07-25-2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
FAILURE NEED NEVER BE FINAL
Psalm 32:1-7
Series: “What Do I Need to Know for Life?
Lesson Seven (David)
July 25, 2010
It’s great to be back with you! Cindy and I missed you last Sunday, but last Sunday we were thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to be with our three kids, their spouses and our two grandchildren in Nashville, Tennessee. And then last Sunday afternoon, we gathered with my parents and my two brothers and all of their families as we spent a couple of days celebrating my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful time!
And I heard a missed a great sermon on Ruth—another hero from the Bible! My thanks to Gail Zickefoose for opening the Word for us last Sunday.
Can you believe that we’re two-thirds of the way through the summer?!—and through our series on Lessons from the Heroes of the Bible that I’ve entitled “What Do I Need to Know?” We’ve considered heroes like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Job and Ruth and the lessons learned through their life stories:
- God can be trusted.
- We win when we forgive.
- God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways.
- We can be strong and courageous.
- God is with us even when we suffer, and
- God will provide.
Hopefully you’ve found these truths to be helpful in your own life!
Today we move to consider the life of King David—one that I suppose is a favorite hero for many people. Many of us even as kids identified young David as a hero as we heard the amazing story of how David, with only a slingshot and a few small stones, single-handedly downed the towering giant Goliath and protected the people of Israel from the Philistine army which had attacked them. There’s something amazing about how God chose David to be King—even though David was the “little brother” who wasn’t considered to be significant at all among even his own family. We have loved the image of David the musician soothing the troubled spirits of King Saul—and we have read and re-read from the Book of Psalms, many of which were written by David himself. We love the stories of David’s loyalty to King Saul, and how David and Saul’s son Jonathon represent the ultimate height of what it means to be friends. And the thought of David being called “a man after God’s own heart” is something that not only challenges us but also helps us to see that’s it’s possible to have that kind of relationship with God.
David had been chosen by God and anointed to sit on the throne over the people of Israel. He became the nation’s leader and enjoyed God’s favor wherever he went. He was loved dearly by the people who served under him, and God gave David great success as a leader.
You know, when I first planned to consider David for this series of sermons, my mind went to a scene we find in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. It describes not the height of David’s days, but what was likely the lowest point in his life. You see, in the midst of all his high privileges, David saw, desired and took for himself the wife of another man—and he then sank even further into the darkness of sin by arranging the death of the woman’s husband in battle. The woman’s name was Bathsheba, and the mere mention of her name ushers in the harsh reality of David’s most shameful moment.
If you’ve never read the story, you need to do that, for it paints word pictures I can’t do justice to! God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David with the ugly truth. Nathan told David a story about a wealthy man of privilege who assumed possession of the only thing of value held by a very poor man. David was outraged that the man of great means would take advantage of the poor man in such a heartless and callous way. And after David had finished his self-righteous tirade against the offender in the story, Nathan looked at David and said boldly, “You are the man!” And Nathan began to expose the ugly sins which David had committed against Bathsheba and her husband.
David was devastated as he was forced to see his sin for what it was. As I’ve said before, Satan is such a liar. He will lead us into the most awful things, and put blinders on us so that we don’t see it for what it is. That’s what he’d done with David. But with Nathan’s bold confrontation, David had to admit that he was an adulterer and a murderer. He had destroyed a happy home. He had allowed his sexual desire to go rampant and uncontrolled. And God was not pleased with David—just as God is not pleased whenever we get caught up in sin.
I also considered for our text to go to Psalm 51. It records David’s powerful prayer of confession—a prayer many of us have prayed many times. It begins—
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge…” (Psalm 51:1-4)
But when I got into my sermon preparation, I realized that the real story of hope is that God allowed David to get past the shame of 2 Samuel 11 and 12. God answered David’s plea for forgiveness and cleansing in Psalm 51. The rest of the story is that God redeemed David’s life. While David’s escapade with Bathsheba had an impact on the rest of David’s life, it did not define who he was. God helped David to get past that—and the lesson I want us to glean today from David’s life story is this: Failure Need Never Be Final. Our sin and our failure need not define us. If we will humbly turn to Him, God forgives sin and helps us to get beyond failure.
In Psalm 32, we read that the broken man has become the blessed man. That’s an act of God, you know! That’s not something we can do on our own! Listen to the first seven verses of this Psalm that David wrote and is numbered Psalm 32—
[Read Psalm 32:1-7, NIV]
In preparing for this sermon, I kept coming across a quotation from Winston Churchill—
Success in not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. (Winston Churchill)
From a purely human perspective, that’s true—and it gives encouragement for us to do all that we can to push beyond the failures in life—to exercise courage to keep going even when we have failed miserably. But, as I think you’ll see, there’s a greater, more important source for us to tap into when we realize that we have failed. David wasn’t merely exercising courage as he continued beyond the Bathsheba incident. David needed forgiveness. And while he had violated a woman and her husband, even more significant was the fact that he had violated the trust God had placed in David. And yet in a sad twist of reality, it was only this God whom David had violated Who was able to cleanse the dark stain of sin in David’s heart. Only God could forgive—and the Good News is that that is exactly what God did for David! God forgave David and redeemed the mess David had made of his fairly charmed life—thus we learn that failure need never be final!
I have a pastor friend who years ago, while serving as a youth pastor, had an affair. The Church of the Nazarene sees the integrity of its ministers seriously, and so my friend lost his ministry credentials and his position—as he should have. And while I know that we as a church may not always have handled such situations in the best way possible, I am glad that the church was also redemptive with my friend. When a minister has had a moral failure of this kind, it’s a long road to journey on and very few commit themselves to the process of restoration. Unfortunately, most get angry with the church and blame them, rather than acknowledging their sin for what it is. But fortunately, my friend was repentant and humbly submitted himself to the discipline of the church, which was fairly rigorous and extended through several years of time. I know it was a difficult season of life for him and for his family—and, I might tell you, his wife also stuck by him and, from all I know, they have a solid marriage today.
Fast forward now to a conversation I had with my friend a few years ago—one of the first times we had ever discussed the topic of the sin of his moral failure. He made a comment that has stuck with me a long time. While acknowledging his shame over what had happened and his gratitude that the church had a process by which his ministry could eventually be restored, he said, “But I know that there will always be an asterisk by my name.”
You know what an asterisk is, don’t you? It’s the little star-like symbol that is used after a word to point you to a footnote at the bottom of page that tells you more that you may need to know about that word in the text. So, do you get what he was saying when he said that he felt there would always be an asterisk by his name—that it would forever mark him, that it would be the thing others would whisper about when they spoke of him, that doors of opportunity would close before him when people learned “his full story.”
The truth is that every one of has an asterisk by our name—the asterisk of sin and failure. How do I know that? Because the Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Besides it being confirmed over and over in scripture, I guess I’d have to tell you that I’ve also observed it to be true—that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist brain to figure out that not one of us is perfect. You’ve probably heard it said before, but they say that if you’re looking for a perfect church, don’t go there if you find it because the moment you step through the doors it will no longer be perfect and you’ll ruin it! We all have an asterisk that tells of sin in our lives. And, rest assured, David’s asterisk that told the shameful story of him with Bathsheba wasn’t the first sin in his life either—but it was the most well-known and it was the sin that seemed to force David to deal with his own sinful nature.
Most of us can also identify ourselves with some kind of failure—perhaps a failure that is so severe that we feel it may forever put an asterisk by our name, defining who we are (or aren’t!), perhaps limiting what we can do, somehow making us second-rate. More often than we like to admit, there are three small words that need to come from our mouths—“I blew it!” I suppose another version of those three small words is “I was wrong.” I don’t know about you, but I’m not overly fond of either set of three words—at least not when they need to come out of my mouth! But we all make mistakes! We are all imperfect, faulty, mistake-prone people!
Sometimes our mistakes are minimal, with minor ramifications—like when we misjudge which street to turn on and we have to go out of our way a few blocks or even a few miles. The sky’s not going to fall in because we have to take a few more minutes to get someplace! But other times our failures (or what we feel like are “failures”) are costly, humiliating and demoralizing—with serious consequences. I guess the kind of failures I’m thinking of here are things like business failures, lost jobs, home foreclosure, failing a class, divorce, rebellious kids…you fill in the blank. And we sometimes feel that others are keeping track of the asterisks by our name—and sometimes they may be!
Why would I deal with both sin and failure in the same sermon? The example of David’s affair with Bathsheba was clearly a matter of sin—no bones about it! There were no excuses! Sometimes we don’t want to call sin what it is—and we may as well get over that, because God doesn’t have any problem calling sin in our lives “sin” at all! I’m confident that God calls “sin” what some people may want to label “failures”—and I’m just as confident that there may be people who want to label something “sin” in your life when it may merely be “failure” in the eyes of God. The longer I live, the more I realize that I don’t have the full scoop on everyone’s lives—but God does, and that’s all that matters!
Psalm 32 actually uses three synonyms for sin, all of which connote something different. Forgiveness is freely and graciously given, regardless of whether it be of a “transgression,” “sin” or “iniquity.” A “transgression” is an act of rebellion and disloyalty. “Sin” is an act that misses—often intentionally—God’s expressed and revealed will. “Iniquity” is a crooked or wrong act, often associated with a conscious and intentional intent to do wrong. Clearly the words overlap. David’s point is that forgiveness of sin—however we define it—is to be found in God.
As I’ve been thinking about it, the distinction between sin and failure might be found in a puddle of grape juice on the living room carpet. I would think that it would be “failure” if it was caused by a child who, as a pure gesture of kindness and respect, spilled the grape juice as he tried to bring a glass of it to his mom or dad. But we’d see it altogether different if it was merely a matter that the child defiantly poured the grape juice on the carpet after he’d gotten angry over being told he couldn’t have the glass of grape juice in the living room.
And I think I’ve considered failure and sin together here because so often we can embrace the fact that God can forgive sin, but we still struggle to set ourselves free from the mostly personally-imposed stigma of failures. If God can wipe clean the stain of sin, don’t you suppose He can and will also deal with the stains on the floor of our lives caused by failures?
The wonderful message of God’s Word is that He redeems lives! He forgives sin and sees beyond our worst failures. Let’s look closer at Psalm 32.
It begins—
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)
Please catch that David is saying that not only is the sin removed, but God pours out blessing upon those He has forgiven! Three verbs express the absolute forgiveness God provides. Sins are “forgiven”—in other words, they are carried away. It’s the act of removal of sin, guilt, and the remembrance of sin on God’s part. Sins are “covered”—referring to the gracious act of atonement by which the sinner is reconciled and the sin is a matter of the past so much so that the Lord does not bring it up anymore as grounds for His displeasure in us! And when David said that God “does not count against him” his sins, He is referring to us being justified by God—as if we had never sinned at all.
When God catches us, exposes the sin in our lives, and forgives us when we repent, He also frees us from pretense. There is great freedom in David’s words! There is real blessing in coming clean with God—in being honest with Him. There’s freedom in that! I suppose that’s why people at AA meetings begin their sharing with the personal statement, “Hi, I’m Tim. I’m an alcoholic.” There’s something freeing in being honest! It breaks down the stronghold that secrecy has upon us!
And, as David described in verses 3 and 4, until that openness and repentance happens, we waste away from the inside out. Sin eats away at us. David is speaking here of his own experience.
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of the summer. (Psalm 32:3-4)
David wasn’t having a good time, was he? His sin was wearing on him—making him old before his time. He was wasting away—angry at himself and angry with God. And it was constant—night and day. He felt God’s hand heavy upon Him—knowing but not wanting to admit that God was angry with him for what he had done and what he was doing. As long as we try to hide our sin and excuse it away, our refusal to repent brings depression, emotional pain, alienation from God and even physical problems. And the sad truth is that millions of people live in this condition. They’ve accepted it as the norm for life.
But verse 5 is where David gets to his confession—
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)
David came clean before God—and the burden of his sin was lifted from him! God forgave him! Even though his sin was ugly and shameful, God forgave him! Even though his actions wreaked havoc in the lives of others, God forgave David! Even though David’s actions were deplorable and so out of character for the man David wanted to be, God forgave David! He was set free! David’s confession led to God’s forgiveness. David gave up trying to hide his sin from God. He got real with himself and with the Lord—and God forgave him, cleansing away the stain of sin upon his heart.
And then verses 6 and 7 describe the protection found in the God who forgives—
Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:6-7)
Do you hear the words of inner healing here? And part of what I’m hearing is that not only did David experience the cleansing of God’s forgiveness, but it opened the door for David to forgive himself! The denial of sin is not the answer—it’s like an infection that eats us up inside. But when David humbled himself before the Lord and acknowledged his sin for what it was, God forgave him and David experienced once again the peace and assurance that God was on his side. David was relieved of the burden of trying to cover it up or even to make up for it.
And, in doing so, David was reminded of the grace and mercy of God—which is something every one of us needs to be reminded of daily. We need the assurance that God is working for us—that we can rest in His protection.
David’s reference to God’s protection from the mighty waters—the flood waters—takes me back to our time in Nashville, Tennessee earlier this week. I’m told that the flood that hit the area early in May did more damage than was done to New Orleans a few years ago—but we didn’t hear as much about it in the news because the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was dominating the news in those days. My brother Steve and his wife live high on a hill directly above the Cumberland River that went way over its banks and flooded so much of the city. While their home was safe because they sit so high above the river, Steve was showing us where they could look across the river and see cars floating out of apartment building parking lots—with water above the roofs of many buildings. They say that flood waters are the most devastating natural disaster, because of the ongoing, relentless force of the water.
So David is saying that God’s forgiveness and God’s redemption is so thorough that not even the worst thing that can happen to us can remove us from the protection of His presence! Wow! David had the assurance that God would deliver him—and thus David turned his attention to praise and worship! David had learned that the Lord is truly our hiding place, protecting us from trouble and surrounding us with songs of deliverance!
Aren’t you glad that our God is the God of the Second Chance?! Sin and failure need never be the last word in our lives. God forgives and restores and gives us the strength and the grace to get back on our feet to live lives that please and honor Him. He promises to be our hiding place, our strength, our Great Deliverer.
Those of us who have been at Campmeeting services have been reminded that the need of the church today is not for slicker programs but rather a fresh breath of God’s Holy Spirit blowing through our lives, unleashing joy and power. But to experience that, we need to come clean before God as David did. And if you’re struggling with the asterisk you think is forever attached to your name today, I want to remind you that sin and failure need never be final in our lives. The God who forgave and delivered David is the God who will meet you at your point of need today if you will humbly call upon Him.
July 18, 2010 Rev. Gail Zickefoose
Rev. Gail Zickefoose
GOD WILL PROVIDE
The Story of Ruth
Series: “What Do I Need to Know for Life?”
Lesson Six (Ruth)
July 18, 2010
July 11, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
GOD IS WITH US—EVEN WHEN WE SUFFER
Job 19:25-27
Series: “What Do I Need to Know for Life?”
Lesson Five (Job)
July 11, 2010
[Start with video of people getting hurt]
I guess it’s the sadistic side of me, but those are incredibly funny, aren’t they? My dad—who was a brutal football player in his high school days—can hardly stand watching America’s Funniest Home Videos because he feels bad for the people shown who got hurt!
But we understand, don’t we? Because even though we laugh at such videos, we know that pain and suffering is no laughing matter at all! I suppose sometimes we’d just assume laugh rather than cry! And sometimes when Christians go through periods of great physical or emotional pain, we muse that we’re starting to feel a little like Job. And Job’s story was anything but funny!
There’s a book in the Old Testament that bears his name and tells his story. For those unfamiliar with the Old Testament, I might explain that his name looks like it should be pronounced “job”—it’s just j-o-b, but it’s pronounced like it’s j-o-b-e. But with a name like “Pusey,” I don’t make fun of anybody’s name! And I’m guessing that Job’s name was the least of his worries.
Let me tell you about Job. Other than what we learn in the Old Testament book by his name, we don’t know anything more about him. It’s unclear when he lived or when his story was written down. And while he lived in the land of Uz, no one knows where Uz was. When he was first introduced, it’s made clear that he was a wealthy herder with thousands of sheep and thousands of camels plus hundreds of oxen and donkeys. Besides his livestock, Job had lots of servants. He was one of the richest and most influential men in his corner of the world.
According to the first chapter of Job, the Lord had a conversation with Satan one day, affirming Job’s virtues, calling him the finest person on earth. And Satan begs to differ with God, arguing that Job is a godly man only because God had blessed him so abundantly. Satan said to the Lord, “But stretch out your hand and strike everything Job has, and he will surely curse you to your face” (Job 1:11). So God allowed Satan put Job to the test.
And what a grueling test it was!—much of it happening in a single day! Foreign raiders stole his oxen and donkeys and killed the farmhands. Only one worker survived to deliver the news. While he was still talking, in comes another messenger—telling that fire from the sky, maybe started by lightning, had incinerated Job’s sheep and his shepherds. Only one worker survived to deliver the news, but while he’s still talking, in comes another. He announced that another group of foreign raiders had stolen Job’s camels and killed his herders. Only one worker survived to deliver the news, but while he’s still talking, in comes another. He announced that a windstorm had blown down the home of Job’s oldest son, where all of Job’s 10 children were enjoying a meal together. All of Job’s children had been killed, and only one servant survived to deliver the news. And all this happened in one day! And you think you’ve had a bad day!
But in his grief and despair, instead of cursing God, Job cried out,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)
Unfortunately, Satan persisted in his attacks on Job. On another day, he afflicted Job with painful sores all over his body. We don’t know the exact nature of the sores, but there are those who suggest that it was shingles. And those of you who have suffered with shingles know how painful and miserable shingles can be! In Job’s physical pain, his dear wife comes alongside to encourage him, saying, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But still, Job did not sin against God.
Then Job’s friends came from far away to comfort and console him. And after some days of quiet comfort, they began to express their thoughts about what was happening. They’re convinced that God is punishing Job for sin in his life from which he needed to repent. Now Job’s suffering moves from the physical realm to the spiritual—as his friends impose upon him their warped theological understanding that whenever someone suffers it’s because God is punishing them. And the rest of the book of Job records dialogue between Job and his friends and then between Job and the Lord. And while Job complains to the Lord in brutally honest fashion, he does not turn his back on God, hanging onto a persistent thread of hope and faith that is best expressed in chapter 19.
Turn with me in your Bibles to that chapter, and let me read verses 25-27—
[Read Job 19:25-27, NIV]
In our series of sermons for these summer Sundays on lessons from the heroes of the Bible—“What Do I Need to Know for Life?”—we come to a great lesson through the life of the man named Job. Here’s the lesson: God Is With Us—Even When We Suffer.
Let’s talk about the realities of human suffering. Any way you come at it, you have to conclude that it is simply part of the human experience. The book of Job reveals the depth of human suffering—much of which is simply circumstantial to life with no responsibility on the part of the one hurting. As we learn from Job, human suffering includes physical pain, the emotional agony of grief and loss, and the devastating impact of spiritual isolation—feeling forgotten and abandoned by God and others.
I suppose one of the challenges for any pastor is what I consider both the privilege and the burden of seeing human suffering close up and personal. I got such an indoctrination to human suffering in my first senior pastor role in Galion, Ohio. I had nine funerals in my first year as pastor there—one of which was for the beautiful 18-year-old daughter of one of our key families—and, in that case, I had to identify her body and be the one who told the parents that she died in a tragic accident. It was to the same parents that I later had to deliver the heartbreaking news that their adult son was arrested by the FBI on attempted murder charges. My heart broke for them—and I watched them suffer in their agony.
I’ve stood by bedsides as people endured terrible physical pain. I’ve watched as people worked incredibly hard for every breath in the final hours of their lives—and tried to offer love and support for family members whose hearts were breaking in those moments. And I’ve fought unsuccessfully to hold back tears as I somehow shared in their suffering and, as a pastor or maybe just as a fellow Christian, willingly took on a bit of their suffering. And while I can’t explain suffering to you, I can tell you that human suffering is part of life—that it’s out there and it’s real—and I suppose we can all find some consolation in the knowledge that even Jesus experienced real suffering in his human experience.
And part of the great challenge in the midst of human suffering is dealing with the lie of Satan that suggests that God has deserted us when we are suffering—that we’re in this all alone. And while our emotions suggest in those dark hours that we’re all alone—we aren’t! And even in those times when we may not be able to voice to anyone else the depth of hurt we’re experiencing, the truth is that God hears our heart cries and cares deeply about us!
Job felt so all alone in his devastating circumstances. He had lost almost everything, and in his darkest hour his wife had no clue how to encourage him and only added to his pain! For her to say, “Curse God and die!” was as if she was saying, “You may as well shoot yourself in the head and get this over with!” What a sweetheart! Actually, we can only imagine the pain she was going through too! And though his friends came from far away to be with him in his sorrow, their unfair and unfounded accusations left him feeling so all alone! And while Job felt so all alone, even feeling as if God had deserted him—he discovered that it was not true at all! God had not deserted him!
Are we to think that Job’s feeling that he could not find God nor make sense of God in this time of personal crisis was unique to Job’s experience? Oh, no! Besides other biblical examples of people who went through similar experiences, it’s safe to say that most Christians at some time in life find themselves going through such a season of inner turmoil. And certainly such times do test our faith! No doubt about it!
But as gold is refined in the crucible of fire, so most believers are permitted to go through emotional and spiritual valleys that are designed to test our faith. Why? Because faith ranks high on God’s priorities. Scripture tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). And what is faith?
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
This determination to believe even when proof is not provided and when God doesn’t answer all of our questions is central to our relationship with God. It’s the acceptance of His Lordship over our lives—the acknowledgement of the truth of the Word of God to us through the prophet Isaiah—
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
And yet, a theological answer doesn’t take away the pain and frustration we experience when we walk through the barren, lonely land of suffering. Some really fine Christians have found themselves doubting the very presence of God—and certainly wondered where the grace and mercy of the Lord were in such times! We ask questions like, “Where is God when I need Him most? Doesn’t He know what’s happening to me?” And “Lord, is this the way You treat Your own? I thought you loved me!”
We know that He could rescue, that He could make it all go away in a moment—but He does not always choose to do so. And, as Job experienced, Satan will use our pain to make us feel victimized by God Himself—and it’s such a deadly trap! Satan is such a liar! And when we start to believe Satan’s lies, we distance ourselves from the One who loves us and promises to see us through the suffering and instead turn to the one who only desires our demise. But these are times to depend upon the promises of God—that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that He is the faithful God, that He is the Mighty God and Everlasting Father!
And in Job’s cries to God, he was incredibly blunt with God, charging God with cruelty and demanding that God explain Himself—which is pretty audacious of Job, when you think of it! But I’ve often said that “God is a Big Boy—He can handle our questions!” And I believe that, but I don’t believe that God always chooses to give us answers—certainly not always the answers we’re seeking and certainly not always on our time-table!
Like Job, we get focused on the “why” questions. And in Job’s case, God answered the “why” questions with “who” questions. God was essentially saying to Job, “Who do you think you are?” And God makes His point with some pretty curt questions, like—
- “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much” (Job 38:4)
- “Can you direct the movement of the stars? (Job 38:31)
- “Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south?” (Job 39:26)
And, by the end of God’s questioning, Job humbly got the point, and determined to listen. Job came to see that his deep-sounding philosophical questions about suffering were foolish, acknowledging that he could not begin to understand the ways of God Almighty. And, most significantly, Job accepted the truth that God was with him—even when he suffered. God’s presence isn’t measured by the blessings in life and the tough times don’t mean that God has deserted us! Through good times and bad times, God is with us.
I had an opportunity to go four-wheeling with my friend Richard a week ago yesterday up in the mountains beyond Idaho City. It was a blast! We were in a side-by-side called a Razor—which at first reminded me of a dune buggy—but it sure could go! We rode up to Wilson’s Peak and then on to Pilot’s Peak at an elevation of 8200 feet. We rode about 45 miles altogether! We were up and down some pretty significant trails—some pretty rough trails! It was a great Idaho adventure!
We experienced the exhilaration of the view from the mountaintops and also the rutty terrain of deep valleys and even the creeks and streams of the valley. Now, did the heights of the mountains or the depths of the valleys impact my relationship with the friend I was with? No—we were side by side the whole time. He may have had a bit of white knuckles going when I drove, but he was my friend when we started and when we ended and all the way along!
And so it is in our relationship with our Heavenly Father—whether we’re in the highs or the lows of life. God wants us to have faith to be assured that, despite our feelings and despite the circumstances of life through which we may be going, He is the One who holds us steady. He’s right beside us!
By the way, the end of the Book of Job tells us that God blessed the second half of Job’s life, as he had blessed the first half. Job raised 10 more children, and he had herds and flocks double what he had owned before. And he lived long enough to see four generations of children, including his great-great-grandchildren. But what he had learned in the deepest valley of life was that God was with him—through it all. God’s love and grace and care for Job had never wavered, despite Job’s despair in the darkest season of his life. And it’s a lesson we all need to learn. And the words recorded in Job 19 became a lifelong declaration of truth for Job—“I know that my redeemer lives!”
You see, what Job discovered was that God is the defender of the oppressed, the champion of suffering people. He is the Redeemer God—and the use of the word “redeemer” here is so revealing. The word had great meaning in the Old Testament world, with both judicial and civil dimensions to its usage. On one hand, a “redeemer” had a responsibility to seek justice for a slain family member. And in the civil realm, a redeemer was a vindicator, “buying back” and so redeeming the lost inheritance of a family member who was deceased. It was the redeemer who defended the defenseless. It was the redeemer who championed the cause of the one who could not champion their own cause. Job was in a situation where he could not defend himself—he needed someone who could do that for him…and the only one who could was God. God defended Job’s cause!
Sometimes we want to defend ourselves or bring rationale and reasoning to explain to others why things are going on in our lives as they are. But we can’t always do that effectively. The arguments only exist on the human plain—and, remember the words of the Lord?
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
God will ultimately get the last word in—and that’s His job, not ours. God ultimately gave to Job a hope that in many ways was ahead of his time—a hope in the resurrection.
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my hearts yearns within me! (Job 19:25-27)
Job had come to believe in God’s power to raise the dead and had a desire and hope that God would, in His time, raise Job up. Job came to realize that even though he suffered in this life, that there would come a time when the suffering of this life would no longer matter. Job came to see that though he suffered, God was not against him.
And God is not against you, either, friend. And despite what you may be going through, He asks you to trust Him—to lean on Him and not on your own understandings. In his book, When God Doesn’t Make Sense, James Dobson shares four insights regarding Who he has come to believe that God is and how God interacts with us. Let me share those with you—
- God is present and involved in our lives even when He seems deaf or on an extended leave of absence.
- God’s timing is perfect, even when He appears catastrophically late.
- For reasons that are impossible to explain, we human beings are incredibly precious to God.
- Your arms are too short to box with God. Don’t try it! (James Dobson)
Let me explain the last one. Our finite human minds are pitifully ill-equipped to argue with the Creator. There are some things we couldn’t understand even if God tried to explain it to us. We can ask God our questions, but it’s dangerous to arrogantly demand explanations from God. It’s also just as futile to lean on our own understanding. We need to humbly acknowledge Who He is and who we are—and let that understanding lead us once again to trust. We can choose to trust Him, regardless of what goes on in our lives—and there are times when our only other alternative is despair.
Let me close with the heart cry found in one of the Psalms—Psalm 42—
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God…
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me–
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42)
[Prayer]
Benediction: 1PE 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
July 4, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
MY PRAYER FOR AMERICA
2 Chronicles 7:11-22 (esp. 14)
July 4, 2010
It’s the 4th of July!—our nation’s birthday! As a country, we’re 234 years old! What’s strange about saying that is that I have vivid memories of our bicentennial celebration—our 200th birthday in 1976, now 34 years ago! There were all kinds of celebrations going on all over the United States, and, of all times, I was a college student serving out of the country that summer in our missionary endeavors in the Dominican Republic. We were along the coast that evening, and I remember looking out over the waters that evening and wondering what all was going on in my homeland! Actually, Ron Galloway and I were together for that July 4th! Amazing, huh?
Another July 4th I recall took place 3 years ago when Cindy and Krista and I were all out of the country once again—this time in the Ukraine. The volunteer missionaries who were coordinating our trip surprised us that evening with fireworks—which were pretty amazing, especially when you think of the fact that it’s a poor country in so many ways and the fireworks they set off would have been fairly expensive in the U.S.A. Besides that, not too many years before that we’d have probably been arrested if we’d celebrated the U.S.’s birthday in what had been the old Soviet Union!
I suppose many of us can remember going to see fireworks displays on the 4th of July with family and friends across the years. When we lived in San Jose, we’d often go to a fireworks display just down the road from the home of our friends George and Carol. We took all three kids when they were little, but had to take the girls—probably a year old at the time—back to the house because they were absolutely terrified with the noise! In Kansas City, we’d often go to the home of one of my staff members who lived in a community that was incredibly tolerant of fireworks. I’ve never seen anything like it before in a neighborhood! It was like a war zone! We knew people in the area who spent a couple thousand dollars each year on fireworks!
When we think of the United States of America, we think on one hand of our national heritage, steeped in sacrificial patriotism and of those who put their lives on the line in order that we might live in a land of great freedom. In that sense, we are such a blessed group of people—particularly when you consider the oppression under which some people live in some countries. On the other hand, I think that many Christians today, in thinking about our nation, are gravely disappointed that our nation seems to reflect Christian values less and less with every year. We have real fears about where we’re heading as a country and as a culture.
No doubt, there are a lot of current land mines with which our country is dealing that have serious moral repercussions. I think the thing that disturbs me the most right now is the move toward broadening the very definition of marriage to include same-gender unions, and the impact that would have upon our nation and our culture—seemingly thumbing our noses at God and the sacredness of His plan and design for marriage between a man and woman. The political battles regarding this and other issues are fierce and seem endless and can be absolutely consuming.
Beyond the moral issues are concerns like our financial instability—which sure showed its ugly head once again this week, didn’t it? There’s the constant undercurrent of fear of terrorist attacks, made forever real to us by the events of 9-11. There are the realities of a seemingly endless war in the Middle East. And then there are disasters like the Gulf Coast Oil Spill that threaten to change the lives of some people forever—they’re starting to say now that it’s the worst oil spill in history. There are also the natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes which seem to come upon us one after another.
The truth is that we have a lot of hurting people in America right now. Someone loaned me a movie a few weeks ago that they were encouraging me to watch—called “The Cinderella Man.” It’s really quite a good story about a man who turned to boxing in the early 1930’s in order to feed his family during the Great Depression. What really gripped me in the movie was the desperation in which people were living during the Great Depression—and the reality that we have people living with that same kind of desperation today.
All of this could just really be consuming to us if we let it. It could be a dark cloud under which we live every day—and there are certainly people who live under that dark cloud! The concerns about what’s happening in our country could destroy our peace of mind, and bring a spirit of despair and hopelessness upon us.
What are we to do? Are we to give into despair? Are we to lose hope? How are we to respond to all these things?
There are certainly times for Christians to get involved in the battle and “fight the good fight”! I’m certainly appreciative of Christians who seem to be especially equipped to jump into the political arena to battle in ways few can do. Honestly, I can’t imagine ever wanting to be a politician—it just sounds like a torturous way to spend your life! But I bless those who help us in these ways! Even still, what quickly becomes apparent is that these battles are bigger than we are.
Most of us here today are Americans—and those who aren’t are either living in this country now or have chosen to visit this country. I’m proud to be an American and I don’t ever want to take for granted the blessings we have enjoyed in this country. I’m grateful for those blessings. However, I do not believe that “American” and “Christian” are synonymous terms. Thus, our purpose in coming together this morning has been to worship the Lord—not to “worship” America in any way. This day was ordained as a day of worship long before it became the birthday of our nation—so I don’t want us to confuse our purpose. But since our context for worship today is in the United States on a day that our whole nation recognizes as a celebration of our independence, it seems appropriate for us to consider how we as Christians might appropriately respond to our national identity.
So, in thinking of this day, I’ve diverted from our summer sermon series on life lessons from the heroes of the Bible in order that we might center in on God’s words to another nation. Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 7—
[Read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, NIV]
Let’s look at this passage in two ways this morning. I want us to first get an understanding of what was intended by these words to its original audience, but then I want us to apply those truths to our situation today here in America.
To understand what these words meant to the Israelites who first heard them, you have to understand the special relationship that Israel had with the Lord God. It was a sacred relationship. It was based on the covenant God made with a man named Abraham many years before; and it was a covenant renewed over and over again with the generations that followed—among the people we know as Israelites or the Jewish people. God’s promise was that He would bless them if they were obedient to Him. The entire Old Testament tells the faith journey of the Israelites—and how they experienced times of blessing when they were faithful to the One true God and how they experienced deep despair in the times when they wandered away from God and embraced the gods of the pagan people around them. In what seemed like a persistent way, the Israelites kept turning their back on God and experienced the punishment of God for their actions. And yet, over and over again, God would forgive them and restore them once again—only to find that in their times of blessing they would once again turn away from the Lord. Woven through the pages of the Old Testament was the hope that God would send a deliverer to them who would be their savior forever.
The New Testament reveals Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. And after His death and resurrection and His ascension into heaven, the Early Church was entrusted with Christ’s mission in this world. In so many ways, the Jewish people had rejected their messiah—Jesus—and the hope God had sent to them through Him. What God made clear to the Early Church leaders was that this Savior was for all people, Jews and Gentiles, all around the world.
But our context in this Chronicles passage is still in the Old Testament. David’s son Solomon was now King of Israel. He had built a royal palace and tremendous temple to the Lord in Jerusalem—and had just gathered the people for a great dedication ceremony, asking for God’s blessings upon the Temple and upon them as a people. And what we read was God’s response to Solomon’s prayer.
One of the central themes of the Old Testament is that God blesses those who follow faithfully in His ways and brings devastation upon those who refuse to do so. But too many times, the people had experienced the wrath of God because they kept falling into their old ways, sinning against the Lord. The Lord’s words to the people through Solomon that day revealed again the promise of God’s redemption and restoration and blessing if the people would repent—
“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.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
One thing was clear: God will not tolerate sin. He forgives sin, but only when the sinner is repentant of their sins—“repentance” referring to turning away from our sins. Too often the Israelites—like us—would ask God to forgive them from their sins and plead with Him to restore their relationship with Him, and yet they’d go right back to the sins that alienated them from God before. It reminds me of the child who is forced by an adult to apologize to another child for taking their toys—who then grabs the toy back as soon as the adult leaves the room! Repentance is a matter of heart and mind—a mental and spiritual realignment of our will with God’s will.
God’s word to the people through Solomon that day was a message of hope and restoration—if they would turn from their sin and truly seek the Lord. They needed to hear that. But they also needed to hear the rest of what the Lord said. God minced no words in warning them that devastation would come upon them if they did not turn away from their sins to follow Him—it’s the other side of the coin.
And what God had warned against was exactly what ended up happening—Solomon and most of the kings who followed him bowed down to other gods and failed to keep their covenant with the One True Living God who had responded to them with such love and compassion. The nation of Israel was severed in two. Eventually both nations were destroyed, people were killed, and those who remained were uprooted and taken en masse to live in exile in a foreign country. It was exactly what God had warned them of.
Do you believe that God punishes evil in people’s lives? If you doubt that He does, read again verses 19-22 in this passage. They’re pretty harsh words of warning—words that were realized as Israel failed to heed the warning. Let me ask you another question: Do you believe that God punishes evil nations? Scripture seems to say a definite “Yes” to that! God made it clear that sinful people would eventually suffer the consequences of willful departure from God’s will. In other words, we can’t ignore God’s ways and get away with it forever. At some point, it will catch up with us!
And yet—when we look at the passage we’ve read as a whole—we find that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Does that mean that God simply overlooks sin and blesses people despite it? No—scripture doesn’t say that. But God does promise that when the sinner becomes repentant—truly sorry for the sins and willing to turn from them—He will forgive the sin and bring healing and restoration! And that’s how we have hope, friends! We can’t deny the problem of sin in our lives—and yet God promises forgiveness and healing.
There’s a powerful description of the prayer of repentance in verse 14—
“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.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Seeking God’s face is a spiritual attitude of turning to God and allowing His will to prevail in our lives. You can’t truly look God in the face and not be genuine in what we’re saying—He knows us too well for it to be otherwise. This is more than a glib reciting of some kind of prayer formula—and it’s more than saying the right words; it’s having the heart right in what we’re saying.
And God promises to honor such a prayer and wipe the slate clean. He even promises to bring healing where there was failure and loss. He promises to restore us—and it’s a powerful thing!
So what does this prayer from 2 Chronicles have to say to us today—to Americans on the 4th of July? First and foremost, I hear the promise of healing and redemption for the people of our nation if we will turn from our sins. Verse 14 of this chapter is probably the best known and most loved verse in all the two books of Chronicles. It expresses, as no other passage in the Bible, the stipulations that God lays down for a nation to experience His blessing, whether that nation be Solomon’s or our own. To be blessed, we must be willing to acknowledge sin and turn from living proud, self-centered lives. We must hear God’s Word and apply His truths to our lives. We must yield our desires to the will of God.
And if we will, God honors the prayer of repentance and promises to bless us. Here’s the hope for America! And the hope is not found in a political party nor in a particular leader nor in economic development nor in power nor control. Our hope as a nation is in the Lord—and may we never forget it! His word to us is clear—
If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14, The Message)
God is the One who can bless America or any other nation—but that blessing is not found in ourselves, but in submitting to His ways!
Herein lays the divinely imposed condition of faithful obedience. God will bless us if and only if we walk in His ways. If we fail to do so, we will face the devastation God promises to those who defy Him and ignore His ways.
I grew up in an era in America when fearing about our future as a nation was as All-American as baseball and apple pie! My grandparents spoke often of their grave concerns of communism taking over our nation. We did nuclear disaster drills at school—and I still remember the signs leading into the basement of the school which indicated it was a nuclear shelter. We feared a nuclear attack on our country. Today our fears are a bit different, but we certainly have fears in America. And they’re real!
Do I believe that everything bad that happens is punishment from God? No…but I do believe that there are times when God allows devastation to come upon people because of their disobedience. All you have to do is read through scripture to verify that! But I also believe that God brings blessings upon those who are obedient. Does that mean that if a Christian experiences difficult times that God is punishing them for something they did wrong? No, but certainly there are times when God allows people to experience devastation as a result of their sin.
Ultimately, our hope is in God—not in political parties or government agencies or political activism. One of the things we must pick up from this passage is that God is in control—He’ll have the last word. And we do well to align ourselves with Him—humbly submit to Him, and thus turn from sin, and pray that our nation will do the same.
My little Grandma Pusey—who stood all of 4’ 8 or 9”—reminded us often of an insightful verse of scripture. It’s found in Galatians 6:7—
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7, KJV)
I remember a time when Grandma had gone into her room to rest after fixing a meal for the whole family—something she loved to do. We were all sitting around the big kitchen table talking, and evidently got to talking about something with moral ramifications. She was listening to every word from her bed. Quietly, we heard her door open, and she simply said,
“I still say, ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’”
And then she just as quietly closed the door and went back to laying down, having made her point.
But it’s true—and we do well to remember that as individuals and as a nation—
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8, NIV)
And yet—when we do sin, if we turn back to the Lord, He promises forgiveness and healing. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Where sin leads to suffering consequences, healing begins when the person or the nation turns to God for forgiveness and a fresh start.
So where does that leave us all today in regards to our nation? I believe it leads us to prayer. I’m praying this morning that our nation would repent of her sins and turn to God—in a way that would revolutionize life in America. I’m not praying that being a Christian would be legislated, but that more and more would see their need for God and turn their hearts to Him, and in so doing turn away from sins of self-centeredness and moral impurity and ungodly rationalizations that are wreaking havoc among the people of our nation today.
And as I pray that, I realize that it must begin with me, so I humble myself before the Lord today and acknowledge my great need for Him, committing myself to turn from any sin that would take the attention or the affection of my heart away from Him as Lord of my life.
I pray for our nation with the same broken heart with which I pray for some family members who do not appear to be walking in fellowship with the Lord right now. I pray that in all the turmoil and problems our nation is facing today that eyes would be opened to the Truth and people would genuinely turn to God.
I pray for our leaders—at the national level, but also statewide and locally—that they would turn their hearts to the Lord and allow Him to direct their ways. And I pray that the Lord would protect us from leaders at any level who would resist the ways of the Lord.
I pray for our nation today, mindful that our hope is not in ourselves or in our government or in our politics or in our power. Our hope is in God!—so it’s right and good that we call upon him in behalf of our nation! The challenges before us are so much bigger than any of us—but they’re not too big for God. I’m praying that God would truly bless America—knowing that His blessing comes when we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. May our hearts be turned to Him today.
June 27, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
GOD CAN MAKE YOU STRONG
Joshua 1:1-9
Series: “What Do I Need to Know for Life?”
Lesson Four (Joshua)
June 27, 2010
Cindy and I have a friend from one of our pastorates who has gone through circumstances in recent months that are beyond my comprehension. Bob was in medical school when he and his wife Christi were in our church in the Cleveland, Ohio area. They were such a great couple and so faithful to the church despite the time demands of med school. They left Cleveland and we left Cleveland, but we still kept track of one another. Maybe three or four years ago now, we got the awful word that Christi had died suddenly after the birth of their second child. We were so saddened for Bob and the kids. By this time, he was a doctor in the U.S. Navy.
We followed on Facebook as Bob got remarried last summer to Jenn. His two little boys were in the wedding and we saw lots of cute pictures of them. Jenn and Bob soon found themselves expecting a honeymoon baby even as Jenn became mom to Bob’s two little guys. We were all happy for Bob—it seemed like a fairytale ending. A couple of months ago now, we followed in Facebook as they approached the delivery date of their little girl—and then with sudden horror we saw Bob’s pleas for us to pray for Jenn, that “it didn’t look good.” And what we soon learned was the Jenn died in childbirth—just as Christi had a few years earlier.
It seemed so surreal! I don’t think I’ve ever known any other women who died in childbirth, and our friend Bob—who is a medical doctor, of all things!—has now lost two wives in childbirth and now finds himself a single parent again, now with two little boys and a baby girl!
What’s been so amazing is to watch, even from afar, Bob’s faith as he deals with this. Oh, he grieves—and you hear it often. But there’s still a strength that seems to come through. I’m sure it’s not something Bob ever dreamed he’d have to go through—not once, and certainly not twice! But I have seen a strength of character in this man that has clearly been the Lord’s healing touch upon Bob. Bob is living out a strength that goes beyond what Bob could ever be apart from the Lord in his life.
So, how would you respond if something like that happened to you? Could you make it through it? What if you got the report of incurable cancer this week? What if you lost your job tomorrow morning? What if your spouse filed for divorce? What if God asked you to go and do something that seemed way off your personal radar screen for the future?
It seems to me that the way of the world is to go one of two directions with such challenges: “give up” or “buck up”! We either give up and resign ourselves to despair, defeat, depression and maybe even suicide, or we buck up by trying to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and forcing ourselves to make our way through it with all our personal human resources. And while the latter seems like the best way, it falls far short when all we’re relying upon is ourselves, because in our humanness, we have limited resources—and unfortunately, our problems and challenges don’t seem to be so finite!
It also seems to me that God has a better way for His people—and that it’s far more effective! God’s way is not for us to give up and wallow in personal defeat and discouragement; neither is God’s way for us to simply buck up by pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and relying purely on our own resources. God’s way is to come alongside us and walk with us through even the darkest and most challenging times in our lives—promising to see us through to the other side.
There’s a man named Joshua in the Old Testament who learned God’s way to approach the most overwhelming challenges in life—and it’s his story that we’re going to consider this morning. We’re in the fourth week of our summer series on life lessons we can learn from heroes of the Bible that I’ve called, “What Do I Need to Know for Life?” We’ve considered Abraham, Joseph, and Moses already. Today we look at the man named Joshua.
The name “Joshua” has come to have special meaning in our family. Over 27 years ago, Cindy and I had determined that if the twins we were expecting were boys, one of them would have been named “Joshua.” I’m guessing that if we’d have ended up with Justin, Joshua and Jared as the names of our three kids, that I’d still be tripping over the names! But our twins were girls, and yet, as the years unfolded, it became apparent that our daughter Kara would marry a young man named Joshua—so we finally had our Joshua after all. Then some of you know the story of how Kara’s twin sister Krista followed us to Idaho and soon fell in love with another Joshua and married him—and it does seem kind of weird that our identical twin daughters are both married to guys with the same name, doesn’t it?!
Well, this is another Joshua. And while we sometimes call our first Josh “the Original Josh,” the Joshua of the Old Testament is, from a biblical perspective, truly “the Original Joshua”! Let me tell you something of his story.
We don’t know anything about Joshua’s upbringing, other than that his father’s name was “Nun”—not n-o-n-e but N-u-n! Joshua was a soldier. The first time the Bible mentions him, he was commanding the Hebrew army which gained the upper hand against their enemy as long as Moses held up his staff. Moses’ brother Aaron, helped support Moses arms as he held up the staff and the army won the battle.
When the Hebrews reached the southern border of the Promised Land of Canaan, Joshua was among the twelve scouts whom Moses sent ahead to evaluate the prospects of conquering the land. Ten recommended against invading, warning of giants and heavily fortified cities. Only Joshua and Caleb urged the people to press on, saying that God would give them victory. The masses chose the majority opinion, and for their lack of faith God sentenced the Israelites to 40 years of wandering in the desert—and Moses was denied the privileged of entered the Promised Land himself.
Of the adults alive at the time, only Joshua and Caleb would live to set foot in the Promised Land. And, after Moses died, God turned to Joshua, the one who had become Moses’ assistant, and told him that he was now to lead the people into the Promised Land. It wasn’t just a matter that they were to move into unoccupied spaces—they would have to go to battle against some powerful enemies in order to gain control of the land the Lord had promised to give them.
That’s where our passage of scripture picks up this morning. Turn with me to the first chapter of the Old Testament book of that bears the name of the man we’re talking about today—Joshua.
[Read Joshua 1:1-9, NIV]
We need to understand that what God was asking of Joshua was no small thing. And to be entrusted with the responsibilities that Moses had carried was likely overwhelming to Joshua. Joshua was very likely intimidated by the greatness of his predecessor Moses and the awesomeness of his own responsibility—which is why the Lord kept speaking to Joshua in this brief passage about courage and strength. Joshua would need them both! Faced with this task, Joshua must have been shaken under a pressing sense of his own inadequacies. He needed to hear the Lord’s words, “Be strong and courageous…as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”
The truth is that God lays before each of us challenges in life that seem absolutely overwhelming—and he doesn’t allow us to go through such things in order to defeat us, but rather to prove His strength. If you haven’t faced overwhelming challenges yet, brace yourself because they’re coming! They happen to us all in one way or another—and likely in multiple ways! We may try to prepare ourselves for such challenges (and we should what we can), but there are some things you simply can’t prepare for!
I was talking with one of our men just Thursday morning after the men’s prayer time. Richard Grif and his wife Jackie have come to our fellowship several months ago from the Twin Falls area, and Richard is faithful to the men’s prayer time and we often get to share over breakfast afterward. Richard and I got to talking this week about his battle with cancer, and he commented that he never expected to be battling cancer. It’s changed his whole outlook on life. For example, he can’t make plans for something six months away because he never knows how he’ll be feeling and whether or not he’ll be up to it. He talked with me a bit about what it’s like to live with the reality that the cancer will some day return and he knows he’ll not be as likely to defeat it this next time.
Health crises and physical pain, relationship messes and heartaches, and things like financial problems and challenges on the job just happen in life! That’s not to excuse responsibilities we might have for them happening, as is sometimes the case, but still we’re faced with them in the course of real life! I’ve just had to accept across the years that life is messy! We also have to put beside these the challenges we assume when we respond to the Lord’s promptings and willingly walk into what is for us unchartered territory that is often difficult and pushes us outside our comfort zone!
These are the things of life that have the potential of knocking the wind out of our sails! These are the real life scenarios that cause many to give up or to throw away the paddle and just drift with the current!—and it’s understandably so, because such circumstances have a way of altering our lives or our expectations from life and making us feel that life is simply out of control! There are a lot of things we end up facing that we never thought we’d face!
But God’s encouraging word to us today is that we can be strong and courageous as we face overwhelming challenges because the Lord has promised never to leave us or forsake us! Joshua was reminded that the secret of Moses’ success had been God’s presence with him, and it would be the secret of Joshua’s success as well. And, friends, it’s still the secret of success for every follower of the Lord. It is by His presence in our lives that we face otherwise overwhelming challenges with strength and courage—not giving up nor simply bucking up ourselves, but rather learning to lean on the Lord as He wants us to do.
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:5, 9)
Some of us in the office the other day got to talking about the blessing of having parents who cheered us on and encouraged us in life—realizing that there are many who never had that. My parents did that well—cheered us boys on, and let us know that they believed in us and that they stood by us! What a blessing!
That’s kind of what was happening in the first chapter of Joshua—the Lord was cheering Joshua on, expressing his confidence in Joshua but also promising to stand by. He was saying to Joshua—
“Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul…Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take!” (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, The Message)
God saw promise in Joshua!
And God does not just look for super-humans who can help Him accomplish what He wants to accomplish. He sees promise in each of us—and He’s in the business of helping us discover and life out a lifestyle of promise. Scripture reveals lots of personal stories of how God worked in the lives of ordinary people to do extraordinary things—and, in it all, God sees promise in us. It’s kind of like God takes on the qualities of a great coach or an insightful teacher who gets all excited about what we can become if we use the gifts He’s given us and realize the full potential of what it means to have the Lord with us wherever we go.
If we’ll hear God’s Word to us today, we’ll understand that we don’t need to wimp out even when faced with the greatest challenges of our lives! Defeat is not a given!—even when the circumstances may spell defeat! The Lord says, “I will be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you” (The Message).
So ours is a lifestyle of promise as God wills it to be, but the reality is that many of us live beneath our privilege and blessing. Many of us—even followers of Christ!—back away from the promises and live lives clouded too often by discouragement. Too often we’re defeated by temptation or suffering or circumstances that seem out of our control—and we forget the promise that the Lord is with us and that we can find strength and courage in Him! With the Lord by our side, we can face the challenges of life assured of ultimate victory! We don’t need to be afraid or intimidated!
I was talking with someone this week about the way in which we too often let the bullies in life intimidate us and wound us and leave us figuratively cowering in a corner when God has pronounced upon each of us strength and courage because He is with us! Too many of us are still carrying around our wounds from childhood when others found something to taunt and tease us about—all probably stemming from their own sense of inadequacy! But it did something to us within, didn’t it? And God wants to deliver us from it just as He delivered Joshua from fear and intimidation! God speaks courage and strength into our lives!
And instead of focusing on our fears and the size of our challenges and problems, we need to throw our energies into total devotion and obedience to the Lord. Instead of being consumed with fear and anxieties and discouragement, we need to center our attentions on our full devotion to the Lord and what He wants us to do.
For Joshua, that meant accepting the reality that Moses, their strong leader, was dead and gone—and that God now had a mission for Joshua. It was bigger than Joshua—and Joshua needed to understand from the get-go that he would have to depend upon the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. He would need to be centered in on the Lord and on the way of the Lord.
It’s the same for us. Like Joshua, we need to obey all of the Word of the Lord—
“Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth ; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:7-8)
We need to incorporate God’s Word into every part of our lives—and we need to obey it and not just rationalize disobedience. We’ve been focusing on the blessing and privilege of God’s Presence in our lives—but it’s important that we recognize the double edge of the Gospel. One side is the edge of promise—the other is the edge of condition. If we’re to enjoy the promise of His Presence and His strength, we must take seriously the condition of total obedience to Him. We need to take God’s Word to us seriously and we need to obey Him in all things!
We need to be wary of any image of Christianity that is geared to us getting what we want to satisfy our own personal pleasures. God is not some kind of genie in a bottle whose sole purpose is to bring us personal pleasure. God, our Heavenly Father, loves us and, as our Creator, knows what is best for us. He has given us choice, but the way of true blessing is the way of humble submission and faithful obedience to Him and to His ways.
This promise of blessing and strength and courage is not all-inclusive. In other words, the person who isn’t a follower of Christ must first confront the fact that he or she is not in vital relationship with the Living God!—even though they can be! That’s the starting point! God asks us to confess our sins and be willing to turn from them. His promise is to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness. That’s the basis of our relationship with Him—and it’s foundational in order to experience His countless blessings! But when we come to Him and experience the restoration of relationship with Him, the promises of Joshua chapter 1 are the promises God has for us too!
And the words from this chapter are so powerful, aren’t they?! How often have I found encouragement and strength and courage in God’s words to Joshua—
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous…Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:5, 9)
Every Christian needs to learn to live by these words! What a great lesson for us all to learn—and re-learn—as we come upon the challenges of life that threaten to utterly knock the wind out of us.
I remember vividly a moment when the Lord spoke words of strength and courage to me as I faced such a challenge in life. The Lord seemed to be pushing me out of my comfort zone and calling me to do something that I feared I was incapable of doing. And in a quiet moment in His Presence, I dared to ask, “What do you think of this, Lord?” And His word to me was almost audible,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
It was as if He was saying to me, “Let’s just get this straight now—you’re not adequate for this task, but I am. And that is all that matters.”
So was God’s word to Joshua on a day long ago…and God’s Word to you today. Accept the power of His presence in your life and embrace the courage that is yours through Him. Child of God, be strong and courageous! The Lord your God will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you! Do not be terrified! Do not be discouraged! He will be with you wherever you go!
June 20, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
GOD USES ORDINARY PEOPLE IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS
Exodus 3:1-15; 4:1-17
Series: “What Do I Need to Know for Life?”
Lesson Three (Moses)
June 20, 2010
A dad, passing by his teenage son’s bedroom, was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to “Dad.” With the worst premonition he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter—
Dear Dad—
It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you and Mom. Stacy is so nice, but I knew that you would not approve of her because of all her body piercings and tattoos, and the fact that she is much older than I am. There’s also the matter that she’s pregnant.
Stacy says that we’ll be very happy together. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood—enough for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.
Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves and to make extra money for other things we need. Meanwhile, we’ll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.
Don’t worry, Dad. I’m 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I’m sure that we’ll be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.
Love, Your son John
P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Tommy’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a report card. That’s in my center desk drawer. I love you. Call me when it’s safe to come home.
Well, on this Father’s Day, I wanted to remind you all again that parenting isn’t for sissies! Every time I dedicate a precious little baby and look at a young couple who have entered the world of parenting, I think to myself, “You have no idea what you’ve just signed up for!” And there’s no way they could know! And dads, I want to thank you for all you do for your families and I want to encourage you to hang in! I know it’s not always easy! I know what it’s like to feel like you’re not adequate for the task! But what I want to remind you of this morning in our lesson from one of the great heroes of the Bible is that God uses ordinary people—people just like you and me!—in extraordinary ways. He can take ordinary guys and make them into great dads!
Of course, the same is true for us all. God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways. He always has—and always will! How else could people like you or me hope to make a difference in anyone else’s life?! It’s through the Lord that we can make a difference in the life of a teenager or a child. It’s only as this extraordinary God works in and through our lives that we can ever hope to make a difference in the life of a friend or a stranger.
We’re in week three of our summer sermon series centering around the lessons we can learn from the heroes of the Bible. It strives to answer the question, “What do I need to know for life?” In Abraham’s life, we’ve already been reminded of the life lesson, “God can be trusted.” Last week we learned through Joseph’s life that “We win when we forgive.” Today we turn to the life of Moses.
While Joseph and his family had generations before been welcomed in the land of Egypt, now their descendants, called Israelites, had become slaves to the Egyptians. Moses was born into an Israelite family, and early on God spared Moses’ life from an otherwise certain death in the holocaust of Israelite babies in the land of Egypt. As a result, Moses was raised as the adopted son of a princess in Egypt. Though raised in affluence, he fled Egypt in fear after killing a man whom he had seen beating an Israelite. Fleeing to the country of Midian, Moses settled down and had a family, making his living by tending the flocks of his father-in-law.
That’s where our scripture passage picks up today. Look with me at the Old Testament book of Exodus, and let’s begin at chapter 3—
[Read Exodus 3:1-15; 4:1-17, NIV]
Chapter three opens with God Almighty appearing among the ordinary—to an ordinary shepherd on an ordinary mountainside by an ordinary bush. And in the midst of the ordinary, God did that which was extraordinary! And so our lesson today is simply, “God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways.”
Honestly, most all of the biblical heroes we’re looking at this summer were, by the standards of their own world, fairly ordinary types: a nomad, a couple of shepherds, a couple of fishermen, a poor widow, a young girl. And that helps me, because when I look in my mirror I see someone who is incredibly ordinary—and if it took someone who is extraordinary to accomplish anything of value for God’s Kingdom, then my life could never count for much at all!
But you know, the truth is that even those who may be seen as the most extraordinary people in the world today are fairly ordinary at the end of the day—people like politicians, entertainers, wealthy business people, the incredibly successful. I remember being told, “They put their pants on one leg at a time just like we do!” They started out as babies—crying and messing their diapers just like the rest of us! And if they live long enough, famous people will get old—just like we will! And they’ll get wrinkly and slow down like we will, and, in the end, they’ll die, just like the rest of us will.
But the thing I want us to grasp today is that God works through the ordinary to do that which is extraordinary. It’s a God thing! And we must dare to believe that He can do it!—and that He can do it through our lives!
But the problem is that we ordinary-types resist God’s word to us because we can’t always see ourselves beyond our ordinariness! (Isn’t that a great word!) Just like Moses made excuses, we have our excuses—and those excuses can keep us from stepping up to the plate to become all God wants us to become.
Moses evidently saw that he was ordinary!—and he was full of excuses, wasn’t he, when God called Him out for an extraordinary task? Let’s look at them. (Moses’ excuses:)
- I can’t do what you’re asking!
The cocky young man of Moses’ younger days was long gone. He’d endured some hard knocks in life that had knocked the snot out of him!—like most of us have experienced at some point. And so Moses was overwhelmed with the tremendous responsibility God was calling him to. His more eloquent words in verse 11 of chapter three—“Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”—was just another way of saying, “I can’t do what you’re asking!”
And God’s most wonderful response to Moses’ excuse was, “I will be with you.” But it seemed to go right over Moses’ head. He wasn’t ready to hear it. So he kept making excuses.
The second was—
- I don’t know enough!
What Moses actually said was, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” Moses just didn’t feel prepared. Every deity in those ancient times had his own personal name. People believed it was necessary to know a god’s name in order to approach him in prayer or to ask for his help. Beyond that, the name revealed the deity’s character.
And this is where God revealed His name—His character—to Moses, responding, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” There’s a whole other message in this self-revelation of God, but suffice it to say that the Holy God was making it clear to Moses and to the Israelites that while all other being are derived from something or someone, are limited and changeable, He is none of those things. God alone has always been and lives forever. He is absolute and self-dependent, and cannot be changed. And what God wanted Moses to catch is that He alone lives forever and thus His resources are inexhaustible. He doesn’t get tired and need to rest. He never runs out of supplies. He simply IS and always has been!
But still Moses’ insecurities were not satisfied, and his excuses continued. The third excuse was found at the beginning of chapter 4—
- People won’t believe me!
Moses feared that people wouldn’t find him credible as a leader and as a spokesman for God—and, from a purely human perspective, I suppose most of us understand why Moses would feel that way. He apparently hadn’t demonstrated star-studded success up to this point!
And this is where God provided Moses with the three miraculous signs we just read about. Moses’ staff—the rod he carried with him—became a snake when he threw it down as God instructed him, and then became a rod again when Moses picked it up! Then Moses’ hand instantly showed unmistakable signs of leprosy—a terrible skin disease—one moment, and was whole again a moment later. The third sign was simply that Moses was to take water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground, and it would instantly turn to blood.
But still Moses wasn’t convinced. He really was a stubborn guy, wasn’t he—maybe a lot like some of us! All Moses had to say after God performed these miraculous signs before him was,
- I don’t have the skills!
“O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled!” (NLT) And it seems to me that God was starting now to get a little irritated with Moses, saying, “And who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak…is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say” (NLT).
And still Moses was immobilized by his fears and his feelings of inadequacy. So his last excuse was more of a statement than an excuse—
- I really don’t want to do this!
What Moses said was, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it!” And scripture says that’s when God got angry with Moses! He still wasn’t going to let Moses off the hook, but God offered to provide Moses a spokesman in Moses’ brother Aaron. Of course, if you know the rest of the account of Moses, you know that Aaron brought some major problems along with him—no doubt Moses would have been better off had he not pushed God to give him this assistance.
The truth is that God always gives us what we need in order to carry out what He asks us to do! And when God makes it clear what He wants us to do, and we keep hesitating with all of our excuses, what it’s simply revealing is that we don’t trust God enough—we don’t trust God to help us carry out what He’s asking us to do.
Oh, Moses isn’t the only one who makes excuses, is he? He isn’t the only one who makes excuses when God speaks directly into our lives and asks us—just ordinary people—to do that which from our perspective seems pretty extraordinary. I think our excuses sound a lot like Moses’ excuses—
- I can’t do what you’re asking. It’s just not feasible in my life right now. It’s just not possible.
- I don’t know enough. I don’t know enough about Who you are to help others learn to follow you. I can’t disciple someone else—I’ve still got so much to learn myself!
- People won’t believe me. They’re not going to find me credible. Why would someone listen to me talk about Christ? Why would they listen to me?
- I don’t have the skills. I don’t speak well enough to teach even a class of children. I can’t sing good enough to be in the choir. I can’t even pull weeds good enough to work in the church garden!
- I really don’t want to do this!—please ask someone else! It’s just too far out of my comfort zone, and I just really want to pass on this one, Lord! Don’t you know I don’t like to do such and such? And I’ve always said, “I’ll never go there” or “I’ll never do that!” So why are you asking me to do it, Lord? This just doesn’t fit my personal agenda!
And then there are the excuses that so reflect our times—
- I don’t have the time. You know, the truth is that we have time for what we want to make time for! We make time for what we value. And while I understand that we have to prioritize things in our lives, I’m guessing that God doesn’t take too kindly to our excuse that we don’t have enough time when He’s the One prompting us to do something!
- My life’s been too messed up. Just remember, Moses was a murderer—and God didn’t let him off the hook! The longer I live the more amazed I am at how God redeems lives. It’s really a beautiful thing! God’s not nearly as stuck on your past as you are—and frankly, He wants to help you get over it!
- I’m not smart enough. People who know more than we do or are more educated than we are often intimidate us, and, granted, some seem to enjoy intimidating the rest of us! But the old adage is true, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” One of the great influences in my life was my grandfather who had only an 8th grade education—but his heart for God was hard to miss, and he made a huge impact on a lot of people!
- I have to take care of myself first. Our culture has a way of making gods out of our selves. And while I understand that we have to give conscientious attention to keeping ourselves healthy and whole as persons if we’re going to be useful to the Lord and to others over the long haul, our society’s focus on our selves easily steps across the threshold into that which is absolutely ungodly! I still remember how appalled I was the first time I saw the magazine called “Self.” And on our recent vacation, we passed a church called, “The Church of Self-Realization”—and it was as if the message is clear that we’re not worshipping God, we’re worshipping our selves! I’m guessing they draw big crowds!
- ________________________________________
I started to list a 10th excuse, but I concluded that what I would suggest might reflect too much of a personal bias, so I’m going to let you fill in the 10th one. What excuse are you giving God today to put off something that He’s prompting you to do or be or share or give? You fill in the blank.
In all of our excuses, it seems like we fail to perceive that the extraordinary God is the One who makes the difference in our lives. Without Him, we’re limited in what we can do. Only when we know we can’t do it, can we do it by the grace and power of God!
That’s how it was for Moses. God actually had to get Moses to the point where Moses was thoroughly convinced of his own inadequacy before God could do in and through Moses’ life what only God can do!
It happened to David, too. David was able to kill a giant even when he was just a young man, but God had to put him through the experiencing of hiding for his life in dark caves, hunted like a wild animal, before David would see how weak he was on his own. It was after that that God made David the king.
It was the same with Elijah. While he was a prophet who was brave enough to confront the mighty king and queen of the land, he wasn’t quite as brave as he seemed. God sent Elijah out into the desert for his training. Like the brook he watched dry up, Elijah concluded that his life was no more than a dried-up brook. He discovered through that experience and other dark days that without God he was nothing, but that with God he had everything he needed!
The Apostle Paul learned the lesson too. You might say that he was slow learner! But he came to the place where he could declare,
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’ power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)
I suppose it’s a paradox—a puzzling one, but it’s only when we know we can’t do it that we can indeed do it by the grace and power of God. Over and over we find that it’s true: God use ordinary people in extraordinary ways. And because that’s true, He can use you and me, and He will use us, if we’ll let Him. Will you?
June 13, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
WE WIN WHEN WE FORGIVE
Genesis 50:15-21
Series: “What Do I Need to Know for Life?”
Lesson Two (Joseph)
June 13, 2010
I grew up in a world enamored with heroes like “Superman” and “Batman.” I don’t remember ever pinning a towel on my shoulders to have a cape like Superman’s, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my friends and I had done that along the way. I did always think it was cool the way Superman could fly—but then, such an ability would be wasted on me because I’m not very fond of heights!
The truth is that I also grew up hearing the accounts of other heroes—and, as the years passed, those were the heroes that captured my attention. They had simple names, like David, Joseph, Paul and Peter. Their life stories come from the Bible, and while I’ve long ago forgotten the escapades of Superman and Batman, I’m still learning lessons from the heroes of the Bible. That’s what this summer sermon series is about. I’ve called it, “What Do I Need to Know for Life?”—and each week we’ll be focusing in on a different hero from the Bible whose life story seems to capsulate an important lesson that each of need to learn in order to become all that God wants us to be.
Last week, Brent Peterson kicked off the series as he focused our attention on Abraham—and the lesson from Abraham’s life is that “God can be trusted.” This morning we go to the end of Genesis—the first book of the Bible—to consider a life lesson from a man named Joseph. Before I read the passage of scripture, let me give you the skinny version of Joseph’s life.
Born into a large family of boys, he was the favored son and his older brothers hated him for it. They happened upon an opportunity to get rid of him and to make some money in the process, so they sold him into slavery and he was taken away to Egypt. Even as a slave, though, Joseph flourished in his work and was trusted as a man of integrity. He was a servant to Potiphar, a powerful Egyptian official. Potiphar came to trust Joseph, seeing that the Lord was clearly at work in Joseph’s life. Potiphar expanded Joseph’s responsibilities and his authority. But Potiphar’s wife was after something else from Joseph, and when Joseph refused her advances, she accused him of trying to rape her—and Joseph was thrown into prison.
Even in prison, Joseph flourished and the warden eventually put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. God gave Joseph unusual spiritual discernment which enabled him to interpret people’s dreams, and this God-given ability became Joseph’s ticket out of prison. When the Pharaoh, king of all Egypt, had a dream no one was able to help him figure out, someone remembered Joseph’s God-given ability, and Joseph was brought out of prison and asked to interpret Pharaoh’s recurring dream.
The dream told of seven years of abundance which were to be followed by seven years of drought and famine. Satisfied that God himself had helped Joseph interpret the dreams and recognizing Joseph’s unusual wisdom and discernment, Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the whole land of Egypt—second only to Pharaoh himself in terms of power and authority, administrating all the resources of Egypt through the seven years of abundance in order that the nation would survive the seven years of famine.
The seven years of abundance came, as did the years of famine thereafter. Joseph was so successful in preparing Egypt for the famine that people from other nations were coming to Egypt begging for food. Joseph’s older brothers also came to Egypt to buy food for their families and found themselves standing before Joseph—the brother they had sold into slavery years before. They had no idea it was Joseph, but he recognized them immediately. Eventually, in a tremendously emotional scene, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers as they stood fearfully before him. Joseph assured them that he intended them no harm—that he believed that God had worked good in spite of their actions against him.
The lesson from Joseph’s life is the lesson of forgiveness. It’s the lesson that declares that we win when we forgive. The passage we’re turning to this morning picks up on Joseph’s story a bit further in time, just after their father Jacob had died. Turn to the last chapter of Genesis and let’s read from Genesis 50, beginning at verse 15—
[Read Genesis 50:15-21, NIV]
Joseph had the perfect opportunity for revenge! It was in the palm of his hand—and yet he chose to pass on it. The ten older brothers who had exerted their power over the little brother they resented were now humbled under his authority. And while Joseph had every human reason to hold a grudge against them, he chose—by God’s grace—to forgive. He let go of his grievance against them.
I suppose some might conclude that Joseph hadn’t endured real hurt and pain from them—or he would have sought revenge. But, no! Think again of the circumstances. If you’ve never read Joseph’s story before, go back and read Genesis 37 to 50 this week. The wounds were real!—as real as the forgiveness he offered his offenders.
You see, if we go down the route that Joseph’s hurt wasn’t real, we might be tempted to excuse our lack of forgiveness by saying, “well, obviously, someone hurt me worse than Joseph had been hurt!”—therefore, justifying the resentment we hang onto. But the wounds Joseph’s brothers inflicted upon him and the circumstances they put into motion changed the course of his life! By human standards, Joseph had every reason to be bitter and angry—but he refused to give into that.
Why do you suppose Joseph wept in receiving the message from his brothers—the plea which had supposedly come from their father before he died to forgive the boys for what they’d done to Joseph? Do you suppose maybe Joseph wept because he saw how they were tortured by their fears of what he might now do to them? Might it be that he wept because it broke his heart that his brothers couldn’t trust him? Or might it be that he wept in sadness over the years spent apart—now lost and irretrievable?
Let’s note that Joseph had learned the lesson of forgiveness years before this scene. He had learned it when he was thrown into a dark prison cell on the false charges that he had raped his master’s wife. But he hadn’t done it! He didn’t deserve to be there! But somehow God had helped Joseph focus instead on the development of integrity in his life. It was incredibly important to Joseph—and that’s why I believe he’d have been tempted to become bitter when in prison over false charges!
In one of my pastorates, I followed a man whose leadership style is one I would describe as manipulative and coercive. And while that appeared to work for him, it’s an approach to leadership and particularly to pastoral ministry that I simply do not like. In fact, it’s offensive to me. And that’s why it was incredibly hurtful to me when a few people, early in my pastorate, interpreted my words and actions through the filter of what they had seen in the earlier leader and concluded that I too was manipulative and coercive in my dealings with people. It was terribly discouraging to me! That’s why I believe Joseph—who obviously was passionate about maintaining integrity—would have been especially vulnerable to bitterness when he was falsely accused of sexual perversion!
But what we see in Joseph’s life is a tremendous example of forgiveness. We need to see the fullness and beauty of forgiveness—and how that forgiveness set Joseph free himself. It really is true we win when we forgive! When his brothers came to him, he recognized their consuming fear and it genuinely broke his heart. His choice to forgive set him free from the anger and resentment that could have seethed within him.
I want us to look again at his statement to them recorded in verse 20. It’s one of the most powerful statements I know of regarding forgiveness. He said,
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…” Joseph didn’t ignore the reality of their evil intent, but he chose to see that God had worked even through the circumstances they had put in motion. God had worked for Joseph’s good and for the good of thousands and even millions of people in Egypt whom he had been able to help. Joseph could see that despite the actions of his brothers, God had worked in and through his life. And that helped him to let go of resentment and forgive them.
This scene from Genesis 50 wasn’t the first time Joseph had spoken such words to his brothers. I’ve always loved the scene found in Genesis 45 where Joseph is standing before the brothers who had long before betrayed him. He had everyone but his brothers leave the room—and he wept so loudly that it was heard all through the building!
Imagine the moment when Joseph gained his composure long enough to announce to his brothers, “I am Joseph!” Imagine how dumbfounded they must have been that the brother they thought they’d washed their hands of forever had now stepped back into their lives—and held their security in his hands! The tables had been turned! And the secret they had carried for so long would be exposed!
But he called them close to him and said,
“I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…it was not you who sent me here, but God…” (Genesis 45:4-5, 
Joseph was coming from a solid conviction that God had never lost control of his life—despite what was done to him!
And however you may think of the sovereignty of God, none of us will ever be able to fully explain the mysteries of the divine will of God and the part that human decisions play in how God works out His plan. I’m guessing that many of us will be anxious to ask the Lord such questions when we get to heaven! But in the meantime, we do well to follow the example of people like Joseph who did not allow the actions of others to deter their devotion and dependence upon God—and dared to believe that God had not somehow allowed the actions of others to mess up God’s ultimate will for their lives!
I’m reminded of the powerful words left to us from the Apostle Paul in Romans 8—
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Of course, to say this is one thing, but to hold to it relentlessly as Joseph did throughout dark days and years of betrayal and lonely years in prison is a whole other thing! It reflects faith of the highest kind! Such faith opens the door to forgiveness that, in turn, sets us free!
I suppose that, on the surface, we think of forgiveness as merely the absence of bitterness and the choice not to seek revenge, even if it is handed on a silver platter as it was to Joseph! But the kind of forgiveness we see in the life of Joseph goes far beyond that. Joseph saw their fear and reassured them that he did not hold their offense against them. He spoke kindly to them. One translation described them as talking “heart to heart”! Joseph did more than not retaliate—Joseph acted redemptively. He urged them to bring their families and resettle with him in Egypt where he promised to provide for them! Sometimes we understate forgiveness to merely be a matter of not acting out our anger against another, when forgiveness is truly a determination to replace such vengeful actions with actions of kindness and genuine concern.
And by choosing to forgive, Joseph won!—in so many ways. Let’s consider a few of the ways in which he was a winner by choosing to forgive.
- He had peace of mind—rather than the inner turmoil of resentment. Bitterness is like a cancer that eats us up from the inside out. Joseph had peace of mind instead.
- Joseph probably enjoyed a better life because his life wasn’t under the control of unbridled anger and bitterness. Have you ever been around a bitter person? Bitter people are generally unhappy in life—and that was not the case for Joseph.
- He was set free to be more effective in his life’s work and calling. When we’re consumed with resentment, we’re too preoccupied to be at our best at anything in life. It occupies our mind and infiltrates our attitudes. It has a treacherous way of taking over everything else in life. But Joseph threw his energies into serving God and others and he did it well! It was just another way in which he won by forgiving others.
- He also gained back his brothers! Just imagine! They had spent virtually their whole lives apart. I’m sure he had longed for family—often wondering how their lives were going, and wishing so very much that he was still part of it. But in choosing to forgive he gained his brothers back! It was marvelous!
- And probably most important is the matter that Joseph experienced peace with God. Forgiveness is the way of the Lord. He is the God of mercy and grace. We are in relationship with Him purely because of His mercy and His willingness to forgive us—and scripture makes it clear that receiving God’s forgiveness and offering such forgiveness to others go hand in hand.
Have you ever had someone offend you? Have you ever had someone treat you unfairly or say unkind things to you? Have you ever been abused or taken advantage of? Have you ever suffered the results of the ungodly words or actions of someone else? It’s real, isn’t it? And it’s just part of life! And the truth is that sometimes the offense is intended and other times it isn’t, even though our hurts are just as painful. But however we were offended, like Joseph, we’re confronted with the matter of how we’re going to respond.
And before you jump too quickly to conclude that this doesn’t relate to you, please understand that there are many people who spend their whole lives acting out their bitterness and resentment toward how they were treated at some point in life. Our early years have tremendous sway in shaping our lives—and some of you may need to be set free from all the wounds and hurts you’ve carried all your life—and if you don’t see how they’ve shaped your life and your relationships, maybe you need to ask those around you if they see that in you. You might be surprised by what you’d hear.
And, for each of us, it comes down to a decision. Will we choose to forgive? And, if you think it’s optional, please understand the great emphasis Jesus put on forgiving others—and how we must be willing to forgive others if we are expecting God to forgive us. Remember his words in the Sermon on the Mount—“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
And the truth is that, just as Joseph won by forgiving, so do we win when we forgive those who have somehow wronged us! Let’s consider some of the ways—
- We gain peace of mind when we forgive those who have hurt us—and are thus able to shake off the inner turmoil of resentment. That peace of mind does a great job of quieting those fiery conversations you have within your mind with those who have hurt you! When we let go, we experience peace within!
- Our quality of life is so much better when we learn to forgive—because our lives aren’t under the grip of bitterness and resentment.
- When we refuse to hold grudges against others, we’re able to be far more effective in our work and in our calling—because we’re not saddled with this consuming anger!
- We’re also far more fit for healthy relationships—at home and beyond. If you’re consumed with bitterness, you’d likely find that other people enjoy being with you a whole lot more if you’d knock the chip off your shoulders! And though restored relationships must be allowed from both sides, the truth is that when we let go of grudges we become the kind of people whom others are drawn to and open to.
- And, best of all, when we choose to forgive others, we experience peace with God. He is the One who had taught and modeled forgiveness. It’s His way! And we experience the fullness of peace with God as we learn to forgive others. And in the context of this relationship, He increases our capacity to love and care for others and to truly forgive them—because it’s so much a part of His character!
Please forgive me if you’ve heard me tell this story before, but it seems to sum it up so well. It’s a story told by Corrie ten Boom—whose writings I long ago became fascinated with. Corrie’s family were Dutch Christians in Holland when Jews were being hauled off to Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. They risked their lives hiding Jews in their home, and Corrie and her sister and their father were all imprisoned when caught doing so by the Nazis. Her sister Betsie and her father were killed in the death camps, but Corrie survived the awful ordeal and later spoke and wrote to millions, sharing her story.
After the war, her travels took her to broken, war-torn Germany with the message that God forgives. At the close of one such service, she saw a man making his way toward her. One moment she saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. Let me read her words, as she can tell it better than I can—
It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin…The place was Ravensbruck and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard—one of the most cruel guards.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”
And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course—how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
“You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard there.” No, he did not remember me. “But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein,”—again the hand came out—“will you forgive me?”
And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven—and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place—could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. For I had to do it—I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. “If you do not forgive men their trespasses,” Jesus says, “Neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives…those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. “Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. “I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart.”
For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Romans 5:5, “…because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
Let us pray.
May 30, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
GLANCING BACK—PLOWING FORWARD
Joel 2:28-32
May 30, 2010
I’ve rediscovered something I enjoy doing since moving into our house here in Idaho two years ago. Since I was a little kid, I’ve enjoyed watching plants grow. I have vivid memories of planting flowers and watering them regularly when I was just a kid—and getting all excited when they grew and flourished! And now that our kids are raised and out of college and are all married, I feel more free than ever to browse the aisles of Home Depot or Lowes or local nurseries and pick up plants that I want to add to our front yard or back yard. And my wife never even fusses when I come home with more plants!
In the past couple of weeks, I dug out two undesirable trees which were in our yard when we bought the house and replaced them with trees that better fit the locations, and then this past week planted more than a dozen perennial plants I came across at local stores. I suppose if it’s a vice, it’s a relatively cheap vice—and one that pays off in beauty in the long haul!
Monday I spent four hours in the yard—planting and mulching and trimming some things. And now and then, in the midst of my efforts, it felt good to just stand up, try to straighten my back out (something that’s a little harder than it was a few years ago!), and just take a good look at what I’d accomplished! It felt good! And gave me encouragement to keep going!
I suppose the title of my sermon this Sunday almost presupposes a farmer’s perspective—Glancing Back—Plowing Forward. And I need to confess to you that I’ve never plowed a field once in my life! (Somehow, I’m guessing that doesn’t shock most of you!) But I do believe that in life there is merit in occasionally glancing back to see how we’re doing and what’s been accomplished and see if there are corrections that need to be made—but we do so only to help ourselves better anticipate what is ahead so that we can keep plowing forward. That’s always the goal!
That’s what I want us to do today. As you’ve heard, we’re going to conclude our service today by rededicating the old bell that hung in our old church at the corner of Pine and Main Streets (if you see Pine and First Streets on the plaque by the bell, understand that Main Street was originally called First Street). But before we do, I want to share with you a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament prophet Joel—chapter 2—and I’d like to apply those truths to us and to our church today. The truth is that this Old Testament passage had a special role in the birth of the Church in New Testament times—for Peter quoted extensively from this passage on the Day of Pentecost after the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the followers of Jesus. It was the text of Peter’s sermon that day. Listen now, as I read—
[Read Joel 2:28-32, NIV]
It was a marvelous time to which the Word of the Lord pointed through the prophet Joel in these words! The words were a message of hope for those who first heard it. God was speaking words of reassurance into the lives of some very frightened people in Jerusalem. Joel and his original audience probably heard the words as a message to Israel alone, but, as we look back upon the passage and how things unfolded, we can clearly see that the Lord’s message went far beyond those who first heard it.
From a New Testament perspective, Joel’s words pointed to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Early Church which we read about in Acts 2. And from a current perspective, we can reasonably say that we are still living today in the Era of the Holy Spirit. The promise is that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon all people, that our sons and daughters will “prophesy,” that our old men will dream dreams and our young men will see visions. And while “the great and dreadful day of the Lord”—the day of judgment—is to be feared, the promise is clear: that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There will be deliverance for all who turn to the Lord in submission—and those who are saved need have no fear of the Day of the Lord.
Let me clarify something. We miss the meaning of “prophesy” if we think of it primarily as a foretelling of the future. The prophets of old were as much involved in “forth-telling” the truths of God’s ways—telling it as it is, so to speak, and declaring the character of the Lord. They proclaimed His righteousness and justice, His grace and mercy, His love and compassion, and His special word to them in their situation—whether it be encouragement, comfort, challenge or judgment.
And the indication that people will prophesy, dream dreams and see visions is not an indication of unrelated phenomena as much as they all relate to the outflow of a very real and vitally close relationship with the Lord. It’s in the context of such a close relationship with the Lord that He communicates His Word and His understanding to individuals who then communicate it to others. On the human level, we might look at prophecy as an ability to speak to others out of a deep personal knowledge of God as well as a God-gifted insight into the lives of people.
And the goal has always been and will always be “changed lives”—lives that have been delivered and redeemed! And when we speak of signs and wonders, I wonder if there can be anything as remarkable and as wonderful as a life that has been redeemed?!—the one who has fallen put back on his/her feet; the addict set free; the wounded healed; and, most notable, the sinner forgiven and made new in Christ!
When you go back to the Hebrew word for “spirit,” we find that it means “wind” or “breath.” In a sense, God’s Spirit gives life to all people—He “breathes life” into us. The promise then from Joel is that God will breath new life into all who call upon the Lord for salvation—and that’s essentially the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
I’ve said that I want us to glance back a bit this morning. Why? Why look back? Because when we glance back we see how the Lord has worked in marvelous ways in the past—both in our individual lives and even in His Church! Why glance back? Aren’t we just supposed to focus on the present? And isn’t the past out-of-date and irrelevant anyway?
One of the reasons we glance back to the past is because it’s clearly a biblical principle. Glancing back in time is woven into the fabric of the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, we have the special holidays—their annual feasts—which were to serve as reminders to them of God’s faithfulness in the past and the assurance of His power and grace to work in their lives in the present and in the future. It gave them hope and assurance. It’s in the New Testament that we have Jesus initiating for us the Lord’s Supper, by which we are to look back and be reminded of the price He paid for our salvation and the depths of His love and grace for us.
You see, we don’t live in a historical vacuum. It’s probably naïve, not to mention foolish, for us to ever think that we can ignore the past and just focus on the future. Sure, when God has forgiven our past or even when God has forgiven others who may have brought hurt into our lives, we aren’t to focus on the past—but it’s still true that glancing back can help us appreciate the powerful way God redeems lives and it can remind us of how much God loves each one of us.
Our personal stories of faith become important to us and to others. That’s what so many of us have enjoyed about our Sunday evening Prayer and Praise times—as we’ve heard how the Lord has worked powerfully in the lives of fellow Christians. It’s inspiring! It’s one of God’s blessings for us all—and it serves a tremendous purpose in our lives!
Every congregation—every church—has its story to tell, too. These stories are rich in the mercies and faithfulness of God—and they’re meant to be told in order to strengthen and encourage us in plowing forward into our future! It’s part of the unique fabric that makes us who we are—and it most certainly impacts how the Lord uses us now and in the future.
I’ve related stepping into the pastorate of an established church to marrying into a family that is rich in its own history and stories—and when you step into it, you’re absolutely clueless of that past. When I married into Cindy’s family, my curiosity prompted lots of questions about their family’s past. I knew that Cindy had had a brother who died at the age of 8 when she was just a baby, having spent his entire life in an almost vegetative state due to a cerebral hemorrhage as an infant. She learned more about her brother Gary in our first few years of marriage than she’d ever learned simply because I started asking questions—knowing that this heartache had surely impacted Cindy’s family in tremendous ways and thus impacted in secondary ways the life of the one whom I had married!
Coming to Valley Shepherd 2 ½ years ago, I’ve asked a fair amount of questions here and there about the past—because I want to know how the Lord has worked in this church in past and how He has shaped the faith of this particular body of believers! Knowing that we were going to rededicate the bell this morning, I asked more questions even this week to find out more about us. And what I’ve come to believe is that the old bell that we’re about to rededicate is a tremendous symbol of our mission as a church and of our role in this community!
Let me show you something. [Show old picture of Meridian.] Lila Hill, our local historian, who probably knows more about the history of Meridian than everyone else put together, told me that this is the oldest known picture of our town. There are just a few buildings in it—that’s it! If I’m recalling right, the picture was taken about 1897. Boy! Has this town come a long way since then! And do you see the church on the left side of the picture? [Go to slide of picture with arrow added.] That’s the first church built in Meridian—and what I want you to catch is that the old bell we’re rededicating this morning was hanging in that church belfry! Isn’t that cool?
That church was the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and when they merged with the northern Methodists in 1916, putting behind them the factions from the Civil War, the group of people who had recently started the Church of the Nazarene here in town bought that church building—along with that bell—from the Methodists and it became the Church of the Nazarene. Here’s what it looked like in 1916 when we bought it from the Methodists. [Show picture of old church.] By the way, we paid just $1200 for that building and property back then!—and they had paid just $16 for the lots they had bought in 1894 on which they built it! That building was torn down around 1954 and a new brick building put in its place—the older brick part of our former church facility that’s on the corner of Pine and Main Streets today. And the bell was reset in the belfry and was there until we came to this property.
The bell we’re rededicating this morning represents our connection with the very heart of this community! The founders of this community first put that bell into place—and it can be for us a rich symbol of commitment to our community. And, recognizing that it first hung in a Methodist Church, it represents the richness of our Wesleyan theological heritage—that so much of our theology as a church is founded on the teachings and practices of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church.
This bell represents the many years that our congregation has been proclaiming the Gospel in Meridian! The bell was there from the beginning! It’s certainly one of our last links to our beginnings as a community! But think of the people whose lives have been transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ across the years—through the ministry of this congregation. We heard one of those stories from years past at Bernice Johnson’s funeral recently—as the minister who preached her funeral told how through Bernice’s persistent influence, his children, and then his wife, and then he came to know Christ through this church—and the Lord sent him out many years ago as a pastor (now in Colorado).
Let’s do something fun here for a moment. I want you to think through when you became part of Valley Shepherd Church and stand up when I speak of the years you became part of this congregation—and remain standing until I have you all sit down. We started in 1916. Do we have anyone who was part of the church prior to 1920? Who of you came into the church before 1945? Before 1970? By 1990? Let’s add now those who came to this church between 1990 and our move to this facility? Now those who have come in the last 2 ½ years since we started worshiping here? And what I want you to see are the lives that have been impacted by the Gospel across these years! God has been faithful in changing lives! He’s been faithful in helping children embrace faith in Christ! He’s been faithful in helping teenagers make their way through critical years! He’s been faithful in helping homes become places of grace and faith! Thank the Lord! You may be seated!
But now our task is to move forward, isn’t it? And the encouragement and strengthened faith we receive from glancing back helps us to do that! And we must plow forward—and we desperately need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be effective in the mission He has entrusted to us!
Let me remind you of our simple mission statement:
PASSION FOR GOD
COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE
We are to give ourselves wholehearted to the Lord—to love Him and serve Him with wholehearted abandon! And out of that love, we are to give ourselves in service to others—seeing their needs and caring for them, striving in all we do to point them to the ultimate source of help in their lives—Jesus Christ.
And it takes us all! That’s part of the power in the word of the Lord through the prophet Joel. He declared,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days…
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Joel 2:28-29, 32)
The work of the Gospel is for us all—men and women, young and old—all regardless of our status in life. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon us all that we might all be part of God’s redemptive work in our world! The Lord wants us all to see ourselves smack dab in the middle of His planned future for His Church!—and He promises to equip us with His Holy Spirit for the otherwise overwhelming challenge!
And while we recognized those this morning who have sensed God’s call into ministry as a primary vocation, we need to acknowledge that anyone who is a follower of Christ has been called into ministry! The Bible doesn’t make a huge distinction between clergy and laypersons—and some of you may not even know what the terms mean. (Which might not be so bad!)
Every follower of Jesus Christ is called to be part of His redemptive work in this world—to represent Christ in our corner of the world, to bring hope to hopeless people, to share with others the reality that God’s ways are better than our ways, to proclaim the love of God for each person and to help them realize the grace and mercy of the Lord for them. Those who proclaim the Gospel best don’t have canned speeches to recite to others—rather, they know how to love people. They’ve learned how to listen, to care, and to empathize. And as we journey with the Lord, the Holy Spirit gives us insight about what to say, the right timing for when to say it, and boldness to be honest, personal and clear in helping people respond. All the while, we’ve got to be willing to “get our hands dirty” in responding to human needs around us—being willing to take a stand, to speak out boldly and fearlessly, and get involved—sharing our time, our money, and our energies to make a difference in people’s lives.
Glancing back, that’s what prompted people of this congregation to get involved in ministries like Upwards and the Meridian Foodbank—as well as our garden ministry and our backpack ministry which work hand-in-hand with the foodbank. That’s why we encourage our people to work with Love, INC here in Treasure Valley, and with Hands of Hope. It’s why we encourage mission trips. And it’s why we’re looking ahead to starting a ministry called Celebrate Recovery—a tremendous tool to help people find in Christ the help and strength to overcome all kinds of hurts and addictions. And it’s how we make a difference in the lives of people!
Just this week I had a couple of conversations which reminded me of what the church is really all about and how we can make a difference in people’s lives. One came from a guy on our church softball team—and how the Lord had put before him an unexpected opportunity to impact one a family member who has seemed to be so far from Christ. Another came from one of our dear ladies who asked me to pray for a young neighbor of theirs going through great hardships. She shared how she and her husband have been praying for this young man’s salvation and the salvation of his live-in girlfriend—and just trying to reach out to them in love every way they could. And it was clear to me that they saw that the Lord had put this young couple next door to them for a purpose! That’s how we make a difference in the lives of people!
I’ll never forget the story of a pastor friend of mine who was about to begin a new pastorate. They had a wayward son who had created great heartache for them. The son had determined that even though he had moved out on his own, that he wanted to move with his parents. The pastor hesitantly and with embarrassment explained the situation to his new church board, and that church board responded, “Pastor, you let your son come, and you let us love him into the Kingdom.” And that’s exactly what happened too!
It’s how we make a difference in people’s lives! And it’s what we’ve all been called to do. It’s what the mission of Christ’s Church has always been—to love others into Christ’s Kingdom. The old bell we’re about to rededicate is a great reminder of God’s faithfulness across many years to reach out redemptively in this community to draw people to Himself. It’s still what He wants to accomplish! And you and I can be part of that great mission—and God wants to pour out His Holy Spirit today upon men and women, upon young and old, in order that we might together be effective in helping others understand their great need for what the Lord alone can do for them. Just as the Lord has delivered us from our sins, He wants to deliver others—“and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”!
May 23, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
POWER UP!
Acts 1:1-11
Final in series: “Are You Filled?”
May 23, 2010
How many of you have ever started to use your cell phone only to discover that its battery had gone dead on you? Isn’t that frustrating? I got to thinking this week about the many electronic gadgets that I use every day that have to be recharged on a regular basis: my cell phone, laptop, ipod, blue tooth, digital camera, GPS, electric razor, rechargeable drill and flashlight and mini-vac, cordless phone…and I’m guessing that you can think of more! Isn’t that ridiculous?! And that doesn’t even count all the electrical things that we depend upon that remain plugged in for direct power—like lights, TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, desktop computers, air conditioners, printers, etc!
My! How our lives would be different today if someone hadn’t discovered the power of electricity! I’m sure we all sometimes wonder if life wouldn’t be better, but I don’t think there’s any going back now! While life would be simpler, I’d hate not to be able to communicate with family and friends as we’re able to do today and my day-by-day tasks would be so much harder—even my sermon preparation, which is all done on computer!
Of course, even aside from all the electronic gadgets, we still need power in our lives. And as every follower of Christ has discovered, we need spiritual power in order to live the kind of lives to which God has called us. And in this last sermon in the series, “Are You Filled?” I want to center in on the role the Holy Spirit plays in providing spiritual power in our lives—for we surely need it!
Today is Pentecost Sunday—the day when the Christian church traditionally celebrates the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Early Church. It coincides with the Old Testament commemoration of the Feast of Weeks—which fell on the 50th day after the Feast of the Passover—thus the term “pentecost.” But in New Testament times, Pentecost took on a whole new meaning for the followers of Jesus. Acts chapter 2 describes what happened as the 120 devout followers of Jesus were meeting together for prayer in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, as they had been doing for days since Jesus had ascended into heaven.
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:2-4)
Amazingly enough, people who had gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost for the Jewish Feast of Weeks celebration from many different countries heard their own native language coming from the people in that upstairs room. In a never-again-to-be-repeated phenomenon, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the followers of Jesus and they were filled with His Spirit. Peter addressed the excited and bewildered crowd who gathered to try to figure out what was going on. Under the clear anointing of the Holy Spirit, Peter preached a powerful message to them, presenting the Good News of salvation and new life through Jesus Christ—and as a result, 3,000 people were baptized that day and became part of the Early Church. Historians look back on that Pentecost as the birth of the Church!
But now I want to back up one chapter to the beginning of the book of Acts as we go to the scene of Jesus’ last appearance with His followers before the Ascension. Many times Jesus had spoken of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And here He addressed it one last time. Let’s begin reading at Acts 1, verse 1—
[Read Acts 1:1-11, NIV]
The more I got to thinking about the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the more I’ve concluded that to compare it to the power in a cell phone is to terribly understate His power. My mind took me to the ocean—and the many times I have stood beside it, mesmerized by the pounding of the ocean waves on the shore, enthralled by the mighty power of the ocean’s waves. I thought too of standing by Niagara Falls—and even by Shoshone Falls here in Idaho last spring, and being captivated by the tremendous power of the force of water gushing over the falls. Have you ever just stood beside the Payette River in the stretch between Banks and Smiths Ferry where I’m told it’s one of the longest stretches of white water in the nation? I’ve sometimes described it being like Niagara Falls reclining, because it goes on for miles and miles—and the tremendous power in the water’s current and the amount of water rushing through the gorge is just breathtaking!
And yet still, we haven’t captivated the power of the Holy Spirit. It was Lloyd John Ogilvie who said,
The power Jesus Christ offers us in His Holy Spirit is a surging, rushing relentless river of new life! (Lloyd John Ogilvie)
I like that imagery! It doesn’t begin to adequately describe the Holy Spirit’s power, but it’s one of the best analogies our human minds can begin to grasp. You see, once the Lord reigns supreme in a person’s life, a whole new power is unleashed—the very power of God’s Holy Spirit. It’s what was experienced on that notable day of Pentecost described in Acts 2. It’s what Jesus had been preparing His disciples for, and it’s what was absolutely needed in their lives in order for them to be the people God had designed for them to become and in order for them to carry out the overwhelming mission Christ had entrusted to them.
And you and I are no less needy of the power of the Holy Spirit in order to become the people God wants us to become and in order for us to carry out the mission entrusted to us in this day and time. We are desperately in need of the power of the Spirit!—just as the disciples had proven their need for the power of the Holy Spirit in all their faltering ways before Pentecost. Even in this passage from Acts 1, we find them trying to press their agenda onto the Lord once again—
“Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” (Acts 1:6, The Message)
Jesus essentially told them that such matters weren’t their business—they didn’t need to concern themselves with that. And then He turned their attention to the mission that was theirs—and, more importantly, the power that God would give them through His Holy Spirit in order for them to carry out that mission in every way.
It wasn’t the first time such power had been spoken of—nor the first time such remarkable power was attested to the Holy Spirit. Descriptions of Samson from Judges chapter 14 speak of “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power,” enabling Samson to tear a lion apart, to snap ropes off his arms and to strike down 1000 men!
Samuel the prophet had told the soon-to-be-king named Saul that “the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power…and you will be changed into a different person” (1 Samuel 10:6). And it was exactly what happened. And later it was Samuel who anointed young David “and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Samuel 16:13).
And it was the Old Testament prophet Zechariah who voiced the word of the Lord to the people, saying, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’, says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). In other words, it will not be by our human might or power that God’s ways will be accomplished—it will only be by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Luke’s Gospel (written by the same man who wrote the book of Acts) records the words of Jesus before the Ascension in this way, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Jesus had always known that His followers would need divine power in order to truly follow Him and to accomplish the mission God had for them—and the Good News of Acts 2 is that they received exactly what they needed…just as we can receive the Holy Spirit today!
Why do we need this power? We need this power for the witness of our words—
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
This concept and challenge of witnessing is so prominent in the book of Acts that it is the dominant theme of the book and the prevailing challenge upon both the Early Church and the Church today. I’m told that the word “witness” in its various forms appears 39 times in the book of Acts. When the disciples asked Jesus if He was now going to restore the kingdom to Israel, Jesus stressed in response that they were to leave to God the matters that are God’s concerns and instead take up the things that have been entrusted to them. We also need to let go of what is not our concern and fully embrace the mission Christ has given to us—a mission which is accomplished by the witness coming from our mouths when we are empowered by the Holy Spirit!
We are to be Christ’s witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In some ways, this phrase provided a basic outline of the whole book of Acts. It outlines how the Gospel was first preached in Jerusalem, beginning in chapter 2 and continuing just into chapter 8. The Gospel then began to spread to Judea and Samaria, as told in chapter 8 and continuing into chapter 12. And the Gospel being taken to the ends of the earth is recorded in Acts 12 to the end of the book in chapter 28, as those proclaiming the Gospel reached the imperial capital city of Rome and began to preach the Good News there.
For us today, it says that we are to be part of Christ’s missional work in our own towns, in the regions surrounding us, and even to the far corners of the world. That’s why, by the way, that we at Valley Shepherd are so heavily committed to the work of world evangelization—taking the Good News today to people groups all around the globe. The Christian church is a missionary church that responds obediently to Jesus’ commission, acting in Jesus’ behalf in the extension of His ministry in our world today.
But without the Holy Spirit, our talk would just be talk. It’s the Holy Spirit Who empowers our testimony. He gives us spiritual power to share with unbelievers the difference it makes when Jesus comes into our lives—and to do so in such a way that others hear the divine truth behind our human words.
The dynamic power of the Holy Spirit is given in constant flow as long as we are engaged in sharing it. Like the irrigation ditches so prevalent in Idaho, we are conduits or channels of the flow of the Spirit—not reservoirs dammed up to simply be giant holding tanks. A river is simply the channel for moving water, while a swamp has only inlets for water and no outflow. They become stagnant. The Dead Sea is often used as an example. Since there is no outflow from the Dead Sea, fish can only live near the inflow from the Jordan River, because otherwise the water is so impure that it kills the fish. Our lives become stagnant and are unfruitful if all we do is take in the inspiration from God’s Word and from worship and from Christian fellowship! The Holy Spirit wants us to be channels for His power and mercy and grace!
I suppose it’s easy to think of being witnesses for Christ when we limit it merely to those who are sent out by Christ and His Church to do missionary work. That’s their work! But we need to be asking ourselves questions like,
• Who has the Lord put in my pathway of life here and now whom I am to love and introduce to Christ?
• Who in my corner of the world hasn’t heard about the difference Christ can make in their lives because to this point I’ve been unwilling to speak of Him?
In sharing with others, we sometimes put ourselves in the strenuous bind of feeling we have to convince and cajole people into accepting Jesus Christ. But the truth is that when there’s a positive response from someone, it’s merely because the Holy Spirit has drawn them to Himself and set them free to hear and receive the truth of the Gospel. It’s not because we’ve been so exceptional in our witnessing! It’s all about His power and His work in and through us and not at all about our phenomenal human endeavor!
The thought that we can run our own lives has triggered people to declare their independence from God and from anyone else—but only to our own demise! Our human will takes charge of our thoughts, and in our independent state, we proceed to make a mess of our lives. But the Holy Spirit continues to work in people’s lives, so often in ways we cannot see—and that, by the way, should be an encouragement to those of you who are carrying a heavy burden for the salvation of family members and friends who to this point seem to be so indifferent to the ways of Christ. Be assured that God’s Spirit is at work even now, drawing unbelievers to Himself—even in those seasons of their lives in which you may think God isn’t responding to your prayers at all!
And the Holy Spirit who draws unbelievers to Him is the same Spirit who is our Source of power when we do come to Him and determine to follow Christ! He is our Power for holy living and for effective witness! The promise of Jesus is that the Holy Spirit would not only be with us, but that He would indeed live in us! The power we receive is not some thing but Someone! It is God Himself living in us! The eternal Word through Whom God created the universe, Who had dwelled among us and Whose glory was seen to be full of grace and truth and love, wants to live in us! And that is the Someone Whom we can expect—God with us! And He empowers our words for effective witness.
But the witness of our words will have little impact if we’re not living God-honoring lives that back up the words that come out of our mouths! The truth is that our lives have likely been far more impacted by the witness of Christlike lives than by the mere words anyone ever spoke to us!
In my elementary years in the Summit Street Church of the Nazarene in Findlay, Ohio (where my dad pastored), I often was instructed by a dear older lady who loved kids. Mrs. Luse taught us Bible stories and coached us in memorizing so much of the Bible. She spent hours with us—and who knows how many hours in preparations for her lessons! She was a phenomenal children’s worker! But even still, it was her life that made such an impact on me! It was her love and compassion and integrity, and the fact that she was Christlike in so many ways, that made such a mark on my young life!
Family dynamics are interesting, aren’t they? No one knows us quite like our family knows us! Of course, that can be good and that can be bad! I know that much of my foundational learning of the ways of the Lord came from my parents, but I can also tell you that what impacted my life the most was watching how they lived life: how they lived out their priorities, how they responded under pressure, how the major decisions in life were guided by the Lord, how we experienced unconditional love from them, how we heard the expression of their hearts in prayer.
As the Lord has discipled me across the years, I’ve studied a lot and heard a lot of sermons and even earned a few more degrees, but I cannot overstate the impact and influence of godly lives upon my life! The testimony of Christlike lives has impacted me more than I can tell you. I’d start to name the people for you, but it would take too long—but what I can tell you is that I have watched the lives of people who were empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in ways that go beyond the goodness of mere human potential. These people lived Christlike lives, even when life wasn’t easy for them—and I am absolutely convinced that when Jesus said that we would be His witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, that He was referring not just to the words that would come out of our mouths but also the witness and testimony of our very lives!
We must have the power of the Holy Spirit for the effective witness of our words and of our lives! Our lives need to back up our spoken testimony! We dare not hinder the work of the Lord in this world by matching our lives with the words we speak! And yet the challenge is so great!—and so impossible on our own! We can’t pull off that kind of godliness by just trying hard enough to be good—trying to think the right thoughts and say the right words (and not say the wrong ones!) and do the right things (and not do the things that disappoint and grieve the Lord)!
But, thanks be to God!—The power of the Holy Spirit is poured out upon those who yield themselves to Him! He accomplishes in our lives what we are otherwise powerless to do! It is His work within us and His work through us that makes the difference! We can experience the power of Pentecost in our lives today—as we yield ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in and over our lives! God has poured out His Holy Spirit upon His Church—and those who call upon Him today are empowered by the Holy Spirit for godly living and effective witness in our world today!
I was struck this week with a statement from 2 Peter 1:3. It seems to sum up and affirm what we’ve been getting at today—the ever-present resources of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Here’s what it says—
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…(2 Peter 1:3)
Repeat that with me, would you? That’s the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives—and we’re desperate for it! Oh, but God’s so anxious to pour out His Spirit upon us and empower us for godly living and effective witness in our world. And it’s fitting and right and good for us to call upon the Lord and ask Him to pour out His Spirit upon us in this way, to remove from our hearts and our lives anything that would keep His Spirit from having full control of our lives. I want to encourage you to join me in praying that prayer this morning…
May 16, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey
THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER BUILDER
Galatians 5:13-26
Sixth in series: “Are You Filled?”
May 16, 2010
Many of you are aware that some of us were involved in what is called our District Assembly this week in Nampa. It’s an annual gathering of the 50+ churches that comprise the Intermountain District of the Church of the Nazarene. And if it were just meetings, there wouldn’t be much inspiration to it, but what I find most encouraging are what some people call “the God stories” that we get to hear—of how Christ has transformed people’s lives across our district this year.
Wednesday evening we heard and saw some of the testimonies of people in the Nampa area who have found Christ and found new hope and new freedom through a ministry called Celebrate Recovery. Like the cardboard testimonies we had at Valley Shepherd on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, there was quite a parade of cardboard testimonies shared—where people would walk to the front and center of the sanctuary and display for all to see a cardboard sign that proclaimed how things once were, and then turn the simple piece of cardboard around to show how Christ had changed them. And their broad smiles as they proudly displayed the simple truth of how Jesus Christ had changed their lives was a wonderful thing to witness! We saw simple testimonies like:
• Hopelessly addicted to drugs—Now I’m free!
• Lonely and depressed—I am loved!
• Unfaithful—Restored
All the while we were hearing a Celebrate Recovery worship band playing and singing the song “I Am Free!” I turned to Marge Carman, who was sitting next to me, and mused, “This is the revised version of the old song ‘Hallelujah! I Am Free!’”
And if there were an overall theme in that part of the service it was the wonderful theme of “freedom”—freedom from the chains of our past, freedom from the demons within that seem to torture so many, and most important, freedom from sin that destroys! And if you had missed the messages on the cardboard signs, what you couldn’t miss was the glowing countenance of the people who came to share their silent testimony in simple words that evening—and what you could see in their faces is that Christ had set them free!
This morning we’re continuing in our series of sermons called, “Are You Filled?” on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Look with me at Galatians 5, beginning at verse 13—
[Read Galatians 5:13-26, TNIV]
And may I simply go back to the beginning of this passage again and remind you of Paul’s words—“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.”
There are those who think that freedom is the right to do whatever you want to do—with no judgment and no condemnation for the choices you make. But I’d dare to say that those who had found life-changing help through Celebrate Recovery programs would dare to differ with you on that. Their license to do whatever they wanted to do, complicated by the license others also took to do whatever they wanted to do, had only brought bondage into the lives of the people sharing their testimonies! There’s no freedom in addictions! There’s no freedom in life when the wounds and hurts of our pasts are still eating us up on the inside! There’s no freedom in life when sin has control of us! And part of the problem is that the ramifications of sin are always destructive. And if you think that you can dabble with just a little bit of sin and not have it impact you, understand that sin will always take you further than you want to go!
But the Good News of the Gospel is that God has something better for every one of us! He wants to set us free! He wants to set us free from the sins of our past! He wants to set us free from guilt and shame and despair and hopelessness! He wants to set us free to live each day with confidence and hope and joy!
But as this passage makes clear, there is an enemy to this freedom—and it’s an enemy we need to face. There’s a conflict here—a major conflict! Paul is presenting a problem that has to be dealt with. It’s like the line from the movie “Apollo 13”—“Houston, we have a problem.” And the problem is that there is a battle going on within each of us for domination of our lives. We’re being pulled in two different directions at the same time—two opposing directions! And the question which we each have to face is this: Will we allow our sinful nature to dominate our lives or will we allow the Holy Spirit to dominate our lives? And what this passage from Galatians makes clear is that we can’t go both directions at the same time—any more than you can drive up Meridian highway and get to Highway 84 and head to Nampa and to Boise at the same time. You’ve got to decide which way you’re going to point your car, and whichever way you point your car, that will determine where you end up!
Now, please understand that this verse is not a description of equal forces combating each other, with no assurance of which can overpower the other. While our temptation to sin will continue to peck away at us, the Apostle Paul has no doubts at all about the fact that the Spirit of God has the upper hand! Paul is certain who will emerge triumphant—and we too can be certain if we “walk in the Spirit”! We don’t have to let our sinful nature control us—but we can only go a different direction if we live our lives under the authority and under the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we are in fellowship with God’s Holy Spirit, He continues to shape us into the kind of persons who overcome and rise above the sinful desires which—without God in our lives—will lead us down a path of destruction.
But the struggle is an ongoing one. Contrary to how we’ve sometimes painted the Spirit-filled life, the battle is not won overnight. Though we may win the victory in an initial, genuine and complete commitment of our lives to Christ, the war continues because we are still living our lives in human bodies and are exposed to the kingdom of darkness and sin every day. We’re tempted—and the Enemy is trying to defeat us!
Paul says that we are called to be free—every person is called to live a life of freedom in Jesus Christ. But he also says that we need to make sure that we don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever we want to do—that would destroy our freedom! Kids, you may at times wish you could get free from your parents’ control over your lives and from people telling you what to do! It’s part of our human nature to want to do our own thing—but the lie of the Enemy of our souls is that that’s the way to be free. But I’m guessing that if the people who shared their brief testimonies on Wednesday were here to sit down and talk with us, we’d learn that the freedom to do whatever we want to do at the moment is what led them into terrible bondage! And it’s the untold truth about sin—it never produces what it promises! And it never produces what it promises because Satan is a liar! He’s not out to bring meaning and significance and purpose and joy into our lives; he’s out to destroy us—and that’s exactly what sins does. It destroys our lives.
So Paul begins a little catalog of the sinful desires that destroy us. It’s not meant to be an exhaustive list, but it paints the broad picture of the battle going on. He wrote,
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. (Galatians 5:19-21, TNIV)
If we allow our lives to be dominated by our own sinful desires, this is what will be produced in our lives!
Let’s talk about these. To give you another glimpse at the overall picture, let me read this passage as it is paraphrased in The Message:
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or to be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lop-sided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. (Galatians 5:19-21, The Message)
The picture certainly isn’t pretty, is it? Paul pretty well described what is wrong in our world, didn’t he?—
• the perversion of sex and the way such perversion destroys lives,
• the undisciplined lifestyle of serving self and all of our selfish desires,
• allowing things to take the place of God in our lives,
• the human effort to control God, to try to make God fit into our plan and to do what we want Him to do,
• relationships gone ugly because people are consumed with self-centeredness and don’t know how to love
• lives wrecked and homes destroyed by the effects of alcohol and carousing.
And Paul minces no words in concluding that “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Clearly, if we choose to allow our lives to be dominated by our sinful desires—by our temptations, by what are sometimes called the desires of our human nature—we will reap the results of messed-up lives. And, unfortunately, because of the way sin works, we’ll mess up other people’s lives along the way, too. If we use the freedom God gives to us to pursue our sinful desires, the messed-up lives described for us in these verses is exactly what our lives will look like! And the picture is never pretty—and it does not lead to heaven—on earth or beyond this world. Living a life of sin takes us a totally different direction.
But thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it doesn’t have to be that way! That’s where our freedom comes in! The people whose testimonies we heard this past week had discovered new freedom from all the bondage of sin. Through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of the follower of Jesus, we can be set free from the train-wrecks of sin. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, God’s Holy Spirit has already come to you—and now He wants to teach you how to live “in the Spirit”! The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives to help us not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk! And what the Spirit of God produces in our lives is so much better than what our sinful nature will produce if we allow it to dominate us.
Paul described it as “the fruit of the Spirit”—and then he goes on to give a listing of what that looks like and what kind of character traits are produced in our lives if we walk in fellowship with God’s Holy Spirit. Make no mistake about it: it’s not the fruit of our own goodness, nor what we produce if we simply try hard enough. These virtues can only be produced in our lives if we are allowing the Holy Spirit to have full control of our lives—to have full reign in shaping us to be who God designed for us to be and desires for us to become!
I like the concept of it being “fruit” of the Spirit. I can understand that—even though I don’t understand a lot about the science of how fruit is produced. Last week I had some fun in talking about my older brothers—who loved to tease me when we were all younger by trying to convince me that I was adopted, and went on to say that it was surely because my brothers could tell from my stellar good looks that we weren’t genetically related! But if you were here, you heard someone speak out, saying “No! You and Larry look too much alike!” I hadn’t met Fred Slonaker before, but he knows my brother Larry well—they’ve been prayer partners for several years in Wenatchee, Washington. I met Fred after the service and laughed with him, telling him that the middle brother Steve and I have mused that our oldest brother Larry has always been the best looking of us all and that, disgustingly enough, he looks younger than either Steve or me. Steve and I contend that it’s because Larry, who is a plant pathologist by profession, has spent his life dealing with first peaches and now apples—while Steve and I have spent our lives dealing with people!
My brother Larry could explain more to us than most of us could comprehend about the whole fruit industry. It’s really amazing! He’s a brilliant guy! But my knowledge of fruit is good enough for this conversation, because in all my academic pursuits, I have learned the great truth that apple trees produce apples and peach trees produce peaches. Aren’t you impressed with my knowledge?!
And Paul is saying that letting our sinful nature control our lives produces messed up, sinful, self-serving, people-destroying, God-dishonoring lives. But…the life controlled by the Holy Spirit produces something altogether different and, oh so wonderful! The product of the Presence and control of the Holy Spirit in our lives cultivates some beautiful and fascinating character traits called the The Fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. Just as fruit appear in an orchard, the Holy Spirit brings gifts into our lives—things like a Christlike compassion for others, an exuberance about life that supercedes our circumstances, and a peace and serenity despite the sometimes harsh realities of life. The Spirit also cultivates within us a willingness to stick with things, a graciousness in responding to people’s needs and an integrity of heart which offers comfort to those afflicted by the pain and heartaches of life. The fruit of the Spirit fosters loyalty in commitments, a gentleness in not needing to force our way in life, and the ability to direct and channel our energies and resources wisely. The Fruit of the Spirit are the outward expressions of Christ dwelling within us.
Powerfully and surely the Spirit works—sometimes dramatically; sometimes slowly, almost imperceptibly—in our lives to repeat the miracle of a new creation in Christ Jesus. (Maxie D. Dunnam)
And it is a miracle, isn’t it? Because left to our devises and resources, we’re pretty much helpless not to go the way of our sinful nature—messing up our lives and the lives of others, and, most significantly, turning our backs on the very One who is equipped to help us and wants us to experience a better way! But with the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, He creates in us that which we could never produce on our own! And it’s awesome!
This week we heard a video testimony of Sherri—a lady in Nampa whose life had been radically transformed and redeemed. And then Sherri was introduced to the crowd, and as she came to the front, I was struck with the reality that Sherri looked so much younger now! I remember my friend John who was saved quite a few years ago now. He was my age, but looked so much older back then because of the wear and tear of sin in his life. But as the years unfolded, he started looking younger and younger, as the Holy Spirit produced His fruit in John’s life!
The Apostle Paul said about the Fruit of the Spirit—“Against such things there is no law.” In other words, legalism is helpless in bringing about the Fruit of the Spirit. Legalism just gets in the way! We can’t just legislate to ourselves or to others the character of Christ reflected in the Fruit of the Spirit—but neither are we to use our freedom as an excuse to do whatever we want to do! We can’t just force ourselves to become like Christ in character. Someone is needed to help us—and that Someone is the Holy Spirit! And the best news of the day is that the Holy Spirit is as anxious to work in our lives as we are desperate for Him to do so!
Which catalog of character traits in this Galatians passage describes the person you want to become? Which listing—the acts of the sinful nature or the Fruit of the Spirit—describe the journey of life which you want to be on? I hope it’s the Fruit of the Spirit. And how are you going to get there? Not on your own, that’s for sure! You’re going to need the Holy Spirit to be in control of your life—or you’ll go the way of the sinful nature! You’re going to need to allow the Spirit of God to be front and center in your life. You’re going to need what He alone can do in you and for you. The Fruit of the Spirit is not the fruit of human potential—it’s the fruit of God’s Spirit in the driver’s seat in our hearts and lives.
Are you filled? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit control of your life? Have you let go of the steering wheel of your life and are you letting Him work in you? If not, why not? And if not, why not turn that over to Him this morning? We need what only He can offer—and He’s anxious to give it to us!
