How to View a Tragedy, According to Jesus.
- Tragedy can happen to Anyone.
- Tragedy is always Unexpected.
- Tragedy is a wake-up call for the Living.
- Tragedy is a reminder to the Church for Urgency.
Review: Eccl 7:2 | John 3:16
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:02
We've been going through this series in the book of Acts.
00:03-00:05
You receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
00:05-00:06
You'll be My witnesses.
00:07-00:14
Every year, during the summer, I plan the entire next year's preaching calendar.
00:15-00:21
And I've found such great value to study ahead and have an idea of where we're heading and what we're studying.
00:21-00:28
And there's a great value to me and I think there's a great value for us as a church walking through the Scriptures together.
00:29-00:41
And in light of some recent events, again at our elders meeting on Tuesday, I went and talked to my brothers, and the Lord has really just laid it on my heart to step away from the book of Acts for a week.
00:42-00:45
And we're going to be talking about tragedy.
00:46-00:54
In light of the shootings in Orlando last week, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 13.
00:58-01:11
While there's certainly value in having a plan and going through the Scriptures, I also think there's a value in trusting the Holy Spirit when He says, "Hey, this is something that we need to talk about.
01:13-01:15
Every single person in this room is thinking about this.
01:16-01:21
And what does the Bible say?" Turn in your Bibles to Luke 13.
01:22-01:47
The title of the message is "A Biblical Response to Tragedy." As I'm sure everyone knows by now, last Sunday in Orlando, American-born Omar Mateen, after pledging allegiance to ISIS, There were 49 people in a gay nightclub.
01:49-01:53
And if you've been following this on the news, there are so many theories that abound.
01:55-02:02
Some say that he had seen two men kissing and that sent him over the edge.
02:03-02:05
Some say that he was bipolar.
02:08-02:10
There's reports that he was already being watched by the FBI.
02:13-02:15
I'd say it was purely an ISIS attack.
02:17-02:27
But at the end of the day, it was an unthinkable act that leaves more questions than just the attacker's motives.
02:29-02:31
Questions like why do these things happen?
02:33-02:35
Why do these things keep happening?
02:38-02:40
How could God allow something like this?
02:42-02:45
How could we possibly prevent something like this?
02:47-02:53
What can we do in the fallout of such a horrific event?
02:56-03:06
One of the most important questions, if not the most important question that we can ask ourselves is this, what would Jesus say about such a tragedy?
03:08-03:13
And incredibly, in your Bible, There's a parallel incident mentioned.
03:14-03:15
Look at Luke 13.
03:15-03:17
Are you there? Look at verse 1.
03:18-03:20
This is right in the middle of Jesus preaching.
03:22-03:24
And He was interrupted.
03:27-03:45
It says, "There were some present at that very time who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices." I don't have a lot of details of this event, but it's a horrific scene.
03:47-03:50
Some Jews from Galilee were worshipping.
03:50-03:53
They were in the temple offering sacrifices.
03:53-04:04
It must have been Passover because that was the only sacrifice where the worshiper actually had his hands in offering the animal and slaughtering the animal.
04:07-04:17
Conscious pilots sent a squad of soldiers in to slaughter them while they were worshiping in the temple.
04:20-04:35
And the event was so gory, so graphically violent, that it's described as their blood mixed with the blood of the animals that they were sacrificing.
04:37-04:43
under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that's a very classy way of describing how gory the event was.
04:45-04:50
It would be like in our day if we're taking the Lord's Supper as we do regularly.
04:50-05:11
It would be like in our day if we're taking the Lord's Supper and the tray comes around and you reach in to grab that little cup of juice and somebody comes into the school and start shooting to the point that we're bleeding into the communion cups.
05:11-05:22
And the police would describe it as - and the media would describe it as - it was such a bloody scene that the church members' blood was mixed with the communion juice.
05:23-05:25
That's the kind of scene that's being described here.
05:25-05:29
That these people's blood was mixed with the animals' blood.
05:29-05:31
This was such a gory event.
05:34-05:38
So, while Jesus was preaching, some people interrupted Him.
05:40-05:47
And it says they told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
05:51-05:56
And they weren't telling Jesus - for your information, I don't know if you've heard the news lately, but did you hear this was happening?
05:57-05:59
Jesus knew what was happening.
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They mentioned this to Jesus because they wanted to hear what He had to say about something like that.
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But before we go on the text, I want to tell you some things that Jesus didn't say.
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Jesus didn't talk about the weapons involved.
06:20-06:22
Jesus wasn't pro-sword.
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To say, you know, this wouldn't have happened if all of those Galileans had a sword on them, wouldn't have happened.
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And we need to make sure that every Galilean is equipped with a sword and trained with a sword so that they can defend themselves.
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Jesus didn't say that.
06:37-06:40
Jesus didn't call for sword control.
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To say, you know, this stuff wouldn't happen if the government regulated the swords.
06:48-06:52
Jesus didn't say, you know, these people had swords.
06:52-06:55
Some of them were 30 inches in length.
06:55-06:58
And there's no reason anybody needs a sword that long.
07:01-07:11
Wherever you stand on the gun control issue, on Second Amendment rights and all of those things, wherever you stand on that, I want you to see that Jesus didn't say anything about the weapons.
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Nothing about the weapons.
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Nor did Jesus denounce pilots.
07:23-07:30
Jesus didn't say, "The government's the problem." Pilate isn't even an Israelite.
07:30-07:31
Pilate is an idiot.
07:34-07:38
The government is responsible for these senseless massacres.
07:38-07:40
Jesus said nothing about Pilate.
07:40-07:41
Nothing about the government.
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Jesus didn't denounce the worshippers either.
07:49-07:51
Jesus didn't say, "Well, you know Galileans.
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You know how those people can be.
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You know what I mean about Galileans?
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You know what those people were like.
07:58-08:02
That maybe if they didn't act like such, these kinds of things wouldn't happen to them.
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Jesus said nothing about that.
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And again, these people that brought this issue up to Jesus, they didn't even ask a question.
08:14-08:16
But Jesus knew the question that they were thinking.
08:18-08:21
The question is this, What did these people do to deserve this?
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What did these Galileans do to deserve being slaughtered while they're worshiping?
08:30-08:32
I mean, everyone dies. We know that.
08:32-08:34
But to die like this?
08:35-08:36
What's wrong with this picture?
08:37-08:40
How could something like this even happen?
08:40-08:45
And in light of the shooting in Orlando last week, we're asking the same question right now.
08:49-08:56
When we look at Jesus' response, I want you to understand that we're a little detached, because this is an event that happened 2,000 years ago.
08:57-08:59
This is an event that happened on the other side of the planets.
09:01-09:08
But you have to understand as we look at this event, this was to them what Orlando is to us today.
09:09-09:14
A senseless massacre that happens that leaves us asking questions.
09:18-09:21
Can we agree as we go through this text that these are parallel accounts?
09:24-09:35
In both scenarios, you have a wicked madman going into a place with innocent, vulnerable, and unsuspecting people and cutting them down where they stand.
09:35-09:38
Can you see with me that these are parallel events?
09:39-09:42
This was Orlando in Jesus' day.
09:45-09:52
And if you can agree with me that these are parallel events, I think you would also agree with me that we should examine how Jesus reacted.
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Look at verse 2.
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It says, "And He answered them, 'Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?
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No, I tell you.
10:08-10:15
But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.'" What?
10:17-10:21
Doesn't Jesus' response seem a little off?
10:24-10:29
Doesn't Jesus' response seem a little insensitive?
10:31-10:33
Doesn't Jesus' response seem a little harsh, can we be honest?
10:36-10:38
Amazingly Jesus doesn't stop there.
10:38-10:39
Look at verse 4.
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Jesus said, "Are those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?
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No, I tell you.
10:51-10:55
But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
10:58-11:00
Jesus brings up another event that they all would have known about.
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This was an accident at a construction site.
11:07-11:11
There was a lot of building happening in Jerusalem in Jesus' day.
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And they were building this tower and this section of Jerusalem, while they were building it, the tower collapsed.
11:18-11:21
Eighteen innocent people just in the area.
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The tower collapsed and crushed them.
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Jesus brought that up.
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He said, "What do you think about this incident?" Well, these types of events, whether it's accident, or natural disaster, or mass shooting, or bombs.
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These types of events are increasing in severity and in frequency.
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April 20th, 1999, you remember Columbine?
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Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher.
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September 11th, 2001, the terrorist attacks.
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2,996 people.
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We don't have to look back that far to put a list together, do we?
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What about July 20, 2012, Aurora, Colorado?
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James Holmes walks into a movie theater where people are watching the new Batman movie and kills 12 people.
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December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook in Connecticut.
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Adam Lanza kills 20 children, six and seven-year-olds, and six staff members.
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What about April 15, 2013?
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The Tsarnaev brothers, with two bombs, set them off at the finish line at the Boston Marathon, killed three people, and injured 264.
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What about December 2nd?
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Last December 2nd, San Bernardino, California, at the Inland Regional Center, a husband and wife tandem killed 14 people.
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And as I was looking these things up, I gotta be honest with you, church, I was ashamed of myself at all of these ones that I forgot about.
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I was reading through the list and I, remember the black church in Charleston?
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Remember Fort Hood?
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Remember Washington, D.C.?
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Remember Oklahoma City bombings? I'm reading through these.
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These events are happening in increasing severity, increasing frequency.
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We need to be prepared.
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How long do you think it's going to be before something like this happens in the Pittsburgh area?
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How long do you think it's going to be?
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At a sporting event? At a parade?
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How long until that happens here?
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We're impacted by these events happening in California, Connecticut, and Florida.
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What are you going to do when it happens here?
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That's where your outline - I want you to jot some things down and I want you to think biblically.
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This is how to view a tragedy according to Jesus.
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First of all, you're going to jot this down.
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Jesus making an obvious point, first of all, number one, tragedy can happen to anyone.
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The same tragedy can happen to anyone.
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I think the first thing that Jesus points out, the first thing He mentions is very interesting.
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He says, "Do you think that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?" That's an interesting question to pose.
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Why did Jesus say that?
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Because Jewish theology taught - this isn't right theology, this is just something that Jewish people had sort of adopted and embraced - Jewish theology was, bad things happen to bad people.
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And good things happen to good people.
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Right?
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If something bad happens to you, obviously you're not living right.
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And if some blessing happens to you, it's like, wow, you must be doing something right because God is smiling upon you.
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That was Jewish theology.
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Bad stuff happens to bad people.
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Good stuff happens to good people.
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You see this actually in John 9.
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We're not going to turn there, Remember John 9.
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Jesus and the disciples are walking by and they see a man that was blind.
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You remember what the disciples asked Jesus?
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They said, "Who sinned that this man was born blind?
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Was it him or was it his parents?" That was their thinking.
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Obviously, somebody did something wrong that God struck this guy with a curse.
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So Jesus, who was in the wrong here?
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And Jesus said, "It wasn't him or his parents." You can read that account.
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But I want you to see that that was immediately what the disciples went to.
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Who did something wrong here?
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And we still sort of think that way today.
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A lot of people think that way today.
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ISIS applauds the massacre.
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I read something this week - I'm going to share part of it with you, but it absolutely disgusted me.
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There was a pastor in Sacramento, California.
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Pastor Roger Jimenez gave a sermon in response to this massacre.
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He delivered a sermon in which he expressed "support for the tragedy." This pastor got up in front of his church and he said to them, "You don't mourn the death of them.
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They deserve what they got.
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You reap what you sow." Jimenez went as far as comparing the homosexual victims of the shootings to pedophiles and told his congregation they do not need to mourn the loss of the deceased.
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"Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?" Jimenez asked in the sermon, which was later uploaded to YouTube.
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"No." Again, this is a quote from the pastor from his sermon.
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He said, "I think that's great.
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I think that helps society.
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I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight.
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The tragedy is that more of them didn't die.
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The tragedy is I'm kind of upset he didn't finish the job because these people are predators.
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This pastor - and I use the word "pastor" very loosely here, obviously - this pastor continued in his sermon by saying he believes "the government should round them all up and kill members of the gay community." This is wicked thinking.
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This is exactly what Jesus was pointing out.
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Were these Galileans worse than anybody else?
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Jesus said no.
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And I ask you, those patrons in that nightclub in Orlando, were they worse sinners than anyone else?
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How would Jesus answer that?
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Were those patrons worse than anybody else?
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And some would say, "But Pastor Jeff, They were homosexuals.
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Isn't that a sin?
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Well, the fact that these people are gay in this nightclub, that should not make us more outraged at the massacre.
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And it should not make us less outraged at the massacre.
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The fact that that was their sin is completely irrelevant.
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Do you think their sin is worse than your sin?
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Is that what you're saying?
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Do you think because their sin was homosexuality, that's worse than your sin of blotting?
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That's worse than your sin of lying?
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That's worse than your sin of gossiping?
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Are they worse sinners than you?
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Are they worse sinners than me?
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How would Jesus answer that question?
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Tell me.
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Say it.
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Were those gay patrons in that nightclub, were they worse sinners than me?
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No.
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or not.
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And Jesus says, "No, but I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." All.
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All. Tragic death does not happen to just the worst people.
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Jesus was pointing out, hey, you think just because you're alive today, you think you're better than them?
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You think that because they were bad people that God struck them down and you're a good person so God lets you live?
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Wow.
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The truth is tragedy happens to everyone.
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Whether it's a shooting, whether it's a bomb, terrorist attack, wildfire or flood, earthquake, tsunami.
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What about cancer?
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What about a motorcycle accident?
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Tragedy happens to everyone.
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All of these things are tragedy because death is such a bitter event.
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You need to know that whether it's this event with Pilate and these Galileans, whether it's Orlando, whether it's 9/11, whether it's the Boston Marathon, these kinds of things can happen to anyone because that's the kind of fallen world that we live in.
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Okay?
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So let's dispose of the idea as Jesus very quickly did.
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Let's dispose of the idea that bad stuff happened to them because they're bad people.
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Because the truth is, by nature, we're all bad people.
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The only goodness we have is from Jesus Christ.
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Let's get rid of this, "they got what they deserve, they were bad people." Absolutely not.
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They are people in need of God's grace and God's love as much as me and as much as you.
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Because their sin looks a little different than yours and make them worse.
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Tragedy can happen to anyone.
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Secondly, tragedy is always unexpected.
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This is obvious not just from the text, but from experience, right?
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Jesus said, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." I want to talk about those words - likewise perish.
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What was Jesus saying here?
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By saying likewise, was Jesus saying that unless you repent, Are we going to die in a mass tragedy?
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Of course not.
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But I want you to see that Jesus took us to a whole other scenario.
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Here you have Galileans that were intentionally murdered by someone.
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But then Jesus brings up a completely different type of scenario. Why?
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Because the thing with the tower falling, that was just pure what we call accident.
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It wasn't a premeditated attack.
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That was just wrong place at the wrong time.
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Like, how in the world did that happen kind of thing.
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But Jesus is pointing out that whether it's by murder, or whether it's by accident, both cases have this common denominator.
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They were unexpected events.
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We live in a day with social media.
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You can get on Facebook and see everything that's happening right now.
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You can watch a video with natural disasters.
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You can be watching these fires in California.
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I read on a Friday morning, they said overnight, Thursday night, those fires in California doubled to 4,000 acres.
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You can get on your computer, you can get on your phone right now, don't do it, but you can get on your phone right now You can watch videos of a tragedy happening on the other side of the country.
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You can get on social media and you can watch videos of ISIS murdering Christians.
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Those videos pop up from time to time.
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You see whether it's drowning, whether it's beheading, whether it's shooting them in the street.
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You can watch that happen.
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Think about that.
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You can watch that happen Even on your couch.
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Through social media.
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Through the day of mass information, you can watch every instance of police brutality.
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You won't see very much of the millions of daily police interactions with citizens where police are protecting and serving.
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But somewhere, somewhere in some town, there's one act of police brutality which is wrong.
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And you can watch that from the comfort of your couch.
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And despite this mass information and this access we have, we're always shocked.
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Maybe even becoming a little more desensitized because these things are happening so often.
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How many people remember when the Columbine shootings happened?
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How many people remember that?
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Raise your hand.
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Do you remember when that happened?
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Do you remember where you were and what you were doing?
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I remember clearly.
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It was a month before graduation at Bible College, and I remember I was sitting in my car on campus and listening to them talk about it on the radio, hearing this news breaking.
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I remember sitting in my car just completely horrified.
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How in the world can something like this happen?
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How can something like this happen in America?
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It's a school. It doesn't make any sense.
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We see with both of these scenarios that Jesus was talking about, the tragedy was unexpected.
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You can't ever plan for a terrorist attack.
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And I know there's people out there gathering intelligence and making predictions.
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We should be praying that they're able to prevent more of them, but the truth is, they're not going to prevent all of them.
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We can't ever plan for accidental tragedy like the tower falling and crushing 18 people in Jesus' day, or a bridge collapsing in our day.
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The common denominator.
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These people weren't ready.
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You think these Galileans walked into worship thinking this is my last act on the earth?
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You think that there's people walking by the tower in Siloam?
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You think that they thought for a second on the last day on the earth?
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Do you think that these patrons of the nightclub in Orlando knew this was the last thing they were ever going to do?
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Of course not. It's always unexpected.
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A tragedy can happen to anyone.
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It's always unexpected.
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Here's the real point that Jesus is driving to.
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This is the point that Jesus is making.
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Chapter 3, "Tragedy is a wake-up call for the living." See, the first two points are sort of FYI.
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We sort of know these things and Jesus was sort of pointing out these things, but this is the heart of the matter.
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Tragedy is a wake-up call for the living.
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In Ecclesiastes 7.2, Solomon says, "It is better to go into the house of mourning into the house of feasting.
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For this is the end of all mankind and the living will lay it to heart." What Solomon is saying is it's better to go to a funeral than to a party.
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Because at a funeral, you're face to face with man's mortality and you naturally start thinking of your own.
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And that's the spirit behind Jesus' words here.
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This is a wake-up call for the living.
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Everyone.
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Everyone is on borrowed time.
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In fact, that's the point of the very next parable Jesus tells.
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We're going to look at it very quickly.
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We could spend a whole sermon on this, but I just want you to look at this next parable.
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Look down at verse 6.
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As Jesus is driving home this point, listen, you're on borrowed time.
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You're on borrowed time.
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Whether you're sitting here today, you're ten or you're much older than ten.
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and borrowed time.
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And he told this parable - again, it's context, right?
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He says, "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
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And he said to the vine dresser, 'Look, for three years now, I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none.
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Cut it down.
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Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, I'll let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure.
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Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.
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The parable says a lot.
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But the main point - you're on borrowed time.
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You're like that tree.
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If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, You have not repented.
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We're going to talk about that in a second.
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You need to know this.
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Judgment delayed does not mean judgment delayed indefinitely.
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See, just because if you're sitting here today and you don't know Christ, just because you get to experience patience and grace and opportunity now, doesn't mean that that's going to last forever.
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Jesus' words are a little shocking.
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We can think biblically for a second.
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Think biblically.
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The truth is we can't do anything for the dead.
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I don't say that coldly.
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Being a pastor, I've been to more funerals than you.
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And oh, how I wish that I could do something for the dead.
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As you sit in that funeral home and the family and friends are weeping, and you're sitting down and talking with them about this person, and they just wish they had one more day, just wish they had one more conversation.
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I wish, I wish that I could bring that person back and say, "Here you go. Enjoy some more time together." I wish I could do that.
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But I can't.
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I can't do anything for the deceased.
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That's the point that Jesus is driving home.
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You only have a limited amount of time on this earth.
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And that's limited opportunity to get things straight with your Creator.
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To receive the resources, to receive the gift of eternal life that He offers through Jesus Christ.
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You only have a little bit of opportunity to do that.
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Because you're on borrowed time.
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You're like that fig tree.
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The message that Jesus was giving of the living.
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He says, "Unless you repent, you will likewise perish." Now when Jesus was talking about perishing, He was obviously talking about more than physical death.
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The point is you have to be ready.
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Everyone dies.
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And even the people who survived the shooting in Orlando are someday going to die.
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True or false?
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The people that made it out of that nightclub, someday, they're going to die.
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Maybe somebody is going to live to be 120 years old and die peacefully with their family by their bedside.
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I don't know.
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But I know that every one of those survivors are eventually going to die.
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Jesus' point is you have to be ready.
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Because the true tragedy is dying and facing judgment.
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The issue is not how you die.
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The issue is dying without repenting.
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That's the issue.
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You see, these people who died in the temple where the tower fell and in Orlando, their end was horrible because they weren't ready.
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And Jesus is pointing out here, message for the living, you can be ready for death.
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You can be ready.
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You want to be ready for death?
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Jesus sums up the preparedness plan with one word.
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And the word is "repent." He says you need to repent.
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Repent means you change your mind.
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Change your mind about what?
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Change your mind about everything.
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Because by nature, we think, I'm not that bad.
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I don't really need God in my life.
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I'm okay.
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I'm not that bad of a sinner.
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Repentance means you change your mind.
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You see your sin as God sees it.
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I'm a miserable sinner.
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My sins are not just little mistakes.
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They are rebellion against a holy God.
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I have by nature and by choice rebelled against and I have rejected the God Who created me.
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Repentance - changing your mind.
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I need God.
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I was made for Him.
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He's not there for me.
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I'm here for Him.
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He created me and He provided salvation through His Son.
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I didn't think Jesus needed to be the number one thing in my life.
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Repentance is I realize now Jesus has to be everything because He's my very life.
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That's repentance.
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It's a 180 turn by nature.
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We're walking in our sin and we're walking away from God.
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Repentance just means you do a 180.
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I'm walking away from my sin I'm running towards God.
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I'm embracing the gift of salvation.
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He gives.
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So you want to be ready to die?
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Jesus says you need to repent.
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Because the glorious truth is if you do repent, if you do repent, you will not perish.
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Pastor Jeff, do you have a verse for that?
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The most well-known verse in the entire Bible, right?
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3.16, say it with me, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." Whoever believes in the Son will not perish.
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That's your preparedness plan.
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Tragedy is a wake-up call for the living.
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And then finally, today, tragedy is a reminder to the church for urgency.
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Tragedy is a reminder to the church for urgency.
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Everyone, as we said, as Jesus pointed out, as we know to be true, everyone is on the way to death.
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As the point of the man wants to die.
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Now, you know that.
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Let me ask you this this morning, church.
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Do you feel that?
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You know that everybody's going to die.
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Your mom, your neighbor, your co-worker, every single person you know is living on borrowed time.
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You know that.
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Do you feel that?
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Do you feel that?
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How many of those people in the Orlando shooting stepped into eternity not knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?
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I don't have an answer for that.
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Only God knows.
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But how many of those people stepped into eternity not knowing Christ?
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Does that bother you?
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Does it break your heart?
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You turn on the TV, there's constantly commercials about quitting smoking and heart disease.
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And there's a commercial for every type of drug, whether it's cholesterol or whatever.
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So much time and effort and money and energy and resources is put into getting the word out about these diseases only kill the physical body?
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How much more effort should we as a church be expending knowing that the Gospel and the Gospel alone carries eternal consequences?
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Isn't it ironic in our day, in our fallen world, that we as a church have the only life-saving message and the world wants to shut us up?
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Do you understand that we're the only people that can really help.
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The message of Jesus Christ.
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We have that.
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And the world wants to shut us up.
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In the wake of this shooting in Orlando, did you hear about Chick-fil-A?
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How many people heard about Chick-fil-A?
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For those of you that didn't, the Chick-fil-A at the Orlando location at University and Rouse Road on Sunday, quietly, fired up the grills.
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It's a big deal because you know Chick-fil-A is not open on Sunday.
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Employees cooked up hundreds of sandwiches, they brewed dozens of gallons of their tea, and instead of making a single dime, they took these sandwiches and the tea to the line of people for the One Blood Donation Center that were lined up to donate blood.
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The article says, "The food and drinks were handed out free of charge to all the people who lined up to donate blood." Then this article sarcastically says, "But wait, those people were waiting to give blood to victims that were mostly gay people.
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Doesn't Chick-fil-A hate gays?" That's what we keep being told.
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And the article goes on, "A bunch of people claiming to be Christians care about others even when they don't agree with them.
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And then another franchise on Wells Road in Orange Park says that they were offering coupons for a free frosted lemonade to anyone who donates blood when the One Blood Mobile unit is at their store on June 14.
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The thing I found so fascinating about that article, you remember the CEO of Chick-fil-A says that he believes in biblical marriage.
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That was all over every form of media.
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That was on every website, every news, local, cable.
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It was everywhere.
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When somebody said they believed in biblical marriage.
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But when Chick-fil-A reaches out with an act of compassion, without fanfare, without trying to get media's attention, how much coverage did this act get?
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If your Christian friends didn't share this article on Facebook, you would not have heard about it.
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My encouragement to you church is to take note and follow the example.
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Take note and follow the example.
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Your co-workers, your family, your friends that don't know Christ, they are one step away.
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They are one more terrible tragedy away and ushered into a godless eternity.
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So this should be a call for urgency for the church.
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Those people in your life that don't know Christ, you need to get them here to hear the Gospel.
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You need to get involved in a small group in this church that gets out into the community to share the love of Jesus Christ with this community.
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You're on borrowed time too.
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You need to use what time you have left to impact eternity.
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We shouldn't be walking away from this event going that's a shame.
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We shouldn't be walking away from this event going I'm glad that didn't happen in Pittsburgh.
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We should be looking at this event saying this is urgency for the Gospel because this could happen here today.
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Jesus, what do you think about 9/11?
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So Jesus, what do you think about Columbine?
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So Jesus, what do you think about Sandy Hook?
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So Jesus, what do you think about this shooting in Orlando?
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I can tell you exactly what Jesus would say.
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He would say those victims aren't worse sinners.
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You need to get urgent about your own life, because unless you repent, you will likewise perish.
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It's a warning to the world.
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It's an urgent reminder for us as a church to go after the mission.
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Father in Heaven, Father in Heaven, give us hearts of compassion.
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Your Word tells us that You do not delight the death of the wicked.
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Your Word tells us that you wish that none would perish.
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Your Word tells us that you now command all men everywhere to repent.
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Father, I pray for this church.
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It's really easy for us to point a finger at a pastor in California that said some stupid remarks.
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It's really easy to point a finger and other Christians and other ministries.
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We need to look at ourselves.
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And I pray, Father, first of all, for any here that don't know Christ, I pray that this is their wake-up call.
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To pray.
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To cry out over the condition of their own soul.
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Father, for those of us who do know You, that You would give us a heart of compassion.
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I pray, Father, that right now You are preparing us to rightly handle this when it happens in the Pittsburgh area.
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What would we do if a gentleman's club gets shot up?
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What would we do?
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Father, let us be people who reach out in love and in grace.
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Father, restore urgency and compassion in us.
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We pray, Father - right now we pray for all of the ministries and churches in Orlando that are rallying around the survivors, rallying around the family and friends of the deceased, I pray God that you would glorify your name and manifest your presence through them in a powerful way.
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I thank you, Father, for your Word.
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How clear it is that we don't have to wonder what your Son would say about such an event.
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May we all take it to heart, Father.
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Jesus this is pastor Jeff Miller and I would like to personally thank you for listening if this ministry has been a blessing to you please consider making a donation it is through the support from God's people like you that we are able to make the ministry of harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh north available to everyone through our website if you would like to make a donation you can do so at harvest Pittsburgh north And be sure to be back here next week as we continue to dig deep into God's Word.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 13:1-5
What do you typically say when people ask your opinion about events like the shooting in Orlando?
How did Jesus respond when asked about a similar massacre (Luke 13:1-3)? Why did He also mention the "tower in Siloam" incident (Luke 13:4)? Why is His response to the tower scene exactly the same as the Pilate scene (compare Luke 13:3 and Luke 13:5)?
*Imagine a similar tragedy happening in the Pittsburgh area. For discussion's sake, let's say a "gentlemen's club" downtown experiences a shooting that kills many people. Describe specifically how we as a church should respond.
Breakout Questions:
Personally and as a small group, what should your response be to tragedy, according to Jesus? Have a plan now for when it happens!