(Sermon Notes from Sunday, April 22, 2007)

SCRIPTURE READING AND INTERPRETATION
PSALM 16:1-11

Psa 16:1 A Mikhtam of David. Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in Thee.
Refuge - when life has hit you very hard, a place to go for shelter

Psa 16:2 I said to the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; I have no good besides Thee."
Psa 16:3 As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
Sometimes, what happens here on earth to a person is not fair nor good
However, beyond the grave, there is God
God delights in that saint who has gone to be with Him

Psa 16:4 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied; I shall not pour out their libations of blood, Nor shall I take their names upon my lips.
Traded his soul to another god
There is the promise of multiplied sorrow
Just as the precious saint of God is promised justice from God
So the one who sells his soul to evil is promised justice

Psa 16:5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; Thou dost support my lot.
Psa 16:6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
Psa 16:7 I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
A long and sleepless night
Within that night, counsel from God has been found
Sweet instruction and peace has been gained
Now, he can sleep

Psa 16:8 I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Renewed resolve
Decision to place the Lord foremost upon his mind
Result: Not shaken. Peace.
 
Psa 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely.
Psa 16:10 For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.
Psa 16:11 Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; In Thy presence is fulness of joy; In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.

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Sun Wee Cho
32 people
 
QUESTIONS THAT EMERGE
 
(I) Why did God not intervene to prevent this matter?
Good question, fair question
Been asked throughout history
Certainly God is capable of doing so

There are times when God, indeed does intervene:
The scriptures record examples of such
Closing of Red Sea upon armies of Pharaoh
Shutting of lion's mouth with Daniel

Sovereignty and mystery to God
You cannot make a rule of thumb as to how He is going to behave

Freedom is a magnificent, but also terrible, gift from God to man
It must be there, for us to choose to love and serve Him
Was given to Adam & Even within the Garden
Why did God not step in to prevent the eating of the forbidden fruit?
Knew there would be terrible consequences to that act?

With a spiritually and morally capable person:
Can instruct, can encourage, can punish
Out of respect for this person's freedom as an individual
Really, out of love for this person, you cannot force compliance to what you know he/she should do

Cannot have the freedom to do good, and yet not the freedom to do evil
Eve ate of the forbidden fruit
Cain slew Abel
Rich Young Ruler walked away from Jesus
People crucified Jesus
 
(II) Where was God while this was happening?
God has chosen that His primary way to work is through His people

Liviu Lebrescu,
professor and elderly immigrant from Russia
Holocaust survivor
Blocked the door so his students could escape
Shot and killed
 
Trey Perkins, Derek O’Dell and Katelyn Carney held a door closed.
Waleed Shaalan, from Egypt, are calling him a hero. Friends have told this news station in Virginia that Waleed distracted shooter Seung Hui-Cho, so that three of his friends could to escape the shooting.

Wherever you see an act of selfless, sacrificial love, there you see God

(III) Was, is, this man responsible for his actions?
Life can be hard
We do not all enter life with the same privilege
Some to wealth, some to poverty
Some to good parents, some are abused
Some with healthy minds, some with mental illness
Difficulty with relationships
Born in poverty, problem with wealthy people
O.K. So you have some problems

You make a moral choice what to do with those problems
Allow them to be a motivation for change and personal growth
Or, motivation to bitterness and violence

Weak thing, the evil thing, is to take your problems out on others
Young lady whose father had a difficult childhood, unhappy, abused his daughter

If you are in an abusive relationship
I have three things to tell you:
It's not your fault
You deserve better
Get out!

(IV) Can someone like Cho be reached with the love of God and transformed by the gospel?
I'd like to think, "Yes"

I do not know details, but I think in hindsight that Christians could have done more
Teacher, parent, schoolmate could have tried to befriend
Looked at as someone beyond surface impressions
Admittedly, not a very attractive person
But made in the image of God, worthy of being loved

Power of Jesus Christ to fundamentally transform a person
Could have found friendship, acceptance, purpose in Jesus
Stewardship of relationships

If...
those in personal connection had known what this man would one day do...
Perhaps tried harder
Been more earnest in pursuing a connection
Invited to campus Christian fellowship
Put on a prayer list

Insight into the "church"
There are some "less than perfect" personalities connected to the institutional church
In my twenty something years of ministry
Personality flaws that would not be accepted in other organizations
Person of the world would look and say, "Yeah, look at the church, hypocrites"
It's true
But, people with problems are naturally drawn to Jesus and to the church
I think it is a testimony to the church that we are made up of people with problems
So you look at Old Ms. Meany
Isn't she a piece of work
True
She has some genuine flaws, readily recognizable
But think what she would have been, without Jesus!

(V) What can I do, here at Mt. Tabor, in response to this?
Pray

Take very seriously my responsibility to be salt and light-
you may be a vessel used of God to bring about change in a man like Cho, you may help to bring about salvation for someone that tomorrow will go to meet his God.

Live and love as if today is all I have.
Trust that God is in control.
Trust that God loves you.
Trust that your eternity is secure because of God's love for you.
Refuse to let life make you bitter.
You do not want to become like Cho.

You and I do not have to give any other human being, including a person like Cho, the power to control our lives.

 

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posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 04.24.07 (2:38 pm)

I feel horrible about what happened to the people at Virginia Tech, but no worse than for the people killed in Iraq, where 32 killed is a good day, or for people killed by violence anywhere else in the world. Neither does God, I'm quite sure.

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posted by: sebastianjoshua (reply)
post date: 04.24.07 (8:07 pm)

hmmm... i support u PastorDave on this matter, i live pretty far away from USA but i have been there before...

May GOD bless them all

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posted by: ggirl (reply)
post date: 04.25.07 (12:45 pm)

God is not man. We are incapable of understanding God's reasons for everything. We can only do our best, morally and ethically, and have faith that all things have a reason.

Just my opinion, of course. :-)

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posted by: seochris (reply)
post date: 04.26.07 (4:23 am)

God is great. Hope more youngsters learn to lead peaceful lives.

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posted by: lynnkramer (reply)
post date: 04.26.07 (3:45 pm)

I feel so sorry that not one of those poor students nor teachers were allowed to have the means to defend themselves or others.

`if you have a cloak, sell it and buy a sword'

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posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 04.26.07 (5:25 pm)

Reply to: lynnkramer

So you think Jesus was telling people to buy guns huh? Brilliant.

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posted by: Lisa (reply)
post date: 04.28.07 (11:47 am)

I feel like I've been to church today. Thanks for the encouragment.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (3:55 pm)

Reply to: surrogate
I might say it a different way: I have just as much sadness for the death of an innocent person in Iraq as I do for these people savagely murdered in Virginia. I do not have the same compassion for the demise of a murderer as I do for an innocent victim. Of course I am saddened that he would choose to turn his life over to darkness and evil, for he did not need to make such a choice. He was meant for something better.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (3:57 pm)

Reply to: sebastianjoshua
Wherever you live, I am rather sure you are susceptible to the acts of a madman. What can you do to prepare for such cold-blooded killing? This is not so much a symptom of society, but a symptom of evil.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (3:59 pm)

Reply to: ggirl
Your opinion is valid. We with finite minds do poorly in explaining the infinite. So often we must simply trust, without full or even partial understanding. I trust God. I believe with all my heart He loves me, no matter the circumstances of life.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (4:01 pm)

Reply to: seochris
I'm pretty sure these students were seeking to live peaceful lives. They were in College, gaining an education and preparing for careers. Their peace was interrupted by an evil man.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (4:04 pm)

Reply to: lynnkramer
It is not fair, that the only one with a gun was a madman. If.... I know the media and the intelligentsia is using this episode as an excuse to push more stringent gun control laws. This is an example where their strident limitations upon constitutional rights helped contribute to carnage. You make a valid point. Personally, I choose not to own a gun. But I defend wholeheartedly the constitutional right to do so.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (4:05 pm)

Reply to: Lisa
Nah. Go to your church, you'll hear a better sermon! Or, if it's bad, carefully slip your pastor a copy of this post and maybe he will preach it next Sunday!

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (4:09 pm)

Reply to: kurtmaddox
I'm thinking that the same self-loathing and sense of deep disenfranchisement is being manipulated by the religion of Islam to engender murder in the name of God. Sure there are gentle adherents of the faith. But they are choosing to be too silent, too afraid. Cho may have been directly influenced by the jihadists, as evidenced by some hints in his manifesto. I sure hope this is an isolated incident, and not a sign of things to come here in the US.

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posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (5:01 pm)

Reply to: PastorDave

Do you think that there's the slightest possibility at all that the jihadists might not be so fervent if we left their part of the world to them? Or is it just a simple case that they're evil and that's that? Us against them for all time. Got to kill them all or they'll all come here and kill all of us?

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (5:36 pm)

Reply to: surrogate
It's not simple. But I'm not a moral relativist. All actions, all viewpoints are not equal. Some are evil, some are good. The jihadists kill people in the name of God. That is pure evil. To stop such a person from perpetrating such action is good. To kill an intent murderer is to do good. I understand these people, in their warped minds, think we have somehow dirtied their holy land with our presence. We are there by invitation. The same jihadists, many of them, are filthy rich because of our money eagerly accepted in exchange for oil. Bin laden is an example. The warring actions of militant Islamists is evil.

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posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (6:11 pm)

"I understand these people, in their warped minds, think we have somehow dirtied their holy land with our presence. WE ARE THERE BY INVITATION. The same jihadists, many of them, are filthy rich because of our money eagerly accepted in exchange for oil. Bin laden is an example. The warring actions of militant Islamists is evil."

You really ought to read some history.

Read what Winston Churchill said about his own folly in the region whn he claimed he'd been "invited." You think the bulk of the Jihadists are rich? -or even more than the tiniest itsy bitsy fraction?

That's like saying that Americans are rich and therefore are in favor of this war. Makes NOOOOOOO sense and is no more true. I figure the same 25% of Americans who think that Jesus will return THIS VERY YEAR (-that's the figure, supposedly,) also believe this sort of logic. Does it go hand in hand?

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (7:01 pm)

Reply to: surrogate
I don't think the bulk of jihadists are rich. And, this political viewpoint is not tied to my religion. Religion does not dictate all my political thought- I'm not a Christian jihadist. And this is an example of why the Christian faith is superior in so many ways to fundamentalist jihaidst Islam- a poor excuse for a religion. I respect Islam- just not this cancerous version practiced by these evil people.

Let me ask you- how are these evil murderers financed? By filthy rich Muslims, particularly the Saudis. And, where do they get their money? The selling of oil. They stay rich and in power by manipulating the wild-eyed murderous fanatics of their religion. It's all evil and shameful.

This is not a war between morally equal world views.

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posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 04.30.07 (7:15 pm)

Reply to: PastorDave

Dave... want to make them powerless?

Quit treating them as if they matter.

Support ending all purchasing of Middleeastern Oil. Like it or not it IS theirs, not ours. All we'd have to do is DECIDE not to buy it, or protect it, or pretend is "vital to our interests."

I know, you like to believe your beliefs are the only legitimate ones... it's, of course as silly as their thinking theirs are, and your indignation IS exactly the same as theirs, whether or not the CURRENT version of Christianity calls for killing non-believers. It has in the past, and many of us believe that it does now - simply because it's this crazy mindset that our leaders have that have allowed them to do what they've done.

I maintain our leaders are just as much "moral relativists" as anyone else. Of course to see this, you'd have to admit that while the killing of terrorists may indeed be justified, that, since FAR more innocents are being killed than terrorists, and that the families of those innocents will; likely end up being FAR more likely to BECOME jihadists themselves (no matter which faction they belong to now) that we will reap what we sew - and deserve it.

Sorry, your opinion, (or mine) is no more valid than theirs is, and until we figure that out?
-we walk toward Armegeddon giving God the finger.

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