Category Archives: Tragedy

Would you DIE for the GOSPEL?

This weekend, a segment of my sermon will focus on the phrase “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”  Over and over in my mind, I keep asking myself, what does it look like for someone to not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?  After pondering this thought for several days, I believe there are three encounters that will determine whether or not we are ashamed. 
    
Encounter #1: If we face DEATH because of our faith,  will we decide that life with Jesus in heaven is more important than this earthly life?  This encounter with death is foreign to 99.9% of American Christians.  At this point in our nation’s history, we do not have to chose between following Jesus and waking up to see another day.  But many of the early Christians faced the reality of dying for their faith.
 
Those closest to Jesus Christ when He was walking this earth were so convinced that Jesus was the Son of God (a.k.a. God Himself) that they were all willing to die for following Him.  Take for example, the apostles of Jesus.  All, except for John, were killed.  According to church tradition, here is how all twelve of the apostles died (note that Matthais replaced Judas).
 
Peter was considered the leader of the twelve, but during the final hours of Jesus’ life, he denied Jesus three times and finally deserted Jesus so that he would not be killed along with Jesus.  But something happened to this coward.  The resurrection account in Luke shows us that Peter didn’t even believe the women when they told him that Jesus was raised from the dead.  He ran and found out for himself.  Guess what? Peter showed up in Jerusalem preaching boldly, at the threat of death, that Jesus was the Christ and had been resurrected.  Tradition teaches us that Peter was crucified upside down (he requested to be upside down on the cross because he didn’t think he was worthy to be crucified exactly like his Savior).  What transformed him so dramatically into a bold lion?  He saw the resurrected Christ!  Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross.  James (son of Zebedee) was killed with the sword.  Interestingly, John faced martyrdom when he was placed in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to what is now modern-day Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.  Philip was crucified.  Bartholomew was whipped to death, then placed upon a cross to show everyone he died.  Doubting Thomas said he wouldn’t believe that Jesus was raised from the dead until he had put his finger in the nail prints.  Thomas later died a martyr’s death for Christ by having a spear thrust through him.  Was he deceived?  He bet his life he wasn’t.  What changed Thomas?  He saw the resurrected Christ!  The ex-tax collector Matthew was killed with a sword.  James (son of Alphaeus) was crucified.  Thaddaeus was killed by arrows.  Simon was crucified.  Matthais, the one who replaced Judas, was stoned and then beheaded.
Each of these men were willing to die for the gospel message because they had no doubt that their eternal home was secure in heaven.  They were not “ashamed of the gospel.”  There might come a day when you will be faced with the same question the apostles were faced with: follow Jesus and be killed, or deny Jesus and live your life out here and yet forfeit your eternal life.  I pray and hope that you will have the courage to die for your faith if it comes to that someday.
Encounter #2: If we face RIDICULE because of our faith, will we decide that our reputation with Jesus is more important than what others say about us here on earth?  Many Christians have been mocked and made fun of because they believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I was seventeen years old the first time I was ridiculed for my faith in Jesus Christ.  I was sitting in English class and that day a substitute teacher was leading the class discussion and the topic turned to religion.  He started teaching universalism, the belief that all religions lead to heaven eventually.  I raised my hand and made this statement: “Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.  If someone doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ they will go to hell.”  The room became totally silent.  One of my friends looked at me (who was not a Christian), and she asked me point blank: “So what you are telling me is that if I don’t believe in your Jesus, then I am going to go to hell when I die?”  At this point, I wanted to remain silent.  But something inside of me influenced me to open up my mouth and answer her: “Yes, I do believe that you will go to hell if you don’t place your trust in Jesus Christ.”  Then the substitute teacher chimed in on the discussion.  He looked at me and asked me how I could be so arrogant as to think that this nice girl sitting next to me was going to hell just because she didn’t believe in the right god.  I admitted that it sounded harsh, but I also stated that it was the truth.  I looked her in the eyes and told her that I don’t want her to go to hell, and that God doesn’t want her to go to hell.  But if she never asks Jesus Christ to be the Leader and Forgiver of her life, then she will eventually end up in hell.  The substitute teacher once again “mocked me.”  He scolded me for thinking that Christianity is the only way to heaven.  He said, “That is the problem with some Christians, they think that everyone else is going to hell.  I just can’t accept that kind of religion.”
Soon after this, the bell rang and we were off to another class.  Two things happened after that class.  First, several of this “unsaved” girl’s friends gave me dirty looks and ignored me for a few days.  Second, other students came up to me when we were in the hallway and thanked me for standing up for our faith.  I said to them, “No problem,” but I was angry inside at them.  They were ashamed of the gospel that day in class.  They remained quiet and so one Christian student was mocked and ridiculed by a self-proclaimed philosophy guru who was disguised as a high school substitute teacher.  Even though I was angry at my Christian classmates for not standing up for the gospel with me, I was glad that I was ridiculed.  There is a joy that can be found in standing up for your Savior that cannot be found in anything else we do in life.  We shouldn’t try to do things to be ridiculed, but when it does happen, we should react like the early apostles did when they were persecuted: “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41).
It is my prayer that when my daughters get old enough that they will not be ashamed of the gospel.  Instead, when they are ridiculed for their faith, that they will stand firm and will not back down.  I want to instill within them a faith that will never be shaken, no matter how unpopular they might become.
Encounter #3: Do we become UNEASY around others because their actions do not measure up to God’s standards?  You might find yourself in awkward scenarios when you are with unbelievers because of our faith.  Every Christian has encountered this.  This last fall I helped co-coach my daughter’s soccer team.  The other coach on the team got really mad one practice at the players and said a couple curse words in from of them.  This made me really uneasy.  So, I confronted her when the kids were running laps at the end of practice that I really didn’t want her to curse in front of them anymore.  And then I felt led to say this to her: “If you need to curse in front of me, I can handle it.  I don’t like it, but I can handle it.  But I really don’t want my daughter and the other kids learning words like that as part of their vocabulary.”  She agreed and apologized and her husband, who was there said that she shouldn’t be cussing in front of a pastor anyway.  I responded: “Don’t worry about me, worry about God.  I am not the holy one, God is the holy one.”  We all laughed.
It would have been really easy for me to just bite my lip and act like the curse words were no big deal.  But they were a big deal because one of them used the Lord’s name in vain.  I can handle a number of curse words, but not that one.  To not stand up for my God in a situation like that is to be ashamed of the gospel.
I write these things because for every Christian who is obnoxious about their faith and is too “in your face” about his or her faith, there are 1,000 Christians who keep their light hidden for no one to see.  I wonder why that is?  Why are so many Christians so silent about their faith?  It is my prayer that the next time you encounter uneasiness, ridicule, or maybe even death because of the gospel, that you are not ashamed!

9-11

I remember the precise place I was at when the twin towers were attacked on September 11, 2001.  Most of us do.  I was sitting in a Hardees fast food restaurant with a pastor and another elder.  At first, when I heard the report, I thought that a mere single pilot plane hit one of the towers, but before long, I realized that it was an extreme attack upon our freedom as a nation.  In order to remember this day and honor all the people who lost their lives in this tragedy, I would like to ask a few questions and then try my best to answer them.

Who did this to us?  Some people said that God did this to us.  Those people blame it on the moral and spiritual decline of America.  They say that God is judging the evil in this land.  But we should state that there is a lot of good in America also.  For example, who is usually the first one on the scene to help when disaster strikes somewhere in the world?  Overall, America is really a great place to live.  I can’t think of another nation that I would like to call my home.  I am grateful beyond measure that God has allowed me to be born and to live in America.  America has it problems, but we sometimes forget all the great things about America and all the great people America has in it.

Other people blame it on our security letdown.  We have foolishly thought that oceans and wealth and military muscle create an impeccable shield.  Among our proudest possessions were the targets of the attack—the World Trade Center and the Pentagon—and the instruments of the attack—our sleek transcontinental airliners.

But we cannot and should not make the conclusion that God did this to us.  God did not do this.  Not for a second.  Some angry, hate-filled men energized by Satan did this.  Then, why did God allow this to happen if He is a God of love?

Humans have freedom to do what they want.  God could have stopped it, but if we want to live in a world in which God stops us from hurting one another, then we have to live in a world where there is not true choice.  We live in a world full of evil.  Evil was around us on 9-11 whether we are speaking of the explosive reality of commercial airliners slicing into gigantic buildings and snuffing out the lives of several thousand people, or the silent reality of tens of thousands of the world’s children dying of hunger-related causes on the same day.

We try to explain it away by stating that the evil doer had bad genes or abusive parents or that it was just extreme, fanatical thinking.  And while there is a point for the causes of evil, we must insist that evil happens because people choose to do evil.  This was the terrorists’ fault.  Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were trying to hijack Islam for their evil purposes in much the same way that Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich sought to hijack Christianity for their evil purposes.  The purposes of both were evil, genuinely evil.

How could God bring good out of this tragedy?  There are at least four different “good things” that have come from 9-11.  First, God got our attention, at least for a little while.  In the first year after the attacks on 911, tens of thousands of people went back to church.  But researchers say that after that first year, almost all of those people had dropped out of church.  What does this tell us?  It could mean that the church didn’t answer the people’s most heart wrenching questions.  But it could also be telling us something about the human race; that we only want God to be around us when we need His help.  In a time of trouble, we call out for God, but after that, it is as if we tell Him that we don’t need Him anymore.   

Second, this tragedy reminded us that we need God.  God promises to protect us when we ask Him to dwell with us.  God promises that if you are walking with Him, it doesn’t matter who comes against you, you will always win.  But if you are not walking with Him, it doesn’t matter how small the enemy is, you will always be defeated.

If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:9-11).

On June 25, 1962, it became illegal to pray in school.  This is one of the reasons I love that our church hosts a Christian school here.  Every day our teachers can openly pray with their children in the classroom.  They are all taught the Bible every day.  What public school would allow a teacher teach the Bible to their students?  But when we have asked God to exit our lives, how can we expect Him to be there to protect us when we really need Him?

Third, this tragedy showed us who the real heroes are.   They are not sports figures.  They are not Hollywood celebrities or people who control wealth.  The real hero is the police officer and  the firefighter who risk their lives saving others.  Every day, our firefighters, policemen, teachers, and other public servants make a difference in this world.  They should be shown honor and respect.

Fourth, God has shown us what (and who) really matters.  Who did the people in the last seconds of their lives—in a building, on a plane—call?  Not their stockbrokers, not their financial advisors.  They were calling the people they loved.

Was God at work during this tragedy?  Absolutely.  God protected many people that day.  Pastors in Manhattan and the surrounding areas of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, and across the river in New Jersey talked together after the event and found a common denominator: an enormous number of people were late to work that day.  In our daily hurry, it’s important for us to stay in touch with the Lord.

God had some Christians on assignment that day.  He knew that they would die, but they would be sharing their faith to nonbelievers in the last few moments of their life and those nonbelievers would call out to God for salvation.  Just think of how a “fired up” believer could lead others to saving faith in Jesus Christ if they all knew they only had a few minutes left on earth.

 It is a miracle that so few people died in the attacks.  Just read these facts:

  • Over 18,000 people were evacuated from the two 110 story buildings in under two hours.  That was 90% of those who were in the buildings when the two planes hit.  In 1993, when the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists setting off a bomb in an underground garage, it took 6 hours to evacuate.  What if it would have taken 6 hours to evacuate?
  • If the two planes would have crashed just before lunchtime, 50,000 people would have been at their desks and workstations.
  • At the Pentagon, where as many as 30,000 people work, only 125 people died.  When American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, it struck at the only place in the huge complex that had recently been rebuilt—an area in which the walls were reinforced with bulletproof material inside the masonry.  A veteran pilot could not have picked out that exact spot even if he had been trained to do it.  Many of the offices in that area were vacant.
  • United Flight 93 heading for San Francisco was almost an hour late and crashed into Pennsylvania because the passengers got word from cell phones that the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit.  Two of the last words recorded from that flight were those of a Christian stockbroker Todd Beamer, who was overheard urging fellow passengers, “Let’s roll.”
  • American Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, was really heading for the Whitehouse.  The reflection of the sun made it difficult for the terrorists to see.  Therefore, the terrorists circled the capital and headed for the Pentagon.

These facts teach us that God showed us mercy.  The total number of people who could have been inside the twin towers and the Pentagon is 80,000.  The total number who died was approximately 3,000.  Even though that number is about one thousand people more than died at Pearl Harbor in 1941, it still represents only 4% of the total who could have lost their lives.

 It is possible that you have heard about Genelle Guzman-McMillan.  She was the last survivor of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.  Allow me to tell her miraculous story.  She arrived a little after 8:00 a.m. on that infamous day and rode the elevator to her job on the 64th floor of the north tower.  Thinking it was safe to stay, she didn’t attempt to leave the building until after the second plane hit.  But after the second plane hit, she started racing down 51 flights of stairs in high heels.  She stopped for a moment on the 13th floor and as she bent down to remove her shoes, the north tower collapsed on top of her.  Let Genelle tell you what happened next.

“One hundred and ten floors were coming down around us.  I knew I was being buried alive.  The noise was deafening…When I woke again I told myself I had to do something.  But what could I do?  ‘God, you’ve got to help me!’  I prayed.  ‘You’ve got to show me a sign, show me a miracle, give me a second chance.  Please save my life!’  My eyes were so caked with grime that the tears couldn’t come, but I felt it in my heart.  I was talking to God as though He were right there.  I told Him I was ready to live my life the right way.  ‘Lord, just give me a second chance, and I promise I will do your will.’  Then the next day I heard a beep-beep sound like a truck backing up.  I called for help, but there was no response…Finally someone hollered back: ‘Hello, is somebody there?’  ‘Yes, help me!  My name is Genelle, and I’m on the 13th floor,’ I cried, not realizing how ludicrous the information about my location must have sounded, coming from a pile of rubble…I could see a bit of daylight coming through a crack, so I stuck my hand through it…I stretched my hand out as far as I could, and this time someone grabbed it.  ‘Genelle, I’ve got you!  You’re going to be all right.  My name is Paul.  I won’t let go of your hand until they get you out.’”

 Genelle prayed to the God she had ignored for most of her life.  After twenty-seven hours she was pulled out of the rubble and then spent five weeks in the hospital recovering.  Afterward, she tried locating Paul, the man who had held onto her hand until she was rescued.  Later, when she asked about him, her rescuers assured her: “There’s no one named Paul on our team…nobody was holding your hand when we were removing the rubble.”  Despite the fact that her story has been told on Oprah, CNN, in Guideposts and Time, no one named Paul has ever stepped forward to take credit for rescuing her.  Was Paul an angel of God’s presence, assuring her that all would be well?  Did God send a ministering angel to her?  I believe He did.

What is our responsibility twelve years later?  There are two main things that we can do. First, we should pray.  “The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Peter 4:7).  For the people who died on September 11, 2001, the end of all things was near for them.  Their end was that day and then they started eternity either in heaven or in hell.  But don’t wait for the final moment of your life to pray.  Begin praying to God today.  Prayer is a real conversation with a real person.  I challenge you to pray throughout your day.  Prayer is what keeps us sharp spiritually and helps us stay alert to our surroundings.  Just as many people on that day where listening to God and avoided the tragedy, is there a tragedy you can avoid by listening to God?  Or, you can listen to God while you are in the midst of a tragedy to help people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Second, be the light to a dark world.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).  Two thousand years ago, God let angry, hate-filled men, energized by the devil, kill His only Son.  He knows our heartaches and outrage.  He turned His Son’s death into the redemption of the world.  Worse times are possibly ahead of us.  But it is not a time to be afraid.  It is a time to shine your light in a dark world.  This world can be a dark and evil place to live.  That is why God wants us to be a light wherever we go.  In our workplace, we must be a light.  In our schools, we must be a light.  In our communities, we must be a light.  Will you commit to being a light for this dark world?