Sunday AM—9/4/05
SPECIAL MESSAGE: How Do Christians Deal With Tragedy?
Felt Need Intro:
This has been quite a week hasn’t it? We all woke up last Sunday with news that a category 5 hurricane was heading somewhere between New Orleans and Biloxi, MS. People were trying to evacuate and many couldn’t get out because of the traffic. By the time it hit land, Hurricane Katrina was a category 4 storm, but still much stronger than New Orleans and the surrounding areas were prepared to deal with.
ASK: I want to ask you something…How many of you know someone personally that was involved in this hurricane?
This morning, I want take a one week break from our message series in the book of Genesis. I hope that series has been helpful to you to study and learn more about Genesis and how it still impacts us today. However, I felt it was important, actually more than important. I felt it was necessary that we take a week to talk about and deal with this tragedy facing our neighbors to the east of us.
• Talk about the hurricane, people still in attics, on roofs, evacuating the evacuation center, etc.
This morning, I want to share with you a message called, “How Do Christians Deal With Tragedy?” And we’re going to look at two different areas and ask two different questions.
• First, what can we learn from tragedy?
• Second, what we must do in tragedy?
So, before we open our Bibles and read some verses, I just want to share with you some practical things that I believe we can learn from tragedy…
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM TRAGEDY?
1. We learn that God is in control!
Maybe I should say that we should be reminded that God is in control. Let me illustrate it this way. When you are outside and a serious rain storm comes and the clouds get dark and lightning begins to flash, what’s the first thing we normally do? We go inside. We get inside some shelter. We go in our homes, we shut all the windows and we sit back on our couch and watch TV or we go inside and take one of those great naps that you get to take when it’s raining outside. But, what happens when the storm is so heavy that it destroys your shelter? What happens when the storm rages so strong that it rips the roof off and pours down on us? You realize that the shelter that you were trying to find protection in is not so great after all. You see, there is a shelter that we can find refuge in that can withstand any storm we face. It is not built with human hands and is not constructed with brick and mortar. Here’s what the Bible says in the book of Psalms…
Psalm 46:
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. [c]
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 91:
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [a]
2 They say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
God and God alone is the shelter that we should find refuge in during the storms of life.
No matter what we face in life, we can be assured that God is in control. When you are facing tragedy or when you are worried because someone you are close to is facing tragedy, you can pray with confidence and trust God completely because he is in control!
2. We learn just how important a relationship with God is!
In the midst of a terrible tragedy, we have seen two groups of people:
• One is a group of people that are trying to rescue people and are sacrificing themselves to save others. They are doing good.
• Second is a group of people that are looting and not just trying to steal food and water to survive on, but are stealing jewelry and all sorts of things. They are saying that any store that sells weapons of any kind has already been ransacked and every gun and knife stolen. Groups of armed men are rampaging the city, raping women, stealing anything they can get their hands on, and killing anyone in their way. They are doing bad.
We are reminded of what a person is capable of when their heart isn’t submitted to God.
I guess here’s the point I’m trying to make…Do you know what the looters and the rescuers all have in common? They both need Jesus Christ.
In Luke 13, Jesus used a tragedy that happened to make a similar point. A tower in Siloam had fallen and 18 people had died because of it. There was a feeling that this happened because those people that died were somehow bigger sinners than everyone else and that God was punishing them. Jesus said don’t think they are more guilty than you are. He says that’s not the truth and tells them that if they don’t repent they are going to die too. He reminds them in the midst of a tragedy that we are all going to face death one day and that we need to repent and turn our lives over to God. Isn’t he great at turning everyday events and putting them right back in our face…demanding a response from us when we thought we were just talking about someone else?
Tragedy reminds us of just how important our relationship with God is.
3. We learn that we will really never know “Why?”
When tragedy happens, what’s the first question we ask…”WHY?” In this life, we may never know the why of everything, especially things like this. If you have a chance to talk with people that are asking Why…why did God let this happen? Why is there such suffering in this world? You can be honest with them and tell them we don’t always know the why…but we do know the what. What are we supposed to do now? You can encourage them to turn their lives over to the shelter that will be with them during and bring them through tragedy. This isn’t heaven and we can’t expect it to be like heaven.
One thing we do know is that bad things happen in a fallen world. In a world full of sin, bad things are going to happen. That’s why we must hold on so desperately to the only one that can rescue us from sin. That is Jesus Christ.
The greatest tragedy in this world has nothing to do with hurricanes. The greatest tragedy is that the vast majority of our world is headed for hell without a relationship with God and we know how to help them, yet many times we don’t do anything about it.
4. We learn that we must fix our hope on a place free from tragedies!
Hebrews 12:28 says, “…since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe…”
There is a place where there are no hurricanes, no flooding, no need for helicopter rescues, no downed power lines. There is a place where there is no tragedy, no pain, no loss, no sorrow, no poverty. That place is heaven, that kingdom is the kingdom of God. We must focus our lives on that kingdom.
There’s nothing like having everything we have ripped away from us before we realize that everything we had wasn’t all that important. If our life is all about God and eternity, then we aren’t ruined when tragedy happens here. This place wasn’t our home anyway. The problem comes though when we get attached to the things of this world.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose.” We must not be attached to the things that we cannot keep anyway. Be attached to God, be focused on his kingdom.
Okay, I want us to go to the Scriptures. We are going to look at an example from the Old Testament and an example from the New Testament to learn what our response should be to tragedy. Would you open your Bibles with me to Nehemiah 1 and Acts 11? We are first going to read from Nehemiah and then turn quickly to Acts 11.
Let’s close by answering our second question…
WHAT CAN WE DO IN TRAGEDY?
Nehemiah 1:
The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
5 Then I said: "LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my ancestral family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ’If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." I was cupbearer to the king.
We see this wonderful prayer of Nehemiah, which deserves more and closer study than we can give it this morning. To understand this event and this prayer, you have to understand a bit of history. The Jews from Judah and Jerusalem had sinned and turned their backs on God. So, God sent Babylon to judge them and they were carried away into captivity. Jerusalem was destroyed and laid in ruins. A group of men had come from Jerusalem and Nehemiah wanted to know the state of affairs of the city, he wanted to know what had happened and here was their response…
3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
In other words, tragedy. Tragedy in Jerusalem. And what is Nehemiah’s response?
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
What can we do in tragedy?
1. The first thing that we must do is PRAY!
We do a great injustice to hurting people when we do not pray for them. This was Nehemiah’s first and most natural response to the tragedy he was facing. He went to prayer. When people are facing tragedy, when we are facing tragedy, we must pray. Why? Remember that first point we said a while ago, that we learn from tragedy that God is in control. We can pray and trust God because he is in control.
There’s more than just a hurricane going on in our world. A week ago today in Sash, TX a deranged man walked into the local Assembly of God church and shot and killed the pastor and another church member and then two other random women passing by and eventually himself. There is a church hurting right now and a widow left behind grieving for her husband. We must pray.
So, what do we do? The only appropriate response would be for us to stop right now and pray.
• Have everyone stand and pray for Sash A/G and hurricane victims.
Okay, remember when I told you to hold your place there in Acts 11? Well, let’s turn there and look at our New Testament example of what we must do in tragedy.
The first group of believers had faced a major persecution and it caused them to spread out into surrounding areas. One of those areas was called Antioch. God moved greatly there and many were saved and filled with God’s Spirit. Barnabas and Saul spent quite a bit of time there teaching and preaching and seeing many saved.
Well, it’s in this setting that we see this story in Acts 11:27.
Acts 11:
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the believers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
These believers just heard that a famine was going to happen. It hadn’t even happened yet, but God had revealed to them it was going to happen and they each did what they could and they gave to help the believers that would have to face this famine.
2. The second thing we must do is GIVE!
When tragedy happens and people are in need, those of us who have a home and shelter and food and clothing must do everything we can to help those who don’t.
What can we do, we’re just a small church. Our gifts can’t make a difference. That’s a cop out. If you can’t give much or we can’t give much as a group has nothing to do with whether we are responsible to give and help out.
At the end of service, we are going to receive a special offering to help those who need help with the hurricane. The Assemblies of God has a ministry called Convoy of Hope that has dozens of trailers ready to go into the areas most affected that are full of food and water and supplies for those who need it the most. I want us to be a part of that.
I’m calling this our “Giving Groceries” offering. I would like to ask that every family in our church as a bare minimum, give the cost of one week’s worth of groceries to help hurricane victims. If a week’s worth of groceries costs you $25, then start there. If it costs you $125, then start there. But, I’d like to see every family in our church sacrifice the cost of one weeks worth of groceries to help provide food and clothing for those that have none.
If you can afford to give that this morning, then great. You can mark it on your envelope or check as hurricane or groceries and we’ll know what you mean. If you aren’t prepared to do that this morning, but would be willing to commit to that over the next couple of weeks, would you please mark your envelope as “Hurricane IOU” or “Groceries IOU” and the amount you are planning to give. I’d love to see our church give $1,000 to help out people in need.
Alright, let me mention to other things for you to do in tragedy…
3. The third thing we must do is TAKE ACTION!
Here’s what I mean by this. Praying is taking action in the relief effort. Giving is taking action in the relief effort. But, sometimes God calls us to do more. Sometimes God calls us to physically get involved. If you are able to help the refugees, then let me know and I can help direct you to some people that are helping them, both locally here in Dallas and in Louisiana.
4. The fourth thing I want to remind you about is that we must HELP the hurting around us every day.
There are people facing a personal tragedy around us all the time, it is just that their tragedy doesn’t make it on the news. They may have lost a loved one or are in need of food or clothing or just got laid off from a job or their spouse just left them. There are people hurting all around us every single day, yet we get so busy and don’t realize it.
During times of tragedy, our heart opens up to hurting people, especially if there are people we know in the tragedy, and we suddenly get unselfish and start wanting to help.
My point I want to make here is for you to not become selfish with your unselfishness. What I mean is that it is easy for us to only be unselfish and giving when it is people we love and are close to us. We must be unselfish and giving and allow our hearts to be open all the time to the needs around us.
It will be sometime before we know exactly how many people have lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina. But, did you know that in our world more than 35,000 children die every day of starvation and diseases related to malnutrition? There is tragedy and pain and sorrow and hurting people all around us every single day.
Be someone who is helping hurting people every day, not just when it makes it on the news.
Closing:
I apologize for taking so long, but this is a message that I felt I had to share this morning, one that we need to hear and heed, that we needed to listen to and do.
Have you seen the picture of the two people stuck on a rooftop in the New Orleans areas holding up a sign they made that says, “Help Us!”
There are people all around us that are hurting. They just aren’t holding up “Help Us” signs. Joseph made a good comment several weeks ago. We were having a discussion on prayer on a recent Wednesday night and we were talking about praying for other countries as a way to make a difference in areas we’ll never be able to go to. The difficulty sometimes is to know how to pray. And Joseph said, “When you are praying for another country, the best thing you can pray for is that the church would be the church. Because if the church is what she is supposed to be, that will take care of a lot of the problems.”
I’ve though about that several times since then and I thought about it again last night as I was working on this message. Guess what, friends, it’s time for the church to be the church. Wherever someone is hurting and in need of the gospel and in need of food and clothing and the necessities of life, how dare we sit back in our comfortable homes and watch TV and say, “Oh, what a shame.”
Let me close with some words from the book of James.
15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
Altar Call:
1. I am facing a personal tragedy right now and am in need of God’s help.
2. I know someone involved in the hurricane tragedy or someone else facing a personal tragedy right now.
• Let’s go to these people and pray for this situation. We’ll have offering buckets at the exits for you to put your special Hurricane Katrina Relief Offering in before you leave this morning.
