Sunday Sermons

God and Circumstances - Part 1

Mark Dunagan
05/22/05 - Sunday Morning

God

and

Circumstances

People not Things

It is easy to discuss circumstances in a way that seems to isolate events from the choices that people make. We might say, “How could God allow this to happen to me?” “Events forced me to do it”. “How can that kind of thing happen in America?” “I’ll just wait until the opportunity presents itself”. The truth of the matter is that bad things don’t just happen, rather people do bad things. Crime does not simply rise, people commit crimes. The legal system does not do anything, rather judges, jurors, lawyers, and legislators do. Instead of wondering over the question, “Why did God allow this to happen to me?” The reason question is often, “Why did this person do this to me?” We need to realize that circumstances are often caused by the decisions that we or others make, we are active, not passive. Therefore, when we say we will wait and see what happens, we should not be shocked when nothing happens. “We let circumstances determine our course of action rather than roll up our sleeves and help determine the course of circumstances. We sit at home worrying about what might happen rather than go out and do what we must to make things happen” (Circumstances and the Role of God, John Boykin, p. 24).

“Luck”

“What is luck? Or chance, fate, destiny, fortune? Are there real somethings out there that grant me favor but not you, or grant you favor today but not tomorrow? Do they cause things to happen? Are they intelligent?” (p. 40). The first thing a Christian needs to realize, is that if we assign some sort of intelligence or will to “chance”, “fate”, “fortune”, “destiny” or “luck”, we are in essence creating a rival for God (Exodus 20:3; 1 Corinthians 8:4). If we call “luck” a blind force, then one is forced to conclude that such things are completely powerless. A non-intelligent force would be incapable of having a will or of making plans or decisions, much less of manipulating the wills, plans, and decisions of intelligent minds. Secondly, we need to remember that in the universe that God governs, there are no favorites (Romans 2:11). In addition, even who the world might consider the “luckiest” people, still face setbacks (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Note this verse is not saying that bad things happen to poor or average people (we know that), it is teaching that bad things happen to what the world might label for a time as being “favored” people. Yet even Christians make the mistake of emotionally relying on “luck”. “We tend to invoke luck as the final straw in a tall haystack” (p. 42). When was the last time we “crossed our fingers” concerning something that we really wanted to happen in our lives?

Poor Interpreters

Outside of divine revelation, mankind is not very good at interpreting the “meaning” of circumstances:

· “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live” (Acts 28:4).

· “ Saul said, ‘God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars” (1 Samuel 23:7).

· “Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand” (1 Samuel 24:10).

· “Thus the Lord has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendents” (2 Samuel 4:8).

Today we hear people attributing all sorts of things to God, yet God’s hand is not in every circumstance. In fact invoking God’s name falsely on a circumstance is as old as Jacob. “Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?’ And he said, ‘Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me’” (Genesis 27:20). Of course, this wasn’t true at all. Jacob was merely providing to his father something that Rebekah had prepared (27:13), and doing so under false pretenses. So we should not be surprised that professed Christians, and even non-Christians casually attribute to God all sorts of things that God had nothing to do with, stating confidently such thing as, “God told me”, “God put me here”, or “God arranged this”.

Romans 8:28

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”.

· Notice that the verse does not say that God causes all things to happen. God clearly is not the “cause” of sin and temptation (James 1:13-14), rather God is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17). God is not the source of false doctrine, cults, or young people being lured into a life of drugs and crime. Notice that Paul says in reference to such evil things, “This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you” (Galatians 5:8). James further notes, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?” (James 4:1).

· Neither can one rationalize that since God works all things for my good, I do not need to abstain from sin, for the Lord will use even evil for my ultimate welfare. A denominational preacher, some years back, in attempting to defend the Calvinistic dogma of “once-saved-always-saved”, declared that he could commit adultery, and God ultimately would work it out for his good. In Titus 1:10-11 Paul did not argue that false teachers were to be left alone, because ultimately God would work everything out, rather he said, “Who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families”. “The very fact that Paul wrote his letters to combat bad doctrine and practices argues against the notion that whatever happens is God’s will or doing” (p. 76).

· God does not cause our sufferings (Romans 8:18), rather the cause of our earthly sufferings, especially such things as persecution, is unbelief and sin. We do not rejoice in our sufferings because God sends them, rather we rejoice in theresult (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).

· The point is that God does not have to send trials; the very fact that we are seeking to live godly lives in a sinful world will bring upon us trials (Acts 14:22).

“God need not inject adversity or particular events into your life to spur your growth or to accomplish any other purpose. You will land in plenty of suitably didactic circumstances just in the normal course of living your life. ‘In the world you will have tribulations’ (John 16:33); ‘it is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come’ (Matthew 18:7). The question is whether you are spiritually sensitive and teachable enough to learn whatever lessons might be derived. God is quite flexible enough to pick up on whatever you experience to teach you XYZ—if you are open to learning it. If you are not, He can throw all manner of circumstances your way and you will never get the message” (p. 72). In Romans 8:28 this is why there is such emphasis on the phrase, “to those who love God”. Initially as Christians we are shocked by what people suffer and yet instead of turning to God or learning from it, such suffering moves them away from God.

“Theologians who argue that God controls everything are always quick to add the disclaimer, ‘This, of course, does not exclude human responsibility’. Martin Luther put it this way: ‘Since God moves and works all in all, He necessarily moves and works even in Satan and wicked men. But He works according to what they are and what He finds them to be’. The idea that God works according to ‘what He finds them to be’ looks at the immediate situation as though it were God’s first involvement with the person—which contradicts the idea that He ‘works all in all’. Where was God in all that person’s previous life? Has the sinner been independently developing bad habits in obscurity, forgotten and neglected by a God who now suddenly ‘finds’ the sinner. If everything is God’s doing, then were not all the sinner’s prior sinful acts—which have been ever reinforcing and hardening his or her wickedness—likewise God’s doing? (p. 49).

Egocentric Thinking

A man writing from a denominational perspective said, “Listen to Christians talk about how God works in circumstances, and you will quickly notice a persistent and insidious pattern: it’s all egocentric. The perspective is magnetically centered on the self and everyone else is but a supporting player chipped in by God to flesh out my circumstances. The assumption implicit in most talk about God’s role in our circumstances is that God is manipulating everybody to create my circumstances for me and then, at the moment the pieces come together, I am in the spotlight to make my decision. No one has been free up to this point, because God has been manipulating all of them (us). But now the game suddenly changes and I am free to respond to the situation” (p. 74). It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God is manipulating all sorts of circumstances for me, and fail to remember that God is no respector of persons (Romans 2:11), that Jesus died for all men (John 3:16), that God wants all men to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), and that God sends His physical blessings upon unbelievers as well (Luke 6:35). So when religious people talk about God getting them good parking spaces, an inside track of some investment, and so on, we need to remember that such things happen to everyone. Unbelievers often have the good parking spots at the mall, become successful in business, and get an unexpected check in the mail just when they need it. These things happen to everyone and are not proof that one is right with God or that God is manipulating all your circumstances.

How can God allow evil?

“The question assumes that bad things happen independently of the bad things people do. What is God’s alternative to ‘allowing’ people to fight (unjust) wars, for example? Jam all the guns? Suspend the laws of physics so the missiles don’t take off? Silence all the politicians and paralyze the generals? Revoke the capacity of everyone involved to make decisions?” (p. 53). There is no philosophical or theological dilemma as to why bad things happen as long as we remember that evil deeds are committed by people who choose to behave in an evil manner (Revelation 2:21). That is not a mystery, for even Christians are tempted to do evil things (1 Corinthians 10:13). “There is a world of difference between allowing things to happen and causing them to happen. We must not start out saying we believe God determines, causes, and controls things that happen, and then wind up saying that all we really mean is that He ‘allows’ them to happen. Those are not the same beliefs” (p. 53). The good news is that God is not the author of evil and suffering, and neither is He manipulating everyone to fit into someone’s schedule. He is not only concerned about my life, He is equally concerned about what happens to everyone else as well, and He has no favorites.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017