Introduction
In the previous 3 parts to this series we looked at how our views on God's fairness have been affected by -
1. Our concepts of justice
2. Our concept of time
3. God's compassion for the lost.
In Part 4 of this series we will look at how we may think that God is unfair when in fact, God is not finished yet.
Text - 22 When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him.23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”
24 The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.”25 Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.
Mark 8:22-25 (NLT)
It would have been very easy for this man to conclude that "God's not fair" when his sight was only partially restored, but the reality was simply that God was not yet finished.
What other situations like this do we find in the Word?
God provides a helper.
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
Gen 2:18-20 (NLT)
You may be a single person that would love to find that "special someone", but it's just not happening. Here is some good news. This was also true of Adam. He had a perfect relationship with God, he was fulfilling God's will for his life, he had some animals for company but it wasn't enough. I am sure that he could have thought that God wasn't fair, but, God wasn't finished yet. At the right time God brought Eve into Adam's life and He can do the same for you. Don't give up. Don't be tempted to accept someone that you know is not right. Don't turn away from God. He will provide that special person just for you.
God provides children.
1 The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.2 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.3 And Abraham named their son Isaac.
Gen 21:1-3 (NLT)
Abraham and Sarah had been promised a child many years before but nothing happened. As they got older it just seemed more impossible with each passing day. But God was not finished and sure enough his promise to them came true. Whatever you are believing for today, don't give up because God is not finished yet.
God provides
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son.14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat for many days.16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.
1 Kings 17:13-16 (NLT)
No doubt this widow and her son could have thought that God was not fair sending a famine. But God was not finished yet and he sent the prophet Elijah to help. Although it took real faith on her part, God provided for all three. A bit later on in the story, the boy dies and the widow brings the dead body to Elijah. Again she could have easily concluded that God was not fair. But again, God was not yet finished and Elijah called upon God and the boy came back to life.
God is still working on you!
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Phil 1:6 (NLT)
Maybe you find yourself still struggling with things that you thought you had left behind a long time ago. Don't give up because God never will. He has not finished with you yet. You are a work in progress and so is everyone around you.
Conclusion
No matter what you are believing for, don't give up, don't quit, don't think that God is not fair because He is not yet finished!
Study Guide
* Have you ever thought that God was not working in a situation, only to find that He was not yet finished? What happened?
* Why is it important to keep reminding ourselves that God is not finished yet?
* What are some of the things that you are still waiting and believing God for?
* Has this series of messages impacted you in any way? How?
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Monday, 6 August 2012
God's Not Fair! Part 3
Introduction
In Part 1 and 2 of this series we have looked at how our ideas of fairness can be moulded by our concepts of justice and our limited view of time. God of course doesn't deal with us according to justice but according to His grace and His understanding of time stretches into eternity.
In this blog we will attempt look at fairness through God's eyes of compassion.
Jonah
The prophet Jonah felt that God was unfair. When God asked him to go and preach to the city of Nineveh
he ran the other way instead. However God can be very persuasive, and so after spending 3 days in the belly of a fish, Jonah did as he was told. Upon hearing the message the people of Nineveh all repented, even the King (Jonah Chapter 3). At this, the Lord relented and did not destroy them as Jonah had prophesied. Jonah 4:1-4 says this -
"1 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
Later in Chapter 4 we read that as Jonah sat outside the city feeling sorry for himself and his lost reputation, God provided a leafy plant to grow and shade him from the hot sun. This made Jonah very happy. However the next day God made a worm eat the plant and again Jonah became very angry with God. Verses 9-11 record Jonah's exchange with God about this -
"9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly.11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jonah 4:9-11 (NLT)
God's compassion for people who were living in spiritual darkness meant shaking Jonah out of his safe comfortable world where he enjoyed a great reputation. This led him to declare that God's not fair!
Application
The story of Jonah is just a story until we put ourselves in his shoes. It is easy to judge Jonah as a reluctant prophet, but are we sometimes just like him?
1. Jonah ran from God's call. (Chapter 1)
We too have been called to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19&20).
Many people believe that Jonah ran because of the Ninevites reputation for violence but Jonah 4:2&3 tells us otherwise. Jonah's real reason for fleeing is because he was afraid of losing his reputation.
Most of us probably do not face actual danger when it comes to sharing our faith, but it may well cost us our reputation or even our friendship with someone. Are we willing to be uncool or even rejected for sharing our faith? Are we willing to see the people around us as God sees them? Lost and desperately in need of a saviour?
2. Jonah needed to "die". (Chapter 2)
In order to fulfill Jonah's call he needed to die to himself. When he was inside the fish for 3 days his reputation didn't seem so important anymore. I am sure that he felt that God was not being fair to put him through all this, but God's intention was never to kill Jonah, He just wanted Jonah to obey.
Hopefully we will never end up where Jonah was, but God does have ways of pruning our lives so that we will produce more fruit (see John 15:2). He does this not because he is disciplining us but because of His compassion for the people around us. He paid a great price for their salvation and we are the ones that carry that message.
3. Jonah was more concerned with comfort than with people. (Chapter 4)
The episode with the plant growing up and dying simply points out Jonah's selfishness and lack of compassion for others. Although he thought that God was so unfair, God was more concerned with the eternal destiny of these 120,000 people.
We also can be guilty of this. Whether it is leaving behind some of life's comforts in order to share the gospel or simply adjusting our church services to suit unbelievers, we need to see people the way that God does in order to understand why we sometimes go through some things in life.
Conclusion
God sees things from an eternal perspective. He sees the ultimate eternal end of lost souls. This caused Him the greatest possible pain - the rejection and crucifixion of his own son, Jesus. At times he may call us to lay aside our comfort and reputation in order to reach others with His message. We can be like Jonah and run from God, only to be pruned back to nothing and then asked again, or we can say yes and be part of His amazing plan.
Study Guide
* Has sharing your faith ever cost you your reputation? What happened?
* Have you ever felt like you ran away from something God was asking you to do?
* Have you ever experienced God's "pruning" that resulted in more fruit in your life?
* In what ways do you find it "uncomfortable" serving God?
* As a church, how could we become more relevant and fruitful in reaching our city?
* How might this cost us some comfort?
In Part 1 and 2 of this series we have looked at how our ideas of fairness can be moulded by our concepts of justice and our limited view of time. God of course doesn't deal with us according to justice but according to His grace and His understanding of time stretches into eternity.
In this blog we will attempt look at fairness through God's eyes of compassion.
Jonah
The prophet Jonah felt that God was unfair. When God asked him to go and preach to the city of Nineveh
he ran the other way instead. However God can be very persuasive, and so after spending 3 days in the belly of a fish, Jonah did as he was told. Upon hearing the message the people of Nineveh all repented, even the King (Jonah Chapter 3). At this, the Lord relented and did not destroy them as Jonah had prophesied. Jonah 4:1-4 says this -
"1 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
Later in Chapter 4 we read that as Jonah sat outside the city feeling sorry for himself and his lost reputation, God provided a leafy plant to grow and shade him from the hot sun. This made Jonah very happy. However the next day God made a worm eat the plant and again Jonah became very angry with God. Verses 9-11 record Jonah's exchange with God about this -
"9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly.11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jonah 4:9-11 (NLT)
God's compassion for people who were living in spiritual darkness meant shaking Jonah out of his safe comfortable world where he enjoyed a great reputation. This led him to declare that God's not fair!
Application
The story of Jonah is just a story until we put ourselves in his shoes. It is easy to judge Jonah as a reluctant prophet, but are we sometimes just like him?
1. Jonah ran from God's call. (Chapter 1)
We too have been called to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19&20).
Many people believe that Jonah ran because of the Ninevites reputation for violence but Jonah 4:2&3 tells us otherwise. Jonah's real reason for fleeing is because he was afraid of losing his reputation.
Most of us probably do not face actual danger when it comes to sharing our faith, but it may well cost us our reputation or even our friendship with someone. Are we willing to be uncool or even rejected for sharing our faith? Are we willing to see the people around us as God sees them? Lost and desperately in need of a saviour?
2. Jonah needed to "die". (Chapter 2)
In order to fulfill Jonah's call he needed to die to himself. When he was inside the fish for 3 days his reputation didn't seem so important anymore. I am sure that he felt that God was not being fair to put him through all this, but God's intention was never to kill Jonah, He just wanted Jonah to obey.
Hopefully we will never end up where Jonah was, but God does have ways of pruning our lives so that we will produce more fruit (see John 15:2). He does this not because he is disciplining us but because of His compassion for the people around us. He paid a great price for their salvation and we are the ones that carry that message.
3. Jonah was more concerned with comfort than with people. (Chapter 4)
The episode with the plant growing up and dying simply points out Jonah's selfishness and lack of compassion for others. Although he thought that God was so unfair, God was more concerned with the eternal destiny of these 120,000 people.
We also can be guilty of this. Whether it is leaving behind some of life's comforts in order to share the gospel or simply adjusting our church services to suit unbelievers, we need to see people the way that God does in order to understand why we sometimes go through some things in life.
Conclusion
God sees things from an eternal perspective. He sees the ultimate eternal end of lost souls. This caused Him the greatest possible pain - the rejection and crucifixion of his own son, Jesus. At times he may call us to lay aside our comfort and reputation in order to reach others with His message. We can be like Jonah and run from God, only to be pruned back to nothing and then asked again, or we can say yes and be part of His amazing plan.
Study Guide
* Has sharing your faith ever cost you your reputation? What happened?
* Have you ever felt like you ran away from something God was asking you to do?
* Have you ever experienced God's "pruning" that resulted in more fruit in your life?
* In what ways do you find it "uncomfortable" serving God?
* As a church, how could we become more relevant and fruitful in reaching our city?
* How might this cost us some comfort?
Saturday, 21 July 2012
God's Not Fair - Part 2
Introduction
In Part 1 of this series we looked at our concept of "fairness" which is framed by our sense of justice. We saw that God doesn't deal with us according to justice but according to His grace and mercy.
In this blog we will look at how our sense of "fairness" can be determined by time, including our very limited concepts of eternity.
Our concept of "fairness" often does not take time into account.
If you have ever had children, you know that they think that many things are not fair. It's not fair that they have to go to school, do homework, eat vegetables etc etc. But as parents we know how important these things are going to be to kids when they get older. We know that time will make these things beautiful in their lives.
The same is true with our heavenly Father. When we trust our lives to Him we must believe that He knows better than we do what will work out for our best.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in it's time".
Think about it for a minute. Have you ever gone through a painful experience which, in time, God turned into something of great beauty and strength? God has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). A plan to bless us and not harm us. A plan to give us a future and a hope. Isn't this what we would plan for our own children? Even though at times they may think that we are "not fair".
God promises to make everything work out for our good.
Romans 8:28 says " And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." (NLT). Even when people make mistakes and seem to mess up God's plan for us, God promises that, in time, He will make everything work out for our good.
What about Eternity?
I recently went the funeral of a little five year old girl who was born with cerebral palsy. Despite everyone's best efforts she went home to be with Jesus. The family were all believers and spoke at the funeral about the fact that, at the time, they could not understand how God could have allowed their beautiful little girl to be born with this disability. Not only that, God did not heal her when they knew that He had the power to do so. It would be easy to conclude that "God's not fair".
However they went on to talk about how this little girl had enriched their lives so much. How her brothers and sisters and grandparents just adored her. In just five short years she touched the hearts of so many people. They also talked about the fact that they knew that she was now in heaven and no longer had any pain, sickness or disability. They knew that the next time they saw her that she would be whole.
As believers, there may be things that happen in life that we just do not have any answers for. The untimely death of a loved one, sickness or disability that does not get healed, financial difficulty through no fault of our own etc. We may ask God why and seem to get no real answer in this life. However God sees things from an eternal perspective. Read Luke 16:19-26. I wonder if Lazarus ever thought "God's not fair". I am sure that he did. However when he got to paradise everything changed. The Psalmist also struggled with these thoughts and declared the same in Psalm 73. Jesus in fact spoke about how difficulties like persecution can really add to our eternal reward and that we should be happy about this! (See Matthew 5:11&12)
Conclusion
Just as children need to mature in their understanding about what's fair, as believers we need to move beyond thinking that God's not fair and start trusting Him in every circumstance. God has a plan for us that stretches on into eternity. Some things become beautiful in earthly time and others only in heaven. One thing is for sure, God is on the throne and He will ultimately work everything out for your benefit and eternal joy.
Study Guide
* Read Ecclesiastes 3:11.
What things in your life has God made beautiful "in it's time"?
What are the things in your life right now that you are trusting Him to make beautiful?
* Read Romans 8:28.
Share one thing that God has made work out for your good.
How does recalling this help you to trust God to make ALL things work for your good?
*Read Luke 16:19-26
What does this story say to you about the following areas -
Eternity
The plight of the poor
Our response to the poor
* Read Psalm 73
Have you ever felt like this Psalmist?
What was it that made the Psalmist change his mind (see verse 17)
How should an understanding of eternity affect our everyday lives?
* Read Matthew 5:11&12
How is it possible to actually be happy about persecution?
In Part 1 of this series we looked at our concept of "fairness" which is framed by our sense of justice. We saw that God doesn't deal with us according to justice but according to His grace and mercy.
In this blog we will look at how our sense of "fairness" can be determined by time, including our very limited concepts of eternity.
Our concept of "fairness" often does not take time into account.
If you have ever had children, you know that they think that many things are not fair. It's not fair that they have to go to school, do homework, eat vegetables etc etc. But as parents we know how important these things are going to be to kids when they get older. We know that time will make these things beautiful in their lives.
The same is true with our heavenly Father. When we trust our lives to Him we must believe that He knows better than we do what will work out for our best.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in it's time".
Think about it for a minute. Have you ever gone through a painful experience which, in time, God turned into something of great beauty and strength? God has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). A plan to bless us and not harm us. A plan to give us a future and a hope. Isn't this what we would plan for our own children? Even though at times they may think that we are "not fair".
God promises to make everything work out for our good.
Romans 8:28 says " And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." (NLT). Even when people make mistakes and seem to mess up God's plan for us, God promises that, in time, He will make everything work out for our good.
What about Eternity?
I recently went the funeral of a little five year old girl who was born with cerebral palsy. Despite everyone's best efforts she went home to be with Jesus. The family were all believers and spoke at the funeral about the fact that, at the time, they could not understand how God could have allowed their beautiful little girl to be born with this disability. Not only that, God did not heal her when they knew that He had the power to do so. It would be easy to conclude that "God's not fair".
However they went on to talk about how this little girl had enriched their lives so much. How her brothers and sisters and grandparents just adored her. In just five short years she touched the hearts of so many people. They also talked about the fact that they knew that she was now in heaven and no longer had any pain, sickness or disability. They knew that the next time they saw her that she would be whole.
As believers, there may be things that happen in life that we just do not have any answers for. The untimely death of a loved one, sickness or disability that does not get healed, financial difficulty through no fault of our own etc. We may ask God why and seem to get no real answer in this life. However God sees things from an eternal perspective. Read Luke 16:19-26. I wonder if Lazarus ever thought "God's not fair". I am sure that he did. However when he got to paradise everything changed. The Psalmist also struggled with these thoughts and declared the same in Psalm 73. Jesus in fact spoke about how difficulties like persecution can really add to our eternal reward and that we should be happy about this! (See Matthew 5:11&12)
Conclusion
Just as children need to mature in their understanding about what's fair, as believers we need to move beyond thinking that God's not fair and start trusting Him in every circumstance. God has a plan for us that stretches on into eternity. Some things become beautiful in earthly time and others only in heaven. One thing is for sure, God is on the throne and He will ultimately work everything out for your benefit and eternal joy.
Study Guide
* Read Ecclesiastes 3:11.
What things in your life has God made beautiful "in it's time"?
What are the things in your life right now that you are trusting Him to make beautiful?
* Read Romans 8:28.
Share one thing that God has made work out for your good.
How does recalling this help you to trust God to make ALL things work for your good?
*Read Luke 16:19-26
What does this story say to you about the following areas -
Eternity
The plight of the poor
Our response to the poor
* Read Psalm 73
Have you ever felt like this Psalmist?
What was it that made the Psalmist change his mind (see verse 17)
How should an understanding of eternity affect our everyday lives?
* Read Matthew 5:11&12
How is it possible to actually be happy about persecution?
Thursday, 12 July 2012
God's Not Fair!
Introduction
Have you ever
thought to yourself “God’s not fair!”. I would bet that you have but you were
not game to say it. Instead we spiritualize our feelings by saying things like
“Life is not fair but God is good”. This sounds ok, but if you think about it,
aren’t our lives in God’s hands anyway?
In this
series we will look at the whole concept of fairness and how it applies to God
and the way that He deals with us.
Why do you think Paul is speaking so strongly to the Galatians? What trap did they fall into that we also need to guard against?
“Fairness” comes from “Justice”. Our whole concept of fairness comes
from a basis of justice and reward for performance. Fortunately for us, God
does not give us what we deserve.
Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax
Collector – Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee
sounds like a Pastor’s dream! He does all the right things so surely God would
hear his prayers, right? That’s what he thought too. But Jesus said that the
repentant sinner was the one who went home justified. Is that fair? Not by the
system of justice it isn’t!
The good
news of the Gospel is that God does not deal with us on the basis of law, good
works and justice. If He did, we would all be headed for a lost eternity.
Read Romans 3:21-28
Living in God’s Grace
The sad fact
is that many Christians, having received salvation through the grace of God
then fall back into law and justice by trying to please God by their actions.
This is what happened to the Galatians and this is why Paul wrote to them so
strongly in Galatians 3:1-5
Why then should we try to live right?
Let’s go back to our friend the
Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14. We have already established that he was not justified
before God because of his deeds, and neither are we! But he was blessed by
choosing to live in a “right” way.
1. He didn’t cheat – this enabled him to
live within the law and sleep at night
2. He didn’t sin – this was untrue and
brought about his ultimate downfall
3. He didn’t commit adultery – adultery
is a major cause of divorce and misery.
4. He fasts twice a week – this keeps
his weight under control
5. He gives a tenth of his income –
God’s promises to bless those who tithe still apply. Even many big corporations
give 10% of profits to the poor.
So when we choose to live God’s way, we choose to live the
best life possible. We are not justified before God by our actions, but we
choose life when we choose to live according to His Word.
Conclusion
God is not fair as we think of fair
because He deals with us not according to our works but according to His mercy
and grace. Thank you Jesus!
Study Guide
·
Read Luke 18:8-14. How do you feel about The Pharisee?
Do you think that Christians can sometimes be like this? How can we guard
against self-righteousness?
·
Read Romans 3:21-28 How are we made righteous before
God?
Is there anything that we can boast or feel good about?
How should this truth make us feel when we approach God? How should
it make us feel about others and the way that they live?
Read
Galatians 3:1-14 Why do you think Paul is speaking so strongly to the Galatians? What trap did they fall into that we also need to guard against?
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