Intro:
1) Explain the difficulty of this series and the struggle I had w/ this sermon.
2) Tell the story of Tonya Nowell
3) Debbie asked this difficult question, “Was it God’s will that this girl got cancer and died?
4) This leads to even more questions. Could God have stopped it?
A) In his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner questions whether God is all-powerful and able to stop evil from happening maybe God is like the father watching his children play on the front lawn he sees a car coming and wants to save his children from harm, but is powerless and can only watch helplessly as his child narrowly escapes being run over. Is God like that? he means well but is not always able to help? Is that the kind of God we worship? Doesn’t sound like the kind of God I serve. We believe God to be omnipotent, that nothing is to difficult for Thee.
5) So If God had the power to stop this tragedy from happening, then why didn’t He? And that’s the difficult question we are faced with.
I. It’s Okay to ask Genuine sincere Questions.
A) Some well-meaning people say, "You should never question God. He is sovereign. His plan is perfect. If you have faith, you won’t question him. You may not see it now, but you need to believe that God is using your suffering to produce something beautiful." Perhaps they remind you that God’s great plan is like embroidery. When someone embroiders a design into a piece of cloth, the back side of the cloth is all twisted and tangled with knots of thread, but if you look at the other side, the picture is lovely. In the same way, when we look at God’s plan from our perspective right now, it may look tangled and not very attractive, but when we see it someday from a new perspective, we’ll see how orderly and beautiful it really is.
B) Now, there’s a lot of truth in that. God does indeed have a plan, and he does have the power to make something beautiful even out of the greatest evil. But does that mean we always have to stifle our screams and sing a hymn when we’re suffering? Does it mean we must never ask why?
Maybe your problem isn’t with how the picture will look someday but with how you feel right now. No matter how wonderfully the picture will eventually turn out, you may feel that every time God adds another stitch to his embroidery, he is jabbing you with the needle, and it hurts. Other people may tell you to admire the embroidery and not to scream or ask questions, but they’re not the ones being jabbed. It’s one thing to be a spectator; it’s another to be a sufferer.
C) Christians believe in the sovereignty of God. Jesus taught that not even the smallest detail escapes God’s attention or falls outside his plan. He said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered"
D) But what if it’s not just a sparrow that falls? What if it’s a person you love dearly? And what are you supposed to say when the God who numbers the very hairs of your head allows every last hair to fall out during chemotherapy--and even then allows the cancer to continue its deadly work?
We wouldn’t expect things to be any different if God weren’t in charge, but he is. Believing that God is in control doesn’t take away the pain or make the questions disappear. In some ways it makes the questions even harder. Why does a loving and powerful God allow all this to happen? Christians believe in the sovereignty of God, all right. That’s exactly why they scream "Why?" when things just don’t seem to make any sense.
E) Explain the honesty of the Psalms. David pours his heart out to God.
II. And we have an honest sincere question, and it’s a difficult one, “Did God want this girl to get cancer, and was it His will that she suffer? Is God to blame?
A) To start, let’s look at the source of suffering. If like we said, that God is omnipotent and all things are possible through Him, Why didn’t He create a world without sin and suffering?
B) The answer is, He did! According to the creation account found in Genesis, when God created the world it was good. There was no cancer, there was no disease, there was no sin.
C) You see Evil and suffering’s source is not found in God’s power, no they are found in man’s freedom. So why then didn’t God create a world with no human freedom? Because that would have been a world without humans.
D) Free-Will is part of our essence, it’s who we are. Just as you can’t give three sides to a triangle, you can’t give free will to humans because that is one of the qualities that makes us a human.
E) There can be no human being without it. The alternate to free will is to be an animal or machine.
F) And if God did create a world with no free will, then it would be a world with no hate, but it would also be a world with no love. Love can only proceed from free-will.
G) But couldn’t God create a world with free will and no sin? The answer is yes and He did!
But when we go to Genesis 3, we find that mankind abused the freedom we have and as a result, we now live in a fallen tainted world.
III. So this is the source of suffering, but the next question we need to ask is this: If God is in control of this world, then isn’t His will always done?
A) The answer is yes and no. There is a difference between what we call the ultimate will of God and the circumstantial will of God.
1. The ultimate will will always be done. You can’t stop it. Man’s free will can’t intrude in this arena. Man may try to stop it but to no avail. In the end, God’s ultimate will will be done. For example, prophesies said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and that He would grow up. Now remember King Herod tried to foil those plans by having all the babies under 2 years of age slaughtered, but it didn’t work. God’s will will be done. Another example is the second coming. Jesus Christ will come back. He will set up His everlasting kingdom and there is nothing the Devil nor you and I can do to stop it.
2. But God’s circumstantial will is different. God’s circumstantial will is often frustrated here on earth by man’s free-will. God doesn’t force to do His will, He persuades us but God gives us the choice to either obey or disobey.
3. Many people believe in predestination, that God has already mapped everything out therefore, what will happen will happen. So praying "Your will be done" is a lot like singing Doris Day’s old song, "Que sera, sera.". Whatever will be will be. The future’s not ours to see. Que sera sera. Just accept what comes. It’s the will of God.
4. But using this logic than every time a school yard bully beats up a kid it’s the will of God. You see the problem with the train of thought. The truth is that God has allowed us some lee way in our free will to go against His will temporarily. But it’s not just man…
5.And when mankind first disobeyed in the Garden of Eden, we opened a door to another can of worms, namely Satan. Remember right after Jesus was baptized, He was led out into the desert to be tempted by Satan. And in Luke 4: 5 we read, “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.“ Jesus said that Satan is the Prince of this world, but He is prince of this world temporarily for he stands condemned already.
6. Hebrews 2:8 “In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus.”
B) So is cancer part of God’s will or part of God‘s plan. Does God inflict us with disease? I think the answer is no.
1. Consider this. If suffering and disease was from God, why did Jesus spend almost every day of his 3 yr. ministry on earth healing the sick?? If Jesus is who he says He is why would Jesus undo what God did??
2. Matthew 12:25-28 “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
3. Was Jesus fighting God’s will by healing the sick. The same dilemma is found in doctors. If sickness is God’s will, then are doctors who are trying to save a young girl’s life, are they fighting against God’s will? I don’t think so.
4. Jesus was working at undoing the damage mankind had done. Luke 13:11 talks about a woman who is being held in bondage by a spirit of infirmity. God wasn’t doing it, Satan was.
5. I think the most telling sign of this comes from a text found in Mark 7:32-34, “There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!").”
6. Did you get that? Why did Jesus sigh? It’s because it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
IV. So, Was it God’s Will that this young girl got cancer…No. But then the question once again comes, why didn’t God intervene, why didn’t He stop it.
1. Occasionally God does intervene. There are times when mankind used the gifts and talents that God has enabled us to have and doctors work to find a cure and make a sick person better.
2. Other times, God works supernaturally to heal a person.
2a. Example of Sonny Shaw
3. God does perform miracles to heal people, but not always. Why? The best answer I can give you on that is “I don’t know.”
4. Warren Weirs be “ We live in a generation where the mysteries of life are no longer tolerated, they have to be explained. We Christians can fall into the same trap and forget that there is much about God, in fact most things about God and His ways, that are still and always shall be a divine mystery. Even all the aeons of eternity in our perfection and in our divine glorification, our understanding will never grasp some of these deep, divine truths. As Moses said at the very beginning in Deuteronomy 29 verse 29: ’The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law’. God has revealed certain things to us, but the majority of His counsels, I believe; the majority of who He is, and what He is like, and why He does things have been held from us - and they have been held for a good reason! The book of Job may not answer the question why we suffer, but one thing it does do is it teaches us how we ought to suffer, and how we ought to suffer knowing that there is a God in heaven who only has our good in His mind.
5. When Job was suffering so intensely, He knew what was happening, but He didn’t know why it was happening. We are given a glimpse of it, but Job was not given that option. In the end, when God confronted Job, the response basically was, “Job, I know what I’m doing. Trust Me.”
6. But even if we had all the explanations, it still wouldn’t help. When your heart is being wrung out like a sponge, an orderly list of "sixteen good biblical reasons as to why this is happening" can sting like salt in a wound. You don’t stop the bleeding that way. A checklist may be ok when you’re looking at suffering in a rearview mirror, but not when you’re looking at suffering in the present tense. When people are sorely suffering, people are like hurting children looking up into the faces of their parents, crying and asking, "Daddy why?" Those children don’t want explanations, answers or reasons why, they want their daddy to pick them up, pat them on the backs, and reassure them that everything is going to be okay. God, like a father, doesn’t just give advice. He gives Himself.
-Jesus entered this world of suffering and pain, and He suffered like all of us, so He understands and comforts us. And He stands by our side, holding our hand, seeing us through the tough times.
7. I read a testimony this week of a preacher in Indiana whose wife is suffering from Alhiemerz. This is what he wrote. “I have peace in knowing that God loves my wife even more than I do, and that He is not blind or deaf to our pain. I thank God not for the circumstance-He doesn’t expect me to say, "Thank You that Marian has this disease that is scrambling her brain." There would be no love in that statement. But I give thanks in this situation, for God is in it with us.
V. But Not only does God hold our hand and give us sufficient grace, but He takes our bad situation and turns it into a positive thing.
1. Peter Mayer who is a terminally ill cancer patient used the following analogy. It’s a comparison of two chess masters locked in a bitter duel. We know that God is in control and will ultimately win the match, but the devil has tremendous latitude and abilities and will destroy many of the game pieces along the way as he struggles to win. God does not stop the carnage and suffering, but uses the devil’s moves to further His plan and win the ultimate match. As one of the pawns I can’t see the human benefit through the pain, but faith enables me to trust God. The cornerstone of this faith is that I can dimly see, and know in my heart, that God is building and strengthening my family and their salvation. The earthly dreams are wasting away and what is left is truly precious.
2. This is true. Consider the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history of the world which ended up resulting in the very best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world - the death of God himself on the cross....
3. At that time, no one saw how anything good could ever result from this tragedy and God foresaw the result would be the opening of heaven to human beings. So, the worst tragedy in history has bought about t he most glorious event in history. and if the ultimate evil could result in the ultimate good - - it can happen elsewhere, even in our own individual lives. Here, God lifts the curtain and lets us see it -- elsewhere, he simply says, "trust me"
Conclusion:
1. The tragedy of cancer hitting such a great person like Tonya Nowell is awful, but even something like this can be used for the glory of God.
A) Kids came to know Christ
B) Many were encouraged by her strength, courage and amazing faith.
C) And most importantly, Tonya now sees God face to face.
2. Now I want you to consider your situation in life right now. Things may look dim, but if you will allow Him, God can work something wonderful through it.
