The Sovereignty of God and Ethnic Based Suffering
Notes on John Piper's Book - Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Chapter 6. Chapter 6 is written by Carl Ellis.
What happens just before we fall to temptation? We decide that the thing we desire is good for us. In essence, we reenact the Fall (Genesis 3) every time we give into temptation. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they were rejecting the Word of God as basis for life.
Instead of taking people's lives, God showed us grace - through the salvation offered at the Cross. Yet we still suffer the effects of the Fall -- and one of these is human power struggles - which is the basis of ethnic based strife and suffering.
The relationship between human suffering and divine justice is called theodicy.... Most of us assume a one to one relationship bewteen sin and suffering - - Job countered that bad things that happen to us are not necessarily related to our sin any more than good things that happen to us relate to our righteousness, of which we have none.....
Isaiah 64:6 - 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
The Basis of Suffering
The cause of suffering is sin.
Suffering from sin has 2 categories:
Random effects of sin - earthquakes, floods, wildfies, etc.
Direct results of sin:
Ungodliness - sinning and suffering our own consequences - recklesness, laziness, irresponsibility, etc
Oppression - sinning and forcing others to suffer the consequences - oppression is driven by power struggles
One of the foundations of oppression is judging others from a point of view that is not God's point of view (If I am guilty of any of these, I will see others as inferior of me):
Me-ism - judging others by the standard of myself
Cultural imperialism - judging other cultures by the standard of my culture
Sex-sim - judging the other gender by the standard of my gender
Racism - judging the other races by the standard of my race
Ethno-centrism - judging other people groups by the standard of my people group
Christianity is the only religion that calls favoritism - - what it is - - - sin:
James 2:1-4 - James 2- Favoritism Forbidden - 1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
What should distinguish the Body of Christ is gratitude to God for his saving grace - - and there should be 2 results - - the first is faith (trust), the second is works (the demonstration of our faith and thanksgiving to Christ for His saving grace).... Unfortunately, we don't do works very well.....
A major point of the author is that Christians are a sub-dominant group in this world - - and, therefore, will be subject to suffering:
John 18 - 36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
Hebrews 11:13-16 - 13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
1 Peter 1:17 - 17Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
1 Peter 2:11 - 11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
As strangers and aliens, the body of Christ should have no vested interest in the world system as it exists. We should be completely focused on our sovereign God and His Kingdom. Thus, to identify with suffering should be as natural as breathing.
We have lost the concept of what it means to be the worldwide church.
Isaiah 58:6-8 - 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard
Revelation 7:9-10 - The Great Multitude in White Robes - 9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
