This is my first attempt in writing a sermon and delivering it at Kepong Evangelical Free Church.
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The Problem of Evil and the Solution of God
Introduction – Problem of evil
[SLIDE 1]
The theme for the last two months has focused on healing the nation. This theme implies at least 2 things, that there is a problem and that there is a solution. However, we often leave out a crucial part. We need to first understand what the problem is. A doctor needs to diagnose the nature of an illness first before prescribing any medication. We need to understand the problem first before any healing could occur. Wrong diagnosis often leads to wrong medication and this sometimes has serious consequences. What is this problem that we are talking about? It is the problem of evil.
Worldviews on evil
[SLIDE 2]
In the past, our Asian society frequently associates evil with the fear of the supernatural. We consider the supernatural unknown as a prime source of evil. Ghost stories or stories about how the supernatural affects us preoccupy our casual talk in the office and at home. Crime, sickness and natural disaster are explained with reference to supernatural beings or forces. However, exposure to information has given birth to a more modern and Westernized society who sees evil as a form of violation or abuse of human rights and freedom.
Worldview 1 - We are good, they are evil
[SLIDE 3]
As Christians, how do we response? How do we explain to our non-Christian friends that God is good when there is so much evil happening around us? The world also has its way of dealing with evil. Their solutions are based on the worldview that they hold. One solution is to say that we are good and the other side is evil. This is the overly simplistic view. A classic example is Bush's war on the evil of terrorism. We are right and they are evil. Send the military force, overthrow the evil government and everything will be fine.
[SLIDE 4]
Does it work that way? World history has a lot of examples of such overly simplistic failures. During the Crusades, the pope denounced the Muslims as evil and roused the masses of all types, including hardcore criminals, to a religious frenzy to defeat the Muslims and free Jerusalem and the holy land from the infidels. The pope preached that conquering Jerusalem will usher in the second coming of the Lord. When they finally conquered Jerusalem, they did the worst crime ever in the name of Christ and God. They killed everyone in the city, Muslims, Jews and other Christian sects alike. The basic worldview was that we are good and they are evil. Until now, the Muslims and non-believers still judge Christianity based on the atrocities committed 1000 years ago.
Worldview 2 – There is no evil
[SLIDE 5]
Another worldview is to deny the existence of evil. This is reflected in popular psychology. There is no right or wrong. It is merely a struggle of human desires and needs. Sigmund Freud says it is not about good or evil, but of controlling desires and everyone has it.
Worldview 3 – Be separated
[SLIDE 6]
Yet another view is to live apart or separated from the contamination of world. So, monks live in monasteries or temples, away from the influences of the world in pursue of inner spiritual peace and enlightenment.
Worldview 4 – Evil is all powerful
[SLIDE 7]
Lastly, there are those who hold a post modernistic view that evil is rampant and there is nothing you can do about it. You can be cynical about it, but you cannot do anything to change it.
Evil in the first century – Roman Empire
[SLIDE 8]
We now come to the question of how Christians deal with evil? Such an answer is obviously found in Jesus; how Jesus dealt with the evil of his time. Let us now travel back in time to the first century AD. What or who was considered evil to the Jews at this time? One definite answer is the Roman Empire.
[SLIDE 9]
To the Jews of the first century, the Roman Empire was regarded as the symbol of evil. The Romans were not only considered as a political enemy, but also as a manifestation of evil in the spiritual sense. That is why the Roman Empire was called Babylon (Rev. 14:8) in the book of Revelations. The Roman emperor ruled with fear and might. Any rebellion was swiftly crushed with the might of the Roman army. All rebellious leaders or revolutionaries were crucified at the cross for public display, a grim reminder for those who dared to challenge the Roman Empire. The gospel introduced by the Roman Empire was peace and safety if you submitted to their rule and paid your taxes. The Roman Empire treated citizens and those whom they ruled over differently. The Jews and other subjugated nations were treated differently; you might call it discrimination in modern terms.
Three solutions to evil
[SLIDE 10]
In such a political and social environment, how did the Jews respond? For the Jews, they were, most of them, waiting for God to send them the Messiah, the Anointed King and Saviour from the lineage of David to fight and defeat the Romans, and to deliver them from their rule. This was how they expected God to deal with the evil of their times. In addition, we could also observe three distinctive patterns in solving this problem from three different groups within the Jewish community.
Solution 1 – Collusion
[SLIDE 11]
Herod the Great, and the Jewish religious council and authority chose the path of collusion by working with the Roman Empire represented by Pontius Pilate. That was why in the end, they cried out that they have no other king except Caesar. Herod the Great tried to please both the Romans and Jews by building Caesarea in honour and worship of Caesar and the Second Temple, to establish their case as the rightful political ruler of the Jews. In this political arrangement, the evil of the Roman Empire was deemed necessary for them to remain in power as 'friends of Caesar' (John 19:12). Jesus was considered a threat to this fine balance of power.
Solution 1 – Revolution
[SLIDE 12]
Second group are the Sicarii, the revolutionaries who believed that the only solution was a revolt to overthrow the empire completely. Some of them obviously thought that Jesus would lead them to such a battle and triumph. However, Jesus definitely disappointed them by choosing the cross and loving the enemy. Therefore, in the end, in the year 66AD to 70AD, they took matters into their own hands and started the first Jewish War. They were victorious initially and even formed a government to rule. However, internal strife, hatred and violence coupled with the superiority of the Roman army crushed the diminishing Jewish revolutionaries. The last moments of the battle was horrific, even the priests took up arms and defended to the last breath within the Temple compounds itself. The devastating results, which fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy of judgement for a rebellious city that murdered the prophets, were the Temple was torn down and burned, Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation of Israel was scattered and exist no more until 1948. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword (Matt. 26:52).
Solution 3 - Separation
[SLIDE 13]
The third solution was to draw away totally from the influences of a sinful world by living an ascetic life. This was practiced by a breakaway Jewish sect called the Essenes who lived near Qumran, along the Dead Sea. Some have attributed them to be responsible for the survival of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The way they fought against the evil Roman Empire and the apostate religious leaders of the Jewish community was to isolate themselves from their influence to live in a commune with strict rules for holiness, all the while waiting for the appearance of the Teacher of Righteousness to deliver God’s judgement upon their enemies. To them, only those who followed their strict communal rules would be saved.
What is the Christian response?
[SLIDE 14]
We have seen three solutions offered by three different Jewish groups during Jesus’ time. Are these solutions appropriate and right for our times? Do we collude and work with evil as means of retaining our power and wealth, resulting in corruption and allegiance to evil itself? Do we take up arms to destroy evil like George Bush’s war on terrorism, aiming to destroy evil by destroying those whom the American government deemed as evil with smart bombs and military might? Or, do we retreat from the world and isolate ourselves to live a monastic life away from the contaminating influences of a secular world? Do we keep the world outside the four walls of our church? What would Jesus do? Or, more precisely, what did Jesus do to evil and how did the Lord overcome it?
No collusion
[SLIDE 15]
Firstly, Jesus did not choose any of the solutions offered by the three groups. Instead of colluding and yielding to the temptation of Satan (Luke 4:1-13), instead of saving his life and turning away from the cross, the Lord chose to forgo earthly rewards and power that evil would offer. The Lord chose to lose his life instead of preserving it. Going against all normal expectations to yield in exchange for power and safety, the Lord Jesus chose to fight evil by resisting its temptation and overcoming its sting of death, facing it head on as he persistently turned his eyes towards Jerusalem and eventually to the cross (Mark 10:33-34).
No revolution
[SLIDE 16]
But, he did not do so in the manner of the revolutionaries which was the second solution. He did not take up arms and lead his followers and the masses who followed him to a war of imminent doom as this ragtag army would never be able to triumph against the professional crack troopers of the Roman army (John 6:15). He denied the chance for Peter to draw his sword when Judas brought the temple soldiers to arrest him (John 18:11). He denied the chance for his disciples to call down judgement on those who rejected and reviled them (Luke 9:54). He told Peter when he was about to be arrested that he could bring down his heavenly angelic army to battle for him, but chose not to do so (Matt. 26:53). The Lord's way was not the way of war and death, but that of the cross, which brought judgement and forgiveness.
No isolation
[SLIDE 17]
Thirdly, the Lord did not isolate himself nor withdrew from the world like Buddha did before him. He did not withdraw from the society to preserve ceremonial cleanliness and holiness. He accepted the discriminated and the prejudiced members of the society. The whores, the lepers, the sick, the lame, the poor, the sinful, the unrighteous, the Samaritans (half-bloods) and the children came to him and were accepted. These and the poor were those who would inherit the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3).
Jesus, God’s solution to evil
[SLIDE 18]
We could see from these examples, the Lord's way of dealing with evil was totally different from the solutions of his contemporaries. He did not think that evil was just a simple physical problem which could be destroyed by daggers or smart bombs (2 Cor. 10:3). He did not think that evil was not defeat-able that he has to accept it and collude with it like King Herod, Jewish religious rulers or modern day politicians until the phrase 'a necessary evil' becomes an accepted norm of our lives. He did not think that living apart from the world, within the confines and comfortable environment of the church community as the way God would use to solve the problem of evil. God's solution was judgement and forgiveness on the cross through the death of Jesus Christ. God did not brush aside evil with cheap grace without judgement and justification. He judged and this resulted in our Lord's death (Rom. 8:3). But, God also forgave as a result of Christ's faithfulness and death (Rom. 5:8).
[SLIDE 19]
Throughout church history, the way of suffering, expecting God's final vindication, loving the enemies and forgiveness have been the solution of God in overcoming evil (Luke 6:27; 35). It is the way of the cross. From Stephen's forgiveness (Acts 7:60), we witnessed the salvation of the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, from whom the gospel was sowed and spread throughout the Roman Empire. We are indirectly or directly indebted not to Paul alone, but to Stephen and ultimately to Jesus Christ, from whom we have redemption. If Stephen chose to fight, or to collude or to withdraw, we might not have Paul (Acts 7:58) and the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ would have definitely been stunted. This is merely one example.
I encourage you to explore church history to understand how early first century Christians who were mostly formed by members from the lower social strata of the society e.g. slaves, servants overcame the Roman Empire by the word of their testimonies, by being faithful to the covenant of the Lord and by choosing the way of the cross, denying their own lives and counting it all joy to suffer and die for the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:11).
The Holy Spirit – God’s Empowerment
[SLIDE 20]
However, God did not leave us as orphans fending off the wolves on our own. He gave us his Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, the first century Christians and us alike would or will not be able to choose the solution of God to overcome evil unless they or we were empowered by the Spirit (Rom. 15:18-19). We cannot heal the sick, cast out demons, accept the sinful, and forgive our persecutors or even murderers without the Holy Spirit. The solution of God, the way of the cross is never merely a human endeavour. It is always God who starts and finishes his good work in us and through us by the empowerment of his Spirit (Php. 1:6; 2:13). Therefore, brothers and sisters, remember God's way of dealing with evil and his empowerment to do so that we may truly be his instruments in our generation to become God's solution to overcome evil. Thank you.
References
· N.T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God
· N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus
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