God Is All-Powerful & Good "Here is Your God" [1 of 2] Tim Mackie (The Bible Project) 10/23/2011

we are continuing uh today in our teaching series that we are in it's called here is your god earlier in the fall we were exploring in the series american idols we were exploring different cultural or personal idols that we give our allegiance to instead of the one true god and kind of the second part of that is who is the one true god what's his character what are his attributes and that's what we're exploring in this in this series here um chris kicked off the series last week talking about how god is not like us and he put up the different character traits of god that we're covering in the series and so here they are god is all-powerful and good god is loving and just god is holy now something that may have struck some of you when you saw this list and maybe not all of you but certainly some of you struck me when i was when i saw it last week i was like that's a short list you know what i'm saying like holy cow like just three weeks are you kidding me you know so there's this reason behind this so we we can make this series many many months long couldn't we the character traits of god are so numerous in the scriptures god is his healer he's redeemer he's he's savior or creator he's all-knowing and so on we could go on and on and on we chose these specifically because these are the character traits of god that for people like us in our culture 21st century americans these are the character traits of god that actually tend to produce the most friction with us these are the character traits of god that most of us wrestle with or find difficult to grasp or to understand they're easily they're easily distorted and so we like the idea of you know a fuzzy teddy bear god therapeutic god who perpetually affirms me no matter what decisions i make so we like that god but uh but the holy all-powerful judge you know that's friction it's friction so we're moving right towards those character traits of god in this series and that's what this is about and speaking of teddy bears just to remind us of just the gist here this was the story that chris told last week about going to the mall with his daughter to build the bear you remember this if you were here do you remember the name of this bear honey this honey bear honey bear all right so there you go sunny bear so he and his daughter they went to build-a-bear and they hand-picked his daughter hand-picked every single thing not this not the cubs outfit right but uh but rather the polka dot you know hoodie and every little piece designer designer build a bear and part of chris's point was that this is precisely what we do with god we we design god in our own image god made us in his image and we perpetually return the favor as it were right so we we remake god in our own image holy all-powerful judge take off that sweatshirt you know like i like the goddess love and he's carrying that kind of so but we can't do that we can't do that you know you can't make designer god the scripture won't allow you to do that what we have to do is to wrestle and engage with the true god as he's revealed himself to us in christ and in in the scriptures we'll put honey bear up here as a cute reminder of what not to do don't make the honey bear out of god and so today uh we're moving towards uh the the character trait of god that he is all-powerful and that he's good i've shared in uh before different stories or so on my uh first experiences and like any kind of ministry or church ministries new adult christ follower and uh was when in a urban outreach ministry uh towards skateboarders it's called skate church and after being involved for lots of years one of my first like leadership responsibilities was to oversee all of the junior high kind of wing of skate churches one night a week about 150 kids would come to the skate park and so on and so this is my first experiences of like just working stuff out you know in in ministry and i led a bible study beforehand there were about 30 kids who came and they were pretty committed they're christ followers and i remember the first time i had to wrestle with this question and helping someone work through god is all-powerful and good this kid came in usually happy-go-lucky and he was really he was totally bummed out he was clearly very sad and so i started asking questions trying to get behind it how you doing man what's going on and so he shared that his dog the family dog got hit by a car that week and it died and so i began to ask questions oh how long did you have the dog i'm really sorry hear that and he he was struggling he was struggling and he started to ask questions about god like god's role in this whole thing and so you know he was asking questions very normal like why did god do god allow this is god behind this why would god allow something like this and he asked a very poignant question that i'll never forget he said did god hate my dog did god hate my dog why did he allow this okay what would you say so that's kind of intense and this is my first time ever really having helping someone work through this i didn't even know how to work through it myself you know i was brand new adopting a christian world view and so and this is very common question you may not have a dog maybe your dog did or did not die this week but you've asked that question before you we've all been there we struggle hardship tragedy pain in our lives or in the lives of people we love and one of the first things that hardship does is it it rises it raises right to the surface our core beliefs about god all right you just go to your default beliefs in a moment like that and for many of us we we did we struggle it's difficult who is god why does god allow this is god actually in control it seems like my circumstances are out of control is god really good if he was good why would he allow this type of thing we've all been there we've all we've all been there and we uh and if you haven't been there holy cow you're like a really rare person and you will be sinned so just you have that so we've all been there or we all will be and we're not the first people to ask those questions god's people have been wrestling with the the brokenness and pain of reality but yet this affirmation that god is all-powerful and good god's people have been wrestling with us for a long time and we're going to wrestle with it in a fresh way today i invite you to open your bibles with me and turn to uh the book of isaiah the book of isaiah chapter 39 you might find your table of contents helpful the prophet isaiah he was one of israel's most prominent prophets he certainly wrote one of the longest books in the bible and he lived during a very tart dark time in israel's history and israel had mostly bad kings handful of good ones but mostly mostly bad and at this time it's kind of the last season of israel's existence before they get wiped out in about a hundred years and is uh has become a corrupt nation a nation of injustice and apostasy abandoning other gods and uh abandoning yahweh and following other gods chapter 39 we're going to dive right into the context right in the middle of story here in verse 5. chapters 1 through 38 is just isaiah challenging accusing exposing all of the brokenness in israel and he announces a message of judgment god's going to let you play out the consequences of your decisions and and here they are in verse 5 chapter 39 then isaiah he said to hezekiah who's the king of israel at the time he said hear the word of the lord almighty the time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day it will be carried off to babylon happy face or sad face right here sad face it's bad this is really really bad nothing will be left says the lord and some of your descendants your own flesh and blood who will be born to you they will be taken away and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of babylon if you don't know what it means for an adult male to be made into a eunuch google is available to you not on your work computer i would not recommend that but all the same fine you can find out ask somebody whatever look at the king's response here verse 8 the word of the lord you have spoken is good hezekiah replied for he thought well at least there's going to be peace and security in my lifetime what a jerk what a jerk so this is what israel has coming to them right now what isaiah's pointing to maybe a timeline will help to gain some context here so isaiah is having this conversation he's announcing this word of justice against israel around 700 bc 700 years before christ or so the event that he's talking about the babylon sweeping in to take them out is not going to happen for over a hundred years 114 years 586 bc the babylonian empire is at its peak and it just comes rushing through israel and judah they sack jerusalem burn it to the ground they loot the temple of yahweh and jerusalem burn it to the ground and they deport thousands of israelites into exile and this is all just playing out their horrible decisions of israel's leaders throughout the centuries we turn the page to chapter 40. and all of a sudden the way the book of isaiah is designed and set up when you turn that page you're jumping ahead decades and decades the perspective of the prophet from isaiah 40 is now all of that has passed exile is now in the past it's like decades in and the prophet is now going to speak a word of hope two people who have been withering away suffering in the tragedy of exile and what is the word of the prophet to the people who are in hardship in exile verse 1 of chapter 40. comfort comfort my people says your god speak tenderly to jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed her sin has been paid for she's received from the lord's hand double for all her sins israel's paid her due exile has played itself out you got what was coming to you and now it's going to be over it's going to be over soon go down to verse 9 with me you who bring good news to zion zion's another name for jerusalem go up on a high mountain you who bring good news to jerusalem lift up your voice with a shout lift up don't be afraid say to the towns of judah what here is your god swearing out the name for the series right the people have forgotten they've been languishing in exile and hardship they've forgotten who their god is so the prophet comes and reminds them here is your god what is god like verse 10 see the sovereign lord he comes with power he rules with a mighty arm his reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him he's powerful he is all powerful that's who our god is exile does not mean that god's forgotten about you that the uh god's promises he's left them off exile doesn't mean that that the world is spinning out of control now he's powerful he's coming to rescue but look at verse 11 he tends his flock like a shepherd he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart he gently leads those that have young god is he's like a shepherd he's powerful he's all-powerful he's coming to rescue but he's like a shepherd he's gentle he's tender it's like he's picking up a little little lambie you know and carrying it so it won't stumble he's good he's caring and he's good he's all powerful and he's good let's keep reading who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or the breath with the breath of his hand marked off the heavens who who your god who has held the dust of the earth in a basket or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance answer your god who can fathom the spirit of the lord who can instruct the lord as his counselor whom did the lord consult to enlighten him or who taught him the right way answer nobody nobody who taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding answer nobody he's all powerful he's in control he's working out his purposes and his plans and he's good he's all powerful and he's good i mean you just read through the whole chapter i say 40. it's very powerful i recommend a cup of tea in isaiah 40 like for a week you know every morning and it's very powerful and you read through and it's just affirmation affirmation of god's power that he's in control and that he's good that he cares why does the prophet have to go through a whole chapter of these affirmations of god's power and of his goodness look down at verse 27 verse 27 shows why he is saying what he's saying verse 27 why do you complain jacob why do you say israel my way is hidden from the lord and my cause is disregarded by my god you see what he's doing here the prophet is quoting his contemporaries so he's quoting the people of israel they're sitting in exile and what are they asking what are they wrestling with what are they saying they're struggling and questioning god's goodness that's what they're doing it's like god is ignoring us here we are sitting in exile hundreds of miles from our homeland the walls of jerusalem are still like rubble where is god in the midst of this it's like it's like we're hidden from god he's lost us it's like we're disregarded by god like he's paying no attention to us he's ignoring us and the prophet is responding to his contemporaries with all of isaiah chapter 40 he's responding to these words right here in isaiah chapter 40 27. see when when suffering when hardship hits our we go back to our default our core assumptions about god rise to the surface and if god really is controlled really because my circumstances seem to say otherwise and so what does the prophet do he he affirms god's power and god's goodness now this let's process this a little bit so this might seem kind of trite to some of us right so yeah i'm struggling the world's falling apart my world is falling apart and i'm wrestling where is god what's he doing is he anywhere to be found has he forgotten about me and isaiah's 40 isaiah 40th answer its response is strong reminder god's in control and he's good and we say okay yes okay but i'm struggling here like i'm i'm wrestling right and this might feel a little bit kind of like a you know slap on the wrist like how dare you doubt god's power and goodness you know so get back in line be a good christian you know what kind of thing but but no no read the book of psalms it's just people love prayer after prayer people venting against inventing that god just struggling where are you i cry out to you and you know where to be look at my life is falling apart this is this is the wrestling match of god's people with the reality of hardship and suffering but yet somehow affirming god's goodness and his power how do those two go together how do those two go together it's very it's very challenging it's very complex very complex what do i say to that junior high kid right so the bible gives different perspectives on why we end up in situations of hardship and and suffering so one of the main ones and uh this is kind of a core part of the biblical story is the biblical story begins with god making humans in his image and he gives these humans humans freedom he gives them moral freedom to choose good or evil are they going to choose and submit to god's wisdom and his guidance or are they going to define good or good and evil for themselves they're going to seize that sees autonomy and so on and he gives them the moral freedom to choose what kind of world they're going to make and how does that story go well we know how that story goes the humans choose evil and so this is a very common this is a very core insight that the bible has to offer about why this world is the way it is the world as we experience it it's compromised it's broken it's it's not the way it's supposed to be because of the misuse of human moral freedom and so the bible one of the bible's explanation is that a huge amount of suffering of tragedy of hardship that we face in our lives is because of human sin and evil or that we live in a world broken by human sin and and evil i suffer because of the dumb decisions i make we end up in hardship because of dumb decisions other people make and that create broken communities broken structures in our societies unevennesses and how human communities relate across the planet and huge vast amounts not all human suffering you have to you have to think through natural catastrophes and this kind of thing but but the vast amount the vast amount this is one of the bible's insights but you know the same time that the bible affirms this the bible makes another affirmation and this is what isaiah 40 is kind of shouting from the rooftops it's it's that even though god has given us freedom and we've chosen to ruin our world and our lives this does not have god like on the edge of his seat biting his fingernails you know i'm saying isaiah 40 is very clear that god's in control and kind of the biblical or the theology term uh that's often used to talk about this is that god is sovereign he's sovereign it's a royal image or a royal metaphor he's in control and this basic affirmation is this is the god's not biting his fingernails he's in control he's given humans freedom to choose but even the brokenness and evil and sin in our world that we choose it doesn't fall outside of god's control the train is not off the tracks because we chose evil god is working out his purpose even through and in spite of our choice towards evil now this is very challenging because this is one of these areas where like you really gotta you gotta love god with your mind and you gotta think this through because remember like when you're in the midst of suffering and tragedy it's not really the time to say okay now let me sort out my theological beliefs about suffering and god sovereignty you know what i mean no you're just going to go back to your core assumptions and so you need to at some point in your journey love god with your mind and think think this one think this one through this is a very complex question christians have disagreed with what exactly the bible is saying about these things and so on and so i'm going to solve it in about seven minutes here right yeah so definitely not definitely not uh we have a lot of bookworms around here let me recommend a very very helpful little book edited by a guy named stan gundry called divine providence for views and each of the four authors in here is dedicated christ follower they search the scriptures and they come up with very four very different answers about how to sort all of this out so i can't answer get into the detail or whatever but i do want to sketch the playing field because i think that's very important this is not just theology here this is where your mind and your heart are gonna go when you're in the midst of a difficult situation and so some views throughout christian history it's like a pendulum between these two it got sovereignty human freedom and chose chose evil some people's views of god tend to swing this way emphasizing god's sovereignty over human freedom entirely and so when you swing the pendulum this way you end up with a view of god something like this god is the all-powerful cause of everything every single thing god is like shakespeare writing hamlet shakespeare finishes the play ink is drying it's all set bef every little thing is set beforehand it just now has to be performed and so in this view of god god has a plan or a decree every single little thing in time space and history is determined beforehand and that's how that's how it goes but the mystery the problem that's raised immediately in many of our minds we say if that's what sovereign god's sovereignty means then what does that say about the role of evil in the world god obviously then knew about evil and so theologians played with us he allowed evil or he permitted evil but if you push and probe this view of god further it was absolutely certain that evil would come about in the first place and it locates that right back in in god and scripture is very clear that god is not responsible for our choice to do evil james james chapter 1 remember when you are being tempted do not say god is tempting me but god has never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away and these desires give birth to sinful actions and when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death god is not responsible for my abuse of my moral freedom it's my choice he didn't determine it to be so is my choice the scripture is very clear and it's just day-to-day experience we choose we choose so christians end up swinging in the pendulum the other way and you get a view of god that takes as it's kind of grounding center point human freedom and god's sovereignty gets reshaped in light of human freedom you end up with a view of god like this that god limits his knowledge or his power to honor human freedom or some christian theologians believe that god simply is limited in his knowledge and his power because of human freedom and so in this in this idea of god some people fall back on god's and it's not like shakespeare is like a chess player a real like master chess player and he doesn't know the moves that you're going to make we can always out maneuver you he'll always not maneuver you but there's a risk there's risk involved right because he doesn't know he cannot maneuver but there's it's not certain it's not determined there's there's freedom and so the big problem that raises with this view of god well if there's genuine freedom and god doesn't know we're going to do and he's not fully in control how can we be certain much less how can god be certain that his purposes will actually work themselves out in the world and on this point scripture is pretty clear passage like psalm 33 that yahweh foils the plans of the nations he thwarts the purposes of the peoples but the plans of yahweh stand firm forever the purposes of his heart through all generations and so what the bible doesn't allow you to do is to say that we are all just puppets in a little play playing out the scene but at the same time what the bible doesn't allow you to say is that we have such freedom that we can actually threaten what god is doing in the world and so the bible forces you it it has passages that seem to affirm both but it point it forces you to stand right here in the middle like this this middle ground and to say what does god's sovereignty mean in a world like ours and when our lives look like ours do it means that there are things that happen in our world that god does not want but god does not want but the fact that evil and suffering and tragedy does happen in our world does not mean that god is surprised doesn't throw him off and it doesn't mean that things are out of control he's in control one of the narratives in the bible that works it navigates this tension between the two it's a well-known story at the end of the book of genesis about a guy named joseph joseph joseph is arrogant cocky little kid his brothers hate him his dad makes him like special hype jacket and his brothers don't like that and so they kidnap him they want to kill him they decide not to kill him they sell him into slavery he ends up down in egypt in prison and there through crazy sets of circumstances god working behind the scenes he ends up getting out of prison he becomes an advisor to the king of egypt and a famine hits the land and he rescues egypt through his wisdom in just saving up food and distributing food he becomes like one of the most powerful people in egypt so lo and behold like people start coming to egypt looking for food during the famine and who should joseph run into in the royal court he runs into his brothers his brothers who sold him into slavery and they're now coming to him for help and they don't know it's him so it's a great story you got to read it it's in the book of genesis and and it culminates in this final scene joseph reveals himself to his brothers and this is what he says to them in the book of genesis joseph said to his brothers he said you intended to harm me you abused your moral freedom and you did evil you intended to harm me but god intended it all for good and he brought me to this position so that i could save the lives of many people who's responsible for the evil done to joseph his brothers who's the one working behind the scenes so that this act of evil turns into an act of salvation for many god is now some people use that story to actually swing the pendulum one way or the other but the story doesn't allow you to do that it just camps out right here in the middle and this is this is a paradox that's at the heart of the christian worldview it's a paradox do you know what a paradox is it's different than a contradiction okay this is very helpful for me at least has been along the way a definition of paradox a paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory but in reality may express a possible truth that i cannot see from my limited perspective niels bohr the nobel prize-winning physicist said it this way the opposite of a correct statement is a false statement any news there no i thought that's all good but the opposite of a profound truth may be another profound truth the spiritual journey proceeds with a trembling confidence that god's truth is too large for the simplicity of either or it can only be apprehended by the complexity of both and there's a bigger picture here and the moment that you and i can claim to contain all things in heaven and earth in our heads then we can solve this one but we don't we're humans we're small and this is not intellectual laziness or sloppiness this is humility before a great mystery in our universe and so the bible pushes us to affirm in faith and in hope that despite what i see going on around me the brokenness and the evil due to human sin god is all-powerful and that he's good and that this is not whistling in the dark it's not whistling in the dark what am i supposed to say to that am i going to say all that to my junior high kid friend that's very complex it's very complex what am i going to say to them what i should say is this and this was something that i did know to say as as a new christ follower is that though i can't unpack exactly how these two work together that god's sovereignty is his ability to redirect and work out his redemptive purposes in our world despite evil and death and sin and and tragedy and there is one moment in the biblical story where god's sovereignty and human freedom and evil come crashing in to one another so the core of the biblical story right is that god gives humans freedom moral freedom but yet god is working out his plan human freedom and evil does not surprise god in fact the whole part of the story line of the bible is god working to answer the problem of human evil in the cross see the bible does not exist to answer it's not like a divine theology answer book it doesn't give us the question of why in any given circumstance you are in a difficult place or why this scenario has entered into your life why you're suffering it doesn't answer that question for us but the bible does tell us what god is doing about the problem of evil and suffering in our world this is the story of the gospel and so in the story of the cross it's the shakespeare does write himself into his own play he's not this distant absentee stern authoritarian god or whatever he cares deeply he's like a shepherd he cares he cares and then his sovereignty orchestrates the story for him to enter into his own world as a human being and to carry and to shoulder the weight of human sin and suffering into himself on the cross and to conquer its power to bring life out of death in the resurrection and in the hope of new creation for our world and so it's the cross where our freedom and evil come crashing into god's sovereignty and who's going to win this one that's a bad question who won this one this is the empty tomb the empty tomb one and so so let's take our questions right i'll take my junior hi friend i'll take you take whatever your questions are and let's go let's go on a field trip let's go to the cross let's bring our questions our wrestling why god what are you doing why allow this what is going on and we won't we won't receive an answer as to why the mystery is not impact for us for one reason or another we're not told why but we are told what the answer is not at the cross we are told what the answer cannot be as to why we are suffering and in hardship the answer cannot be that god does not care or that things are out of control it cannot be you can't because the story would would an uncaring evil deity do something like this for you see this is what the cross says is that god is shouldering your abuse of your own moral freedom he's taking the consequences into himself for you on the cross and not only that the cross is not only god's suffering and dying for us it is god coming to suffer with us on the cross god identifies with our suffering he shoulders human pain carries it absorbs it into himself there is nothing you and i have been through that hasn't already been taken into god's own being on the cross he knows your suffering he's been there have you been wronged by someone some injustice some relational wrong look to the cross look to the cross where a innocent man is condemned by an unjust corrupt government look to the cross where jesus is abandoned by every person that he loves and he cares about have you lost a loved one look to the cross where the father gives up his son for you and for me is your body broken are you in physical pain look to the cross at jesus's broken body do you feel abandoned by god in your circumstances like he's not listening he's not paying attention he's left you out to dry look to the cross in the paradox of jesus's cry when he quotes psalm 22 and says my god my god why have you forsaken me the mystery of the cross is that god becomes god forsaken to identify with you in your suffering so we do not get the answer why to our question but we are told what the answer cannot be it cannot be that he does not care and it cannot be that he is not good and it cannot be that things are out of control so i don't know what word the cross and the resurrection speak to you today this is very challenging for each of us as we enter into times in life and we will wrestle we wonder what god is doing where what resurrection could god possibly bring out of the circumstances that you're in i have no idea no idea but the cross and the resurrection allow us to take a step of faith and hope and affirm that god is good and that he's in control so i don't know where you're at today some of us are right in the thick of isaiah 40 verse 27 it's like i'm hidden from god i'm being disregarded and the gospel issues you a word of challenge and of hope hope and i would encourage all of us to use some time we have some space and time in the rest of our service and some of us need to do business with god and this is the time and the place to do that let me close us with a word of prayer lord uh we just asked for courage and for faith to uh to to step out to venture upon the hope that you give us in the cross and the empty tomb and would you help us to see that in the cross you are suffering with us alongside us and for us that we are not alone would you give us hope that you can bring resurrection somehow out of our circumstances and we trust that to you we pray in trust and faith and we can pray in the name of jesus amen you

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Length: 38min 19sec (2299 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020