"Innocent" Suffering

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Intro

1) Summary

A)   We have been talking about reasons for suffering. These are things that Bible says that we can know:

1) Suffering as a natural consequence of sin.

2) Suffering as punishment from God.

B) We took a little detour to talk about some objectives / end goals of suffering:

1) Suffering as discipline (instruction through pain).

2) Suffering as development.

3) Suffering as testing.

C) In this class we will get back to some reasons for suffering.

2) I call these “innocent” reasons, but I put the “innocent” in parentheses because none of us is ultimately completely innocent. We have all contributed to the sin problem in God’s creation, and most of us have committed sin without physical consequences. In this way I don’t prefer the word “innocent.”

3) However, not all suffering is a direct result of my sinful behavior or punishment from God. Sometimes suffering is because of other people’s sin.

Suffering because of someone else’s sin.

1) Bible examples

A)   Gen. 4:8 – Cain killed Abel, and Abel did not do anything wrong.

B) 2 Sam. 11 – Uriah was killed because of David’s sin (1. With Bathsheba, and 2. Direct order to kill him.) He did not do anything to deserve this or be punished by God.

C) 2 Sam. 12:14-18

1) Following David’s sin with Bathsheba

2) The child did not do anything wrong. In fact, this child (as all children) was entirely morally innocent and not guilty of ANY sin.

3) Yet, the child suffered consequences because of someone else’s sin.

D)   1 Kgs. 21:1-16

1) Naboth did not do anything wrong to bring suffering upon himself in this situation.

2) His suffering was entirely caused because of someone else’s sin.

E) Matt. 5:10 – “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…”

1) Jesus told us that some of us will suffer, not because we’ve done something wrong, but because we’ve done something right.

2) 1 Pet. 2:20-23

3) 1 Pet. 4:12-19

4) Job suffered because he was right before God.

F) Job

1) This is an important point because many of us can clearly see how other people hurt us; but we need to remember that there are also evil spiritual forces working against us too.

(a)   N.T. Wright – “…there is such a thing as a force, or forces, of evil which are supra-personal, supra-human, which appear to take over humans as individuals or, in some cases, as entire societies.”[1]

(b)   Mk. 9:17-27 – In this case, a boy suffered because of a demon.

(c)   Eph. 6:12

2) Job’s story is important for us partly because we can see where Job’s friends got it wrong. They insisted that Job must have done something wrong to bring his suffering upon himself, but that was not true. His suffering was caused by someone else.

2) Life examples

A)   I have talked a lot about the drunk driver who suffers the consequences of his sinful decision; but what about the family driving home from Christmas that he kills?

B) AIDS – “Indeed, if we cast the net of suffering beyond poverty to include other forms of pain and injustice, this category looms large. Whatever the guilt of those who knowingly transmit the AIDS virus by their sexual promiscuity, no blame can attach itself to those who contract the disease because they are hemophiliacs who need transfusions from the nation’s blood supply.”[2]

3) Lessons

A)   Before we consider how we suffer innocently because of other people’s sins, we should probably start with how many different times and different ways we have caused other people to suffer because of MY sin.

B) When we suffer…

1) We should probably ask questions from the previous lessons:

(a)   Have I done something to create this?

(b)   Is God trying to get my attention by this?

(c)   We should always ask…

(i) How can I learn from this?

(ii)  How can this shape me into something better?

(d)   We should strive to pass this suffering as if it were a test.

2) HOWEVER, just because you are suffering does NOT necessarily mean that you have done something to deserve it, or bring it upon yourself.

3) Phil Roberts – “We have all known of some case where parents needlessly burdened themselves with guilt over a child who died through some evil act perpetrated by others and beyond the parents’ control.  We must realize that this is an evil world in which both good people and bad people have free will.  And until God brings the final judgment and destroys all the bad people, the good are sometimes going to suffer at the hands of the bad.”

Suffering as a member of a sinful group.

1) Bible examples

A)   Achan’s sin

1) Josh. 6:17-18 – Jericho was under the ban. Total destruction.

2) 7:1

(a)   Achan committed the sin.

(b)   Note that the text says “Israel broke faith” and “the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.”

3) 7:5 – Israel was defeated at Ai, and 36 men died. Why did this happen?

4) 7:10-12 – The reason.

5) 7:22-26 – Not only did Achan have to pay the price, but his entire family and even his animals had to suffer because of his sin. So, not only did the nation of Israel suffering, but also the family suffered because of sin.

B) Lot is not entirely free from blame, in my opinion, however, look at what he and his family suffered by living among the people of Sodom.

1) NOTE: Careful about being overly critical of Lot’s choice to live there. What do you live now, and who made you do it?

C) Ex. 12:29 – All the firstborn who were killed by God because they were a part of Egyptian society.

D)   Num. 14:33 – The children (under 20) who suffered in the wilderness for 40 years because of their faithless parents.

E) 2 Sam. 21:1 – Israel suffered a 3-year famine because Saul killed the Gibeonites.

F) 2 Sam. 24:1ff. (esp. v. 13) / 1 Chron. 21:1ff. – Israel suffered because of David’s pride (i.e. his sinful census).

G)   The Babylonian destruction and exile

1) Daniel and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were deported to Babylon.

2) Ezekiel was deported to Babylon.

3) Ezek. 21:2-4 – God will cut off both righteous and wicked.

4) Jeremiah suffered through the Babylonian destruction and then was forced to go to Egypt.

5) Jer. 24:1-10 – The good and bad figs. Note especially vv. 5-7, but they were still exiles.

2) Extra thought: While I am more inclined to give thought to all of the innocent people who suffered because of the bad people around them, I also wonder about all of the evil people who have been saved because of the righteous people around them?

A)   Gen. 6:18 – Noah’s sons and their wives who were saved because of Noah.

1) In this example as well as the next example about Sodom, we may wonder about whether or not every single literal person was entirely corrupt, or if the world was just mostly that way? The text does spell this out, though, so I would be inclined to stick with it (Gen. 6:5; 19:4).

B) Gen. 18:27ff. – Abraham interceding for Sodom.

C) Gen. 19:15 – Lot’s wife and daughters who were saved because of him. Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that Lot was saved because of Abraham (Gen. 19:29).

[1] N. T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2006), 18.

[2] DA Carson, How Long, O Lord.