God is Sovereign in Disasters
God has Purpose for Disasters
God Loves Us in Disasters
How Should we Respond?
For the Christian
Respond with Repentance
Respond by Living for Christ
For the Seeker
Respond by Receiving Christ
Slide 1
Hurricane Katrina
Over these past 2 weeks, I have seen on the news with many of you, the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has caused in Louisiana and Mississippi. The devastation has been unbelievable, with entire towns being wiped out completely and an entire city of about 500,000 people having to be completely evacuated and is uninhabitable for the near future.
That is something that many of us probably never thought we would see in our lifetime.
911
We also remember what occurred on this day 4 years ago. Terrorists flying planes into buildings in what remains one of the worst terrorist acts this country has ever experienced.
Tsunami in Malaysia
Couple that with the Tsunami that his Malaysia just after Christmas last year and it causes us to take a step back and say
What is going on here?
Why is this happening?
Where is God in all of this?
How could a loving God permit these things?
Does this mean that there is not a loving God?
And if not, then
Who is in control?
These are some of the questions that I want to try and answer and give possible reasons for.
One of the jobs of a pastor is to teach.
We are to teach the Word and relate it to our lives and show how it applies to us.
But we are also to teach about life and how we should view life in light of the Scriptures.
And that is what I want to do today. As we ask these questions, I want us to see how we can possibly view these events that have occurred in light of Scripture and then see how we should respond to the things going on.
I want to begin by reading you a passage out of Joel.
Slide 2
You can begin turning there. It is on page 644 of pew Bibles.
Joel was a prophet. And He wrote during a time when Israel had a disaster, namely, a locust plague. Listen to what He writes.
Joel 1:1-4 (p. 644)
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders;
listen, all who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your forefathers?
3 Tell it to your children,
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.
4 What the locust swarm has left
the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left
other locusts have eaten.
Joel 1:10-12
10 The fields are ruined,
the ground is dried up;
the grain is destroyed,
the new wine is dried up,
the oil fails.
11 Despair, you farmers,
wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The vine is dried up
and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree-
all the trees of the field-are dried up.
Surely the joy of mankind
is withered away.
You may be saying, yeah what is the big deal about a few locusts.
We had an entire city wiped out and much of the coast of 2 states.
Listen to what one commentator writes about the devastation of Locust Plagues.
In our generation areas having the potential for a locust outbreak are monitored by international agencies using satellite reconnaissance and other technology; incipient swarms are met by aircraft and trucks carrying powerful pesticides. However, if the locusts are not destroyed or contained shortly after the hatch, once the swarm has formed, control efforts are minimally effective even today. For example, in 1988 the civil war in Chad prevented international cooperation in attacking the hatch, and a destructive swarm spread throughout North Africa devastating some of the poorest nations and threatening Europe as well. It is difficult for modern Western people to appreciate the dire threat represented by a locust plague in earlier periods. Such outbreaks had serious consequences for the health and mortality of an affected population and for a region’s economy. Scarcity of food resulting from the swarm’s attack would bring the population to subsistence intake or less, would make the spread of disease among a weakened populace easier, would eliminate any trade from surplus food products, and would stimulate high inflation in the costs of food products. Disease outbreaks are further aggravated when swarms die; the putrefaction of the millions of locust bodies breeds typhus and other diseases that spread to humans and animals
The swarms can reach great sizes: a swarm across the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to cover two thousand square miles. A swarm is estimated to contain up to 120 million insects per mile (Raymond Dillard, The Minor Prophets, “Joel,” p. 255-56).
Sounds like some of the effects from a Hurricane and flood.
So the devastation of a locust plague can be quite great. As great or greater than what we have experienced as a country.
The people of Joel’s time were devastated by this.
This “act of God” destroyed lives, land and livelihoods,
just like the devastations that we have experienced.
The effects from Katrina will be felt in this country for years.
So the question becomes,
Why do these disasters continue to occur if there is a loving God who is watching over us?
Often when these questions are asked by people – Where was God in this, Who is in control? If this is from God, then God can’t be good – Christians many times want to somehow lesson God’s control of things.
We do not want God to have any responsibility for what we view as bad. We want God in control but are afraid of what it means to acknowledge that He is fully in control.
So I want to start today by affirming that
God is Sovereign in Disasters
Slide 3
Lamentations 3:38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
God is still in control even when bad things happen.
Then why doesn’t He stop them? That is the more appropriate question.
Why doesn’t He eliminate
all bad things,
all suffering,
all pain
if He has the ability to do that.
To begin to answer that question we need to know that that is what He originally created for us.
After God created the heavens and the earth and man and all that is in it, He said this.
Genesis 1:31
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Genesis 2:8-9; 15-17
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. …15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
It was paradise for man
There were no Hurricanes
There were no Tsunamis
There were no earthquakes or volcanoes or tornados.
It was perfect.
There was one stipulation, however:
Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
But, as you know, man did. And because of that, death and sin came into the world and we have sin natures now.
Genesis 3:17-19
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ’You must not eat of it,’
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Ok, so God originally created a perfect place for us to live, but because of man’s sin the earth is cursed and we have to struggle along,
but do we have to have such calamities and disasters?
Is there any purpose to these disasters?
Or is God up there saying, “Hey you sinned, now you have to deal with it”
First, we do have to deal with the consequences of sin but
God has Purpose for Disasters
Slide 4
There are varied reasons why God may allow or bring about a disaster.
He could do it
to discipline or punish a nation,
to discipline an individual
to prepare someone to subsequently minister to someone else.
To build a specific character trait in someone so they can be more effectively used in the kingdom.
But, even given these reasons, there is always one underlying reason –
To get mankind to turn their eyes and their hearts toward Him.
Slide 5
The verse I read earlier in Lamentations comes during a time of national crisis for Israel. God had used the evil Babylonians to judge them and here is what Jeremiah writes in
Lamentations 3:39-41
39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.
God was inflicting Judgment on Israel but He wanted to get their attention so they would return to following Him.
Is God judging this generation across the globe?
Is God judging America?
I don’t know, for sure?
Is this country and this world in need of judgment? Absolutely!
It does seems there are more and more disasters.
Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Floods.
Famines, Wars, Terrorist Acts.
While I can’t say that God is judging America or this generation,
I can say that through these things
He is striving to get our attention and to turn us back to Him.
Some people may say, Hey God, just stop trying to get our attention.
Just leave us alone.
But there are reasons that He cannot do that.
If it is for judgment, God is just and will have to judge at some point.
But the main reason that He cannot stop trying to get our attention is because
God Loves us in Disasters
Slide 6
What do you mean by that, Scott?
2 Ways that God show us love through these disasters.
First, In getting our attention He wants us to be focused on Him and walking in His ways so that we can live a more full life here.
Parenting Illustration
I want you to stop and think about your parents or you yourself as a parent.
Did your parents ever discipline you when you did something wrong?
Did they ever deny you something that you really wanted?
Why? Why would a loving parent do that?
Why would our parents cause us to suffer or do without or to cause pain in our life which could have been avoided by them simply not inflicting it?
It is because they had our long term good in mind.
Imagine for a moment a parent who always gave their child everything they wanted.
Who never would allow any physical pain in their life.
They never experienced anything but smiles and candy.
(Sarcastically) That is the kind of person you would love to be hanging out with right now, wouldn’t it?
No? Why not?
Because spoiled brats are miserable people
They are usually lazy
They usually are not very nice
They have not had their character shaped because they have never had to experience hardship or want.
The same holds true for God.
Because we still sin,
Because we still disobey,
we will go through struggles and hardship and pain.
Could God prevent all disasters and pain in our lives?
He certainly could.
Then why doesn’t He?
Because there must be some “greater long term good” for us.
He is forming our character.
But we need to have our attention on Him. When we don’t, He has to get our attention because He loves us.
Secondly, in getting our attention He wants us to be focused on Him and walking in His ways so that we can live an eternal life with Him in heaven.
If people do not receive Christ as Savior, they will spend eternity apart from God.
Maybe right now you are saying, Well God is using a sledgehammer when He could have just used a small hammer and He would have gotten our attention.
You think so?
Let’s go back 4 years. Immediately after the 9-11 attacks, the country did turn to God.
They began going to churches
They responded to relief requests.
They did all the things that are going on right now with Hurricane Katrina.
But it did not take long for America to get right back to where they were.
Pre 9/11 – 42% of Americans attended church – 84% said they prayed
1 year later – 43% of Americans attend church – 83% say they pray
It seems sometimes like God is in overkill mode to get our attention, but obviously, He has yet to get it.
But because God loves us, He will not stop trying to get our attention on Him before it is too late.
What can we expect then?
I can tell you that as we near Christ’s return, things will get worse.
Nobody knows a time or a date, but we can be sure that things will get worse, because God wants us to wake up
When the disciples asked Jesus about when the end was, these are some of the signs He said would be occurring.
Matthew 24:7-8
7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Just as when a woman is having a baby, the pain increases right up until the end, God will use Disasters to try and wake us up out of our sin induced state of lethargy.
It is because God loves us that He will go to extremes to get our eyes on Him, because ultimately we are approaching an eternity with a destination that must be arranged for in this life.
It is too late after this life.
God has our eternal best interest at heart.
The eternal best interest of the entire world.
1 Timothy 2:4 says He “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
So,
How should we respond?
Slide 7
How should we respond to the Katrina’s and Tsunami’s and Terrorist’s?
Well,
For the Christian
For Christians, we need to respond in 2 ways.
Slide 8
Respond with Repentance.
Joel 1:13-15
13 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the land
to the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD.
15 Alas for that day!
For the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Repent for our sins. The church not only sins in their actions, it sins in its inaction. We need to be loving people.
Repent for tolerating the sin in our lives we so easily justify.
Gossip
Lust
Hate
Pride
Basing our actions on other people’s actions instead of what the Word of God tells us.
Repent for those things and turn away from them.
Measure the things you do by God’s word and how it shows love for others.
Respond by Living for Christ
Slide 9
We need to be the salt and light in our communities. We as a whole throughout the country are not being effective.
But being effective begins with you.
We can sit here all day and blame others for the inadequacy of the light of Christianity in our culture.
You and I need to be that light right were we are.
The problem has been that we try and fit Christianity into our life.
I can’t do a Bible study because I have too many other things going on.
I can’t go to church because I was out too late last night
I can’t go because I have NASCAR tickets.
I can’t serve because I have other priorities.
Christianity is not something we fit into our life.
It is our life and our lifestyle.
Now, don’t misunderstand. I am not saying that you need to be here every time the doors of the church are open.
Or
That you need to serve and say yes to everything that anybody asks you to do.
There is a balance in our lives that we must maintain.
God wants us working
God wants us being good parents
God wants us to spend time with our spouses
God wants us to spend time with our kids
And God wants us serving in the church
All of these things can co exist together.
But, these things become a problem in a society that values,
kids sports
The new fall TV season
Work
Money
Free time
Our own desires
Drinking with your buddies
Over our relationship with the Lord and how that is lived out.
As these Disasters happen, they should be wake up calls to you Christian.
As the Lord’s return gets closer, am I doing what I should be?
Luke 12:42-46
42 The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ’My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
That last word – unbelievers - can also be translated unfaithful, which I think captures the meaning more.
It means that those that are being unfaithful will be assigned to the place with those who receive no rewards. This is the Christian who will be in heaven but without rewards. This is the person being talked about in
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Don’t miss out on the rewards and the joy of the Lord and to hear those awesome words – “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)
For the Seeker
Slide 10
And for you out there who may be wondering about God,
consider how God is showing His love to you by trying so hard to get your attention.
You need to
Respond by Receiving Christ
He wants to be in relationship with you.
He doesn’t want to lose you for eternity.
John 1:12
12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- (from New International Version)
Please listen and respond by receiving Jesus as your Savior.
That is the way God made for everyone to be able to be in relationship with Him.
He knows that because we have sinned, we can never earn heaven, but because of His love, He sent Jesus, His own Son to pay the price for your sins.
Don’t reject this free gift He is offering you.
Invite Worship Team up
The worship team is going to come up right now and lead us in the song
Draw Me Close.
If you want to receive Jesus as your Savior but don’t know how, all you have to do is believe in your heart. That means believing with all of who you are.
With mind, emotions, and will.
Believe with your will by just telling God that you believe and receive jesus as Savior.
Tell Him you know you know
You need a Savior
That Jesus is that Savior
That He died for your sins
And that you believe that He rose from the dead showing He has the power to forgive your sins and give you eternal life.
As we sing, respond to what He wants you to do.
After this song, We will pray.
Song.
Pray.
Closing verse.
