9/16/2001

Only a person who is hiding in a hole somewhere doesn’t know what has happened this week. People are assuming that I have something to say I suppose and I suppose I am responsible to say something. I really don’t have much to say. I have watched it with you and wondered and wished I knew and wished it hadn’t happened and just sat there in shock and disbelief when it happened. When I first heard about it I was sitting in the office and my daughter called and said “Dad you been listening to the radio at all? And I said, “No” and she said well a plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City”. My first thought was liked happened years ago in the Empire State Building, when a two seater flew into it and that was about it. Shortly after Wendy called and said I’m having trouble tearing myself away from the TV because one crashed into one tower and the other crashed into the other tower and it is obviously not by accident. And so we all agreed on the staff that we would head home and see what is going on here. So, it has been hard to keep your eyes off the news for the last few days.

The first question we always ask is Why? That is normal for us, we always ask that question. Turn to the Book of Job. I don’t think you can go any place else except Job in such a time like this and see a similar but not identical situation. Our hearts go out to everybody who is involved in the cities, either one, Washington DC or New York City. New York City is getting all of the attention because there were so many more there who have been hurt, injured and killed and so we think there first just because of the size and magnitude of the attack there. Our hearts go out to President Bush, it tells us in 1 Timothy we are to pray for our Kings and all who are in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all dignity and all godliness. So we pray for our leaders so that we can live a life that is not disrupted by these kinds of things. And so we need to pray for our leaders as they make decisions and research ways to take action, whatever action they need to take. And so we need to do that.

There is an interesting process, I believe, that goes on everytime something like this happens. It is pretty well illustration in the Book of Job. I am going to read an extended passage. The first whole chapter and then into the second chapter of Job. A very familiar story to you but you may not have read it for awhile and may not realize all the tragedy that he underwent himself, he and his wife. Job, Chapter one. There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, on his day probably meant his birthday, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And it came about, when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.” So you get the picture here of a family that is close. Family got together every birthday and so at least ten times a year they got together for celebrations.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came along with them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it. And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on all the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Hast Thou not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse Thee to Thy face.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord. Now it happened on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brothers’ house, that a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.” while he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died and I alone have escaped to tell you.” Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell on the ground and worshipped. And he said, “Naked, I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth, and walking around on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil.. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. “However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face.” So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and smite Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. Then his wife said to him Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now Job’s three friends had heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes at a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

They probably could recognize almost all of this process couldn’t you in the events of the last week. Job a man who is innocent as can be, by God’s own word, something happen to him that was so tragic that his friends came and sat and just stared for seven days. Tragedy hits in a number of different ways, a number of different means. This time it was not just an accident, not just a hurricane, and it wasn’t just a tornado that struck a small town. It was a deliberate act of terrorism that was meant to destroy as many innocent people as could possibly be destroyed. Job had ten children who had done nothing wrong. He prayed with him, he sanctified them through his sacrifices, he appreciated them, they loved each other, and apparently they loved the Lord and yet they were taken in one day.

The innocent do suffer. There is always that case where the innocent suffer along with the guilty and we don’t always have a reason for that. After the tragedy strikes, of course, shock sets in. I am sure you were with me as you sat in front of the television for listing to the radio, you might have been in the car, I am not sure where you were at the time but it was like you were slack jawed, just standing there or setting there staring at the TV amazed that this thing could happen. Amazed that somebody could do such a thing, realizing of course, as time has gone on that people have taken years to plan all of this and other things and still making threats. That somebody would have the depraved mind that would suggest that this was a thing that ought to be done and yet to call it good. And you seen the pictures of people celebrating in other parts of the world because America had been hurt. So what an awful thing that a man has taken that kind of an attitude. Not only a man but many of his followers have taken that kind of attitude.

Now God says, “Thou shall not murder”. Not only that he says you are to take care of the innocent and you are supposed to be mindful of those who have done you no harm. Much alive that you be at peace with all men. Not only is this person, these people, done contrary to what God said, they have deliberately done so and said we are going to thumb our nose at God and in fact we are going to call it good. Because some of there misinterpretation of there religious beliefs, tell them that they have done a good thing. Now that is not what Islam really teaches but some of them within it believe that to be true. So were are shocked, we just stand there and stare and wonder how could anybody think of doing that? You know we think personally of the fact that I couldn’t harm another person. I couldn’t do that to a person, I couldn’t do anything to hurt a person. It’s just not in me and it’s probably not in you. So, how could people be so depraved that they would determined to do this and plan to do this and trained to do this and set this plan up to do so and then carry it out and even when they were in the airplane. I can’t imagine being a hijacker, being there and seeing all these people knowing that his intent was to use them to kill thousands more. What kind of person does that? Well, we would like to think maybe misguided in his youth, maybe society is at fault, no this is an evil man. God calls it evil, he says “The wrath of God is going to be coming against those who suppress the righteousness of God in untruth and unrighteousness, they suppress the truth of God and unrighteousness”. The wrath of God deservedly comes upon those, of course we can pray for them that God would bring them to salvation. But this thing still needs to be some justice done.

So, what is our response? Our immediate response is fear, isn’t it? Our immediate response is what about me? What happens if, are there are more coming, our there other planes to be hijacked. Of course, you know they arrested people and some of them released and some they have kept for questioning and everyone is now cracking down. My daughter said it is a three hour wait to get onto the base where they are stationed at Fort Leonardwood, Missouri. Her friend is stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia and she said it is a nine hour line to get into the base in Georgia because they have such stringent regulations there. And so it has changed everyone’s life to some degree, some a great degree. So we fear what is going to happen to us next. Is something else going to happen and I’m sure Job thought what next. I have lost all my children, I have lost all my flocks, and now am I going to lose my wife, and am I going to lose my own life and so what is going to happen next? Our response is fear and trepidation and of course, prayer. That is the first thing that people begin to do is pray. The prayer chain goes around and people begin to fall on there knees and say Lord, did you know about this? You need to know about this, if you don’t know, we need to let you know. We need your help here and it is amazing that we have not heard the ACLU complain about the kids praying in school this week. It is a strange thing isn’t it, in fact, in Congress they pray and all the senators and congressmen were at this church service Friday at noon to pray and nobody seemed to be complaining about it. And I bet there won’t be to many protests about the kids praying around the flagpole on Wednesday, even though there are some around the country who used to do that. So we respond by saying somebody up there needs to know about this. We need to go beyond ourselves for help. And we also ask what can we do, how can we help?

That is what’s next of course. The efforts to help, what can we do? We know there are men around here who have gone to New York City. I talked to a man last night who had gone there to help and was there a couple of days, we see pictures in the paper of teams of men and women who have gone out there to help. There is one of our church members at Harrison who is putting together a semi load of things to be sent out there and when we get a little better ideas what we can send I’ll let you know. So if you have some things that can be sent along then we can do that. Of course we knew that there was blood needed and they are saying heavy boots because of the stuff they have to walk on wears the boots out so fast. Sometimes because of the heat sometimes because of the wear and tear on them. So there are a number of things that we can do, practically, to help. In fact this fellow said that people would come down and tell the workers as soon as you are done working come on over to my penthouse and you can stay the night there. We want to Thank You for what you are doing. So many out pourings of help on the scene and people across the world are doing what they can to help. Many offers of help from around the world. Pakistan according to the news last night has given kind of carblanche where we can go over there and use there bases and things if we need to go over and attack and so there are efforts to help of all sorts.

Those are the immediate things, then come the explanations, then the explanations. In the passage we read here in Job you can see that very easily. Huge tragedy happened to Job. His response personally was, the Lord gave it to me , it is his right to take it away if he wants to. Blessed to the name of the Lord. That is all right, the Lord has the power to do that. That is his realm. His wife wasn’t quite the same gracious nature. She said, “Hey curse God and die”. If it happened to me I would. Well, very interesting thing that happens to us. The person who is doing the suffering often is given great grace by God to handle it. But often times those who are looking on and seeing the suffering don’t have the same kind of grace. They don’t see it with the graciousness, sometimes the sufferer is drawn close to God, the observer hates God for allowing it to happen. We dare not do that, it says we have to be very careful that we are not looking upon the suffering and saying God what is the world is wrong with you that this happened? I’ll tell you what God is saying, see what sin does, see what sin does? Sin hurts people, sin hurts innocent people, sin hurts everybody because somebody has thumbed there nose at me. Well, it was not God’s fault. It breaks his heart more that it breaks our heart. Do you realize that Jesus suffered all those things? Maybe not the identical circumstance. Was he rejected by men, of course, he was. Was he injured, did he suffer pain, of course he did. Did he suffer death, of course he did. All the things that we suffer, he has suffered and more. So he knows our pain, he knows our suffering. Not only does he allow the awful things to happen in the world that they do because of sin he suffers in them with us because he has suffered the same and worse. And so God is not surprised about these things, he is not indifferent to these things.

But of course after the shock wears off we say, What can we do to help? What can we do to help? Well, Job’s friends came from miles away and they sat down in shock. Says for seven days they didn’t say a word. What can you say when something like this happens? They just stood there and looked. What can we say, there is nothing we can say. Well, after time somebody has to explain it. Then we have to say, well here is why it happened. Of course, Job’s friends said, Job don’t you understand, since the innocent don’t suffer and you are suffering, guess what? You are not innocent. There must be some hidden sin in your life. Maybe you have been selfish or greedy or immoral or mean to people. You must have done something really big and bad for something like this to happen to you. You must be really rotten, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened cause we know that innocent people don’t suffer. Well, we also know that innocent people do suffer. So have you heard any explanations of why this has all happened? Of course you have. If you watch any of the news programs they have been whole panels of people telling us why this has happened because of this or because of this, because of this. Scott was saying this morning that he was Jerry Falwell on TV saying well, when your nation allows homosexuality to be honored along with other sins and say that they are OK and do all the things that are sinful in God’s eyes and claim that they are good and tolerate and approve these things , what do you expect? Well, when Franklin Graham was on the other day and they said why do you think this happened and he says, I really don’t know, I really don’t know. And so we have people who say I know how it happened, I know why it happened and others who say I don’t why it happened but we can tell you how it happened. We’ll discover the things as we go along. So we begin the explanations, we get Dan Rather telling us what happened, we get Bill O’Reilly, we get Jerry Falwell, we get Tom Brokaw. All the them are asking questions and trying to give some explanation because we need to make some sense of it. We need to make some sense of it. Humanly speaking we need to try and make some sense of it and it is not always easy to do so.

What is the resolution? What is it that really helps? What is it that really helps? Because if I give you a perfectly sound explanation, suppose the Lord came to me and said, Chuck, for the whole world you need to tell them that this is the reason why all this happened. This is why it happened and this is what to do about it. And so I called up my friend Bill O”Reilly, he’s not my friend I just happened to know him on TV. He plays a friend on TV. So, I call Bill O’Reilly up and say, Bill the Lord has given me the answer. I know why this happened, I know what to do about it, I know what the President should do about it, I know what Congress should do about it. I know the real answer. What do you think Bill O’Reilly would say? We will invite you on but since we are fair and balanced we need to get the opposing view on too. And I say, NO, NO, NO, I know the reason, there is no opposing view because I know the whole thing. I can tell you exactly why it happened and what to do about it. Ok come on in and so I tell the world exactly what God told me and here is exactly what we should do about it. And what would the worlds response be? They would all say, “Oh finally we understand”. Right, not at all they would say let me think about it or they would say, Nah, he is all wet.

In fact I listened to talk show on the way home from Lansing the other night and there was two guys, you know late night on AM you get stations from all over the country and this was from Cleveland, I think, there were two guys on, don’t know there names, never heard them before. It was a call in show where you expressed your opinion. Of course, they were saying things about the Islam and about Christians and all these things about how this stuff is somewhat religious but somewhat not and that sort of thing and so a guy called in and said, Guys I think you are all wet and I think you need to understand that this is primarily a religious thing. He says, remember Abraham had two sons, Ishamel from whom the Arabs came and Isaac from whom the Jews came. And the Bible says they are going to be at odds with each other down through the centuries and they have been. And immediately, do you know what they said? They didn’t say, Oh good, thanks for telling us. They said Ok kook you can get back in your bunker now. And so they hung up on him and there comments were, “Well, you know up until this guy called we were pretty proud of the American people”. But this kook calls in and man oh man what a bunch of weirdoes. Guess what the Bible says Abraham had two kids, Ishamel and Isaac. From Ishamel came the Arabs and from Isaac came the Jews and they are going to be at war with each other all the time. And so it was a perfectly laudable explanation and they said he was a kook. So if I came on the TV and said this is exactly what happened and this is what to do about it, I would be labeled a kook most likely. So we will not get an answer and in fact if we did get an answer we would most likely reject it. So what is the resolution? See why is not the question, guess we will always question the answer.

Last week, Tuesday morning, President Bush was in Florida. When he left Florida it looked like he headed this way and then immediately took a turn to the west and then further west and eventually back to the White House. We understand that there was a threat on Air Force I and so they wisely avoided a threat. But he got complaints about that because he was not in Washington where he needed to be to help run the country. Do you know what I think the problem was? I think people need to know that the guy in charge is on the scene. The guy in charge is on the scene. He may not have an answer, he may not pull all the bricks and blocks and cement off people. He may not lift a hand to do any of those things but we need to know that the person who is responsible for fixing things knows about it.

George Pakita, the Governor of New York and Rudolph Giuliani have been on TV regularly saying, “we know what is going on we have been working on it. We are going to be doing things”. President Bush is on regularly saying where is what we are about. That gives the American people comfort to know that the guy who is in charge on the local scene, or on the national scene know about it and is working on it. We don’t need to know all the answers, we just need to know that they know. That’s what prayer does isn’t it. Prayer says God we don’t know if we would accept the answer you gave us, we don’t know if we are ever going to get an answer. Job never got an answer, but at the end of the book guess who shows up. God shows up and says, “You know Job you are not God, I am.” Never tells him why this happened at all. We still don’t know why it happened. There is no explanation given but it brought Job and his three finally four friends great comfort to know that the God who cared, the God who was in charge was on the scene. That is why people go to church in times of trouble like this. They want to know that God knows. They may not get an explanation we may never know why these things that place. We may not always agree about what is done about it. We need to know that God is on the scene. We need to know the presence of God. That is why for me just the songs this morning were enough. Do you know why? Because it said God is still alive, God is still present, God is not unaware. He knows what is going on and he can fix it in the long run. And he gives wisdom in the short run. We just need to know the presence of God. So the question is not why? The answer is who. Are we experiencing the presence of God? Are we confident in his presence and in his knowledge, and in his power to forgive. He power to fix. The power the change peoples lives. That is the question is Why but he gives the answer me. We say why and he says, Me.

We know from the Gulf War, we know from every tragedy that has ever happened down through the history that people run to God in times of adversity We know from the Gulf War, they did research on this, George Barner and other researchers said, Within a few weeks of the Gulf War beginning people flocked to the church. But the Gulf War ended fairly soon and within six months all those who had come to the church, left the church. Because they came only to try to get things fixed. We don’t want people to come to church because they want things fixed, we want people to come to church because they want the presence of God in there lives. And that needs to be a continual, ongoing, life long experience. We need to know Christ. Who is our foundation, who is our rock, who is our Savior? And so our coming today means I want the presence of Christ in my life from this day forward. Whether we get an answer why is not the question. The question is do you have him in our lives.

Let’s bow in prayer:

Father we know that you are the answer. You said we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. You are the eternal God. You are the eternal Savior. You are the one who knows everything and can do everything. Father we don’t understand why sin is allowed in this world, we don’t understand all those things. We don’t know why this person or these people would do such things. Our heart goes out for those people who are hurt, those ones who are now recovering, for families who have lost loved ones. Father for President Bush and his cabinet and others who need to make decisions. Father we do pray and you said that praying is help. So Father we are helping through our prayers. So help us to do that first of all not last but do that first. Father also help us to bring to mind the fact that you are the answer, not answers are the answer. You are the answer. That we might come to you and know your presence. Know your presence in our life so that when these things happen or good things happen that we look to you and thank you for the good things and praise you even in the bad things. Because you truly are our life, you said our life is hidden in Christ. Father help us to hide our life in you and give us direction. Give us direction for how we can help, how we can pray, how we can console people, how we can share Christ with people. Give us those practical directions, Father. Help us to know first of all that you ,the man in charge, the God in charge is really on the scene and give us comfort in that.
We ask it in Jesus Name. Amen

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