Rev. David Holwick ZC
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 10, 2017
Luke 17:26-30
THEN THE FLOOD CAME
I. What do natural disasters mean?
A. I have been out of the "news loop."
1) Celeste and I have returned from a 6,600-mile roadtrip.
a) I lost track of the days of the week.
b) Many of the places we were in had no internet;
sometimes not even cell service.
2) I got very little news but we did hear about the flooding in
Houston - and saw the price of gas skyrocket overnight.
B. The Bible has a perspective on it.
1) A preacher on Vinalhaven Island in Maine gave a message on
what natural disasters mean in a biblical worldview.
a) The preacher believed natural disasters always have a
spiritual reason.
b) He didn't say what the reason was for Houston.
2) I was concerned that this theme would be old news for
today's sermon, but God has conveniently lined up
another three hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.
3) I shouldn't be light-hearted because it affects people
we know.
a) I visited someone this Thursday who showed me the
satellite view of his brand-new house - one house
in from the beach at Jupiter Island, Florida.
b) My step-mother is in Clearwater, which may get a direct
hit. She has decided to stay in her condo instead
of evacuating. She asked me to pray for her.
C. Most of us will experience disaster at some point.
1) We have already had a mega-hurricane here, Sandy.
a) Irene wasn't bad, either.
2) Destruction was widespread but random.
a) Some didn't lose power, while others lost it for weeks.
b) Some had trees fall on their houses, while others had
no damage.
c) But everyone realized something dramatic had happened.
II. How do you handle the questions disasters raise?
A. There are people who attribute it all to God's will.
1) God's plan includes good and bad for us, and we must
submit to it.
2) In 1635 a terrible hurricane hit New England.
Scientists estimate it was one of the top five.
A Puritan named Anthony Thacher was on a ship with his
wife and children near Cape Ann, Massachusetts.
The sails were shredded and the anchor cable broke.
Thacher wrote,
"It pleased the Lord to send a mighty storm.
Consider my misery, who beheld the ship broken, the
water in her and violently overwhelming us, my goods
and provisions swimming in the seas, and mine own
poor children so untimely (if I may term it so
without offense), before my eyes drowned..."
As a good Puritan, Thacher believed that whatever
happened was according to God's plan - the storm
and even the death of all his children.
There is no such thing as an "untimely" death since our
day to die is determined by God before creation happened.
Thacher and his wife were the only survivors from the ship.[1]
B. Others see tragedies as random and meaningless.
1) Bad stuff happens. Tough!
2) To many, attributing disasters to God makes him look bad.
C. I think the Bible's answers are not as cut-and-dried as
many Christians assume.
1) I would like to explore some of these principles.
III. Natural disasters are not beyond God's control.
A. Many passages speak of God sending storms and calamities.
1) God created nature and he directs it according to his will.
2) Jesus himself had the power to calm a storm with a command.
B. In the Bible, God uses disasters to punish people.
1) The purpose of Noah's flood was to wipe out the bad people.
2) God sent the plagues on Egypt to punish Pharaoh for not
letting the Jews depart.
C. He also uses disasters to send a message.
1) The prophets often attribute plagues and droughts to God.
a) For Amos (4:7), the message in the disasters was that
the people needed to repent and come back to God.
b) For Haggai (1:9), the message is that they were
dragging their feet on rebuilding the temple.
2) 2 Chronicles 6:26-31 is a classic passage:
26 When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain
because your people have sinned against you, and
when they pray toward this place ... and turn from
their sin because you have afflicted them,
27 then hear from heaven and forgive... Teach them the
right way to live, and send rain on the land....
IV. The theological problem with disasters.
A. Disasters have a heavy hand.
1) The innocent and guilty are swept up together.
a) This causes many to question how a good God can be
behind it. If he is, he is mean.
b) Several articles on the internet already ask where God
is in the midst of all this disaster.
2) Even believers in the Bible expected God to hold to a
higher standard.
a) When Abraham heard about God's plan to destroy Sodom
and Gomorrah for their sin, Abraham make a very
modern-sounding protest.
b) In Genesis 18:25 he says,
"Far be it from you to do such a thing - to kill the
righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous
and the wicked alike.
Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the
earth do right?"
3) Jesus noted that the sudden fall of a stone tower did not
kill the worst sinners in town, but a random assortment.
a) Therefore, not every disaster is targeted at sinners.
B. Disasters are ambiguous.
1) If a disaster has a message, who can tell what it is?
a) What is the message of Hurricane Harvey and Houston?
b) It depends on who you ask.
1> Pastor John McTerman says Hurricane Harvey happened
because God is systematically destroying America
out of anger over "the homosexual agenda."
Ann Coulter pointed out, tongue in cheek, that
Houston's mayor is a lesbian.
2> From the other side of the political spectrum, a
Tampa University professor tweeted that God was
punishing Texans for voting Republican.
He subsequently expressed regret, but was fired
anyway. [2]
2) Our own choices can make disasters worse.
a) Climate experts think the message of Houston is that
you shouldn't pave all the prairies.
1> However, when you get four FEET of water, even pure
prairie doesn't help a great deal.
b) They do make a valid point, however - some disasters are
magnified by our poor choices.
1> In the old days, people didn't build houses right
on a beach.
2> We do, and then wonder why storms wreck them.
3) Consider some personal disasters.
a) If your marriage breaks up, don't blame God if you were
caught having an affair.
b) Many disasters are self-inflicted.
C. Not every disaster is a punishment or a message.
1) Sometimes they are an opening for something good.
a) In John 9, Jesus was asked why a well-known blind man
had been born that way.
1> The disciples figured someone had sinned, either
the man or his parents.
2> Jesus said it wasn't a punishment but an opportunity
to show the power of God. The he healed him.
3> The man became a bold witness for Christ.
2) Disasters can be opportunities to serve and love.
a) We can turn bad into good.
b) In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the hero helped
someone who had been robbed and beaten.
1> He helped, at personal cost and maybe danger, even
though the one he helped would have despised him.
2> Jesus wants us to serve others like this.
A> The recent hurricanes have generated stories
of average people rescuing their neighbors.
B> I even heard of a caravan of monster trucks
bringing supplies through high water.
c) The biggest aid organizations have Christian roots.
1> The Salvation Army and the Red Cross grew out of
Christian principles.
2> It is good and wise to support them.
3> We don't have to understand everything, to help.
V. How should we take our own disasters?
A. It can help to take an assessment of your life.
1) Are you committing an obvious sin? Repent!
2) Are you making foolish choices? The Bible says wise people
consider the consequences before taking action.
B. Understand that many things are not in your control.
1) The ancient Christian leader Origen said that through
suffering we understand our own weakness and dependence
on God. [3]
2) Big disasters are a good reminder of how small we are.
C. Disasters are reminders that life is short.
1) One couple left California because there were too many
earthquakes.
They moved to Missouri - and were killed by a tornado. [4]
2) We cannot always avoid disaster, but we can still have hope.
Jesus says in John 16:33,
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have
peace.
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world."
VI. The biggest disaster is yet to come.
A. The second coming of Jesus will catch many short. Luke 17:26
1) Jesus says most will be focusing on ordinary life - meals
and weddings and business.
2) And then total destruction will descend.
a) The book of Revelation reveals many details of events
in the atmosphere and the oceans and the land.
b) People will try to crawl into caves to die, but they
won't reach out to God, which is what he wants.
c) What will you do?
B. Will you be swept away?
1) The only solution is to turn to God before it is too late.
2) God does not want to destroy you, but to save you.
a) Jesus experienced his own disaster when he died on a
cross.
b) He did it because he loves you.
c) Do you love him back?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
1. Jeremy D’Entremont, “Great Shipwrecks of the Maine Coast” (Carlisle,
Massachusetts: Commonwealth Editions, 2010), p. 2-3.
2. Mathew Schmalz , “Are natural disasters part of God’s retribution?”
September 6, 2017; <link>.
3. ibid.
4. Dr. Erwin Lutzer (interview done in 2011), “Where is God in Natural
Disasters?” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, April 30, 2014;
<link>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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