God is in Control
This was the Sermons I preached at St Peter’s Stanley after 9/11 on 16 September 2001
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Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. -
God is in Control
Setting the Scene
I wonder if you sat (like me) on Tuesday 11th September 2001 looking at the news breaking at 2 pm about the attacks on the twin Trade Towers in New York and then things went from bad to worse as the Pentagon was attacked and later the Towers and part of the Pentagon collapsed. Later still 3.45 pm our time another hijacked plane went down near Pittsburgh, Camp David no doubt the pilots sacrificing their lives for their own evil cause.
It is one of those horrific memories where you will always remember where you were when the Trade Towers were attacked… even my 7-year-old kids came in from school at 3.30 pm and sat shocked as the news unfolded. They just wanted to be close to me, sitting in shock, just feeling the comfort of being next to me, touching and asking why and not getting any great answers from me.
At the time I was meant to be preparing for bible study and I couldn’t think at all about bible study.. all I could do was pray as I watched, ‘Lord have mercy,’ ‘Lord comfort those who need your comfort,’ ‘Lord help the emergency services.’ These seemed almost child-like prayers...words didn’t seem to matter, I just wanted to talk to our heavenly father as the horrific pictures passed before me. Like a child would hold a father’s hand at a time of danger…. That’s where I wanted to be.
And today we take our scriptures and read Romans 13 and I feel like we are holding the Father’s hand with the images of 9/11 before us and hear his word say ‘Obey the state authorities because no authority exists without God’s permission….any one who opposes what God has ordered…will bring judgement on himself…v4 If you do evil then be afraid of him [the authorities] because his power to punish is real.’
That is a summary of the opening verses. Speaking of the outcome of opposing governments and speaking also of the possibility of retribution.
Now the Question, I would like to develop in the light of this terrorist attack is this - ‘Is God in control’ or ‘Has God lost control?’
Is God in Control?
Not that there will ever be an answer to the question why did it happen, or why did God not divinely intervene? But I invite you to continue to reflect on the news story this week, and by allowing ourselves to be with the Father, to be silent, to mourn, to be in shock, to be angry. In doing this we are allowing Father God to minister to us. Allowing God to be in Control. By being with the Father in prayer and silent reflection, we are comforted, and we become aware of God’s sovereign authority over all. We are asking human questions (as Job did when he was faced with a series of personal tragedies) but as we draw, as children, to the Father’s side we end up in that place where we say God is Almighty, sovereign and we acknowledge that he is in control. Evil can destroy lives but vengeance is God’s and Evil can never destroy eternity. Evil could not stand 2000 years ago against the resurrection which opened the gates to eternal life for us all.
Also by reflecting on the pictures we see and the stories we hear we can see God at work, through the surgeons, through the police, the fire service, the stories of queues of blood donors we see the encounters with people and the acts of sacrificial love and we hear the scriptures Romans 13:9 Love your neighbour as yourself. Yes we can see God at work in the situation.
By reflecting we enter in to our own prayer battles (which on a simple level is the ongoing dialogue with God) battles against evil, that it will not triumph. We can see God at work in the situation, seeing with the eyes of faith, seeing what God sees, knowing God is sovereign, and in control and that God is beyond all doubt trustworthy with our lives and our affairs.
On a personal level, we should remember …
Firstly God longs for us to know him more and more and will teach us to know him more through our encounters in life and through our prayer dialogue with him…..the ‘knowing him’ is vital…… and
Secondly, we must remember ….. Because we are all on two kinds of journey. The journey of time (the here and now) and eternity, when we will see Him face to face. So Rom 13:11 says ‘the moment when we will be saved is closer now than it was when we first believed. The night is almost over the day is almost here’’ - this is speaking of our eternal destiny.
We are part of another dimension – the spiritual, the heavenly kingdom and unless we see this paradox of time and eternity we will view these disasters as the end of time on earth but we overlook the eternal aspect – God is in control of time and eternity.
Out of Control
There are two temptations which come up when we begin to question ..is God still in control when evil men can give up their lives in suicide and bring so many people down with them. One is to ‘Go out of control’ yourself (morally) and the other is to ‘Take control’ yourself (to take charge). I want you to notice where the scriptures in Romans 13 lead us with this question burning in our minds ‘What was God doing at 2 pm Tuesday, 9/11/2001 ? Romans 13:13 says ‘let us conduct ourselves properly.’ And v14 ‘take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ.’
The first is the temptation to choose to go ‘out of control’ yourself, live for self, if it feels good do it, ‘eat drink be merry tomorrow we die’ becomes our way (our temptation) - God’s not in control let’s make the best of it …Romans 13 replies ‘Let us conduct ourselves properly., as people who live in the light…no orgies, drunkenness, immorality, indecency, no fighting, no jealousy.’
To choose to ‘go out of control’ and live selfishly leads to separation from God and from family. So let us recognise the first of the temptations to choose to live for ourselves rather than to depend on God.
Take Control
Another temptation when we are asking if has God lost control is to ‘take control’ in our own strength.
The hopes of the world at large are that the USA will show restraint. They are well capable of taking on Afghanistan, Iran any world power that is connected with this atrocity …That is the temptation to assert self and take control. Romans 13:12 answers, ‘let us take up weapons for fighting in the light,’ v14 says ‘Take up the weapons of Jesus Christ..’
What are the weapons of Jesus Christ?
Well, they are the weapons which have won us over to Christ.
The weapon of grace, the weapon of mercy, the weapon of forgiveness, the weapon of restraint., of ‘Love your enemies.’
Some people may even find the mention of those weapons offensive and to be frank, it sounds like the USA has no intention of showing restraint and our lectionary scripture set for this day does present us with a ‘loophole’ In Romans 13:3 ‘rulers are to be feared by those who do evil.’ And without doubt the atrocities of last Tuesday were evil acts of terrorism.
So what I have been saying today is not about being ‘so heavenly minded…to be no earthly good.’
It is about placing your hand in the hand of the Lord, about praying for peace and to pray for Our Father to intervene. About longing to know God personally, to believe in eternity and the power of the resurrection. Not that there are suddenly God-given answers to disasters like Tuesday but rather that you are drawing close to the Our Father, walking hand in hand. Reach out and take his hand today.
Allow God to be in control of your life, for time and eternity, resist the temptation to spin out of control living selfish lives, and resist the temptation to take control.. Allow the father to be in control.
