America Under Attack: Our Reponse

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

…

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.The Word of God from Romans 15, verse 13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” This is the Word of the Lord, you may be seated.

This was a very hard sermon to write. Let me admit that right up front. I anticipated quite a few people in church this morning, as I suspect is happening all around the country. I knew that I was going to have a very rare opportunity to stand before many more people than I usually do. People searching for answers, for comfort, for hope, for God. I pray to God that I do not disappoint this morning.

What happened last Tuesday was unprecedented. More Americans died in this one attack than in any other one attack in the history of our country. And for the first time since 1865, war has come to the American soil. For 136 years, Americans on American soil has been safe from the ravages of war. That has all changed in the span of a few minutes on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The closest thing that this country has endured was the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor almost 60 years ago to the day!

My generation has never experienced anything like this. The closest we’ve come was the Persian Gulf War. The generation before me endured two wars – Korea and Vietnam. And the generation before that fought and won World War II.

For most of us, outside of history books we have no reference point for what has happened to us. And I do want to emphasize that it has happened to us. This attack did not happen to citizens of New York City or Washington D.C. It happened to Americans and to the United States of America. What we are going through as Americans is very difficult to understand and cope with.

For Americans, by and large, don’t know how to mourn. Americans are very uncomfortable with the whole idea of grief. We take it as a sign of weakness or personal failure if we’re not happy. Sadness isn’t seen as a normal part of life. Rather, it’s seen as a reason to get a prescription for anti-depressants. Somehow, our right to the pursuit of happiness has been transformed into a requirement that we always actually be happy. Grief is almost unpatriotic. It calls into question our whole form of government. If democracy doesn’t guarantee constant happiness, then there must be something wrong! Look at our movies. American movies all have happy endings. You can have dozens of people shot, murdered, maimed, and knifed, but in the end, the good guy wins and everybody lives happily ever after (everybody that’s not dead, that is). Movies that violate the “happy ending” principle generally get good reviews, but lose money.

Now add to that the attitude that Christians should always be happy. If we’re sad, somehow it reflects badly on God. After all, didn’t Jesus come to make us happy all the time? No matter what happens, we have to put on a happy face; otherwise, it casts doubt on the truth of the gospel.

What I mainly want to say this morning is that it is ok to grieve. It is ok to feel sad. It doesn’t make us weak. It shows that we are human in need of a savior. It truly does.

I believe that the answer we are all looking for is in God’s Word. It is in one Word – Jesus!

Many people are calling for action, for a response to the attacks made on our country. I am one of those people. Which is why I titled this sermon “America Under Attack: Our Response.”

In preparing this sermon, I’ve been looking at a lot of other preachers’ sermons to see what the gamut of responses would be. Some of things I’ve read and heard have really broken my heart.

“This is God’s revenge on us for being an ungodly nation.” “This is God’s answer to us for allowing abortions.” I do not subscribe to these interpretations of these attacks – nor do the Holy Scriptures. I want to make that perfectly clear to you. God has not taken revenge of us. God does not do that.

Does God hate sin? You bet He does. Does God punish us sinners by destroying our buildings and killing thousands of people? No. This is not punishment. It is the consequence of sin in the world. It is the consequence of the rejection of the gift God has given in Jesus Christ. Many Christians died last Tuesday. They did not die in vain because God punished sin – once and for all – with the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.