How To Deal With Tragedy

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Isaiah 6:1-8

(This message was brought on September 16, the Sunday after the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers, and the Pentagon)

Focus: What do you do when senseless tragedy strikes and chaos seems to rule the day? What do you do when hope dies and fear comes alive? Crisis can be an opportunity for a fresh vision of our glorious God that gives us new inspiration and renewed commitment.

We have been inundated this week with the images of senseless tragedy and chaos. We watched helplessly as the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed to the ground after the hijacked jetliners collided into them and caused massive destruction. We were stricken as we began to realize these were highly coordinated planned attacks. The pentagon was also attacked. We feared what was happening. We feared the worst was yet to come. Everything seemed chaos and out of control on Tuesday. What do you do when hope dies and fear comes alive? What did you do with that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? Is it still there? Where do you go when your sense of stability is lost and the future seems uncertain at best, and there seems to be something dreaded looming at the horizon at worst? When hope dies we need a vision of God. Because with God there is hope. Even when it seems chaos reigns, it is a lie. I say to you this day, “God is still on the throne.” Today it is my hope that you can say with Isaiah, “I saw the Lord, high and exalted, and that has made all the difference.”

Today’s message was scheduled to be “How to Be Comfortable with An Uncomfortable God” (Part 2). I have decided to change the title of the message to “How To Deal With Tragedy”. Although the title has changed in view of this week’s unusual circumstances, I did not need to change the text we were originally going to study today. The text for this morning remains to be Isaiah 6:1-8. I believe we will find in this text exactly what we need to hear this morning.

Isaiah 6:1 ¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne

Crisis and change often bring people to times of self-examination and reflection and even prayer. We have seen this happen this week. Prayer vigils were held all over our nation. By Tuesday at 10 o’clock here at our church we had two prayer meetings with a total of 50 people praying for our nation, and for the victims and families. On Thursday at the Clarkdale park there were about 400 gathered in a candlelight vigil.

Isaiah wrote, “In the year that King Uzziah died,. . .”. We might translate this into our experience this week, “In the year that there was the Attack on America, I saw the Lord seated on His throne.”

It was just such a time for young Isaiah when he went to the temple to pray. King Uzziah’s reign had begun with such promise, but unfortunately, pride overtook Uzziah and he presumed to do, in the temple, what was forbidden. He was struck with leprosy and he died, not in the palace, but the leper ward. The year was approximately 740 BC. (See 2 Chronicles 26:18-21). It was internal corruption that led to chaos for the Israelites in 740 BC. That corruption reaped invasion of the enemy.

I’m sure the year’s events for Isaiah were as memorable as this week’s events and maybe this year’s events will be memorable to us. For Isaiah, more than towers collapsed. His government was collapsing. It was as if the president’s plane, Air Force One, HAD been hit, and the president killed and the nation’s government came to a screeching halt, a chaotic uproar. Isaiah felt something similar to that kind of chaos. One of the reasons for this sense of chaos, and the world being out of control for Isaiah and the Israelites in that year was the fact that with the death of Uzziah, the throne of David was vacated while the enemies were coming against their nation.

We learn today that any crisis can be an opportunity for a fresh vision of God. If we consider what Isaiah saw, it might help our spiritual eyesight. Like Isaiah, we can find new inspiration and renewed commitment. Even as it appears that many in our nation today are finding renewed national solidarity, renewed commitment, and a new vision of God.

You’d expect a vision of God on his throne to be comforting, but such a vision of God at first was a very uncomfortable scene for Isaiah. It wasn’t till later that Isaiah found comfort in this vision. It certainly was not comfortable at first. That is why the original title to this message was going to be “How to be comfortable with an Uncomfortable God” (part 2). Watch as Isaiah feels completely undone by such a vision of majesty. Learn also how Isaiah finds comfort in this awesome, uncomfortable God.

Isaiah 6:1-9

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:
      “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
      the whole earth is full of his glory.”
⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
⁹He said, “Go and tell this people:
      “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
      be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

I. When Tragedy strikes,

A. Look Up (v. 1-4)

Isaiah 6:1-4 (NIV) ¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

When tragedy strikes, we need to worship. Isaiah needed to see God. He had placed so much confidence in a visible king that he had previously felt little need to reach out to the invisible king.

Our nation has in the past rested on the safety of our national security. We felt safe because we placed our confidence in our nations power, our national security. We felt safe because we placed our confidence in our economic security. We felt safe because we believed we were safe. Though previously many felt little need to reach out to the God who is truly on his throne, suddenly our nation’s leaders are unashamedly urging us to pray, to turn to the God who is on his throne. Why? Because God is our only Solid Foundation, our only true security. “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.”

This is not everybody’s response. Some people blame God. In their mind, they blame the God who could not be there. If he were there, he would not let it happen.

The Blaming Barber

A certain preacher and an atheistic barber were walking through city slums.
The barber said, "This is why I can't believe in your God of love. If he was as kind as you say, he wouldn't permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor. He wouldn't allow these poor street people to get addicted. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits these things."
    The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkempt. His hair was hanging down his neck, and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face.
    The preacher said to his friend: "You can't be a good barber, or you wouldn't permit a man like this to continue living here without a haircut and a shave."
    Indignant, the barber answered: "Why blame me for that man's condition? He has never come in my shop. If he had, I could've fixed him up and made him look like a gentleman!"
    The preacher said, "Then don't blame God for allowing people to continue in their evil ways. He invites them to come and be saved."[i]

I wonder if Isaiah was asking the why question in his worship? We don’t know what he was asking. I wonder if he asked God to show himself. When someone feels like “God Is Nowhere” and a sudden single slash mark changes that feeling to “God Is Now Here”, the change is so dramatic it leaves the person feeling undone. That was Isaiah’s experience.

What did Isaiah see when he Looked Up in worship? He saw God in all His majesty. God was “high and exalted.” He saw God in His power. “The train of his robe filled the temple.” I don’t think Isaiah could see all of God. That would be too much for his frail humanity to handle. What he did see dropped him, and made him feel undone. He saw the train of his robe. It is as if the hem of his robe alone was so much glory he couldn’t deal with it.

Seraphim

He saw God in His awesome holiness. He saw the Seraphs or Seraphim cover themselves in humility before God’s Holiness. Now seeing the Seraphim cover themselves in humility is saying something. Seraphs can be translated “burning ones” or “nobles”. They are a rank of angelic beings. There are only two references to these beings and both are found in this passage. Each is said to have six wings, a face, hands, and feet. Notice with the wings they cover themselves in humility before God. These are awesome beings. Their voices shake the threshold and door posts of the temple. They expressed themselves in words which human ears comprehended. This appears to be a ranking of angels that attend to the throne of God as functionaries or attendants. Like all angels they act as agents for God. Praising God came to them naturally in God’s presence. When they speak their praises, they begin with, “Holy, holy, holy.” The seraphs’ praise underscores the fact that we have a holy God. A threefold repetition has great emphasis. I call this the first chorus (though this has since become many hymns and songs, the text probably indicates that it was called out rather than sung).

The following 2 jokes illustrate the differences between hymns and choruses.

2 jokes

Until recently I had only heard Joke 1 of the 2 I am about to tell you.
Joke 1. An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. "Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what’s the difference?" asked the wife.
The farmer said, "Well it’s like this - If I were to say to you: ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN’!!! ‘Oh, Oh, Ooooooooh, yes, it’s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn, yes, it’s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn, --- weeell, it’s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn!!! Alleluia! – Now, THAT would be a praise chorus."

Joke 2. A young Christian went to his local church usually, but one weekend attended a small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs." "Hymns," said his wife, "what are those?" "Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different," said the young man. "Well, what’s the difference?, asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well it’s like this: If I were to say to you,
‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry.
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by,
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain?
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Harkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry,
and I no longer see those foul cows in the corn. AMEN!
"Then, if I were to do only verses one, two, and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn." [ii]

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

I guess you could say that was a chorus! Let’s not miss the point, the seraphs worshipped the awesomeness of His Holiness. Worship is a natural response when you get a glimpse of the almighty! There is no alternative but to be in awe.

Powerful Voices

There’s something else I want you to notice. These Seraphs had some powerful voices. I have this high tenor voice. When a stranger calls our house on the phone, I usually know it’s a salesperson when they refer to me as “Ma’am”. I usually deepen my voice and say, this is Mr. Hammond. They usually say “I’m sorry, we must have a bad connection.” We sure have a lot of bad connections! Now, these seraphs would not have such problems. These guys had some booming basses that rocked the Temple! They didn’t hold back. I’m sure if they did this in church there would be a lot of complaining about the volume. It wasn’t just loud. It was so loud it was frightening. Try to remember that Isaiah heard this and felt this at a time when no surround sound amplification had ever been experienced. The impact was profound.

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

It isn’t quite clear to me if the shaking caused the smoke. Or the presence of God caused the smoke. Often God’s presence is associated with the pillar cloud of fire, or smoke. The name Seraphs is associated with fire. To put it mildly, what Isaiah experienced made an impression! Listen to his response.

⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

B. Fess Up (v. 5-7)

Confession is the natural response after coming to terms with the holiness of God. When you truly look up and get an accurate view of God, you will fess up. We must be willing to see ourselves as we really are, even if it grieves us. Confession is simply agreeing with God’s assessment. It is speaking the truth. It is admitting we fall short of his holiness! Isaiah was probably thinking: "At one time I thought I was okay, I thought I was acceptable to God. I mean compared to everybody else, I was alright. But now I have seen God. Now I know better. I know that I’m NOT okay or acceptable on my own merits before this awesome and holy God.

It is a refreshing thing to see that Isaiah mentioned his own sin before he mentioned the sin of his neighbors. Isaiah saw his own sin and said, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” The people that Isaiah compared himself too were not okay either...... they were losers too! When we see how great God is, we’ll see how ordinary we are. Everyone of us is flawed, sinful, blemished. True worship makes us confess that were messed up!

Many of us are like the man who went to the psychiatrist’s office with a fried egg on the top of his head, a strip of bacon draped over each ear, and a sausage link in each nostril. “I need to talk to you, doc,” he said, “It’s about my brother.”

It is particularly easy to focus on the evils of other people in this time of tragedy. But Isaiah did the right thing. He became reflective in light of the tragedy. He didn’t say, “that stupid King. If only he hadn’t tried to offer incense like a priest.” He didn’t say, “What can I expect, I live among a rebellious people. I can’t blame God for bringing judgment against us.” Isaiah, felt personally undone before the Almighty.

Isaiah learned the right approach to God. Here is the right approach.

The Only Way to be Comfortable with a Holy God is by way of the Atonement

⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

What is going on here? The altar in the Old Testament was the place where sacrifices were offered to God to make atonement for sin.

God Restores the Repentant

God did not deny Isaiah’s sinfulness, but he did provide an escape. A seraph took a coal from the altar, where the sacrifice for sin was made, and seared Isaiah’s lips, sterilizing them.

For those of you who came to pray this week, we all read 2 Chronicles 7:14 as an encouraging reminder.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Who does God restore? The repentant. Who does God bless? The humble. Who does he oppose? The proud who think they can handle it on their own. We must humble ourselves and come before God’s altar? The only altar there is now is through Jesus Christ’s once and for all sacrifice.

Once the coal from the altar touches us our sins are atoned for? Why is that? Because the coal is the burning ember, what remains after the wrath of God, or the judgment of God has been spent on the substitutionary sacrifice. When we accept the sacrifice on our behalf, the coal from the altar, that is the forgiveness that comes to us through the substitutionary sacrifice, touches us. After we receive the substitutionary sacrifice we are seared clean. How do you purify? You purify with fire. It reminds me of the times we do minor surgery at home, with a needle, going after a splinter. First thing you do is purify that needle. You hold it over a flame so you don’t infect the wound. All the germs are burned off. When the coal touched Isaiah’s lips, there was no reason for Isaiah to continue to feel unworthy. He had been made pure. How? Not by the pain of the coal on his lips, but by the pain of the fire upon the substitutionary sacrifice. That cleansing judgment was then, by faith applied to him, not just his lips, but his life. Isaiah has now become the surgical needle in the hands of God, with a holy purpose.

C. Step Up (v.8)

Isaiah 6:8 (NIV) ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

When hope dies you need a mission in the world. You need to get your focus off of yourself, your problems and what is wrong in your world, and focus on what God is doing in the world. You need to see the bigger picture and get on board with God’s eternal purposes.

The 4 Rs

You’ve heard of the 3 Rs. By way of summary let me tell you the 4 Rs we need to become useful for God’s Kingdom purposes.

1. Recognize How Great God Is

2. Realize How sinful we are

3. Receive God’s Forgiveness

This empowers you to do the work of the kingdom, because the work of the kingdom is the work of representing God to others. We cannot extend the forgiveness of God to others till we have received the forgiveness of God ourselves. We are not equipped to bring the burning coal that will cleanse someone else until it has touched us and cleansed us. The painful cleansing process was necessary before Isaiah could fulfill the task to which God was calling him. Before we accept God’s call to speak for him to those around us, we must be cleansed as Isaiah was, confessing our sins and submitting to God’s control. Letting God purify us may be painful, but we must be purified so that we can truly represent God, who is pure and holy.

There is one more thing that has to happen before we become useful to God. We must . . .

4. Respond: “Here Am I, Send Me”

We must step up. When God says, “Go!” we go. There is no debating. We don’t say, “There he is, send him.”

In response to God, Isaiah submitted himself entirely to God’s service. No matter how difficult his task would be, he said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”

The Frustrated CEO

Let’s pretend that You’re the CEO of a large company and you’re my assistant. You’re going to Europe on company business and you leave a partner in charge of the operations here. You write your partner emails every week to let him know what you want done while you’re gone.

You go to Europe and you write your regular emails. Soon, however you are hearing some strange reports from some other employees. In six months you come back. The weeds have grown up in front of the business. The receptionist is smoking, and popping her gum listening to music. The carpets are filthy and the trash is overflowing in the trash baskets. You ask her where the manager is. She replies, “Down the hall.” You bump into your partner in the hall. Your partner just finished a chess game with the sales manager. You tell your partner that you need to see him in your office, which has been turned into a television room so the employees can watch their soaps in the afternoon. It has been reported this was a morale building thing. You feel your face getting hot, and your veins must be bulging. Your eyes have the look of fury when you confront your partner.

“Didn’t you get my letters?”, you ask.

“Oh yes. We had a letter study every Friday night. We read them and studied them. Some of us have memorized a sentence or two. A few of us have memorized entire letters! We read every letter you sent us.”

Your jaw drops. This isn’t what you expected, but you reply, “Okay, you got my letters, you studied them and mediated on them, discussed them and even memorized them...But what did you do with them?”

“Do? We didn’t do anything with them. They’re right here.”

“No, I mean ACTION, ACTION, ACTION. What did you do with them!”

This is how God has felt long before this national tragedy hit. Christians are like those standing on the sidelines so often. We are observers of the crisis. But God asks us to Look Up! Worship him. Fess Up! Humble yourself, confess and receive his forgiveness on his terms. It might be painful to allow the purifying process to touch you. Then Step Up! He’s given us his letters. What are we doing with them.

CLOSING PRAYER (ADAPTED FROM PSALM 51)

Psalm 51 (NIV)   ADAPTED
¹Have mercy on [us as a nation], O God,
             according to your unfailing love;
             according to your great compassion
             blot out [our] transgressions.
²Wash away all [our] iniquity
             and cleanse [us] from [our] sin.
³For [we] know [our] transgressions,
             and [our] sin is always before [us].
⁴Against you, you only, have [we] sinned
             and done what is evil in your sight,
             so that you are proved right when you speak
             and justified when you judge.
⁵Surely [we were] sinful at [the] birth [of our nation],
             sinful from the time [our founding fathers conceived of this one nation under God].
⁶Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
             you teach [us] wisdom in the inmost place.
⁷Cleanse [us] with hyssop, and [we] will be clean;
             wash [us], and [we] will be whiter than snow.
⁸Let [us] hear joy and gladness;
             let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from [our] sins
             and blot out all [our] iniquity.
¹⁰Create in [us] a pure heart, O God,
             and renew a steadfast spirit within [us].
¹¹Do not cast [us] from your presence
             or take your Holy Spirit from [us].
¹²Restore to [us] the joy of your salvation
             and grant [us] a willing spirit, to sustain [us].
¹³Then [we] will [once again] teach transgressors your ways,
             [we will once again become a missionary sending nation]
             [we will once again see how we have helped ] sinners . . .turn back to you.
¹⁴Save [us] from bloodguilt, O God,. . .
             and [we] will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵O Lord, open [our] lips,
             and [our] mouth[s] will declare your praise.
¹⁶You do not delight in sacrifice, or [we] would bring it;
             you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
             a broken and contrite heart,
             O God, you will not despise.
[Help us as a nation to be humble before you with a broken spirit and contrite hearts]
¹⁸In your good pleasure make [our nation] prosper [once again as One Nation Under God];
             build up the walls of [protection].
¹⁹. . . [allow us to bring you praise as a nation once again].

[i] Brett Kays, Brownstown, Michigan as cited at www.preachingtoday.com

[ii] Worship in Spirit and in Truth, by Leann Gabel of Amarillo, TX