Why is there so much pain and suffering in our world?

That isn’t an intellectual question is it? It’s not a question we ask ourselves dispassionately and nor should we. It’s a question we ask in the crucible of suffering; when we hear news of a national disaster like this weeks air crash, a terrorist attack or other natural disaster. But it’s also the question that ambushes each and everyone of us when we hear words we never want or expected to hear in the consulting room, or in the phone call telling us of the loss of a loved one, or as we simply live life amidst the rubble of our broken world.

This question is the most painful one we can ask, it gets to the heart of who we are, how we feel, it unmasks our shattered hopes and dreams, our losses and grief. The great news is that the bible isn’t cold and clinical in its answer, we don’t find a chapter on suffering that dispassionately tells us ‘why?’ Instead we find the answer woven into the stories of God’s suffering people living in a suffering world, and most amazingly of all how it all leads to a suffering God redeeming a suffering world. As we walk through some of what the bible teaches on suffering, and this is by no means everything the bible says about it, we’re going to ask three questions: Why is there so much suffering? What has God done about it? And what difference does it make?

Why is there so much suffering in our world?

It’s a question everyone of us has to answer because all of us experiences suffering. It’s an inevitability of life. Why we think it is there will determine how we face it and live in and through it.

When you take something back to a shop the customer service advisor asks you what’s wrong with the product. What they’re actually trying to work out is; is it broken because of a manufacturing fault or because of misuse by the owner? You can take your iPad back if it is broken because the on button or speakers won’t work, but not if it’s broken because you decided to clean it by putting it through your dishwasher.

That question: ‘manufacturing fault or owner misuse?’ is a helpful one to ask when we think about suffering in the world. The book of Genesis opens by describing the universe God made. It’s beautiful and bountiful. God looks at it and declares that it’s “very good”. That doesn’t mean that if God were doing a survey, like we do rating our holiday destination, that God would give it 7/10. It doesn’t mean could be better. God looks at the world he’s made and sees a world that’s overflowing with provision, that’s marked by harmonious relationships, that’s without suffering, grief, arguments, miscommunication, pain, death. It’s a world where everything is in order, where there’s perfect balance, where each part is perfectly put together to bring joy. It’s a place of security, beauty, and plenty. Where humanity has joy filled relationship with one another, the world and with God.

That’s the world God made, that he declares very good. In part it explains why we feel it’s so wrong when we suffer. It’s why we feel so frustrated when our child comes home having been bullied, or we hear of the diagnosis of a friend, or stand at the bedside and then graveside of loved ones. We weren’t made for this, we were made to enjoy something much more and that longing lingers in each and every one of our hearts.

But that may be the world God created and we’d love to live in but it doesn’t describe the one we live in does it? And the Bible shows us how we got from there to here. In Genesis 3 we see that the pain and suffering in our world isn’t because of manufacturing error but because of owner misuse. God gives this amazing world into the care of men and women. He doesn’t just leave us to it but shares his wisdom on how to rule his world so we can enjoy it at its optimum, so that joy lasts as he intends, beautiful, bountiful and secure.

Imagine I buy a new car. That car comes with a manual, it tells me to keep the tyres inflated and regularly check them, top up the oil and coolant every month and put diesel in the fuel tank. Why are those instructions there? Is it because the manufacturer wants to restrict my enjoyment? Imagine I’m standing at a garage by the fuel pump. Now I know the manufacturer told me to put diesel in the car, but petrol is cheaper. ‘The manufacturer is just holding me back’, I think, ‘I want the freedom to choose which fuel I use, I want to decide right and wrong for myself.’ Whose fault is it when a few miles down the road the car breaks down? Mine.

God isn’t restrictive but loving. Yet when tempted to doubt God’s love and care humanity rejects God’s instructions on how to best enjoy his creation. Once the idea that God isn’t good and doesn’t love us but is simply holding us back takes root we’re free to ignore his word and decide for ourselves. The consequences of doubting God’s love and rejecting his word are all around us. The Bible calls that rejection of God’s love and his wisdom and relationship with him sin.

It’s sin that causes the suffering and pain we see around us. Sin causes anger, hatred, greed, violence, rape, famine, murder, terrorism and so on. Sin in our hearts accounts for much of the brokenness and suffering in the world.

But what about natural disasters? What about tsunami’s, earthquakes and the like? They show us that the world is broken, that it’s sin sick. When man rejected God it had consequences not just for us but for the world we live in, like a stone dropped in a puddle the ripples ripple out. One Bible writer describes the world as being in the pains of childbirth. The world is groaning because of the pain it feels because of sin. Telling us that there’s something wrong, that this isn’t paradise, it isn’t how it was meant to be. The universe still contains great beauty, giving us glimpses of what it was like in all its glory but it’s now just a shadow of what God intended it to be. But that pain isn’t pointless just like childbirth it’s leading us to something new.

Suffering and pain are a call to us, they highlight a problem; sin, a world out of relationship with God.

What has God done about it?

If God made a perfect world only to see it corrupted by sin what’s he done about it? There is a danger in looking at the world and thinking God is doing nothing and has done nothing. Even assuming that God doesn’t care and has just left us to it.

In John 11 we see something amazing. God isn’t indifferent, he’s not distant, here we see God alongside us suffering in the world. Jesus is God the Son made man, entering into the brokenness of the world, God experiencing pain and suffering just as we do. Here we see him at a friends funeral, surrounded by mourners, having just comforted the grieving sisters, he weeps(35). (38)Jesus approaches the tomb; “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.” That word “deeply moved” doesn’t do justice to how Jesus feels. The word actually means to bellow with anger. Jesus as he approaches his friends tomb isn’t overcome by uncontrollable grief but by irrepressible anger. What’s he angry at? The pain and suffering that death brings. He is angry at how sin and Satan have so twisted God’s good creation. Jesus, God the Son is furious at death and suffering, not God, because sin causes suffering. God hates sin and its effects more than we do.

But anger without action is useless isn’t it? What does Jesus do? As he approaches the tomb and calls them to take the stone away from the tomb Jesus is angry at death, outraged by sin and the devastation it causes, and at him who has the power of death. Jesus approaches Lazarus tomb as a champion going into battle. As he prays to his Father(41-42), as he calls (43)“Lazarus, come out!” Jesus is doing battle with sin and death and Satan. And in the seconds after his shout it’s not just the crowd of mourners who wait, it’s as if the whole of creation holds its breath as it waits to see what’ll happen. “The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth round his face.”

Jesus at that moment shows his power to overcome sin and suffering and death and him who is behind it all. Jesus shows us what life should be like. He calms an out of control creation that terrifies and threatens his disciples, he overcomes the evil forces that hold people captive, he restores the sick to health, he removes disabilities and he raises the dead. He gives us a glimpse of what life was like before we rejected God, what it would be like to live life under the rule of a good God enjoying his love and protection. And he promises us that one day he’ll return and that glimpse will become an eternal reality. Sin will be judged and done away with once and for all.

Yet despite that glimpse men reject him again. (46-50)What do they do with Jesus? They plot to kill him. At the cross God himself tastes suffering; beaten, rejected, slandered, spat upon, mocked, alone, reviled, abused, a victim of injustice, and finally killed in the most humiliating and degrading way possible. And yet through all this rebellion and rejection God is sovereignly still at work. Not at the mercy of men, but working even through their decision to reject and crucify to save.

But here’s the problem of the kingdom Jesus shows us. One day Jesus promises he will come again and bring a world without suffering, without pain, without selfishness, without abuse, without injustice, without hatred. He will renew the world so it is as it was in the beginning. And that means a world without sin. Imagine for a minute that you and I were dropped into a world like that as we are? Would it be loving and just of God to let us unchanged into that world? We’d ruin it wouldn’t we! Because the problem isn’t just out there it’s in here. If God starts judging sin eventually he has to get to me and to you, and we face exclusion from that world and judgement from God for the suffering we cause.

God hates sin and the suffering it causes and will recreate a world where there’s no sin only loving relationship with God and therefore no pain and suffering. But he can’t let us in as we are. And it’s not enough to try to be good and meet God’s standard, because the standard is perfection. So at the cross Jesus doesn’t just experience suffering he suffers for us. He willingly takes our punishment for our sin and rebellion, all the suffering and pain we’ve caused. And that’s not all. He gives us his perfect, sinless, rebellion less, record, so we can know God now and one day as God’s people enter God’s new creation.

The suffering and pain around us shows us the world and we aren’t as we were made to be. But the gospel tells us God has done everything necessary to forgive us, and make us his new people fit for a world with no suffering mourning, crying or pain, all just the side effects of being in a right relationship with God. And God is sovereign but gracious; he doesn’t deal with suffering and pain and its cause sin now because he’s patiently waiting, giving us a chance to turn to him, to trust Jesus for forgiveness and new life so we don’t face his judgement.

Will you take that chance?

What difference does that make?

Following Jesus transforms the way we think of pain and suffering. It doesn’t answer all our questions. But it does help us put our suffering into the bigger picture. It tells me God is a good loving heavenly Father who is sovereign and nothing is outside of his care. It tells me the world is broken and not as it should be and God cares about that, he’s more angry at suffering and sin than I’ll ever be. And he hasn’t left us alone to face it, he came, he died to get us ready for the world we long for. Whenever we’re tempted to think ‘why?’ ‘God do you care?’ We look back to the cross and see how much God cared and the price he pays to win for us back to right relationship with him.

Following Jesus doesn’t make us immune from suffering, it doesn’t make us emotionless robots. If anything it makes the grief more real because we know exactly what was lost. We mourn sin and it’s effects, just like Jesus did. We will rage against suffering and pain, we will feel the pain and grieve the loss of loved ones deeply, we’ll be angry not at God but at sin and its twisting of God’s perfect world and our own hearts.

But we don’t grieve without hope. Because we fix our eyes on Jesus – God with us! God suffering for us! His promise through the Holy Spirit never to leave us. His winning for us a certain future; a world without sin. The gospel brings us hope in suffering and comfort in the loving care of our Father who will amazingly and in ways I can never know work even my suffering for good and glory. No moment of it will be wasted, even though we may never welcome it, and never does he leave us alone in it. And one day, by grace, he’ll end all suffering and pain and welcome those who trust him into the world we all want and that he longs for us to enjoy with him.

Do you see the difference that hope makes to our suffering? There’s a rugged realism to how followers of Jesus think of suffering, and a real recognition of the pain it causes. There’s repentance and rescue from sin and a return to relationship with the Father. And the promise that we are always loved, never alone and no situation is wasted and the hope that one day God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes and suffering will end.

Could God ever love me?

My Notes from last talk at Leeds Met Mission week.

Morality ladder – If God is at the top as the only perfect being, where would you put the following people? Hitler, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, Amy Winehouse, David Beckham, you? Where is the cut off point at which you please God and why?

Hope fully that little activity gave you something to talk about. It’s an interesting little conundrum isn’t it. Who pleases God and how? Who is moral? How do you make it right if you’ve got it wrong?  I want to think about that for a few minutes this evening, where does God set the bar? Who does he love? Who does he view as moral?

Jesus tells a story in the story is a man “a man who had two sons”(11). It’s a story that confronts us with three ways to live and ends with a shock.

Life without God
This man has two sons but then comes the shock(v12), the younger son wants to leave home, and not just move out and get his own place but he wants his share of the inheritance. What he effectively says to his dad is this; ‘Dad, you’re not dead yet but I can’t wait that long, can I have now what will be mine when you are!’ That’s what he’s saying; I am wasting my life waiting for you to die before I can do what I want so why don’t you give me my inheritance now! You are holding me back, I’m missing out, I wish you were dead!

And having been given his inheritance the younger son leaves, he gets as far away from his father as he can(13) and begins living it up. He lives and spends recklessly, wildly. He joins the young wealthy socialites, the ‘in crowd’, he throws himself into the party life. He lives life how he wants trying to eek out every last second of fun to give it meaning.

(14-16)But soon the money is gone and he ends up doing a demeaning job and life isn’t fun anymore. His pursuit of pleasure, living his life his own way, deciding right and wrong for himself leaves him in need. It leaves him empty and longing for home even though he knows he can no longer be a son, notice that his plan is to go back to his dad and ask to be a servant because his dad can’t love him after what he has done, he is just too bad!

It’s a picture of the story of the Bible, God creates a world and gives it to us to enjoy in relationship with him, but we want the world but not the relationship. We want to be free to pursue what we want when we want it.

It’s an idea captured in the song from a couple of years ago Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal:

I wake up everyday it’s a daydream
Everythin’ in my life isn’t what it seems
I wake up just to go back to sleep
I act real shallow but I’m in to deep
And all I care about is sex and violence
And a heavy bass line is my kind of silence
Everybody says I got to get a grip
But I let sanity give me the slip

Some people think I’m bonkers
But I just think I’m free
Man I’m just living my life
There nothing crazy about me
Some people pay for thrills
but I get mine for free
Man I’m just living my life
There nothing crazy about me

Freedom matters and freedom is about doing what I want when I want it, about getting thrills, it is about self determination.

I guess we wouldn’t put it as bluntly as that. But we can be just like this rebellious son. We share his view of God as a harsh disciplinarian who limits fun, who I need to escape to be free and really live life? But when we find things are empty and we think about God we can feel too bad for God to love, we think like this son God could never love me now.

That’s the first way we can relate to God, we can live.

Being very good
At first glance the older brother seems the opposite of the younger brother. He stays and works for his Father, he doesn’t squander the inheritance, he doesn’t rebel.

I think that’s the way we think morality works, I’d guess we think God loves the very good. We earn God’s favour by being very very good, that we tot up brownie points to make it into heaven.

But(27-30) notice something about this good son, he may have been very good but he has exactly the same problem as his brother he just expresses it differently. He doesn’t want relationship with the father either, he just wants his father’s riches, but he goes about getting it by being very, good.

His wrong attitude is shown when his Father welcomes back the younger son, it is just too much that his Father would welcome back such a rebel, because his father should only love good, hard working sons who have stayed on the farm!

The older brother is a picture of another way we can wrongly think we relate to God, by being very, very good, thinking that we earn God’s favour. Older brother types think that what God wants to hear from them is “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.”

They believe you can save yourself, that if you just try hard enough, if you are good enough, if you go to church enough, if you serve others enough, if you are moral enough you will be good enough.

Yet where is the older son at the end of the story? The good moral person is outside the feast – the place of welcome and relationship. Why because he will not accept the Father’s gracious welcome to the feast, because he is furious that God could show grace to rebels.

But fundamentally if that is us our problem is that we haven’t understood the nature of our problem. You see God’s standard is perfection, Jesus says elsewhere it is to love God with all you heart soul mind and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself. We fall short, we may be better than so and so but no amount of goodness can make up for that failing.

Am I an older brother? Do I think relationship with God is based on performance, on my being very good, that I can earn it? Jesus is warning here that we can’t!

But there is a third way to live, and that is to live accepting the gracious love of the Father.

Sheer Grace
The father in this parable is utterly astonishing in his love and graciousness isn’t he? (12)He gives his younger son what he wants when he wants to leave, he doesn’t force him to stay. He longs for his return and welcomes him with open arms and lavish love, not making him grovel or apologise but graciously giving him relationship. And with the older brother, he doesn’t rebuke him for his harsh words or lack of respect rather he goes out and asks him to enter the feast, to have relationship too. Those actions for a Father are costly.

God’s love and acceptance are free and you can never have been too bad to return, but you have to accept it. God offers grace to both the lost sons. Is that how you think of God?

This is the third of three lost parables Jesus told. The first(3-7) is about a lost sheep, the second a lost coin. In each something gets lost, is found, and ends with feasting and celebration over that discovery. But there is something missing in the story of the lost sons.

In the other two someone searches for what is lost, but in the third no-one goes to search. In Luke 19:10 Jesus says this “The Son of Man (himself) came to seek and save what was lost.” Jesus comes sent by the Father to seek lost sons, whether they are lost because they have overtly rejected relationship with God and are seeking meaning in pleasure, or they are lost trying to save themselves by being very, very good and earning a place in heaven.

He comes to find the lost but he also comes to pay the price of forgiveness. God doesn’t stand waiting looking for us to return he sends his Son to find us and bring us back. To pay the price for our rebellion and make us right with God. That was the Pharisees problem they knew sin had to be dealt with, how could Jesus welcome sinners without dealing with their sin.

Once a month in our house the credit card bill plops onto the door mat. It contains details of all the spending of the previous month and tells us the date it must be paid for.

Jesus is not letting sinners off here! He is not saying sin doesn’t matter. But rather he is saying because we can’t make ourselves right with God he will pay for the price for us. As he dies on the cross he pays for the rebellion of those who repent and believe in him. He gives us his perfect record and relationship with God.

Not so that we can get the inheritance, but so that we can enjoy relationship with God. Heaven is not the prize God is! The feast is a picture of restored relationship.

Do you see the three ways to live; you can reject God and live life but at some point you will come up empty, you can live life thinking you are earning credit with God but it will never be enough because the standard is perfection, or you can accept God’s grace freely given to you in Jesus, and live with him as your king.

God is waiting for you to return whether you think you are too bad or too good. He sends his son to bring us back not to be slaves, not to work our fingers to the bone to earn eternal life but to accept the free gift of relationship with the Father, of becoming his loved child.

What will you do with that gift?

Some of you here tonight may want to accept that grace that God gives, you may have realised that you’ve rejected God either by living life how you want, or by thinking being good would be good enough. I’m going to pray in a minute and you may want to join in with that.

Some of you may want to know more, on your table are feedback cards please sign up to look at who Jesus is.  Or Maybe you think what I’ve said is a load of rubbish, why not right that down as well.

Father God, I recognise that I need your forgiveness for the way I have lived my life. I am sorry for putting myself at the centre and living in your world as if I was in charge. Please forgive me. Thank you for sending your only Son into the world to live in my place and to die in my place. Thank you that Jesus has experienced the judgement I deserve.

From now on I want to follow him as my Saviour and King, so please help me by your spirit, day by day, to do whatever Jesus says.

Amen 

Why would a loving God allow suffering?

This is without doubt the question that is most asked by people and it is a great question. We are just going to watch a clip from a film called Patch Adams. Patch played by Robin Williams is a student doctor; he has set up a free clinic to care for those without medical insurance. But one of the patients murders his girlfriend. We pick up the story as a grieving Patch confronts God over what has happened.

Clip from Patch Adams Ch 13 1:28:50-1:31:00  “Let’s look at the logic; you create man, man suffers enormous amounts of pain and dies. Maybe you should have had a few more brainstorming sessions before creation. You rested on the seventh day maybe you should have spent that day on compassion.”

I think it’s a clip that sums up our problem as we look at the world. The world is full of tragedy and suffering isn’t it? Tsunami’s, earthquakes, war, genocide, drought, starvation, oppression, slavery and so on.

The bible is not silent when it comes to suffering, it doesn’t hide from issues like death, grief, mourning, illness, childlessness, disability, or the impact of natural disasters. But the Bible maintains that even in the face of suffering God is good and it considers both natural disasters and man-made suffering. Its honesty about these issues is another thing which makes the bible and Christianity unique. Ask a Muslim about suffering and they will reply it is the will of Allah, ask a Hindu and its karma, ask an atheist and they will tell you it is just random chance, part of the natural evolutionary cycle. But the Bible’s answer is both more satisfying and more serious.

It may surprise you but the Bible gives some time to thinking about life without God and concludes that everything; riches, poverty, pleasures, sadness, enjoyment, suffering is all meaningless if there is no God because the end result is the same we die.

If there is no God then suffering is just part of evolution, a way of weeding out the weak from the strong, we shouldn’t mourn over it but marvel at its ruthless efficiency. If there is no God there is no point in suffering so we should just get over it and get on with life.

The author of that book concludes at the end that life only makes sense with God in the picture. So how does the bible explain how a loving God can allow suffering?

Positive Pain
Luke 13:1-9. The crowds are gathering around Jesus and they tell him about how (1)Pilate has massacred some Galileans and mixed their blood with sacrifices.

Every society has its perceived wisdom, in Jesus day it was that those who were killed in such a disaster must somehow have deserved it, that they must have been worse sinners than anyone else. But Jesus disagrees(2-3), in fact he says “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no!”

And what he does next is even more surprising isn’t it? After all its easy to explain this suffering s man made – Pilate did it. (4-5)But now Jesus raises the bar by discussing the issue of natural disasters, and he reiterates his point, those who were killed when the tower fell on them were not more sinful than anyone else, but neither does Jesus say it just happened.

(3,5)Jesus warns the crowd that those who died in both incidents were no more sinful than anyone else and calls on the crowd to recognise they have a common destiny. Everyone dies the only question is timing and circumstance, and he uses both tragedies to warn the crowd to repent. He goes on to tell a parable to show them that they must respond and bear fruit or face judgement.

Do you see what Jesus is saying? Suffering is a warning, it reminds us of our frailty and that we will all die, it shows us the consequences of a world where we live without reference to God.

Leprosy is a horrible disease, it stops you feeling pain so that you no longer remove your hand from the hot surface, or feel it when you step on glass, or notice when you slice into your finger. Pain is an early warning sign that something is wrong. Suffering is in part designed to warn us that something is wrong, wrong with our world, and wrong with us and to make us ask big questions and search for big answers.

I think we like Patch make an assumption that God made the world like this.

What’s wrong with the world?
Do you notice how Jesus describes the people he is talking to and the people who died? “Sinners” And not just those that died in fact he says all humans are sinners.

Behind our question ‘How could a loving God allow suffering?’ is the wrong assumes that the world is how it is because God made it that way. But actually what Jesus says is that God didn’t make the world this way sin did. The Bible shows us God creating a perfect world, a world without suffering, without natural disasters, without acts of evil, until man decided to oust God and rule the world according to our version of right and wrong.

And from that moment on everything unravels. The chaos, destruction, evil, suffering and natural disasters are all the result of a world where we try to rule the world in our wisdom rather than God’s.

But God is not done with the world yet. If you read through the gospels you see Jesus calming a raging out of control creation, you see him free a demon possessed man, then he heals a sick woman liberating her from her years of suffering, and finally he brings an end to mourning as he undoes death itself. Jesus is not indifferent to suffering nor is he incapable in the face of it. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the world we all want. A world with no death, no mourning, no pain, no illness, no conflict, no natural disasters. A world with none of the consequences of sin because there is no sin, a world which is perfect because it is ruled by God.

Jesus gives us glimpses of the world we all want and he comes to prepare us for it. Our world is dislocated because it is out of relationship with God because we reject God and want to decide right and wrong for ourselves. One day God will deal justly with all the sin that has caused suffering, but that means he must deal justly with us – with our rejection of him and the suffering we have caused others.

The Silent Plain.
At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before Gods throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly – not with cringing shame but with belligerence. “Can God judge us?”

“How can he know about suffering?” snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beating … torture … death!”

In another group a black man lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched for no crime but being black!”

In another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. “Why should I suffer?” She murmured. “It wasn’t my fault.”

Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he had permitted in his world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred! What did God know of all that men had been forced to endure in the world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of the groups sent forth their leader, chosen because they had suffered the most. A Jew, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly disabled arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the plain they consulted with each other.

At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever. Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their verdict was that God should 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 him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured. And last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die in agony. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a whole host of witnesses to verify it.

As each leader announced the portion of his sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last finished pronouncing sentence there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.

Jesus comes and shares our suffering, in fact at the cross he goes beyond our suffering because God is not indifferent, God is not in attentive.

A loving God will deal with suffering but for now he waits because in love he is warning us that one day he will deal with all the suffering in the world, but that means he must deal with us. Jesus is God’s warning but he is also the solution, he gives us a glimpse of the world we all want and he is the way there by trusting in him.

In Luke 13 in response to the warning the suffering gives Jesus urges the crowd to repent. To change, to say sorry and stop living life our way with our version of right and wrong and instead live life God’s way, to say thank you for sending Jesus to warn and provide a way we can be forgiven, and lastly ask Jesus to be your king.

If you’re really there God, why don’t you just prove it?

A primary school teacher was once walking around her class during art; most of the children were painting animals or their family or something recognisable. And then she noticed Scott’s rather shapeless yet extremely colourful creation, she stopped by his desk and asked; ‘That’s lovely Scott, what is it?’
“That’s God,” Scott replied.
“But no-one has ever seen God,” his teacher said.
“They have now.” Said Scott looking up at her.

That’s exactly what most of us do in terms of God, not with a paint brush but in terms of our thinking. According to the last census 82% of British people believe there is a God. But I think that what God was like would be different for so many people, for some he’d be the harsh judgemental headmaster who you try desperately to avoid displeasing because he’s just waiting for a chance to punish you, for others he is a slightly senile grandfather figure who is always comforting and ready with a hug no matter what you do, for others, well, they think God must exist but have no idea what he’s like and don’t give it much thought.

They can’t all be right can they? So if God exists why doesn’t he just prove it and show us what he is like. I believe that he has.  John 10:22-42. (Read)

Jesus is proof that God exists
As I read it did you notice the extraordinary claims Jesus makes? What are they?

“I give them eternal life”(28), “I and the Father are one.” (30), (38)“the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

Jesus astonishingly claims twice that he and God are one and the same, that he is God the Son, as well as claiming he can give eternal life. (33)The Jews understand exactly what he is claiming, he isn’t just claiming to be a good man, or a good teacher, or even the most important prophet he is claiming to be God. That’s why they are about are about to stone him, and by the way just so we are clear that is with stones, because “you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jesus is claiming that he is God; there is no doubt about that. It’s the greatest declaration of the existence of God ever – Jesus is saying I’m God right here right now standing right in front of you in 1st Century Jerusalem. If you want to hear God speak listen to me, if you want to touch God I’m him, if you want to understand what God has to say to you and about you listen to my words, if you had any doubts about God’s existence I am here to dispel them.

And it isn’t just in this chapter of John, in ch14:8-9. Thomas, one of Jesus followers, asks Jesus to show them the Father and Jesus is a bit surprised by the question. Thomas if you have seen me you have seen the Father. Making that same claim again.

In John 8:58 Jesus makes another amazing claim to the Pharisees “Before Abraham was born, I am!” Jesus is saying he existed before he was born. Jesus consistently declares that he is God.

But I guess anyone can make a claim can’t they, the question is ‘what evidence is there to back up his claims?’

Exhibit A
When the Pharisees are about to stone him notice what Jesus says, he doesn’t issue a retraction or talk about being misquoted, or misunderstood. (34-39)He says look at the evidence, if the evidence backs up my claim believe in me.

What evidence is he talking about? He is talking about his work; if he is doing the work that God does they ought to believe.

One chapter later Jesus goes to his friend Lazarus’ house because Lazarus has died, it looks like a normal graveside scene as Jesus stands there and weeps(35). But Jesus is not ordinary (36)”Then the Jews said: see how he loved him! But some said “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

There is an amazing expectation – if Jesus had been there he could have healed Lazarus even though he was so ill that he died from that illness – Jesus could work miracles. It’s an astonishing expectation. But it’s a statement based on the evidence – already John has recorded Jesus turning water into wine, healing a sick boy, an invalid, a blind man, feeding 5,000, and walking on water. In fact even in books written by his opponents don’t doubt his miracle working they simply attribute it to sorcery.

Later on at the end of his book John writes “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book...” These miracles are a sampling, it’s no wonder the mourners say if he’d been here he could have kept this man from dying, Jesus does what only God can do.

And at the graveside Jesus is about to astound the crowd, because even death is no obstacle to God and therefore to him. (38-44)There is a resounding tone of realism isn’t there, no-one is expecting a resurrection. Even Martha the dead man’s sister when Jesus asks for the tomb to be unsealed says Lord he’ll stink, and you can imagine the dramatic pause after (43)as the crowd wait.

Jesus doesn’t resuscitate Lazarus he speaks the word of life to him conquering death. Jesus does the work of God with God’s power because he is God. The evidence backs up his claims, (11:25)”I am the resurrection and the life...”

But you may be saying the bible is bound to claim Jesus can do all these things. In fact from other sources those hostile to Jesus and Christianity like Josephus the Jewish leaders and Pliny and Tacitus you can discover that:

1. He was a Jewish teacher
2. Many believed he performed healings and exorcisms.
3. Some believed he was the Messiah
4. He was rejected by the Jewish leaders.
5. He was crucified by Pilate during Tiberius reign.
6. Despite crucifixion his followers believed he was alive.
7. Belief was widespread both geographically and socially.

God makes himself clear in Jesus.

Exhibit B
And it isn’t just what Jesus did, hundreds of years before prophets had written down that God would come to his people, across the centuries different prophecies built up the detail of how and where he would be born, how he would live and how he would die. Sometimes sceptics claim that Jesus deliberate fulfilled those prophecies so people would believe in him, now some of those prophecies Jesus could decided to deliberately fulfil but others were beyond Jesus control. For example he couldn’t determine or influence where he’d be born, or his parents taking him to Egypt when he was a toddler, or where he’d live on his return, or how he would die. Yet every single one is fulfilled in Jesus.

John’s gospel starts with just such a prophet, John the Baptist who described himself as “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” Later when John baptises Jesus he says “I have seen and testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” This is the one I was telling you to get ready for, this is the Lord! Jesus is God made flesh, God making himself clear to us

If you’re really there God why don’t you just prove it?

It strikes me that God has done just that, physically, tangibly, with evidence to back up his claims. God made man revealing God to us. But he does more than just reveal God to us. If Jesus is God his words will be the most important that you will ever listen to. So what does he tell us, two key things:

1. The problem is more serious than we could ever imagine
Jesus says the problem of sin, of our rebellion against God, of our living life with us at the centre are so serious we face eternity cut off from God, now if everything good is from God, then somewhere without God will be the opposite and that is hell. And God’s justice means that is the reality we face. Jesus also tells us that we can’t make it up to God by being good.

2. We are more loved than we ever dreamed
But brilliantly Jesus shows us not just the problem but the amazing solution. We can’t live a perfect life but he does it for us.

‘I want to stand where you’re standing’, those are the words on a gravestone in America and underneath is the story behind those words.

During the civil war, a group of confederates were lined up to be executed when a 19 year old Yankee soldier recognised the man he was about to shoot. He marched over to his senior officer and said ‘Sir, I cannot shoot this man. I know if I shoot him I end the lives of his wife and young children too.’

That young man walked over and stood before the condemned man and said those words, ‘I want to stand where you’re standing’, he took his place and the confederate soldier left to go home to his family, and that 19 year old was executed in his place. I want to stand where you’re standing.

That is Jesus message – I want to stand where you are standing, he pays for our rebellion and we get credited with his perfect record.

If only...

If you could only ask God for one thing and knew that he would give it to you, what would it be?

Maybe it would be fame, fortune, love, relationship, stuff. There are all sorts of things that we think ‘if only I had...’ then life would be ok.  Read Luke 5:17-26

If you want a definition of friendship then you see one here, (18)these men bring their paralysed friend on his mat to see Jesus, who has been healing people, and when they realise they can’t get in the door they aren’t put off. They are so determined that their friend must see Jesus that they go up onto the roof of someone’s house and rip part of the roof up and lower their friend down at Jesus feet. So there Jesus is with this man at his feet looking up at him expectantly, a slightly dusty crowd around him, these four faces looking down, and no doubt one slightly miffed home owner staring up open mouth at his new skylight.

What is everyone; the man, the friends, the crowd expecting Jesus to do? They are expecting Jesus to heal him. You can see their thinking it’s simple and its logical: The man is paralysed, Jesus can and has been healing the sick, put two and two together: Jesus will heal their friend. It’s why what comes next is just such a shock, because what does Jesus say? “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

You can imagine their disappointment, you can imagine the crowds surprise, everyone is expecting Jesus to say to this man get up you are healed and for the man to walk off happily ever after into the sunset. You can imagine the man’s confusion, his problem is obvious he is paralysed, he doesn’t lay awake at night thinking ‘If only my sins were forgiven’ he lays awake thinking if only I could walk. What is Jesus playing at?

But what Jesus is actually saying to the man is; you have a bigger problem than not being able to walk and I love you enough to deal with that too. I love you enough to take you deeper than what you think you need. You see if Jesus heals the man’s paralysis that’s great and for a while he will be happy, but eventually there will be another ‘if only...’ Great my legs work and I’m grateful for that but if only I was in a relationship, or if only I had a job. Being healed physically will not heal this man’s deepest problem, it will only provide a temporary fix not a lasting answer.

Cynthia Heimel has worked with a variety of people who have been struggling actors or actresses but finally made it big. When they struggled, waiting tables or working in bars while awaiting their big break they lived life saying ‘If only I could make it in the business, if only I had this or that, I’d be happy.’

We aren’t any different are we? We think that something will bring us fulfilment, answers, that if we could just have our ‘if only...’ we’d be happy.

But she goes on to say, when they got the fame they had been seeking so desperately they were unhappier than before here’s what she wrote “I pity celebrities. No, I do. Celebrities were once perfectly pleasant human beings... but now... their wrath is awful... More than any of us, they wanted fame. They worked, they pushed... The morning after... each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose... because that giant thing they were striving for... that was going to make their lives bearable... provide them with personal fulfilment and... happiness, had happened. And nothing changed they were still them.”

Later on she adds this “I think when God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish.” Isn’t that a really interesting idea; when God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish.” because actually we live life pursuing our deepest wishes our ‘if onlys...’ and think it will make us happy not unhappy.

Here is this paralysed man and what he wants is to walk, it’s his deepest wish because he thinks it will give him happiness. But Jesus loves him so much that he says I will give you something better, he won’t just heal the man’s legs so weeks later he realises he still isn’t happy. He will heal his heart, that is what Jesus is doing when he says “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

We share the same problem that this man shares we are all searching for meaning in life, something which will bring us happiness. We might try to find it in a relationship and for a while we may think that we have found it but eventually we realise it isn’t working and so we move on to the next relationship and the next and so on. Or we might try to find it in a career, or in education, or the search for fame, or anyone one of a hundred other ‘if onlys...’ But Jesus says those solutions are only skin deep, they are temporary solutions, they will never fulfil you, they will work for a little while, like a lemsip alleviates the symptoms of a cold, but when that pleasure has worn off we will have to search for the next thing.

Our problem is that we so often in our search for meaning we exclude God. The bible calls that sin, when we try to build our identity on something other than God on our ‘if onlys’. But do you see how much Jesus loves this man, he doesn’t condemn him for wanting to walk, he doesn’t say you are asking the wrong question and stand waiting, tapping his foot until he asks the right one he lovingly deals with the real issue. Just as Jesus says to us; I want to move past giving you your ‘if onlys’, I love you too much just to do that, I want to heal your heart.

You see if we think meaning will come from fame or career what if we don’t get it, if we think it will come from a relationship what if we never achieve it, and because it is what we are relying on for meaning we are likely to stifle it or crush it, if we think it will come from our looks or how we feel about ourselves what when our looks fade, or more likely wrinkle. Do you see how much Jesus loves this man; he loves him so much that he sees past his ‘If only I could walk...’ Jesus does the same for us as he says it isn’t an ‘if only’ problem it is a heart problem. You will never know contentment while you reject me as the one who will bring meaning to your life, you will never know contentment while you try to fill a God shaped whole with temporary stuff.

Do you notice what happens next – The religious people realise that Jesus is claiming to be God. You see only God could forgive sin because all sin is against God. Imagine for a minute that Pete punches Tim in the face. Who has to forgive Pete. Only the person who has been wronged can forgive, I couldn’t do it, you couldn’t do it. All sin is against God but Jesus here says he can forgive sin because he is God.

(22-26)Jesus asks a great question – which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk, well I guess it is easy to say but harder to do. Any healer could say take up your mat and walk but only God can forgive sin. And Jesus proves he can do it by healing the man as a sign outwardly that he has the power to do what is happening inwardly.

But we all know forgiveness isn’t cheap. You can’t just sweep injustice and sin under the carpet. It has to be paid for. As Jesus utters these words he knows what it will cost him, at the end of Luke’s gospel we see Jesus declared innocent yet die condemned by men and cut off from God. And as he dies he utters these words “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” That cry for forgiveness is not just for the soldiers dividing up his clothes, or for those who mock him, it’s for the paralysed man who lived his life as his life without reference to God, it’s for you and for me who similarly live life without God in the picture.

Jesus is not a divine genie he is more loving than that he comes to be our Saviour, he dies as our saviour, he pays for our sin securing our forgiveness. And freeing us from our ‘if onlys...’ freeing us from looking for anything else for meaning in life because we can know the love of God.

How does the world end? Is there anything after?

That clip came from one of the big films of 2009/2010, 2012 was a disaster movie that explored what would happen if in 2012 the world as we know it ends in a series of cataclysmic events which wiped out mankind. The film is based on an ancient Mayan prophecy which predicts that the world will end on 21st December this year. It’s not the first prophecy that the world will end, some thought it would happen at the turn of the new millennium, a guy in the States last year predicted it would end in March, then revised it to October and has probably revised it again since.

It’s a question worth asking though isn’t it, how does the world end? Because science would tell us the world will end; be it because the sun will burn out or go super-nova consuming the solar system, or be it a new ice age, or a biological weapon or nuclear threat, or an asteroid impact or similar inter-stellar event.

One day the world will end. But what does the bible have to say about it? The bible says that the world will end when Jesus comes again not as a figure in history born in a manger in a backwater town with little fanfare, but when he comes in all his power and might and everyone sees him at last for who he is, So when is it?

The bible doesn’t give us a date, Jesus uses the picture of a burglary to describe what it will be like; “If the owners of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” So Jesus says it will happen, it is definite but it isn’t a date someone knows, it will happen on a day like any other. But more important than when Jesus says be ready!

But the question is actually bigger than just the end of the world isn’t it, because for each of us the world will end. In December 2008 Hiscox, an insurance company in London, installed a counter outside its London Office, it was started at midnight on 1st Jan 2009 and ran until 11.59pm on 31st December. It caused quite a stir because it was a death counter, counting the number of projected deaths worldwide increasing at almost 2 a second until reaching its total of 55million. Whether we are around when the world ends is in some ways irrelevant because for all of us the world will end. The question is what happens next and are we ready.

There are a number of popular ideas:
· Reincarnation – you keep on being reborn as something new, something better if you’ve been good, something worse if you’ve been bad, until eventually you just disappear.
· You die you rot – That is most atheists position, there is nothing after death. We live we get old, if we are lucky, we die we become worm or plant food.
· Some vague better place – I guess this is the most popular but least thought through, it’s pretty much the standard response given – they are up in heaven looking down on us. I was chatting to someone recently who said he granddad was up in heaven with a pint watching the rugby – given the way England are playing that is not heaven! The belief that actually when people die they go to heaven from where they watch the rest of us struggling on. It’s vague and provides comfort of sorts, but we have to not think about it too much.

None of those are particularly satisfying are they? None really gives us hope or something to live for, either we rot, or we come back as something else until we evaporate, or we go to something nebulous and unknown. Something deep inside us feels that death is wrong, but also that none of these is right. What we need is someone who has come back from the dead to tell us what it is like, what there is afterwards. That is where Christianity stands unique because Christians claim that Jesus died and was resurrected again, here are 5 pieces of evidence as to why I believe that:

1. No other theory holds up (swoon, mistaken tomb, stolen body)
2. Women find the tomb – if you were making it up they wouldn’t, their testimony isn’t valid
3. Disciples die for belief – (you don’t die for a lie)
4. Conversion of Sceptics – including Jesus brothers they die for their new belief
5. Spread of Christianity ever since.

Jesus as the resurrected one who has conquered death can speak authoritatively about life after death. So what does the Bible say about life after death?

Heaven isn’t the goal.
The popular depiction of heaven is not very exciting is it, it’s sitting around on clouds, with optional wings and/or harp, it’s pretty dull! But that is not what the Bible says our future is, in fact the Bible says our ultimately future isn’t heaven at all, the ultimate future which we were created for is a new creation.

Revelation 21:3-5 gives us a picture of what the new creation will look like and it is described in physical terms, in terms that mirror a perfect world. It is like the world we live in now but also utterly unlike it, it is everything we enjoy now but perfected. Did you spot how it is described – no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain. It goes on to say there is no curse – everything bad that has ever been in the world and our experience of it will be no more. No terrorism, no crime, no war, no loss, no heartbreak, no self loathing, and all those things are just the by-products, because the truly amazing thing about the new creation is that it is a world marked by God’s presence with his people, face-to-face.

How do I get life after death?
That is great news isn’t it. There is life after death and it is better than we can ever imagine, it is secure, it is eternal, and it is marked by relationship. What makes it good is that we relate to God rightly, but in order to ensure it stays that way Rev 21 goes on to say “Nothing impure will ever enter it...”

Entry isn’t automatic, we don’t go there by default; if impurity or rebellion entered such a perfect world it would ruin it. That means that you and I are barred from entry because we would rebel against it, because we are by nature selfish, we want things the way we want them, when we want them. It’s what road rage is all about, have you ever found yourself in a car shouting at the car in front of you, or in a queue at a shop and you can’t believe the sheer imbecility of the person at the check-out who is so slow. All little glimpses that we want the world the way we want it when we want it, and we aren’t above manipulation or action in order to ensure we get it. But the new creation will be free from all selfishness, it will be perfect and that bars us from entry!

But God knows that and so in his great love he sends Jesus to give us a glimpse of the world that we all want and to enable us to be part of it.

In the early chapters of Mark’s gospel we see a glimpse of this new creation as:
· Mark 4:35-41 Jesus calms the storm
· Mark 5:1-20 Jesus restores a demon possessed man
· Mark 5:21-34 Jesus heals a sick woman
· Mark 5:35-42 Jesus raises a dead girl to life

Do you see what Jesus is doing? He is showing people a world where there is no more insecurity, pain, crying, mourning or death. But Jesus does more than just give us a glimpse of the world we all want. Jesus comes to provide a way for us to enter the world we all want, he comes to die in our place to pay for our rebellion, to pay for our selfish hearts that want to rule and reign in our world our way. In fact Jesus faces death as the punishment for our sins and he gifts us his perfect record with God so that God views us as if we have always loved him and loved others perfectly.

The world will end whether we are here for Jesus return or not. But Jesus comes to get us ready for that end, he dies and rises again as proof that by trusting him we are credited with his perfect record and can be sure of enjoying his new creation, and life to the full now.

God, why are you such a Killjoy?

It’s a popular image of God, isn’t it? God is anti-alcohol, anti-sex, anti-smoking, anti-freedom, anti-fun. In fact God is the ultimate killjoy and Christians well they are repressed, miserable and boring living their lives in shades of grey.

It may surprise you but the Bible engages with that sort of wrong thinking about God and records it consequences. The first lie ever told was that God is a killjoy. God created a perfect world for humanity to live in – no pain, no suffering, no arguments, no struggles, in short a world that was perfect that was marked out by joy and enjoyment. A world so perfect that even work was fun! God made enjoyment, God made us for enjoyment.

But Satan came and whispered that first lie (Gen 3)suggesting to Eve that God didn’t love her, that God who had given them everything to enjoy in a perfect world was out to curb their enjoyment of it by having one rule about not eating of one tree in the whole world. God doesn’t really love you he is holding you back, that is what Satan says, he is stopping you really being free. It’s that same question we find ourselves asking – Is God a killjoy?

As we look to answer that today I want to begin by looking at the world.

The Character of God as Creator and Father
God made a world that is enjoyable and full of fun and laughter; your sense of humour, the things about creation you love, the things about other people you love, that moment when you score the winning goal, or scale that rock face God made everyone one of those and made us to enjoy them. God isn’t a killjoy he is the designer of fun and he is a loving father who wants us to enjoy life at its best.

But I guess the question will come back; So why all the rules? Rules curb freedom don’t they? Rules limit fun? If God isn’t a killjoy why does he give us loads of rules?

But what if God isn’t limiting our freedom and fun but enabling us to enjoy life to the maximum possible. What if the rules are a sign of love? I’ve got four boys at home and I love them, I want them to love life, to have fun. Often on a Saturday afternoon the oldest 2 will come to the watch the rugby with me, or we will have a wrestling match, or last week we went sledging, built snow men, built a toboggan run in the garden and saw how high we could jump on the sledge off snow ramps. It’s pretty obvious at those times that I want them to enjoy life!

But what about the times when I am limiting their freedom – for example we have a log burning stove at home and it gets incredibly hot – so around it is a fire guard and they know they must never touch the fire. Do I put that fireguard and rule in place because I love them or because I don’t? I limit their freedom in order to protect them and to enable them to really enjoy life rather than go through it scarred and in pain.

We know that is how good fathers operate and the Bible tells us that God is a good father, in fact God is such a good father that even our best fathers can’t compare to him. Just think about those rules God gives for life for a minute. “Do not murder” you can see God’s love in that law can’t you, no-one argues that is limiting my freedom. Or “Do not steal” again a good way to live. You can see how living like that is the best way to live.

But what about God’s teaching on sex; Does God limit my freedom, in fact lets go one stage further does God hate sex?

God doesn’t hate sex, in fact God created sex, God created us to enjoy sex to be stimulated. In fact God doesn’t hate sex he has a far higher view of sex than society does. Our society says sex is cheap, sex is just a biological act, it’s just sharing fluids, or it’s a marketing tool, it sells stuff. But God says he has designed it to be so much more special than that, in fact sex is so important that it has a context in which it is best enjoyed, marriage between and man and a woman. Like that fireguard designed to protect.

The bible teaches us that sex is a key part of marriage, it is a way for a man and wife to enjoy each other to give themselves to each other, to be vulnerable to each other and get to know each other intimately. In fact it is the means of two becoming one flesh – that isn’t the Spice Girls idea that is God’s idea.

It’s a bit like a piece of duct tape, it is incredibly sticky, if I stuck it to your arm it would stay there. What would happen when I pulled it off, it would hurt but it would come off your arm, what if I stuck it to someone-else’s arm it would stick but be less painful when I pulled it off. What if I stuck it to another, and another, and another. Each time it would become less sticky, until eventually it wouldn’t stick at all.

That is a picture of what sex is like, it is designed to be a means of openness, intimacy and vulnerability between two people, but you can’t keep on becoming vulnerable to different people soon sex becomes meaningless, it becomes less than what God in love designed it to be at its best. It just becomes shallow, unfulfilling sex rather than a means of building vulnerability, intimacy and relationship.

Even here God’s instructions are loving, he is not killing joy he is protecting it for us. God is a loving heavenly father who designed us and the world to bring us enjoyment but who wants us to make the most of that enjoyment.

God is the creator of joy and a loving heavenly father, he is not a killjoy, here’s the second thing;

Jesus shows us what God is like
I want to apologise if you have met Church goers who have given you the impression that God is anti-fun. I have to say that I have too. But don’t judge God by them, some people are just boring that isn’t uniquely Christian. You may have just met people who were boring before they became Christians. The person to look at if you want to know what God is really like is Jesus.

And Jesus is anything but boring. His first miracle might surprise you, it is to turn water at a wedding in Cana into 150gallons of the best wine, Jesus acts to keep the party going not stop it! And as you read the gospels you see he gets invited to the best parties and meals with everyone from prostitutes to tax collectors – the bankers of their day, in fact the religious people of his day are scandalised by his behaviour because they disapprove of his partying.

And he doesn’t kill the party, he isn’t sat in the corner nursing a coke and looking disapprovingly at everyone else he is very much the centre of attention. Here’s what Jesus said he came to do: “I have come that they may have life, and have life to the full.” In fact he will die for us so that we can have life because we know God as a loving father, and he will show us God’s loving fatherly plan for our lives lived to the full.

The Kingdom of God is like a feast
Jesus also talks about the future and he describes life lived in God’s kingdom as being like a feast, like a party. He describes the angels partying in heaven when people become part of God’s kingdom. And the Bible describes eternity not as clouds, harps, choirs and tedium, but as a relation and laughter filled enjoyment of a perfect world!

Don’t believe the lie that God is a killjoy; God made you for enjoyment, he created you to really enjoy life. Jesus comes to start the party, to enable us to know God as our father. But he also comes to highlight that we have made good things ultimate things – sex, alcohol, laughter all good things made by God for us to enjoy. But they are not ultimate things, they are not meant to give life its meaning rather they point to a loving heavenly Father in whom we can find really satisfaction, real joy.

Coffee and Questions

We held one of our Easter Unwrapped mission events at the local Christian sandwich bar and bookshop last night. (http://www.churchsdoncaster.co.uk/) It was a great venue and the owners could not have been more helpful. We squeezed just over 20 in upstairs whilst some of our musicians played background music people chatted. We then watched a great clip from Patch Adams where he questions God about suffering - the clip beautifully juxtaposes the wonder of creation with the awfulness of suffering. After a 10 minute talk seeking to provide some answer to 'Why a God of love would allow suffering?' People settled to chatting with their friends again.

The most encouraging thing was seeing conversations taking place as people asked their questions and their friends got the gospel out and began answering them. We pray that for some there this is another barrier removed to understanding and accepting the gospel.

If I’m forgiven anything can’t I live however I like? Luke 7v36-50

We live in a society that loves to compare. We compare houses, we compare children’s achievements, there’s even a website where you can compare salaries with other people, and we even do it with morality.

We think of morality as a bit like a ladder (draw) we put people like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King near the top, then at the bottom are people like terrorists, murderers…

Where would you put yourself? When we have to think about where we put ourselves, we go through a process like this; I’m better than so and so, but not as good as them, often on the basis of actions. But the Bible comes to us and says acceptance by God is not a ladder, it is a matter of grace and faith.

The scandal of the gospel

What do you think the most scandalous scene in the bible is?

Turn to Luke 23:39-43(read it) what is the scandal? There are two injustices; Jesus the innocent one dies as punishment even though his judge has declared that there is no charge against him. But this scandal is then magnified as we see what happens next. Why are the two criminals there? Because of their actions, in fact in their execution justice is being done – that is the second criminals’ confession “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.” And yet scandalously Jesus goes on to promise the dying criminal eternal life (43)“Today, you will be with me in paradise”.

In other words because of the confession of his sin and his simple expression of trust in Jesus, when he says “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” this criminal, this insurrectionist or terrorist is forgiven and will be in heaven.
It’s one of the greatest pictures we have of salvation and grace and of the great transaction that takes place on the cross as Jesus dies for the criminals’ guilt while he is credited with Jesus innocence simply by faith. This passage confronts us with the problem of grace, the gospel is scandalous!

God’s grace is readily available to all, and as the criminal on the cross shows us it is not earned it is given by faith, there is NO morality ladder.

God’s grace is not cheap it cost Jesus his life and experiencing his Father’s anger against and judgement for sin. But it is available to all at any stage in life.

But some people look at that and grasp that the gospel is all of grace and therefore conclude if I’m forgiven and if grace is readily available to all that means I can live any way I want. If we just look at Luke 23 you could reach that conclusion, but it is not a good place to think about it because there is no after for the criminal. In a few hours he will die and be with Jesus in paradise, we don’t see what difference grace made to his living.

We are all spiritually bankrupt

Turn to Luke 7:36-50, (read) Jesus is eating in the home of Simon. When suddenly the conversation, which Luke tells us nothing of, stops and everyone turns to look at this infamous woman who has just walked into the room. There is muttering and shuffling of feet as people move back out of her way as she walks with her head bowed low and carrying a jar in her hands right up to where Jesus is reclining.
Then the shock deepens as her tears begin to drop onto his feet, she loosens her hair and begins wiping away her tears with it. Then she breaks the jar and pours the perfume on his feet. We see another sinful person, someone else who would be near the bottom of our comparative morality ladder.

Who is the other character? Simon the Pharisee. In contrast to the woman Simon is very religious, he gave his money to the poor, he served God, he had dedicated his life to God, I guess he’d be near the top of our ladder. How does Simon react? (39)He is horrified that Jesus accepts this woman, because he has totally misunderstood who Jesus is and what he has come to do. Jesus tells a story to get behind his defences, to show him why the woman acts as she does but also why someone who is forgiven their sins will never want to live however they want.

(40-41) What do you notice about the two men? They both owe a debt, one owes 50 Denarii – about 50 days wages, the other owes 500 Denarii a year and three quarters salary. But the sums aren’t what is important what vital fact does v42 give us? (42) “Neither of them had the money to pay him back.” Neither has the money or any hope of paying it back, though one owes significantly more both are bankrupt. It’s a picture of what we are like before God it doesn’t matter whether you’re a very good person like Simon – he has still sinned even if it was only in failing to love his neighbour this woman as himself. Everyone is spiritually bankrupt. It is utterly impossible for us to make ourselves right with God. There is no ladder of morality there is simply perfect or sinful.

But Jesus carries on with the most amazing part of the story; what does the money lender do? He cancels the debt. So Jesus asks “which of them will love him more?” It’s a good question isn’t it? And it gets to the root of our question.

If you know how much you are forgiven you won’t want to live life however you want.

Do you see what Jesus is saying – the woman knew how much she was forgiven and it meant she loved lavishly, a love that was shown in the way she lived and acted(44-47).

Simon by contrast has not loved Jesus because he does not think he needs to be forgiven, he is depending on himself on his own performance to save himself. Though he is wrong.

No-one who understands how much they have been forgiven will walk away and live life to please themselves. No-one who knows how sinful they are and the cost to Jesus of their forgiveness and the wonder of grace will walk away and live life their own way.

Instead if we understand the depth of our sin and the love and grace of God in Jesus death to save us it is impossible for us to ask that question; if I’m forgiven anything can’t I live how I like. Because if you understand what it cost and what it means to be forgiven everything you will not want to live however you like. You will love and want to live life for the one who gave his all for you.

Do we identify with the woman or with Simon? Do we rejoice in God’s grace and the scandal of the gospel because we recognise that we are spiritually bankrupt without it, or do we begrudge it because we mistakenly think we can earn it?

Why would God allow Suffering?

This week has seen both natural disaster and man made evil. In Libya scores of people have been killed in what seems to be the death throes of Colonel Gaddafi’s reign. While in Christchurch 147 have died and approximately 50 others are missing after the latest earthquake to hit that region. What are we to make of such things? What do they tell us about the world and about God? Christians contend that God is sovereign, good and loving but don’t things like this deny that? Surely if God is loving and sovereign it wouldn’t happen, so either he is loving but incapable of stopping it, or capable but not loving enough to do so.

But the bible maintains that God is loving, good and sovereign and it doesn’t hide from suffering whether as a result of mans evil or natural disasters. In fact the bible has much to say about both, it’s one of the things that makes the bible stand out. Ask a Muslim about suffering and they will tell you it is the will of Allah, ask a Hindu and its karma, but the bible’s answer is both more satisfying and more serious.

But maybe you think actually suffering disproves the existence of God, that it makes it abundantly clear that we are all alone, the result of billions of years of evolution. It may surprise you that the bible gives some thought to describing life like that.

Meaningless, Meaningless: a worldview without God
Ecclesiastes is a book in the bible that looks at life from two perspectives, one as if God did not exist and the other as if God did, and meaningless is the conclusion it reaches about life lived without God. Riches, poverty, promotion, pleasures, wisdom, folly, suffering are all meaningless if there is no God.

If there is no God then suffering is just part of the evolutionary cycle, a way of weeding out the weak from the strong, we shouldn’t cry or be upset by it but marvel at it. We shouldn’t mourn over human suffering any more than we do over the bird or mouse the cat catches and eats, or a bout of myxomatosis which kills some wild rabbits. If there is no God there is no point in suffering, so get over it and get on with your life. But Ecclesiastes is right isn’t it? It makes life meaningless, and we don’t manage well in a vacuum of meaning.

Positive Pain?
The Bible doesn’t hide from suffering, in fact it shows us again and again God’s people asking God why? In Jeremiah 12:1 the prophet asks God “why does the way of the wicked prosper?” Malachi 2:17 echoes that question, as does the whole of Habakkuk, some of the Psalms and the whole book of Job is taken up with suffering and why it happens. And it isn’t just the Old Testament, the New Testament deals with it to, turn to Luke 13:1-9.

The crowds are gathering around Jesus and what do they tell him about? (1)Pilate massacred some Galileans and mixed their blood with sacrifices.

Every society has its perceived wisdom of the day, in Jesus day it was that those who were killed in such a disaster must somehow have deserved it, that they must have been worse sinners than anyone else. But do you notice Jesus disagrees with that(2-3), in fact he says “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no!”

And what he does next is even more surprising isn’t it? (4-5)He raises the bar by raising the issue of natural disasters, and reiterates his point, those who were killed when the tower fell on them were not more sinful than anyone else, but neither does Jesus say it just happened.

(3,5)Jesus warns the crowd that those who died in both incidents were no more sinful than you and he calls on the crowd to recognise they have a common destiny. Everyone dies the only question is timing and circumstance, and he uses both tragedies to warn the crowd to repent. He goes on to tell the parable to show them that they must respond and bear fruit or face judgement.

Suffering is a warning, it reminds us of our frailty and that we will all die, it shows us the consequences of a world where we live without reference to God.

Leprosy is a horrible disease, it stops you feeling pain so that you no longer remove your hand from the hot surface, or feel it when you step on glass, or notice when you slice into your finger. Pain is an early warning sign that something is wrong. Suffering is in part designed to warn us that something is wrong, wrong with our world, and wrong with us.

So what hope is there?
Turn to Romans 8:18-25, which explains why the world is like it is and helps us see that God will not leave it like this.

In the beginning God made the world and it was perfect – no disasters, no death, no murder, no illness. But mankind ruined it because we refused to accept that God’s way is best and think that we can run it better ourselves if we decide what is right and wrong. The chaos and destruction, evil and natural disasters we see around us are the result of our decisions wrecking God’s perfect world.

But God is not finished with creation and us yet. How are the creations groans described? (22)”the pains of childbirth”, it is not a cry of defeat or despair but a cry that is producing life. The groaning of the world shows us something is wrong but they also tell us God is going to restore his creation. God will make a world where there will never be another Dunblane, or a Lockerbie, Tsunami or an earthquake, tear or tumour. But where will we fit in to a perfect world, a world governed and maintained by relating rightly to God, because such a perfect world can only exist if it is governed by God’s word?

If we were put into such a world with our determination to decide right and wrong for ourselves we would ruin it, we would de-god God. That’s why Jesus in Luke 13 says we must repent, we must change our thinking and living.

Jesus gives us a glimpse of what life lived in a world in relationship with God would look like; as he calms raging out of control creation, as he casts out demons and evil, as he heals illness, as he removes grief and suffering, and he rolls back death itself as he raises the dead. And he gives us warnings so that we recognise what is wrong with the world we live in – it is dislocated because it is out of relationship with God. We must understand that we are out of relationship with God and that because we have de-god-ed God we face judgement, we need to repent, to seek forgiveness and instead of living as if we ruled live with God ruling. Jesus comes to warn us and to fit us to live in God’s new creation, to gives us new hearts and minds so that we live to please God not to over rule him.

God is sovereign he rules and will restore all things, he is so loving and patient that he waits warning us that we need to repent, and giving us opportunity after opportunity but one day he will come, end all suffering and deal with all its causes.

Will you repent? When we see suffering and pain, when we see natural disasters or personal ones, when we see great evil it is a reminder of how broken the world is because of sin. The only right response is to repent of our part of it and seek a right relationship with God through Jesus.

Hope – is what marks Jesus followers, disaster reminds us that our hope is not in the world but in God’s kingdom. It reminds us to live for the future not for now.

Compassion – Jesus is never clinical in his response to personal or large scale suffering or loss, as his followers how can we be. We must practically seek to alleviate suffering whilst doing the most loving thing we can; warning and calling people to repentance.

What about Other Religions? John 3:1-15

Does truth matter? Does it matter what if you believe in is true or false, or is it more important to believe in it sincerely?

They are fairly philosophical questions, but they are ones which inform much of the debate which goes on around this whole issue of living in a multi-faith society. Often you will hear people describe different religions as different paths up the same mountain, the idea being they all eventually make it to God, therefore it doesn’t matter what you believe just as long as you believe it sincerely.

The problem is that’s fine as a theory but falls down when put to the test in the real world. Imagine I sincerely believe that it is ok to drive at 70mph in a 30 zone. Does my sincerely held belief make it right or make it true? Will my sincerely belief convince the police who has just clocked me with his speed gun that it’s ok, or the magistrate who is deciding whether to revoke my driving licence. No, sincerity doesn’t matter, truth matters, it is a thirst mile an hour limit whether I sincerely believe otherwise or not.

Or what about a more serious historical example, Hitler sincerely believed he was right when he exterminated the Jews, does that make his view ok? Does that affect history’s view of his actions? No it doesn’t!

Michael Green wrote “You never hear it said when people are talking about the horrors of Auschtiz or Belsen. Hitler was undoubtedly sincere in his hatred of the Jewish people, but everyone would say he was wrong.”

Sincerity is not enough, it does not make something right or true. Believing the truth matters and that applies no less to faith than it does to speed limits or genocide.

Truth not sincerity matters
Turn to John 3:1-15 where we see Jesus lovingly yet honestly deal with someone who sincerely has a faith but in something that will not lead him to see God. Read Passage

What does the passage tell us about Nicodemus? He was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, he comes secretly to Jesus because he wants to know who Jesus is. Nicodemus is an extremely intelligent, articulate and devout man who has dedicated his life to his faith and to teaching it to others. If any path leads to God surely his does, after all look how sincere he is in his beliefs.

But Jesus response to him is blunt (3)"Very truly I tell you, no-one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.” Do you see what Jesus is saying, you may be sincere, you may be intelligent, you may be a religious leaders Nicodemus but none of that matters unless you sincerely believe in the right thing. And the consequences of not of belief are the most important ever, unless you believe in the right thing you will not see the kingdom of God, you will not live forever in a right relationship with God.

Truth matters, putting your faith in the right thing matters, it is not that any faith will do. And Jesus tells Nicodemus he must, must, be born again.

How can I be born again?
We live in a spiritual pick’n’mix age when people pick what they want and like from different religions and combine it and think that is fine, that as long as they are spiritual that is ok, just another way up the mountain. But Jesus is saying there is only one way, and no other way will do. In fact Jesus is telling Nicodemus he is spiritually dead unless he is born again, but what does that mean?

Jesus explains what it means to be born again in (5)using different terms so Nicodemus can understand, lovingly using Old Testament words that Nicodemus would be familiar with so he would understand. How does he describe it? Being born of water and the Spirit.

Turn to Ezekiel 36:25-27. Israel is in exile, judged for its sin and idolatry, but God promises that he isn’t finished with them, and do you notice in these verses who is acting? God, “I will…take you…gather you…sprinkle clean water on you…”. God sprinkles them to cleanse them – ritually done after contact with a dead body, and he gives them a new heart and puts his spirit in them.

God will save his people, he will cleanse them from their sin and enable them to live for him. John 3:14-15 Jesus is telling Nicodemus how God will do that it is through faith in Jesus death for us at the cross.

Imagine that I dropped down dead right now? What would you do? Hopefully you’d check for a pulse, maybe perform CPR, call an ambulance and at the hospital they may shock my heart to start it pumping again. What would I do? Nothing. A corpse can’t bring itself to life.

Jesus warns Nicodemus that he, just like us, is spiritually dead, he needs to be cleansed from sin and rebellion and enabled to live loving and pleasing God. God does that for us as we put our faith in Jesus death for us. We must be born again.

So what about other religions?
All world religions agree that humanity falls short, that somehow we have become disconnected from the divine. But the problem is that they all give different answers as to how we repair that breech, how we can be right with God. Answers so wildly different they are mutually exclusive, so different that they cannot possibly be different paths up the same mountain.

You can’t believe them all and it would be intellectual stupidity to create a mish-mash of beliefs. It doesn’t matter how sincere you are but whether you have believed the truth. The big question is not am I sincere, but have I sincerely believed the truth? It couldn’t matter more because they cannot all be right.

Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism and so on are all about humans, us, doing things, living in a certain way to make it right with God, to earn back enough credit with God that he grants us eternal life. The problem with that is every time we fail we tip the scales further against us, and we can ever do enough to rebalance them?

But did you notice that what Jesus says to Nicodemus is different? Jesus does not down play sin, in fact he says it’s is so serious even Nicodemus can’t make himself right with God so we definitely can’t. Instead he says we need God to make it right and he does by sending Jesus to die for us. We can’t save ourselves he saves us and we are to respond to that salvation by putting our faith in Jesus, and everyone who believes will have eternal life.

There are a number of implications of that:
1. If there is no other way to be right with God we must believe in this way. Christianity is so exclusive that you either have to accept it or reject it, you can’t try to mingle it with something else because Jesus says he is the only way.

2. If you are still not sure examine other faiths, look at them in detail and see which one is the truth. I have no doubt that following Jesus Christ will stand out. Every other religion calls on you to try, to do, following Jesus is about him securing our forgiveness.

3. If you know Jesus as your Saviour, if you have trusted him be encouraged, he is the only way. Don’t bow to society’s mantra, don’t feel cowed by the pressure you are put under. It would be unloving not to tell people the truth.

4. Praise God for saving you by grace – there is no room for boasting just for gratefulness and praise.

A God of love would never send anyone to hell, would he?

We’ve all become familiar with airbrushing, pictures and images being touched up to remove wrinkles or a scar or something like that. Nearly every image we see in the media has been airbrushed in some way. One magazine this week went slightly too far with its airbrushing, though they didn’t realise it until too late and the front cover carried a picture of a model with her whole left arm airbrushed out. And it isn’t just pictures we airbrush, we airbrush history – not recording the bits we find distasteful, we air brush stories we retell casting our role in them in a more flattering light.


And we also airbrush our view of God, emphasizing the things we like and removing those we don’t. The most popular view of God is what? That God is love, and the bible would tell us that he is love, 1 John 4 emphasizes that twice (v7, 16) and that is a great comfort to those John is writing to and to us. But our problem is that we air brush other parts of God’s character, or just focus on the one missing them out entirely. God is love but that is not all the bible has to say about God or all it has to say about that characteristic of God. It doesn’t mean that God loves everything, or that it would be loving for him to tolerate everything.


God’s love means he judges
God is love, but he does not love everything. For example, God doesn’t love injustice or murder in fact he hates it, and we want him to.


Turn to Psalm 5:4-6
For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, LORD, detest.


What does God hate? He hates wickedness and evil. He can’t bear it. And one day he will deal with it once and for all, and we have to say that is loving isn’t it? How could God say he loved us and yet wickedness and evil thrive and go unpunished.


A father loves his children but that love means he will not tolerate some things from his children. In fact his love compels him to challenge, warn and teach his children. Imagine that a father walked into his children’s room to find them fighting each other, not messing about but one on top of the other battering him. What does love do? It would, in fact, be unloving not to do so.


All wickedness, evil, and injustice will one day be accounted for and dealt with; its perpetrators will be locked up for all eternity. That is what hell is – hell is the punishment for those who commit injustice, and it exists because God loves.


That’s great news isn’t it? Evil will be dealt, all evil. There are no loop holes there are no get out clauses, no legal technicalities which can be exploited. In Malachi 2:17 Israel are asking the question ‘Where is the God of justice?’ They look around and see the world in a mess and they want to know why isn’t God acting, why are evil people getting away with it? And the great news God gives them chapter 3 is that he is coming and coming to judge.

God is perfectly just, he sees everything, he knows everything, and he will judge injustice and punish those who have committed it.


But that is also terrifying news, that’s why God warns us again and again about the danger of his judgement. You see in chapter 3 of Malachi he goes on: (read v2-5). Israel wants God to come and judge everyone else but the warning God gives is that they will also be in the dock. God’s love which means he is just which means he punishes rebellion and injustice places us in the dock not as witnesses but as the accused.


God’s love means he warns us
That’s why God warns us, that’s why the bible teaches us about his character about his love and why Jesus speaks so often about hell. Turn to Matthew 25:31-46 – Read.
In Matthew 25 we see a picture of what it will be like when Jesus comes not to warn but to judge, to deal with injustice and rebellion.


There are two groups of people in the story what are they? 1. Sheep/righteous, and the Goats/unrighteous. And there are two verdicts, what are they? Come you who are blessed by my Father, depart from me. And there are two destinations; the kingdom and eternal life and the eternal fire and eternal punishment.


Jesus is not trying to frighten people but he is trying to warn people, and it is not a one off either. 12 times the word hell is mentioned in the 4 gospels, and there are others references like those here to eternal punishment or a place of darkness and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Back in Matthew 5:29-30 read it we see another warning as Jesus warns people to deal radically with the things which led us sin because the consequences of hell are so terrible.


Jesus is not trying to scare people into the kingdom but to warn them about the dreadful reality of a God of loves just judgement on wickedness.


What do you think deserves God’s punishment? What should God judge?


Look again at the story Jesus tells in Matthew 25 – what is on the charge list against the unrighteous? It is not big crimes as we think of them – it is not murder or terrorism. In fact they are not even active sins; they are passive sins or sins of omission. They have not given the hungry something to eat, or clothed those in need, or looked after the ill or imprisoned. They can be summed up in one word – indifference.

The difference between the sheep and goats is not that the sheep do lots of righteous things and the goats are indifferent. It is that the sheep have their hearts transformed by the love they have found in Christ; having experienced Jesus giving everything for them they love others like that. The actions of the two groups show that they have either been transformed by grace or they haven’t.

For those who haven’t judgement awaits. Now that may seem a bit harsh, we actually find ourselves squirming a bit uncomfortably don’t we – we fail to love our neighbour like this.


Why a God of love warns us?
Turn to Luke 20:9-15. Read – what would justice look like? Look at v16 Jesus gives us the answer – the owner of the vineyard has every right to judge the tenants who have so abused everything he gave them and killed him servants and his son.


It’s a parable spoken to warn Israel, they have been God’s people in God’s place but they have rejected his servants killing them and now they are about to kill his son.


But it applies to us as well. God has given us everything we see around us, what would a right response be? Thankfulness; shown in how we lived aware of and looking to please God by living his way. And though we may not have murdered anyone physically we will not live with God as king, we will not listen to the warnings, or his son.


God is love, but that love means he is just and must punish sin and rebellion. That rebellion shows itself in our determination to live without giving God a thought and in our indifference to others. A just God must punish injustice and to ignore our creator, to kill his messengers, to murder his son is the biggest injustice of all.


But Jesus comes so that we can be forgiven, he comes not just to die rejected but he rises again, so that having heard the warning we would listen to it and trust in him to save us, and live lives transformed and marked by God’s love.


Implications
1. God is love – and a loving God must punish injustice – it would be unloving not to. We better check how we think of God, is it in line with how God reveals himself.

2. A loving God warns us. God hates sin, and sin is not things, or even failing to do things it is living ignoring our creator, his messengers and as if his Son was dead to us. But he loves us so much he warns us so we will respond.

3. A loving God calls us to repent

4. A loving God calls us to respond to his love in action.

5. A loving God calls us to warn others

Being good is good enough, right? Romans 3:9-26

How do you know what is good? What does a good child look like? What does a good employee look like? What does a good person look like? Is it someone law abiding, apart from, maybe, a few speeding tickets? Do they give to charity? Are they animal lovers? Do they have to be religious?

Is a terrorist a good person? Someone who sets out to kill others to highlight a cause they believe in. Those who share their beliefs would say they are good, the victims’ families would say otherwise. Who is right? Who decides?

How do you know who is good? Surely there has to be a standard.

In industry there are kite marks used if a product passes certain standards. If it isn’t good enough to meet the standard it can’t have the stamp.

So who ultimately decides what is good? God does. Why? Because “In the beginning God created…” God designed the world, he created us therefore he sets the standard. Just as in industry it is a manufacturer’s agreed standard that sets the pass mark for goodness, so God, the creator, sets the standard.

We’re going to think tonight about who God says is good?

The shock in Roms 3 is God says “No-one”. No-one passes the test, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? because although we meet our standard of goodness, our verdict doesn’t matter, God’s standard counts. There are two reasons why we are not good?

1. Because God says so 2. Because God shows so.

1. Because God says so.
(10-18)are a collection of Old Testament quotations that emphasize God’s standard and our failure to meet it. God’s standard is not a shifting idea of goodness like ours where standards change as societies values change. God’s standard is what? “righteousness”. God’s standard isn’t comparative, it’s absolute - righteousness
Righteousness is living a life that pleases God, in line with God’s priorities and acknowledging God’s right to rule.

What is God’s judgement? There is no-one who seeks God, no-one living with that continual awareness that God rules, is watching and is relevant.

Come back to Genesis 3. God has made the world and it is good and placed Adam and Eve in the midst of it to enjoy and rule it on his behalf. The whole of God’s perfect creation is theirs to enjoy, they can eat of every tree bar one. The question is will they ‘fear the Lord’, can they live righteously and accept the creator’s word and rule?

Well you know the story; they try to knock God off his throne, they reach for self rule wanting to decide how to live, what is good, for themselves. They reject the creator and that’s the problem, why can’t we be good because we reject the creator.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” God says don’t lie but if I don’t lie I’ll look silly, or be found out, so I decide what is right and wrong. God says love your neighbour as yourself, but we justify our standard against God ‘he doesn’t know what they are like’, or I’ll make do with ignoring them – again deciding what is right and wrong. God says love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, but we love our work, we love the money it brings, the things we can buy with it, we love our family, our hobbies. Again and again we decide what is right and wrong and push God’s standard away.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because it is not what we think that counts, we might meet our standard of goodness, maybe you even meet mine, but we’re way short of God’s. God says “no-one is righteous”, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. God’s standard is life lived with God’s glory in mind, his priorities in place and his rule established.

Maybe your thinking yeah but that’s just Paul, he had a downer on humanity, what does Jesus say, he was a good moral teacher, he would never say such things he loved people and had a positive view of mankind. Mark 10:17-18 – who does Jesus say is good? “No-one is good – except God alone.” Or Mark 7:20-21 what does Jesus say the problem is? Our hearts and look at the things that show it; some are big things like murder, but who of us can say we’ve never had an evil thought, or spoken slander, or been arrogant?

I’ve never played rugby apart from at school. What would happen if I suddenly found myself playing for England against the France in a few weeks? I guess it wouldn’t be pleasant to find out. Why? Because I am not up to their standard, the sheer intensity would find me out leaving me broken. To even be on the same field would place me in danger because I’m just not good enough.

One day we will stand before God and we can bring our tokens of goodness with us, but we’ll realise they are worthless and that our definition of good isn’t on the same plane as God’s standard.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because God says so. But also because

2. God shows so (24-6)
What would you be prepared to die for?

If your willing death would secure world peace would you? What about if it would end the conflict in Afghanistan? 350 British soldiers have considered their lives worth it. What about if it would save the life of a child?

We only make a sacrifice if we consider it worth doing. If the benefits outweigh the cost, that’s true in small sacrifices; giving up chocolate to lose weight, or jogging to keep fit, let alone in the big decisions. We wouldn’t be prepared to sacrifice our life unless it was absolutely necessary, unless we were convinced it was the only way to save someone.

If being good is good enough why would God sacrifice his son?

God paid such a price because it was the only way to save us. The cross is such a radical rescue it tells us we can never be good enough. It was the only way to make us good in God’s eyes, otherwise why would Jesus go through it. That is why God’s Son veils himself in humanity, why the creator submits himself to the blows and indignities rained down on him by his creation, why sinless Jesus experiences his Father’s just anger against our rebellion.
Every blow, every insult, every second bearing God’s judgement, says there is no other way. In fact in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus asks if there is another way, but then bows to his Father’s will because there isn’t one – it is the only way to make us good enough for God. Jesus atones for us – he does what we can’t, he meets God’s standard on our behalf. And he does so willingly.

John 18:1-11 shows us Jesus arrest, what stands out as you read the account? Jesus is in control; he’s not swept along by events, he’s orchestrating them. He identifies himself to his would be captors twice, he secures the safety of his followers, he prevents his disciples fighting for him. Why? Why doesn’t he escape when he can? Why doesn’t he fight heroically to freedom?

Because he must drink the cup the Father has given him. He must face the cross and God’s anger against sin as God’s obedient son because we can’t face it. Only Jesus death can pay the bill, we can never be good enough; we need Jesus righteousness his total obedience credited to our account.

If being good is good enough then Jesus death is pointless. The cross stands over history and declares look at the lengths to which I will go because I loved you but you could never be right with me.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because God says so, and because God shows so; sending his only Son to die for us to make us right before him. Romans 3:22 “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe”

I want to work through the implications of that:
1. We had better understand God’s standards.
If what the Bible says is right then there is no point trying to live by our standards of right and wrong, no matter how high we set the bar it isn’t high enough. God’s standard is the only one that counts. If God’s verdict is “all have sinned and fall short” “There is no-one righteous” We fail to meet those standards ourselves so we’d better find out how we can meet them.

Maybe you’ve never thought about this before, maybe you don’t know what you believe about Jesus. Perhaps you accept looking at your life that you aren’t good enough, even by your standards let alone God’s, but you want to look a bit more at who Jesus is. If you want a place to start read a gospel.

2. I better examine God’s solution
Perhaps you realise you can never be good enough, that God’s standard is far above what you could ever hope to meet. Maybe you’ve realised Jesus is the only way to be good enough. That Jesus died for your sin, to credit you with his right standing before God, and your question is what do I do now? The great news is it’s all done for you, Jesus will give you his perfect record and you can be good enough, he will pay for your rebellion, if you confess your failure and put your faith in him.

3. I better warn others
There are millions of people who’ll go to sleep tonight thinking that even if, on the off chance, there is a God they are OK. They have a back-up plan, they lead good lives and that’s good enough isn’t it?

There are others who believe in God but think being religious is the key to heaven. That if they can show their religious credentials that will be enough.
But the key to heaven is cross-shaped.

If being good isn’t good enough someone needs to tell them. Who will you tell this week, who will you warn?

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because God says so and because God shows us so.
What are we going to do about it?

4. Understand what you are
We are always sinners saved by grace, we never leave the cross behind, we never contribute to our salvation, though we are called to be transformed by it.