Text: Philippians 1: 12-20

 

It’s been 12 days since the 45-second earthquake that so drastically changed Haiti. The world is racing to help a country in an unimaginable crisis and we are part of those efforts.  On Monday night, a group of 70 gathered to put together hygiene and baby kits to be sent to Church World Service. Four hundred were completed with provision for another 350 to be sorted. Since then, many more supplies have been donated. We will easily exceed 1000 kits. Someone asked if there is a limit to the amount of supplies that are needed. Logically there is but likely all the churches in America would have to respond the way we have to meet the need. Church World Service stocks a warehouse to be ready for a disaster but when you displace over a million people, there is no way to meet all the needs.

Your financial support is coming in. We are nearing $10,000 in our special offering to our denomination’s Week of Compassion; I know more support will be offered because we want to respond generously. Week of Compassion sends 100% of designated disaster relief funds to the named site. There are other, higher profile organizations that are also raising funds but take administrative fees from their offerings, some as high as 18%.  If you want to maximize the impact of your charitable gift, going through the church is one sure way.

A number of people have asked about mission trips. The reports from our missionaries Kim and Patrick Bentrott and disciple Don Tatlock are that travel logistics continue to be very complicated and sanitary and security challenges are present.[1] Now is not the time to send a group from our congregation. But a time will come just as it did with recovery efforts from hurricane Katrina. As I shared in our prayer time, one of our members, Dave Burtner, is a master electrician. He is on his way to Haiti to offer his skills in the recovery. We’ll get firsthand information from him.

In addition to the outpouring of compassion that is being demonstrated by you and our country, two others emotions are being expressed. One is concern over personal safety. A week had not passed before the question was asked, “Could this happen here?” ABC ran a story stating 39 out of 50 states have a moderate to high seismic hazard risk.[2] Most of us know about the New Madrid fault that runs through southeast Missouri and shook us a few years ago. We lived in Los Angeles where the San Andres fault was a constant, shaky presence. I didn’t know that there is a fault that runs through Manhattan. When major disasters hit, it is human nature to ask, “Could that happen to me?” It is also human nature to ask, “Why did this happen?” We want an answer to explain why there is calamity, why there are disasters. When the bubble breaks, we want an explanation.

I was distressed again that Christian televangelist and host of The 700 Club declared that Haiti made a pact with the devil and the earthquake was punishment for their sin. Such a statement is unconscionable and theologically wrong. He’s made suggestions like this before and each time, I wonder if he reads the Bible because Jesus is very clear in his teaching. God does not punish sin with calamities. God didn’t cause the suffering of the Haitians.

On a very different scale but still with the same questions, people approached Jesus about two disasters in Palestine, one “man-made” and the other natural. Pilate had some Galileans and mingled their blood with the Temple sacrifice and someone asks, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” (Luke 13:2) Jesus’ answered, “No.” They come back and ask about the collapse of the tower of Siloam which fell, perhaps in an earthquake, and killed eighteen. Were they “… worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? Jesus says, ‘No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’” (Luke 13:4b-5).

There is a great temptation to take disasters and put them into a neat, Newtonian cause and effect box and you can see that the temptation existed even in Jesus’ day. We always have the question about why bad things happen to good people. Robertson theology is simple. Bad things don’t happen to good people.  Bad things happen to bad people. They were bad, they made a pact with the devil and thus, a bad thing happened to bad people. Jesus says, “No, this isn’t the way things work.”  The answer is clearly, NO.

But it becomes unclear in our mind when he adds that footnote to the no. “…; but unless you repent, you will all perish, just as they did.” (Luke 13:5).  Why did he have to add that?  It’s almost like he gives us something and then takes it away. It’s almost like a threat which I think it is, but not a threat from God. It’s a threat from within because the great threat that you and I have is to believe that bubble won’t burst. I think Jesus is saying, “When the earthquake comes, when the tower falls, when the bubble breaks, will you be ready? You’d better repent or you’ll perish.” 

Some of you know that I coordinated disaster relief efforts in San Bernardino when the homes around the church I was serving all burned to the ground in a terrible firestorm. I was only 25 but I learned quickly a life lesson that Jesus is pointing to. No one expected the disaster but those who managed it best had prepared spiritually. When the fire destroyed their homes, when the calamity came, when the bubble of their daily existence burst, those who had an active faith were ready. Those who did not have a faith to rest on struggled.

I am struck by the same in watching and reading about the disaster in Haiti. As one reporter put it, “the church is woven deeply into the fabric of Haitian life.” Those churches that were standing were filled last weekend. Spontaneous prayer services in parks and communities occurred. Faith is demonstrated. It sustains people and oddly, it will lead to growth.

One of my friends talks about two phases of the spiritual life. There are times when you need to know and there are times when you need to grow. Most of the time when people seek a church, they want to know. People will say to me, “I want to know more about the Bible or I want to know more about God.” They will offer, “We want our kids to know about faith, to become Christian.” I think it is a wonderful thing for people to hunger to know God more and I hope this is very much the make-up of our congregation. We need to know about God.

Oddly however, the times when we grow the most is often when life is difficult, when there are challenges or earthquakes in our life. In those moments, we need to grow. Let me ask you.  When did you most grow spiritually? What was going on in your life? What was the factor that helped produce growth in you? When people are surveyed, over and over again, what is the number one factor that produced spiritual growth in their life? Suffering. Pain. Difficulty. Problems.

This is in line with what the writers of Scripture often say. James puts it like this:

“whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)  When the bubble bursts, if you know faith, faith grows.

Now don’t go Newtonian on me. I’m not talking about a cause and effect God. God doesn’t cause catastrophe in order that faith grows even though you hear that.  Rather, our knowledge of God allows us to grow spiritually when we need Him most and those around us witness the power that comes from living in Christ.

This was Paul’s experience which he wrote to the church in Philippi. The bubble has burst on Paul’s life. His missionary travels are over. He was arrested and transported to Rome where he is awaiting trial. This is what he writes: “I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14) Do you hear what he is saying?  Paul is surprised that when his bubble burst, he grew. His witness was strong and others, who saw his suffering, responded with their own witness. In his crisis, he knew faith so faith grew.

A couple of years ago, a famous psychologist by the name of Albert Ellis died. He was the originator of a way of understanding how people respond to the circumstances of their life, something he called the ABC’s of emotional life.  Ellis said that “A” stands for the word “Antecedent.” Antecedents are the things that happen to us, the circumstances of our life. “C” stands for the outcome or the word “Consequences.” This is how I feel about something and the outcomes.  

Ellis said that the great illusion in life is that the things that happen to us control the outcome and dictate what we feel. So if good things happen, if you get a promotion or a raise or it’s a nice day or someone pays you a compliment, you feel good. The opposite is true.  If something bad happens, if someone makes you feel bad, you are at the mercy of what has happened. Ellis said that while lots of people think this is the way it is, it really isn’t true because there is something in between the “Antecedents” and the “Consequences,” the letter “B”. “B” stands for “Beliefs”. Beliefs ultimately determine the outcome. Beliefs determine the way you feel. It is why two different people can be in precisely the same situation and have completely different responses.

A classic way of explaining this is the difference between cats and dogs. A dog looks at his circumstances and says, “You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You care for me. You must be God.” And a cat says, “You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You care for me. I must be God.” Same “Circumstances.” Different “Beliefs.” Completely difference set of “Consequences.”

I think you can see how this is playing out in Paul’s life.  The bubble has burst. Paul’s in chains. He doesn’t want to be in chains but those are “Antecedents” in his life.  He has a strong “B”, he “believes”. When he needed to know, he gained the knowledge needed to have a strong faith. So his “C”, the consequence isn’t “poor me, I may die” which he actually acknowledges later in Philippians. Rather, he rejoices the gospel is being furthered and that Roman guard is coming to Christ. He says it this way. “What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way…and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 2: 18). It’s not a bad formula.[3]

            A. Life is hard.

            B. Jesus is Lord;

            C. I will rejoice.

It’s really not a bad way of living but it requires getting the knowledge you need to prepare you for the time you need to grow. Because this is the truth—the time is coming, sooner or later, the bubble will burst. Will you be ready?

You can see then how this all fits together and why Jesus says, when responding to the description of two other disasters says“…; but unless you repent, you will all perish, just as they did.”

Jesus isn’t being judgmental. He is preparing us for he knows, “when the bubble bursts, if you know faith, faith grows.”

So I don’t know where each of you is right now. Some of you, many of you are in a need to know phase. You need to grow in your understanding of the word so that your faith is strong. This happens in worship; it happens even more in study and service. Your support of disaster relief in Haiti is a knowing spiritual exercise.  Needing to know is an important cycle of faith that never goes away.

Others of you may be in a need to grow phase. You are facing your own personal earthquake.  It might be about your work or maybe about a relationship. Maybe it’s a financial thing or a health issue. It could be a number of things which could fit the description of the bubble bursting. I hope your belief is strong because it will help you manage your crisis. I remind you that God doesn’t cause tragedy; rather, God is very much present in it.

Whichever describes you, whichever phase you are in, I promise to pray for you even as I pray for those in Haiti because this I know. When the bubble bursts, if you know faith, faith grows.