deliverance by a sword he says you'll eventually die by the sword there will be an escalating intensification of violence and if you live by the sword you die by the sword if you live by the drone you die by the drum if you live by the machine-gun you die by the machine gun Jesus is saying this conflict that I'm gonna suggest tomorrow is at the heart of the world's suffering and pain this conflict is not solvable by force or by violence or by steel or even by angels that excel in strength this is gonna be fixed by God keeping a promise and when God keeps a promise in some weird and wonderful and wild way God will infuse all of our pain all of our suffering all of our heartache with such meaning that we will see the reason that we've had to undergo these various sad tragic situations and circumstances in which we sometimes find ourselves in let's be honest most of us are largely protected in in countries like Australia from real suffering right we have we have a modicum of suffering but nothing like there is in other parts of the world though but we're gonna see that all of that suffering sad as it was tragic as it was in my terrible analogy and I use the illustration oh I hurt my little knee right but that real people engaging real suffering of course we've had greater suffering in between our ears right I never met my biological father my second father was a deadbeat and I wasn't adopted and seriously given a father figure until I was in my early teens right that's it that that's what's worse than hurting my knee but here's my point people all over the world of every stripe of every color of every nationality of every language are going to see that the god of scripture is a God who fixes problems by keeping promises and his good character allows freedom to love to worship to serve to obey to respond and not to and at the heart of that tension between God giving freedom and God giving opportunity there is a wisdom in which suffering is a necessary corollary it's it's it's it's an essential part of making a universe like this one and tomorrow we're gonna see that there could be a lot more suffering in the world we all know that and the reason there isn't more suffering we'll get to tomorrow but reason number one right at the outset is that God has made the world to work in a certain way in that way that it works is on the principles of love which are the principles of freedom which necessitate the possibility of suffering and pain it's a god worth sir he's a God worth serving and he's a God that's loving and if he's a god that's loving he's a god that's loveable we'll come back to the neil degrasse tyson quotation tomorrow share with you something at the close of the first session tomorrow that you will absolutely love let's pray [Music] [Music]

Channel: Kingscliff Church

Views: 7,292

Rating: 4.9682541 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: sNz9KleI7Ec

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020