God is Using the Reluctant (and Unprepared)

Sermon: God is Overwhelmingly, Ridiculously, Seriously Serious about Saving Us.

This may come as a surprise to some, but probably not: I’ve been told more often than I care to admit to “Act my age.” 99% of the time it is because I was doing something that was determined to be below my age-level. As more and more responsibility has come my way, the opportunities to act below my age level are getting less and less. Which is lame. I want to make a quick point to the Body of Christ today: STOP ACTING YOUR AGE. Seriously. The world has enough people gripped by consumeristic fears, shady schemes, and anxiety about adulting. We need more child-like wonder, joy, dancing, and enthusiasm about simply living. Matthew 18: 1 – 4 About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you hear the seriousness in Jesus’ voice here? He is tenderly holding a child and laying down an eternal truth about Heaven that should smack us adults right in the face. If we DON’T become like children we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He said “NEVER.” Like never-ever. Acting our age has gotten us into more problems than we can probably count. We mask it with serious words like responsibility, or need… But we’re really just offering excuses as to why we worry, why we lack humility, why we ignore some basic commands found in the Bible. The wonder of belief gets muddied with adult things. Have we put ourselves in serious danger of missing Heaven because of those worries, anxieties, angers, grudges, and the hopelessness that invades too many adults? Stop acting your age. Experience belief through the eyes of a child – and see Christ in a brand new way again. We may miss out on something big if we don’t.

God is Blessing His People (Esther pt 7)

Have you ever asked yourself about how far God’s grace really goes? What about how long eternity is? What about this question: “If I were the only person left on earth, would He still have died for me?” Well, if you haven’t asked yourself these questions, do so now and try and come up with a serviceable answer……. I’ll wait. Do you have something in mind for these? Here’s how I would quickly answer: God’s grace is boundless. Eternity is a really long time, more than long enough to get that puzzle done. And yes, absolutely, 100% yes. Now lets ask a question that hits a little closer to home: “Does God really want/expect/require _________ from me?” This morning we spent a little time in the Beatitudes, so lets just use them. Does God really think I’m blessed when I’m mourning? Yes. Does God really want me to be a peacemaker? Does God really mean it when He wants us to be pure in heart? Yes. Does God really want me to consider persecution a blessing? Yes, absolutely, 100% yes. Isn’t that asking a little too much of us? Well, if we fully expect boundless grace, eternity, and unrequited love and sacrifice from God it seems He can ask that of us. This is not new business here – Israel, God’s children, had some messed up ideas for equity in the God/Man relationship too: Micah 6:6-7 NLT What can we bring to the LORD? Should we bring him burnt offerings? Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves? [7] Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? This escalates into the ridiculous very quickly, from sacrifices on the normal level to things no one could ever offer: rivers of oil and thousands of rams. They even go so far and accuse God of making them all like Abraham and sacrifice their Isaac. God, are you asking too much of us? Esther faced that question I’m sure as she and those around her fasted before approaching Xerxes’ throne. Ultimately she understood her life was on the line either way (Esther 4:16) I do not believe for one second that God wanted Esther to die, nor do I believe God wanted the Jews in Persia to be wiped out by Haman’s silly plan. I believe God is. And what God expected was a faithful response regardless of circumstance. Is that too much to ask of us? We act like it is sometimes. Lets finish Micah 6 and see how much God is asking of us: 6:8 No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Do justice, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God. All the sacrifices in the world would pale in comparison to faithfulness of this magnitude. If every breath from us was just and true, every action merciful and compassionate, and every step in step with God our lives would glow and there would be no denying our citizenship (in Heaven). Is it too much to ask of us to remain faithful when circumstances don’t go our way? No, absolutely not, 100% no.

God is Using the Reluctant (and Unprepared)

2 Peter 1:3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. Thats what it looks like – everything. We have been given everything we need for living a godly life. So what is our excuse? I love that Peter is the one writing this. Peter who wrestled with foot-in-mouth syndrome, Peter who spoke before thinking, Peter who had the guts to reprimand Jesus. Peter was probably the least-equipped person chosen as a disciple, and yet here we have him writing about how well equipped we all are for living a godly life. It is truly amazing the change and growth that we read from Peter. I’d like to ask him (among other things when I get to meet him in Heaven) how this verse relates to his rejection of Jesus after the arrest. Do the two relate? I imagine Peter had all sorts of excuses why he denied Christ that night – maybe one of them being: “I’m not prepared to….. ” Or “I didn’t think we’d be expected to….” Or even “He never told us we’d have to…..” And then after many years pass he writes this – eliminating all excuse for not living a godly life. God gave us everything we need: Jesus. Because of Jesus this world has nothing to throw at us. So what is our excuse? * Fear? Conquered. * Hopelessness? Defeated on the third day. * Rejection? We’re accepted by One greater than all the world. * Reputation? Whose name are we wearing anyway? (Christian?) * Rules or Regulations that tell us we can’t? What law or regulation or administrator is greater than the Fruit of the Spirit? (hint: none, against such things there is no law). No excuse stands against Peter’s statement at the beginning of his second letter. Esther discovered the same principle when faced with something much huger than reputation or rejection. God had placed her exactly where He needed her. He has done the same for you too. God is. That is enough. And that has given us everything we need. No more excuses. Esther 4:13-16 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. [14] If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: [16] “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

Have a nice trip?

In today’s sermonhttp://www.lifechangingchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/god-makes-good-of-harm.mp3 I mentioned that tripping can’t stop us on our journey. Just because we trip, or have a hiccup in the plan, or fall on our face does not mean the plan is a failure. Every step we take contains a risk for a fall. That applies to us as individuals AND as the Church. We are going to trip. There will probably be somebody standing by waiting to say something helpful like “I told you so…” or “Have a nice trip? See you next Fall!” With or without that person, tripping is almost always embarrassing. Whats the first thing we do when we trip? We look around to see if anyone saw us. If no one was looking, we’re safe….. until we think about it later. Maybe thats the worst part of tripping – remembering that we tripped. I can list off all the times I’ve messed something up, and will struggle to name more than a few things I’ve done well enough. The trips always jump to the front of the queue. Do you wonder if Mordecai spent time after the fact beating himself up for not saluting Haman? I mean, thats a small thing that lead to Haman literally trying to wipe out the entire nation of Israel. Part of our lessons on the context of the book of Esther shows that Mordecai’s lack of respect to Haman did not stem from a “I won’t bow to a human… only God” source of reverence. Mordecai was faithful in service to Xerxes, the king, to the point of saving his life and alerting him to a plot to kill him. Mordecai was fine serving a human king, he just didn’t salute Haman’s authority – probably due to the family line of each man. (Mordecai – Saul, Haman – Agag). This seemingly little hiccup on the journey of Israel in captivity lead to a major mess. If anyone should’ve felt like he needed to bury his head in the sand out of shame, it was Mordecai. Instead, he got up and kept moving forward. Mordecai, flawed and imperfect, remained faithful in a time when it would have been easier to run, to hide. The vengeance of Haman would have caught up to him, no doubt. But I imagine there was a small voice in the back of his head telling him to “get while the gettings good.” I sincerely hope our trips and falls do not lead to the decision of genocide of an entire nationality. I’m not sure any of us have quite that level of influence (thankfully!). But I’m convinced that when we do have our trips and falls in the daily mess of life there are times we’d be content just lying on the ground instead of getting back on our feet and risking another misstep. Rejected when inviting someone to church? Never ask again. Ridiculed for standing up for what you believe in? Never stand up again.Pushed aside for acting with integrity? Act like everyone else. Having to take the narrow path requires faithfulness and endurance. It is not trampled flat, with tripping hazards swept aside. The path is narrow and less traveled for a reason. The narrow path does not serve our comfort. It serves others. The narrow path does not promise an easy journey. It promises the right ending. The narrow path is not one that we can stop and start on at our own convenience. It does however have an amazing system for refueling and refreshing us on the journey every Sunday morning. Believing in the ending, God’s promised ending should be enough for us to persevere down any road. Even if that road leads us to a cross. If we over-value this world, we will keep looking for paths that serve us and serve our comfort. Thankfully God chose the most difficult path in His redemp...

When things are darkest…

I confess, I’ve been very negative about Esther’s story for a very long time. There are many details about the characters and their actions (reactions, really) that just rub me the wrong way. They are NOT examples or heroes, in the same way Samson is NOT a role-model. But there is something about the story that we just can’t let go – the movement and love of God in the darkest of times. I know we do not get any hints of God’s work from the original author, but we KNOW that God is there and working. Why am I restating this? Because the dark times are coming, if they aren’t already here. They look different for each person, but we know that this world is a broken place and the darkness will come. As a child I hated the dark. Bad things happen at night. My mom and I were mugged walking out of a grocery store at night, in the dark area of the parking lot. All the scary movies and stories take place in the dark. Hope seems to ebb and become too feeble to sustain in the dark. The world is full of darkness and deep shadows the creep over us. When your mind finally gets quiet, the noise of the day passes – where do you go? Too often we wander into the darkest of places. Esther’s story tells us one thing: even when it is darkest and the outlook most bleak – God is. When the only hope looks like a young teenager without any royal experience having to place her life on the line to simply walk into the same room as the king – things are pretty bleak. When the only hope for the line of Christ remaining is a new law from Xerxes saying the Jews could take up weapons against those wanting to attack them – things are pretty bleak. When depression rears its head; When loneliness shadows our eyes from seeing others around us; When hopelessness makes giving up look like the easy route; When the dark comes – God is. God is. He hasnt moved. He will not move. When it seems there is no word, no miracle imminent, no great message – God still is. Hear the Psalmist’s cry from the dark: Psalm 130:1-8 NLT From the depths of despair, O LORD, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn. O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin. God is.