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The End of Evil?

03/09/2008 - The Evil One, Selected Scripture

Bad News...

I sometimes wonder why I bother to watch the news when it is so disturbing... worse yet, why do I watch the 11:00 news right before I lay my head on the pillow to go to sleep... whose idea was it to broadcast the news right before people go to bed anyway?...

The news is almost always bad... I don't mean to bust on the news industry... they do their best with what they have to work with... it's just that what they have to work with is mostly troubling and depressing stories...

So back to the question of why I allow my mind to be bombarded with such unsettling sounds and images right before I go to sleep?... I'm not suggesting that I hide my head in the sand and pretend that all is right with the world... I'm just thinking that maybe I would sleep better if I limited my news intake to the local news at 6:00 and the world news at 6:30 and then allowed my mind a peaceful 3-4 hours to deprogram before bedtime...

This week I have been troubled by a tragic story from West Palm Beach, Florida. On Monday, a 60-year old man, dressed neatly in a jacket and tie, emerged from the men's room of a crowded Wendy's restaurant, walked up behind a 42-year old paramedic who was standing at the counter and took his life by shooting him in the back.

He then turned and shot and wounded four others in the restaurant before taking his own life.

The paramedic that he killed was named Rafael. He was a husband and father of four children. His wife and youngest child were waiting for him in the car while he returned to the restaurant to exchange the toy that came with his child's kid's meal.

In an interview this week, the wife of the slain man called him "an outstanding father and the most giving husband''... she went on to say, "I don't understand why these horrible things happen''

None of us understands why these horrible things happen... that's why we find them so disturbing... so frightening...

Why do these horrible things happen?

We are six weeks into a teaching series on evil and we have yet to discover an answer to this grieving woman's question...

Up to now we have pretty much understood evil to be a consequence of... evil. Adam and Eve exercise their free will and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and evil has been the result ever since.

They disobey God's simple command and the garden is overrun with weeds and thistles and they are expelled from it... Cain is jealous of his brother so he kills him and the evil of murder enters our world...

The acts of evil escalate to the point that God has to flood the world before evil completely destroys it... Pride and rebellion drive the people of Babel to build a "tower to heaven" and God has to scatter them and confuse their languages...

Evil turns God's rescue team, the children of Israel, into part of the problem... instead of reflecting God's glory... instead of being a blessing to the world around them they become attracted to it... they become willing participants in the very evil that they are supposed to be rescuing the world from...

Each time God has to move in... each time he has to bring judgment and as we learned from Matt last week God's judgment is not so much intended to "punish" as it is to "restore"... judgment and exile were intended to stop evil from progressing to its predictable result which is complete destruction...

This has been a significant discovery for me in reading N.T. Wright's book Evil and the Justice of God... I grew up thinking that much of God's judgment in the Old Testament was mostly just because he was just angry... now I understand it more in terms of God stepping in to stop evil in it's tracks... to limit evil... to keep evil from progressing to the point of complete destruction...

So people in the Old Testament make bad choices and evil is the result... exile... slavery... famine... God had a plan for them to be part of the solution... they chose to be part of the problem... evil is the result... easy, right?

Except that it doesn't answer the question of the grieving widow in West Palm Beach... "why do these horrible things happen?"... or more specifically the question, "why do these horrible things happen to innocent people?"... innocent people like her husband, Rafael, a paramedic, faithful husband, loving father... as far as we know, he didn't do anything to invite that unthinkable evil into his life or into the life of his family...

The Story of Job

This morning I want us to look at a similar tragedy that took place in the life of an Old Testament character named Job... it is the classic story of "bad things happening to good people"... in this story we will see evil falling on the life of an innocent man... in this story we will discover that evil is not always a consequence of bad choices nor is evil just a random set of occurrences... there is, in fact, an evil agenda... there is an "evil one" in the mix...

Job 1:1 - 2:10

¹In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. ² He had seven sons and three daughters, ³ and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

⁴ His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.

⁶ One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. ⁷ The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

⁹ "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. ¹⁰ "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. ¹¹ But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

¹² The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

¹³ One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, ¹⁴ a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, ¹⁵ and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, ¹⁹ when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."

²² In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

¹ On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. ² And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

³ Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."

⁴ "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. ⁵ But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."

⁶ The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. ⁸ Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

⁹ His wife said to him, "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!"

¹⁰ He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

The story goes on for another 40 chapters... if it isn't bad enough that Job loses everything and is covered from head to foot with painful sores, he is visited by a group of long-winded friends who basically try to convince him that he must have done something very bad to deserve all of this and he needs to come clean and confess so the wrath of God will leave him alone...

Job holds his ground against these accusations and finally at the end of the story in chapter 42:10 we read

¹⁰ After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. ¹¹ All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

¹² The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. ¹³ And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵ Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶ After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷ And so he died, old and full of years.

Now, Job is an amazing piece of Old Testament literature... we have here the preserved story of people struggling with the question of evil dating back to the second millennium... the days of the patriarchs... Job could have been a contemporary of Abraham...

But after I get past my amazement at this book and it's story I have some real problems with it... some unresolved questions...

Right off the bat, the story makes me think that I might not want to live such a righteous life as to attract the attention of God like Job did... Job, you're living an exemplary life so let's invite this Satan character in here and give him a go at messing it up... what's up with that, God?...

The other thing is the ending... it's really generous of God to give Job a bunch more livestock and a really long, full life, but I'm having a hard time with the replacement children part... apparently the daughters were exceedingly beautiful but it still seems rather dismissive of the first bunch of offspring...

But we will always have questions and we can't resolve all of them and, after all, this did take place 4,000 years ago... maybe children were more expendable back then...

There are, however, a couple of encouraging truths that I take from this story of Job that relate to the question of why bad things happen to good people...

Maybe all of you won't find this first one encouraging but I am encouraged that this question of why bad things happen to good people isn't just a recent one... all of recorded history joins us in our bewilderment...

Second, I am encouraged that there is such a thing as a "good person"...

⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

Job's friends were wrong... there are bad things that happen in our lives that we do not deserve... we did not "have it coming"...

Third, while I already mentioned that I'm not to keen on God inviting Satan into the mix, I can at least say that I am encouraged that God is aware of the bad things that happen to good people...

The fourth encouraging truth follows the third and that is that God is not only aware but he has the power to establish limits...

¹² The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

In fact, this Satan character, who we will discuss more in a bit, disappears from the scene early on... by the beginning of the third chapter he or it is not heard from again...

And lastly, the fifth encouraging truth comes at the end of the story when God restores Job's possessions... I've already mentioned my hang up with the whole replacement offspring thing but let's not let that overshadow the larger point that God, who is over all creation, is all about putting things to right within creation, not somewhere else...

This should give us hope that someday this world will be put to right... not in some ethereal heavenly realm way out there... but right here on this terra firma...

So, to review, while evil in the Old Testament is often a consequence of bad choices, it is not always the case... sometimes evil comes into the lives of good people... people who did not deserve it... did not "have it coming"... in these cases when bad things happen to good people we see that evil is not always random... sometimes evil seems to have an agenda... and, in the case of Job, that agenda was directed by an "evil one"... "the satan"...

So what about this Satan character?

In the preface to his book, Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis says:

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them."

Expanding on that in Evil and the Justice of God, N.T. Wright says:

"... C.S. Lewis... suggested that there were two equal and opposite errors into which people could fall when they thought about the devil. On the one hand, they might take him or it too seriously, imagining the satan as being equal and opposite to God or to Jesus, and to see direct satanic influence and activity behind every problem and all suffering and misfortune. That danger is still with us... Lewis was right to warn against an excessive, morbid interest in the workings of the demonic, an expectation that one will encounter demons behind every tree in the garden."

"The opposite error that Lewis imagined was that people might sneer at or mock the very idea of the demonic. Suggest to their minds a figure in red tights, with horns and hooves and a tail, and in sniggering at that they will think they have dismissed, or even disproved, the very existence of the devil."

So we, too, should be careful not to make fun of the very notion of an evil one but neither should we give that evil one too much credit... he or it is not the equal opposite of God or Jesus... he is, rather, subject to God...

Wright points out that in Hebrew the word translated "Satan" isHa Satan and it is more of a title than it is a name... so, rather than translating it as "Satan" with a capital "S", it is better translated as "the satan" which means "the accuser"... Wright suggests we might better understand "the satan" as the "director of public prosecutions"...

How many times have we experienced the foreboding accusations of "the accuser"... how many times have we talked to friends who experienced the glorious realization that there is a God who loves them and who forgives them and who invites them to walk with Him and then within days they are buried in the lies of the accuser who tries to convince them that they are undeserving pile of garbage...

Evil is not only the consequences of bad choices... evil is more than just random occurrences... sometimes evil has an agenda and that agenda is directed by an evil one... "the satan"... "the accuser"...

The satan is opposed to humankind... opposed to Israel... opposed to Jesus... opposed to creation itself... its agenda is to undo the dream of God... to destroy it... the ultimate goal is death... death of humans and death of the creation...

The way of the accuser... the tool that the satan uses to accomplish it's agenda is sin...

Sin... now there is a religious word that has been overworked and misused over the centuries... like demons we can fall into the mistake of flogging ourselves for every kind of sin imaginable or we can laugh at the very notion of it and fling the word around almost as a joke...

N.T. Wright offers a definition of sin that caught my attention...

"... sin is the rebellion of humankind against the vocation to reflect God's image into the world, the refusal to worship God the Creator, and the replacement of that worship and that vocation with the worship of elements of the created order, and the loss of image-bearing humanness which inevitably results.

Death is not an arbitrary punishment for sin; it is its necessary consequence, since the turning away from the living God which constitutes idolatry is the spiritual equivalent of a diver cutting off his own breathing tube. "

He goes on to say...

"When we humans commit idolatry - worshiping that which is not God as if it were - we thereby give to other creatures and beings in the cosmos a power, a prestige, an authority over us which we, under God, were supposed to have over them. When you worship an idol, whatever it is, you abdicate something of your own proper human authority over the world and give it instead to that thing, whatever it is. You call into being a negative force, an anti-God force which is opposed to creation because, being itself part of the transient world, it is bound to decay and die and will, if we're not careful, drag us down with it."

That changes things for me... if we think of sin as merely disobeying God's rules (which it is but it is more than that), then we will live as simple legalists and eventually we will wonder if God really cares or if God is really paying attention and we will flirt with the idea of sinning...

But, if we see sin as the tool of a bigger agenda... a dark agenda designed to rob us of our God given vocation... an agenda fixated on destroying us along with God's dream... we will then have a much grander reason to avoid it and live holy lives...

When we realize that idolatry is actually empowering the enemy... actually handing over power to the evil one... we will want to avoid it for our own sake and for the sake of those we love and for the sake of all creation... there is much more at stake than simply following a set of rules...

Conclusion

I wish I could have answered all of your questions this morning... I wish I could say that all of my questions about evil and the evil one were answered... I'm afraid that there will always be a cloud of mystery hanging over these kinds of questions and discussions...

I leave you with this quote from Evil and the Justice of God...

"... there will be an uncertainty factor... in all our moral and spiritual equations, so that however well we organize, however much we pray, however sound our theology and however energetically we go to work, there will be negative forces, perhaps we should say a Negative Force, working against us and for which we must allow.

"The good news, according to the whole New Testament, is that this negative force - this quasi-personal, shadowy being or beings - has been defeated on the cross of Jesus Christ."

And that is what Bruce will be exploring with us next week...

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.