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God and the Problem of Evil

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The question of the problem of evil is a burning question. How do you explain the difference between how God allowed sin into the world and yet does not himself sin?

Ironically, this question was answered a long time ago by the “greatest mind America has ever produced.” How does God ordain sin and yet remain sinless? To say that God “causes” evil is to say, or perhaps imply, that he is to blame for it. God is not the “cause” of sin, but it is by his “ordination.” “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4). God has allowed evil and sin to enter the world, but he himself does not sin or engage in sinful behavior.

It may be helpful at this point to establish a good definition of “sin.” Sin is the rebellious attitude of the heart against God’s standard of holiness and righteousness. God is not guilty of sinning, because he can never violate his own holiness. God can never not reach his standard of righteousness. Because God is, by definition, perfect, he can never be imperfect.

But if he “allows” or “ordains” or “causes” sin or others to sin, is this not the same as being guilty of sin? The short answer is no. Why not? Because the goal or ends to which the evil and sin is ordained is not evil and sin in themselves. In other words, God does ordain sin for the purpose of sin. He doesn’t allow evil for the purpose of there being evil. God ordains evil and sin for the purpose of good. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). Or, in the words of Jonathan Edwards: “God wills that evil come to pass . . . that good may come of it.”

That leads us to that one very important vital link to connect it all. And that is God’s glory. Again Jonathan Edwards says in a somewhat lengthy quote:

“It is a proper and excellent thing for infinite glory to shine forth; and for the same reason, it is proper that the shining forth of God’s glory should be complete; that is, that all parts of his glory should shine forth, that every beauty should be proportionably effulgent, that the beholder may have a proper notion of God. It is not proper that one glory should be exceedingly manifested, and another not at all.

Thus it is necessary, that God’s awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness, should be manifested. But this could not be, unless sin and punishment had been decreed; so that the shining forth of God’s glory would be very imperfect, both because these parts of divine glory would not shine forth as the others do, and also the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all.

If it were not right that God should decree and permit and punish sin, there could be no manifestation of God’s holiness in hatred of sin, or in showing any preference, in his providence, of godliness before it. There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from. How much happiness soever he bestowed, his goodness would not be so much prized and admired.

So evil is necessary, in order to the highest happiness of the creature, and the completeness of that communication of God, for which he made the world; because the creature’s happiness consists in the knowledge of God, and the sense of his love. And if the knowledge of him be imperfect, the happiness of the creature must be proportionably imperfect.”

So it is God’s glory that is the bottom-line. God ordains evil and sin, yes. BUT he does not use it to accomplish evil or sin, he uses it to accomplish good. And the ultimate good for both the believer and the unbeliever is for God to glorify himself.

If there were no evil or sin in the world, we would not know what goodness and righteousness are. Without imperfection, we would not fully know perfection. Without sin we would not know justice. Without sin, we would not know mercy. Without sin, we would not know forgiveness. Without sin, there would be no cross. Without sin, there would be no atoning love. Without sin, there would be no redemption. Or in other words, without sin, we would not know God’s glory. And without knowing God’s glory we would never truly know God.

Sin is necessary to fully know and experience God’s glory, and thus, sin is necessary to fully know and experience God.

“This Day’s Awakening” Guest Post by Brian Campbell

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If you’ve never heard of Brian Campbell, you need to. He is a gifted musician, song writer, and worship leader. I’ve been getting to know him over the last 4 months and am increasingly encouraged by our friendship. Because of a recent conversation that we had, I’ve asked him to write a blog post for us about what he has seen God doing in the church around the USA. It’s pretty encouraging. Enjoy. – Mario

Jesus’ disciples consistently operated from a place of experience. Before the community leaders, Peter and John acknowledge their chief argument is only “what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20); Paul’s entire ministry was based upon a single encounter with the Son of God on the Damascus road where he was commanded to bear witness to he had seen and heard (Acts 22:15); John begins his gospel with his own testimony: “I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34). A sort of holy “show and tell” ensued in the first century, where ordinary people saw Jesus and their lives were changed as they simply shared what He did.

Mario asked me to write briefly about what we have seen on the road in this exciting season of the American church. I talked with our team this week at Come&Live [(www.comeandlive.com) they're absolutely brilliant by the way!] and our friends are seeing the same things. For me it took seeing the awakening theme on seven consecutive church signs–and for my good friend Aaron Long to write a song about it. The reality is that it seems like across denominations, across church creeds, and across state boundaries, there is a strong sense of expectation, of movement, of becoming, and of stepping into purpose. It is like something beautiful and long dormant has begun to stir again in the people of God–and not just on the fringes or from the pulpits, but in the pews!

The theme was so strongly and frequently visited through our spring event locations, that I decided to do a study of the “great awakenings” in this country’s history. All began in the first decades of a new century, first in the 1700s, with preachers like Jonathan Edwards and the Wesley Brothers (great bluegrass band name by the way). It brought the country to a place of experience, away from mere ritual to heartfelt faith. It was so deeply influential that eighty years later the writers of the American Constitution, heavily influenced by their French counterparts, could not make the radical shift to anti-God, but rather could only move Him to a place of the Unmoved Mover, the deist’s God. The 1800s saw a second great awakening, a move under preachers like Charles Finney which focused on the salvation of lost people. It led within 30 years to the end of slavery and the birth of evangelicalism. It can be argued that a third great awakening was witnessed at Azusa  Street with Catherine Coleman in the early 20th century. In a sense rediscovering the Person of the Holy Spirit, who was long marginalized in many Protestant churches, the 20th centuries great awakening led to the Jesus Movement, the charismatic renewal in the early 1980s, the general appreciation and rediscovery of a vital person of the Godhead in the evangelical church.

As we are well engaged in the 20th century, there is a sense that this day’s great awakening is at hand: I see individuals who were on the road for years of effective ministry being planted in local churches to care for God’s people; I see others who, like me, grew in the local church and are now being virtually pulled into a broader role in the people of God. This shift and shake-up tells me God is at work, bringing people into the roles that He has prepared them for in this time. It’s a time to prepare God’s people, to equip, and to cultivate, and to encounter the living God. But then again, all times are good to encounter Him.

What encourages me most about this days’ awakening is that instead of one charismatic figurehead or apostolic figure leading the charge, there are literally tens of thousands of people around this nation doing exactly what I do. Many of them have similar hearts, gifts, andpassions, and they’re all needed! I think about a scripture I read that says everything is a “yes” in Christ, and in this season, I believe this is particularly relevant. Do you feel called to care for homeless people? Do it! Do you see a need to help rescue children from human trafficking in Europe? Do it! Do you want to try to lead worship at your local church? Do it! Do it, learn and do it better, learn to do it with others, learn to structure your life in a way to unleash the Kingdom through whatever you’re doing.

In all of it, get ready, stay ready, get others ready. The great awakening of our time is about to begin.

To learn more about Brian Campbell visit www.briancampbellmusic.com

Our God

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Our God is a heavenly Father who loves his enemies and wins their affections. He makes children out of his enemies. Although God would be completely justified in pouring out his wrath on us and condemning us for our sin, he reconciles us to himself and forgives us of all our sin by pouring out his wrath on Christ.

Our Father is perfectly and completely holy, and wants his children to pursue holiness through a heart of worship and affection for him. No matter how often we may betray his trust and be unfaithful toward God, our Father will never be unfaithful to us. Though we sin, God will never break his covenant with us. He will never leave us or forsake us and will always keep his word because he knows us. He knows that we are sinful and needy and that without him we are worthless. So he provides all that is needed for us both in our physical life and in our relationship with him. Though we are sinful, though we are weak, though we were his enemy, though we are unfaithful, God is good and will be good to us.

God: Our Good Father

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Building on his teaching of God knowing us and providing for us, Jesus appeals to God’s goodness as a Father to convince us of its truth. In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus says to the crowd:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Jesus’ reasoning is very simple. He is arguing from the lesser to the greater. If we humans who are evil know how to be good providers for our kids, is not God (who is not evil but perfectly good) more than capable and willing to be a good provider for his children? Of course the answer is yes.

It is easy to question God’s goodness in the midst of “bad” circumstances.  It can feel as if God is not being good to us, or that we are being punished. God, as a good Father, does discipline his children, but he never gives a bad gift. The cancer you found out you have is not a bad gift. The loved one you lost was not a bad gift. The good job you were wrongfully fired from was not a bad gift. The suffering and trials in your life are not bad gifts. They are good gifts. And what makes them good is both the Giver who gave them and the purpose for which he gave them.

Our circumstances are designed to make us more like the One who saved us. Our lives are not a series of accidents and random chance events, rather everything is the result of a careful planning by a caring God who has one goal in mind for every Christian, to be more like his Son, Jesus. Paul says in Romans 8, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Before all time, God sovereignly ordained for your life to be filled with trials, and not just any trials, but your specific trials. Why? Because he knows what is best and what is good and how to make you more like Jesus in the best and most good way possible.

In addition to the “bad” things in our life, God also provides the good things. In  6:25-33, Jesus states:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Again Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater to make his point. Our good Father takes note of even the tiniest birds. Their needs do not escape his notice, nor do they escape his provision. God’s knowledge and provision extends to even the lowliest of creatures. How can we, who are more valuable than they, even think that he will not provide for us, the very bearers of his image? Because God is good, and providing for the needs of his children is good, we can be assured that God will provide for us. God is a good Father.

Our Heavenly Father (Part 3)

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As the sovereign Creator and Lord of everything, our heavenly Father rewards those who fear him and not those who fear the opinions and approval of other people (6:1). In a world that is ravaged by fear of man and gaining the approval of others, God wants us to see him as the most supreme and valuable being to fear. Not because he is narcissistic and out of control, but because what our hearts desire (approval and acceptance) can only be truly found in fearing God. Fearing anything other than God will only lead to disappointment and despair. Fear God is the beginning of wisdom and the ultimate experience of true joy.

Only a Father who is separate, different and set apart from this earth (only a Father who is heavenly), can accomplish all this in and through us.

Our Heavenly Father (Part 1)

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In Matthew 6:10, Jesus teaches his disciples how they should pray. When addressing God in prayer, Jesus emphasizes relating to God, not just as our Father, but as our heavenly Father. God as our “heavenly” Father is a theme that Jesus begins early in his sermon on the mount and continues to develop through out. In Matthew 5:44-45 Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven”; in 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven”; in 6:26, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”; in 6:32, “For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all”; and in 7:11, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Jesus wants us to understand and relate to God as our heavenly Father.

Understanding and relating to God the Father as “heavenly” is important because of the implications it has. The term “heavenly” is more than just an adjective ascribed to give us the whereabouts of God. Jesus doesn’t emphasize God as “heavenly” to give us his street address; there is something greater going on here. Jesus is describing our Father as the boss of the Universe. Everything exists  or ceases to exist at his command. Therefore, God is the only One with both the right and the power to issue commands and demand perfect obedience to them. But he does not do this as a strict school Master, but as a kind and benevolent Father. His commands are not over bearing and impossible to follow, they are lovingly crafted with our benefit in mind.

God As Father

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Most of the people we meet have a very difficult time relating to God as Father. Whenever we dig a little deeper as to the reason why, we usually discover that the biggest reason people have difficulty with relating to God as their heavenly Father is that they lacked good earthly one. We tend to project our experience with our dads on to God. If our dads were angry and physically abusive, we tend to have trouble seeing God as kind or gentle. If our dads were passive and uninvolved we tend to struggle with whether or not God really cares about us. Whatever faults our sinful earthly fathers had, we tend to think of God in a similar light. But sooner or later we have to discover that God calls us to understand him based on what he has revealed about himself and not what others have revealed about themselves.

Worship: The Heart of Our Identity

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When we use the word “worship” in modern evangelical circles it invokes images of Sunday morning congregations singing hymns or praise and worship songs to a piano, organ, or even electric guitars and drums. When you first read the title of this post you may have thought that it was about singing and playing music on Sunday mornings. But when I use the word worship I am speaking of what every person ever created was born to do.

What one thing occupies your thoughts? What drives you to be the person you are? If you were to ask yourself what the single most important thing in your life is, what one single thing your treasure in your heart above everything else, would you say that it is God? It would be tempting to say, “God” as your answer because years of preconditioning in Sunday school has taught you that nine times out of ten that is the right answer. Be honest with yourself. Most of us know that the answer should be “God.” But the truth is that God is not occupying the center of our lives. Moreover, we don’t know how to make him the most important thing in our life. Most of us have been taught the “what” of Christianity, but few of us seem to understand the “how.” Simply knowing that God should be the prized possession of our hearts doesn’t make him so.

Worshiping God is about more than what style of music you have on Sunday mornings. Worshiping God is living daily at setting God as the highest object of your affection and ultimate source of joy through faith in Jesus Christ. It is through knowing and trusting in Christ by faith as the perfect image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15) that we experience all that the Father is and has done for us, and thereby engage in true worship.

CyberChimps