There are certain times in life when all of us, no matter how strong our faith may be, cry out either audibly or inside our soul, and ask, "Why, God? Why did You let this happen? Why didn't You prevent this tragedy?" For many of us, one of those times was this past Monday when we heard that Tearainy Rupp had died. This six-year-old daughter of Paul and Julie Rupp was the granddaughter of Glenn and Joyce Rupp who are members of our congregation, which also made her the niece of Bob and Nan Rupp and a cousin to Andrea and John. On July 4, Tearainy was severely injured when she fell off her horse and hit her head as she was preparing to ride in the Side Lake parade. I want to again express my deepest sympathy to the Rupp family. I can only imagine how hard the last couple of weeks have been. I don't even like to think about what it would be like for such a terrible thing to happen to someone in my family. If I may speak on behalf of this congregation, let me just say that we love you, and, even though often we have not known what to say during this time, we want to support you in any way we can, and we will continue to pray for you.
When the news of Tearainy's death came, it seemed that a dark cloud descended on our community. Though the sun was shining that afternoon, almost everyone I talked with felt a sense of grief, even if they had never met her. It just seems so tragic, so unfair, so senseless, that a little girl would be taken from her family at such a young age. Many children, most who did not know Tearainy, were deeply touched by what happened. A number of times during the week that she was in the hospital, I heard a child ask someone, "How is that little girl doing?" For so many of us, the past couple of weeks have been a time when we found ourselves asking, "Why, God? Why did You let this happen?" In recent months we have been on a journey through the Book of 1 Corinthians on Sunday mornings. This week I was planning to talk about Chapter 7 and explore what Paul says about marriage. It's important stuff, but we will do that next Sunday. I believe it is essential that we as Christians realize that through the Bible God speaks to us about situations we face in life. We need to let God's Word enter our minds and hearts and heal the grief, doubt and even the anger we may feel. To be honest, I cannot answer the question why God allowed this tragedy to occur, but I want to remind us of some important biblical truths which I think can help us get through this difficult time. Let's pause and pray that God would enable us to hear Him speak to us through His Word today.
There are some truths we need to keep in mind, even in the midst, especially in the midst, of our pain. 1) Remember that God is sovereign. He has always been and always will be sovereign. Today, this very moment, He has absolute authority over the entire universe. Nothing that has happened the past couple of weeks has changed that. God is still securely on His throne. I don't know why God allowed this tragic death to occur. I do know, however, that Ephesians 1:11 tells us that God works out everything, everything, in conformity with the purpose of His will. I also know that Romans 8:28 promises ...that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Friends, these are not just religious sayings which look nice on a wall plaque. This is the truth, the teaching of God's Word. This week it is certainly not an obscure doctrine. It is reality. Now, a lot of folks, including some Christians, deny this biblical teaching. Many have adopted a view made popular by Rabbi Kushner in his book, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?. Like the Rabbi, they claim God is doing the best He can; He is just not able to prevent all the evil and tragedies which happen; it is beyond His power and ability to do so. But, friends, the God whom Kushner describes is not the God of the Bible. Jeremiah 32:17 "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." I love the story of a young boy who was sitting next to a seminary professor on an airplane. The professor said, "Young man, if you can tell me something that God can do, I'll give you a big shiny apple." Thoughtfully, the boy replied, "Mister, if you can tell me something God can't do, I'll give you a whole barrel of apples." Well, friends, God cannot lie, He cannot die, He cannot deny Himself, but apart from that, the song we used to sing in Sunday School is so right, My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there is nothing my God can't do!
Recently some Christians have embraced a view known as open-theism. This is the position being debated within our own denomination. Open theists claim that God cannot know ahead of time what choices His creatures will make. Thus, because God did not know ahead of time that the horse was going to rear up, there was nothing He could do to prevent this accident. Now there are a number of practical problems with this teaching. Even if God did not know the future, wouldn't He be able to react instantaneously and prevent a tragedy He saw developing? Most importantly the open view of God is contrary to what the Bible teaches about God's knowledge and wisdom. Psalm 139:4 says that God knows what we are going to choose to say even before we open our mouth. As our meditation this morning said, the God of the Bible knows all of history from beginning to end. His ability to prevent tragedy is not limited by a lack of knowledge.
Friends, whenever a tragedy occurs, I really believe there is no comfort in believing God would have liked to prevent what happened, but was unable to do so. When a terrible accident occurs, it is not because God is on vacation or taking a nap. Somehow, what has happened is a part of His plan. Because I believe God chose not to prevent what occurred at the parade two weeks ago, I am confident it must somehow fit into His plan. I have no idea how, absolutely no idea how, but I know God will in some way bring good out of this horrible situation, because that's the kind of God He is. As Charles Hodge said, "We rejoice that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, that neither necessity, nor chance, nor the folly of man, nor the malice of Satan controls the sequence of events and all their results." Rather, it is God who controls the sequence of events and all their results, because He is sovereign.
2) Remember that we live in a fallen world. By that I mean that sin and evil have twisted things so they are not the way they ought to be. At funerals I sometimes use a line which came from the cartoon Shoe a few years ago. Skyler comes home and complains, "I studied for three hours each night this week for that math test and all I got was a lousy 'C'. Dumb Lenny never studied and he got an 'A'." His father responds, "Well, you may as well get used to it. Life isn't fair, but then death doesn't have a great track record either." The death of a six-year-old girl makes that abundantly clear. Death often is not fair. Now, some of you may be thinking, "Wait a minute, Pastor Dan. First you said God is totally in control and now you are saying things are not fair, are not the way they are supposed to be. Why doesn't God make things the way they should be and prevent tragedies from occurring?" A part of the answer to the question is: He will. Revelation 21:4 says that one day God will eliminate death, pain and tears, and everything will be just as it should be.
But, you ask, "Why doesn't He do that right now?" Well, I admit that is a question for which I do not have a good answer, although apparently God still has things He desires to accomplish in this fallen, corrupt world before He establishes the world described in Revelation 21. I also know that the Bible teaches that God is not the One who should be blamed when tragedy occurs. Suffering and death exist in this world because of human sinfulness. Now, I am certainly not suggesting that a particular sin of any individual was the cause of what happened to this little girl. What I am saying is that if human beings were not in rebellion against God, there would be no suffering and no death on this planet. Why do people get cancer and die? Why do typhoons strike and kill thousands of people? Why do human beings kill each other in places like Indonesia, Sudan and Duluth? Why does the mother of three young children get killed in a car accident? Why did little Tearainy Rupp die on Monday? Part of the answer to those questions is that we live in a fallen world, and that ever since the sin in the Garden of Eden, human beings have been paying the price for rebellion which has occurred and is occurring against God. Recognizing that we live in a fallen world doesn't make things better. It does, however, help us absorb the shock when tragedy occurs. It gives us hope to know that someday God will make things right. Yet for today, remember, we still live in a fallen world.
3) We need to remember that life is fragile. Death is a reality. Except for two people in the Old Testament, Enoch and Elijah, and those who are alive when Jesus returns, every single human being will experience death. It is universal and, as I said a few minutes ago, it often doesn't seem fair. It strikes both young and old. It strikes both those who are serving the Lord and those who want nothing to do with God. It strikes those who seem to live with reckless abandon and those who are always very cautious and careful. Rich and poor, Swedes and Italians, Republicans and Democrats, we all die. And we don't get to choose how, when or where we are going to die. Yet, even though it is a universal reality, we don't like to think about death. It has replaced sex as the taboo subject for polite conversation. We try to deny it's reality. George Butrick observes, "It is the undertaker's job to make it appear an individual has not died. He dresses the fellow in a suit and lays him in a narrow box, as if he were asleep. Though," he adds, "not many of us sleep in narrow boxes with suits on." Of course, folks are always trying to figure out ways to postpone death. Artificial organ transplants, genetic engineering and cryonics, freezing people to keep them alive, give some people hope that we can extend the human life span indefinitely. We want to overcome our mortality, so we keep looking for that fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon thought existed. But, we are not going to find it. It doesn't exist.
Archie Bunker had an interesting view on trying to postpone death. He said, "When you gotta go, you gotta go. You go because God wants you. You go when He wants you. And He doesn't want no quack doctors putting new hearts into you and keeping you here against His will, because it throws Him off His schedule. Now, you don't want to throw God off schedule like that because when you get up there, you will have to answer to Him, won't you? He will want to know why you did not come when you were called, why you were late." Well, as usual, Archie was wrong. Heart transplants are not necessarily against God's will. More importantly, God's timetable is never thrown off schedule. The Bible says we don't have the power to add or subtract even one second to our life span. Though God may use medical technology to allow us to live longer than our ancestors did, none of us will live longer than He intends, and none of us will escape death. Even if we live to be 150 years old, and some claim that will soon be common, death will still be patiently waiting for us. Unless Jesus returns within a few years, I know that I will die. Everyone of us in this room, including myself, including you, will die. Skeptics frequently say Christianity is a refuge for those seeking to escape reality. But, it is the secular world which is often afraid to face the reality of death. Friends, most of us have already lived much longer than the six years that little Tearainy spent on this planet. Yet, death is a reality for each of us. Though we don't know when, every one of us will one day die.
4) Remember, it is Jesus Christ who offers us hope in the face of death. It is interesting, though we sometimes may feel disappointed or even angry with God when tragedy strikes, He is the One we have to turn to for help. As we face the sometimes terrifying reality of death, He is the One who offers us hope through Jesus Christ. When someone dies, it is natural to wonder, "Now what has happened to that person? Is he or she in heaven?" For those of us who believe the Bible, that question is even a little more difficult when it comes to the death of a child, since Scripture does not speak with as much clarity about what happens to infants and children who die, as it does about adults. I think as we look at different passages of Scripture, including Mark 10 where Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me," it seems that salvation is given to small children, and for that reason I believe that the moment she died, little Tearainy went to be with the Lord in heaven. But, we need to be clear why it is that she is in heaven. It is not because God lets everyone in, it is not because children are innocent, it is not because of the faith of any other family members, nor does it have anything to do with baptism. Tearainy is in heaven because of Jesus Christ. It is the grace of God that is found in Jesus and based upon His death on the cross that is the source of salvation for any human being. As Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
As each of us has been reminded of our own mortality, of the fact that tragedy can strike at any time, of the fact that we don't know that we will even be alive next week at this time, it is important that we be prepared to face death. Though I believe that children are under the umbrella of God's grace, the Bible makes it clear that not all adults are. God's Word tells us that only those who trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will experience His salvation. Listen to how clearly this is stated in John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Friends, I am convinced that it is difficult to face life without Jesus Christ and impossible to face death without Him. We need Him as our Lord and Savior. If you are here today, or if you are watching on television, and you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today. Remember, I'm not talking about getting baptized or joining a church. I'm not talking about being spiritual, religious, or a good person. I'm talking about a willingness which can only come through God's Spirit, a willingness to stop trusting in yourself, stop thinking you are OK the way you are, and instead begin placing your faith, your confidence, in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. If you are not sure what I mean, please talk to me later.
Friends, there are few things more tragic than to go to a funeral and see people without hope, because they are without Christ. And there are few things more encouraging than to go to a funeral and see the difference Jesus Christ can make. I think of what John Wesley told of his mother's death. "We stood around the bed and fulfilled her last request, 'Children as soon as I am released, sing a psalm of praise to God.'" That is the confidence of a woman who faced death knowing Jesus was at her side. I pray that you will find that hope in Him as well.
Finally, as God's people who understand that He is sovereign, who realize that we live in a fallen world, who know that life is very fragile, who have found the hope that Jesus Christ offers even in the face of death, we need to remember to praise Him still, no matter what is happening around us. Twenty years ago as Don Birr, a man from my church in Eau Claire who was a professor at the University of Wisconsin there, lay dying of cancer, he had these words posted above his bed: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior." Habakkuk 3:17,18. In other words, Don was saying, no matter how bad things get, no matter how much it hurts, no matter if it is me or someone I love who is walking through the valley of the shadow of death, I will praise Him still. Or, as the song we sang at the beginning of the service said, When the morning falls on the farthest hill, I will sing His name, I will praise Him still. When dark trials come and my heart is filled with the weight of doubt, I will praise Him still. For the Lord our God, He is strong to save, from the arms of death, from the deepest grave, and He gave us life in His perfect will, and by His good grace, I will praise Him still.
In the midst of tragedy, may God give us the grace to praise Him still.
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Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan's full text Bible based sermon site
