He Suffered Because God Loved Him

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to reconciling God's goodness with the existence of suffering is a misunderstanding of God's love. It's assumed that if God were loving and powerful, He would care about our good and therefore prevent our pain. Too often, the question is never asked: what is the goal of God's love for His people? That is, what is our greatest good? Only by answering this question can we know how God's love would act in order to accomplish His goal for us.

In a recent sermon on the death of Lazarus, John Piper discussed this relationship between God's love and our suffering:

It was love that moved Jesus to let Lazarus die. It was the love of Jesus for this family and for his disciples—and for you, reading this text—that caused him to choose to let Lazarus die.

Look again at the connection between verse 5 and 6: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore [because of this love], when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” He did not hurry to his side.

And in writing John intends—and Jesus intends—for everyone seeing this to ask: How is that love? John has gone out of his way to set this up. Jesus loves them. He loves them. He loves them. Therefore, he does not heal him but lets him die. Why is this love?

Jesus has given the answer loud and clear and will give it again in verse 15. He said in verse 4: “This illness does not lead to death [in other words, the point is not death]. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” This illness will turn out for the glory of God, and the glory of the Son of God. This illness will put the glory of God on display. It will make Jesus look amazing.

Therefore (verse 6) love lets him die. Love lets him die because his death will help them see, in more ways than they know, the glory of God.

So what is love? What does it mean to be loved by Jesus? Love means giving us what we need most. And what we need most is not healing, but a full and endless experience of the glory of God. Love means giving us what will bring us the fullest and longest joy. And what is that? What will give you full and eternal joy? The answer of this text is clear: a revelation to your soul of the glory of God—seeing and admiring and marveling at and savoring the glory [of] God in Jesus Christ. When someone is willing to die—or let your brother die—to give you (and your brother) that, he loves you.

The full sermon is worth watching, listening to, or reading.

Comments

[JT]

Can the situation with Lazarus be extrapolated to also include believers today? It is easier to see the value in Lazarus being visibly resurrected by Christ as a testament to Christ's deity and power (which is what, I think, verse 15 is pointing out).

I've read excerpts from Piper's "Don't Waste Your Cancer." I wondered if the same could be written of other horrible situations such as child molestation, incest, etc. "Don't Waste Your (fill in the blank)."

[dave]

The highest pinnacle of Christian maturity is the unconditional love for God and man.

It's easy to love God and others the way we love ice cream or anything pleasurable. But loving God in the midst of suffering, when we know He is in full control , or loving our enemies as they assault us, brings us to a place of Christian maturity otherwise unattainable.

The trials and tribulations are among the true blessings of God as He perfects His unconditional love in us.

[Jeff]

This view does explain suffering neatly. Many would disagree, but it is tidy.

However, it fails completely to explain evil.

[Roger Wilson]

Jeff - can you say whether you think this post was intended to explain evil? If you think it was intended to explain evil, can you say why?

[Jeff]

Roger,

No, I don't think this post was intended to explain evil.

[Roger Wilson]

You and I agree that this post doesn't tackle the problem of evil. Are you familiar with other sources that do a reasonable job of covering the topic? If not, I can point you to some.

One place to start might be STR resources on the problem of evil.

I'd be happy to chat more if you'd like.

All the best.

[Jeff]

My point in the brief comment was that the determinist point of view cannot explain evil.

If God determines everything, and is in "total control", then to be consistent one would have to say that evil is God's creation.

This does not reflect the Biblical view of God, IMO.

[Amy]

Jeff, was it evil of God to want Joseph to be sold into slavery by His brothers? The brothers did evil, yes, but when God "meant it for good," was He doing evil?

If not, then it seems one can say a human being does evil while at the same time saying that a God who is sovereign over that action did not do evil.

I need to do much more thinking about this, but because of the Joseph counterexample (unless you're willing to say that God did evil there) it certainly doesn't seem that we must say a God who is sovereign over actions created evil.

[Jesse]

Jeff, are you saying that God's sovereignty makes him culpable for the evil we see in the world? In your view, is the only way out of this problem to suppose that God has no control over some things? (After all, one can't be held responsible for that which he has no control over.)

Amy makes a good point--some actions (or events?) are split. Joseph's brothers did evil selling him into slavery, but God did good by setting up a course of events that would save nations from a severe famine. God permits people to do evil in order to accomplish his good purposes.

Another example: Jesus suffered the worst punishment and execution the Romans had to offer, though the governing authority, Pilate, declared him completely innocent (John 18). Surely the execution of an innocent man is evil. Yet God meant through this to reconcile the world to himself (2 Cor 5).

[JT]

Amy and Jesse make arguments that bring me back to my original post :

I've read excerpts from Piper's "Don't Waste Your Cancer." I wondered if the same could be written of other horrible situations such as child molestation, incest, etc. "Don't Waste Your (fill in the blank)."

What I'm trying to hash out here is that if God caused Joseph to be sold into slavery - if that was the plan from the beginning, wouldn't that mean that all of the things like rape, child molestation, abortions, etc. are also a part of His plan?

I lose sleep over this issue. I do not doubt God's sovereignty. I am not an open theist. But, I do struggle with determinism/predestination and free will.

[Jesse]

JT,

It's a tough issue; I'm not sure I can offer anything useful.

I would like to point out one thing though. It certainly has more emotional appeal when you bring up "things like rape, child molestation, abortions, etc" but are these actions any worse than crucifying the son of God?

[JT]

I agree with you, Jesse, about the emotional appeal. I would not say that they are worse than the crucifixion.

However, the general statements about "struggle" and "pain" and "hardship" that are often brought up in arguments do not carry the same weight of specific examples. (i.e. - It's easier for me to brush off an amorphous word such as "a trial" than it is to brush off a specific example of said trial.)

[JT]

Dave? Amy?

[Amy]

If you're trying to think carefully through all these things (God's sovereignty over evil, etc.), I have a couple recommendations for you that I think could help: If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil and Sinners in the Hands of a Good God.

One thing that might be helpful about the If God Is Good book is that the author does use specific examples of evil in specific, real people's lives. As you say, it's harder to deal with specific examples, so maybe this would shed some light on this for you.

Even if you end up disagreeing, it's good to get a thorough understanding of the issue from people who can explain it well.

[JT]

Thanks!