America Under Attack
Today, September 16, is dramatically different than last Sunday. Today is different because the United States of America has been attacked. Not only have thousands of innocent people died from these horrific acts of terrorism, but our entire society has been turned upside down. It even tests our faith itself.
By lunchtime last Tuesday I knew that this Sunday would be different than all other Sundays. I knew that I couldn’t preach what I had written weeks ago. It just didn’t seem right. This was too significant of an event, for me as well as you.
As I prayed about what I should talk about, it occurred to me that many of us might have questions about what has happened. Not questions of who the terrorists are and how they pulled it off, but questions that revolve around our faith.
“Why has God allowed this to happen?”
“How can people do something this horrible to each other?”
“How can we make sure that these terrorists receive justice?”
“What do we, as Christians, do now?”
God Is Till On The Throne
Let’s begin by answering the question of “Why has God allowed this to happen?”
This is not a difficult question in which to answer, it’s an impossible question to answer. If we wanted, we could speculate all day. Maybe it’s because He wants to punish us for removing prayer out of our schools. Or maybe it’s because we allow pornography on our television sets and movie screens. Or maybe it’s the beginning of the end times and the Tribulation’s about to start. On and on it goes.
The bottom line is this: we don’t know why this has happened. Our curiosity will only be satisfied when we’re in the presence of the Lord in heaven itself. » I Corinthians 13:12
While it’s human nature to wonder why all of this has happened, I believe we must resist trying to figure things out that we cannot, in our humanity, fully grasp or understand.
God’s sovereign and does whatever He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it. In fact, He has an ultimate plan and He’ll carry it out to completion. And God is and always has been actively involved in our lives. » Isaiah 46:9-11 » Hebrews 13:8
Despite what we may think, and despite how chaotic and horrible everything seems to be, God’s STILL on the throne and He’s STILL in control.
Yes, there’s no question that free will still plays a part in the unfolding of human history, and yes, there’s no question that for some reason He allows things like this to happen, but He’s STILL on the throne. He’s STILL in control.
I don’t know about you, but that comforts me. It comforts me a lot.
“Why has God allowed this to happen?” The answer is we don’t know, but we DO know this: God is still in control.
The Source Of Evil
What about our second question, “How can people do something this horrible to each other?” “How can people do things like murder innocent men, women and children?”
The answer is a simple three-letter word: S-I-N. Sin, which lives in all of us, is the source of evil like that which we’ve just witnessed. Listen to what the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah says about sin and the human heart: » Jeremiah 17:9
Jesus has something interesting to say on this topic as well in Mark 7, so if you’re following along, please open your Bibles to there. This is an important text for us to consider at a time like this. We’re not going to examine it in detail, but it tells us something very important and very specific about the human heart. And as we’ll see, it’s not very flattering. » Mark 7:20-23
Sin lives in the heart of all of us. Jesus says in verse 21 that all kinds of evil and sinful things come out of the heart of man and are acted on, including “murder.” And that’s what we’ve just seen, isn’t it? Murder on a horrendous scale. Sin lives in the heart of all of us. » Romans 3:10-18
The sin that comes out of the hearts like these terrorists is immense because their consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. There’s no fear of God–that is, the TRUE God–in their eyes. Thus, their minds are full of sinful thoughts, sinful attitudes and sinful desires and they believe that what they’ve done is actually a service to God.
They’re hopelessly and tragically deceived, much like the people that Jesus talks about John 16:2. This is the Lord talking to His disciples. » John 16:2
How can someone get this twisted and out of whack with reality? Anybody who’s ever read Romans 1 knows that it starts by denying the one true God and spirals out of control until they’re so far gone that even God HIMSELF gives up on them. Was that the case with these terrorists? Nobody knows but God.
“How can people do something this horrible to each other?” The answer is sin and an unredeemed heart.
God Will Make Sure Justice Is Served
But what about the question of “How can we make sure that these terrorists receive justice?”
Let’s start by saying that God has, indeed, seen what has happened. He’s very much aware of what has happened. » Genesis 4:8-10
Just as Cain’s brother’s blood cried out from the ground, the blood of all the innocent men, woman and children that were killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania is crying out and reaching the ears of God even now.
Let’s look at Romans 12 and see what God says about justice. As we’ll see, the Lord not only sees what has happened, He’s ready to take action. Make no mistake about it, those who take the lives of innocent people-in other words, murderers-will eventually get what they deserve, in this life or the life to come.
The Lord tells us, as individuals, not to seek revenge. That means that vigilantism and lynch mobs aimed at innocent Moslems and Arabs is sinful and wrong. GOD will take revenge as it were, but WE’RE not, as individual citizens, supposed to take revenge. (That doesn’t mean, by the way, that we can’t defend ourselves when attacked. We can.)
My son Jacob and I were in San Diego this last week when everything happened. We had a ton of people praying for us to get home safely and God answered that prayer big time. We were on one of a handful of flights that left San Diego on Thursday, and we arrived in St. Louis late that night.
As we drove to the San Diego airport that morning, however, not sure what was ahead of us, I was struck by something during our taxi ride. The driver was an Arab man (I work regularly with Arabs at work.). I admit that I had mixed feelings about the situation. I was concerned about our safety and prayed that the man wasn’t involved with any terrorist activity. On the other hand, I felt sorry for the man. He had covered up his photo, name and taxi number that were posted on the dashboard.
It was obvious that he knew that many Americans don’t trust Arabs and Moslems right now-and that’s putting it mildly. I suspect that he was trying to avoid being abused.
We must resist lumping all Arabs and all Moslems into these acts of terrorists. Yes, we’re angry and justifiably so, but we must be careful not to persecute those who aren’t guilty. Yes, we must be prudent and take every conceivable precaution and that may mean detaining or inconveniencing those who had nothing to do with any of this–but let’s not persecute innocent Arabs and Moslems the way the U.S. did to Japanese Americans during World War II.
So the Lord Himself will make sure that these terrorists will receive justice, and it may or may not happen here on earth. In might not happen until the Great White Throne Judgment that we read about in Revelation 20.
If it happens here on earth, though, God has sovereignly empowered the United States government to go after them on His behalf. It’s government’s job–not ours, as personal citizens–to mete out justice.
A passage in Romans 13 makes that point. » Romans 13:1-4
Verse one says that “The authorities that exist have been established by God.” In others words, whether we realize it or not, the U.S. government is an agent of God Himself. He established it. And verse four says that our government “does not bear the sword for nothing.” It is “God’s servant an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
The U.S. government has a God-given right to hunt down these terrorists and punish them, and that includes using the sword: that is, capital punishment.
“How can we make sure that these terrorists receive justice?” We can trust God’s Word that justice will be served in one way or another, here on earth or in a future, heavenly judgment. Let us pray, however, that justice comes about, at least in part, by the United States finding and punishing the wrongdoers. There is nothing wrong at all with a prayer asking for the Lord to punish those who have committed such atrocities.
God Will Bring Good Out Of Evil
And finally, what about the question of “What do we, as Christians, do now?”
First of all, let’s remind ourselves that God will bring something good out of these evil and horrific events. Romans 8:28 is unquestionably one of the most profound verses in all of the Bible. » Romans 8:28
As hard as this is for us to believe and accept, God actually turns negatives into positives and bad things into good things. And that includes these horrific terrorist acts.
“We know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him.” God’s so powerful and so ingenious that somehow, someway He takes even sinful things, things like this act of war on America, and turns them into “good” things.
While this may be one of the hardest things for us as human beings to grasp, we must recognize that God will, indeed, bring something good out Tuesday’s events and its aftermath. We may never know what that good is, but it WILL come about. And how do we know that? Because God says so.
One thing that we do know about these kinds of trials is that they test our faith. That is, they prove our faith to be genuine. Turn over to 1 Peter 1 if you want to see that point. If we don’t get embittered and disillusioned and blame God and turn our backs on Christ, it shows that our faith is the real thing.
How we react to crises like these can be very revealing. Do we respond in a godly way or do we blame the Lord for all that has happened and curse His name? Our response to trials like these reveals whether we really believe or whether it’s just a façade.
If we really believe, if we’re really Christians, our foundation may be shaken a bit and we may go through periods of confusion, but at the end of the day it’s still solid. In other words, we remain faithful to the Lord and we live according to His promises and His commands, no matter what may be happening around us. » I Peter 1:6-7
Trials such as these can do more than serve as a barometer of whether we’re really Christians or not. We can actually learn a lot about the Lord, our faith and ourselves during times like these. If we’re willing, God can teach us many things right now. This is clear from James 1:2-4.
Nobody likes to be tested like what we’re going through right now, but God will make sure that something good comes out of it. We can count on it.
But we still haven’t really answered the question of “What do we, as Christians, do now?”
The answer to that is found at the end of Matthew 28. Those of us who have been Christians for a while know them well. » Matthew 28:19-20
Our mission as Christians, both individually and as a church, is the same as it was last week and the week before and week before that. It’ll never change. Never. God wants us to keep focused on “making disciples of all nations.”
You may not realize it, but our mission is perhaps even more important than ever before. Just look around at the non-Christians that are in your life: family, friends, co-workers. Many of them are frightened and confused and searching for something or someone to hang onto. They may be open to the gospel like never before.
When I was in San Diego, I let the Marriott Hotel staff and conference organizers know that I was a part-time pastor and was willing to help in any way I could. They took me up on the offer and arranged for me to spend an hour and a half in a room so I could talk one-on-one with people who were in need of spiritual counseling.
Only three people came, but all of those people needed to talk. And all of those people wanted prayer. And all of those people were frightened for both themselves and their families. One woman in particular cried a lot and was very worried about her daughter back home.
I was also asked to lead a prayer service at the end of the day at the hotel. The conference room was packed with 100+ people. People were frightened. People were vulnerable. People were searching for meaning and hope. And people are still frightened and still vulnerable and still searching for meaning and hope.
The people of Kirkwood, Webster and all the communities around us are full of people just like those that I came across in San Diego.
As Christians, we have what so many people are searching desperately for right now. We know what the future holds, and we know how they can have peace even during times like these.
If we stay on course and love people into the Kingdom of God, then the Lord will, indeed, turn these recent tragedies and turmoil ahead into something good.
Something eternally good.
“What do we, as Christians, do now?” The answer is we keep on doing what we’ve been doing, only we do it better and we do it more. We make disciples of Jesus Christ. We love people. We love them by listening to their concerns and helping them deal with what they’re going through. We offer practical help for those who need it. And we love people by praying with them and for them. And we love people by telling them how much God loves them. Now, more than ever, people desperately need to know that God loves and cares for them.
“What do we, as Christians, do now?” We love people as Jesus Christ loves them.