Romans 1
January 8, 2011, Tuscon,
Arizona. Gunman attempts to assassinate Congresswoman
Gabrielle Giffords. Kills six people and
wounds thirteen others.
July 20, 2012, Aurora,
Colorado. A man enters a movie theater
and opens fire on the people in the theater killing 12 and injuring 58 more.
December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook
Elementary school, Newtown, Connecticut.
Young man forces his way into the school and shoots and kills 20
children and six staff members
These are just three of the most
recent mindless massacres here in the United States. There have been a number of others and each
time something like this happens our news stations embark on a veritable flood
of interviews and panel discussions talking about why these events are happening
and seem to be increasing in frequency.
Voices are raised demanding stricter gun laws. Other voices call out for more security in
our schools and armed security guards in public places. And there are the psychiatrists and
psychologists who go on news and talk shows who say we need to pay more careful
attention to mental illness and identify the warning signs. You all know the drill.
As a pastor, I have more reasonable
conversations with people. I have found
people all over town who want to talk about what is happening to our
country. They ask questions and offer
opinions and then inquire as to what I think.
I tell them that the answer cannot be found in gun control, increased
security, or mental health. The problem
is human sin and the solution is Jesus Christ.
Some people listen politely and walk away, inwardly shaking their heads
at my simplicity. Others nod in
agreement. Most of the people in our
church recognize the truth I share with them and we talk about how we can help
our community.
The explanation for what is
happening in our world is found in Romans 1.
We don’t read these verses with any sense of smug self-satisfaction or “I
told you so” attitude. We read them
sadly, realizing that apart from God and the gospel of Jesus Christ there is no
hope for our society. From the beginning
people have turned away from what God has revealed to them about himself (v.21).
Instead of accepting the wisdom of God, men decided they knew better and
claimed to be wise (v.22). In their “wisdom” they created their own gods
and the Lord let them go their own way (v.23). The result is all manner of sin and
wickedness. Look at verse 29, “They have become filled with every kind of
wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.”
Paul recognized the problem and he
laid it out for the church in Rome. The
problem in our society is that we are unwilling to admit that human sin is at
the root of all these problems. We would
prefer to say it is mental illness. Even
the news commentators who were willing to refer to such things as “evil” were
rebuked, chastised, and ordered to use other words.
There is hope. There is good news. This Sunday I am preaching on the parable of
the Pharisee and the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee was self-righteous and honored
himself in his prayer. But the tax
collector stood away from everyone else, repeatedly beat his own breast, and
prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Jesus said that this man is the one who went home justified.
The hope is in Christ. If we humble ourselves, confess our sin, and
plead with God for mercy he will welcome us into his kingdom and transform us
from guilty sinners into his own children.
Those who reject Christ will continue in the way mankind has been going
since the beginning. But the truth has
to be told. Sin has to be called sin and
people have to humble themselves and repent and turn to Christ. Real change and transformation will be found
in him alone.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteThanks for boldly sharing the truth in this matter. Similair thoughts have come to mind regarding these evil acts. I have been reminded of a few of the prophets and the cries against the wickedness of their own generations. There is Isaiah and the unclean lips...Habakkuk and wicked, perverse judgment...and of course Christ laments over the wicked and adulterous generation that demands signs.
I have felt at numerous times that we are a nation soaked in innocent blood during recent generations. The evidence is in the murder of the unborn, the actions of the military-industrial complex, the wholesale slaughter of the Japanese via atomic bombs and more. Granted, there is no one righteous (innocent) not one, and we know that the wages of sin is death in all its forms. At the same time, killing is the work of Satan, and he has been killing since the beginning (John 8:44).
I am grieved that as a culture we still seem to celebrate killing. Whether it is ficticious killing on the silver screen, or reality played out through through snipers' scopes or via drones in far away lands. It seems to me that we are already given over to murder as a nation. The three events that you mention, among others, are sadly what our nation has unwittingly asked for, this nation and its leaders have sown in blood and have reaped the same. This of course doesn't mean that victims of these atrocities 'had it coming'...rather I mean to communicate that murder and killing are praised on the one hand, while rightfully decried on the other. Would that we grieved over every ounce of blood shed on this earth. Would that we groaned along with the creation at the futility and evil that this world is subjected to. Yet sadly,We have funded murder with our tax dollars, with our box office purchases and our complacency...may God be merciful to grant true repentance in us and our nation.
-Jeff