Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 25, 1992
Isaiah 10:3
YOUR DAY OF DISASTER
I. Phone call telling us of Grandpa Holwick's heart attack (1965).
A. Most families are not prepared for the unexpected.
B. In due time, disaster of some sort will visit your family.
C. Will you be ready?
II. Disaster of Despair.
A. Long sickness, financial burdens.
1) No secret that in recessions, family tensions flare.
2) Senseless murder in Dover by young man who had given up hope.
3) Despair eats away bit by bit.
B. Christian heroes have also felt like giving up. 2 Cor 1:8
1) Paul - despairing of life.
2) Jesus - may cup pass away.
C. We may feel like giving up, but even in worst circumstances we
can overcome.
The most significant event in the life of evangelist Edmund
Haggai was the birth of his son.
It was not a normal birth.
His son was paralyzed and able to sit in his wheelchair only
with the assistance of full-length body braces.
One of the nation's most respected obstetricians brought him
into the world.
Tragically, this man--overcome by grief-- sought to find the
answer in a bourbon bottle rather than in a blessed Bible.
Due to the doctor's intoxication at the time of delivery, he
inexcusably bungled his responsibility.
Several of the baby's bones were broken.
His leg was pulled out at the growing center.
Needless abuse -- resulting in hemorrhaging of the brain -- was
inflicted upon the tiny infant.
During the first year of his son's life, eight doctors said he
could not possibly survive.
For the first two years of his life his mother had to feed him
every three hours with a Brecht feeder.
It took a half hour to prepare for the feeding and it took
another half hour to clean up and put him back to bed.
Not once during that time did she ever get out of the house for
any diversion whatsoever.
Never did she get more than two hours sleep at one time.
Mrs. Haggai had once been acclaimed as one of the outstanding
contemporary female vocalists in America.
From the time she was 13 she had been popular as a singer - and
constantly in the public eye.
Then, after five years of marriage, tragedy struck!
From a life of public service she was now marooned within the
walls of their home.
Had it not been from her spiritual maturity this heart-rending
experience would long since have caused an emotional breakdown.
Their son lived more than twenty years.
He committed his heart and life to Jesus Christ and gave evidence
of a genuine concern for the things of the Lord.
Haggai attributed his son's spiritual commitment to his Christ-
centered mother.
She mastered the discipline of living one day at a time.
No one ever heard a word of complaint from her.
After having been subject to more grief than many people twice
her age, she possessed sparkle that would be the envy of any
teenager.
Haggai concluded: "Seize today. Live for today. Wring it dry
of every opportunity."
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III. Disaster of Defeat.
A. Moral failure is among worst defeats for a family.
1) (Ohio Woman in tears rushes up, blurts out her husband is
having an affair.)
a) Adultery, drugs and alcohol, arrests cause a heavy burden.
b) Tears up trust, the cohesive image we present to the world.
c) Public humiliation was greatest fear of my own family.
2) It doesn't just happen with other families.
a) Moral defeat is possible for any of us.
Rev. Gordon MacDonald is currently serving a church in
Manhattan.
A few years ago he was pastor of one of the largest
churches in New England, and considered as head of
Intervarsity.
But news of a short-lived affair surfaced, and he was
ruined.
MacDonald commented, "I always guarded myself in areas
where I knew I was weak. To my surprise, Satan
defeated me in an area where I thought I was strong."
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3) All have sinned (Rom 3:23) and every heart is desperately
wicked (Jer 17:9).
B. To survive, a family needs to learn how to forgive.
1) Many young couples (premarital counseling) claim they could
never forgive a moral failure on part of spouse.
a) Everything in relationship becomes a lie.
b) But families have a lot of time and experiences invested.
c) Our relationships are worth more than breaking up.
2) Forgiveness is hard, but it is the only way to heal.
a) Forgiveness costs. It is one principle which will be
valid as long as the world lasts.
b) Human forgiveness is costly.
1> A son or a daughter may go wrong; a father or a
mother may forgive.
2> But that forgiveness has brought tears....
There is the price of a broken heart to pay.
c) Divine forgiveness is costly.
1> God is love, but God is holiness. God cannot break
the great moral laws on which the universe is built.
2> Sin must have its punishment or the very structure
of life disintegrates.
3> And God alone can pay the terrible price that is
necessary before men can be forgiven.
d) Forgiveness is never a case of saying: "It's all right;
it doesn't matter."
Forgiveness is the most costly thing in the world.
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IV. Disaster of Death.
A. King David and poignant death of his young son. 2 Sam 12:16-23
1) Death come to every family here today.
2) Will you get closer, or be blown apart?
3) How strong is your Christian faith?
B. Do you ever talk about death in your family?
1) Families tend to avoid it at all costs.
2) Better to deal with it head on.
C. The great promise of salvation is that death is defeated.
1) This is what Easter is all about.
2) If you were to die RIGHT NOW, do you know what your destiny
would be?
3) How about the others in your family?
V. How Christians can cope.
A. "Overcoming" is not automatic.
1) Many families fail in their time of greatest need.
2) To overcome we must know ourselves and know our God.
B. Pain is normal is this fallen world. You cannot escape it.
1) Dr. Larry Crabb: "An aching soul is evidence not of
neurosis or spiritual immaturity but of realism."
2) Learn to embrace the pain.
a) Many spiritual activities are really a form of escape,
an attempt to cover up pain.
b) The effort to escape pain causes us to violate love -
to move away from relationship - and to become less
of the person God wants us to be.
3) Embracing pain increases our eagerness for heaven. Rom 8:23
a) Paul says we groan inwardly and wait expectantly.
b) By embracing pain, we no longer need to base our life
on efforts to relieve it.
c) Embracing pain means admitting it's there and dealing
with it directly.
C. Pain can become endurable when it is shared.
1) Tragedies place a great burden on families.
Tim Turner was a volunteer fireman in Coshocton, Ohio.
Early one autumn morning his unit was called to an accident.
A car had gone off the road and was upside down in an old
canal.
The firemen pulled two young girls from the wreckage.
They had been on their way to school.
Both were dead.
Both were Tim's daughters.
As time went on, Tim became quiet and withdrawn.
His wife Barb had a nervous breakdown and wept for months.
The key to the survival of their marriage was sharing their
pain with others, and then with each other.
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2) We have to remain committed to people, no matter what.
a) The people around you will disappoint you.
b) When we make ourselves vulnerable and let our guard down,
at some point others will not respond the way we want.
c) But we have to keep involved - Jesus commands us to, and
it is healing. We are not meant to bear pain alone.
VI. Pain is not God's last word. He can work it out for good. Rom 8:8
A. Jesus promises us joy in the midst of pain.
1) Yet Jesus himself was a "man of sorrows."
2) Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, knowing that God is
overcoming the world. John 16:33
3) Joy is a deep confidence that I am really alive and that
one day I'll experience that aliveness in full.
B. We need a "Rock that is higher than us." Psalm 61:2
1) God gives a firm foundation for our lives.
2) Favorite image in the Psalms - "God is my Rock, my refuge."
3) Physically and emotionally we hurt, but we always have hope.
C. Trusting God means being aware of how much we long for what we
don't have.
1) What we don't have is God's problem to worry about.
a) It's not our problem.
b) It's not our family's problem. It's God's.
2) God will handle it, even though the evidence seems to be
against it.
3) As we trust God, we open ourselves to love rather than
isolating ourselves in pain.
