"Facing Our Fears: Terrorism & War"
Sermon Transcript for July 13, 2003By Rev. Mike Beck
Over these next eight weeks, we are going to be examining some of the fears that grip our soul, and how with God’s help we can learn to stand tall against them. Written within the very fabric of our being is a desire for security and stability. Fear will raise it’s ugly head in our lives when, for a whole variety of reasons and we’re going to be looking at those in the coming weeks, that security and stability that we long for so much is threatened.
The security we long for is threatened in our day by terrorism and war. It has now touched our soils. Growing up I remember well the Cuban missile crises. We had gone to church in Columbia on a Wednesday evening and we would often drive back home by way of Connersville. And we would go to Bill’s Drive-In and get something to drink. And I remember listening intently to the radio. The Russian ships were on a collision course with the blockade that we had erected and we wondered who will blink? I remember in school participating in air raid drills, of the talk of atomic shelters. And many of you know first hand in ways that I do not the ravages of war. Some of you served in WWII or in Korea, in Vietnam or in Desert Storm. And you know first-hand about that. All of us can recall September 11, 2001.
Relax--fear is a normal reaction when our world is threatened. Fear is a reality, which God fully understands which is why He addresses the issue so often in Scripture. Here is a one-sentence summary of what I want you to take from this time together today. We need to “confront the unknown with confidence in the Word of God”. In a world filled with terrorism and war, the future is anything but certain. But God’s Word, my friends, stands forever. Timothy Demy and Gary Steward in their book, In the Name of God, put it this way: “In the struggle to solve the problem of terrorism, fear is the greatest element to understand and overcome. The ‘fear factor’, as it has been called in the media, is at the heart of the terrorist’s agenda. But there is a Biblical response – faith. Faith is the antidote to fear.”
In a powerful sermon following 9/11, I remember a preacher commenting that the terrorist had said they were going to drive America to its knees through those awful acts. The preacher said the terrorist forgot one very important thing—when America gets on her knees is when she is the strongest! And before we turn to our Scripture for today, let me make this one sidelight. Last week we celebrated the freedoms that we enjoy in this wonderful land. And as we look at this topic of terrorism and war today, maybe we need to pause and reflect for a minute with our blessed we have been in the United States of America that war and terrorism has so seldom touched our soil. Contrast that blessing with living in Israel today or in Palestine, or in Liberia, or Central Africa, or Afghanistan or in numerous other places where people live with the reality of war and terrorism twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. How blessed we’ve been.
If you have your pew Bibles, again we are on page 555 in the Old Testament. We are going to look at the 11th Psalm for what incites it has to give us related to living in a world where terrorism and war are part of our existence. The Psalmist says as he begins, “I trust in the Lord for safety.” Friends, our ultimate security is not going to be found in how good an atomic bomb shelter we can build. It’s not going to be found having the latest gas mask. Its not even going to be found in military might as important as a strong military defense is. It’s not going to be found in the amount of money that we have in the bank. Ultimate security is found only in faith in Jesus Christ who has made some promises to us. Let me remind you of a few of those promises. Jesus said, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you” no matter what the circumstances around you may be, you can count on me being there. He said that, “because He lives, we too shall live”. None of us want to die; none of us want to see our loved ones die. But when we make that trip to the cemetery, it’s not the end of the road for there are some promises from our Lord. He told us that in the midst of the world built with strife, as God’s people we could know a “peace that surpasses all human understanding”.
It’s in light of this security that’s known only through faith in God that David goes on in the first three versus to illustrate this truth with a rhetorical question. He says, “How foolish of you to say to me, ‘Fly away like a bird to the mountains, because the wicked have drawn their bows and aimed their arrows to shoot from the shadows at good men.” I would imagine that our military men and women in Iraq today can relate quite well to those versus of the Psalmist three thousand years ago. It goes on in Verse 3 to say that from an earthly perspective, “There is nothing a good man can do when everything falls apart.” Note that I said from an earthly perspective. As a way to illustrate that, I often wondered those persons who were trapped on the upper floors of the World Trade Center above where the airplanes hit, they’d been told and they were in the safest building ever constructed by man. But I imagine they were thinking, “There is nothing a good man can do when everything falls apart.” The New International Version translates Verse 3 this way. I kind of like it better. The NIV says, “When the foundations are being destroyed, (it puts it in the form of a question) what can the righteous do?” Most of us have asked that question more than once in our life.
Before we examine David’s answer lets stand back for a minute and look at some examples of some foolish ways that persons have tried to deal with fear of terrorism and war. I’m wondering, were the retailers, are they laughing all the way to the bank with the sale of gas masks, portable generators? Do you all remember the fear when it turned the year 2000? I bet you could have bought a portable generator pretty cheaply in January of 2000. Is our security bound or are retailers laughing all the way to the bank with the sale of bottled food and water? And recently we were told we ought to get plastic sheeting to cover our windows in the case of chemical attack. But my wife said, “Don’t you have to come out sometime? How is that going to protect us?” Is it possible, my friends, that the recent collapse in the airline industry was brought on not so much by the terrorist as it was by our own succumbing to the fear of flying? Because the reality is this, friends, in the month immediately following 9/11, it was far more dangerous for you to get in your car and drive someplace than it was to get in an airplane. It is still by far, statistically, the safest form of travel. But we stopped flying out of fear, which led to the collapse of an industry. And I’m wondering if the terrorist didn’t get just exactly what they wanted.
Franklin Roosevelt’s quote many years ago, some of you may remember hearing him say this on the radio, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Homer Hickam in his book, We are Not Afraid, writes: “Life is filed with risks, but the biggest risk is to live your life tied down by fear and dread. Life is too precious to lose a second of it being afraid.” Now I am not saying this morning, “Throw common sense out the window.” God gave us a brain; He wants us to use it. But the terrorist agenda is to strike fear in your heart, which causes you to put life on hold. And if you do that, they’ve won. They’ve achieved their objective. I think it was about two and a half years ago, we were supposed to go to Israel with Barb Irving—my wife and I. She had never been. We backed out at the last minute; we made a big mistake. Because now you really can’t go; but at that point things were different. And Barb came back and said, “It was wonderful. Hotels were about only a third full. We had the best guides in the country. I felt totally secure the whole time.” Life is too precious to lose it due to fear!
God’s Word in Verse 4 tells us the source of our ultimate security. The Psalmist says, “The Lord is in His holy temple; He has His throne in heaven. He watches people everywhere and knows what they are doing.” In the midst of a world filled, my friends, with terrorism and war, this book tells us who will ultimately prevail. Does this Book say you’ll be spared heartache? Absolutely not! Does it say that through faith in Christ there will not be problems and difficulties? Absolutely not! For God has given to men and women individual freedom of will that He will not violate. And our sin and disobedience collectively beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and continuing to today have resulted in a world not as God desired. A world filled with incredible blessing, but filled with things like terrorism and war. But the good news is, God is still on the throne and in his time God will ultimately prevail in the world and in our individual lives if we place our faith and trust in Him.
Versus 5 and 6 go on to say: “God examines the good and the wicked alike; the lawless He hates with all His heart. He sends down flaming coals and burning sulfur on the wicked; he punishes them with scorching winds.” Now, David is creating a word picture there for us. We need to interpret those versus carefully. For, friends, God is love. God sent His Son for all persons. God is merciful. God is patient, kind, and forgiving. But, friends, God is also righteous. God is holy. God is just. And because of that there will come a day of judgment in which the sin and evil that men have inflicted on others; it will be dealt with. Look at the last part of that verse. And when I read it I think of some wicked, evil men like Adolph Hitler. That Scripture says there will come a time of judgment. He calls it “the day of the Lord”, and as David’s word picture suggests, for the wicked that will be a terrible day!
Down through the ages and continuing in our day, the lives of millions of innocent people have been severely disrupted by terrorism and war. We should never minimize or ignore the heartache or the suffering that God’s people are confronting. We should reach out wherever there is suffering caused by terrorism and war to provide support and comfort. We sang earlier, “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder”; and I look forward to heaven some day. But, friends, God does not want us, His people, sitting around in the midst of suffering and tragedy just twittering our thumbs waiting for the joy of heaven some day. My Bible says we are to be in the midst of a world filled with terrorism and war; and we are to be peacemakers. Note the word, I didn’t say just peacekeepers. We try to do that often by military might, and there is a place for that. But our Lord said I want you my people to be peacemakers. I want you to seek after justice. Hear me carefully because I don’t want to be misunderstood. To seek after justice means that God’s people sometimes ask hard questions. They seek to probe beneath the surface to try to discover the route causes of terrorism and war. They are honest enough to genuinely ask the question, “Why do so many people in the Arab world hate the United States of America?” Are there justice issues that we, the strongest nation in the world, may be turning our head and trying to ignore?
In fact, if you’ll allow me this sidelight, I love listening to Moody Christian radio. But I was listening to a news broadcast the other day when there were glimmers of hope for peace between Palestine and Israel. And Israel was saying they would consider removing themselves from some of the occupied territories. And, friends, there are severe justice issues that our country is ignoring in that part of the world. Here’s what’s happening. They said American evangelicals of which I count myself one to some degree, oppose Israel’s actions. And I said to myself, “Oh, my gosh. What have we come to when we have warped Scripture so badly that we feel Israel must occupy these territories before Jesus will come again?” My Bible says my Lord called me to be a peacemaker. He called me to love justice. And it’s sad when persons in our church, who are concerned about justice issues, get wrongly accused of being unpatriotic or un-Biblical because they are approaching the world as Jesus called us to be—peacemakers, lovers of justice.
In the midst of a world filled with evil and strife and the troubles of the present moment, the Scripture says we can know security and peace. We do our best to strive for justice in our day but we know that eventually the Prince of Peace will bring ultimate justice. We can be confident that the injustices of this world will someday be righted. We do not need to succumb to fear. And how do we know that? -- Through knowing and claiming the authority of the Word of God. Early in today’s message, I mentioned this spiritual principle we must use to counter fear: “confront unknowns with confidence in the Word of God”.
And so here is the question I leave you with today: Do you know this Book? Is scripture imbedded in your hear so that you can turn to it in the hour of trial?” When we are attacked, we turn to some means of defense. If I mention the 6th Chapter of the Book of Ephesians…some of you are nodding your head. You know your Bible well enough to know the image that that chapter contains. It’s the image of the “armor of God” that we need to put on to withstand the enemy. In the 17th verse of that 6th Chapter, in David’s day, if the enemy confronted you would grab for a sword. But Paul says in Ephesians 6:17, “Put on the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.”
In our opening hymn today, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, were these words…”And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure. For lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him.” Do you know the word of God that is sharper than any two edged sword? What would happen here at Grace Church if every person were immersing themselves each day in the Word? I’ve been reflecting on this question as I give leadership to the ministries here at Grace Church. Are we emphasizing the Word to the degree that we should? That’s one of the reasons I decided that I would lead a Disciple Bible Study group this fall on Sunday evening for men. It will force me to diligently get back in the Word. Pastors can become neglected of that in our busyness. One of the thrilling things that’s happened is that group is already half full and I haven’t even advertised it. It’s younger men with busy schedules that have said, “You count me in on that group, Mike, because as I raise my kids I don’t know the Word and I need to know it.” On Wednesday evening we are modifying our schedule a little bit this fall. Instead of a Wednesday evening worship service, we’ll have a Wednesday evening Coffee Shop Bible Study that Dan and I will be leading – more interactive – to get us in to the Word. You will be hearing a great deal more about it, but in October and November we’ll be using Rick Warren’s best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, as our emphasis during those two months. And as I have been reading that book, it is saturated with Scripture.
In fact, if you’ll take your bulletin insert out as we close today, you’ll notice on the white page I’ve included, and we’ll do this each week, some scriptures that you can read throughout this week related to this mornings theme. And why should our confirmation class be the only ones memorizing Scripture? Could I challenge each of you in the next two months of this series to memorize a verse each week? Here’s the verse for the coming week. It’s on the screen and I invite you to read it with me. Then I invite you to cut it out and memorize it. It’s the first verse of Psalm 27; read it with me. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” David said in the 119th Psalm, “The Lord is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path if we know it.” Read it with me again, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
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