We must adjust to God and his standards and his ways, not he to ours. In the gospel Christ calls us to come to himself, to where he is.
If God is all powerful, why does he not save all? That is an idea in the minds of many which they are not ready to let go of. He does not save all, because the ultimate not good is not the salvation of man, but the glory of God, and God is glorified when both his mercy and his severity are glorified: his mercy in the salvation of the elect, and his severity in the damnation of the lost.
If God is good, why does he not make the world a better place? Why does he not bring all evil to an end? Certainly God will bring all evil to an end, but not before he has allowed evil to fully manifest itself, and not before he has used it to train up his people to righteousness, and not without following the plan of salvation which calls individual men and women to repentance and faith, and makes a clear distinction between those who love God and those who hate him, those who obey and those who transgress.
If God is merciful, why does he not end all suffering in the world? Blessed, supremely happy are you, if you are not offended. Why does he not bring happiness to all? Because we are against him and don’t deserve it. If God would make the world a happy place and ban murder, we would still say, ‘Get out of the way, and let me live as I like.’ We become so proud, so awful. God can only say, ‘You have rebelled against me. I must leave you to it, to demonstrate how weak you are.’ If there was no suffering, all would go to hell. If you see a world with suffering and not getting better, then that should not make us doubt, for that is exactly what the Bible says. The world says human beings are good and can solve all their problems. The Bible says we are members of a fallen human race which is under God’s curse.
Consider what happens when a well-known celebrity dies. People are at pains to tell us that they have gone to heaven. How can they say this? Because they are popular, even if that person did not love the Lord? Must we commend those whom the world commends, even though their whole lives show they had no time for God, no obedience to him, no understanding of his message? No, we must honour those whom the Lord honours, and not any others. Does it offend us if we hear we need new lives and must leave behind all our pride and our sin? These are the only terms on which God will deal with us. If you are offended by this, you cannot come to Christ.
A different form of shame is found among those who want to adapt Christian worship to styles found in the world. The world is ashamed of the simplicity of Christian worship, of its lack of any artistry that might commend it to the world. Should we make it look just a little bit like the music of the world, and then just a little bit more? No, God requires a clear wall to divide the two. Let believers not be ashamed of the way God has commanded them to approach him. Some preachers who for a while stand for the gospel, later bring in seeker friendly services and pop music, and ecumenical associations. All this is done because they are ashamed of Christ. Don’t follow those who love rich lifestyles. What Christ despises we should despise.
So many of these offences at Christ are rooted in a false way of thinking that ‘savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men’ (Matthew 16:23). We are scarcely even aware of it, but what has happened is that we feel a great sensitivity about man being dishonoured, but less sensitivity about God being dishonoured. This is all the wrong way round.