Why Do Bad Things Happen to Godly People? | Ryan Leak

Why do bad things happen to godly people? This is a question everyone asks at least once in their life… Ryan Leak gives a profound and holy message on what it looks like to live with faith and a belief that in every season, God is GOOD. If you’re questioning, this message will help you. Find more like this on our YouTube channel!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Shoreline City. It is good to be home. You can be seated. You are so kind. It is always a privilege to be able to give in a house that we received so much from. My wife and I transparently started sneaking into Shoreline about two, two and a half years ago. And we would like sneak in the back. And it's funny, Pastor Earl would just like already be in the back and be like, don't you try and sneak in my church? And I'd be like, hey, where'd you come from, man? I didn't see you there. And over the course of time, we started praying about like, is this the church that we're supposed to be planted in? Which is a very tough decision. And I realize that there are people here that you might be visiting, you might be giving us three months, you might be giving us a year, some of y'all done gave us three years, and you're still like thinking about it. But uh, we've been in that season. And so um, I just want to let you know, I'm standing on the stage today, not as a part of the staff, but as one of you that is answering the call of God in our family's life as to how we're supposed to operate in this church. I realize that any one of us, for friends watching at another location, friends that are watching online, you can walk into a place like this and go, man, are these my people? And you you could also take it to another level and go, Am I somebody's person? Because if I'm somebody's person and you've assigned us here for a season of our life, we're not gonna make you sign a blood covenant or nothing like that, but but I would challenge us all to really get into that posture of going, like, man, am I somebody's person today that that I'm supposed to be here for a season? If I'm gonna be here, I really wanna really wanna be here. And so uh my wife and and boys have had a wonderful opportunity to receive in this house, and it's it's awesome just to be able to sit here and take notes, but it's just as much of a privilege to get to share God's word with you today. Uh, pastors Earl and Onika are dear friends of ours, but they're also our pastors, and so incredibly grateful that I get to share God's word with us today. Uh today I'm gonna give us permission to do something that sometimes feels a little bit unchristian, which is to question God. Oh, we can't. We can't do that. Like sometimes if you've got a question for God, it feels like you're like somehow not protecting Christianity. It's like you're trying to like hide some things. Like, I I can't have questions for God. But let me tell you who does have questions for God, kids, okay? They ain't got no problem questioning God. In fact, researchers would tell you that children ask 300 to 400 questions a day. If you are a parent, you did not need that research. You already know what time it is, okay? So 300 to 400 questions a day for children. For adults, we ask six questions a day. So somewhere between sippy cups and salaries, we lose about 294 questions. Somewhere between, I don't know, a juice box and jury duty, we lose some questions. Jury duty will make you grown real fast, okay? Like, what'd you do today? Jury, like, oh, you a grown man for sure. But somehow adulting robs us of our curiosity and our ability to go, God, there's some things where the math ain't mathing. For me, and sometimes we don't feel the permission to do that. I'm gonna give you permission to do that today. Today, I I want to look at one question. One question that I'm gonna give us all permission to be able to ask out loud because if you're honest, you live there or you've lived there for a very, very long time. You see, I want to talk to us today about why do bad things happen to godly people, not just good people, godly people, faithful people, tithers, people that are on a serve team, connect group leaders, people that are going on missions trips. Lord, why do you allow bad things to happen to godly people? Now understand this. Uh, you are sitting in a church today that is a Bible-believing, faith-believing church. We believe in miracles. We will lay hands on you. We believe cancer leaves bodies, we believe anxiety can be gone in a touch of a moment from heaven. We believe that scoliosis can be gone. We believe that depression can break off of you. We believe marriages can be healed. Like we will lay hands on you. In fact, at the end of the service, people will come up here and will say, hey, the prayer team is down here. That is not a light sentence that we are giving you. We are believing that God can do a breakthrough in your life. That is the kind of church you have stepped into today. We are a faith, Bible-believing church. On one hand, on another hand, we are also a church that goes to funerals and mourns with those who mourn. And have stood by gravesites. And when your loved one is sick, we are the kind of church that will pull up. That will bring a casserole, that will answer a phone call at 2 a.m. And those two aren't opposing each other. In fact, the people that will line up around this, what we would call altar, might be waiting on a miracle themselves while they pray for a miracle for you. So it's not one or the other, it's both. And so as we attempt to look at God's word and answer this question as to why do bad things happen to godly people, I just want you to know I just want to give you permission today to be human. We are not a pretend church. We're not gonna pretend that people don't get cancer. We're not gonna pretend that people don't die. We're not gonna pretend that mamas don't lose babies and babies don't lose their mom. No, we we we don't deny reality and in fact understand this. Our faith doesn't deny reality but invites a faithful God to our reality. That's what we do. And so if there's anybody that can relate to this subject, it is a guy by the name of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is a guy in Scripture who, if anyone is asking this question, it's gotta be John. And if you want to know a couple things about John, uh just read Luke chapter 7, verse 28. You could go there with me if you can. It says this. It says, this is Jesus talking about John. Okay, this is what Jesus would describe John as. If Jesus said this about me, it would be on my Instagram profile for sure. Here's what he says: he says, I tell you, among those born of women, which is everybody, it's the only way you can get here, there is no one greater than John. So, in case you're ever having the GOAT argument, you know what I'm saying? Is it LeBron? Is it Michael Jordan? Is it Tiger Woods? Is it Tom Brady? Jesus says, let me settle the score. It's in the scripture. The greatest of all time is John the Baptist. Also, what you need to know about John the Baptist is John the Baptist is Jesus' cousin. Okay, so this is this is family. He's the goat and family. And at one point in scripture, John the Baptist actually gets arrested for preaching about Jesus. So I want you to think about that for a second. And here's something that is just so fascinating to me. If you can, really quick, go to Matthew chapter 4, verse 12. It says, when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Withdrew to Galilee. Now, I don't know how many of you have a physical Bible. I've got a physical Bible here. There's maps in the back, okay? In case your Bible ain't got maps on the back, that don't mean your Bible not legit. It just means you might want to upgrade. So, what we're gonna do is I'm gonna put a map on the screen for you to be able to see and be able to fully understand what this means. Okay, so I want you to see there at the top, you see that's Nazareth, that's Capernum, okay? It says, Jesus, when he heard about John being in prison, know this. John is in prison in a place called Macaris, okay? Macaris is a desert land way down there in the south, okay? Jesus is in Nazareth. It says, when Jesus heard about John, Jesus went that way to the Sea of Galilee, okay? I've been to this Sea of Galilee. That's a beach. So just get this picture. John in prison in a desert, Jesus hears about it, and he says, I'm going to the four seasons. And I just I have to wonder if there's anybody today that has ever sent up a prayer to the heavens. And it felt like God was going that way. Like you just feel like it's in the opposite direction. Like we know that the scripture tells us that God is near to the brokenhearted. But sometimes it feels like he's walking away from the brokenhearted. Every single person here today is what I would like to call a practical theologian. A practical theologian means sometimes we will get our theology from what we can practically see. And so we can walk around with the theology. So instead of going to the scripture, we're looking at our life and going, I'm trying to make the math make sense, but what I'm seeing is it's I'm struggling a little bit. And today I'm giving you permission. It's okay to struggle, it's okay to be doing God math and be getting it wrong. That that is a part of the journey. And so it's interesting. If you're going to look at Luke 7, I want you to go back there. You almost have to read it backwards. It's interesting because in verse 28 it tells us that John is indeed the goat. And interestingly enough, there comes this point where we get to the part of the story where John's disciples, John had disciples, Jesus had disciples. In fact, there came a point where John was like, hey, you probably should start following Jesus now. Okay, that was a whole thing. It's interesting. In verse 18, uh it says that John's disciples told him about all these things. John's disciples told him about all these things. Couple things you need to know about this prison in Macaris. Um, at this prison, the only way that you could eat is if your friends brought you food. So disciples are going back and forth to say, hey, John, are you okay? Hey, John, here's what's going on on the outside. There's no social media in prison, okay? Like they're not in there trying to figure out what's happened. Okay, so your friends are showing up. And and and John's disciples come to this prison, and the scripture says that he told them about all of these things. Well, what are these things? We have to continue going backwards. The first thing is this Luke chapter 7, verse 1. When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There, a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to him, Jesus, when they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him. This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue. Deserves? Oh my God. Have you ever played the theological deserve game? I mean, when we think about who deserves it, like when a pastor is on his deathbed, we go, come on, hey God, doesn't he deserve? And this is the infamous story where Jesus speaks a word and the servant is healed. In fact, verse 10 says the men who had been sent back to the house found the servant well. Also, there's a little nuance in this text that we might miss. A centurion is a centurion for the Roman government. You're helping the enemy? And then the second story that John's disciples told John these things is in verse 11. It says, Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples in a large crowd went along with them. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and and she has she was a widow, and a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart, his heart went out to her. Don't cry. Then he went up and touched the beer, and and they were carrying him on. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna go handheld. Let's do that. Let's do that. That's great. Hello? This this better work. Something better work. Hello? Hello? All right. We good? We good? Bet the Bible says. Now I talk completely different. Now that I got it. The Bible says right now. Now we just chill. Let's chill. Jesus touches the beer, not the kind of beer you're thinking about. It's called a beer. It's a coffin. Okay? They were carrying him on. And the bearer stood still. He said, Young man, I say to you, get up. The dead man sat up and began to talk. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. So John's in prison. And his disciples come up to him in the prison and say, Hey, hey, hey, John, hey, uh, we just want to give you a report. Just so you know. Jesus is healing our oppressors. And his heart is breaking. For people he doesn't even know. Strangers are being raised from the dead. And then verse 18, we're getting back to where we started. John's disciples told him about all these things, calling two of them, hey y'all come here. I need to talk to y'all for a second. He says, Can you go to Jesus? And let him know. I got a question. Are you the one who is to come? Or should we expect someone else? Are you the one? Or should we expect someone else? What do you do when God is not the God you expected him to be? And it's it's interesting that John felt permission to ask this question. Also understand about this prison, it has an interesting setup. I wasn't there, so I'm just going off of what historical researchers have told me. And so in this prison, I just love that this was already here from Easter. It just is working for me. I like it. I didn't ask for this, but it's here, so I'm going to use it. In this prison, there was a small window where you could actually see Jerusalem from the desert. So you could stare at the promised land, but you couldn't get to it. Also, it's interesting, the way that this prison was set up, it was uh in the basement. So it was a basement with a window. Above it was two banquet halls. One, some researchers say one was for where men would party, and the other one was for where from women would party. And so there is literally a party going on above them that would soon take his life. So you got a party upstairs, a promise outside, and your cousin, who is supposed to save the world, seems oddly emotionally distant from you at a beach, healing Romans and people he doesn't even know. And you've been told by your disciples, but his heart breaks for the stranger. Are you the one? Or should we expect somebody else? Um, whenever you start comparing other people's blessings to your current reality, you will get a very interesting theology about God. Uh, especially uh when your friend gets a promotion and you can't get a job and they tell you about it. You ever been fake happy for somebody? I'm so happy for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm glad I'm glad you got it, man. I'm glad you got it. What's happening? Don't let your best friend get engaged. Oh, you're gonna be like, I am so happy for you, done depressed, okay? It gets even worse when you got ratchet friends that get blessed. Your theology gets real. You've been like, hold on just a minute, God, we need to talk. They cheated on their taxes, okay? They got they got a they got a$50,000 refund. I owe the IRS looking for me right now. And I I'm trying to give you, I done gave to this mission, like it just the the math just doesn't seem to be math. You can't sell your house. They they sell their house for five times what they paid for it. I don't know, God's good. You're like, you don't even go to church. If you're in real estate, you got this heathen selling houses like crazy. You can't get one listing to go. I mean, it at some point you go, where in the heavens is this God that am I reading it wrong?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

You go, maybe if I get it in Greek and Hebrew, maybe, maybe uh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

One of the biggest hurdles you might have in your faith journey is unanswered prayer. Uh in fact, uh, I I love this this won't be on the screen. I I just I wrote it down as it could be. 2 Corinthians 12, 7 through 9. Paul says, so to keep me from being becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh. Many scholars argue about what this thorn was. He he gives a hint, he says, a messenger of Satan to harass me. It sounded like a person, not an ailment. A messenger to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. Three times. One of the greats, not the greatest, that's John. But one of the greats goes, Lord, could you I'm on your team. Could you take this thing away from me? God's answer. Nah. Let me ask again. God goes, let me say it a different way. No. Let me ask a third time. How about no? Okay, nah, it's not. And guess what? Um, my grace is going to meet you at that same no. It's interesting. If you're John in prison, you're the question has so much credibility. Are you the one? Or should we expect someone else? And then uh the scripture tells us that Jesus tells them, hey, well, go tell John. Dear John. Hey, dear John, uh, let's see, we're gonna go to Verse 22, he says, So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. No good news for John. And then he says this He says, Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. Hey John, I know I know you're in that prison, but don't lose your faith in that prison. I need you to see beyond those bars. Hey, whatever you do, don't don't lose your faith in that prison. It's interesting. We would define somebody blessed as somebody that has a lot of wealth. Jesus would define somebody blessed as somebody who has found the ability not to lose their faith when they should have. Hey John, whatever you do, just so you know, the good news is advancing. The kingdom is advancing. Don't lose your faith. Right where you're at. And then this is if I was God, I would rewrite the story. We all would. Because it says after John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John. And then he goes on to say, hey, guess what? John's the goat. If I'm sitting in the prison, ah. What did Jesus say? I asked him a question. Are you the one? Or should we expect someone else? What I want to hear is, hey, let me just tell you something. A couple things. Jesus said, He ain't coming to get you. Okay. You're gonna be in here. That's number one. Let's just get that straight. Number two, he thinks you're the goat. I can't speak for John, but I can speak for me. If Jesus told me I was the goat, I could go just on that line alone. I'm like, oh bet, I'm great. I'm the greatest that ever lived. Bet, cool. That's not what he got. Do you want to know when John found out that he was the goat? After he died. What was the message? The kingdom is still moving forward. And you paved the way for it to happen, John. You know, if if you and I could play God, we would rewrite this entire story. In fact, we would rewrite all of our stories. If I could rewrite the uh selection picks that Jesus makes to save the world and pick 12, I would say, hey Jesus, not to impose my will onto you, but don't you think we should just drop Judas and pick up John the Baptist? It seems like a fair trade to me. That's that's a Luca Anthony Davis type of situation. Does that make sense? It's like too soon, uh but at least you get the illustration. It's like we we would we would gladly go, why don't why not pick up why wouldn't we pick up the greatest of all time? We got a traitor on the team. No, no, no. We need 12 sharp dudes, and one of the best is in prison. Let's go bust him out of jail, drop Judas off in the Sea of Galilee, and keep this show moving. Is how we would write the story. In fact, if we all could write the story, none of us would ever get sick. We'd all make six figures. Seven figures if we're gonna write the story. I mean we'd all have perfect relationships. We never cry. We never get angry. It sounds like a place called It's as if the cry of our heart is God, can't you just save everybody? To which he would respond, I did. I said, if we're looking for God, what is your response to all of this? His name is Jesus. Jesus is the response. He says, I sent my one and only son, and it's interesting. You might not expect this from Jesus, but in Matthew 14, verse 13, it says, When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. When Jesus hears about John's death, he goes, I need a minute. Even Jesus had a hard time submitting to God's will for John. And Jesus also had to submit his own will to God. And just remember what what he says after John is the greatest. He says this after after that, he says, um, I gotta turn to the pages. We're with me, you know. He says this, he says, uh, I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John. Then he flips the script. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Jesus never let present circumstances keep him from having a kingdom perspective. He goes, John's the greatest here. But where we're going, the party's just getting started. Um my father had me when he was forty-nine years old. He had a stroke when he was fifty-seven. Uh that one almost killed him, but it didn't. Eighteen years later, he had a second stroke. Um, he lost all mobility, he lost his ability to speak, and he was in hospice for two years. Because uh your body j just your body moving is a miracle. Most people don't even realize that. Cells and blood circulating all create health in your body. If you sit in one spot for too long, uh your body will begin to deteriorate. Uh, there was a hole in my dad's back this big that eventually took his life. I remember um my mom being bedside with my dad. He could nod his head this way and this way. That was all he could do. And I remember my mom she said, uh, Emmanuel, are you in any pain? And he said, she said, Are you ready to go see Jesus? And uh a lot has happened in my life since over the last ten years. And uh we were getting dinner with one of our dear friends who's been in our life for I don't know, 20 years. And she said, Ryan, your dad must be so proud. I bet he is standing on the banister of heaven looking down at you, and he is so proud. I said, Maybe. Or maybe he's dancing on the streets of gold. I'll tell you this much. If I go to heaven, I'm not looking back down here for y'all, I'm gone. When you get there, you're gonna go, you seen Raoul, he's running around, right? Right, I'm gone. I'm not thinking about this place anymore. Promise you that. Maybe dad's watching online today. I don't know. But this I know for fuss show, there's no hole in his back anymore. And so when you find yourself sitting in a prison and bars is your perspective, and you're staring at a promised land, and you're watching what God is doing in everybody else's life, might you look up and remember a heavenly perspective? We can get so wrapped up in what's happening in Dallas, Texas, as if we are the center of the universe. Jesus is the center of the universe. And so as you navigate, what in the world, Lord, is why do bad things happen to godly people? Remember, there's only one godly person. And that's Jesus. The rest of us we're actually not in that category as much as we would like to be. I uh I had an opportunity uh about five years ago. Five, six years ago, I got to speak for a ministry called God Behind Bars. I got to go preach in prison, which is an inexperience in and of itself. Uh interestingly enough, they said, Hey, uh, you you can bring a worship leader. I said, Oh, great. Well, to to get into prison, uh, you have to apply through the state, and it was in Illinois, and you have to get approved to get in prison. For some odd reason, this worship leader did not get approved. I don't know what they did. But I kept thinking, if you didn't get approved, how are you out here and not in there? I had lots of questions. They won't let you in prison, but you should be in here if you can't get in there. I was confused. Nevertheless, they said, Ryan, can you lead worship? Now, understand this. Um, I grew up around a lot of worship leaders, and so I I can I can cheat music. Okay, so understand this. I can play guitar in the key of G. That's it. And then I can use a capo, which allows you to play in different keys. I also can play piano, but only in the key of C, okay? If you play in the key of C, you never have to touch the black chord. So you could just stay on the whites and just do your thing and do your thing on the pearlies. And so, so I can play in two keys depending on the instrument, if I have a capo and if the piano allows you to transpose. And so I went back to the hotel and I said, I called the prison, I said, Hey, what instrument do you have? They said, We have a guitar. I said, Okay, let me go and practice a couple songs in the key of G. I get to prison and the guitar was broke. And so then I had to hop on a piano that was missing keys. Now, if you've practiced a song for prison um in the key of G, and then you gotta slide over to the key of C and a bunch of dudes just looking at you like you don't know what's about to happen. It is a very nerve-wracking situation. And so um I started singing a song called King of My Heart.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

And um, King of my Heart has this like, you're never gonna say, you're never gonna let me down, you're never gonna say, you're never gonna let me down. You are good, good, oh you are good, good, oh I started singing the song, and then I stepped away from the piano, and these prisoners sang it for 15 minutes, they just kept singing it.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

They sang it so long, I started to be sitting there like, but are you sure he's that good? Because y'all, I mean, I mean, I'm just reading the situation, like, I mean, are you sure? We're sure. We're sure. You are good. They just kept singing, and it and and and I just have to wonder who's here today that you're going. I don't know that I believe that, but this is what I can guarantee you. On the other side of eternity, there's gonna be a lot of us doing this. Oh, that's what you that's why they broke up. Oh, that's why I didn't get that job. That oh, oh, and in that moment, you would go, if I knew then what I know now, I would say, You are good. And so I just encourage people. I'm just gonna start now, and I'm gonna let my faith and my theology catch up with my song. Because I guarantee you, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord of our life. And at the end of the day, we will declare his goodness and his mercy and his goodness dwells forever. And so today I just have to wonder who today needs to sing. You are good over your situation, over your body, over your family. So I'm inviting the worship team to come back up here to sing this song over us because sometimes when you're wondering where in the heavens is God, sometimes you have to remind yourself, remind your own soul, He's good. He's good. If you don't mind, if if you are here today and you are standing on an unanswered prayer, would you just lift up your hand right now? Father, you see each and every hand. And Lord, we are declaring your goodness over this church today. We are believing for miracles for this church today. And God, I I pray your goodness over each and every hand right now. You see every situation, you see every diagnosis, you see every marriage, you see every prayer, you see every tear. And so, God, we just take a moment today to declare your goodness over each and every person. Lord, may you be with us in the midst of our questions. May we not be afraid to keep praying and to keep worshiping and keep declaring the goodness of God and keep declaring the promises of God. For each and every hand raised, I pray God that you would give them the faith and the strength to keep praying and keep believing. And God, I pray that each and every person under the sound of my voice today would experience and see the goodness of the Lord. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to give each and every person an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of their life. If you're here today, it may be the math has never mastered for you, but you still know that you need an anchor for your soul. You still know that there's something that's just not right with your soul. If today you say, you know what, Ryan, I want to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of my life. Every head bowed and every eye closed, you just slip up your hand and say, Hey Ryan, that's me. Ryan, that's me. I see hands up there, I see hands all over. Anybody else? Anyone else? I see your hand, that's amazing. Anybody else? I see you. That's awesome. I see you back there, that's awesome. That's amazing. Anybody else? Anybody else? Hey, can we all say this prayer together as one big church family? Say, Jesus, thank you for dying on a cross for my sins. I ask now that you would be the Lord, that you would be the Savior of my life. Lord, I give you my past. I give you my present, I give you my future. In Jesus' name we pray. Everybody stay. Hey, man, come on, can we make the noise for everything apart? Hey, the heart.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

We are so proud.