How have you coped with the week?
Early in the week I was wondering if this was a nightmare?
But as the week went on the reality was hitting home.
Already 180 lives lost and coroner has allowed for up to 300 deaths..
A national news reader that I watched daily dead.
A town completely flattened.
Over 1000 homes lost.
Then on the same piece of land some 2300 kms North
People living between Townsville and Cairns have been affected by flooding
Around 3000 homes have been affected
And with on the spot coverage of events
We can’t hide from the destruction,
the suffering,
the faces of despair.
It is beamed into our homes through the televistion and internet.
This morning when I went to check on the news there was a picture of a grown man in tears as he looked at the area where his house once stood. It looked like dumbfounded tears.
And just about everyone has an opinion about what is happening or should have happened.
And so in the next few moments lets hear also from God and see how he views life when events like this occur.
Lets begin by looking at Isaiah 55:8-9 which says
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
One question that we are often faced with is, if God is so loving why do these things happen?
Why do seemingly innocent people get hurt or harmed, whilst obviously evil people get off lightly?
There is no form answer for this in scripture.
And it is important to remember there are many things that will remain a mystery about God.
And whilst we may have many questions not all of them will be answered in the ways we like.
Often we would rather tell God how he should love rather accept his approach to how he loves.
And the the best way to make sense of what is happening
Is not to ignore God but to listen to him.
To worship regularly, read and study his scriptures frequently.
So that we are gaining His perspective on life,
and this means at times allowing Him to open up your mind to a different way of thinking.
Now some people would have you believe that the disastrous events like the fires and the floods are nothing more than God’s judgement on a group of people or the world for a specific sin.
They grab hold of a text like Micah 5, which concludes with
15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
upon the nations that have not obeyed me
and Psalm 106:8
18 Fire blazed among their followers;
a flame consumed the wicked.
or parts of Revelation
And there is one major problem with such an approach
Is that it only portrays God as some angry fellow
who hates humanity and only wants to squash and annihilate anyone who is not like Him.
Unfortunately many people have this view of God.
And this includes people in the church and people outside the church.
But such an approach ignores huge slabs of scripture.
It is not the complete picture.
Scripture from both the Old and New Testament demonstrates something different about God, especially during times of suffering.
Lets turn to 1 Kings 19:11-12
11 The LORD said to Eliijah, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Or what we heard earlier from 1 Thessalonians 5:9
9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Leaving people with the view that God is only about judging and destroying is not Christian.
And when we take events of the past week and simply say this is God’s judgement on humanity and nothing else we are misrepresenting God.
It leaves off the essential aspect of Christianity.
Jesus Christ.
Who said, from John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, f that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
The truth is God does judge us,
But that is only part of the story.
Most of the time his judgement comes through His word.
When I open up scripture and discover that I am living far from what God expects, that is God judging.
And this judgement is not for the purpose of destroying us
but so that we latch on to Jesus Christ and nothing else for our future.
Because God’s final judgement hasn’t occured now, it will occur in the future.
His ultimate aim is not to kill us of or have us perish,
but to save us.
So if God did not cause these events, why did they occur?
The short answer is sin.
There is no doubt some of the fires occurred as the result of people deliberately lighting fires to cause damage to other people’s property.
However some of the fires were the result of natural disasters or accidents.
Often we view sin as simply an act.
But sin is more than just an act, it is the nature of this world.
This world has been infected and affected by sin.
Scripture teaches us that it is because of sin that we have trouble in the world.
That problems occur.
That our life in this world can never be truly peaceful.
In John 16:33 we hear
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The other problem that occurs when we try to say that tragic events is God’s punishment is that it does not answer the question
Why was this person punished and not this one?
Because as Romans 3:23 reminds us
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Now the great thing about this text, is the verses that surround it.
We don’t have to go far to discover that this short verse is about helping us see that hope lies in Jesus and not how good or bad we may be. Listen to what Romans 3 says.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God wants to save us...not to judge us
He wants to give us hope and not despair.
Something for you to act upon over the next week or two.
Are you taking this message out amongst the people you are mixing with?
Are you revealing to your family and friends,
those you bump into
even those that annoy you
that God is not some angry old fellow,
but a God who loves and cares for people.
That God ultimately wants them to receive great benefits.
Benefits that can only come through grabbing hold of Jesus Christ.
But fortunately for us and those who suffer God doesn’t just stop here.
He doesn’t say just hold out until the last day then I will care for you.
And He doesn’t just say this bad stuff is not my doing, so its not my responsibility.
Even though it is not his fault.
He still actively gets involved with people who are facing problems.
Who are experiencing traumas in their lives.
In fact one of the ways many people recognise God in their life is when they are going through some of the toughest times in their life.
The most well known Psalm, Psalm 23 speaks of this.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
And God gets involved in caring for people by mobilising his creation.
Think about what has dominated the news in the last few weeks.
The financial problems of the world.
But despite the papers being full of financial misery over the last few months,
already over $100million has been raised to help those in need.
Governments have been getting off their butt and fulfilling their God given responsibility to provide and care for the needy.
People have been offering help where they can, with the resources they have.
And this includes many Christians who have been influenced by scripture like that from Matthew 25
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
God has been at work through his church.
And in even though only a small number of people have been affected in our church, the Lutheran Church of Australia by these events,
God has been working through the church.
Our church has set up a fund to help those in need, within a week and through little publicility around $15000 has been raised.
Many members of our church have been in action with prayer.
Some others by providing necessary goods and equipments.
Others with expertise and help.
Through His church God is active providing support, love, a shoulder to lean on and care.
Now finally.
A story from the bush fires that happened to one of the members of the Lutheran Church of Australia.
All around this family was flames and fire.
There was no escape.
They had no hope of saving themselves.
Imagine being in that situation.
Then out of no where came a water bomber and doused them with water.
They say that this saved them.
Well our lives are a lot like that.
All around us is life threatening sin.
We have no hope of saving our self.
But it is not a water bomber that saves us but Jesus Christ.
And in saving us, he is making sure that Revelation 21:3-4 becomes a reality for us
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Let us pray and give thanks to God that He is at work now during times of suffering
and that he is making it possible for each of us to be in a place where there is no more death, mourning, crying or pain permanently.
Because God sent Jesus into the world not to judge the world but to love the world through Him.
AMEN
