Last Sunday we talked about an 18 year old boy, whom we called Greg, who is in the midst of rebelling from the upbringing of his strong, Christian family. Greg is in the process of casting aside the burdensome commands of God to live his own way. Someone who is walking strong with the Lord now, described his college years to me. He described himself during those years as  “a rebel with convictions”.  He knew in his heart he was in rebellion from God, but his inner convictions, no doubt from the Holy Spirit, kept him from doing many acts of rebellion.

As I thought about it, it occurred to me that this would be an apt description of every Christian. We are all rebels with convictions. Is anyone here this morning living in perfect submission to the Lord? If not, then to some degree, you are a rebel. Some are rebelling more than others and some have more conviction than others, but we are all rebels with convictions. It’s difficult to live the Christian life and even harder, it seems, to raise Godly children. Since raising children who love the Lord is such a daunting task, I thought you might want to know that there is an easier way. It’s much easier to raise a rebellious child than it is a Godly one, so this morning I will make your life easier by giving you several principles about how to raise a rebellious child.

1. Teach them to study the Bible and learn about God, but not obey what they have learned. Use Psalm 119:11 as a guide: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Make sure your children believe that memorizing Scripture is the same thing as obeying it. Learning about God is relatively painless and easy. Anyone can do that, but it’s so much harder to obey the Lord. I’m a coach for the Junior Bible Quiz team this year. In addition to all of their memory work, I am requiring my team members to explain one verse each week. Before we start the quiz practice, each team members will need to explain one of the verses they memorized the past week. The second half of the year I plan to have them put one of the verses into practice each week so I know that they understand what they are memorizing and to help them practice obedience. So the pattern will be memorize—understand—obey. I know I am violating this first principle and I apologize to the parents for that. J

2. Make sure that they regularly see your idolatry. While you are in church, you can agree with the sentiment in Psalm 119:89, your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Make them believe that your heart is set on the eternal word of God, but when you get home, make sure your kids know that the really important things to you are the stuff in your house—all of your possessions and things. We’ve been fortunate lately, because a flood or a bad storm is the perfect opportunity to teach this principle. A great many of you got water in your basement two weeks ago, so when your things were destroyed and you threw them in the dumpster, at first, many of you may have said things like this: “Well, after all, it’s only things, right? At least no one was hurt.” This will confuse your kids for a short while, but eventually that thought will wear off and you will start accumulating loads and loads of more things to replace all of the things you lost. Before long your kids will be reassured that your true love is not the word of God or the Word who is God, but rather your true love is all your stuff.

While we are on this topic, let me warn you about another verse that could slow the progress of training your rebellious child. You need to watch out for Psalm 119: 27. I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold. If you repeat this verse too often, your kids might start to think you actually believe it. But then what usually happens at this point is that your natural greed and love for money will soon set them straight. I have particularly found this to be a troublesome kind of verse in my training, but often my own personal greed has balanced out the problem quite nicely.

3. Teach them that suffering is always evil and caused by the devil. I do not recommend that you teach them Psalm 119:71, which says, it was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. What!? Can you imagine the Psalmist saying such a thing—that affliction is a good thing?  Do your best to keep them from learning about people like John Farese, whose life is highlighted in this short video.[1]

Might I suggest that emulating people like Mr. Farese will harm your chances of raising a rebellious child? He can’t walk. He probably hasn’t walked since he was a young boy. He will never be married or have a family. His sister died from the same disease. He can’t use his arms. He can’t eat. He can’t even move his head. Despite his severe, degenerating disability which will claim his life one day, he refuses to wallow in self-pity and bitterness. He is also doing all he can to be productive and serve the Lord. Mr. Farese has designed a couple dozen website for churches. Using a mouthstick and a voice activated computer, he first taught himself html language, and now he not only designs these websites, but he also maintains them as webmaster.

In addition to his web design business, he is also active in serving at his local church. His number one ministry is counseling people. Can you imagine going to see John for counseling? “Uh John, you see, I am having a little trouble with my boss at work. He’s been assigning me a little too much work lately which I wouldn’t mind so much, but the worst part of it is that my golf game is starting to suffer a little? Isn’t that just awful, John?” You wouldn’t have that kind of conversation with John Farese, would you? Just the prospect of walking into his room and starting to share your own problems would probably make most of them go away on their own! Counseling is more listening than talking and I can imagine that John has a listening heart, but if I were seeking counsel from John, I would want him to do the talking. I can see myself saying to him, “John, tell me how you remain so joyful and faithful to God?’ Then the next time I went to him I would say, “John, please tell me your story again.”

Men and women like John Farese need to be heard from again and again, for they wonderfully embody Psalm 119:71, it was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. How many of us could gladly quote this verse in the middle of a trial? Lord, this affliction was a good thing because I am learning about you through it. Certainly John is living out this verse, but he is also living verse 75, which reads, I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. It’s one thing to say that affliction can be a good thing. Even non-Christians believe things like that. They may not want to learn things about God, but they look for good to come out of the bad. But you take it to a whole new level when you quote verse 75—in faithfulness you afflicted me. What you are saying is that God has afflicted me and that he has done it out of divine faithfulness. And if you caught what John said, this is precisely what he believes. He said, “My disability was no an accident. It was not bad luck, but it was part of the perfect, particular design that God had for me as an individual. I found that throughout all of Scripture, God taught that he is in sovereign control over all things and he is intimately connected with each of his creatures.” Don’t you see, this is not merely an abstract theological principle for John—he is living this out on a daily, moment by moment basis. When he needs his brother to put nourishment down his feeding tube into his stomach, he prays silently to the Lord, in faithfulness you afflicted me. When his sister-in-law needs to help him onto his bed pan or change his diaper, he says to the Lord, in faithfulness you afflicted me. When his lungs get filled with fluid and his nephew has to suction them out so he can breathe, he thanks the Lord saying, in faithfulness you afflicted me.

When we belt out the stalwart hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, what do you think about? Maybe you give thanks for your salvation. Maybe you are glad for God’s faithfulness in giving you a nice home and several smiling children. Maybe you rejoice in God’s faithful provision in your life. You aren’t wealthy, but you have all you need. These are the kinds of things that we think about when we sing this hymn. But when John sings, “great is thy faithfulness,” he is thinking, “thank you for saving me and thank you for afflicting me.”

But does God purposefully bring affliction upon us? What about all the people in Gays Mills? Did God afflict them out of his wrath because they are sinning more than the people in Viroqua? We just passed the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and shortly after it happened, I preached a sermon called, Lessons from Hurricane Katrina. In that message I argued that we cannot and must not make pronouncements of judgment upon tragedies like New Orleans or Gays Mills. Clearly God does bring judgment in the form of so-called natural tragedies, but we cannot peer into the mind of God to know the reasons why. We cannot say, as some Christians did, that God punished the people in New Orleans because of the sinfulness of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a powerful celebration of the utter depravity of mankind, but I do not have the divine knowledge or authority to make a certain pronouncement of judgment upon them, any more than I could say that Gays Mills was flooded due to unfair wages in the apple picking business!

But if we are not careful, we can too easily explain God out of the whole picture. When bad things happen, especially to us, we want to get God off of the hook so that people won’t blame him. “God didn’t cause this. These things just happen.” These things do just happen in this fallen world in which we live, and I cannot know God’s plan or reason for small or large amounts of suffering, but please don’t be too eager to get God off the hook that you take him out of the picture altogether. Psalm 29:10 reads, The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. Do you believe that the Lord sits enthroned over the flood? If you do, then that means he is intimately involved in the whole thing.

When it comes to the topic of pain and suffering, most Christians are very inconsistent in their thinking. On the one hand they confidently declare that God did not cause the problem, but on the other hand they give him thanks for saving people and preventing an even greater tragedy. Can you see how terribly inconsistent this is? You are saying that God did not cause the problem, but you are claiming that God saved some people. But if God has the power to save some people, why didn’t he save all people? Why did one car escape the flood and the next car was swept away and the driver was buried in mud and rock? Why was one man’s corn blown flat to the ground while his neighbor’s remains upright and healthy? Did God save one but not the other? We are saying that the wind and floods and hurricanes are well beyond the control of God’s power. These things “just happen” and God cannot do anything to stop them. But he does have a limited power and can save a few people. He can’t stop the flood but he can pick a few people out of harms’ way. If you think abut it, this kind of God is no better than the National Guard or the Salvation Army. They can’t stop the flood either, but they do have the power to save a few lives and relieve some suffering. Is God no better than the National Guard or Salvation Army? Does the Lord sit enthroned over the flood or not? Is he the King over all creation, or does he just sit idly by, twiddling his divine thumbs while this creation rages and storms well beyond his control?

John Farese says the Sovereign Lord is a daily source of comfort to him. What if John had an inconsistent God like most Christians? He would be forced to believe that God does not have any control over his suffering. If the cause of John’s suffering is beyond God’s control then it follows that any relief or comfort is also beyond God’s control. So then why pray? Why hope for salvation from such an impotent God? Why should John believe that one day he will be leaping and running in the next life and glorifying God for all eternity if God cannot guarantee any of it?

You can draw a line of continuum in regard to God’s power and activity in the world. On one end of the spectrum you have a vocal minority of Christians who believe in the “openness of God.” They don’t want God to be blamed for suffering, but in their quest for consistency, they also don’t believe that he knows the future. For this kind of God, the future is “open” and unknowable. He not only cannot control a flood, but he doesn’t even know when the flood is coming. About all he can do is to encourage people to help one another. I can get the same kind of message by watching the Weather Channel! I trust that this kind of God is as detestable to you as it is to me.

Next in the spectrum is the limited God. This is the one I have been describing to you, the type of God who has limited power to control a flood but has power to rescue a few people from the flood. This is the God of the average believer. You may object to my label to my calling it a “limited God,” but you’ll see why in a moment.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the sovereign God. This is the God who declares, “I sit enthroned over the flood.” This is the God who controls the flood and allows it to happen as part of damaging effects of sin upon all creation. This is the God who sovereignly brought affliction to John Farese and the God who will one day rescue him from his broken body. This is the God who does all things according to his perfect faithfulness, whether or not we understand the reasons. This is the God who uses a fallen creation and sinful creatures to accomplish his will and good purpose. This is the God who can do no wrong. Only this kind of God can intentionally walk the road of suffering in order to die on the cross as atonement for our sins and rise from the dead in all power and all authority. At times you may think you want a limited God so he doesn’t have to take the blame for suffering and evil, but what you really need is a sovereign God. And the sovereign Lord who sits enthroned over the flood is the same sovereign Lord who comforts John in the middle of the night when he is having trouble breathing and can’t call for help. If you want to raise rebellious children, make sure you teach them about the limited God or impotent God who tells nice Bible stories and encourages you when you are sad. But this kind of God really can’t help them and especially can’t save them from their sins.

When children begin to learn about God they instinctively know that he is a sovereign God. They describe God as being al the way through the clouds and up to the stars and past the stars; that his hand can hold an entire building or even a whole ocean. Their little minds use the best language their limited vocabularies will allow to describe this enormous sovereign God. But for the rest of their lives we explain away God’s power and try to apologize for God when bad things happen. When we do this, we take away their only hope and set the course for rebellion. When your child complains about doing the dishes, remind them about John Farese and his sovereign God. When your teenager complains about your rules and all of his homework, remind them about John Farese and his awesome God.

Rich Maurer

September 2, 2007