The sermon explored the relationship between the wrath of God and the brokenness and sinfulness of people. Romans 7:14-20 points out that sin lives in us and we end up doing what we don't want to do. It goes against the idea of free will but is well in line with the social sciences.
Evangelical Christianity, in trying to make things simple, can make the mistake of narrowing God's Truth, turning it into a caricature. God is not simple.
God's wrath is actually redemptive. Our understanding of God's wrath, as illustrated in the Bible, grows in nuance over time. The view in Joshua is violent and primitive. Ezekiel's view is far more sophisticated.
In Ezekiel 16, Israel is portrayed as an abandoned newborn found and adopted by God. Israel grows into a woman of great beauty and becomes God's bride and a queen. But Israel is an unfaithful wife, who trusts in her beauty, prostituting herself through adultery and sacrificing her children. The language is relational.
People disregard this relationship through idolatry. Idolatry doesn't mean any non-Jewish or non-Christian religion, it is a betrayal, a willful turning away to what is Good.
Trusting in the things that hold our society together - wealth, youth, power, individualism, etc. - is engaging in idolatry.
The people who know God are most usually the focus of God's wrath. It was gradual in Ezekiel and began with a restriction of territory. We should likewise look for areas in our life where we are restricted. If we look for this, areas where repentance is needed, it becomes redemptive.
The view of our relationship with God goes from the purely collective to the individual over the centuries. But we shouldn't forget the value of the collective.
God's wrath is basically allowing us to bear the consequences of our actions. God's grace and God's wrath are two sides of the same thing, helping us to grow, heal, and mature.
Just as the Buddha said that the things of this world are unsatisfactory and fail you in the end, part of experiencing the consequences of our actions is enabling us to experience the failure of our idols.
God's wrath also at times goes outside the Church when it comes to those who disregard the poor. Being over fed and unconcerned is bad because, as the Catholic Church said, God has a special preference for the poor.
God's wrath is redemptive and its aim is to lead us to become the person we are meant to be.
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