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When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Please turn to John 9
Greeting.
John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Sermon Topic -When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Let us Pray
Please turn to Job 1
Looking at only 4 scriptures today.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
"A perfect and an upright man!" How nice to have God brag on him like that. Or is it?
Please turn to Job 40
We all know the story of Job. God gave him over to Satan and everything Job had was taken from him, and yet he did not curse God as Satan had predicted.
Job 40
1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
He did not curse God but he did question Him in an impertinent way. God reproved him for that and Job immediately repented of it.
Please turn to Hebrews 12
We will be spending the rest of our time here. We'll be looking at several verses in this chapter but let's start by looking at verse 6 of Hebrews 12.
"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."
So when something bad happens how do you tell the difference? Sometimes bad things happen so that God's glory is manifest as happened with the man born blind and Job. Other times it is the chastening of the Lord. How do we tell the difference?
Is it chastening from God or is it so "the works of God should be made manifest in" you.
I believe that we get a lot more chances to show the works of God in us than we do chastening from God.
Let's think about that for a few minutes.
First of all is the something bad that happened a consequence of sin?
When I was raising my children I had a rule that they should not run in the house. It was for their safety mostly and also for the preservation of our breakables. If they bumped into a piece of furniture and skinned their shin I did not spank them but only reminded them that was the reason for the rule. I believe God does the same.
If you lie until no one believes you that is not chastening, that's just bumping into the consequence of your sin.
How many of the so called "bad" things that happened to you are the simple and direct result of your own sin?
If you gossip until your friends no longer have any confidence in you, is that chastening? No.
If you steal and get thrown in jail for it? No.
If you murder and are executed. No. Just consequences.
I think you get the point.
Let's stop here for a moment and consider what God has not said.
God never promised you a better life than his son Jesus.
God never promised that your friends would never betray you as Judas did Jesus.
God never promised that your friends would never desert you as the apostles fled when Jesus was arrested.
God never promised that you would have no pain,
no hunger,
and no sickness.
He certainly never promised that you would never be bored, or tired, or inconvenienced.
So before you start examining whether you are being chastened first consider whether it really is all that bad. I promise you that if your television breaks down in the middle of your favorite show it does not measure up to being all that bad. If you get in the wrong line at the store and the other one you could have gotten in moves faster it is not that bad. If your car has a flat tire and you are late for an appointment, trust me, it is just an inconvenience. And if several of these kinds of things happen in one day it is still not all that bad, and is almost certainly not the chastening of God. However, it is an opportunity for you. It is an opportunity to show yourself and anyone that may be looking to you for a Christian example how a Christian lives life. This will give glory to God. This is why I believe we get a lot more opportunities to glorify God in our lives than we do chastening. We live in a lost and dying world and many bad things happen.
Let's read some more in Hebrews 12. I am going to read the first 15 verses and make a few comments as I go.
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, [patience suggests that we will be running into obstacles that will require patience to overcome]
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. [Notice who is both the author and finisher of our faith. We are not saved by any merit of our own.]
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. [In other words when the people of the world who are giving you a hard time get on your nerves recall how much more Jesus had to endure, and persevere.]
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. [I do not believe any of us has come close to resisting sin unto blood. The closest I ever came was having someone get mad at me and throw me out of their house for witnessing to them and that only happened once in my whole life. Hardly measures up to what Jesus did or what he had to resist.]
5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: [Do not regard it evil to be chastened by God.]
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. [Partakers of his holiness! Now there is a great promise indeed!]
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: [Once again the two great commandments that are found so often in the bible - Put God above all and treat others as you would yourself.]
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
What if something really grievous does happen to us? Clearly whether it is chastening or not we still have that chance to demonstrate how a Christian lives life in the face of adversity.
But we still have not answered the question, how do we tell if we are being chastened or not. Well, have you done anything wrong? If you have, it may be God is chastening you. When things are not going your way it may be a good idea to examine your life. Compare you behavior with the commands of God. Compare your life with the life of Christ. If you don't measure up, and you won't, it might be a good time to work on what you are doing wrong.
So what do most of us do when we examine ourselves. Mostly we think about our little vices. We ate too much, we exercised too little, we snuck out and had that secret cigarette, we took a nip from our hip flask, or whatever. I do not condone gluttony, drunkeness or any of these things but since our vices and intemperance carry heavy consequences of their own I do not believe the Lord usually spends much time chastening anyone about them. None of these things appear in the ten commandments, the two great commandments, or the Golden rule.
Matthew 23:23-28 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
I believe God is more interested in weightier matters. How are you treating your neighbors? Yes, I'm talking about the people that live near you but I'm also talking about the ones you share the road with, shop with, work with, play with, etc. How do you treat the people around you?
How do you treat God? Does he get the first fruits of your life or the left overs? In fact, does he get any of your life at all? How do you treat this Jesus who died in your place? Have you given your life to him or do you still live it for yourself?
I would suggest that if we are more concerned with our vices and intemperance than in how we are treating our neighbors and maintaining our relationship with God that we are practicing a self centered, self worship, almost as much as if we were given over to those vices we claim to be struggling to overcome.
Mark 7:15-23 "There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. … Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
Some of you may not know that my older brother, Jarvis, was a drug addict. If you have ever been close to someone like that you know how terrible it can be - the stealing, the covering, the lying, the cheating. I had the privilege of leading Jarvis to Jesus. It was Jarvis's expectation (and mine) that the Lord would deliver Jarvis from his drug addiction, and so the Lord did, but not immediately. Jarvis came to me a few days after he was baptized upset because he found he was still addicted to drugs. As we talked about it the Spirit revealed to us a great truth. Jarvis was not lying to me anymore. To God it was more important that Jarvis be honest than that he be clean of drugs. Because Jarvis was honest with me I was able to help him shoulder the burden of his addiction and eventually he became clean.
I believe that if we were more focused on Jesus and living our life for Him that most of the things we now believe are bad would go by almost unnoticed.
I think that it really doesn't matter whether the bad thing that happens to us is chastening, the consequence of sin, or an opportunity to glorify God. Regardless of which of the three it is our reaction should be the same. We should face it with courage, overcome it with love, worship God with thankfulness, (i.e. count our blessings), and examine our lives for ways to do better.