This week I was told about a lady who called her husband at the World Trade Center after the planes smashed into the buildings. The husband was on ninety-something floor, explaining to her that he was okay. Before she hung up the phone, however, the line went dead. The husband has not yet been found and is unlikely to have survived.
If the wife were a member of our church, I would have to help her deal with the guilt feeling of keeping her husband on the phone and keeping him from evacuating the building. Furthermore, if I were a pastor in New York, I may have to help the people deal with survivor’s guilt, intense anger, or rebuilding their family without a father or a mother. Because I’m not talking to that wife or to those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy, but I’m talking to you, I have to deal with what you are dealing with.
Many of you have been dealing with grief and fear produced by the news and images that have come through the television and newspaper. Others of you have been dealing with the fear of uncertainty in our economy and future security. So I’ve spent the last two weeks addressing the heart problems of grief and fear.
This morning, we move to address the mind problem of trying to understand the tragedies, the disorders, the confusions and the chaos that surround us. Can we make sense of what has happened without being counterproductive? Some have blamed America’s past handling of power and treaties. Others have used this tragedy as a platform for self-aggrandizement and for their propaganda.
Many disciplines from economics to religion have been consulted for the root cause of this great evil. Such approach is not new. If Karl Marx were here this morning, he would tell us the socio-economic reason behind the chaos. If Sigmund Freud were here this morning, he would tell us the psychological reason for this chaos. These two men tried to reduce mankind’s motivation to their incomplete and flawed worldviews.
The worldview of a person is of great importance for interpreting reality and for responding correctly. When people believed the world was flat, and that they would fall off the edge if they went too far, they were prisoners of their worldview. Man-made worldviews have always fallen short of reality and led to incorrect responses.
This morning, I want to give you God’s worldview, so that you might better understand the happenings around us and respond wisely. God’s worldview can be gleaned from the prayer Jesus taught His followers. To be sure, the prayer Jesus taught to His followers were intended to teach them how and what to pray for.
The man whose house is on fire and does not rush out but prays for God to deliver him, has too low a view of human responsibility or too high a view of God’s involvement. Yet, even that prayer reflects the man’s worldview and the choice he would make. When Jesus, the Son of God, teaches his followers to pray, His prayer reflects God’s worldview.
Let me read for us the prayer Jesus taught to his follower, Matthew 6:9-13. From this prayer, we can identify three truths about God’s worldview that can help us move from chaos to making wise choices.
The first truth from God’s worldview is that there are three involved. There are three players involved in our world, not one, as the atheists, naturalists and humanists believe, and not two, as many liberal theologians believe, but three: God, mankind and the devil, or noted in Jesus’ prayer as the "evil one."
The atheistic naturalists and humanists seek answers apart from God. They rely on biology, psychology, economics, sociology and the likes to interpret the causes and to provide the solutions. After all, mankind and its products are all they have to work with. Atheists become prisoners of their limited worldview.
Many liberal theologians believe two are involved in this world, mankind and maybe a God who started all of this. For many, the devil is only a primitive explanation for physical and psychological illnesses and for natural disasters. After all, we now know about viruses, bacteria and the impact of trauma, and we know about wind currents and fault lines. But when evil and chaos that has no explanation or solution from mankind’s intellectual and scientific advances, such limited worldview produces the questions, "If there is a good God, why do we have evil?" If we have God’s worldview, we would not need to ask that question.
Jesus, the Son of God, gives us the truth, that there are three involved: God the Father, mankind and The devil [the evil one]. Unless we understand who are involved, we can not make right interpretations or choices in dealing with the chaos in our lives or in our world.
A recent James Bond movie contained an explosive conflict between England and China. A stealth submarine, that could not be detected, sank an English ship and framed the Chinese. Now this was only a movie, but the scenario illustrates how the devil turns people against God by doing great damage and then going into hiding.
The Bible tells us in James 1:13-15, "When tempted, no one should say, ’God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone [with evil]; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
1 Peter 5:8-9 read, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil [the evil one] prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."
God’s worldview involves three: God, mankind and the evil one. The evil and chaos of our world can come from mankind’s acting out of our evil desires or from the devil’s scheming. In other words, the terrorist attacks were an outworking of their evil desires within or an outworking of the devil’s scheming.
The first truth in God’s worldview is that there are three involved. The second truth in God’s worldview is that God is in control.
Let me clarify that God is not controlling everything, but He is in control of everything. Genesis 1:26-28 read, "Then God said, ’Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, ’Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’"
God is in control of everything, but He has delegated control of His creation on earth to mankind. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve, the first man and first woman, gave into the temptation of evil one and rebelled against God. As Adam and Eve could choose to rule creation under God’s rule or to follow the evil one and selfishness in rebellion against God, we have that kind of choice to make as well.
As delegates of God to rule over creation, we can daily make the choice to say with our lips, our attitudes and our actions, "God’s kingdom come, and God’s will be done," and "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." On the other hand, we can also say with our lips, our attitudes and our actions, "My will be done," and "God, leave me alone to determine what is right and wrong," at which point the evil one will come in and tempt us to do wrong.
Michael Youssef tells the story of a ship transporting a number of rare South American birds to French Guiana for release into the wild. In the middle of the voyage, hundreds of miles from land, one of the birds flew away. But the next day, the same bird landed on the deck of the ship again. The bird had been flying non-stop above the ocean with no place to rest until it returned to the ship.
In the same way, mankind, when we wonder off from God to do our own things, will never find rest until we return to God, often exhausted, at our wits end and with much regret. Given enough time and mishandling of creation, the illusion that mankind is in control will shatter and the need to return to God, who is really in control, becomes the wisest choice.
The first truth in God’s worldview is that there are three involved. The second truth in God’s worldview is that God is in control. The third truth in God’s worldview is that we live in a time of choice.
There will come a time when we will not have any more choices to make. That time will come when we die or when the Lord Jesus comes back. Hebrews 9:27-28 tell us, "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
When we die, we will be judged for the choices we made in this life. We are not puppets on God’s string nor are we puppets on the devil’s string. We are given freedom to choose, and God, who is ultimately in control, will judge the choices we make.
God’s worldview not only can explain any chaos in our world, because it is the only complete, thus true, worldview, but God’s worldview can lead us to choose wisely how we will respond. In a world where mankind can choose good or evil, where the evil one is a stealth enemy, we would do well to return to God.
Jesus tells us how in John 14:6, "I [Jesus] am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me." Returning to God means trusting and following Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
Whether your chaos is from the evening news, from your work situation, from your family turmoil or from your personal struggles, remember, a time will come when God will establish His kingdom with those who belong to Him. At that future time, there will be two involved, because the devil will be cast into the lake of fire. God’s kingdom will be established again, and our forfeited privilege will be regained. Also the choices we make will be fully guided by God.
Revelation 21:1-5 read, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 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. 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.’
He [God] who was seated on the throne said, ’I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’"
Unless we have God’s worldview, we can not possibly make wise choices in the midst of chaos. Chaos would victimize us with fear, hopelessness, worry, bitterness and evil retaliation. With God’s worldview, we can make choices with confidence, hope, reassurance, forgiveness and good intentions.
Let me close with two quotes in response to the September 11th tragedy. The first quote is from a US Senator: "I say bomb the hell out of them. ... We must strike the viper’s nest - even if he’s not there. ... If there’s collateral damage, so be it. They certainly found our civilians to be expendable. ... America’s first interest must be to punish our enemies, then, if possible, please our friends."
The second quote comes from Reverend Billy Graham: "In times like this, we realize how weak and inadequate we are, and our greatest need is to turn in repentance and faith to the God of all mercy and the Father of all comfort. If ever there was a time for us to turn to God and to pray as a nation, it is now - that this evil will spread no further." (Both quotes from The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing with H.B. London, Jr., September 14, 2001)
The worldview of a person is of great importance for interpreting reality and for responding correctly. God’s worldview is the only worldview that allows us to go from chaos to making wise choices. Enter this week with God’s worldview and you will enter a whole new world, the real world.
