6 March 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Isaiah 30:15-22
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” 18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
-- I know it’s a little odd to have church in a doggie daycare, but there are advantages -- we’re not having to pay to rent a facility -- we have a nice open space to worship in -- and we are joined in our worship by our furry and fuzzy friends
-- one of the things I have enjoyed since we have been worshiping together in here is the way the animals join in our worship of God -- you’ve probably all noticed how the birds, especially the parakeets, just join in when we’re singing praise songs in our worship services
-- I’ve been up here a lot of times before and there’s music playing and the television is on and the birds aren’t singing like that -- but when we join together and start praising God, they just seem to join in
-- I’m constantly reminded of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees on Palm Sunday -- when they complained to Him about the people shouting “Hosanna” as He rode into Jerusalem on that Sunday, He said that if the people were quiet, the rocks and the trees would cry out -- the message that Jesus was telling us is that all creation joins us in our worship of God, although we may not always hear it
-- I was thinking of that as I started working on this sermon and it reminded me of the story of a parakeet named Chippie that Max Lucado talked about in one of his books -- Lucado said that Chippie’s owner loved him very much because he was such a happy little bird -- he would sit at the window and watch the other birds outside and as the sun came up, he would just sing and sing and sing
-- but then Chippie had a bad day -- his owner was cleaning the bottom of the Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner when the telephone rang -- she reached for the telephone without removing the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner from the cage, which was a mistake -- as she reached for the phone, the nozzle came up off the bottom of the cage and pointed right at Chippie and sucked him into the vacuum cleaner
-- when she heard the noise, she looked in the cage and saw Chippie was missing and immediately, she dropped the phone and turned off the vacuum cleaner and ripped open the dust bag to rescue her bird -- Chippie was a real mess, but he was alive -- she ran to the kitchen sink and turned the water on full force on the bird -- almost drowning him in the process
-- then, she ran to the bathroom and started trying to dry Chippie with her hair dryer -- wide open and on high heat -- almost cooking him in the process
-- finally, she got the bird dry and put him back in his cage and closed the door
-- several days later, a friend called and asked how Chippie was doing -- “He’s alive,” she said, “but he just sits in his cage and stares out into space -- and,” she added thoughtfully, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore”
-- how many of you can relate to what happened to Chippie? -- you’re just going through life, minding your own business, singing your song -- and then all of a sudden -- without warning -- life starts to suck and you get hit with a bad day
-- sometimes it’s not big things -- sometimes it’s just minor issues -- the stuff of life -- losing your keys -- losing your phone -- just minor irritations
-- but, sometimes, it is the big things -- a few weeks ago, we looked at the introduction to the Book of Job when we were talking about hearing God through our circumstances -- Job got hit with a lot of bad things all at once -- and sometimes that happens to us, as well
-- bad things -- really bad things -- come our way -- trials and tribulations -- afflictions and adversities -- things like sickness or death -- crime or violence -- wayward children -- cars break down -- our finances tank -- everything we touch -- everything we do -- just goes wrong
-- and we don’t know why -- what do you do when bad things happen? -- how do you respond?
II. Scripture Lesson -- Isaiah 30:15-22
-- well, that’s the question that the Israelites were facing in this passage from Isaiah -- just to give you the background -- at this time, the nation of Israel had split up and divided into two kingdoms -- Israel and Judah
-- Israel was the kingdom in the north of the Promised Land -- it had just been attacked by the Assyrians and all of the people were carried off into exile -- the northern kingdom had been destroyed
-- Isaiah lived in the south -- in Judah -- the kingdom where Jerusalem and the Temple of God was located -- the people of Judah had stayed out of the fight while the northern kingdom was being attacked by the Assyrians -- they thought if they minded their own business, Assyria would leave them alone and trouble would pass them by and they could just go on enjoying their life
-- but, now, as the Book of Isaiah tells us, the Assyrians have turned on them -- and are attacking towns and villages throughout Judah -- one moment, life is going on just like normal -- and, in the next, bad things are happening
-- the people don’t know why this is happening -- they don’t understand why they are being attacked -- why they are suffering the way they are -- so God speaks to them here through the prophet Isaiah -- let’s see what we can learn about how to respond to life when bad things happen through what God tells Isaiah here
-- look back with me at verse 15 again
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” 18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
-- when the Assyrians started threatening the people of Judah, the leaders of the Jewish people tried to make a deal with Egypt to come to their rescue and to fight on their behalf -- even though they were the people of God, when trouble came their way, they looked to Egypt for strength and salvation
-- so, God rebukes here for what they have done -- He reminds them that salvation and strength come from Him and not from man -- He tells them that if they had repented for their sins, He would have given them rest -- If they had come to Him with humble and trusting hearts, they would know the peace and quiet of His strength
-- He would have fought the battle for them, but they would have none of it -- instead, they went to Egypt -- and when that didn’t work their plan was to run and leave their troubles behind
-- so, what do you do when bad things happen? -- where do you go for salvation and strength?
-- in order to really answer that question, we first have to know why the bad things are happening -- the Bible teaches that the things that we call “bad,” -- trials and tribulations and troubles in our lives -- come to us for a couple of different reasons
-- first, as we see here in this passage, God will allow trouble to come into our midst as a consequence of our sins -- as a means to correct us and to bring us home when we have strayed from His path
-- the Israelites had quit trusting in God with all their hearts and souls and mind and strength -- instead, they were just going through the motions of religion and were trusting more in the strength of man and in their idols for their salvation
-- instead of asking God to help when bad things happened, they asked Egypt -- instead of turning to God, they prayed to their idols
-- so, God allowed this calamity to come into their lives to get their attention and to lead them back to Him
-- the other night I came up here with Kim for the graduation of her dog obedience class and she had me work with our schnauzer, Cookie, along with the class -- I rarely walk Cookie on leash or do obedience with her, and I realized that night just how strong-willed that little dog was -- she did some things good -- but, on other things, she just dug her heels in and refused to do what I told her to do -- and so I had to force her to obey
-- you see, I knew what she needed to do -- I knew that if she obeyed and did what I said, she would get a treat -- but she had other ideas -- so when I told her to go down, and she didn’t, I pulled her down with the leash -- the opposite direction from where she thought she wanted to be -- and she fought against me, but eventually gave in and got the treat
-- that’s one way God uses adversity in our lives -- that’s what we see here in this passage --when we run away from God and go in a direction He doesn’t want us to go, He will allow adversity and affliction into our lives to force us to come back the right way
-- the Israelites had turned away from God in their faith and in their trust, so God used the Assyrians to lead them to repentance and true salvation
-- the second way God uses affliction and adversity in our life is to mold our character -- Hezekiah, the King of Judah, was a Godly man -- he was opposed to turning to Egypt for help, but he allowed himself to be swayed by the arguments of his advisors -- he gave in to peer pressure
-- so, God used the Assyrian attack to help Hezekiah grow in his faith -- to help him become more mature so that he would stick to the right path and not give in when others tried to tell him otherwise
-- In James 1:1-3, we read that God allows trials and tribulations to come our way to help us develop character and to allow us to become mature in our faith
-- it’s kind of like the refining of silver -- in order to refine silver, the silversmith has to put the silver in the hottest part of the fire in order to burn away the impurities -- as the silver is subjected to heat, the impurities come off and the silver is made more and more pure until it is fully refined -- that is the way God uses adversity and affliction in the life of a believer -- not to punish us or discipline us for disobedience -- but to burn off any impurities in our life and to make us holy and mature in His eyes
-- so, when bad things start to happen, the first thing we should do is to find out why bad things are happening -- we need to examine ourselves and to ask God if we are sinning against Him -- if we are in disobedience to His will and if He is trying to get us to repent -- or if this trial and affliction we are going through is just part of God’s refining process to mold us into the people He has called us to be
-- if He shows you that you are in sin -- that you are living in disobedience to His will -- then you must repent of your sins -- this means more than just asking forgiveness -- this means more than just confessing your sins -- it means that you actually turn away from whatever it is you are doing -- you stop what you’re doing and you turn 180 degrees and you start following God instead
-- and then you ask God to give you the strength to walk with Him rather than in the path you have been walking
-- one important thing to see here is that God tells the Israelites that He is on their side -- He doesn’t want them to suffer -- in verse 18 He says that He longs to be gracious to them -- He rises to show them compassion -- He wants the best for their life -- but they have to choose it -- they have to choose to turn away from what they have been doing -- they have to repent and accept what He has for them instead
-- just like my dog Cookie had to turn away from fighting me about going down so that she could receive the treat I had for her
-- and, what happens when we repent? -- verse 19
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
-- as soon as God hears us call for forgiveness -- as soon as He sees us repent -- God moves -- He springs into action and takes away all our tears-- He allowed adversity and affliction into our lives -- not because He was trying to harm us -- but because He was trying to teach us--either to show us the error of our ways or to refine us as silver so we would be holy as He is holy
-- God says here that when we are walking with Him, He walks with us -- He shows us the path we should follow-- and He speaks in our ears and in our minds and tells us, “This is the way -- walk in it rather than the path you want to follow”
-- in verse 22 we see the picture of a people who are finally getting it -- who understand why bad things have happened to them -- who recognize and confess their sin and turn completely away from it by getting rid of everything in their lives that had defiled them -- everything that had kept them from following God and turning to Him in the first place -- so that God would rescue them and show them His salvation and empower them through His strength
III. Closing
-- in 1929, Georgia Tech was playing the University of California in the Rose Bowl -- they were losing the game and were making a final drive to the goal for the winning touchdown when Roy Riegels, a California defender, recovered a Georgia Tech fumble, then turned and ran sixty-five yards in the wrong direction -- one of Riegels’ own teammates had to tackle to stop him from crossing the wrong goal line -- on the next play, Georgia Tech scored and went on to win
-- from then on, Riegels was known throughout the country as “Wrong Way Riegels” and endured a lifetime of ridicule
-- sometimes, we are also “wrong way people” -- sometimes bad things happen to us because we are going the wrong way in our life and God wants to stop us before we cross the wrong goal line
-- so, He allows bad things to come into our life -- not because He hates us -- not because He wants to do us harm --but because He loves us and wants the best for our lives
-- God uses these bad things to lead us back to Him when we are in sin and disobedience -- and He uses them to refine us and to make us holy as He is holy
-- bad things happen -- but our response should always be to look to God in the midst of the storm -- knowing that His sunshine is on the other side of the clouds and that He wants to bring us out of the darkness of trouble and into the light of His love better than we were to start with
-- I don’t know what trials you may be suffering through right now -- I don’t know what afflictions or adversities you may be experiencing or why -- but if you need prayer, I would be happy to pray with you and to help carry your burden to Christ
-- as we close, I want to invite you to lift up your needs to God -- and if you want me to pray with you, either come up here as the last song is playing or let me know after the service, and I will pray with you
-- Let us pray
Showing posts with label sermon; Theodicy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sermon; Theodicy. Show all posts
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, February 13, 2010
SERMON: THE PUNISHMENT OF GOD?
17 January 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 13
1. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
2. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
3. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
4. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
5. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
-- as I'm sure most of you are aware, on Tuesday of this week at 4:53 pm, a powerful earthquake hit the island country of Haiti, causing extensive damage to the capital city of Port-au-Prince -- this earthquake, though not as large as the one that caused the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, has proven to be more devastating because the nation simply was not prepared for it
-- by all estimates, Haiti is one of the world's poorest countries -- it's people lived in squalor and got by on about $1 per day -- their homes, if they had homes, were not constructed to withstand the effects of a tremor of this magnitude -- in fact, very little in this island country was built strong enough to withstand such a devastating quake
-- we have had a problem getting accurate information from Haiti this week because the quake destroyed most of our means of communication, but as international relief efforts began and our military hit the ground, we began to see images here of the aftermath of the quake
-- Port-au-Prince has basically been destroyed -- the Presidential Palace -- the sea ports that were the main point of commerce for the nation -- the motels and the businesses in the capital city -- all destroyed -- and, on top of the physical destruction, we hear estimates that the number of dead from the quake may range from 50,000 to almost 500,000 -- at this point, no one knows
II. The Question
-- in the aftermath of a natural disaster like this, questions always arise -- people always want to know "Why? -- Why do such things happen? -- How can there be such evil in the world? -- Where is God in the midst of this pain and suffering? -- Why has God allowed this to happen?"
-- these questions have haunted mankind from the beginning of time -- we asked them after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 -- we asked them after the tsunami in 2004 -- we asked them after the events of September 11th, 2001 -- and we continue to ask them when natural disasters such as this earthquake in Haiti occur or when personal tragedies affect our own lives
-- as the Bible shows, these questions are not unique -- ever since the dawn of time, men and women have looked to the heavens and asked these very same questions as they sought solace for the pain and suffering in their lives
-- the technical term for questions such as these is "theodicy" -- it comes from two Greek words that mean "God" and "justice" -- but it comes down to this -- how do we reconcile the presence of evil in this world and in our lives if God is good and right and just and loving?
-- or, to put it another way, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" -- How can an all-knowing -- all-powerful -- all-loving God stand idly by and allow the devastation that an earthquake brings?"
-- people are always quick to come up with answers for questions like this -- some point to disasters such as these and proclaim this is proof there is no God or, if there is a God, He is powerless to prevent such things from occurring -- others offer different insights, such as Pat Robertson
-- for those who haven't heard, the televangelist Pat Robertson, the founder of Christian Broadcasting Network and the American Center for Law and Justice and one-time presidential candidate, proclaimed that this earthquake was the result of the Haitian people's pact with the devil made by the country's founders in exchange for freedom from French control
-- without going into great detail on Haitian history, Robertson was referring to a voodoo ritual led by Dutty Boukman in the early days of the Haitian revolution when he gathered the rebelling slaves together in a pact “to throw away the image of the god of the whites who thirsts for our tears and listen to the voice of liberty that speaks in the hearts of all of us.” -- this pact was sealed by drinking the blood of a pig that Boukman killed on an altar in the Caiman Woods and is typically regarded as the moment when Haiti rejected the God of the Bible for the gods of voodoo
-- so, based on this, Pat Robertson has asserted that the earthquake of this week is God's judgment on the nation of Haiti for their sins and their continuing rejection of Him
-- is Pat Robertson right? -- is God, in 2010, punishing one million people because Boukman sacrificed a pig and made a voodoo pact with the devil in 1791?
-- if not, then how would answer those who are seeking answers? -- how would you explain the presence of evil and sin and the devastation of natural disasters in light of the God that we know through Jesus?
-- while we may never be able to fully answer these questions or to explain why bad things such as this earthquake in Haiti occur, the Bible does give us insights into how these situations arise and how God uses them in our lives
III. God Did It
-- we find the first of these insights in Luke 13 -- if you would, look back at verse 1
1. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
-- as Jesus was teaching the people, someone in the crowd told him the story about a tragedy that had recently occurred in the temple -- a group of Galilean Jews had gathered together to worship in the temple and Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor over Jerusalem, had gone into the holy temple of God and had shed their blood in that very place -- mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifice they were offering
-- I think this story was told to Jesus because the person who shared it thought it proved exactly what Jesus had been trying to teach earlier in the Book of Luke -- in other words, the person was trying to say, "Jesus, you're right -- the ungodly will suffer and will be punished by God when He comes -- just look at what happened to these Galileans -- they were sinners and they paid for their sins with their death"
-- this is the same argument that Pat Robertson was making this week about the people of Haiti -- in essence, Robertson was saying that the people of Haiti were sinners -- they had rejected the God of the Bible and had made a pact with the devil -- and because of their sins, God was punishing them -- because of their sins, God allowed this earthquake to fall on them and destroy their capital city
-- we heard the same argument made both during Katrina and the Indonesian tsunami -- I heard preachers say in the aftermath of Katrina that the hurricane hit New Orleans because God was punishing the city for its sin -- along those same lines, I heard others say that the tsunami hit Indonesia because the country has been allowing the persecution of Christians by Muslim extremists
-- people who make this assertion point to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Book of Genesis -- this is proof, they say, that God punishes cities and nations for their sin -- that He brings about the total destruction and annihilation of people because of their ungodly behavior
-- but, is that true? -- can we look at all of these disasters -- whether natural or man-caused -- and say that they are God's righteous judgment on sinners?
-- look at verse 2
2. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
3. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
-- when Pat Robertson made his statement earlier this week about the earthquake in Haiti being the punishment of God, he was basically saying that they were singled out for punishment because they were worse sinners than him
-- just like the people who told Jesus this story about the Galileans, Robertson missed Jesus' point in His earlier teachings -- yes, the ungodly -- the unrighteous -- the sinners will be punished -- but we are all ungodly and unrighteous by nature -- and we will stay that way until we turn from our sins and repent of all that we have done wrong -- Jesus clarified His teaching by saying that "these Galileans weren't worse sinners than any others -- everyone is a sinner and deserves to die"
-- as it says in Romans 3:23, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" -- it is only through the grace of God that any of us are rescued from the bondage of sin and the penalty of death
-- in other words, the message of the Bible is that we are all sinners and we all have to face the penalty for our sins -- I am no better than you -- you are no better than me -- and certainly Pat Robertson is no better than the people of Haiti because a sin is a sin is a sin -- in God's kingdom, the sin of a white lie is just as deserving of death as the sin of rejecting Jesus
-- however, the overall message of the Bible is God is going to do everything He can to bring us to the point of salvation -- He doesn't want us to die in our sins -- He doesn't want us to end up in Hell -- in fact, He cares so much for us that He sent Jesus to die in our place so that we might not suffer eternal death and separation from Him
-- in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 we read that it is God's will that everyone would be saved and would come to know the truth through His Son Jesus Christ and in John 3:16 we read that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save the world
-- in other words, God is not the vengeful, spiteful, vindictive God that Robertson and others portray Him to be -- but He is a God who cares so much that He is willing to die in our place so that we might be saved
-- this is the point that Jesus was trying to make to the people who were around Him -- and just to make sure they understood, Jesus gave them another illustration
-- verse 4
4. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
5. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
-- according to the historians, these Jews who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them were probably working for the Romans -- Siloam was a suburb of Jerusalem, and the Romans were digging aqueducts through the area to transport water -- historians believe that these Jews might have been killed as they worked on the aqueduct because they weakened the foundation of the tower, causing it to collapse and fall on them -- many Jews considered these men sinners because they aligned themselves with the Romans and worked for them
-- once again, Jesus is pointing out that regardless of how you view those around you -- their sins are no greater than yours or anyone else's -- all of us are sinners -- all of us are condemned to death -- and it is only through repentance and the acceptance of Christ's forgiveness that we are saved from a fate worse than physical death
-- these verses point to our calling as Christians in light of natural disasters such as these -- as Christians, we are not called to pronounce judgment on others -- we are not called to exclaim with glee that this came on them because of their sinful natures
-- instead, we are called to speak to the world the good news of Jesus Christ -- to remind them that we are all sinners in need of a Savior -- and to point the way to repentance and the forgiveness of sins by telling them about the Christ who came to die for them
-- did God send the earthquake to Haiti this week as divine punishment for their sins? -- I don't believe so -- I don't believe that aligns with what I know of God from the Bible
-- did God allow the earthquake to come to Haiti this week? -- certainly, but for what reason and what purpose we may never know -- one thing is certain, when God allows evil to come into our lives -- whether it is the evil of the world or the evil of man -- God works through the evil to touch our lives and to bring Himself glory
-- if you would, turn over to John 9 and let's look at verses 1-3
-- verse 1
1. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.
2. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
-- one day, as Jesus was walking through Jerusalem near the temple, He and His disciples happened upon a man who was blind -- His disciples looked at the man and saw his condition and immediately assumed that his blindness was because of sin
-- so they asked Jesus, "Why did this happen? Was it because of this man's sin or his parent's sin?" -- and look at Jesus' response
-- verse 3
3. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
-- in other words, Jesus is saying, "The Father did not send this blindness to this man as a punishment for his sin -- The Father did not send this blindness to this man as a punishment for his parent's sin -- but the Father did allow this to happen because through the blindness, He would receive honor and glory"
-- bad things happen -- to individuals -- to families -- to cities -- to nations -- diseases and sicknesses come -- people have accidents and die -- terrorists fly planes into buildings -- the earth trembles and entire cities are devastated -- floods and hurricanes fill the streets with water
-- bad things happen, but they don't always come about because of individual sin -- they come about because we live in a fallen world where evil runs rampant -- where God's perfect, original creation has been corrupted and people get hurt as a result
-- sometimes God protects us from the evil around us -- but other times, He allows the earthquakes to come -- He allows the evil to fall in our lives and He allows us to suffer the consequences of our sins for two reasons
-- first, because of the reason Jesus spoke of here in verse 3 -- God allows the storms to come because it helps us to see His presence at work in the midst of the storm and because His name will be exalted and glorified as a result
-- but, there's another reason, too
-- if you would, turn over to Hebrews 12 and we'll end there
-- look down at verse 5
5. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6. because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
7. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
8. If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
9. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
10. Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
11. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
-- contrary to Pat Robertson’s assertions, sometimes God allows judgment and the consequences of our sins to fall on Christians -- on those who know Him and who have been saved according to His word
-- the Bible tells us that God brings His discipline in our lives to get our attention -- to let us know that we have strayed from His paths -- to remind us of His call to obedience and righteousness -- and to encourage us to make whatever changes we need to in our lives to get back on the straight and narrow
-- sometimes, when bad things happen, it is God's way of warning us about the danger we face through our sins and it is His way of trying to get us to willingly change and come back to Him
-- the writer of Hebrews makes that point clear here for us -- he tells us that just as an earthly father disciplines his children when they do wrong so that they will make better choices in the future, God disciplines us so that we will turn from our sins and make better choices so that we might live holy lives in Him
-- we like to say that the United States is a Christian nation -- that, unlike Haiti, the founders of this country dedicated themselves and this nation to God and pledged to follow Him and His ways -- could it be, then, that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the events of 9-11 were not the punishment of God on sinners but the loving discipline of the Father to get our attention and to get us to turn back to Him?
III. Closing
-- so, what can we say in closing in response to the inevitable questions that have arisen this week? -- "Why? -- Why do such things happen? -- How can there be such evil in the world? -- Where is God in the midst of this pain and suffering? -- Why has God allowed this to happen?"
-- what should be our response?
-- well, I think our first response should be to weep with those who are weeping and to mourn with those who are mourning
-- all of us should feel pain at the destruction of human life -- all of us should feel empathy towards those who have been hurt or displaced or left homeless and hopeless in the aftermath of this tragedy -- for we recognize that all humans are made in the image of God and we recognize the sanctity of all of these lives -- whether we are talking about the unborn or the elderly or the people in Haiti
-- secondly, I think we should we should never gloat over the misfortunes of others or assume that their pain and suffering somehow makes us superior to them -- we should not follow the path of the publican in the Bible who looked at the tax collector next to him and prayed, "Thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like him"
-- we should always remember that we are no different from anyone else around us -- we are all sinners in need of a Savior -- and if we have been saved and have received the forgiveness of sins, it is through no effort on our part but only the grace of God through Christ Jesus
-- third, if, as Pat Robertson asserts, the nation of Haiti is a nation of sinners who do not know the saving grace of Jesus, then we should seek forgiveness for our failure to spread His message -- Haiti is in our back yard -- it is within boating distance from the United States, from a nation that proclaims itself a Christian nation -- and, if we have done nothing to bring these people to Christ, we have a greater sin to atone for than the people who are suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake
-- we should never forget that Sodom was destroyed because God could not find 10 righteous people there -- because Lot had failed to witness to the truth of God to his neighbors
-- finally, I think that we should always use situations such as these to magnify and glorify the name of God -- we should use situations such as these to share the good news of Jesus -- to point people to the saving grace of the cross and the forgiveness of sins that Jesus offers -- we should be the hands and the feet and the voice of Jesus so that, in the midst of the suffering, those affected might truly say, "We have seen God"
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 13
1. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
2. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
3. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
4. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
5. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
-- as I'm sure most of you are aware, on Tuesday of this week at 4:53 pm, a powerful earthquake hit the island country of Haiti, causing extensive damage to the capital city of Port-au-Prince -- this earthquake, though not as large as the one that caused the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, has proven to be more devastating because the nation simply was not prepared for it
-- by all estimates, Haiti is one of the world's poorest countries -- it's people lived in squalor and got by on about $1 per day -- their homes, if they had homes, were not constructed to withstand the effects of a tremor of this magnitude -- in fact, very little in this island country was built strong enough to withstand such a devastating quake
-- we have had a problem getting accurate information from Haiti this week because the quake destroyed most of our means of communication, but as international relief efforts began and our military hit the ground, we began to see images here of the aftermath of the quake
-- Port-au-Prince has basically been destroyed -- the Presidential Palace -- the sea ports that were the main point of commerce for the nation -- the motels and the businesses in the capital city -- all destroyed -- and, on top of the physical destruction, we hear estimates that the number of dead from the quake may range from 50,000 to almost 500,000 -- at this point, no one knows
II. The Question
-- in the aftermath of a natural disaster like this, questions always arise -- people always want to know "Why? -- Why do such things happen? -- How can there be such evil in the world? -- Where is God in the midst of this pain and suffering? -- Why has God allowed this to happen?"
-- these questions have haunted mankind from the beginning of time -- we asked them after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 -- we asked them after the tsunami in 2004 -- we asked them after the events of September 11th, 2001 -- and we continue to ask them when natural disasters such as this earthquake in Haiti occur or when personal tragedies affect our own lives
-- as the Bible shows, these questions are not unique -- ever since the dawn of time, men and women have looked to the heavens and asked these very same questions as they sought solace for the pain and suffering in their lives
-- the technical term for questions such as these is "theodicy" -- it comes from two Greek words that mean "God" and "justice" -- but it comes down to this -- how do we reconcile the presence of evil in this world and in our lives if God is good and right and just and loving?
-- or, to put it another way, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" -- How can an all-knowing -- all-powerful -- all-loving God stand idly by and allow the devastation that an earthquake brings?"
-- people are always quick to come up with answers for questions like this -- some point to disasters such as these and proclaim this is proof there is no God or, if there is a God, He is powerless to prevent such things from occurring -- others offer different insights, such as Pat Robertson
-- for those who haven't heard, the televangelist Pat Robertson, the founder of Christian Broadcasting Network and the American Center for Law and Justice and one-time presidential candidate, proclaimed that this earthquake was the result of the Haitian people's pact with the devil made by the country's founders in exchange for freedom from French control
-- without going into great detail on Haitian history, Robertson was referring to a voodoo ritual led by Dutty Boukman in the early days of the Haitian revolution when he gathered the rebelling slaves together in a pact “to throw away the image of the god of the whites who thirsts for our tears and listen to the voice of liberty that speaks in the hearts of all of us.” -- this pact was sealed by drinking the blood of a pig that Boukman killed on an altar in the Caiman Woods and is typically regarded as the moment when Haiti rejected the God of the Bible for the gods of voodoo
-- so, based on this, Pat Robertson has asserted that the earthquake of this week is God's judgment on the nation of Haiti for their sins and their continuing rejection of Him
-- is Pat Robertson right? -- is God, in 2010, punishing one million people because Boukman sacrificed a pig and made a voodoo pact with the devil in 1791?
-- if not, then how would answer those who are seeking answers? -- how would you explain the presence of evil and sin and the devastation of natural disasters in light of the God that we know through Jesus?
-- while we may never be able to fully answer these questions or to explain why bad things such as this earthquake in Haiti occur, the Bible does give us insights into how these situations arise and how God uses them in our lives
III. God Did It
-- we find the first of these insights in Luke 13 -- if you would, look back at verse 1
1. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
-- as Jesus was teaching the people, someone in the crowd told him the story about a tragedy that had recently occurred in the temple -- a group of Galilean Jews had gathered together to worship in the temple and Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor over Jerusalem, had gone into the holy temple of God and had shed their blood in that very place -- mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifice they were offering
-- I think this story was told to Jesus because the person who shared it thought it proved exactly what Jesus had been trying to teach earlier in the Book of Luke -- in other words, the person was trying to say, "Jesus, you're right -- the ungodly will suffer and will be punished by God when He comes -- just look at what happened to these Galileans -- they were sinners and they paid for their sins with their death"
-- this is the same argument that Pat Robertson was making this week about the people of Haiti -- in essence, Robertson was saying that the people of Haiti were sinners -- they had rejected the God of the Bible and had made a pact with the devil -- and because of their sins, God was punishing them -- because of their sins, God allowed this earthquake to fall on them and destroy their capital city
-- we heard the same argument made both during Katrina and the Indonesian tsunami -- I heard preachers say in the aftermath of Katrina that the hurricane hit New Orleans because God was punishing the city for its sin -- along those same lines, I heard others say that the tsunami hit Indonesia because the country has been allowing the persecution of Christians by Muslim extremists
-- people who make this assertion point to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Book of Genesis -- this is proof, they say, that God punishes cities and nations for their sin -- that He brings about the total destruction and annihilation of people because of their ungodly behavior
-- but, is that true? -- can we look at all of these disasters -- whether natural or man-caused -- and say that they are God's righteous judgment on sinners?
-- look at verse 2
2. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
3. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
-- when Pat Robertson made his statement earlier this week about the earthquake in Haiti being the punishment of God, he was basically saying that they were singled out for punishment because they were worse sinners than him
-- just like the people who told Jesus this story about the Galileans, Robertson missed Jesus' point in His earlier teachings -- yes, the ungodly -- the unrighteous -- the sinners will be punished -- but we are all ungodly and unrighteous by nature -- and we will stay that way until we turn from our sins and repent of all that we have done wrong -- Jesus clarified His teaching by saying that "these Galileans weren't worse sinners than any others -- everyone is a sinner and deserves to die"
-- as it says in Romans 3:23, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" -- it is only through the grace of God that any of us are rescued from the bondage of sin and the penalty of death
-- in other words, the message of the Bible is that we are all sinners and we all have to face the penalty for our sins -- I am no better than you -- you are no better than me -- and certainly Pat Robertson is no better than the people of Haiti because a sin is a sin is a sin -- in God's kingdom, the sin of a white lie is just as deserving of death as the sin of rejecting Jesus
-- however, the overall message of the Bible is God is going to do everything He can to bring us to the point of salvation -- He doesn't want us to die in our sins -- He doesn't want us to end up in Hell -- in fact, He cares so much for us that He sent Jesus to die in our place so that we might not suffer eternal death and separation from Him
-- in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 we read that it is God's will that everyone would be saved and would come to know the truth through His Son Jesus Christ and in John 3:16 we read that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save the world
-- in other words, God is not the vengeful, spiteful, vindictive God that Robertson and others portray Him to be -- but He is a God who cares so much that He is willing to die in our place so that we might be saved
-- this is the point that Jesus was trying to make to the people who were around Him -- and just to make sure they understood, Jesus gave them another illustration
-- verse 4
4. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
5. I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
-- according to the historians, these Jews who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them were probably working for the Romans -- Siloam was a suburb of Jerusalem, and the Romans were digging aqueducts through the area to transport water -- historians believe that these Jews might have been killed as they worked on the aqueduct because they weakened the foundation of the tower, causing it to collapse and fall on them -- many Jews considered these men sinners because they aligned themselves with the Romans and worked for them
-- once again, Jesus is pointing out that regardless of how you view those around you -- their sins are no greater than yours or anyone else's -- all of us are sinners -- all of us are condemned to death -- and it is only through repentance and the acceptance of Christ's forgiveness that we are saved from a fate worse than physical death
-- these verses point to our calling as Christians in light of natural disasters such as these -- as Christians, we are not called to pronounce judgment on others -- we are not called to exclaim with glee that this came on them because of their sinful natures
-- instead, we are called to speak to the world the good news of Jesus Christ -- to remind them that we are all sinners in need of a Savior -- and to point the way to repentance and the forgiveness of sins by telling them about the Christ who came to die for them
-- did God send the earthquake to Haiti this week as divine punishment for their sins? -- I don't believe so -- I don't believe that aligns with what I know of God from the Bible
-- did God allow the earthquake to come to Haiti this week? -- certainly, but for what reason and what purpose we may never know -- one thing is certain, when God allows evil to come into our lives -- whether it is the evil of the world or the evil of man -- God works through the evil to touch our lives and to bring Himself glory
-- if you would, turn over to John 9 and let's look at verses 1-3
-- verse 1
1. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.
2. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
-- one day, as Jesus was walking through Jerusalem near the temple, He and His disciples happened upon a man who was blind -- His disciples looked at the man and saw his condition and immediately assumed that his blindness was because of sin
-- so they asked Jesus, "Why did this happen? Was it because of this man's sin or his parent's sin?" -- and look at Jesus' response
-- verse 3
3. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
-- in other words, Jesus is saying, "The Father did not send this blindness to this man as a punishment for his sin -- The Father did not send this blindness to this man as a punishment for his parent's sin -- but the Father did allow this to happen because through the blindness, He would receive honor and glory"
-- bad things happen -- to individuals -- to families -- to cities -- to nations -- diseases and sicknesses come -- people have accidents and die -- terrorists fly planes into buildings -- the earth trembles and entire cities are devastated -- floods and hurricanes fill the streets with water
-- bad things happen, but they don't always come about because of individual sin -- they come about because we live in a fallen world where evil runs rampant -- where God's perfect, original creation has been corrupted and people get hurt as a result
-- sometimes God protects us from the evil around us -- but other times, He allows the earthquakes to come -- He allows the evil to fall in our lives and He allows us to suffer the consequences of our sins for two reasons
-- first, because of the reason Jesus spoke of here in verse 3 -- God allows the storms to come because it helps us to see His presence at work in the midst of the storm and because His name will be exalted and glorified as a result
-- but, there's another reason, too
-- if you would, turn over to Hebrews 12 and we'll end there
-- look down at verse 5
5. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6. because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
7. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
8. If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
9. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
10. Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
11. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
-- contrary to Pat Robertson’s assertions, sometimes God allows judgment and the consequences of our sins to fall on Christians -- on those who know Him and who have been saved according to His word
-- the Bible tells us that God brings His discipline in our lives to get our attention -- to let us know that we have strayed from His paths -- to remind us of His call to obedience and righteousness -- and to encourage us to make whatever changes we need to in our lives to get back on the straight and narrow
-- sometimes, when bad things happen, it is God's way of warning us about the danger we face through our sins and it is His way of trying to get us to willingly change and come back to Him
-- the writer of Hebrews makes that point clear here for us -- he tells us that just as an earthly father disciplines his children when they do wrong so that they will make better choices in the future, God disciplines us so that we will turn from our sins and make better choices so that we might live holy lives in Him
-- we like to say that the United States is a Christian nation -- that, unlike Haiti, the founders of this country dedicated themselves and this nation to God and pledged to follow Him and His ways -- could it be, then, that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the events of 9-11 were not the punishment of God on sinners but the loving discipline of the Father to get our attention and to get us to turn back to Him?
III. Closing
-- so, what can we say in closing in response to the inevitable questions that have arisen this week? -- "Why? -- Why do such things happen? -- How can there be such evil in the world? -- Where is God in the midst of this pain and suffering? -- Why has God allowed this to happen?"
-- what should be our response?
-- well, I think our first response should be to weep with those who are weeping and to mourn with those who are mourning
-- all of us should feel pain at the destruction of human life -- all of us should feel empathy towards those who have been hurt or displaced or left homeless and hopeless in the aftermath of this tragedy -- for we recognize that all humans are made in the image of God and we recognize the sanctity of all of these lives -- whether we are talking about the unborn or the elderly or the people in Haiti
-- secondly, I think we should we should never gloat over the misfortunes of others or assume that their pain and suffering somehow makes us superior to them -- we should not follow the path of the publican in the Bible who looked at the tax collector next to him and prayed, "Thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like him"
-- we should always remember that we are no different from anyone else around us -- we are all sinners in need of a Savior -- and if we have been saved and have received the forgiveness of sins, it is through no effort on our part but only the grace of God through Christ Jesus
-- third, if, as Pat Robertson asserts, the nation of Haiti is a nation of sinners who do not know the saving grace of Jesus, then we should seek forgiveness for our failure to spread His message -- Haiti is in our back yard -- it is within boating distance from the United States, from a nation that proclaims itself a Christian nation -- and, if we have done nothing to bring these people to Christ, we have a greater sin to atone for than the people who are suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake
-- we should never forget that Sodom was destroyed because God could not find 10 righteous people there -- because Lot had failed to witness to the truth of God to his neighbors
-- finally, I think that we should always use situations such as these to magnify and glorify the name of God -- we should use situations such as these to share the good news of Jesus -- to point people to the saving grace of the cross and the forgiveness of sins that Jesus offers -- we should be the hands and the feet and the voice of Jesus so that, in the midst of the suffering, those affected might truly say, "We have seen God"
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