Why God?

Unless you're a Christian, you probably didn't heard about this. Steven Curtis Chapman is a Christian musician who also heavily promotes overseas adoption through his organization Shaohannah's Hope. He has three biological children, followed by three adopted children. On May 21st, a terrible tragedy struck their family when as their teenage son was pulling out the driveway, he accidentally struck and killed their youngest, five year old Maria Sue.

The news of this absolutely broke my heart. No one could hear this news and not be just sickened. What must the parents and family be going through? How would they cope? I felt all of this, to be sure. But I couldn't help but think mostly of their son who had been driving the SUV. How horrible he must feel. What an opportunity for Satan to attack this kid and try to destroy his faith.

He must be asking "Why, God? Why did this happen? Why did You let this happen? And why through me? Why would you let me kill my own baby sister?" The grief must be unreal. The questioning of God so deep and full and anger, hurt and resentment.

We all ask these questions in times of trouble. Sickness, death, loss of job, car accident or failed relationships. We ask God why He let this happen. We're desperate to make sense of it. Jesus asked God "Why have you forsaken me?" as He hung on the cross, having felt God's presence leave Him. Even those of us who don't have a relationship with God will return to Him during these times, like a child with a skinned knee calling out for mom. We need there to be a reason for it all, and we expect that God knows the reason and that it is for a greater, unseen good.

Asking "Why, God?" is good. To seek out God is never wrong, and asking Him to reveal His plan and purpose should be a regular part of our lives. Why then do we only seem to do this when things are bad? Do you ever stop to do this when things are going good? "Why God? Why did you choose to give me this raise?" Or the new job, or bigger house, or any of the blessings God regularly gives. We assume we know the reason for the raise. It obviously because we deserve it. At most we think it's because God just wants to bless His children.

Ever think, just as He may have a plan for the greater good in the trials He sends us, that there might also be a greater purpose for the blessings too? That raise? It's not so you can get a new car but so you can give to that new church plant. New job? There's people there you need to minister to. Got a great deal and bought a nice big house? Maybe you're to take in foster kids.

The point is, God moves in all things both good and bad. We need to seek Him out in everything. He does have a purpose behind it all, and building a relationship of trust will let us see it. Then, good or bad, we can testify that God is real and have joy in the work He is doing.

Romans 14

Romans 14:1-8
1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

So I'm back to the debate between grace and legalism (or if you like, between liberalism and righteous living.) Here, Paul uses the example of eating meat to indicate that some things of faith will be disputable. Whether or not you believe in eating meat, each should be fully convinced and live accordingly. Each should be doing this out of a heart for God, honestly seeking Him out. Neither should look down upon the other because they disagree. In the end, both are serving God and in that there should be unity.

Now, back out to a bigger picture. Take any example you want: Remarriage, drinking, R-rated movies, working on Sunday, etc. Pick any of these and you'll have two sides: those who see a line which God has drawn and which defines the righteous life we are called to live, and those who see us as living under grace and therefore it's relationship and not rules we need to worry about. Righteousness vs Grace.

Sure, these things are disputable matters. You can think drinking is unrighteous and I would disagree. But we both follow Jesus and honestly seek Him out, so therefore we can have unity even in our disagreement. The hard part is that each side sees the other as being week in the faith and therefore needing to deal with sin. The one arguing for righteousness sees sin and a need for discipleship in the other's life. The one arguing for grace sees lack of faith and dependence on man-made rules in the first. Both are honestly seeking out the the other's best good and wanting them to live more fulling in Jesus, they just disagree on how.

I think there's a couple good points to make here. First, the Truth must lie in, not so much a balance between the two, but in upholding both completely. Some things are issues of righteous living and must be upheld, others are our own rules and freedom must abound. Jesus lived this way. He lived a righteous life with very high standards and yet dismissed human interpretations of God's law, such as working on the Sabbath.

The second comes from v5 "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." These matters may be disputable and there will always be disagreements, yet we are to think, pray and decide what we believe. We are to seek God's heart in these things for ourselves and not just dismiss them. If you are fully convinced in either Righteousness or Grace, that can be used to teach and correct others. But being luke-warm, simply disregarding it doesn't do anyone any good. That won't build anyone up.

Can we have these disagreements and not tear each other down for them? I hope so, it's the only way we can have unity. We also need to be sure not to let these issues/arguments effect our sharing with non-Christians. The core issues, the sinfulness of man, the Lordship of Jesus, the need for salvation, these should not be muddied by internal arguments.

Remarriage Revisited

In the comments to my recent post about remarriage, a friend said

I guess I worry about the statement that grace only goes so far. That’s a dangerous statement to make. Once we go down that path and put limits on God's grace we're traveling down a very slippery slope.

I'm not saying that we don't uphold the standards that God gave us in the Bible but I think we need to understand that God's forgiveness is absolute no matter what we think. As you said it’s not God that can't forgive, it’s us.

Then I read an article from ABC News where a Wheaton College professor has been removed because he just got a divorce from his wife of 20 years. Wheaton College has a policy whereby if a staff member is divorced, the school will consider the circumstances to see if it was for Biblical grounds. In this case, the professor declined to discuss the issue, so he was given a year to find another job. He quit instead.

Just a couple thoughts. First I agree with Sean that neither grace nor God should be limited. To say that grace can only go so far does just that and is in error. However, just because an action or choice is covered by grace, that doesn't mean that they're may not be consequences.

There's a saying that I like "Keep your standards high, but your expectations low." for example when I'm driving my expectation is that you shouldn't cut someone off so I don't, however I do expect that someone else might cut me off. This way, my behavior is still good, however I do not get angry when someone else's isn't. If my expectations of everyone else were high, I'd drive my self nuts with frustration. But I don't lower my standards because then I'd slide down that slippery slope too. I think this phrase applies here as well. The standard is against divorce, but it is expected.

By enforcing this standard practically, we reinforce it mentally as well. For example, if there's a standard about not getting to work late and my boss enforces it, then I am mentally conditioned to get get to work on time. If he doesn't enforce the standard, I am less likely to build discipline in this area. If it's not important to him, why should it be important to me?

In this case, I do not expect that the professor would decide to not divorce his wife solely because he would lose his job if he did so. However, the fact that the school took such a strong practical stand on this issue would have reinforced the teaching to him over the years. Sadly, it was not enough in this case.

In our churches, we should practically enforce the standards that are spelled out in scripture. Where we fail, grace my abound. But to not hold up the standard gives the lesson that it is unimportant and our behavior will worsen as a result.