Questions of Judgment and Mercy:
Tragedy along the Gulf Coast

Pastor Joe Fuiten, September 4, 2005

 

The tragedy along the Gulf Coast has shocked the country.  People never believed they would see such sights in America.  I saw my first pictures last night and they are truly shocking.

Several questions have been asked regarding this situation.  I want to respond to those questions by applying what I know of God and the Gospel to this situation.  I want to divide the discussion into two general areas.  The first are questions related to judgment.  The second relates to love and mercy.

One question always arises, and I heard it many times this week.  Was this an act of God or the judgment of God?  I think many people who are in the midst of the suffering have already renewed their relationship with God.  It is equally true that New Orleans is among the most sinful cities in the country.  It has had the third highest crime rate in America, is home to Mardi Gras, and was getting ready to host a big homosexual convention this weekend called “Southern decadence.”  I remember Linda’s parents’ description of that sordid city when they visited there some years ago for a business convention.  Even though that is true, God did not bring judgment upon those who have sinned.  Heaven and hell will deal with issues of judgment.  This is an age of grace and mercy.  1 Thessalonians 5:9 says “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul said to the Romans that it was the goodness and kindness of God that leads to repentance, not judgment.[1]

If this tragedy was not a judgment of God it is certainly a natural sanction against certain types of behavior.

If you ignore the warnings of government, you lose your authority when demanding governmental rescue.  If I continue to smoke in spite of warnings, I should not complain that not enough is being done to cure lung cancer.

If you shoot at rescue helicopters, your chance of being rescued go down. As the Scripture asks in Heb 2:3  “…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…”  If you ignore or reject salvation, what is left?

A spirit of lawlessness is the work of Satan.  When the door to lawlessness is opened, it is difficult to close.  2 Thessalonians 2:7-10 describes it:  “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

It would be much easier to argue that the storm did not do the destruction as much as poor engineering and public policy.  You can’t build a city below sea level without some risk.  At the very beginning, in Gen 1:28 God gave us the task of subduing the earth.[2]  If we fail to protect ourselves from the earth and its storms and disasters we have failed to subdue the earth.

You can’t use a growth management act to jam people into smaller and smaller spaces without subjecting them to greater disaster when infrastructure suddenly collapses.  As every five-year-old in Sunday School knows, only a foolish person builds his house upon the sand and expects it to survive the falling rain and the rising floods.  The twentieth century saw half the people of the world move from rural areas into the cities.  Having just returned from traveling across the Midwest where small towns are dying, I wonder if the 21st century won’t see a moving away from the cities into smaller and inherently safer communities with the vision of a chaotic and destroyed New Orleans as a major catalyst of that change.

What events like this should teach us is how vulnerable we really are.  We may be a powerful nation, you might be a powerful person, but there are events beyond your control.  It should prepare us for eternity, to humbly call upon God for his salvation.

There is another entirely different and much more practical question in this tragedy.  1 John 3:17-18 the beloved apostle asked this question, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”  Jesus taught that the second great commandment, after love of God, is love for others demonstrated by charitable acts of mercy.  The story of the good Samaritan was told to illustrate that commandment.

I am happy to tell you what is being done to show the love of Jesus to these hurting souls in the Gulf Coast.  A week ago Saturday, before the hurricane actually made landfall, Convoy of Hope trucks were on their way.  They had been involved in the hurricane in Florida last year so they knew what was coming.  They filled the trucks in Springfield out of our warehouses used for this very purpose.  Those trucks were rolling to meet the disaster even before it hit.  Our young people, through Speed-the-Light, paid for the trucks hauling the goods.  Each truck had 40,000 pounds of food and supplies.  In many cities, the Convoy of Hope truck was the first response from the outside world.  As of yesterday, 67 trucks had been sent with the number to reach 100 by tomorrow morning.  Much of the aid has already been distributed or is being distributed as we speak.  More is going to staging bases in Mississippi and Louisiana.

You will remember when Hal Donaldson, the President of Convoy of Hope was here in this pulpit and when Jeff Swaim came.  These leaders were way ahead of almost everyone else anticipating the need and mobilizing to respond.

The response of God’s people showing God’s love and mercy toward each person who is suffering is the will of God in this situation.  When people ask where God is, we show them where he is by the love and mercy that we extend.  In the end, the main story will not be the disaster but the love of God shown through his people.

 

 



 

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

 


[1] Rom 2:4  Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

[2] God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.