Is There A Lightning Bolt With Your Name On It?
Preaching
Shaking Wolves Out Of Cherry Trees
And 149 Other Sermon Ideas
Purpose Statement: We must understand and eliminate the superstitions that control our lives in unhealthy ways.
Aside from astrology, psychic readings, and other such nonsense, one serious superstition is the prominent belief that God steps into our lives and controls the "goings on" in ways that are very unGodlike. I find it very difficult to accept the implications of the incidents in Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira seem to have been struck down by God for deceit. Can we expect that of God today?
a. Examples: Many believe that natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes are God's direct intervention to punish or warn us. A surprising number of people believe that "when your time comes, your time comes," and there is nothing you can do about it. A popular notion is that when a few people survive a bus crash that kills many others, God "had a reason to spare" them. Likewise, when a plane crashes and someone didn't arrive in time to make that flight, it is by God's design. Is this healthy theology?
b. Problems: The idea prompted by narrowly missing disaster, that "someone up there must be watching over me," is popular because it is a comforting theology when coupled with the feeling most of us have that we are different and special and "it can't happen to us." God will take care of us. Thus God must have had very good reasons not to have taken care of the other folks who perished -- reasons we think probably won't be applicable to us in any near future. This kind of theology can do two unfortunate things:
1. It takes the logic and reason, the consistency and dependability out of our world. God can and, we trust, will step in and protect us. Nature and life are not understandable and constant. Natural laws cannot always be trusted.
2. This leads to irresponsibility. If there is "a time for each of us to go" in God's predestined plan, then we can feel more comfortable and secure and perhaps act more carelessly and irresponsibly.
c. Reality: Someone's missing a plane that later crashes, or being the lone survivor of a car accident, are not strange incidents or miracles. People miss flights where planes don't crash. A carton of eggs dropped to the floor may only break five out of the twelve. God works in our world through spiritual intervention -- not through steering someone's hand at the wheel of his or her automobile to correct some foolish and dangerous mistake.
Aside from astrology, psychic readings, and other such nonsense, one serious superstition is the prominent belief that God steps into our lives and controls the "goings on" in ways that are very unGodlike. I find it very difficult to accept the implications of the incidents in Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira seem to have been struck down by God for deceit. Can we expect that of God today?
a. Examples: Many believe that natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes are God's direct intervention to punish or warn us. A surprising number of people believe that "when your time comes, your time comes," and there is nothing you can do about it. A popular notion is that when a few people survive a bus crash that kills many others, God "had a reason to spare" them. Likewise, when a plane crashes and someone didn't arrive in time to make that flight, it is by God's design. Is this healthy theology?
b. Problems: The idea prompted by narrowly missing disaster, that "someone up there must be watching over me," is popular because it is a comforting theology when coupled with the feeling most of us have that we are different and special and "it can't happen to us." God will take care of us. Thus God must have had very good reasons not to have taken care of the other folks who perished -- reasons we think probably won't be applicable to us in any near future. This kind of theology can do two unfortunate things:
1. It takes the logic and reason, the consistency and dependability out of our world. God can and, we trust, will step in and protect us. Nature and life are not understandable and constant. Natural laws cannot always be trusted.
2. This leads to irresponsibility. If there is "a time for each of us to go" in God's predestined plan, then we can feel more comfortable and secure and perhaps act more carelessly and irresponsibly.
c. Reality: Someone's missing a plane that later crashes, or being the lone survivor of a car accident, are not strange incidents or miracles. People miss flights where planes don't crash. A carton of eggs dropped to the floor may only break five out of the twelve. God works in our world through spiritual intervention -- not through steering someone's hand at the wheel of his or her automobile to correct some foolish and dangerous mistake.
