Sermon from Feb. 6, 2005 FUMC Mission Texas by Ardie Nelson

Why Does God Allow Suffering? Text: Hebrews 5:7-10 In the days of his flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Suffering comes through...
NATURAL DISASTERS: earthquakes, famines, floods, hurricanes tornados, etc.
WARS: worldwide or local
COMMUNITY TRAGEDIES: (examples...)
INDIVIDUAL SUFFERING: bereavement, sickness, disabilities, broken relationships, depression, persecution, etc.

The question is, why does God allow suffering at all? Why does God allow Christians to suffer? In the sermon two weeks ago on the Trinity, I said, "God's activity in God's creation is one of redemption...getting back what once was perfect and whole." This alludes to the idea that the situation in which we find ourselves in our world today is not "perfect and whole." In a booklet entitled "Why Does God Allow Suffering?" Nicky Gumbel says it this way..."Suffering is not part of God's original created order. There was no suffering in the world before humanity rebelled against God. There will be no suffering when God creates "a new heaven and a new earth." (see Rev. 21) We do have this future to look forward to, but in the mean time there is suffering and generations of human have been asking, "why?" That is the question that evoked this sermon.
Last Sunday, Charlie talked of God's omnipotence (all powerful). He spoke of God's self-imposed limitations on his omnipotence and the resulting free will of humankind. God could have exerted his power and prevented sin and thus prevented suffering that comes directly or indirectly from sin. God could miraculously avert natural disasters, but nature is set in motion by God and it follows the laws of nature. Hence, natural diasters have the capability of causing much suffering. They are however natural and to be expected when all the conditions are right according to the laws of nature.
Why did God allow sin and suffering to enter the world? There is as Charlie said last week...a bigger picture. The bigger picture is one of God's love. God loves us and wants us to have the freedom to choose to love him in return. Coerced love is not love. God loves us and gave us freedom to choose to love him back...or not. The human choice under which we live "in the mean time"-- between Eden and the new heaven and new earth--was and is one of rebellion against God. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) That choice was made in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, because of having free will and living in a time when all of creation is not perfect and whole...some of the suffering we go through is a result of our own sin. Some suffering we go through is the result of someone else's sin. Some suffering comes as a result of disasters in the natural world. Some suffering is just because...
No one wants to suffer. While we are in the midst of suffering we don't usually want to hear how this is, or it will be, good for us. The pain of suffering can be great and deep. It is all we can do to hang on to the hope that by God's grace we will come out on the other side of this particular suffering one day.
If you study this subject, you will find that the Bible does not deal with the philosophical question of "why" God allows suffering. There are, instead, plenty of examples of people and their suffering in scripture. What we see in studying these and in observing our own and others' experience of suffering are ways God works in us through our suffering. We are not to think that suffering in itself is good or that we should pursue suffering. We can however remember that when we suffer our faith and hope are in God who loves us.
We do learn, in study and experience, that suffering can be endured and God can use it to draw us to Christ. The Apostle Paul exemplified this time after time through physical distress of illness, shipwreck, strenouous travel and persecution through imprisonment, whipping, and stoning. He wrote from prison to the Philippians, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Nothing mattered to him except "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus..." Paul's faith and Paul's hope was in God.
A contemporary of our is Joni Eareckson Tada. Late in her teens she had a diving accident that has left her paralyzed from the neck down. Her testimony on the Larry King Live show was that she "thanks God for her wheelchair." She calls it her "passport to joy." because there are things in life more important than walking, she says. If any of you have followed Joni's life you know she has great faith and has been in fruitful ministry through art, music, radio ministry, and the organization Joni and Friends...like the Apostle Paul... "because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus..." Joni's faith and hope are in God.
We learn by reading the stories of others (from the Bible or other reading) and from our own experience that God uses suffering to bring us to Christian maturity. God uses our suffering to make our lives more fruitful. I think of Corrie ten Boom. Do you know her story? Billy Graham Association made the movie "The Hiding Place" based on her book by that name. Her family was Christian and during WWII they hid and helped Jews make passage to safety from their home in Holland. She, her sister and father were catpured by the Nazi's and suffered tremendously like so many others did in the concentration camps. Corrie's sister and father died in the camp. One of the things they suffered while in the camp was an infestation of lice. They complained but then realized that the guards would not come near them because of the lice. Many years ago I heard Corrie speak at the college I was attending. The witness of her closeness to Christ was evident not only in the words she spoke, but...also...in her face and in the quality of her voice as she spoke. To me she sounded like an angel with a very Dutch accent. She spoke of the many consolations she received from the Lord...even in the suffering of the concentration camp. She survived and was released from the camp. She became tremendously "fruitful" in ministry. Corrie ten Boom's faith and hope were in God.
God often uses suffering to bring about his good purposes. This was part of the text for last Sunday..."all things work out for good, to them that love God and are called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28) Sometimes this truth takes time...years even to be realized. In the Bible Joseph's jealuous brothers sold him into slavery. For years he languished in an Egyptian prison. Later he found favor and received a place of honor and power in Pharaoh's court. When famine hit his family back home, they came to Egypt and it was Joseph who took them in and save them from certain starvation. Joseph endured because his faith and his hope were in God.
Maybe, instead of asking "why God allows suffering" it would be more helpful to recognize that suffering is part of our brokenness. That suffering will be with us until there is the New Heaven and New Earth. Maybe, instead of asking "why" we need to instead make sure our faith and hope are in the One who suffered for us and suffers with us in our afflications.
There are things going on in our lives righ now...and in our world that we do not know how they can be used by God for some good purpose in some future time. We don't see how going through what we are going through will mature us or make us more fruitful. We wonder how this will bring us closer to Christ. Let me ask you...when you suffer, where is your faith and hope? Do you have faith that God is good? Do you hope in the promises of God we find in the scritpures? We might not be able to explain the "why" of our suffering or any one else's suffering, but we can place our faith and our hope in the One who loves us and gave himself up for us.
As you come to the table today, remember Jesus as he asked his disciples to remember him. Remember Jesus as God the Son, the One who came that we might have life--fruitful life--life made possible by his suffering.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.