Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

No doubt everyone of us has had our share of accidents.

If not in a car, or with a knife, or some other sharp object whereby we cut ourselves, then all of us have at some point in our life fallen down.

It is a part of growing up to fall down, and so it is hard to conceive that even baby Jesus did not fall down at sometime, or fall against some piece of furniture that Joseph had made.

It would not be a normal childhood to grow up without some kind of an accident.

But whether Jesus did or not is not the issue, for nobody else does escape all accidents.

We all have them, and the longer we live the more we have.

In the battle of Sockett's Harbor during the War of 1812, David Sockett had his hand blown off at the age of 76.

Most men had no such accidents at 76 because most men never lived that long in that day.

Some years later a tree fell on Sockett's head and fractured his skull.

A few years after that he was standing by when a cannon misfired and both his eyes were damaged by the blast.

After this a horse kicked him in the face causing permanent disfigurement.

You have to conclude that he was accident prone, but it was something he learned to live with for he lived to be 115.

In contrast was our 17 year old neighbor.

She was riding with her brother when a Christian man in another car had an epilepsy attack.

His foot froze on the gas pedal, and he ran into their car.

She was thrown into the windshield where glass cut her juggler vain, and she died in just a few minutes.

At 17 one accident ended her life.

In another church I served an army officer had a wife and three children who were hit by an oncoming car, and the wife and two of the children were killed instantly.

The third child was thrown out the back window and survived.

It was the first an only three casket funeral I have ever seen.

These accidents didn't last very long, but the suffering they left behind still goes on.

I have had my own share of accidents, and have wrecked a couple of cars quite severely but have suffered no bodily injury.

My children cannot say the same.

My oldest son was hit by a car while on his bike and ended up in the hospital for a month.

My youngest son fell down the stairs and was taken to the hospital.

My daughter once rolled down an embankment and smashed up a truck and broke her neck.

She had to spend weeks in the hospital and months in traction, and with a lifetime of side effects.

I read the same statistics that you read, and know that ten of thousands of people a year die in car accidents, and hundreds of thousands suffer injury, but cold statistics are not why I believe in the reality of accidents.

It is my experience of accidents that convinces me they are real, and also my study of God's Word.

But there is always this wide spread saying that keeps coming up that says, "With God there are no accidents."

This is one of those popular theological sayings that people use to cut off debate on a sensitive issue.

What can you say to such an absolute statement?

It seems sacrilegious, or at least futile, to argue with such a statement.

After all, who is going to have the audacity to challenge the competency of God to run the world?

The result is that this little phrase quite effectively cuts off both debate and thought on the subject of accidents.

But we cannot escape the fact that our experience suggests that accidents are a very real part of the world in which we live.

Some pastors I have talked to about accidents feel that they have to support the idea that there are no accidents in the life of a Christian.

I tried to argue with one Christian leader that that view doesn't seem to fit the facts, and he became emotionally upset and did not want to pursue the issue.

So I am aware that this is an emotional topic, and you may not like questioning one of the strong convictions of many Christians.

But I decided that the best way to deal with a dilemma is to look it square in the face, and ask some serious questions.

People make a lot of claims for God, but what does God claim for Himself?

What does the Bible really say about accidents, and the things that happen by chance?

Is there such a thing, or are these pagan ideas that do not belong in the minds of God's people?

Philip P. Bliss, who wrote so many of the songs Christians love to sing, such as Hallelujah What A Savior, Wonderful Words Of Life, The Light Of The World Is Jesus, Almost Persuaded, Dare To Be A Daniel, And Jesus Loves Even Me, and many more, was on a train with his wife heading for Chicago for a series of meetings.

A bridge gave way and more than 100 people on the train were killed including the Blisses'.

He gave so much of what we sing, but his accident did not lead to more praise to God, but less.

Bliss wrote the music to It Is Well With My Soul, but the words were written by H. G. Spafford.

He sent his family to Europe, and the ship sank, and all four of his children went down with it.

Amy Carmicheal went to India as a missionary in 1895.

She did much to alleviate the suffering of children, but in 1931 she took a serious fall, and for the next 20 years she was confined to her room.

She was in constant pain, but still managed the mission and wrote 13 books.

She gained many victories, but not because of her pain, but in spite of her pain.

When David Livingston went to Africa and devoted his life to reach those people he faced constant danger.

A lion attacked him and left him wounded.

He was handicapped for the rest of his life on one side.

A mad buffalo almost killed him, and a hippopotamus tipped his boat, and he nearly drowned.

He suffered more fevers than anybody I ever read about, and spent a major part of his life recovering.

There seemed to be no end to the problems, injuries, and suffering he endured.

R. G. LaTorneu gave millions to the cause of Christ.

He crashed his car through 8 sections of a fence and broke his neck.

He spent two months with his head laying useless on his shoulders.

Later on in 1937 he and his wife and their quartet were on their way to share the Gospel in word and song at a special meeting.

They had a head on collision that killed all three in the other car and two of their quartet.

LaTorneu had both hips and a leg broken, and his chest was crushed.

His wife was severely injured as well, but they both recovered and went on to serve the Lord, and gave millions more to His cause.

We could go on and on, but the point is that the children of God, as far as the record of history and the record of God's Word goes, do not have any promise that they will escape the suffering that comes through accidents.

Godly people and leaders frequently die in accidents.

Some Christians think that all of these accidents are really good because they are a part of God's plan.

But I do not see this supported by Scripture at all.

My study of the Bible has led me to see that all of the events of life fall into four categories.

You may see other categories, but here is how I see the breakdown of all events.

1. EVENTS WHICH GOD PLANS.

These events have to happen because they are a part of God's purpose, and they are predestined.

They cannot not happen.

The cross is a good example.

It was planned before the world was even created, for God could not, or would not, create such a high risk being as man with his freedom to fall without committing himself to pay the price to redeem and restore him.

The cross was the most necessary event of history.

2. EVENTS WHICH GOD PREVENTS.

These are things that would have happened if God had not stepped into history and by His providence prevented.

Pharaoh took Sarah because of her beauty, but God prevented his having her, and got her back to Abraham unharmed and unused.

The same thing happened later with Rebekah.

The killing of baby Jesus by Herod was also prevented.

There is no way to know how many terrible things never happened because God prevented them from happening.

These two kinds of events-what God plans, and what God prevents, represent God's will in the world.

They happen or don't happen because God's plan demands it.

But there are two other kinds of events also that we want to look at.

3. EVENTS WHICH GOD PROHIBITS.

These are all the things that God forbids.

He forbid Adam and Eve to eat a certain fruit.

He gave commandments of what men should not do.

These things do take place, however, because God has given man the freedom to disobey Him.

God does not will these events, nor does He prevent them.

They happen against His will.

All such events are what we call sin and evil.

4. EVENTS WHICH GOD PERMITS.

These are events which God has not planned, but neither has He prohibited, or prevented them.

They may cause a great deal of suffering, but they are not events of choice, and so there is not the same guilt connected with them as with those events which God has prohibited.

This fourth category is where we put accidents.

Accidents are events which God did not plan to happen, nor did man choose to happen.