Sermon: "The Resurrection & Evil"

3rd in the "The Resurrection" series.
Delivered April 22, 2007 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

The audio file of this sermon is available for download and listening in MP3 format.

Click to Download & Listen (4.6MB)

Okay, let's pray. Lord, God we thank you now for your word. Father, we thank you that you have spoken to us and revealed yourself to us and help us now as we get in to your word to understand, for our faith to be strengthened, and for us to be drawn closer to you. For we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Monday morning, April 16th, a deeply troubled senior at Virginia Tech armed himself with two pistols, all kinds of ammunition and in just a few hours killed 32 people and himself. There are people in shock. Families all over the country who are mourning the loss of children who are just starting in the prime of life. There are people who mourn the whole tragedy of it all, all the complexities this brings to people, all of the things that have ended. We think about the brave professor who having suffered enough already in his life heroically took a stance and lost his life. There are so many things on our minds, even for people who are not directly impacted by it. There is all kinds of hurt. There is all kinds of anger and there is all kinds of questions. Maybe you share some of those hurts and some of those questions. Maybe you have heard people make comments. Maybe they have asked questions in front of you. Maybe you have been watching the TV and you have seen some of the questions being asked there. What's on your mind? I would like to take just a moment, a hearing some of the questions or some of the issues that have been expressed in front of you in the last week. So I've got the microphone here. Anyone who would like to.

If God is really in control then how do these things happen? Okay, if God is really in control, how did this happen? Any others? What about Kent State and what about Columbine? Okay, there are other tragedies as well. This is isn't the first, okay. Anyone else? Why do we have such a dreadful mental health system in the United States? Anyone else? Where is the boundary with fear and rationale fear, like how do I ever let my daughter out of my sight? Yeah. We are fearful about some things; when does that become irrational? Yeah, I saw a hand back there. Why did it have to happen to so many people who were so young and they were just starting out in life? Give me tragedy for older people is what she is saying here. I have just been thinking on the same day probably 120 people died in Iraq and why do we care differently about people that look more like us; there are still suffering moms and dads in Iraq that lost children innocently and all kind of horrific ways. That's right. Okay. Could anything have been done to prevent it? Could anything have been done to prevent it? There are other questions that I am sure are on your mind, but let me end on that on right now. Could anything have been done to prevent it? These are all good questions. It's particularly a horrific thing when its young people. I mean there really is a difference for a 96-year-old person to be dying in peace in their bed and the violent loss of life for young people. What could have been done to prevent it?

In fact, right now there is a whole lot of blame being dished out in our culture. On TV, in the newspaper, in fact, today's newspaper 33 dead, who is to blame? That's a big part of a discussion going on right now, because if we explain, if we lay the blame on somebody we will somehow feel safer, because then we have explained it and maybe we can correct it and then we will not have to worry about it anymore. So we focus on the child and say, "Okay, bad kid." If we can explain why he is a bad then we are going to feel safe, because maybe he watched particularly bad movies; so we can blame it on Hollywood. Maybe it's not that, maybe it came from a bad family. It doesn't matter that that family raised another normal child. I mean, but maybe some how we can explain it in terms of the family. Maybe it was bad security; it's the security people who are at fault.

We can feel safer if we blame it on them and know that in the future security people are never going to act like that again, even if all of the decisions they have made made perfect sense when they made it. Maybe we will blame it on the mental health system, on the counselors. They should have done more. People are even saying that he should have been detained, even though out legal system says that you have got to have a reason to arrest somebody, at least in most cases. And so, is that the solution? We want to do it. Maybe its bad gun laws; that would do it. If we had the right gun laws, that would have solved the problem. Any of these problems have truth in them. Any of these places that we want to lay blame that can be a little bit of blame put there. But what's behind all of this is that we are trying to lay blame in such a way that if we fix that one thing, then we would be safe forever. It would really solve the problem. And so there are parents that are going to campuses right now and they are looking at the security systems and making sure that they are somehow different than Virginia Tech, because if they are different it is going to protect my child.

Behind all of it too is we want it put behind us quickly, because the quicker we can put it behind us and explain it and lay blame on somebody the quicker we feel we can get back to life as usual where we are really safe. And so there was a girl and it couldn't have been beyond Wednesday of the week when they were starting to pick up the pictures of the perpetrator and put him on the news and she was saying, "I thought we had this behind us already and we could work towards normalcy." This is on Wednesday, two days after the event and she is already desperate to put it behind her. We want a solution that will ensure that this kind of tragedy will never ever ever happen again, so we are willing to put up with more metal detectors, longer lines, searches in every kind of public place so that somehow we are safe.

Americans believe that we are supposed to be safe. All the biomedical breakthroughs, all the new technology, all the insights from psychology means that we are progressing and society is getting safer and safer from disease and hunger. Now we might not believe that is true for the whole world, but to be honest like what was pointed out a few minutes ago, sometimes Americans just flat out don't care about the rest of the world. What we feel entitled to is that within our society, within our lives that at least we are getting safer and safer and are free from disease and danger. But we are not safe. Hear that. We are not safe. We are vulnerable. The world is a painful and dangerous place and we sometimes almost even hate it when we are reminded of that. But what does the Bible tell us to expect? What's the kind of world that the Bible tells us is actually around us, so that we can have a biblical worldview rather than just an American worldview? What is the reality about our present and what is the reality about the future?

I am going to share with you for a while, but its going to be more like a Bible lesson than a sermon in a lot of ways and so you've got some notes that are actually on the inside of the aisles. It's a table actually and what you have on there is a table with things that are true about the current reality and things that are true about the future. These are all taken from the Book of Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 18 to 39 and I am going to refer to this during this sermon. We've got to remember that when we come in to Romans 8 we are coming in to the middle of the letter where Paul has been talking about what it means to be forgiven by God because of faith and how to live a life of faith that grows out of our relationship with God. And so, we are coming in the middle of this kind of conversation. Sometimes when we study the Bible, in one section all of a sudden a lot of information comes out and there are times that we should make a table like this; to somehow organize the thought that has balanced all over messed up in to the paragraphs and kind of line it up so that we can see some of the detail of what's there and that is what I have done in the handout.

So we are going in the Chapter 8, it's on page 800 of the pew Bible in front of you and you might want to pull a Bible up and take a look at it, because we are going to go in to it section by section for a little while together.

Romans, Chapter 8, beginning at Verse 18:

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

Lets just take a look at those verses 18 to 21 right there. What does it say about reality right now? It says first of all that we suffer. That is how this section begins. It is talking about the fact that people, Christian people included suffer. Verse 19 talks about creation itself; waiting eagerly for something to change. This isn't sort of a celebration sort of eagerness. It's the eagerness that comes when you are in a very difficult situation and you are longing for a change and you know that the change is really coming. So there is an eagerness because you know that things are going to change, because creation now is subjected to frustration. God has subjected it to that frustration and I will explain why in a moment. And creation itself is hoping, longing for the day, expectedly waiting for the day because right now creation is decaying. Now what that means is that Christianity doesn't have rose-colored glasses on. There is no denial of the hard parts of life. Right from the front it is talking about suffering and decay and so you would expect a world that has problems and pain and is in some kind of ecological mess.

That is the picture that is painted here of our current situation. And the hope that Paul points to in this section talks about in Verse 18 a glory that will be revealed in us. Verse 19, for the sons of God to be revealed. Verse 20 and 21; liberated from bondage to decay, brought to glorious freedom. All of those are talking about the resurrection from the dead. Different words talking about the same event in God's future. And even creation is waiting for that event, because the picture here is that God has sovereignly said that creations future is tied in with human future and God will not use his sovereignty to end run us. And so, that means for good or for evil, what we do as people affects creation. And so right now creation is longing, waiting for the moment that humanity itself is transformed, because as we are transformed, it impacts all of what God has created. So all of the universe that we know and this earth in particular is impacted by the changes that happen in humanity and particularly in the resurrection of God's people from the dead.

Let's go to the next section; Verse 22 to 27.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

What does this say about our current reality? You've got a list here of a bunch of things. What I want to focus in on is particularly this word "groaning". Verse 22; creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth. In Verses 23 to 25; we are groaning inwardly. Verse 26; the spirit groans. When a word like this comes up three times in six verses we are suppose to take notice of it. And they are all related words in the original language. And this isn't a groan or a sigh of relief. It's a groan or a sigh of longing and of protest and of pain. We have situation where creation itself is so deeply wounded that its waiting and groaning, longing for a birth that is going to happen. We've got a humanity that inwardly no matter what's on the outside, inwardly is groaning and longing for a day where our adoption is completed and we have God himself who is not distant from it all, but who comes into our very lives and is interceding on our behalf, praying on our behalf, standing before God on our behalf with groans and longings. God himself grieves over the situation as it exists right now. And then God is interceding for us. Within the will of God, which will have a powerful impact in our lives and in our futures. We are all groaning and waiting and longing, but its not one that dead ends. This is a longing that has a fulfillment and a conclusion and a birth at the end. It's the groaning of childbirth. It's the inward longing for the day that an adoption, a sure adoption, will become complete. It's the groaning of a God who knows the very will of God. God who knows his will and is working it out inside of us even though he knows there is pain right now. This is the reality that is picked out in these verses about how we exist right now. And what's on the other side. For our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, the conclusion, the hope, the birth, is the resurrection from the dead.

Let's go on. Verses 28:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

This is a very familiar verse. It's not that all things are good; it doesn't say that. It doesn't even say that all things are good for the Christian. What it says is that in all things, even in bad things and hurtful things God is working for good keeping the most important things safe. The picture here is that even in a world where really bad things happen, God is at work. A loving God is in control of it all and that we his people can be safe, feel safe inside and can hope for joy again. So it's not a cheap phrase. It's not something like, "Oh hon, don't worry about it. It will all work out for the best." It's not that. Its not in every cloud there is a silver lining. It's a statement about the sovereign purpose of God who in love is working even in an ugly and messed up world that good things can happen anyway.

Let's go to Verse 29 through 37:

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

In this life we are called and we are called to a destination in the future of being glorified. In this life, God is for us. In this life, God has given his son. In this life, God intercedes for us and we are connected to a love of God from which we cannot be separated, because God's power is in it. There is trouble. There is hardship. There is persecution. There is famine. There is nakedness and there is a sword. There is all kinds of dangers out there. We admit it and it doesn't say we are protected from it. It says that none of these things can separate us from the controlling love of God for us. In fact, in Verse 36 it seems to indicate that its even worse for the Christians, because it says that we face death all day long for God's sake and we are like sheep to be slaughtered. So in this world it might even be worse for Christians, but nothing in it can separate us from the love of God. And there are people here in this room that have experienced that in the most difficult places.

Verses 37 to 39:

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This section begins by saying that we are more than conquerors and it ends with the same phrase again; nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And in between there are all kinds of descriptions of the polarities and powers that are in life, including spiritual powers that are set against us and they are saying nothing, no human power, no human evil, no spiritual evil, nothing else designed in creation even death and life itself can't separate us from this love of God. It's that much in control. It's that powerful. We will never be safe by the human definition of safe. We can't make any guarantees that if you follow Jesus Christ you will have less crisis in your life, less suffering. What we can say is that God understands your suffering; that God groans over it right now, with you, in you, through you; that we don't have a God that's distant from this suffering, but a God who has experienced it.

There is a play, a short play, that talks about the outrage that people have against God; how God can you allow something like this to happen in the world? How can you allow the things that have happened to us and the play has this final scene where people are lining up before the throne of God, but instead of God passing judgment on them, they are ready to pass judgment on God, because they have suffered in life. And so they confer together. In the group there is a young woman who has a tattoo on her arm because she was in a Nazi concentration camp. How could God allow this sort of thing to happen? Beatings, torture, death? In another group a young man opens up his collar; what about this he demanded showing an ugly rope burn; lynched for no crime but being black? In another part of the crowd a pregnant schoolgirl with swollen eyes; why should I suffer? It wasn't even my fault? Far out across the plain assembled before God are hundreds of groups like this that have their complaint against God for the evil and suffering permitted and how lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear or hunger or hatred.

What did God know of all of that humanity has been forced to endure in this world, for God leads a pretty sheltered life they say. So each of these groups choose a leader to form their case against God; there is a Jew, a young black man, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic. In the center of the plain they consult with each other and at last they present their case. Before God could be qualified to be their judge he must endure what they have endured and their decision was that God would be sentenced to live on earth as a man. Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think that he is out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges. Let him be tried by a prejudice jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured and at the last let him see what it means to be terribly alone and then let him die. Let him die so that there can no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it. And as each leader announced his portion of the sentence loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled and when the last had finished pronouncing sentence there was a long silence. No one uttered another word and no one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.

Jesus Christ was not protected from this world; God's only son. The world did its worst against him. He suffered and died and was resurrected from the dead. Death itself cannot hold him. And so that Jesus Christ who is now resurrected and in power and in glory is one who understands and sympathizes with the weaknesses and trials that we face and he on the other side of the grave who is giving us that resurrection life calls us to fix our eyes on the hope to which we have been called. We don't have all of the answers, but we live in hope. At the core of who we are now and at the core of who we are becoming we are safe. We are not safe by the world's standards, but we are safe because we look forward to the resurrection from the dead. There is a day coming when it will be all clear; when we are finally free from evil and suffering, when God himself will wipe the tears from every eye and it's the day of resurrection. Take a look at the two columns. On the right hand side there is only one hope. Different words, but one hope. That is Christianity's final answer to the situation of the world; a savior who suffered in it, who died for it, who understands it, who is resurrected on the other side and invites us now to share in his resurrection. That's God answer.

Let's pray. Father, there is so much in us that struggles. Help us now to root ourselves deeply in to Jesus Christ. Work in us that our eyes would be firmly upon him, our faith in him and our hope in the future that you hold for us in Jesus Christ. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

© 2007, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org