“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
No! I won’t do it! You can’t make me! He didn’t have to so why do I? How come he got one and I didn’t? It isn’t fair! Have you heard that before? Do you know where I’m coming from?
Our kids or grandkids say these things a lot don’t they? Don’t you just get tired of hearing those things? He touched me! Don’t lay your head here; I had my arm there! He got that seat last time, I want it this time. It’s almost enough to make you mad; sometimes it does make you mad doesn’t it. And then the kids hear, if you don’t stop that I’m going to stop this car and come back there. Most of the time they stop, but then there’s the times when they don’t and you have to stop and go back there.
Most of the time in my family, my wife is the one that goes back there. Actually she is the one that says if you don’t stop, dad’s going to stop this car and I’m going to come back there. I can just sit in the drivers seat paying attention to the road; block them out of my mind while I’m quietly singing a song on the radio. She’s over there saying, don’t you hear any of what’s going on and I say what, what’s going on?
I would have to say that my wife is the disciplinarian in my family. I know that the man is typically the one to discipline the children, but not in my family. My mom used to say just wait until your dad gets home. I knew what that meant, that when he got home I was going to get it and I dreaded my dad coming home. I don’t want my kids to dread when I come home. My grandma used to do the same thing with my mom and say just wait until your dad gets home. My grandfather told me some years later that many times he would take my mom in the other room to spank her and just make the sounds of spanking her so grandma would be satisfied that mom got her punishment.
I’ve found that I’m a lot like my grandpa. I very much dislike spanking my kids. My mom used to say this hurts me much more that it hurts you, and I would say then don’t hit me and you won’t have to hurt yourself. It’s true, it does hurt me more to spank my kids than it hurts them. I can’t stand to see my kids hurt. We’ve tried all kinds of discipline for our kids other than spankings. Some work and then some don’t.
I remember my uncle some years ago coming up to my grandpa, giving him a big hug and saying thank you for all those spankings you gave me as kid. I didn’t like you very much back then for spanking me (I guess he actually spanked his boys and pretended with my mom), but it has made me a better man today because of what you did back then.
Kids don’t understand, do they, that when we discipline them for doing something wrong or not doing something, it’s because we love them. They think at the time that we are just mean to them. Have you heard? You only had me so I could do your work for you, or maybe you’ve heard I hate you? I heard a few of those things and it almost makes me want to sit down and cry. I love my kids more than anything on this earth as do most parents and we hate it when they don’t realize that what we do, we do to benefit them. To make their path easier than ours was.
God is the same way with us. We are God’s children and at times He has to discipline us doesn’t He. We often don’t see it. We often don’t see that what happens in our life as discipline from God do we?
We see things in this world happen all the time. Many see the things happening in the world and say that there is no God. They say that if we have a loving God how can He make these evil things happen. How can there be a God that cares for me and yet there are bad things happening to me all the time.
You see people don’t understand God. Much like we as parents are not understood by our children all the time. If you look back in your life and on the things you have done and the punishments you’ve received for those things, you come to understand, in time, that those punishments served a purpose to make you a better person. It’s the same way with God. God allows things to happen in our lives to strengthen us as Christians and to draw us to Him.
Prop: Every person can find God and be strengthened in faith through the bad in this world.
I. How to find God in the bad.
You might be asking how a person can find God when something bad happens to
them. Well, first lets start with an extreme case. The Rich Man and Lazarus is one of those cases. Do you remember the story? It reads like this (read Lk. 16:19-31)
Notice that it says that he lived in luxury everyday. The Rich Man had a life of luxury and all was good in his life. His family was the same way weren’t they? They were rich and nothing bad happened to them. But what happened when the Rich Man died? He was sent to hell into the “place of torment”. Abraham said, “Son, remember in your lifetime you received your good things.”
The Rich Man was dependant of the good things he had. He was confident in himself and the things he had and saw no reason for God in his life. He obviously knew of God, of His Word, for he addressed Abraham as “Father Abraham.” You see when the Rich Man had something bad happen to him he finally found God. Given it was until he was in hell that he realized he needed God, which is a little too late.
Now this is as I said, an extreme case, but you see when the ultimate bad happened to the Rich Man he found the ultimate good and he wanted his family to find the good too.
What about Lazarus, look what it says about him. While the Rich Man received all good in his life, Lazarus found bad, vs. 25 says, “… while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.” We see quite a difference here in the status of these two men don’t we. Their status on earth was such that Lazarus was poor, didn’t even have a place to live. At this time in his life it seems he wasn’t even able to stand. It says that he “laid at the gate” and the “dogs came and licked his sores.” He was in such a bad way that was, “longing to eat the scraps off the Rich Man’s table.”
You see he had bad thing after bad thing happen to him. What is obvious in this story? The obvious thing is that in Lazarus’s suffering he turned to God. And isn’t that true even with the Rich Man. Accept his suffering wasn’t until he was in hell.
I don’t know about you but I’m sure glad that bad things have happened to me in my life turning me to God.
ILLUS: A minister tells of one of his members who he used to visit. She was a very ordinary little woman, but he was never able to touch a single string of sympathy or response in her cold nature. She went away for months. On her return the minister called on her again and found her strangely altered. Her face was radiant with animation. She explained that she had passed through a terrible trial. Everything had gone, and nothing was left her but God. “Then,” she said, “I learned to pray and I prayed and prayed until I actually touched him!” “Oh,” she said, “touch the hem of His garment, and you too shall be whole.” (Knights Master Book of 4,000 Illustrations, p. 639.)
Bad things happen to people and they turn to God. Is this God’s design in the first place? No it’s not. God didn’t make this earth with the intent that bad things would happen to us. He wanted us to remain in the Garden of Eden, He wanted us to be able to come to Him personally, us talk to Him and Him to us. But He has always given us a choice. Even from Adam, man has had a choice, the choice to obey God or the choice not to.
He made this world and man with free will in mind. Satan brought bad in the world, but God uses it to bring us to Him.
Just like with us and our kids. We want so much for nothing bad to happen to them. We love them so much that at times we will allow them to get nicks and scraps so they will learn from them. We, as God, gives our children freedom in a world of bad so they will end up having the ultimate good.
Someone said to me one time (my uncle) that we can’t have a good God because there is so much bad in this world. He went on to say that that if there were a God then He wouldn’t have let his wife die. At that time I didn’t have a response for him at that time and I regret that. That was in a time in my life that I didn’t really have a full trust in God myself.
Now I see the bad in the world and I know there is good. The bad is so easy to see, it’s everywhere. But do you know that if bad is everywhere that good is everywhere too? It’s a simple fact that you can’t have bad without good. There wouldn’t be such a thing as bad without such a thing a good.
Yes there is bad in this world, but it is used by God to draw us to Him.
II. A Christian can be strengthened in faith through the bad in this world
We have been talking so far about God drawing people with bad things. Ones
that can’t see God for a couple of reasons. (1) Because everything in there life is good and they see no reason for God, exp. the Rich Man, and (2) Because of the bad in the world they don’t see how there can even be a God.
We can also be drawn to stronger faith when we stuggle. Do Christians struggle with life? I think we all can answer that question with a great big YES. People can see that Christians struggle with life. And just as man can be brought to know God through bad things and we can be strengthened in faith through the bad in this world. God disciplines us when to help prepare us for His work.
As parents we do the same for our children. When my son comes home from school almost every day he will say can I go play? Either its can I go to Jason’s or to Brianna’s or to Nathan and Evan’s house (his friends) and everyday he gets the same answer or I should say question. Do you have any homework? And he stomps and fusses and says, if you’ll let me play now, I’ll do my homework later or sometimes he’ll say he doesn’t have any homework. Then my wife goes and looks in his bag and he has to sit there and do his homework. All the time he’s mad at us for making him do his work. You see we want him to do his work as do all parents so their children can have a good future. We know that discipline now will work for the better in their life when they are struggling in the world.
God wants us to function in the real world, like we want our children to function in the real world. We been where are children are haven’t we. Oh they don’t think we know but we know. We’ve been 10 years old before and we’ve been 15 before and 18 and 21 and 25 and so on and so on we know what it’s like to be in there shoes. Oh but they will say times have changed, it’s different. Well, yes they have, but the major things generally stay the same. Boys still think that girls have cooties or whatever the new word is for it now and the girls still think the same about the boys when they are around the age of 6. Then a few years before they are a teenager they begin to like each other and will comb their hair for hours trying to get just the right look to impress each other. Then they get a little older and they are dealing with their changing bodies and then a little farther down the road they begin to think about their future and what will life be like. There are little differences here and there, but basically it’s the same as when we grew up.
We guide our children to their future because we have seen those times ourselves. God’s been there as well. He knows what the future holds for. He knows the struggles that we will have to go through in our Christian life and He allows Satan to tempt us and throw bad things at us so we will turn to Him all the more. He has foreknowledge of our future and knows what will come tomorrow.
ILLUS. The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small-uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed to be coming. He eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. It was just more than he could take. He was stunned with grief and anger. “God, how could you do this to me!” But the next day, he woke to the sound of a ship approaching the island to rescue him. “How did you know I was here?” he asked in wonder. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied. (Adapted from Mary Lewis, Sermon Central)
Did God start the fire of his hut? No I don’t think so. It’s just like all the other things Satan tries to harm us with. Satan is limited you see, he doesn’t know what will happened tomorrow, but God does and once again God used bad to help this man.
In my first shot at Christianity, you all know by know that there was a time when I was a backslidden Christian. I couldn’t see why God would allow the things in my life to happen. I didn’t know why if God loved me so much why I couldn’t feed my family at times. Why if God loved me so much he would give Maria so many health problems and us medical bills we couldn’t pay. Why if God loved me so much did He fail me when I gave my all to Him in coming to Bible College. I doubted God so much that I thought there was no reason I needed Him. I thought there was no reason to life at times. You see I didn’t what many do when they have bad times. I doubted God instead of trusting God. I thought God would do it all. I thought that if I committed my life to God, to do His work everyday of my life that He would make my life easy.
But you see what I didn’t know then, because I was a new Christian then is that the Christian life is a struggle each and everyday. It’s hard doing God’s work; it’s not easy as I thought at one point in my life. Spreading God’s Word to the world is very hard work and God knows it is. Look at what happened to everyone on of the Apostles except for John. They all died because of their faith, because men reject the Word of God and the ones that bring it.
Take a look with me at James the first chapter. James 1 starting with the 2nd verse. (Read James 1:2-4)
James who has been through many bad times says to be happy when you go through them. (I wonder if Bobby McFarren based his song “Don’t Worry Be Happy” from this Scripture, I doubt it) But that’s basically what James is saying, don’t worry be happy in your trails for God uses them to make you a better Christian, you see verse 4 says “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” But you can’t quit there; if you do you might end up where I did many years ago. If you quit there you haven’t got the whole picture because the very next verse says (my paraphrase) that if you lack the wisdom to make it through your bad times, ask God for the wisdom to make it through it and He will give it to you, if you don’t doubt Him.
That’s where I went wrong. I asked God for help and when He didn’t give it right away I thought He’s not there. I wanted God to work on my timing and not us on His.
When we spank our children we tell them why we are spanking them. We want them to understand and to learn from there punishment. They don’t always understand though, do they, and we comment that they will someday. God spanks us as Christians by allowing Satan to give us bad times. We don’t always understand why we go through the things we go through. God’s spankings hurt, but they’re meant for good. He has foreknowledge of our future and wants to make our paths for spreading His Word easier for us to walk. Through bad times God will strengthen our faith if we turn to Him.
CONCLUSION: You know God uses the ultimate bad for the ultimate good. Satan, I’m sure doesn’t like it, but against God he has no choice. God created us free beings; He gave us a choice from day one to obey Him or to not obey Him. I believe that Satan being in this world is something that God planned on. God knew he would be here and he made his plans accordingly. Before God even created He knew He would have to send His Son to save us.
You know what God had before He created? It was a lot of angels that loved Him, that serve Him day and night, that told Him over and over and over how great He is. You see the angel can do nothing but give Him praise. Getting praise and love is great, but when the ones giving it have no other choice but to do so, it lacks something. We were created to be free, to have a choice between Satan and God. You see if we choose God it gives Him more honor and praise than all the angels.
We must have the bad in this world so we have a choice. We all know the verse, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” We could turn that a little bit and say the Jesus loved God so much that He chose to go to the cross for Him. Jesus agreed with God before He ever created to go to the cross if needed. And He knew through foreknowledge that He would have to. You see through the cross, that horrible, horrible cross, Jesus shed His blood so that we all could make that choice for God. And when we do we give Him praise and honor and glory more than all the angels could ever do.
I hope this message has been an encouragement to you. But more so maybe it has made you think. For one. If my life is easy and all good, maybe I better consider that I’m not doing everything I need to do for God. Because if it is all good, then Satan can leave you alone, like the Rich Man. And two. If you are going through or when you go through some bad times I hope you will realize that God is allowing them because He wants to strengthen you to do His work. Stay faithful in all your life and then you can have the promise of James 1:12 (read it).
Let’s pray
Stand and Sing.
