Sermon Tone Analysis

If suffering is the result of sin, then the greater the sin, the greater the suffering.

It should not be too difficult to pick out who the worst sinners are.

There are people who tend to categorize people by the degree of sin that is evident in their lives.

And, while they get caught up in who has the worst sin, they find it more difficult to spot sin in themselves than in other people.

Lectio Devina

NLT

Several years ago I remember seeing a story where a pastor was electrocuted as he prepared to baptize some new converts.

Our response to tragedy reveals what we believe about God.

Our response to tragedy reveals what we believe about God.

Several years ago I remember seeing a story where a pastor was electrocuted as he prepared to baptize some new converts.

Several years ago I remember seeing a story where a pastor was electrocuted as he prepared to baptize some new converts.

Evidently he grabbed a hold of a microphone and it somehow shorted and the congregation had to watch helplessly as their pastor died from electricity pouring through his body.

Sometimes a person rationalizes his or her sin, thinking, What I did is not nearly as bad as what my neighbor did.

His sin was worse than mine, so until he is punished and gets straightened out, there is no pressure on me.

Sin is a violation of the law of God, and repentance is the necessary step in restoring one’s relationship with Him.

I remember thinking how terrible this was for his family and for his church and had decided that I would request that we pray for this church and this pastors family at a weekly pastors prayer time we had in our community.

when several of us pastors got together at ta weekl.

After all what could be more appropriate than pastors praying for other pastors?

However instead of being greeted with agreement from all of the pastors one of the pastors immediately said…and I quote...”I wonder what sin was in the life of this Pastor that led to him dying this way?”

This was the first time I ran into someone that had such punitive view of who God is.

Unfortunately there are still plenty of people that hold these types of ideas.

True repentance results in changed behavior.

When a person experiences a heart change, it will show up in changed attitudes and actions

It seems that whenever there is a tragedy like this there are those who are willing a ready to label the cause as God’s judgment.

We have all seen and heard people doing things like this.

God looks for fruit as natural outcomes in the lives of those to whom He has given life.

The fruit of the Spirit is the result of the new life we received when we were regenerated and the work of the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

Paul identifies this fruit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal.

5:22–23).

The fruit of the Spirit may not yet be mature in us, but it should be evident and growing.

I remember one prominent TV Christian leader that said the Hurricane Katrina was judgment on the sinfulness of New Orleans.

I remember hearing another popular “Christian Leader” speak about how a tsunami in Indonesia was judgment on the Islamic people.

The lesson of the parable was that Israel was “a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Isa.

61:3) and His “vineyard on a fertile hillside” (Isa.

5:1), but unless Israel repented and turned back to God, they would be cut down.

Israel’s history is full of mercy and opportunity, and so is our personal history.

These are just the tip of the iceberg…if you dig in your memory I am sure man of you can come up with examples of how some one some where trying to make sense of the senseless tried to invoke God as the cause because of the sin or disobedience of people.

I am sure that if you dig in your memory you can come up with examples of how someone somewhere trying to make sense of the senseless tried to invoke God as the cause because of the sin or disobedience of people.

The truth is facebook and other social media is full of this type of propaganda.

The problems with this is that it puts forth a view that God is not only the author of such events but that He is vindictive towards those that need Him the most.

Think about it for a moment…whether or not people have self inflicted tragedy on themselves or they have been part of some natural tragedy does not take away from the fact that they need Jesus in that moment more than anyone else on the face of the planet.

It used to be that in times like this the people of God would reach out to comfort but now it seems that some would rather reach out with sarcasm.

When you and I invite this view of God into our lives as fact we become what we believe about God.

We become punitive, petty, judgmental and quite frankly just plain mean.

The passage we are looking at today points to two different events in which it seems people were looking to hold the sins of the people these things happened to responsible for their own death.

Luke 13:1-5

this response to both natural and human-created disaster is nothing new, since the text in Luke today points to two different events in which it seems people were looking to find the sins of the people.

The first, Galileans who had been killed at Pilate’s hand.

The second, eighteen who died when a tower fell on them.

Are these catastrophes due to sin the in the lives of the victims?

Why would God allow such suffering to take place?

The way Jesus talks about them seems to imply that others were talking about them, discussing them, probably in much the same way we discuss these issues today.

Are these catastrophes due to sin the in the lives of the victims?

Why would God allow such suffering to take place?

These are not new questions, and while some of us move into the realm of the wrath of God with surety, Jesus’s response is different.

He declares with authority that it is not the fault of the victims and that they are not being punished for their sins.

are not being punished for their sins.

He then turns the question around.

The question of calamity then becomes less about the victims and more about ourselves.

Catastrophe happens, but we are the ones who are called to repentance.

We are the ones who are called to be prepared in case of disaster.

We are the ones who are called to bear fruit.

He then turns the question around.

The question of calamity then becomes less about the victims and more about ourselves.

Those living in a fallen world must stop looking at others sins as more egregious than our own and understand that not one of us can stand in the presence of God without genuine repentance and reconciliation.

Those living in a fallen world must stop looking at others sins as more egregious than our own and understand that not one of us can stand in the presence of God without genuine repentance and reconciliation.

Jesus’s Response to Disaster

When Disaster Happens

More about the disasters

The first is the Galileans killed at the hands of Pilate.

The first is the Galileans killed at the hands of Pilate.

We don’t know much about this event but what we do know is this.

Galileans were known to push the envelope politically.

There were constant uprisings in this regions and from time to time this invited the wrath of the Roman Empire.

Pilate was a Roman ruler placed in charge over Jerusalem to keep the peace at the center of Jewish worship.

Pilate was a Roman ruler placed in charge over Jerusalem to keep the peace at the center of Jewish worship.

peace at the center of Jewish worship.

There was an incident prior to Jesus, where Pilate sent soldiers out to kill pilgrims coming to worship out of fear of insurrection.

He killed them in the Temple so that their blood mingled with the blood of the sacrifices of God.

We also know that there was an incident prior to Jesus, where Pilate sent soldiers out to kill

People were talking and they were basically saying that this had to be judgment on these Galileans.

pilgrims coming to worship out of fear of insurrection.

We also know that Jesus was a Galilean, so this news would be something he was probably familiar with at the time.

We also know that Jesus was a Galilean, so this news would be something he was probably

familiar with at the time.

We can infer that, most likely, these Galileans were Jews who were coming to Jerusalem to

worship, but Pilate thought they were insurrectionists there to stir up trouble, so he mur- dered them, thus mingling their blood with the blood of their sacrifices.

The second is the tower of Siloam falling and killing eighteen people.

The second is the tower of Siloam falling and killing eighteen people.

Unlike the first disaster, this seems to be purely accidental.

Siloam was a neighborhood south of Jerusalem.

Siloam was a neighborhood south of Jerusalem.

There also is little known about this event other than what we read here in the text.

There also is little known about this event other than what we read here in the text.

We can infer, however, that—whether by earthquake, time, wind, or faulty building—a tower fell, killing eighteen people in the collapse.

We can infer, however, that—whether by earthquake, time, wind, or faulty building—a

Again though the talk at the water cooler pointed to the idea that God did this because those 18 people must have done something wrong.

tower fell, killing eighteen people in the collapse.

b.

These great disasters seem to be referenced in very much the same way that we see disasters referenced today.