Series:  Conversations with an Atheist                                                                May 13, 2007

Sermon:  God, Suffering and You                                                                   Romans 8:16-39

IN A SNOWBANK

People Magazine featured a story a few years ago about an elderly couple who lived in N. California, Ken and Jean Cheney.  They were 68 and 75 years old and had to make a quick trip to Fresno to talk to a tax advisor.  It was March, and there had been a terrible snowstorm.  On the way back, they took a shortcut and it turned out that it was an unplowed forest service type road.  They slid off the road and got stuck in snow so deep they couldn’t get out of their car.

Eighteen days later they both died of exposure.  In fact, it was several weeks later that they were discovered.  No one ever came along the road because it was not kept up in the winter.  What is amazing about this story is the words from a little diary that Gene kept during her last days in the car.

I want to read from a diary of sorts that she kept on little scraps of paper she could find in her car.

So many things I want to say, I want you all to enjoy your life and remember that what is so dreadful today will be forgotten next year.  Please be a family and let my grandchildren know that I love them.  We began to realize that we were on a road that is not maintained in the winter.  Truly a miracle if anyone comes by.  We spent the night singing hymns, quoting Bible verses and catnapping.  We would run the heater for five minutes every couple of hours.  We have no idea what lies ahead, so here we are, completely and utterly in God’s hand.  What a better place to be!!!  Kids, I can’t find the dome light so I’m writing by glove compartment light.    [Later:]  Dad went to be with the Lord at 7:30 this evening, March 18.  It was so peaceful I didn’t even know he had left.  The last thing I heard him say was: Thank the Lord.  I think I’ll be with him soon.   So much to say in so little time.  I can’t see.  Bye.  I love you.

The words of a woman, a Christian woman, who had just taken a trip to Fresno to clear up a tax problem.  A simple little mistake, and she and her husband die of exposure trapped in a snowbank.  How?  How could God allow such a thing?  I thought God was loving and kind.  Here these people were his faithful servants, and he let them die in a snowbank.  Where was God?  Why did he allow them to suffer?

THE PROBLEM OF PAIN

If you haven’t asked those kinds of questions before, let me tell you, you haven’t thought very deeply about the nature of Christian faith.  A lot of people have the notion that good Christians should not encounter those kinds of calamities.  Good Christians will not suffer like that.  Good Christians will be blessed by God. Good Christians will be repaid for their service to God in blessings you can count on a calculator.  Good Christians will be protected from harm in some way.  Consequently when suffering comes this person’s way, their faith is not ready for it, and they crash and burn in terms of their confidence and trust in God.  This very issue probably is the cause behind more believers loosing their faith than any other.

The problem of pain and suffering is a fundamental reason why atheists refuse to believe in God.  The argument is very straight-forward.  Humans and animals suffer.  This is a fact.  God cannot therefore be all powerful and at the same time be all loving.  If he was all powerful, he could do something to stop suffering.  If he was all loving, he would want to do something about suffering.  Since suffering is so extreme in many instances, God, as Christians conceive of him, cannot exist.  If I have the power to do good, and choose not to do good, I am not loving.  If I want to do good but cannot do it, I am not all-powerful.  The same is true of God. 

MY GOALS AND PAUL’S THESIS

Today, rather than try to answer the atheists claims directly (which I believe can be done), I intend to speak to the challenge suffering presents to persons of faith.  Hopefully this will indirectly answer some of the atheist’s challenge.  We are going to talk today about what Paul says here about suffering.  Particularly that of the Spirit-filled believer.  Now understanding suffering better does not make it any easy or enjoyable, or go away.  But it can help, it can remove from the experience some of the sting and unnecessary complications.

First, the key to an adequate understanding of suffering is to grasp the contrast that Paul makes in Romans 8 between God’s present purpose of the Christian life and His future fulfillment of God’s promise.   Paul makes it very clear in these verses that the fullness of glory is still very much in the future for the Christian.  Paul sees this present life as precisely the time when suffering is to be expected.  Look at verse 17.

This comes after a marvelous portion describing the wonder of the spirit-filled Christian life.  (Read vv. 16-17).  In v. 17 we read “if in fact we suffer with him.”  In v 18 we read, “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.”  The present time is a time in which the Christian should expect sufferings and adversities.  Suffering in no way means that the person is not a Spirit-filled Christian.  In fact, the opposite seems to be the case.

Look at verses 22-23 where we find two fascinating images.  In v 22 – The whole creation groans in the pains of childbirth.  There is suffering in all childbirth, but it is followed by intense joy, so great that it makes it difficult to remember the previous pain.  All creation, you and I included, groan, suffer.  The second image is found in v 23.  We have the first-fruits (foretaste) of the Spirit.  We live and groan with sufferings, but we have this foretaste of the great glories to come.  We don’t have the fullness but only a foretaste.  We await the fullness of redemption; namely, the redemption of our bodies.

NO EXAGGERATING!

It is very important that we do not exaggerate our claims.  Spirit-filled Christian living does not mean that we will live in perfect happiness, without a care or concern.  Romans 8 so far has been focused on people who have the Spirit fully in their lives.  Paul says that they groan inwardly as they wait eagerly for the final redemption.  They may suffer tragedy, depression, despair but they have a foretaste of glory, and this makes all the difference.  We should never exaggerate the nature of Christian life.

We’ve got a foretaste, a taste, some samples of what God has for us.  But we do not have the full harvest.  We are not in heaven, and suffering is going to happen, and it will happen to you.  This doesn’t mean that God is chastening you or that you are out of God’s will necessarily.  Suffering happens, and it happens to spirit-filled Christians.  The present time is a time of hope.  The present is a time of weakness and imperfect understanding.  We often don’t know what God is doing in our lives and are confused as to why these things are happening.  This is particularly true when adversity and suffering comes our way. 

But God in his goodness, translates our groans into articulate prayers before God (v. 26).  God hears the right prayer even though we don’t even know what to pray, all we can do is groan.  But in the ears of God, these are articulate prayers.  You see why its important for Christians to know this.  People who exaggerate the nature of the Christian life do real damage and hurt.  It would be like a military recruiter getting more recruits by describing a soldier’s life like going on a cruise.  These words are not written by a person for whom

THE LINGERING PROBLEM

But people still ask, “how can God be good and sit idly by while my loved one suffered?  How can God watch while someone I love is going through hell?  How can God be good?”

Paul has some suggestions in Rom. 8:28: “we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purposes.”  A verse which is one of the most famous in the whole NT, for it offers great comfort to many people.  But is often misunderstood.  What could Paul possibly mean by “all things.”  God may work good out of some bad things.  Maybe even most bad things I could find some good outcome.  But surely not all things, not every event.  How could this be? 

We must know what the good to which Paul refers?  Is it the good life, health, wealth, and success?  If that is how you define good in this verse, this verse is not true.  There are many things that happen to Christians which do not promote health, wealth and success.  If we are to understand Rom. 8:28, we must look for a different definition of good.  Paul happily provides that definition for us in verse 29.  “for those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed into the likeness of his son.”  That is the good God has in mind.

If you are to claim this promise, you must know the good God has in mind: not prosperity, health, wealth, or trouble-free living.  God’s good is this; in every adverse problem, God is at work in your life to conform you into the image of Jesus. 

CLAIMING RIGHTS?

Who has the right to claim this verse?  “Those who love God.”  Only those who love God can have full assurance that every tragedy will work together for their good.  If what you really love is trouble-free living, wealth, and human pleasure, this verse is not about you.  If you love God, and you desire the good He has in mind, you can claim the good in every situation. 

This verse does not say that God sends every adversity that comes your way.  God does not say, “They need a lesson, I think I’ll allow their child to burn to death.”  This verse does not say that God caused that horrible thing to happen to teach someone a lesson.  It says that in this fallen world, full of groanings and tragedy, God is at work to bring about good, to prepare people for a glory that is so magnificent, it can overwhelm the worst the world, the flesh and the devil can throw at us.

God can make the horrible good, in light of eternity.  But because he can do so, this does not mean that he sends horrible events our way.  Whatever happens, God can work it into his purpose, and accomplish in you the image of Jesus Christ.  There is nothing you can experience that can defeat that purpose and aim in you. 

MORE THAN CONQUERORS

In v. 37, Paul says “in all these things (sufferings) we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.  What does he mean by this?  He means that suffering doesn’t conquer us for two reasons.  First, because it doesn’t tell us that God is angry or displeased.  We know God loves us, Paul says, only through looking at Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.  This proves God’s love for us.  God’s dear son suffered and this doesn’t prove he was a sinner under judgment.  The cross proves for all believers that those who are in Christ are approved by God. 

Secondly, while we may suffer in this life, God’s purposes are good.  God uses all present sufferings to prepare us for eternal glory.  Suffering in this world is something akin to the suffering caused by a surgeon.  If the surgeon cut people open because he enjoyed their suffering, he would be evil.  But if his intentions are to produce healing, the pain is morally justified.  Suffering forces us to grow up.  It purifies our motives.  It shakes us from worldly entanglements.

What were God’s options?  Most suffering is caused by misuse of free-will.  God could have created a world in which bullets would turn to feathers before they killed in anger.  God could put angels out there protecting all the innocent children who are abused by evil adults.  But suddenly our moral decisions would have no meaning since it would be impossible to do evil.  Rather, God chose to participate in suffering with us in Christ.  Rather than force goodness upon us, God took the brunt of evil and overwhelms it to destroy its force.  We are more than conquerors.

CONCLUSION

You may need to respond to God’s grace today.  You realize that you are not ready to face the tough challenges of Christian living.  You realize that you have wrong priorities.  You have questioned whether God is for you because of your suffering.  You are angry at God for allowing you to suffer.  You don’t understand why God didn’t do more to protect you from what has given you such intense pain.  You wonder “God, why is it that when I was in such terrible personal agony, you seemed so distant.”  It is time to forgive yourself, forgive God, and begin to experience the “more than conqueror” status of which Paul speaks.  God is at work in you, in all your suffering, to transform you into the image of Jesus Christ.  The sad truth is that you can never appreciate this until you are on the back-side of emotional recovery.  But God is at work in you for your good – to transform you into the image of his dear Son.  You are more than a conqueror.  Have hope and move on.