God’s Sovereign Goodness (Inspired by Victor Tavitian’s sermon “The Unjust God?”)

What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! Romans 9:14

As the title suggests, this note is inspired by a sermon by Victor Tavitian about God’s sovereign goodness. I highly recommend checking it out (For the Youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LzrRQLzidU or for the sermon audio download go here http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=413131126350)

Often when I’ve spoken with non-believers before about God’s goodness, usually they will ask a question like “if God is so good than how comes so much suffering or evil occurs?” But there is a problem with their question. The position “if God is so good…” already implies that God’s goodness is sovereign but the finality of their question is based on action, that is whether or not evil or suffering occurs. The problem is not initially to do with God; their problem is a true understanding of what is good.

We live in a society whereby our understanding of goodness is based on an event. If I donate money to charity, I may be considered ‘good’ in my actions. But as Christians we understand that God’s goodness is sovereign and unchanging. Let me show you what I mean by this. In Genesis 1 We have an extraordinarily powerful verse, the very verse that pivots all power and authority. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God…” That is His sovereign order and will was already present before things were created FOR His desire!

As we observe Genesis chapter 1 we see a repetition of God’s goodness “and God saw that it was good.” Who had the right to judge what is good? God did! Not by virtue of His actions, but by virtue of who He is! In other words, creation reflects back obedience to God’s goodness. So the question “if God is good, then how come suffering or evil exists?” Whoever asks such a question would do well to know the sovereignty of God’s goodness, rather than to pivot goodness based on an action. For any action of God done or not done is God’s sustained goodness! How do I know this? Look at Paul’s answer in the above verse “absolutely not!” is what he says to anyone who thinks God is unjust. You might be asking, but why? We know that God is not a God of confusion and neither God nor Paul leave us in the dark on this great exploration.

For He tells Moses:

I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy,
and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Romans 9:15

God’s goodness is not pivoted on action, but on the very will of who God is! It is God who shows mercy to whom He desires and likewise compassion. Therefore God’s goodness is all sustained and all sovereign and His goodness is not by virtue of any action but purely by who God is. He is good! And anyone who asks these types of questions would do well to understand the premise of their question prior to asking it. I don’t say that out of hatred, but I say that because in knowing God’s goodness, we have a clear understanding of morality and any understanding of what is truly good if we have God who is unmoveable in terms of His goodness.

Let me show you what the problem is with a societal understanding of good. At face value we would all likely agree that what Hitler did during WW2 was wrong, however if you put yourselves in the shoes of any Nazi soldier, you may think otherwise and I’ll show you why. Hitler helped to re-establish Germany during a time of economic depression, in which he succeeded extremely well. And he was also successful at eradicating the common enemy of the German people in order to maintain a type of purity in a sense. These things are not bad, but unless we apply the action to what Hitler has done, then we can only see that he was in fact evil.

Our moral understandings as Christians should never be based from societal understandings of right and wrong. It is God who is good, and therefore our understanding of what is morally acceptable is pivoted on an understanding of who God is. Our perception of God must always be in light of the true gospel, in light of the scriptures (that is God’s infallible word). For if God’s word truly is infallible than we will always have a platform or a foundation to go to in first understanding what good is and then understanding the position of society.