THE GOD OF STEADFAST PURPOSE

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from his birth. His disciples asked him:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Jesus answered:

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But in order that God’s actions might be revealed in him, we must work the works of the One who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

 

Who sinned, those four youngsters from Cottonwood or their parents, that they died in a school bus accident? Who sinned, our friend Kay or her parents, that her mind is lost to Alzheimer’s disease? Who sinned, our neighbor Jack or his parents, that he is in a battle for life with acute lymphoma?

The answer, of course, is that neither those tragic deaths and nor those awful diseases are God’s punishments for sin. But the fact remains, there they are. They happened. Why? Tough luck? Someone else’s fault? Bad judgment or bad genes? Perhaps. But the fact is, they happened.

And so, once again, we are reminded that not only do we live in a marvelous, well-crafted world of order and beauty, but, at the same time, a world in which chaos, confusion, human error, self-interest, stupidity, and cruelty seem to run rapid. And we might well wonder, where is God in all this? Where is the One who called himself the light of the world? Why does God allow such things as those tragic deaths and those awful diseases? In the words of Mr. Britling, in H. G. Wells’ novel of that title:

"Why, if I thought there was an omnipotent God who looked down on battles, death, and all the waste and horror of war, and was able to prevent these things, I would spit in his empty face."

Ah, but is God able to prevent these things? Not so long ago, as I was driving down Como Avenue, I caught up with a car with a bumper sticker that read, God is in complete control. But I couldn’t help but laugh, because the car itself was rusting away, with holes everywhere.

Is God is complete control? Is God able to prevent these things? Well, yes; and no. In control, yes; but with a huge difference between what God is able to do and what God will do; a huge difference between what God intends and what God allows.

There is a childish idea that believes that whatever God desires God can do. God could turn an apple into an orange and back again in a flash. God could give a zebra spots and a leopard stripes. God could make a bad person good, eradicate dutch elm disease, and eliminate floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes from the earth.

But God's power never contradicts God's character. God's power is always at the service of God's wisdom, holiness, and love. God simply will not intrude on the freedom we have been given as human beings -- freedom to make decisions, freedom to make mistakes, freedom to rebel, freedom to love, and freedom to cause grief. Neither will God not interfere with the created order of things for the sake of a favored few.

Dr. Crichton-Miller tells the story of a woman who rushed into a London train depot and begged the trainmaster to postpone the next train. She said:

"My son has been in a serious accident. He's not expected to live. My husband is on his way, but he can't possibly get here before the next train leaves. Please hold the train so we can see our son alive."

But the trainmaster responded:

"I'm deeply sorry madam, but I cannot. This train makes many important connections that would be lost if I delayed it. "Who knows who would suffer if I held the train. I sympathize with you, but it is my duty to maintain the most trustworthy railway service possible, for the good of all."

This is the way it is with God. It would upset everything if God would suspend the law of gravity for someone who slips and falls from a tower; and it would be sheer chaos if God held back the tide for a ship that was floundering near a rocky shore.

Perhaps we would prefer a God who refused to put up with human error, sin, and rebellion; a God who would overturn all suffering and eliminate bitterness, envy, hatred, war, and every injustice. But the LORD God is not, first and foremost, a God of sheer power, but always and forever, a God of holy love and holy purpose.

What, then, if God were to react against sin and evil by crushing them? That is, what if God were to stop being gracious just long enough to eliminate human rebellion and every source of evil once and for all? Then as Leslie Weatherhead suggests: Wouldn't God have failed? Wouldn’t God’s purposes for humankind collapse? Wouldn't God cease to be God?

We are here for a purpose, don’t we see? We are here to be touched by God and to come to know and to trust in God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are in this world together – to learn together, to work together, to learn to love and care together for an eternal destiny together. This means our actions effect one another, normally for good, but sometimes, through error or sin, for what is bad. And God refuses to upset or set aside that purpose or destiny for any reason.

Nothing, not even God's hatred of sin, will force God to use methods that run contrary to divine justice, love, and grace. Indeed, instead of sheer power or force, God's caring, self-giving nature requires that God fight the forces of sin and evil by the way of suffering and self-sacrifice; in short, by the way of the cross.

The message is, God is in control, but in God’s way, in service of God’s ultimate purposes, however weak, ineffective, and offensive that may seem to us. In truth, God is among us now, doing what God always has done – sticking with us though thick and thin, turning our sin around to chastise us and call us to better things, redirecting evil to serve divine purposes, using godly men, women, and young people as heaven's agents for good here, there, and everywhere. Here, by the way, is where we are called to enter into the pain, distress, and loss of our neighbors and friends. In Jesus’ words:

"We must work the works of the One who sent him while it is day."

No, no! Things are not always what God might wish. Thousands of things occur every day that are not in accord with God’s will. In the words of the Letter to the Hebrews:

"We do not yet see everything subject to God’s will, but we do see Jesus . . . crowned now with glory and honor because, by God’s grace, he has suffered death on our behalf."

Ah, yes. We see Jesus! And we have the audacity to declare that it was in the deep darkness of the cross that Jesus, the light of world, revealed God’s love to us most clearly.

It has been many years now since eighteen year old Stan Mariner died. Stanley was working on top of the Farmer’s Grain Elevator in Jackson when he fell into the grain, was sucked under, and smothered to death. I suppose some might have wondered at the time, "Who sinned, Stan or his parents, that he should die?"

Such a promising young life; and such a sudden, wasteful death. And it is right here that Jesus comes in; Jesus with his promising life, and his seemingly senseless execution and death.

The point is, we have a God who cares about every promising life and every wasteful, senseless suffering, disease, and death. We have a God who in Jesus has experienced it all – the shame, the waste, the rejection, the loneliness, and yes, the senselessness of death. But he lives, raised up by God the Father to be the Lord of the living and the dead. And now, because of his cross, we are assured that the risen Lord is personally involved in every good event and every painful incident, every meaningful event and every senseless event, every honorable situation and every shameful situation; yes, and every loss, every rejection, and every senseless death.

You see, God is not finished with the four youngsters from Cottonwood, or their parents, or their classmates or their community. God is not finished with Kay and her Alzheimers, or Jack and his lymphoma, or you, or me, or our loved ones.

Once again this morning we gather together around the Lord’s Table, drawn together by our Lord himself to eat of the one loaf that is his body and to drink of the one cup that is his blood. We come to receive the benefits of Jesus’ self-sacrifice for us – forgiveness, life, and salvation. And we go out from here, renewed by the Spirit of our Lord to bring encouragement and the good news of God’s gracious action in the lives of our neighbors, friends, family, and people everywhere.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.