A Bent World

Would you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4? One of the great and powerful things this Cross of Jesus Christ does, we've just sung about, is that it reconciles God to men and men to one another and brings us into a relationship with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's not an easy thing to do. There is, in our world, a constant question that plagues mankind, has ever since the beginning of mankind and it will continue to the very last day just prior to the return of Jesus Christ and that is the problem of perennial evil. The question that surrounds it, of course, is, why does a good and sovereign God allow such terrible things to happen in his world? What theologians call the question of theodicy, taken from two words in Greek, that awesmeaning God and decay, meaning righteousness or justice, why does the justice or righteousness of God allow bad things to happen to good people? In the end, there is no answer to that question in this life. Solomon said that the secret things belong to the Lord, to our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law. There are things that only Father, Son, and Spirit will know. There are other things that are revealed to us, the problem is God often does not tell us why he does what he does. I would imagine the other pastors would agree with me that perhaps the most frequently asked question, and perhaps the most frustrating question that we ask is, Pastor, why did God allow this to happen to me, or why did God do this to me? And of course, our answer is, we don't know, and we don't dismiss the question. It's a serious question, and it's a genuine question, I don't think it's inappropriate. It's a question that oftentimes, when not answered, can turn people away from God and His Son, Jesus Christ. That happened, you know, to a rather famous American named Ted Turner, as he tells his story. He grew up a deeply religious boy that even considered being a minister and a missionary. When he was a young man and his younger sister, who we love deeply, Mary Jane, contracted Lupus, and she died at the age of 15 in a very painful manner. He prayed for his sister, Mary Jane, and for healing one hour every day. He said in an interview, she used to run around in pain, begging God to let her die. My family broke apart because of this, and I thought, how could a good God let my sister suffer so much? So I came to the conclusion that Christianity is a religion for losers. Now the good news is that recently Ted Turner gave a, an interview with the New York Times in which he said that he was somewhat a religious person, and he felt that he was returning to God. But for a long time, this inexplicable and what appeared to him to be irrational, affliction of his sister led him away from the Lord. Rather than be sensorious or irritated or judgmental of people like Ted Turner, I think what we need to be is sympathetic to their plight. For as I said, their question is totally appropriate. I'm asking why a good God would allow this microphone to do this right now, okay? It's normal for them to doubt the sovereignty of God, his love and even his existence. It's not correct what they're thinking, but it makes sense in the light of their pain. And these questions have to be answered. The reason we know that there's nothing intrinsically wrong with asking these questions is that there's two books in the Bible that do. The book of Job is a long and protracted wrestling with God over this issue. And the book of Ecclesiastes is a book that brings this theme up again and again and again. Solomon was a deeply spiritual and religious young man. For we read First Kings chapter three, we read about how he loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David, his father, his great concern when he was first made king, a position he did not seek out, that he really wasn't excited about doing. When God came in, that song I'll give you, whatever you want, he asked for wisdom to rule his people well as David, his father had done. His first priority, once he was chosen to be king and endowed with great wealth and prestige and power, was to build God a temple. It bothered him that he had a better house than the tent of the Lord. And although it was his wealth and his foreign wives that turned his heart away from the Lord, perhaps at the root of his struggle spiritually, was this question of why does God, who was good, allow evil to exist in the world? Solomon was thrust into a place, a position of power and of conflict and of great temptations. And he writes this book of Ecclesiastes, these memoirs as they're called by many, many commentators in the years of his spiritual recovery. For like Ted Turner, there was a time when Solomon experienced what we call an apostasy where he went away from the Lord and actually went with the wives that he loved to worship foreign gods, but in his old age he returns to the Lord. And out of this period of his life, after he returned from this spiritual drifting away, his declension of soul, this apostasy of faith, Solomon comes back and he begins to write about his struggles. And in chapters 3 and 4, he writes about things that he sees. Starting in chapter 3, verse 16 and going all the way through chapter 4, verse 16, Solomon says, four times, I saw. Look at chapter 3, verse 16, more ever I saw unto the Son that in the place of justice even there was wickedness and in the place of righteousness even there was wickedness. Chapter 4, verse 1. And again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the Son. Chapter 4, verse 4, then I saw all the toil and all the skill and work come from a man's envy of his neighbor, chapter 4, verse 1. I saw that there was great power and with an oppression. He mentions again and again concluding in chapter 4, verse 7, and I saw that all this was vanity under the Son. He sees these things, oppression, rivalry and competition, a man of vast wealth who dies lonely and miserable. And he wonders how can these things be, especially in the light of what he knows about God. Look at chapter 3 again, verse 11. He has made everything beautiful in its time and also he has put eternity into man's heart. Chapter 3, verse 14, and I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. There is an eternal, infinitely wise, kind God who makes everything beautiful in its time. And as soon as he says that, and I read it out of his word, people say, oh, come on, bastard. Look around you, take these rose colored glasses off of your professorial face and look around and see all that's in the world. You can't possibly believe that God is good while all this evil exists. And yet Solomon comes to the conclusion at the end of his memoirs that God is good and that evil does exist. I've entitled this sermon, a bent world. I borrowed that from Gabe Silvia. That's his blog. It's a great title for how to look at life from a spiritual perspective. We were the life we see, the world in which we live is bent. It's broken and twisted out of its original form and content and intentions. But it's the only world we have to live in. It's the only life we have under the sun. So Solomon is going to explore this issue of the Odyssey with us and we're going to be surprised that his answer, maybe not totally satisfied with it because he can't answer the deepest mystery of why God does what he does. And he will give us a practical answer of how to face these issues of evil around us. He will select for us tonight three persistent problems that all mankind struggle with, one solution to those problems and one observation to cap it off. Look at these three perennial sources of evil that are in the world beginning in chapter four verses one through eight. Three tendencies that Solomon saw when he says again I saw and then I saw and again I saw. What did he see? Well first he saw the perennial problem of oppression. Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun and behold the tears of the oppressed that they had no one to comfort them on the side of their oppressors. There was power and there was none to comfort them. So I thought the dead are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. First thing he says I've noticed from this position of power, a king, a potentate over people is I've noticed that people in power abuse power. Nobody gives them power to help other people. They use that power to hurt people. And in the end he says they hurt themselves. Notice that he mentions the people of the who were experiencing the oppression. I saw their tears of the oppressed and they had no one to comfort them and I saw that there was power in the hands of the oppressors and there was no one to comfort them. The people oppressing the oppressed were just as tearful and just as miserable despite all their power and privilege. Years ago in the Clarian ledger, the Jackson newspaper, there was a little picture and for some reason it just profoundly moved me. It moved me to tears. It was a picture of a little boy, maybe 10 years old blonde-haired little fella in Serbia sitting on this looked like a trash heap but it was actually the remains of his house and under the debris were his father and mother and his family and this little guy was sitting head in his hands weeping and the article said no one to comfort him. I cut that thing out and put it in my study Bible home at the end of the book of lamentations. To remind me that there are many people in the world who weep because of oppression and there was no one to comfort them. There was nothing worse Solomon says than cruel oppression against those who were powerless with no sympathy and no recourse to correction, no one to help them. I imagine your brothers and sisters this is how African Americans have felt for three centuries in our country and in the West oppressed by a more powerful people were all the rules of life were bent to their benefit and against the blacks. I remember years ago when I was little fella maybe eight years old my family would make its annual pilgrimage from Columbus, Ohio to Fort Lauderdale for the family vacation to visit my parents and this particular year we drove down through the Carolinas and we stopped in North Carolina and some little town somewhere I don't know where it was I can't remember but I'll never forget the incident. We read a gas station and my brother and I had to use the restroom and so we went around the side of the restroom and the men's room said out of order and we couldn't go in the women's room the ladies room because my sisters were in there but there was a room in between them that said colored only and the young man who was pumping gas noticed by Steve and I and he said you guys need to use the restroom we said yeah I'll take care of this he tapped on the door with his wrench kicked the door open and there was an African American mother in there with two little toddlers and he said you get out let these boys use the restroom. I'll never forget the shame and the tears that welled up in this young woman's eyes and now she put her head down and pulled up the pants of her little girl and grabbed a little girl and boy and walked by my brother and me we were eight and four years old and said to me excuse me sir I just can't forget that day and when we went in the restroom my brother and I cried because we were just overwhelmed by how mainly our people had treated her and her people that is the power behind politics and race and social classes that might make right Solomon notices this and he says how can it just go on a throne allow that to happen then something else catches the sight of his soul and that is envious competition verse four I saw that all toil and skill in work came from a man's envy of his neighbor this also was vanity and striving after win the fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh better as a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and is striving after win what he notices here is rivalry that engine that drives commerce and business and industry and he says you know I've discovered that the main motive for work is not to serve people but to win to be the biggest and the best and the richest envy and jealousy pride and competition and he sees that that is the main motivation for work human rivalry it affects every dimension of life even the church will be to us Protestants and evangelicals when the Lord makes us stand before us especially us preachers on judgment day and said was there no end to your competition with each other was there no shame to your sheep stealing and your denominations and your associations and divisions and splits all competing for the loyalty of the hearts and minds of people rather than working together to bring them in union to Christ competition drives education it even drives medicine the art of healing people and this fellow wonders this Solomon says is this what it's all about or is it better to be poor and at peace with others than the richest rival on top of the heap look what he says in verse six better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and is striving after win same thing you'd ask in the Proverbs better is a little with the fear of the Lord is it not then great treasure and trouble with it he's driving at what is my favorite proverb what is desirable a man is his kindness and it is better to be a poor man than a liar he says I I can't believe that rivalry and competition and winning seems to drive everything in life how could a God who lives in such harmony as father-son and spirit broke such rivalry everywhere in the world he notices a third thing this third perennial evil and that is the problem of self-imposed loneliness verse seven again I saw vanity under the sun one person who has no other either son or brother if there is no end to all his toil in his eyes are never satisfied with riches so that he never asks for whom am I toiling in depriving myself of pleasure this also is vanity and and unhappy business here is a guy who works himself the death not so much out of greed but out of the fear of other people he prefers to be alone in his work as an excuse for my remains a loner unconnected unenvolved unengaged unmarried unloved only to come to the end of his life and say why have I done this whole thing why have I invested my soul and my work rather than in people this is all around us you know these people as well as I do the divorced man determined never to get hurt again and so he becomes a workaholic the single girl the career woman afraid to date or marry the single mother embittered by men so that her children and work become a world the young single man driving his way to the top with no time for friends or any young lady now it's it's easy to live like that for a time it's all about work and accomplishments and credentials and accumulation until one day you go home into this big house you've built with all of your wealth and closed the door only to recognize that not only are you alone but you will die alone with no one to share the fruits of your whole life I want you to notice something here loved ones that all three of these perennial evils that make life miserable for all of us find their roots and how we relate to other people the first guy who is an oppressor abuses people either because he hates them or he fears them the second fella uses people through his rivalry he competes with other people in order to feel superior he thinks that in lowering them he raises himself and the last person is afraid of people she avoids people loses a soul in her job all the while deep down she really longed for someone safe to love and live with God you see has made us for community for he is community a father son and spirit and this is the great mystery that Solomon faces men have given all this power and all these skills and all these resources to become his riches so that they can build an enduring lasting wonderful community and they do the opposite Solomon's point is subtle I want you to listen to what he's driving at here he sees all this evil and he stops asking himself God why did you allow these things to happen because he realizes it was not God who did these things it was we who did these things power to bring order and structure and justice and safety to others that we use to oppress and abuse skills for work to enrich the lives of others that we made a competition where there's only one man on top and the rest of the people are stomped into oblivion wealth to help those in need or in want that we hoarded for ourselves only to die as a person in great need and in great want it's the abuse of these gifts from God that causes the painful evils in our bent world so Solomon looks for a solution and he finds it in what he observes three perennial problems that lead to one lasting solution that solution is community chapter 4 verses 9 through 12 two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil for if they fall one will lift up his fellow but wall to him who was alone when he falls and has no other to lift him up again if two lie together they keep warm but how can one keep warm alone and though a man might prevail against one who was alone two will withstand him a three-forward cord is not quickly broken Solomon's solution to these evils is community companionship partnership he offers something better that's the key word in this paragraph in the next two are better than one and three better than two two are companionship three or community better than what better than power getting what you want better than rivalry winning all the time better than solitude which is a false sense of safety now there's a price to be paid for this companionship community but but Solomon's word better indicates that even though there is a price the price perhaps that you get hurt in relationships with other people is better to be paid than the apparent safety and victory and control of these three great evils better to take a risk with people and benefit from companionship and community with them then pay the price without it I want you to notice something he says there's three things that are better and they answered a three perennial problems he just talked about in the first eight verses first he says companionship and community offset rivalry and make our work even more profitable look what he says in verse four as he faces the problem then I saw that all toil and all skill and work comes from man's envy of his neighbor this also is vanity and striving after win but he finds a solution in verses nine and ten two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil or work for if they fall one will lift up his fellow but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up work he says is meant to build companionship to make life better companionship offsets loneliness and makes a cold life warmer and more fulfilling look at verse seven and eight I saw vanity out of the sun one person who has no other either son or brother and yet there is no end to all his work in his eyes and never satisfied with the riches and he never asked for whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure this also is vanity and an unhappy business but he says there's a solution verse eleven again if two lie together they keep warm but how can one keep warm alone loneliness is a cold life having a friend a wife a roommate that is how people keep relationally warm and finally he says companionship even offsets oppression one person cannot stand against evil but two or three can I saw that all the oppression that is done under the sun and behold the tears of the oppressed and they have no one to comfort them verse twelve and though a man might prevail against one who was alone two will withstand him a three Ford cold is not quickly broken he's in each one of the face in the face of each one of these evils he's pointing to the advantage of not being alone of having a companion or a community to help you against oppression to help you with your work to take the edge off being alone our universe is ordered around the divine design of God God is one in community three in one try unity a Trinity of father son and spirit and so every creature he has made has been made to dwell in community fish swim in schools dogs run in packs birds find flocks sheep live in folds and other animals live in prides and herds and coves angels dwell in orders and ranks and hosts mankind is born into family community city people nation no living being exists in and of himself nor is he ever expected to live alone in rivalry or under oppression when a society begins to come unraveled when culture begins to fall apart isolation strife tension and conflict loneliness divorce lawsuits and violent confrontations are the inevitable results we're facing folks what is a wonderful day in the life of any free people the opportunity to vote for a man or woman as a president who will bring the people together who will stand against oppression give us justice and mercy who will rally us to work together for a better life and who will make sure that no one ever dies alone but what is happening on the eve of this election muslims are meeting to pray and demand a place of power homosexuals having a gay pride weekend anarchist throwing rocks and sticks and feces and urine and spitting on our policemen press testers from pro life to same sex marriages marching and screaming and demanding outrageous political lies and scare tactics bias and bullying by the media which is a form of oppression billionaires trying to buy the white house according to time magazine party platforms that divide a nation and polarize rivals oppression rivalry isolation a kingdom divided self against itself cannot stand Jesus said all because fear competition power are driving us apart Solomon is calling us to community and to companionship to cooperation he's saying unless we relearn how to live together we will all soon live alone unless we rediscover how to work together we will all soon work against one another unless we reinvest in the art of compromise we will lose everything and unless we share the power someday we will live under one man who has all the power and God help us then there is no other solution to anarchy and oppression vile competition the breakdown of social fabric loneliness that the companionship the cooperation that comes from community and the proof of that is his final illustration he has these three problems he faces this one solution of community and now he gives us a pitiful example of what happens when these things are ignored here is a victim of all these evils in the world who was also the propagator the man he's going to show us is both the oppressor the rival who triumphs and the lonely workaholic look at this illustration in verse 13 better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice for he went from prison to the throne though in his own kingdom he had been born poor I saw all the living who move about under the sun along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place there was no end of all the people all of whom he led and yet those who come later will not rejoice in him surely this also is vanity and striving after when here's another keyword better better he said is a poor young man who learns how to take wisdom and advice than an experienced king who forgets to listen to his counselors his illustration is that a young man born poor but wise gains political power and the affirmation of the people he replaces an old king who has become out of touch with people and who will ignore his counselors the people flock to this young man he rises to the pinnacle of success only to find later on in life that he has forgotten how to care for people and oppress them he has forgotten how to work for people and he is the competitor the victor he is lonely even though he's surrounded by millions of people only to find out that as he dies another young man replaces him and no one remembers who he was what he worked for what he brought to life

the point is that power and politics rivalry in business and the isolation of loneliness take their toll on kings as well as little boys who is the most powerful man in the world who is the most successful man in the world triumphing over all his rivals who is the most isolated man in the world his name is Barack Obama and before him that man's name was George W. Bush and who knows who will be after Mr. Obama but another man of power a victory of loneliness a man who leads a nation and has no companions and no community back in the 1980s Billy Graham said that if loneliness were diagnosed as an illness it would be the number one cause of death in America I don't have time to read to you tonight an article I have here from psychology today written by Dr. John T. Cassiopo in which he says that loneliness is not something that can be taken for granted the eventually it will have its physiological effect upon us warping the psyche and destroying the body and it will kill us in the end long before Dr. Cassiopo wrote that article two young blue-collar boys from Liverpool England cuffie essence of this in a song about a woman and her pastor Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been lives in a dream waits at the window wearing the face that she keeps in the jar by the door who is it for father Mackenzie writing the words of a sermon no one will hear for no one comes near look at him working darkening his socks in the night when there's nobody there what does he care all the lonely people where do they all come from all the lonely people where do they all belong Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name nobody came father Mackenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave no one was saved ah look at all the lonely people loneliness Solomon says and all of its attendant evils or our fault they have but one cure and that is listen to me you must overcome your fear of people you must trust in God and you must enter into community the fear of people that leads you to oppress them to compete with them you're smarter you're richer you drive a better car your kids get better grades you live in a nicer house you're prettier

and the work that drives you deeper and deeper into your isolated world of self you have to trust in God a God who loved a relationship with us so much that he gave his only son for us to oppress compete with kill so he died alone on a cross after trust in Christ who's come out of one perfect community in heaven to bring us into the body of Christ into the people of God into the kingdom of heaven and you have to step into community you have to be baptized and take on a new identity and join the church of Jesus Christ and live with other people who are working against oppression committed to cooperation and it would determine not to live and die alone you know that means for you and me it means that we have to trust that God is infinitely wise infinitely loving always faithful completely sovereign and this is the way he's designed life for you and me a life that will bless us we have to overcome the fear of people and realize that the thing that drives them to do the things that they do are the things that make us afraid and drive us to do the things that we do you want to know something we're all of us in this room in one way or another afraid of people we really are and we have to step into community and take some risks young men young single men you need to shave and shower and comb your hair and put on some grown up clothes and ask a girl out on the date she'll probably say no thank you so you ask the next girl out on the date until finally one of them says okay I got nothing better to do and she'll fall in love with you and marry you you won't be alone anymore single girls you need to stop looking for Mr. perfect or the reincarnation of your dad stop sending off signals that say be where I am a man eater say yes to the guy who asked you out even if you don't like him because one of these boys that you don't like on the front end is going to be someone who you're going to fall in love with and he and you are going to create the most blessed of all communities on the earth family his seed your body the incubator for the next wave of people in the kingdom of heaven single young and old divorced and widowed never married you need to jump into community no one thinks that you have a huge s emblazoned on your forehead the new scarlet letter couples families singles will welcome you into their life when you prove that you're not a person to be afraid of they'll cut the edge off your loneliness and perhaps if it's God's will and your desire he will lead you to someone where you have a second start in a life of partnership and companionship and community fringe members you need to join you need to make a commitment and stop being a consumer of sermons and start being a community member for in the end you're damaging your own soul out of selfishness convenience and fear you need a real church family church family just as messed up as you are but who love you anyway and all those excuses that we have why we avoid people we need to face the fact that we're not fooling anybody least of all God God knows you're afraid but he doesn't want you to be Eleanorigmy or me to be Father McKenzie no one was saved is not the way God has written the end of the story he's called us to Christ and this community and he's reminded us that two are better than one and three are even better than that this is all about faith in God confidence in the church and the willingness to take a risk living with people is not easy and I've never known any person ever in life who didn't one time or another hurt me disappoint me or frustrate me would that they were all like me but it's easier to live in community than to die a lonely person and that is not what Jesus Christ came to save you from he came to save you from sin the sins that hurt you and other people and he came to save you for the community of the redeemed

and as long as God exists and the church remains we will never know for certain why God lets all these terrible things we do be done but we do know this there is never a good reason for living alone and dying a lonely person never a good reason for that let's pray Father we would confess to you that because of sin in the world our sin and the sins of others and it's it's multiplied effect when sinners dwell together in a community that we are often afraid of other people we keep our distance we guard our margins we manage our relationships who comes in and who goes out and who does what to whom so that we're always in control always on top and always alone when it's comfortable and we acknowledge to you that that is not only unhealthy it's unholy and it is the opposite of the way you have made us to be and to live help us help us to step out in faith and in hope and in love these three things that abide faith in you and hope in your plan for us and love for other people who suffer from the same fears and do the same sinful things we do to compensate for that fear so that we enter in to friendships and community the better way to live and the best way to die we need you and one another most of all we need Jesus Christ who's called us to himself not as isolated individuals but as brothers and sisters in the family of God and help us to be encouraged and not threatened by this reality to step into a life with Christ and as people and find many answers for our questions and more support when we don't have those answers and the companionship that will travel with us from this place to the city of God this is what we ask and this is what we pray in Jesus' name amen